Quilt Sisters

I guess you can call me blog-happy or even blog-addicted. I've had my work blog for about 2 1/2 years, and it was fun - in a "I have to because it's work" sort of way. But then I started doing this blog to stay in touch with friends and family and also to record our lives (I'm not a journal-writer and I haven't scrapbooked forever).

This week I started another blog with some of my quilting friends. Quilt Sisters is our way to stay connected with our projects and to inspire each other. We've only been doing it since Tuesday and the bizarre thing is that we have people from all over the world that have found our site and visited. What a fun way to share!

I recently posted about a quilt that is yet to be named... take a look here and comment on which name you like best.

This whole technology thing is so great!

Ms. Creativity Strikes Again

Shea has a talent for being creative.... She decided this week that Sasha needed some new clothes since the little jacket Andrew had gotten her as a puppy was too small.

In case you can't tell, Sasha is modeling a purple print sleeveless jacket with a coordinating scarf in sunny yellow.

That is one lucky puppy! If you're lucky, Shea will make an outfit for you one day.

I won the wish!

Shea and I did the turkey wishbone thing. Braden decided to be the photographer and here are the pictures he took. Pretty funny!

I broke off the largest part. She was obviously
not very happy about it. She told me that she wished for Kayla to be happy on her mission and since I won, that meant Kayla wouldn't be happy and it was all my fault.


I told her to complain to her therapist.

Pictures from Kayla!!

Kayla had a member of her ward email us a few pictures... so wonderful!


Kayla with what has to be one of the biggest leafs I've ever sean and with her companions Sister Barlow and Sister Yuri. Here's a bit from today's letter:

Washington is COLD. I am always cold, and I don't like it :( I think my feet are going to fall off before I come home, will you still love me? Oh and my nose might fall off too. (Don't worry, I'm sending her more warm stuff for Christmas!)

In our mission we have been asked to go out for about 3 hours each day and knock doors and talk to people about the gospel and invite them to come take a church tour and learn more about the gospel. This is kinda scary. Most people are pretty nice, and will let you down easy. Occasionally you get people who are pretty interested and will listen. And sometimes, you get some pretty interesting people.

So last week, we were tracting in an apartment complex and sister barlow was like, k sister sawyer and sister yura this is your door. So i knocked, and it was a guy and a girl, in their 20's......and they were kinda scarry looking, long hair, dark clothes, piercings.....so I started talking and I asked if he had a belief in Jesus Christ.....He looked straight at me and very forcefully said NO. Me and sister Yura were in shock or something, cause we couldn't say anything, then 10 seconds later, sister yura goes ".......mmmmm I like your hair." Hahahahaha......after we left sister barlow could not stop laughing, she found our reactions very humorous.

Yesterday was an amazing day at church....we had 5 of our investigators come!!! and they brought their families! This is such a happy day in the life of a missionary :). We have lots of appointments set up for this week and I'm super excited to be teaching and sharing the gospel.

Giving Thanks!

A chilly, rainy day in West Texas... the perfect day to stay inside and share Thanksgiving together! I have so much to be thankful for (of course I still complain, but in a more thankful way:) Here is my top 10 list of THANKS...

1. My Kids. They aren't perfect but I love them. More than my bike, quilting and even pumpkin pie.
2. My Husband. Only a great guy could put up with my craziness. And our kids un-perfectness.
3. Missionaries. You just don't realize how wonderful it is until your child is serving.
4. Health. I've had a few minor issues and I am so grateful when I feel good. (This is why I have "Feeling Good" on my play list below)
5. Abundance. We have a wonderful home, good cars, lots of food and closets of clothes. We have been very blessed.
6. 4-legged family members. Jack is a wonderful, hairy husky that we love. Sasha the chihuahau is very loving and fun as long as no one else is around and Faya the tabby is my constant companion as I work each day.
7. A mother, father and brother that love me. And I love them.
8. The worlds best in-laws. This is not an exaggeration. (includes my sister-in-law Ann!)
9. Friends. I have been very blessed through my life to have wonderful friends. They are my sisters.
10. Chocolate.



We all missed Kayla - but substituted her for 4 of our missionaries here. (not quite the same, of course:) It's always fun to feed four hungry young men. Then we had fun playing Apples to Apples and Speak it Not. Shea asked them all to give her their favorite scripture so she could mark them in her scriptures. She's going to be a great missionary one day!






Shea was in charge of decorations and the centerpieces... it looked beautiful!

Snowy Quilt projects

My friend Tammy thought she wanted to be a quilter and bought enough stuff to make two of these cute table runners. But once she got started, she decided she didn't REALLY want to be a quilter, so I made her one and this one is for our other friend Kristi.... we were neighbors about 11 years ago. We've had babies together, traveled together and gone through many of life's struggles together. I love my friends! (I must - because these table runners were SO cute, I didn't want to give them up!)





















