Fun Anniversary trip

Sometimes when you get older it's just too much trouble to celebrate things.  I was feeling like that for our 39th wedding anniversary this year.  Jim, on the other hand is much more sentimental than I am  and made reservations at the Salt Lake Marriott City Center so we could at least get out of our routines a little and check out the new City Center Mall.

OK said I, when I found out there was a swimming pool and hot tub also.

In the course of conversation when we checked in, the cute boy at the desk found out we were celebrating our anniversary.  He upgraded our reservation from "nobody cheap" to "Uptown Chic".  We had to use our room key in the elevator to get to our floor.  The ordinary riff raff  were not allowed. I was so tickled.  We went to see the City Center Mall which was beautiful but there were only 2 or 3 stores I would dare enter. I would be too afraid of bumping into something uber expensive in the others.When we got back to our room, there was a tray of fruit and cheese and crackers with an orchid and expensive water on the table. That Darling boy at the reservation desk had sent it to us to help us celebrate.

That isnt the right tray, i didnt get a picture of it, but it's close. Our room was actually fancier than this one.

Any way, the pool and hot tub were very relaxing and I felt pretty special every time we got in the elevator and had to make a big show of using our room key and pushing floor 11. Fun time.

Caleb's Graduation

My 3 youngest children, none of them are very happy people........NOT!

My baby, Caleb, Graduated from High School Last Thursday. Where did the time go.

 
Caleb and his Andersen Nephews.

 Jim, Caleb and I.

New house

We were thinking of refinishing our hardwood floor and extending the wood throughout the main level. When we got the estimates, I looked at them and asked Jim if we had to live here forever, because if we were going to move, I didn't want to spend the money to put all that wood in. He surprised me by saying, "We don't have to live here forever, lets move".  That started an avalanche of events and work and money spent to make our house the best it's ever been. It was on the market for one week and we accepted an excellent offer.
We looked for the perfect house, talked about building, re-imagined house plans, and realized that we could not get the "perfect house" within our price range. So we found the best that our money could buy, and will have to work on it over the years to make it perfect.
This is our new house.  The pictures are already gone of our old house.

We thought that once we accepted an offer and had an offer accepted, the stress would be over.  I guess we forgot the headache of finding all the little nitpicky things the bank wants in order to process our loan.

Throughout all this, Caleb is graduating from High School, Going to the Temple, and Leaving on a Mission.  We have to be out of this house 6 days after dropping Caleb off for his mission. I hope we survive this. 

2012 Christmas Quilts

It's time to choose Christmas Quilts again.  It's a miracle I Have 8 to give this year! But then "Miracle" is the Porter Family's middle name this year.

 This is a big one, you can see that it covers the top of my King size bed.  It is a little dark, good look for a cabin.  It is called "Just Squares"  Hannah

 This is smaller as you can see on the bed.  It's red orange/salmon, green, yellow and black, much brighter than this picture.  This is "QQ sampler".Joe

This one is pretty small. Probably just a throw at the bottom of the bed. "Posey's"Sarah

This almost fits across the king size bed.  "Carribbean dreams" Ben

 This is probably twin size.  Made with Christmas Fabrics. "Christmas Ribbons"
Julian

 This is made of flannel and is pretty small.  It is bigger than a crib quilt.  I think it is about 2 yards square.
"Flannel Star" Abby

This is also a small throw, very masculine, the fabric has ducks on it.  The colors are much richer in real life
"Pinwheel ducks" Caleb
This is the Order
1. Hannah
2. Joe
3. Caleb
4. Betsy (Sorry,Betsy allready chose hers since she is here.  She chose the reject from last year)
5. Sarah
6. Ben
7. Abby
8. Julian

If you hurry and pick, I will be able to send Ben's with Betsy, at least I will if they choose one that is finished.  Several of them haven't been quilted yet.
Love you all.
Mom

Doodle Hoot Quilts and Embellishments

I DID IT!  I started a little pattern company called Doodle Hoot and just published my first 3 patterns!  A few of my friends just bought them and wrote their names on them!  A few even had me Autograph them!  I have really neat friends.

This is called "Holy Family".  It is the first of a set of three.  The other two will be shepherds and wisemen.  They will all be the same size and hang together like a triptych.

This is my "Love Multiplies/the Storyteller" quilt.  It has a story that you can read about on my website...YES!  MY OWN WEBSITE! Doodlehoot.com.

And this is my Watermelon Purse.  I just got the idea and made it up.  I carry one around.  It makes me feel like summer.

Can you believe I actually did it.  I took pains to make sure my patterns looked really professional.  They look so good in the bags, I just love it. Whew....