Christmas Quilt

A year ago I decided I wanted to make a quilt. Quite a large project to just decide to do one day. So last February I went to Porter's and selected a color scheme and some fabric to begin. I recieved a quilting book for Christmas last year with hundreds of different patterns to piece together. I chose one and began cutting like crazy. My Grandma Clement owns a rotary cutter and mat with a measuring board to make the process easier.(I got my own set for Christmas this year by-the-way) Come April, I had 12 9x9 squares finished and I was ready for a break!
Once I finished out the school year at the end of May, I pulled out the project to begin again. Again, I made my way over to Porter's to get the backing and the stripping material. Peter was kind enough to help me out with the choosing of colors. So then slowly through the summer I cut the strips and sewed the top layer together. My Mom got a new sewing machine earlier in the spring and lent me her old one.
Now I had the top and bottom with the batting and all it needed was to be "quilted" together. We took the quilt down to Blackfoot in September and my Mom set up her frame and we stretched it out and began the fun of actual quilting. Grandma Clement came over and helped so much and Mom worked on it a ton after she'd get home from school. Here are a couple pictures of it in the last moments on the frame.

Quilting is so much fun. I love taking the time to connect it all together. We attempted something new this time. We drew diagonal lines with chalk to quilt along and also drew stars to quilt around in the corners. I always see all of the beautifully machine quilted quilts and am so jealous of their fancy designs. I do like the actual hand work though, so it was fun to get creative.

I remember my Grandmas Clement, Palmer and Great-Grandma Stokes having quilts up in their homes and playing underneath the stretched quilt. I also remember seeing Grandma Stokes with her thimbles and thought it was such a weird tool. Along with that thought, I remember Grandma Stokes had somehow lost her index finger from the middle knuckle up and so it was always interesting to watch her quilt without that finger.
Quilting was also something that my Grandma Clement always did a ton of. She gave all 26 grandchildren a quilt for their 8th birthday at their baptism. There are a couple that aren't 8 yet but she said that she already has them done. Same thing as for graduation from High School; she made us all a quilt for that too.
When my older sister was engaged I really wanted to make her a quilt as well. I remembered my Grandmothers always making quilts for couples and displaying them at the receptions. So I attempted my first quilt for a gift (glad that it was only my sister in case it didn't turn out). Then I got to help my Mom and sister finish up my wedding quilt in time too.
Quilting really is a lost art. I love it!
Once we got the quilt off my family started inquiring who the quilt was for. Well, Peter said we should keep it because he thought it was the most beautiful one. We decided however, earlier in the year that we would give it to Peter's Mom for Christmas this year. It was so fun to put all this work into it throughout the whole year knowing who it was for. I love my in-laws so much and have appreciated all they have done for us in our first years of marraige, but also the great example that they are to everyone. Especailly Peter's mother, Martha. She is so caring for others and I haven't ever seen her take a moment to think about herself. She is so selfless and I admire that so much in her.
So these next few pitures are the last moments leading up to giving her the gift. My Mom helped me out sooo much with everything on this project. Especially the binding. I love doing the pretty parts of the quilt, but the practical parts drag out forever because I don't have much motivation for them.

Now it was FINISHED!! We were so excited. We laid it out on the floor and admired the finished project. There were some strings that needed cut and the chalk lines needed wiped off but it was done. It felt so good.

Next came Christmas and we took the large present down to Logan and anticipated giving it to Martha. These are just a few pictures of her opening it during breakfast Saturday morning on Christmas Eve day. She loved it so much and told how she loves handmade items such as these. Immediately she took it into their newly remodled master bedroom and spread it out on the bed to see how it looked. It was beautiful!

Peter said that this Christmas he was more excited about giving his Mom the quilt than anything else. It was a fun project that reminded us all year long of Martha and the wonderful person she is, but also for me the great Mothers and Grandmothers whom I have know through my life and their wonderful examples. It really is amazing how special a quilt can be.

A few new things

Here are a few little things we have been up to since our huge summer post. I finished the afghan I've been working on this summer. I thought it turned out pretty good but now Peter thinks we should keep it. I don't mind doing another one though because it really is relaxing. Purchasing 17 scanes of yarn however will need to be budgeted in this time though.


