blanket complete

 After two years, I have finally finished this blanket!!

Not even joking it probably took me around 100 hours to make.

Which is ridiculous because:

1) It can't be washed or the wool felt will shrink big time

and

2) The hand-stitching will probably come undone.

But I still love it. There are so many things that I own that are impractical

and I still love them.

 Here is a close up of the hand stitching

 Of corse the center piece is mustard yellow which is my favorite color.

Then there is a square of white around it...

Surround that with burnt orange...

Surround that with tan...

 Surround that with sage (in this row I started mixing up the colors a little to add some variety)...

And voila... 100 hours later you have this!
Here is the link to the original tutorial on purlbee:
http://www.purlbee.com/trip-around-the-wool-blanket/

Reasons I loved this project:
It was nice to get away from the sewing machine
It was something I could work on during long car trips
I put so much time into it and that alone makes it special to me

Pix from the weekend

Trying to get back into the swing of blogging.

Here are some pictures I took this weekend.

This was a great show. Especially when they played Walk in the Park and Other People.

 Missing Cafe Rio. A lot. So I tried to make imitation Cafe Rio. 

This beautiful Spiced Pear Upside Down Cake is sitting on our counter. I make this cake yearly during the fall season. I love it for several reasons: 1) It has CARDAMOM in it (which is my favorite spice of all time) 2) It is moist and delicious 3) Phil also loves it.

We had our 9 generation genealogy fan charts printed in January and we finally bought frames for them. Next step hanging them in our bedroom.

Dallas Town

We've traded mountains for the skyline

stars for airplanes

our cozy house for a shiny apartment

.

We miss you Utah

and all our friends and family

which are there

.

But we kinda like it here

We are enjoying the new adventures

and the skyline

.

May in the Northwest

So the good news is we are alive and now living in Texas! Pictured to the left is how we hauled all our belongings here. Yay for roadtrips where you can't go over 55 mph. Phil started dental school on Monday and I am hanging out until my job starts at the end of this month, which will give me plenty of time to update the much neglected blog. Be warned that this is a long post.

Here I am in Seattle feeding seagulls at Ivar. A must for anyone visiting Seattle.

 We went to see the Seattle Symphony. It was amazing. The soloist was amazing. Just one look into these beautiful gypsy locks of hair will have you convinced.

 We visited with my grandparents and Dustin for a day in Moses Lake, WA.

 Then we ventured to Spokane, WA where we enjoyed a day with the Crespos checking out the falls

 and merry-go-rounding. We miss you guys!

 The next day I ran a half marathon and Phil ran a full marathon. It was a beautiful race.

 Another day we went to Portland and checked out the infamous Powell's Books. It was hugnormous.

 And we went hiking to Tunnel Falls. Which was beautiful!

 And we do this all with Loral! It was so good to see her. I sure wish we lived closer. She introduced us to an amazing BBQ joint called

Podnah's which got me really excited for Texas BBQ... which I still have yet to try.

Here we are exhausted/sweaty from the hike and ready to dig in.

 Then in Seattle we went to the top of the space needle. I love the view from up there!

 That evening we went to a Mariner's game. And they won. And these are my parents.

 And these are my friends Kathryn, Tyler, and baby Brynn who met up with us for the game.

 Safeco Field
I love baseball

 Phil in his logger shirt with the logger sign

 Hurricane Ridge. Great views. So much snow.

 Sunset at Hurricane Ridge

 On the ferry as we depart for Victoria, British Columbia.

 Parliament building in Victoria. Gorgeous.

 Back to the USA at Sol Duc hot springs. This is a trail we ran on every morning. It doesn't get much more beautiful than this.

 Me at the Sol Duc lodge where they serve the most delicious food.

 Sol Duc falls

 The wild Washington coast

 This is the trail that takes you to the coast.

 One night we stayed in Forks, WA. Home to Bella's truck.

hiking around the Hoh rainforest 

rock skipping contest

lake quinalt lodge. In love with this place.

That is Mt. Rainier in the background.

hiking around on Rainier

 These last 3 pictures are from a breakfast we had when two of best bestest friends were also in Kennewick. I love these people!

And that was the month of May