Crafty's Bridal Shower

I have been working for weeks getting ready for Crafty's bridal shower. I used the last of Grandma Benson's blocks to piece one of her quilts and the other, I made from scratch. It turned out to be the prettiest quilt I've ever made.

We started setting up about 12:30. My Big Sis and L'il Sis both came to help as did Scout, Baby Doll, and K. The green quilt took forever to square up. Guests were starting to show up when I was still tacking the second quilt. Thankfully, all went well. 

Crafty was an excellent host and bride, so I'm not sure anyone even noticed I was running behind. 

Beauty was my #1 quilter. She probably tied twice as many knots as anyone else. I don't know how I would have finished the quilts without her. 

Princess got all the food set up and Duchess was an excellent helper. She even took pictures!

It was a good day.

Wordless Wednesday - We Got This...Push!!

 

You can do it!

Guest Blog: Gloria Falls by the Dog Walker

Ever since going to attend a Singles Ward for the LDS church, I've been trying to socialize and talk to girls by going to the FHE activities. For this activity, it was a short hike up the mountain to visit one of the most majestic waterfalls of Utah. It's been a long time since I ever been on a hike. I think the last time I've been on a hike was back when working on the Backpacking merit badge in Boy Scouts. It was a mile and a half up the steep rocky hill. When making it there, the waterfall was really beautiful, yet it was a little chill to be nearby when it's close to sunset. None of us knew why it was called Gloria Falls, but we were amazed by it. Have you ever been to Gloria Falls? If you haven't and are willing to go on a hike, you ought to see it. It's really beautiful.

Guest Blog: Unexpected Car Failure by Gamer

It's always fun to see husband and wife perspectives on the same event. Here is Gamer's story.

Unexpected car failure. Lead to being in Saint George another night. Bro in law's car broke down. Me and Bossy stayed behind to drive his car home today. Had some fun with the little ones at Pioneer Park while she worked at the hotel room. Will be heading home soon. Lots of fun and activities around town and at the hotel with the pool. 

It's funny, when I ask my sweetie to be in charge of pics, I get one or two. Gamer had 68!

These are my favorite!

He definitely has a mind of his own.

Guest Blog: Tuacahn by Bossy

Our annual trip to Tuacahn took an unexpected detour. We wanted to ride the train at the Thunder Junction Playground before leaving town in our caravan with my family. Taco rode down with Dog Walker in his car so we had more space. As we loaded up the group to ride the train, Dog Walker’s car wouldn’t start. They thought battery or security lock out. Gamer and I got it jumped and we decided the 10-minute freeway run to the park was the perfect litmus test for the vibe’s worthiness to journey back to SLC. 

Unfortunately, a car transport semi was on fire on the freeway and we were soon stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. By the time we got off the freeway Dog Walker lost power steering. He did not trust making it the 500 feet to our destination and pulled off and turned off the car. Which led to the car not able to turn over at all. 

Eventually, we got it towed to a shop. Rearranged things so Burrito, Taco and Dog Walker could ride home with grandma as they all have work tomorrow. And I have my work computer with me so Gamer and the littles and I are spending the night in St George to see if the car is fixable and then we will drive it home. 

Unplanned vacation. My parents have been at a travel tourney for over a week and are ready to be home. I am so grateful for flexibility and being able to make it work when things don’t go as planned.

Also the park was super amazing. And so is the hotel we have to crash at.

Happy 4th of July!!

We had an awesome 4th, not quite like days past, but great all the same. Scout took Curly to the airport early this morning for FCCLA Nationals in Orlando, so he had his own celebration.

Baby Doll wasn't feeling very well, so she slept most of the day. Scout is watching Crafty's pup here at the house while she is on vacation with B's family. Brisket is afraid of the fireworks and that has made things more difficult, but we are managing.

We planned an impromptu party this afternoon. My sweetie bought fireworks and I made brats and hotdogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, and melon.

Beauty and The Beast came over with their boys. Scout's friend, K and her fiancé joined as well. After dinner, we played Blank Slate until is was dark enough for fireworks.

 

Oh, and most importantly, Bossy announced her new little one due in December on Facebook, so I can share the exciting news with all of you!

Happy 4th of July!

Wordless Wednesday - My Little Daredevil

Gender Reveal!!

