Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Matt leaves today. He's flying to Provo this evening to enter the MTC tomorrow.  Is the Arkansas Little Rock mission ready for him? Is he ready for his mission? I don't know. But he's going.  Going to the temple for the first time. Goof. We just can't be serious Katie and Christian came along Funning I try, really I do. birthday/mission in Arkansas Boggy Creek 2 cake, courtesy of Kate Takes the Cake Matt and 2 good friends. Both have served missions already and I'm glad they were both at church for Matt's farewell talk (the one in the blue jacket gave his homecoming talk, he just returned from his mission. He's the one responsible for getting Matt into robotics) He is officially Elder Evans Matt and the Stake Pres I don't know yet if I'll do a mission blog. I sort of forgot about that until recently.

I've finally finished a quilt top. My mom tried to get me to sew a quilt when I was a teenager. She bought fabric that I chose, she encouraged me to sit and cut pieces, she offered moral support and education on the art of quilt making. She quilted and wanted me to get the same enjoyment out of it that she got (She also tried to get me into playing the organ, but it didn't happen until later in life when I was forced into it at church. Not that I mind), and I really did try, but I didn't catch the quilting bug. She made my sister and I hand quilt some of her quilts and it was OK, but I just didn't find a passion for it. (My sister did and she has made dozens of quilts, including 3 for me) I tried here and there over the years to piece a quilt top, but interest waned after a bit. I saved jeans to make a denim quilt, I saved corduroy for a corduroy nine patch, and even sewed a bunch of blocks. I tried a scrap quilt. I never got very far.  This year, I finally dec...

Paul and Bethany came for a week, and Hayley came for a slightly different week, but they overlapped. a full van. Hayley and Matt had their traditional seats in the way back playing a voting game at Katie's house Paul and Christian and Matt smoking candy cigarettes Oh, Matt State fair because you can't visit MN around Labor Day and not go, especially if you haven't been in a while. extreme cuteness lovely lepidoptera Matt had a passenger for a while So did Paul. Bethany got a nice big one to hold Hayley too One of my favorite State fair pictures. So's this one.  Jackson makes some seed art lunch lunch lunch on face again with the Matt Got to see Hamilton! Katie made a cake for us at the lunch before the show restaurant manager loved the cake and wanted to take a picture after the show. 

Two more state parks checked off the list as visited. First thing that comes to mind re Jay Cooke: Swinging bridge First thing for Banning: Quarry on river Hike in Jay Cooke: first half--gorgeous, rocky, rooty, packed dirt, shady, river view. Second half: grassy (at times very long), swampy, buggy, did I mention grassy? Very grassy. Hike in Banning: buggy, lots of off-shoots to the river, ruins of the quarry, dark places, mostly flat and packed dirt. swinging bridge at Jay Cooke two rivers merge perhaps? cool rocky terrain unicorn tree stairs at Banning Cool shore rocks quarry ruins I have my Going on an Adventure hat on Very nice river

My baby is going to serve a mission. The letter came surprisingly on a Monday.  Katie of http:// katetakesthecakes.blogspot.com / made the cake in just a few hours (I frosted it, which is why the ocean part looks like an amateur job) And he's going to Little Rock, Arkansas! The bestest thing in my mind is that my sister lives in this mission! If Matt serves in Memphis, Jenni might be able to see him!  We don't know much about Arkansas, but Jim has been looking up pictures and it seems to be a scenic state with several national parks and many state parks. We like that kind of thing.  It may get really hot (which Matt did not want) but at least there will be winters to cool him off. He'll get good food and friendly people. And he won't have to struggle through learning a language. We can send him packages without worrying if he will get them or if they will take forever to get to him.  I can't believe this kid is old enough! He will leave just d...

In planning for this trip, Jim and I looked at places to hike. We chose several, and ended up doing none of them. We did do this 3 miler (round trip) up to Magnetic Rock. It started out nice. I was surprised at how narrow and "wild" the trails are when they aren't state park trails. We are so near Canada Beautiful view!  The three of us. It was buggy, and I'm glad I wore a hat to keep the mosquitoes and flies off my face. So much view Matt and view He insists on tormenting me with getting close to drop offs. See the clouds in the distance? An indicator of the very near future on this hike. So view I will forever kick myself for not trying a blueberry. I only took a picture. After a very long time of hiking and wondering if we were close yet, we finally reached the rock. It's a very different rock than the surrounding area rocks.  Compasses do not point north in close proximity to this rock Alien rock and ...