My latest Crochet Projects

 I'm not sure if I have posted some of these or not, but I'm too lazy to go back and check, so I'm just posting them anyway.  Above is Sly Cooper, which is a video game character (I think) that I made for an etsy customer.

Next is a custom mini of a british librarian that was also made for an etsy customer.  I had to create patterns for the mini handbag, and mini cardigan that she is wearing.  It was a lot of work, but turned out really cute.

 This is Link (from the Legend of Zelda video games).  I made this for my nephew's birthday.  I'm especially proud of that shield.

 Here is a blanket that I made for my friends, The Swinks, who are having a baby, any day now...

 This Zebra hat is also for baby Swink.

 Ivy's birthday Hello Kitty hat.

 Corbin's birthday Minecraft Creeper Blanket.

 And Grandma Jensen's 90th birthday lap blanket.

I actually made lots of other things that I made in the last few months that I either don't have pictures of, or I am just too lazy to look for them.  They include Halloween hats (and Ivy's crown) for the whole family, and a couple of other etsy orders.  Now that I cut off the etsy customers, and have no immediate projects in mind, I'm taking a short, but much deserved, crochet break.

Our Christmas Adventures

For some reason, I am really struggling to post this blog today.  In Chrome I can't type, in Firefox its posting my pictures in a different order.  Whatever. I'm just going to post it with the Firefox weird order, so please excuse me if this post doesn't fully make sense.

The above photo is a picture of a gift we received on our porch on Dec 13.  Someone we know is bringing us gifts for the 12 days of Christmas.  We have no idea who.  But it is fun to see what is going to be there every day.

Below are some pictures from the Floyd Family Christmas party.  The first one in like 5 or so years.  It was super fun.  We went to Hollywood Connection in West Valley and did lots of fun stuff.  Thanks to Max and Mark for setting it all up.

 Earlier this month Marde and I took the 3 youngest kids to the Festival of Trees while the 2 big boys were at school.  It was fun to see all the cute tree ideas.

 Echo by our tree, she's obsessed with it.  She LOVES the lights.

 What is Christmas without gingerbread cookies?

 Ivy playing in the snow (which is technically christmas, but sort of).

 The weekend after Thanksgiving we usually go with our friends, The Bollwinkel's, to Temple Square to see the lights.  I think this year may have been the last year we do this tradition.  It was way too crowded and took all my self control to not have a panic attack (I'm not a fan of crowds, especially when my kids are involved).  The lights were beautiful though.

 When I was a kid, my family had a tradition of setting up Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I carried that tradition over to our family, and our kids love it.  Here are our Christmas house pictures.

6 months

Scott and I just realized that we have now lived back in Utah for 6 months.  I can not believe its been 6 months!  It went by so fast!!  Here's an update about how everybody feels about this big change.

The Kids:

The kids feel great about it and are so well adjusted that I often joke that they didn't even notice that we moved.  They love seeing Grandma and Grandpa so much.  They love taking the bus to school.  They love getting out of the house to do all the fun stuff we do (that we didn't really do much of in Boise).  They love the snow.  They even love having a mailbox in our yard, which seems weird, but we had one of those community mailboxes in our neighborhood in Boise, so they think its the coolest thing to just step out in the front yard to get the mail. I think the only regret that has come up is that they don't get to see Dallin and Bowen as much.  They have to wait for big holidays and family reunions because they are just too far away.  Other than that I think it has seriously been great for everybody.

Scott and Rochelle:

We also feel great about it.  We are really happy with the decision and feel like it was the right thing to do.  We have had A LOT of fun in these 6 months.  We of course, see Scott's parents quite a lot, and that is always fun.  Its been especially awesome for birthdays and holidays.  They also babysit for us, probably more than they want to, but it has been really cool for us.  We also get to see a lot more of my family.  While living in Idaho we could go several months to a year without seeing a single member of my family.  Its been awesome to see them more.  I missed them so much while we were gone.  We have been hanging out with our friends a lot too.  We have little outings, or get together to watch movies, or have boys or girls nights out.  It is a blast, and so nice to have a social life again. I think the only thing that has been a little difficult for us is the house situation.  We LOVED our house in Boise, with its fully fenced backyard, all bedrooms on one floor, giant kitchen and master bathroom, and new plumbing.  It's been a hard adjustment to not have a fenced in yard, a tiny kitchen and practically non-existent master bathroom.  And don't even get me started on the plumbing!  But its getting better as we get used to it.

Overall we are happy to be Utahn's again.  I hope the next 6 months goes by just as fast, because Winter is not my favorite.  Already anxious for Summer...

Corbin's birthday!

I can't believe my first born is already 9 years old!  Time goes by so fast when you're an adult!  

