New Crochet

Here are some pics of my latest crochet..... Here is sister's baby Roman's blanket. Its big enough he can take it to college with him.
This is a frilly girls hat for my niece, Cora.
And a purple one for Cora...
and a "worm in the grass" hat for Roman...
and here is a wool brimmed cap for Roman...not very good though.

"priceless"

My wife is priceless. She does everything she can to make sure there is dinner on the table every night. The nights she doesn't "cook" she feels guilty, so I am grateful for cooked meals. Last night was no exception either.......

I'm sure, or so my brain says, that most of the families we know or associate with take the time to sit as a family to eat meals....especially dinner. Last night my wife "made" Wal-mart lasagna with french bread. Our boys are typical hot dog and potato chip kinda eaters, so when we have something to eat with lots of colors in it we get nervous and prepare for emotional breakdowns.

As my boys studied the lasagna to see what was in it, I took a piece of bread and told them that I liked to put some of the sauce on my bread and eat it. I made the "oh so good" face and the boys tried it as well. Dylan said mmmm, its so good. Alex then said mmmmm this is priceless. With nearly every bite Alex commented on how priceless it tasted. It was very funny and I'm sure my wife appreciated the sincere attempt he made in commenting on the dinner....very funny though and I just had to share.

That was priceless.

School is in!!!

The kids were so happy to return to school today after being off for a week due to Hurricane Ike. It was quiet in the house today but I got a lot done. I did laundry, some sewing, ran a few errands and ended with some vinyl work. I was glad for the uninterrupted time. When the kids got home from school Dylan made the comment that his shoe was hurting so I told him to take it off and he did and here is a picture of what he found. His response was, "No wonder that shoe has been hurting me for a while." He had those rocks in his shoe since recess...which is around 1pm...so that is 3 hours with the rocks. You would have thought that he would have investigated sooner but I guess that is a kid for you. They are funny creatures as my mother would say. Dylan, you make my day!

The Things Kids Say

So let me preface this by saying that I am a little under the weather and wasn't planning on waking up before 9am but at 6:51am Dylan came in my room...and this is how the conversation went:

Dylan: Mom do you have $39.99?

Mom: Huh?

Dylan: Because there is this oven thing on the TV and it is only$39.99

Mom: What?

Dylan: This oven thing cooks your food for you.

Mom: Dylan, I don't have $39.99.

Dylan: But you can lower your cholesterol when you use it to cook your food!

Mom: Dylan my cholesterol isn't high so I don't need to buy that.

Dylan: Oh, OK.

Dylan is a sucker for anything you can order off of the TV, which is funny because I have never ordered anything from the TV before. So needless to say I am now awake on a Saturday morning at 7am with a stuffy nose.

IKE: We are so lucky!!!

Here is an update on our family and IKE. It appears that this storm has caused a lot of devastation in the Galveston/Houston area. We, however, have been so lucky were we live. We were out of power for a few hours last night and then right before we went to bed around 10 the power came back on and we caught the news before getting to sleep. It was a rough night. I didn't sleep much because of the noise. I was also worried that the kids would wake up at be scared. I put them downstairs thinking it would be quieter but I was wrong. I was better upstairs so I played musical beds between upstairs and the couch downstairs. The kids slept straight through the storm. They awoke around 7:30 and by 8 we went outside to feel the temp and wind. The winds was howling all night long and I must admit it was a little frightening. The lights flicked on and off during the night but have been on consistently since around 5am. We got out and drove around about 10am and we didn't see any severe damage with the exception of trees down everywhere. We had part of our fence come apart but I think that was to be expected, our fence seems to be in bad shape as it is. Our neighborhood had trees and shingles around. We had no flooding or any water in our house. Overall we feel very blessed and are grateful for our outcome. We are very sad for those whose lives have been met with such devastation. Here are few photos...the sunset last night was incredible...a mixture of beauty and eeriness.

IKE Precursor

Now we play the waiting game...

Well, It seems that Hurricane Ike is heading straight for us. We felt fortunate to have missed Hurricane Gustav but alas here we are again. Justin only worked half day today so he could come home and clear the yard. We took down the trampoline and patio furniture. I cleaned out the garage this morning just in time for the garbage men to come...this in it self is something I look forward to. I seem to wander the house on garbage days and pick up as much stuff as I can and haul it out to the curb. This is especially fascinating to me because I watch the garbage men and if you have stuff that looks good they will go through it. Today I had a few things and I saw them out there riffling through and the guy saw me watching...he waved me to come outside and was asking if a certain item was in working order??? I told him is was broken but if he was handy that he may be able to fix it. Then he said that the cab of the truck was already full and could he leave it for a little while until they could empty the truck and they would be back in the area. I said sure and after running some errands it was gone. I find this fascinating. I bet they get some good stuff. I must admit that I find myself looking at the garbage stuff as I drive by houses. I am a sucker for free stuff. So back to IKE. We are prepared, I think. I bought some easy food, stuff that doesn't require cooking and of course some munchies. I thought we would have a Hurricane party with the kids tomorrow night. Movie, treats and sleeping all together in the family room. I imagine that my children will not be able to sleep through the wind and rain and will be up most of the night. So now we hope and pray that we will be safe and that no major damage will happen to our area.