Teach called me this morning. Apparently, there is a new and quicker way to test for gender. They do a DNA test and if it shows a Y chromosome,  the baby is a boy.

But wait!

I'm getting ahead of myself. 

So Teach held up her fingers, one at a time. A pink one for Twizlet, a blue one for Twizzler, and another pink one for Twizzle.

Then she held up two more pink nails for the twin baby girls she is carrying!

Two more little granddaughters...

So excited!!

Guest Blog: Single Ward Potluck by the Dog Walker

 Sorry about the wait for a post, I just didn't know what to write about until today. I have been attending the Singles Ward for about half a year and still trying to talk to girls. Like I said before, it's still not an easy process at 31 years of age, but it's still going on. Today at the Singles Ward Linger-longer, it was a potluck and I brought my family's favorite dish, Apple & Banana Salad. You remember the recipe on how it's easily made. There were a lot of single adults at the linger-longer after Church. We had briskets and many kinds of salads and desserts. Some of the members thought that the apple and banana salad was good. It would seem like a big hit for this dish that I made so much of it just for the ward members, but we've all had our fair share of many other things, like pasta salad, grilled mac-and-cheese, and other fruit salads. I was glad that I was able to share the delicious recipe to the ward.

Guest Blog: Trying to Date Again by the Dog Walker

 Even after a couple of years from the divorce, I've been attending a Singles Ward to see if I can find another girl to talk to and go on a date. But with priorities going on, like working full-time at Walmart and helping the family out with house duties, and for being almost 32, it's kind of hard for me to do so, because I need to respect boundaries and try not to rush my life forward. I remember times when using the dating apps to talk to girls from Tinder, Mutual, and Hinge, but a lot of times when trying to talk to them, the apps have required subscriptions and it just consumes the money out of my bank account. It sometimes makes me think that dating is truly hard, because as an adult, you have to be patient with other girls and if they respectfully decline, you just have to move on.

But I digress with all the pessimism. One time recently, I asked a girl from the Singles Ward if she wanted to come see the movie King of Kings with my family. She said yes and we went to see it. It was a very good emotional movie about teaching children about the life of Jesus Christ. She really loved the movie and had a great time with me as well as I have. She texted me saying that she just wants to be friends and that it was okay with me.

As previously stated about the dating apps, Crafty has helped me with making sure my profile was complete and that the apps didn't require a subscription. The best way was to have a limit of five girls to like per day. The only problem is that I've gotten 27 admirers, but in order to see who they are, I'd have to agree to a subscription, but I'm just being careful, just like I have been on trying not to be the creepy and pushy type of guy. I even have been told that as long as I am patient and know that there is a girl out there for me to date and eventually marry, I'll be able to abide by it.

Guest Blog: Samy Kind Volume 5 is Coming by the Dog Walker

 For the last few months, I've been getting the fifth Samy Kind book written for Mom to edit and see how the story goes. As you may have known about Samy Kind morally showing kindness but faces a lot of life challenges that help him improve his kindness, for this one, I will tell you about what its theme will be. It's about Samy being invited to one of his friends, Parker's family reunion for the weekend. Parker has a cousin whom he doesn't get along with very well. Samy's on a quest to show kindness that can help resolve a very big family crisis. I hope you'll look forward to reading it by the time it's published.

Guest Blog: Blast from the Past: Tangerine by the Dog Walker

 I remember back in middle school when I had to take a reading class on one of the novels for a book report. I was a little hesitant about it and I didn't quite understand it, but after trying to learn to read and getting help from my Mom, I started to understand how the story goes. I was assigned to read Tangerine by Edward Bloor. I didn't think it would have some intense moments, like a sinkhole incident or even dealing with muck fires and daily lightning storms. I sometimes quoted from the book and it drove my dad nuts! He didn't want any part of it, just because he couldn't stand it. I also remember in middle school the different book cover styles of the same story, but I've never seen this recent one on top. It must be quite a cool way of showing different styles. And speaking of styles, so many years later, I noticed Baby Doll has the talent of decorate-painting book pages. She asked me if I had any book that she could try painting on and I thought of letting her try Tangerine. She wasn't quite sure what to paint on it, but I told her she could try either orange circles that represent the tangerine fruit or even little soccer balls. She's barely starting on the project. I'm sure it'll turn out nicely. Have you ever read this teen novel?