Merry Christmas!

My Day

Guess what I did today? I completed one of goals for the year. That's right, I put a nice check mark (very happily I might add) next to run a 5K. The only reason this was a goal of mine this year was because Justin suggested it and I was wanting to lose pregnancy weight also so I thought why not, it should help right. I have sisters who run, I have a sister who runs marathons regularly (seriously, 4 marathons this year plus a couple other races, coaching running, etc), Justin likes to run, I should run. That pretty much sums up the reasoning Justin gave me. That and he thought that by competing I would maybe catch the runners desire. I don't know if I caught the running desire quite yet. But looking back on this morning it was kind of cool to compete. The best part to me was even with my very little training (yeah so part of the point was that I would train with running) once we got settled in at a pace there were only two people who passed me.

Here's the picture from afterward. I did get a t-shirt and they did a raffle drawing and Justin and I both won something there. We didn't stick around for awards, the wind had picked up and it was cold, and I am pretty sure we didn't place. Still I beat my previous (Monday night practice run) 3 mile time. We finished at 36:02. I ran (and walked) at a about a 12 minute mile. I am pretty impressed with myself. (Hence the long bragging paragraph.)

So this afternoon and this evening I put together a fall tablecloth. I cut it out last night so today I just sewed it all together. It's basically an easy quilt top with no borders, backing, or the like. It does need a small border to cover the edge of my table but it is on the table right now (under plastic--you don't really think I would use it as a tablecloth by itself). Kind of fun.

Now, do we think I can actually finish a quilt? Really finish a quilt, not just a top? We'll see but I am not so sure (only because I really like hand quilting currently).

Oh, here are a couple of good books about quilting:
The Lover's Knot by Clare O'Donohue (good mystery book)
The Drunkard's Path by the same author
The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini (good fiction book)

Fun with photos!

AJ helped me clean out my basement office and we started to have fun with some backdrops and stuff. It's awesome when your wife has yards of fabric around that make fun backdrops :)

Halloween!

Here are the much requested pictures from our halloween costumes.

To start with we have Sam the Volcano Blaster! This was a much discussed and negotiated costume. I think it turned out fairly well. He seemed to enjoy it. He liked that he could duck down inside it and explode out.

Hannah the Flower Princess. She loved the tutu and the hat, she calls it her crown. It's an awfully big tutu, note to self, not quite so many yards of tulle next time.

Michelle didn't get an original costume. This was worn by Hannah in past years but I only had so much time for costumes. She liked that she had a tutu. The first time she wore it she stood there and danced a little bit.

There you have it! Enjoy!

Sayings from the family

There are no pictures to accompany these statements but here are things that have been heard around the house:

"No dancing on the table." This is for Michelle and her skills of climbing. For a little bit I was able to stop her by moving all the chairs away from the table. Now she knows how to move them to where she wants, counters with keys and laptops and phones. And of course tables are the next step after the chair.

"Are you an omnivore?" I was actually asked this question the other day by Sam after I won the race of running down the stairs. Apparently we are learning quite the range of stuff from PBS kids. And just a refresher (because I had to go over to know for sure), an ominvore is someone who eats all kinds of things. Oh the things I relearn from my kids.

"Where does it hurt?" This is what I ask from any crying child. It usually is minor and even if they think it is traumatic a kiss is all it takes and they are back to whatever it was they were doing. Wrestling, raising and running into each other, climbing on top of each other. This is how they are hurt, what are they not understanding here?

And the most often heard: "What can I DO?" Although why they still ask is beyond me. They never like my answer but still keep asking.

Want better ways to waste your time on the web?

A couple of my favorite websites which help to expand my skills and education rather than just blind entertainment or news:

http://delicious.com/

Links which are much much better than the trash that populates sites such as reddit or digg.

http://lifehacker.com/

Tips on improving everything from your home life to your professional life - basically hacking your existance to be better

More modern tango music

AJ and I were watching Dancing with the Stars (yeah, with both of us having been on ballroom dance teams no surprise there) when some cool tango music accompanied one of the dances. I've found myself really liking groups like Project Gotan and such, and this new group (to me) is right up that alley. Check out Otros Aires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsPr_4CD1Us

Enjoy!

"First" Lost Tooth

Here's the highlight of Sam's life, at least today, was that he his first tooth came out. I know the picture shows two missing teeth but the top one was a casualty of his active life at around 3 and the fake tooth (his new tooth he called it) came out towards the beginning of the year. The two bottom ones have both been loose and after eating an apple this afternoon the one was really loose. It was bugging him and he kept playing with it. Eventually he had his tooth in his hand. He is pretty excited and can't wait to tell all his friends.

