Summer of sewing

I have decided this will be my summer of sewing.  When we were packing up for Michigan, it was starting to look like we'd have a little more room in the car than we though.  Chris asked if there was anything else I might like to bring, so I put the sewing machine in the "if it fits" pile.  I'm so glad we brought it now, because I'm already kind of addicted to making clothes for Jane.  This is the first real article of clothing I've made since my mom helped me sew a skirt when I was a teenager.  I mostly just use online tutorials, and like to try and figure it out myself.  It's not necessarily the smartest approach, because this peter pan collar gave me some serious grief.  In the end, I did it totally wrong, but you can't  tell from the outside.  I now know how to do it right though... I think.

Anyway, here is her first little top.  I'm almost finished with her next little dress, and I have the fabric for another shirt ready to go.  It really is addictive.  

8 Months

It's fun to see Jane's brain working.  She understands games more and picks up on patterns.  The other day I plopped my hand down on her high chair tray and she put her hand on top of mine.  I placed my other hand on top and she followed suit.  Then we continued pulling our hands from the bottom and placing them on top in order.  She laughs a little more easily now, kind of responds to being tickled, and breaks out in the hugest smile when I start singing to her.  

Jane eats pretty much whatever we give her now, but her favorites are easily sweet potatoes, garden vegetables, and carrots.  She tolerates fruits and meats, but often won't make it through a whole bottle.  She likes mashed up bananas and sharing my avocados, yogurts, and popsicles.  (She just licks it, recoils from the cold, and then is immediately back for more). 

She has two little teeth on the bottom and I like it when she takes bites out of her cereal puffs (as if they weren't bit-sized to start with).  She's a dainty eater.

The weather is lovely now, so Jane and I go for walks every day.  There is a Jr High and elementary school behind our house, so we usually do some laps of the track in the evenings.  Sometimes during the day, we lay out a blanket and Jane plays with the grass from the safety of the quilt.  Like most her age, she doesn't love sitting IN the grass.

 

 

 Jane loves playing in the water and now that she sits so well now, it's gotten so much easier to sit beside the tub and just let her play for a while.

 My cute little penguin, all wrapped up.

Indiana

 We didn't do much in Indiana.  I think we were partly road tripped out, and partly, there just wasn't much we were interested in.  We stayed the night in Indianapolis, and just ended up going downtown to see the Soldiers and Sailors memorial.  It's an impressive monument and a beautiful centerpiece to the city.  We walked around for a bit and then had lunch at Potbelly's (one of the perks of living in the east).  We were excited to find that there's one near us in Michigan.

Illinois

Jane had a fever in the morning, but we fed her some Tylenol and she seemed to be doing better.  She managed just fine through church and fell asleep whenever we got in the car.  Our day was heavily influenced by her sleep schedule since we wanted her to maximize on any shut-eye she could get.  She was asleep when we pulled into Nauvoo so we went to the temple and left her in the car while we took pictures in front of it.  The Nauvoo temple is gorgeous; definitely one of my very favorites now.  We had perfect weather and beautiful sky.

 

 

Pretty soon Chris was ready to break his fast and we decided to look for food.  No good.  There is not a single restaurant open on Sunday in Nauvoo.  We had to drive 25 minutes south to another town in Iowa.  From there we weren’t too far from Carthage, so we decided to do that.  I loved Carthage.  We watched a beautiful movie on the life of Joseph Smith and then went into the jail.  It was interesting, but I was so surprised at how powerfully the spirit came to me when we entered the upstairs room where Joseph was shot.  What an incredible feeling.  I kept wondering if everyone gets to feel this because the spirit is just in this sacred place or if the spirit was testifying to me because I was personally ready to hear it.  I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and I am incredibly grateful for his sacrifice.  He was called of God for a monumental task and he humbly served amid awful opposition.  He is such an inspiration.  I can’t wait to know brother Joseph again.  I’m grateful I was able to have that testimony reconfirmed that day.

 

 

We headed back to Nauvoo and found where Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum were buried.   Then with everything else closed in Nauvoo and our baby asleep again, we went to cemetery just outside of Nauvoo and walked around.  It was so beautiful.

 Dinner back at the hotel.

We packed up and headed back over to Nauvoo this morning.  We went straight to the trail of hope and started there.  It was another gorgeous day.  I can’t believe how beautiful Nauvoo is.  I think I said that a dozen times through the day.  It’s just so pretty.  We put Jane in the stroller and walked down the trail munching on our McDonalds fruit and yogurt parfaits, reading plaques and bawling (ok, only I was bawling).  It’s just incredible the sacrifice made by these early pioneers.  I just kept feeling so much gratitude and the resounding confirmation that I was born in the right time.  At the end of the trail is the dock where so many crossed the Mississippi (which is huge, by the way).  There they have a little barge the size they would have used.  It fits one covered wagon.

Look at that little tooth!

 Back at the start of the trail is the Seventies house, an MTC for new 70s called.  We decided to take a look inside.  At the end of her presentation, the Sister missionary asked if we had any ancestors that we might want to look up.  I said yes and when they found out it was Joseph Bates Nobel, they told me I had to go to the Lucy Mack Smith home, since he built it and his picture was hanging inside.

We toured the tinsmith’s shop, printing press, brickyard, and blacksmith.  We went to Lands and Records and saw John Taylor’s home and of course the Lucy Mack Smith home.  We would have loved to have seen more, but we had to drive to Indianapolis.  It was so quiet both days we were there, that the senior missionaries were overjoyed to have someone to talk to.  They could have chatted all day, I’m sure.  Every one of them listed a few places we MUST see in our limited time and each time it was different.  Hard to choose.    At any rate, we LOVED Nauvoo and hope to go again some time. 

Iowa

I wish I had cool pictures of Iowa, but I just don't.  Too bad, because I thought it was beautiful.  Our drive through Iowa was a little foggy and rainy, but smooth.  I was surprised.  I guess I always expected to find all Mid-western states created fairly equally, but I was particular taken with Iowa.  It was so green with beautiful rolling hills.  We took a little detour near Des Moines to go see some of the covered bridges of Madison county.  The bridge we found wasn’t as picturesque as I might have hoped, but fun, nonetheless.  We drove a little through the countryside near there and it reminded us a little of Sankt Stephens, Switzerland; vibrant green fields, old rustic barns, lots of cows and a low hanging fog.  It was gorgeous. 

 

We stopped in Ottumwa briefly in search of dinner.  I looked up restaurants online and found that the Canteen Lunch got pretty good reviews so we headed there.  We parked and found the place tucked back almost in an alley.  When we walked in we found a tiny diner with only bar stools and a counter to sit at.  We were also greeted by some pretty awkward stares.  The kind that say, “you’re not from around here, are you?” or “we don’t take kindly to your outsiders here.”  We felt unwelcome to say the least.  After a moment, one lady handling a large amount of unappetizing ground beef, asked if it was to stay or to go.  We said to stay and saddled up at the counter. 

“What'll it be?” she asked.  I scanned the menu that seemed to contain only a handful of items.  “I’ll have a cheeseburger.”  

“Whadya want on it?” 

“Umm… lettuce, tomato…”

“We only have ketchup, mayo, or mustard.”

Nope.  I’m not spending five dollars on a naked burger, thank you.  As politely as I could, I said I’m not really interested and we left.  Afterwards we couldn’t stop talking about how strange that experience was.  Everyone in the restaurant just turned and stared at us.  So weird.