I made this snowman quilt for Lois while she was here last month for her birthday. Happy 81st birthday!!

I love it when Lois comes to visit... she does my laundry and gives me time to quilt!! She also makes the worlds best rolls. hmmmmm. That makes me hungry.

Sawyer family tailgate party that doomed the Red Raiders

We decided to have our own "family tailgate party" on Saturday for the Tech/OU game. Tech WAS 10-0. Undefeated. So we went to the store and let the kids pick out the party food... I had it all planned, I was going to take pictures of our whole family wearing red and black supporting the winning team. A real fun family time.


But then the game happened and Tech pretty much STUNK from the beginning. The kids never did get into it and I decided to do something more productive (like read a book) than watch Robert yell at the TV. At the 3rd quarter (and many more OU touchdowns) Robert went and took down the Tech flag from our front yard. Yes - it really was that bad.


So no, I did not take any pictures after the initial food excitement wore off. But hey - it was fun thinking it was going to be fun :)

Letter from Kayla

Here is an excerpt from Kayla's email today:

I have 2 companions. Sister Barlow and Sister Yura. Sister Barlow is from Utah and she is my trainer. She goes home in February. Sister Yura is from Mongolia and has been the field for 2 months. We live in the home of some of the members, the Spaders. They are an older couple. The church is trying to get as many missionaries in member homes as possible, they sign a 9 month contract. It's pretty amazing. I'm pretty much spoiled, I love it :).

I absolutely love that sister Yura is from mongolia. She just started learning english at the mtc, i'm pretty sure, and she as a very strong accent. One example I can give you is this....We were talking about music and she said, "you know this song? Too late to lopogize" Yes, she was trying to sing, It's too late to apologize" I love it! So, I love learning languages, just random words here and there from lots of different languages, so I asked her to teach me some in mongolian. I don't know the symbols, but to say 'Ilove you' it sounds like this....'Bi chum heartse' So she taught me another phrase....'Bi emmer tychango' and she told me that this meant, I am cool. So we are teaching a mongolian and I wanted to show off and say this phrase to him, so I did. It wasn't until yesterday that sister Yura told me what this phrase really means....basically I told our investigator that I am a very seductive woman. Ya, I'm never trusting sister Yura again :)

I am planning on printing pictures today and sending them to you.

Oh my goodness I absolutely LOVE Washington!!! It is SO beautiful here! There are so many trees, and flowers, and it is so green everywhere! It's only rained a few times and it's really not that bad, yet :). We are by the water, some lake, I forgot what it was called, but it is beautiful! I love the water. I think there is a lake called lake sawyer somewhere in our mission, I will find it and take a picture by it.


Missionary work is awesome. I absolutely love it. I feel the spirit all the time. I mean, what could be better than this, serving mankind by sharing this wonderful message about Christ and His love for each and every one of us. I am definitely one of the luckiest people on earth.

Smart kids = Free donuts!

Did you know that kids can get up to 6 FREE donuts at Krispy Kreme for their A's? We've done this for about 5 years now (surprising that we aren't fatter!)

I've also heard that Mr. Gatti's and Chuck E. Cheese's give out tokens for A's, but I'd rather poke my eyes out than go to those places.

Braden & Shea had an awards assembly at school today for the most recent term. Shea received "A Honors" for all A's and Braden received "AB Honors" for having all A's & B's.

I LOVE THESE TWO SMARTY PANTS!

They have both been working VERY hard this year at school and hey, I get a few donuts out of it as well. I consider it being a good parent.... less fat and cavities for them! Of course, the ultimate goal is scholarships, and if a few donuts along the way keeps them motivated - then I LOVE IT!

Kayla's new address

Kayla is flying to Seattle tomorrow!! Her three weeks in the MTC have flown by and she is on her way to be a "real" missionary. Her letters have been wonderful... I especially like the parts where she says what a great mom I am.

New address:
Sister Kayla Sawyer
WA-Sea Mission
13353 Bellevue Redmond Rd Ste 103
Bellevue, WA 98005-2329

If you feel so inclined, here are some ideas on what to send in a care package:

Stamps
Treats "especially the chocolate and peanut butter variety"
Mints
Headbands that could match conservative styles
Lipgloss
Nylons

Kayla hasn't just hinted that she wants to hear from family and friends, it's pretty much been a plea for mail! She hasn't said too much about being homesick, but I know the holidays will be tough.... and mail is what all missionaries live for!

I don't have any pictures of Kayla on her mission yet - but I loved this one from our family photo shoot.