Three photos of the sunset on Sept 18, looking west over the Salt Lake Valley.

Can you imagine a dog that size barking at you?

More of the shadow of the dog across the sky.

Fun times in the Elliss household. We went on a trip up to Millcreek Canyon - Autumn is just barely starting to show in the color of the leaves and the slight coolness in the air. We stopped off at Church Fork Picnic Area, and took some fun photos of us and the Buhlers.

Hiking in August!

A million thanks to AJ for letting me go down to Southern Utah to get my hikes in. It was awesome to go with two different groups to do two hikes, and I learned a ton from each of them.

On Pine Creek I went with 2 older guys, both of whom were on Ski Patrol, and the other had extensive experience climbing. I'm going to have to take some outdoor sports first aid classes in order to be able to be a first rate guide, as well as some additional mountaineering classes.

On the Subway, I learned that 4 guys who are in shape and have no fear can rip through a canyon in record time. We only used 1 small rope for all our decents, and jumped right in on all the swims. The water was actually really warm and was enjoyable to swim around in due to the fact that it was all spring water. (This is opposed to the water in Pine Creek which was brown, stinky, and had unidentifiable things floating in it.) It was awesomely fun.

Both hikes were done on beautiful days, with no clouds in the sky in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon. The clouds were especially appreciated during the hike out of each, and I actually got away from both hikes without a sunburn! (Almost unheard of from a white pasty boy like myself.)

While it was a whirlwind tour of the two canyons, things went great, with the biggest injury being a tweaked ankle from Sally on the hike out of Pine Creek. My goals for next year is to learn a bunch of outdoor first aid, get a good rope bag, and finally get some more canyons under my belt.

-Justin

p.s. I'm not sure, but the photos may be cut off on the right - I'll look into it once I'm not so tired.

Summer Fun - Camping

Here are pictures from our camping trip. We went to the ward campout and had a great time. The kids slept great, Mom not so great. I kept listening to the wind and thunder and then the rain. Oh and checking to make sure the kids stayed warm. There was a rope swing and dirt and rock piles which is where Sam and Hannah spent most of their time. We discovered the secret to Sam enjoying it and not wanting to come home early on Saturday morning: friends to play with on the dirt and rock pile. So our next camping trip we will need to take someone else with us.

Here are the River Dancers. These skirts were my favorite, the top was probably what taught me the most.

Read the post below for the rest of the story. :)

Dance Costumes

This is my project that I spent most of July working on. Sam is excited that I am done with my sewing project so we can do other things (like go swimming, play outside whenever, sew his costume he wants, etc) and Hannah wants to know when I am making something for her.

This first one are the Monsters, I made the pants and hats and helped attach the hair that Kellie made.

Then the Farm dancers (horses, pigs and sheep). I made the skirts and hats (aren't those hats the cutest!!).

The Robots, this one I only did pants, Kellie did the armbands and waistbands and headbands. Good thing to, they make the costume!

Cloud Dancers, white skirts which ended up looking much cuter than I though they would.

There is one more but apparantly Picasa only wants to let me do four photos at a time (I did them small to see if I could get that fifth one on there). These were fun to make and while they were time consuming I did enjoy it. I also learned quite a bit. I now feel a little more confident about altering a pattern to make it what I want it to be. Like a fuller skirt, size adjustments (not excessive), adding sleeves to a pattern that didn't have them. Before I could sew a pattern, follow the directions, but not make much in the way of variations. Doing this big of a project was a perfect way to get to try that out. Maybe someday (many years from now) I might be almost as good as my mom (I'm not sure I can be as good as she is). She's done Cabbage Patch Dolls (which we all still have as far as I know, I have mine) and three wedding dresses, who knows how many high school dance dresses and little kid clothes. For now, my next things are the quilts to finish and start thinking about Halloween costumes, and reclaim my neglected yard-oh those poor flowers, they don't stand a chance with that morning glory.

Updates for all!!

First off, here's a link to a cool recipe book giveaway!

http://recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com/2009/07/giveaway.html

Next, an update on us. We are really kind of busy. I decided to help a friend sew costumes for her dance classes (which is what I should be doing instead of doing this) and that is fun but there is a lot to do. Sam monitors the temperature to know when he can play in the water (as soon as it hits 80 he starts to beg to go outside).

I realize now there really isn't much to write about. We are enjoying our summer. Hope you are all enjoying yours. Maybe I will take some more pictures soon then I will have something to post. :)

Finally some photos of the nieces and a circus performance by the plethora 2nd Gen

More photos from the lake, and some photos of the girls.