My new hobby

Since I have some extra time on my hands these days I figured it was time to learn a new skill. So I bought myself a sewing machine and I am learning to sew!

I found a pattern online for these yoga skirts. I made one for Emery and one for the girl I babysit some days.

They are so soft and comfy--I can't wait to make one for myself! I'm usually in a skirt, maxi dress, or yoga pants these days so this skirt will go well with my wardrobe. Umm, no I'm not pregnant, I just dress like a pregnant lady. :)

It's fun learning something new. I'm terrible right now, but I've already seen huge improvement from my first skirt. I've actually made 4 skirts, the first one I made was a different pattern and it was UGLY but I was still ridiculously proud of it because it was my first skirt. The sad thing was that all the comments for the pattern online were like, "This is the EASIEST skirt you will EVER make!" and "I whipped one of these out in 30 minutes flat!" Yeah...definitely not the easiest 4 HOURS for me...but it was enjoyable nonetheless. One of these days I might even be able to sew a straight line...maybe!

UPDATE:
Here is the link to the tutorial for the skirt, I forgot to link to it, thanks for the reminder Rachael!

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2010/06/yoga-skirt-tutorial-tips-on-using-knits/

More snow pictures

We took a lot of pictures while we were in Idaho playing in the snow. I narrowed it down a little bit, but I still had tons of favorites because they are so cute! Here's the last of them:

I cannot even believe how much I love this little girl. 

Daddies and daughters

Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas morning with my family this year. It was a lot of fun and one of my favorite things was watching Emery walk around in the cute night gown her grandparents got her for Christmas. Maybe it's because I loved getting pjs from my grandparents when I was little, or maybe I loved it because her little bowlegs make anything look cute, but I couldn't help but smile and laugh at her waddling around. 

There was so much for Emery to get into and tear apart, she was in heaven.

I don't know who started it, but we put all our used bows on Emery's back. She looked like a Christmas stegosaurus!

First time sledding

Emery had her first sledding experience this past year. Gavin's parents have a perfect sledding hill right across the street from their house. There was plenty of snow and we had so much fun. Well, Gavin and I had fun, and Emery didn't cry so we assume she had fun too. It was tough to tell though, first we took her down the little hill and she just laid there on my lap with absolutely no reaction. No crying, no laughing, just limp. So then we took her down the big hill and same thing. No reaction. I think part of it was because she was having a bit of trouble moving in her snowsuit, living in Houston she isn't used to lots of layers. This was her initial reaction to being all suited up:

Here's Gavin's brother and mom cruising down the hill:

Here's Emery after we took her down the little hill. See what I mean by not happy or sad? Totally passive about it.

I think I might see a hint of a smile in this one.

As much as I hate the cold, I will admit that I do enjoy snow. I like getting out when it's cold and sledding or tromping around in the snow and I used to love snowboarding. Snow is fun. But it was even better this year knowing that I could have all the fun of it and introduce Emery to the joy of snow playing, and then go home to shorts and flip flops.

Christmas Eve Bowling

My family has a tradition to go bowling together on Christmas Eve. This year we tried out the new place in Meridian: Big Al's. It was definitely fancier than anywhere we've bowled before and we had a really good time and ate some great food. And everyone was there! That will probably be the last time for a long time that we are all together as my sister and her husband just moved back east. Here they are with Spencer, enjoying the game. Joey was the only one who successfully avoided my picture taking. Next time Joey, next time!

This is Matt and Kim, Emery loves her uncle Matt!

 Emery with Matt and my dad.

My mom, sister Natalie, and my two beautiful nieces.

 My mom bought the little girls matching outfits and this was the best picture we got. Way to stick your hand over your face for that precise second, Emery.

Love this picture of Spencer. Coolest bowler of all.

Look at this mischievous grin on her face! I love it!

Michelle, showing off her snack, and Kim.

Me and Gavin. Both of us bowled terribly this time around. I'm such a hot and cold bowler. It drives me crazy that sometimes I can easily break 120 (still not that great of a score, I know) and other times I struggle to break 50! How can I be that inconsistent?! Pretty sure this time it was a conspiracy and that the lanes were tilted in favor of everyone else but me. 

Photo bomb!

This picture cracks me up. This is my niece, Olivia, and every time she would bowl she would turn around and watch between her legs as it rolled down the lane. HILARIOUS!

 Kim and her daughter Kylee. Pretty sure Kylee got a better score than me.

Here's my dad...I didn't inherit his bowling skills unfortunately.

A bit late

I'm a little late on posting some Christmas festivities, but these pictures are too cute to pass by. Gavin's firm puts on a great Santa party and we had so much fun at it this year. Emery was quite the site in her little Christmas tutu and leg warmers my mom sent her. And the Santa and Mrs. Claus were AMAZING. They did magic tricks, talked to all the kids about kindness and being good, and gave them little stockings full of candy and toys. It was a great party. 

Here's Emery with Mrs. Claus, just trying to take it all in:

 Here she is on Santa's lap. She didn't scream or cry, which I was glad about, but she wasn't exactly happy either. She just sat there trying to figure out if she should scream or laugh or just get away.

I wanted a few better shots of her outfit. She looked so cute! 

If you notice behind Santa and Mrs. Claus is a big glass wall. Some people were in that conference room eating and others were out sitting on Santa's lap. Emery was inside the room and decides to stick her face on the glass and starting blowing out her cheeks on the glass to the people on the other side. It was HILARIOUS and I wish I had a picture of it. A few people tried to take some with their phones but I never found out if they turned out or not. She's such a little ham!