Dress Alterations for Hazel Spring 2023

Another project I was working on was this dress for Hazel.  Kayli had asked me the fall before if I would adjust it.  And of course I would.  

I used the extra on the bottom to create the top.  It pieced in the back because it still wasn't quite big enough to get the size of fabric I needed.  

I was stressing so much about this because I didn't want to wreck the dress, and I couldn't try it on her. Things for other people always are the scariest for me to sew.  

Randomly that spring, I also hemmed two other bridesmaid dresses for a woman in our ward and her friend in the YSA ward.  

The Rest of March 2023

 Nicolas's awesome drawing!

I think this was my peak, longest run with the best time.  And then it went downhill after this as things got more and more busy. 

Aww, beautiful Elena.

We had to paint the boys' wall in preparation for moving.  Jubal had punched a hole in it the fall before when he was mad.  Leo fixed it, but we couldn't match the paint, so I just randomly chose blue instead.  I usually spend so much time picking a paint color, looking at Pinterest, comparing photos on the internet, etc.  This time, I walked into Home Depot, spent about three minutes looking at paint chips and picked this one.  And I love it!  How ironic.  

Isabel tried to convince me she was out drinking alcohol with her friends--she wasn't.  

New skirt!  Mostly because my other tan skirt got bleach spilled on it. So sad. 

Photo for work id.  I hate taking photos like this.  

Mediterranean cooking as best I can.  

This was actually our traditional St. Patrick's Day meal. YUM!

Okay, sorry, way too many food photos. 

But here's a cat. 

Sebastian had another band concert. 

Getting Ready for Ana's Wedding

Along with moving overseas and getting a new job, I also spent a lot of time preparing for Ana's wedding, which was AWESOME!  So much fun!  I love doing flowers so I was grateful she let me help with them.  And honestly, Ana's mother-in-law and her did SOOO much more for the wedding than I did.  It's hard to help long distance. 😔  Ana picked gorgeous colors and sent me some Pinterest ideas and antlers to include, and this is the result.   

Also, I hemmed and adjusted Elena's and Isabel's bridesmaid dresses.  They were sleeveless with these tie around scarf things, but I wanted them to hold in place without having to worry about them, so I just cut them off and then resewed them on how I wanted.  

Elena's was done first so she could wear it to the Sweetheart's Dance.

I also made my own dress.  It was from a 1978 pattern, McCalls 6210. And in this picture here, it was perfect!!  Only then I washed it because just after I took this picture I spilled something on it.  And it shrank in the wash, despite me pre-washing everything.  😫😫😫.  I finished it the day before we were leaving for her wedding too, otherwise I would have dry cleaned it.   It's not horrible now, but it's not perfect like it had been.  

I have a crazy boot story though, my parents bought cowboy boots for Leo and I when we moved to Texas. And I spent forever looking for the perfect pair.  They ordered them for me online, but when they came one boot fit too tight, and even though I took it multiple times to a boot place to get it stretched, it always just hurt my foot.  So eventually I gave them away.  So when I needed boots for Ana's wedding, I started looking for used boots on Facebook marketplace, and I found the EXACT same pair I had owned, but when I tried them on, they fit perfectly.  So yeah, the boots I'm wearing are my favorite pair back again.  (Tears of joy here!)

All the kids got new boots!!!!  I love Elena's and Isabel's choices.  

The boys' boots I picked out since their feet are still growing and I didn't want to buy Ariats for them.  

And the boys also got new blue jeans since that's what they would be wearing.  Poor Leo, I dragged him to the Boot Barn and made him try on pairs till I found ones that looked so good on him.  😍  

Needless to say, we made several trips to the Boot Barn for boots and blue jeans.  

Here's one of the  boutonnieres I made. No joke, I used my awesome spray painting skills again and spray painted the lilac-colored thistles to navy blue.   I LOVE the flowers Ana picked for her wedding!  It made making these so enjoyable.  

Sebas modeling the bouquet for me.  

And I bought these after Christmas for 90% off. Surprisingly still pricey when you buy like 15 and I think they were originally $70 each. 

Anyway, I cut off the cinnamon sticks and orange slices and added in sprays of white flowers instead.  

Perfect for a Wyoming wedding now!  

To be fair, Leo actually did more than half of the white flowers for me.  Isabel and Sebastian helped some too.   So yeah, now all my kids will have to use these for their weddings.  (evil laugh)

I love flowers!!! 💐 🌺 🌼 🌹 🌸 

Lake Ouachita at Sunset

 These pictures are backwards, so you get the sunset first.  Anyway, after leaving Crater of the Diamonds State Park around noonish, we drove to Lake Ouachita and got there just perfectly timed to launch our canoes and paddle to an island and set up our tents before sunset.  It was kind of funny because we were driving through Avant, the last little town before the boat launch, and a couple in another car flagged us down to ask us where we were going, told us how to get there, and told us where their house was in case we didn't find it.  Southern hospitality at its finest.  

It was cold at night. I'm pretty wimpy about the cold.  Burr....

But the sunset was incredible!!

We just randomly picked an island, but we were roughly following the Rabbit Tail Canoe Trail.  

The island looks so beautiful, but then what you don't see is an old nasty mattress, a rusty washing machine, etc.  I wanted to love it, but it really doesn't have the same remoteness of the mountains in the West or the deserts of Southern Utah.  Unfortunately, I'll probably always compare everything to them.  😬 To be fair, I'd go back to Arkansas in a heartbeat to vacation, I thought the Ozarks were gorgeous and the photos I've seen of Lake Ouachita in the summer are beautiful.  I think the cold and lack of leaves and that the ground was literally covered in spiders once it got dark didn't help things.  I definitely kept mum about the spiders to the kids!

Just arriving.

I love being out on the water like this.  It's just to so peaceful and you have time to observe so much, but yet you're active paddling too, and a hint of adrenaline if some rapids are thrown in. I think hiking is similar, peaceful but strenuous--I can't think of many other activities like them.  But those two are definitely my favorite.   Too bad this is a lake and not a river with rapids.  Actually though, going here boosted our confidence to go canoe camping. Leo was always somewhat pessimistic about the idea before this, but now he's far more willing to go.    

We were 100% better as a team canoeing this time.  Elena and Isabel were really picking it up.  The green kayak was a bit much for Sebastian to handle though.  I think it was just too big for him then.

Anyway, good times!