I Heart Valentine's Day

I love everything about Valentine's Day. The color pink, candy, crafts . . . What could be better? I knew it was going to be a fun Valentine's this year when my friend Lyndsey announced that she would be hosting a handmade Valentine Swap through her stationery blog. That got my craft juices flowing. Here's how the Valentine Swap all went down:

I made the following handcrafted little number to send out to a few cyber-friends that Lyndsey hooked me up with.

You can't really tell from the picture, but each letter was machine sewn onto its square with either pink or bright blue thread. This was my first go at sewing paper and I quite got addicted to it. Can't you just imagine all the cute possibilities of colored thread?!

And these were the adorable handmade gems that arrived in my mail box!

From top to bottom, Sarah from Things are Better With a Parrott, Jamie from My Lazy Apples, and Lindsey from la Georgia Paperie. Check them out--they are legit craft people.

I absolutely loved getting these! It is so fun to see others' talents and ideas, and it was so fun to get mail from all over the country! Thank you, ladies for your adorable handmade items, and thanks, Lynds for setting this up!

With the inspiration of the Swap still fresh, I sewed up a couple more cards and sent them to my sisters.

I recently caught wind of the fact that my sister-in-law is collecting owls. Incidentally, I just happen to be in the business of sewing owls right now since that is the nursery theme my expectant sister has chosen. Sooooo, I whipped up this little pink plush as another valentine goody for her and shipped that off.

And finally, this is the present I made for my valentine. I call it a "man bouquet." Full of all the manly treats he loves, but that are a little bit gross to me. (The slogan of David's Sunflower Seeds is "Eat. Spit. Be Happy.") He took it to work where he can spit and chew his little heart out.

While baby Grant would enjoy nothing better than a crafty little paper project to chew on for his first Valentine's Day, he got a book instead. This cute one.

Jared and I celebrated with massages and dinner on Saturday, and then he came home yesterday with roses, a sweet card, and chocolate covered cinnamon bears (my ultimate weakness). It was fabulous. Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful day of love and treats, too!

From the Mouth of a Babe

Sunday was ward conference. The good news was that our sacrament meeting was our only meeting for the day. The bad news was that it lasted twenty minutes longer than normal. Under childless circumstances this would have been all good, but with a wee babe whose activities must be varied every 30 seconds, the extra time did not go unnoticed, nor did it pass without consequences. Parents can only do so much entertaining with a cardboard book and a plastic giraffe, and Grant eventually had enough. If he were to describe the events of that sacrament meeting in his own words, I'd imagine they would be something like these:

I've been sitting quietly awake in my car seat for at least ten minutes. I think I'll come out now [whine and grunt and arch back]. Thanks for the toy giraffe, Dad; I looove the taste of plastic.  I wonder what will happen if I drop this on the ground [drops to the ground]. Cool, mom picks it up and gives it back to me. I wonder if she'll pick it up if I drop it again. Yep. And what about one more time? Yep. Well, I'm bored of that game. What I'm really desperate to do is gnaw on that green book Mom and Dad are holding. Mom gives me another book, but it's not the big green one, and all I want is the big green one. Oh well, I guess I'll suck on it for a minute. [Yawn, whine, grunt] Tired of this book, tired of this giraffe, tired of smiling adorably at all these people sitting around me. Dad, kindly take me out of here [Dad and I walk toward the door]. Wait . . . Not so fast . . . Hair!  Gray, curly, bushy . . . Don't mind if I do! [Insert fingers faster than the blink of an eye and grab an entire baby fistful. And not let go.] Dad's still moving, but I'm not letting go of this lusciousness! [Seconds later . . .] Dad finally caught on and has loosened my grip. Don't worry, everyone sitting behind us is laughing, and the lady's hair isn't a wig or anything. The disheveled clump remains erect, but no permanent damage done. The moral of the story: Sundays are long for babies. If you make them longer, there's no telling what we might do.

-G.J. Error