Here we are after a few hours of picking huckleberries up past Ririe. Huckleberries are a coveted item for our family and we plan on enjoying a pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Peter's dad made a delicious recipe for crepes and a mixed berry topping with a cup of them. It was to die for!

Here is Peter and Tim with Tim's first and best catch of the day! It was the nicest fish Peter said he has seen on the Teton River. We stayed out there for a good couple hours and Catherine never caught a fish. Too slow...

A really good friend and neighbor invited me to come pick pie cherries at her house this August. She had about 4 cherry trees just exploding with bright red cherries. I picked like crazy and wish I went back for more. Last fall I attempted a peach pie with the crisscross pie crust topping. It was okay. This time I called Craig (Peter's dad) for his pie recipe and thought it turned out great! My first cherry pie...check!

I love these next two pictures! SO the Eastern Idaho State Fair is a must see at least once for anyone, but growing up in Blackfoot it is a must do every year. Peter isn't a fan of much of the food there but I could eat all day long. The scone nuggets were a must have this year. Now that Hailey's son, Michael, is growing up we all really wanted to go witness his excitment to ride the train and lightning McQueen rides. This ride however was one of the bigger rides that Michael had to be 46" to ride by himself, or could go with an adult. So Hailey went with him to show him how fun a rollercoaster can be.

He looks terrified! "Izma, puts your hands in the air!!"

Then this picture is sooo cute too! Ol' country horse loving Mom was so excited to let Michael experience everything she loves and grew up with. It just looked so fun! Hailey is a good little mom.

This is my "little" group of singers all so excited for the "big" game! We sang the Star-Spangled Banner before a high school varsity football game, which they finally won. The kids believe it was because of our singing that they won. They all got extra credit for coming and were all so dedicated to wearing our school color, green. Hee Ha Ha I like to think when I was this age I thought of the high school level as the pros like these little nerd bombers do. (nerd bombers is what Peter calls all my sweet little kids)

Summer Time

Hello family and friends!! We haven't updated this in almost 6 months. So we are going to do a giant update from summer. However I uploaded the post from most recent to older events.

Our first few pictures are from this last weekend at Meadow Lake. I should note that Peter bought me my own fly rod a month ago so we have been trying to get good use out of it before summer is over. Its taken a lot of practice but I'll have to say I've gotten pretty good at casting. Its the set that I'm struggling with. I don't have too quick of reflexes once I see the fish break through the surface. It's super fun though and I love doing it!

Dad brought his canoe which was a lot of fun. Michael liked riding in it around the lake but after 20 minutes or so he had enough.
It was a beautiful place!

Grandpa (Dad) caught a fish from the bank and let Michael net it. Michael was super excited to see a fish and play with it. Peter hooked up a line to a stick and we tied a fly on the end of it so he could do a little fishing too.Peter and Andrew are out in the canoe. The water was beautiful when it went glass smooth like this. This was Saturday morning and wasn't as calm for long. Friday evening the water was like this for a good 3 hours.
Saturday morning Dad was anxious to get in to some fish.

This was Friday night and there was the craziest feeding frenzy going on. We both caught 5-6 fish on the surface with dry flies. It was so much fun! Enough fun that it got us up at 6:00am Saturday morning. Too bad it wasn't as good as this.
This was my first fish I caught on my fly rod in a canoe and I didn't quite know how to net it without tipping our canoe over. So Peter netted if for me. Nice little pan size rainbows and cut throats.
We were up pretty high in elevation so it was a little chilly. Peter can handle it though as you can see by his shorts and T. There was actually quite a bit of snow above our campsite.

Here are our trusty woodcutters. We had an amazing fire the 2 days we were there because of the amount of wood and dryness of it. Good work there Peter.
We got up to the campground one night before everyone else and we walked around the lake to the other side and fished for a couple hours. Here is Peter's first catch of the trip.
The week after the fourth of July we stayed at Catherine's aunt's family cabin in Island Park on Bill's Island. This is the Clement family and our 3 days on the lake and at the cabin.
Peter attempted knee boarding on the lake. He did pretty good and looks pretty good too!
We all took a drive through Yellowstone Park and are proud to say that we, once again, sighted a grizzly bear. Peter and I rode with Kimra and Todd Mauger up to the northern loop and spotted this awesome sight. We also saw a black bear 10 miles earlier.

