Rodeo Run 2014

Steve ran the Rodeo Run 10k this morning with two of his brothers. It's one of the events that kicks off the month-long rodeo here in H-Town. He ran this race last year and I brought Clark and tiny Lana to cheer him on but he never saw us (twice!) along the race route. And it's not like there are huge cheering crowds...as in I was the only one cheering in one spot. This year I did everything I could to make sure he saw his fan club: we made signage, we all wore fluorescent clothing (and lipstick, in my case), and we were lucky enough to get a bunch of noisemakers from sponsors. And...it worked! He saw us in both locations and even gave us a thumbs up for one of the pictures. Good job to our family runners.

When they weren't watching our racers, Clark and his cousins watched the trail riders clip-clopping down one of the streets downtown. Yee-haw, Houston! Let's get this rodeo started!

Elephant Pajamas

Lana has outgrown all her pajamas so we went shopping for some the other day. The one store we went to didn't have any in her size so I came home and decided to make some. However, the thermal pajama fabric I had in my stash was intended for Clark so I went ahead and made him a pair. Makes sense, right? I made the pattern for these based off a pair he already owns. I let him choose the ribbing color and navy blue won out over baby blue, orange, and gray. Whenever I'm working on a sewing project he always asks, "Is that for me?!" and gets so excited when I say yes. He loves to wear everything I sew for him and I'm enjoying this stage while it lasts! Not to leave Lana out, I ordered some fabric to make her some similar pajamas so she'll get some soon.

Snow Days

A few weeks ago we flew out of Houston to find some snow. Ironically, while we were gone it snowed in Houston. Clark is a snow-loving little boy and year-round talks about and pretends he is in snow. He loves to go to grandma's house and throw snowballs, which is exactly what he did. But not without loads of traveling first! As with our last trip to SLC we flew into Las Vegas--very early, which explains the pajamas--and drove up. We couldn't pass through southern Utah without a visit to Kara's pharmacy...and Chick-fil-A for Steve. My mom graciously offered to take my kids for a day while Steve and I went skiing/snowboarding at the Canyons. The snow was terrible and I had a run-in with some grumpy people but it was the highlight of my year so far. It's been a few years/a couple babies since I've been up to the mountain so it was a wonderful treat.

Steve went snowboarding a second day and didn't fare so well--he suffered a concussion at the end of the day after a collision with one of his buddies knocked him down onto the icy slope. He assures me he's retired from racing now. While he was doing that...the kids, my mom, and my sister checked out City Creek Mall and visited Karlee there at work. Lana was ecstatic to have yet another person who is not me try to hold her. (She eventually warmed up to both of her aunts and even Grandpa.) I also took the kids to visit some of our good friends from Houston that moved to SLC several months ago.

Grandma always has fun toys and this time she got out Monster Mash, a game we played as kids, that Clark now talks about all the time. She had also built us a pretty nice sledding run on the side of her house that we slid down with our cousins. Clark and I went down several times in between snow angels, eating snow, and throwing the crystalline snow.

These boys had so much fun together! We have such good memories from this trip.

These are from our drive back to Vegas. Isn't sibling hand-holding the cutest?

Baggy Sweater

I'm still sewing...I made Lana this little baggy sweater with another self-drafted pattern I made using a cardigan of hers as a guide. It took almost a week since I don't usually have more than a few minutes here and there to sew. It turned out just as I had envisioned, though. 

New Jeans

Lady Lana has herself a new pair of custom skinny jeans! I've always wanted to try making some baby/kid jeans with a yoke in the back and have never found a pattern to fit the bill. So...I made my own pattern using a pair of her babyGap jeans as a guide. I don't like drafting my own patterns since I'm painfully slow at it and I'm usually modifying as I sew it up, but I'll do it if I have to!

It's hard to see in the pictures, but these jeans have a functional button and fly (no zipper), back pockets, flat front, elastic back, and back yoke. Now that I have the pattern I'm hoping to make up another pair. I love these!