For Corbin's birthday we mostly just hung out together (many of us were sick with sore throats, horrible coughs, and one of us had thrown up at least 15 times the night before). So we only saw Grandma Marde and Grandpa Ross.  We opened some presents, played a candy bar game, and ate cake. It was fun.  Then gma and gpa took the three littlest kids to their house while Scott and I took the big boys to see Despicable Me 2 at the dollar movie.  After all that was over we went home and ate crepes for dinner (Corbin's choice).  What a good laid back kind of day.  Just the way I like it.  Especially after being up all night with sick children.

Anyway, here are a few facts about my awesome 9 year old.  

~Corbin is very shy and quiet, but managed to come out of his shell a little this year and make new friends and participate in school group activities.  I'm very proud that he could jump that hurdle.  

~Corbin is so smart and occasionally gets bored at school.  His teacher says she can always tell when he's done listening because he will just reach in his desk and grab his Harry Potter book and start reading.

~Corbin goes to 4th grade for all his reading school work because he's more advanced than the rest of his class. He should probably go to 5th grade reading class.... Like I mentioned before he's been reading Harry Potter.  He's currently on the 5th book. He likely will move to 4th grade for math before the year is over as well.

~Corbin loves playing video games on the computer and is incredible at navigating it.  It actually is quite amazing to watch.  I feel like he's going to be one of those teenage prodigy's that designs some life changing computer program that saves everyone a lot of time or something. I swear he's smarter than me.

~Corbin is everyone's favorite. All the kids fight over who gets to play with him.  He's really laid back and plays so well with all of them.  He's usually in a good mood, and pretty patient.  It warms my heart watching him play with his little siblings.

Corbin is a totally awesome kid.  I swear he is the most well-behaved boy in history.  He's easy to get along with and is always helpful and willing to do things I ask him to.  I'm so glad he is my first born child.  After having such an easy kid, it was a no brainer that we would have more (which I might not be able to say if Dexter was first).  I can't imagine our family without him and I love him so much.  Happy birthday Corbin!  You are the coolest 9 year old EVER!

Corbin's handmade (by me) Minecraft Creeper blanket

 And his Minecraft cake

Happy Halloween!

Okay, this is a couple of weeks late, but I still need to post it anyway.  We had a lovely Halloween.  We did our traditional stuff, like chili and witches brew, and added some new stuff like grandma's banana ghosts and deviled egg spiders, and some super yummy pumpkin dip.  We had just a few people over for dinner and then went trick or treating.  It was lots of fun as always (except the part where Ivy tripped on sidewalk and fell hard right on her face, getting a good sized bruise and goose egg AND putting a giant scratch on the lens of her glasses!).

Here are some picks of our Halloween antics:

Ivy is Princess Bubblegum (Adventure Time)

 Dexter is Mikey (TMNT)

 Corbin is Raf (TMNT)

 Echo is Jake the Dog (Adventure Time)

 Malcolm is Donny (TMNT)

 Fun with Pumpkins

 The boys are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

 The girls are characters from Adventure Time

 Did you know that The Sweet Tooth Fairy gives free cupcakes to kids (and adults) in costume on Halloween?  Yummers!

 Our scary appetizers

Halloween is so fun.  We had a great time!

Reaching a milestone we didn't know we'd reach.

Today is Ivy's fifth birthday.  I am so happy.

I keep finding myself overcome with emotion today. Not while I'm busy with the kids, but in moments of reflection. I silently cried while I drove Ivy to preschool this morning, and wept openly as I cleaned the kitchen this afternoon. I don't know what the deal is. In these rare, quiet moments I get lost in my thoughts and feel so overwhelmingly grateful for these last five years. 

When all of this started back in June 2008 I didn't know what to feel. I feared that I would lose the tiny baby growing inside of me. I cried myself to sleep more times than I care to admit. I was devastated. But then she was born, and she was the most beautiful little baby. somehow Scott and I found the strength to make it through those hard days. And believe me, that first year of her life was HARD. And now I find myself 5 years later and I wouldn't change even a moment. My daughter is special. I am special because I am her mother. Heavenly Father gave us a beautiful gift and our entire family is better for it.

Ivy's heart will never be like ours and she will have to struggle with the ups and downs that come with it her entire life, but she is strong and she is amazing. I wish I could do these hard things for her, but I can't. I can only stand by her side, hold her hands, and tell her how much I love her and I know everything will be alright. I just have so much love for her.

I still fear what the future holds for Ivy, but I also have an abundance of hope.  This little tiny girl has already accomplished so much and I know she will do great things whether she lives to be 100 or not. I am so happy to have Ivy in my life.  She is a beacon on light and hope for us and I am so proud of her.

Happy 5th birthday, Ivy!  I love and adore you!