Sewing Project

My favorite Christmas present from Bret!!!

Bret's sister Kari is getting married on June 19th this summer!!! About a month ago she asked our other sister in-law and I to be 2 of her 3 bridesmaids! As everyone knows Bridesmaid dresses are quit pricey and to find a modest one is even more difficult and more expensive. So a modest professional bridesmaid dress was between $120 -$200 and could take up to 10 weeks to get it. Bret got me a sewing machine for Christmas and I have really been itching to make something but have not had time, energy or a real reason until now!!! I offered to find matching fabric and make our 2 dresses. I made my Temple dress about 7 years ago and a few skirts, pj pants and things since. I knew it would be fun but I forgot how quick and easy it is. I found the fabric which is really close to the same color and each dress only required a couple yards of fabric. The grand total for both of our dresses including fabric, pattern, thread, zippers and lining was $50.04 and it is taking me less than a week to complete the first one.
I got the first dress cut out and the bodice all put together in a day and a half. A few days later (when Bret was free again to occupy Hayden) I sewed the skirt together then onto the bodice and finally put in the zipper. I only need to finish the bottom hem which may take 5 minutes:)
My only concern was if I could get Jackie's dress done and mailed out to her in time for her to fit it for alterations and send it back to me to make it fit properly. All my worries were wiped away when I got her measurements. We are the same height and the same measurements in the fitted areas!!!
Thanks Kari and Jackie for giving me an excuse to use my sewing machine.
It's really nice to stand back and see what one can accomplish with love and support. Bret is so sweet watching me work and helping me where he can.

This is the pattern and what it is supposed to look like.

Steps 1-6 the bodice and the most difficult sections.

Second to last step or step #13 the zipper. Thanks to my moms wisdom not very difficult when you use tape.

Done except the bottom hem :)

Boy's and Mud

It has been so beautiful and warm (Ok barely in the 40's) for the last couple days that I haven't been able to resist taking Hayden out for his first walks of the year. He is such a big boy walking all by himself. Yesterday it was just him, Chloe and I and he held my finger so tight. It was great to watch him experience it all for the first time!!! Precious moments.
Today was another precious day. This week is Bret's Spring Break from Western and so we are enjoying many family hours together. Today Daddy led our family walk and he said no holding hands were necessary which means Hayden actually led the walk anywhere he wanted. We were just rounding our last corner a few doors from home when I saw a large mud puddle partly covering the sidewalk. Hayden was just far enough ahead of us that there was nothing we could do but watch him trip into the mud hands and face first.


Hayden had such a big day everything from mud puddles followed by wet splashy baths to shopping with Mommy and Daddy. We love family days!!!

Winter adventures!

Our best friends are Desiree and Tyler Neil. A couple weekends ago we went up north with them to visit with Desiree's family and their snowmobile's. Here is Hayden's 1st experience looking down from a second floor balcony. Just before we got the video camera he very slowly and cautiously approached the railing and tentatively looked over to find daddy waving hello. It was so cute to see him instinctively know that he was up high and needed to be careful. I made Bret get the camera and the video is what followed. The Woodman's are fully gutting and rebuilding the house while living in it so the ladder is the only access to the 2nd floor. Hayden had never seen a ladder before but just by watching all of us use it he was a pro by the end of our visit.
One evening half of us were relaxing in the living room while the other half were makeing dinner in the kitchen. I thought Hayden was in the kitchen with Desiree because I hadn't seen him for a little while so I went to check... He was not there! The search was on, I followed his trail of dropped toys and called his name to find him at the TOP of the ladder with the trap door closed!!! As I looked up at him in amazement and wonder, just stuck on the top ladder rung with no way down he looked back at me with those big eye saying "look what I can do!" I pulled him down and needles to say we put the ladder up when an adult was not using it.



Here is our wild child all ready for his first snowmobile ride! We love snow fun!

Hayden Walking for Grandma Colleen :)

My mom asked us to post videos of Hayden walking, so we found all that we could and put them together.

Hayden started walking on his own on Thanksgiving 2009 with just a couple of steps. This first video is on the 29th of November and the 5th of December.

These clips are on the day that we celebrated Hayden's birthday. These are more of him playing with his new toys then walking. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson were watching on the web cam from Twin Falls, Idaho.

This first clip is on Christmas day, and the other ones were just a few days ago. Uncle Darren dressed Hayden in the pink duck tape and bow which came from the presents we gave him for Christmas to go along with the other tools he received.

The first part of this video is dedicated to Brady Beck. Hope you enjoy!!!

Kari, Hayden, and I have just moved into a home. It is a town home with a lot more space, for all of Hayden's stuff that his grandparents keep giving him and cheaper rent. Here is some pictures of us moving and video of our new place with Hayden's favorite part of the house.

If there is one thing that I hate the most about moving people it is when they don't have anything packed so you have to not only move them but also pack up all of there stuff for them.

Kari and I started to pack our stuff up about 2 weeks before we were going to move and had no other place to put the boxes so we just started to stack them in the living room. This is the night before we started to moved, and their were a few boxes that we still had to pack that we still needed to use the next morning. Neither of us know how all of this fitted in our old apartment.

Hayden loved to get into the pots and pan cupboard, which was this one. He found the cupboard about 2 weeks before we were going to move so I never bothered to put safety locks on since we were leaving soon. As you can see he couldn't find any of his pots to play with.

I never did get around of getting a video of our old apartment, so here is the layout in case you were wondering what our place looked like.
Two-bedroom Apartment

• 879-927 square feet
• Gas for heating , cooking & hot water included
• Washer and dryer
• Dishwasher
• Central air conditioning
• Walk-in closet
• Private storage

This is our new place that we love!!! The one thing that I forgot to show in the video is our front door faces an elementary schools playground. Their is a fence in between, but their is a gate that I have seen from here to there but I have not gone over to see if their is a lock on it.

All utilities are the same as our old apartment were all we have to pay is rent and electricity!!! The only difference is the washer and dryer hookup and their is no dishwasher here.

Hayden found were we keep the pots and pans pretty quickly.



I didn't do it?!? Like father like son.

Normally it looks a lot worse then this. Like I mentioned in the video I have since put a safety lock on this cupboard.