Once Upon a September

The windows are open and it's 68 degrees in my house in the afternoon. I love you, September. And is anyone else making lists of Christmas gift ideas for their family yet? Just me? I've got Sarah's birthday, Halloween, and Sarah's baptism just before this baby is born and Thanksgiving and Christmas in the six weeks after he comes so I'm pretty much trying to plan/shop/sew for it all starting now. Plus we need to buy a car that will actually fit all six of us. And I gotta figure out where I'm going to put him in this house once he gets here.  And Justin and I may actually have to have a real conversation about what his name is going to be. I do have his blessing outfit though!

Here's the final quilt I made for the baby. It's my favorite one because 3 generations of quilters made it. My mom actually did most of work since it was on frames in her living room but I did the binding because binding is my favorite. (I actually finished it weeks ago during the Olympics but then I left the finished product at my mom's.)

Aren't those animals the cutest? It's going to hang in his room so we'll see it all the time.

Sarah hand-quilted this tree. It was her first time hand-quilting and she loved it. I am so proud of her. Hand-quilting lives on in the next generation!

Here's a sneak peak of Erica as Princess Anna. She got her Halloween costume early so that she can get lots of use out of it. And she does.

Last Saturday was my birthday so on Friday we headed to SLC. We stopped at Cabella's and Ikea, got some lunch then checked into a fancy-pants hotel with the kids. The hotel was full of business travelers and convention goers. Let's just say 3 little kids and a pregnant lady stood out pretty well. On the plus side, we got the pool to ourselves every time.

Henry took some pictures in the room:

Sleeping in the same room with all 4 members of my family isn't exactly my idea of a vacation but the kids did surprisingly well both nights (Erica even slept in a portable crib). Earplugs and mask sure helped.

We just took it easy and toured Temple Square and City Creek.

Why am I always making my kids look into the sun for a picture? Sorry kids!

Some of them love maps, the others love touchscreens.

This log had something to do with the Hill Cumorah exhibit.

More touchscreens.

This is totally a natural pose. He and Erica did not like the organ music in the tabernacle so we waited outside.

This day was also my birthday. I'm 33, with 3 3/4 kids.

After I took this picture below, an Asian lady thought Erica was so cute (Asian tourists think blond kids are the cutest thing and I'm not being racist or stereotypical, just observant.) and Erica thought she was taking a picture of her, not the statue so she kept posing and smiling at her camera as she walked back to me.

These are my people. We wanted to take a tour of the Conference Center but it was closed (as was the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum and the Church Office Building. We did not pick the best day.)

Erica called these lions Jesus Cows. It's not sacrilegious if a 2-year-old says it.

Last but not least, the organist performing in the Assembly Hall played me this song for my birthday. Justin told him I liked Rachmaninoff so he played this just for me. From memory, you guys. It went on for like five minutes. It was so kind of him. Then he went back to the organ and played Halloween music because all organ music sounds like it's from a haunted house.

Then we went back to hotel to swim (again) and then went out to dinner and got ice cream and then back to the hotel to watch the fourth quarter of the BYU game because I'm nice like that. Then on Sunday we headed home via Big Cottonwood Canyon and Midway. That evening we went to my mom's house where a German chocolate cake and my siblings and their kids were waiting for me.