This was our whole group at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was fun to be with everyone!

We probably have more shots of this view than any other view in the area. I just can't get enough of it!
One weekend we had free we took a drive over to Palisades Reservoir and camped. Then on our way home we did a big loop up to Jackson Hole. It was fun to spend the day together. We hadn't ever been to Jackson with each other.

And yes we did the Jackson slide. It was fun, not worth the $15 a person, but a good "gotta do once" thing in the area.
Here Peter is at the beginning of the slide. It was a great view of the Grand Tetons in the back.
We tried our luck at Palisades Res and not much action. It was a pretty area to spend the morning though.Here was our campsite. We almost went home right as we got there. There were thousands of mosquitoes. If we hadn't brought our OFF repellant we would have hit the road. Peter finally believes me about our family hiking trip about 10 years ago when we were literally eaten alive by mosquitoes up to Union Falls.
One afternoon we went up to the Henry's Fork below the Vernon bridge to try our luck fishing. There was a nice hatch coming off the water but we couldn't get the fish to take anything. It was really frustrating because we tried everything.

A big ol' stone fly that wasn't tempting enough for the fish to take.

Our fourth of July was super busy but very memorable. We first went to Logan and saw the Freedom Show in the USU stadium. Diamond Rio performed and a lot of local talent. Once it was dark the fireworks began. It was the BEST firework show we'd ever seen. The reason being was probably because we had the best seats in the house. They filled our whole line of site and we could smell the smoke. I wish I had my camera!

But here we are at Mom & Dad's in Logan hanging out in the yard. Peter launched our homemade rocket for Brinlee and Owen.

We also had a fun time at the water park. It was so refreshing to get in the water.

Peter was having fun playing with Owen here.
Before we had gone down to Logan we stopped with Mom & Dad at Hawkins Reservoir and did a little fishing in the canoe. Not too much luck but a beautiful morning.
We came back to Idaho Falls Monday and watched the Melaleuca Fireworks. They were pretty good, but I'll have to admit that Logan was so much better! This is Hailey and Andrew and their kids, plus Andrew's brother Luke and his wife Ashley.
Mom & Dad and Shane waiting for the fireworks.
Here we are with Emily.

Before the fireworks we were invited over to Uncle Daurel and Aunt Tami's house for a BBQ. It was fun to get together with the Palmer side. I love this picture of Grandpa and Grandma. We have had a lot of opportunities to go visit them in their home and enjoy family home evenings with them. We hope to continue spending time with them while they are still close.

Here is yet another fishing outing right at the bottom of the Ashton dam. Peter says there is a TON of water coming out behind him. On normal years this white river is more of a trickling stream. We had so much water in the area earlier this summer. There was flooding going on in several areas.
Close to the beginning of our summer, we had the Clement reunion of sports and food. Playing volleyball and softball have turned into one of our favorite pastimes together. Here Peter is dominating the net!
Our whole group just after a fun softball evening.

Our first trip into Yellowstone park we went with Emily, Marie, Tim and Shane. We saw a show at Playmill and then camped at Norris campground where we actually heard wolves howling just as we were going to bed. It was pretty sweet. This view here is the Grand Prismatic Spring. I had never climbed this hill to get this view. There aren't very many things we haven't experienced in the park so it was fun to do this!

Here we are at Tower Falls with the Yellowstone River behind us.

And Old Faithful was yet again faithful! There was actually a pretty good size heard of buffalo just in the meadow to our left and we took a little stroll through them. Kind of fun but kind of scary.
And here is our camp! We staked out our spot as soon as we could to be sure we had a campground then went back in to West Yellowstone to wait for the play. We had a great time.

So that is our summer! We have only Erda and Bear Lake in the next two weeks and then it is back to teacher-ing. Peter is working now at a Doctor's office in Rexburg which we are so grateful for. He was hoping to get some work but we never thought something this perfect would be an option. I'll teach one more year at the middle school and be in charge of the yearbook as well. We anticipate this fall lots of medical school interviews and hopefully a weekend getaway to Mackay for some fall-time fishing.