I was 12 when Hurricane Alicia came through Houston. I remember sitting in the front room of our house and having the door open some of the time while the eye of the storm went over our house. It was an strange calmness. But I can remember the feeling well. I also remember riding in the back of my dads pickup truck and driving through the overflow to the Braes Bayou and the water coming up over the top of the truck (Dad ruined the truck doing that). I also remember going down about 6 block from our house where the bayou had overflown and swimming in the water with the rest of the neighborhood kids. The water was up to our chests. I can't imagine letting my kids go 6 blocks alone more less swim in snake and whatever else infested waters. My mom said this morning, "I let you do that?" Well, I can tell you mom that you weren't at work that day and I am sure you knew where we were. So today my moms advice to me was not the let my kids outside during the storm because they might get swept down the storm drain??? Has that ever happened? I have never heard of a kid getting swept down a storm drain. Something the ponder??? Anyway...we are good and staying put annd hope for the best.

A day late and a dollar short...

Isn't that what they say? Well, our first week at school was great. Now that we are finishing week 2 we are starting to get into the routine of things.

Alex is in first grade and is having a great time. He is such an easy going kid that I really don't worry about him in school. He seems to make friends and like his teacher, Miss. Salfiti, and was so excited to have his best friend, Austin F. in his class.

Dylan is in second grade and has a new teacher this year, Mrs. Cardiff and seem to be enjoying her. He is still trying to get into the groove but I think this year for him will be great. We were struggling at the end of last year with our teacher and I am hoping that Mrs. Cardiff will really be able to pull him in and make the difference. He loves recess and take his basketball every day. He is such a friendly guy and talks to anyone that acknowledges him. He is so funny that way. I have a feeling that come high school that he will be one that everyone knows.

Emma is in fifth grade, just one more year until junior high. This year will be a test for her. She has already had a lot of homework and is working hard to complete it each night. She is also doing safety patrol this semester and is starting 5th grade choir as well. She love the social aspects of school but the school part, not so much. I know that she will do well this year. All her past teachers always say what a sweetheart she is and I think so too. She would help anyone in need.

As for me, I am busy with sewing and sign making and trying to keep up with the laundry (which is and hopefully not always will be my struggle). I am enjoying my quiet time when I get to create new signs or sew new things (but the sewing is usually the same things each week). I have 3 fairs this fall for the vinyl and thinking about a 4th but we will have to see. I really enjoy this hobby/business. I think it is the most fun money-making-hobby thing I have ever done.

Justin is still working at Dresser, Inc. and is exploring new possibilities within that company. He was golfing once a week in the summer but that has slowed down. I was so glad he got to spend 2 weeks with us this summer as we traveled to Utah. I am grateful to him because he is the driver in the family, he probably drove 40 of the 50 hours we spent in the car. I am not a good driver so I thank him for that. I appreciate all the help he gives me around the house and with the kids.

Well, there you have it...the Hayes family update...

Summer Vacation!!!

We had a great vacation which included seeing everyone in Justin's family and mine. We started our trip driving to Utah. Justin and I decided to go straight through. It took us just under 26 hours and that included 10 hours of pure silence while the kids were asleep. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, although we were exhausted when we got there. Our adventures in Utah were with my family "The Riggs Family" and we had a great time. Thanks to my sister, Michelle, we all stayed at her house and enjoyed all the company. We went to the Salt Lake Cemetery were most of the prophets are buried as well as my great grandmother, Esther Hansen Beckstead. We went to temple square and watched the Joseph Smith movie. Seven Peaks was another day and we had a great time there, especially the kids. Saturday was a split day where the men were able to get in some bonding time at the racetrack and the women headed out for a night on the town. Well, American Fork isn't a big party town but they do have Cafe Rio and a movie theater. Sunday ended things with sacrament meeting and then my nephew was ordained an Elder and we are all there for that. It was the first time in a very long time that we were all together and it was so fun.

Then we headed to the Vernal area for "The Hayes Family" reunion. Justin's brother Jared and his family live in Dutch John, Utah near Flaming Gorge. It was beautiful. We started our trip with a tour of the Dam and went to some very scenic overlooks. The men and children got in some fishing, we played games and we rafted the Green River which is always a winner. The water was a chilling 55 degrees but that didn't detour the kids from hopping in a time or two. We saw lots of fish, river otters and ducks. We then took a drive into Vernal to the Dinosaur Museum and the kids loved that as well and we topped it off with a stop to the snow cone hut. Talk about a lot of ice. The large snow cone was probably 8 inches in diameter. We had a great Family Home Evening and it was so great to be with one another. We also learned a new game of Pass the Pigs, quite hilarious.

All in all a great trip. We split up the drive home and stayed at a hotel in Amarillo which the kids thought was fabulous. Emma even "needed" to take a shower in the hotel room. My kids have lead a sheltered life. I think we have stayed in a hotel once before with them and that was about 5 years ago. So they thought that was cool.

Well, we have been home for a few weeks now and starting to get into the swing of things, I had a hard time at first, you know "vacation let down". But things are in full swing now...

Here are a few pictures for our adventures...