Post overdose

I know, I know. I've been a blog slacker lately.
But, never fear! I will make up all that time with today's post!
Just you wait :)

First, I have pictures from our spring break trip to LA. It was totally fun!

Hannah and Tyler were kind enough to let us camp out in their office (Thanks again guys!)
It was a great vacation because it seemed like a week of Saturdays at home.
We just hung out a lot and Elle and I got a good dose of Vander holding.
You can see evidence of me here.

We went to Disneyland to try out Chris' new Silver pass plus three free park hopper tickets.
Ya. Well. Ha ha.
We invited Tyler, Craig and the boys. Fletcher had hives, but insisted on going anyway, so we picked up some Benadryl and headed out.
On the way, Craig called to say he had forgotten the tickets and had to go back.
Then when we got there we found out it was the one week of the whole year that was blocked out for Silver passes. Chris did get discount tickets though.
Poor Fletcher was so drugged up, I'm not sure he actually remembers much of the day. He even fell asleep at lunch.
Chris, Elle and I stayed a couple hours longer and headed over to CA adventure. We rode a few rides including our two favorites-- The tortilla factory and the Sour dough bread bakery for samples ;)
We spent the week mostly hanging out. Chris went to Dreamworks for three hours and chatted with friends while Elle and I went to the zoo. It happened to be Easter day there. Then we all went to the Griffeth Observatory. The view was awesome!
Then, of course, we had the Annual Easter picnic at "Bee Park" as the kids named it since four of them were stung a couple years ago there.
Here are the pics:



And here's a set of pictures that I call Connor and Elle's honeymoon 'cause that's totally what it looks like.
There's also the "nine months later" shot at the end ;)



The weather got better here and Elle used her new Easter chalk:













































And NOW for a little story.

A few months ago, I was watching Kung Fu Panda. I loved all the detail when I watched in the theater, but it just wasn't coming through on our screen. I texted (Is that really the past tense of text?) Chris and said, "We need a big screen TV" He told the guys at work who were dumbfounded. "How did you get your wife to want a big screen TV?!"
So Chris began the research of TV's. Which kind? How big? How far away should one sit for the different sizes? Should we mount or not?
We went to Costco Home, Fry's and other places looking at TV's.
But Chris couldn't decide what kind.
He tried to tell me we needed a 52" screen.
Ya. right!
That's WAY TOO BIG!
So, he showed me the VanDyke's TV.
"It'd just be a little bigger than theirs." He told me.
He tried to say how wonderful his uncle's TV was every time we went to their house.
Then on vacation, we watched Incredibles on Hannah and Tyler's huge TV.
It did look very cool, I must admit.
"We won't get a TV THIS big!"Chris assured me.
Time went by.
Chris still didn't know what kind to buy.
THEN
I went to a Relief Society activity for three hours last Saturday.
Before I went Chris said, "While you're gone, Elle and I are going to buy a big screen TV."
"Ok." I said 'cause I knew he never would.
Then I got home and Chris handed me a receipt with a very large price on it.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!!"
"I bought a plasma TV :) Brian is bringing it home right now." (It wouldn't fit in the Mini)
I was kinda surprised even though I knew we'd get one eventually.



















Chris was very excited waiting for it to come.
And come it did.
He and Brian hauled the 100 pound thing in together while Elle and I were shopping for a birthday party.
When we came back I thought, "Hmm. It seem so big! It actually seems A LOT bigger than the VanDyke's. I guess that's becasue I'm looking at it so close."
WRONG!





















It seems big because it's a freakin' 58" TV!! Which, by the way, is the same length as our dining room table. I'm just sayin'.
While I was coming out of shock, Chris quickly put in a DVD.
And ya know which one he put on?
That's right.
Kung Fu Pand.
The movie that started in all.
And it looks beautiful.
So, we sit on the hard floor and watch REALLY big images on our REALLY big TV.
Now we just need a sofa.

Quilting News

We didn't do much work on the quilt over the weekend--too busy Friday and Saturday, and of course, we don't want to be picking stitches out in the after life with our noses, so we didn't do any quilting Sunday ;)
(No, I didn't make that stitch saying up--learned it from Grandma)

Elle did start to pin

And sew!

And iron seams :)

She wanted me to take some video for your viewing pleasure :)

My man is so cool!

Yesterday, we went with Dave, Brian, Kim and girls to see
Monsters vs. Aliens.
It wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it'd be!
I even laughed!
B.O.B. was my favorite.
And "The Missing Link" totally reminded Chris and me of Mike W. :)

They even remembered to put Chris' name in the credits!!
He's under "Global Resources" on the right side.
There are only three names under it.
He said they should have put his name under
"surfacing" since that's what he did the most.
He's listed as "Chris Harvey" this time instead of
Christopher N. Harvey as not to be confused with his
Googleganger: Chris Harvey.
Oh well. We know who he is.
Chris and Chris actually met last year at Siggraph!
Thankfully, they are both good guys, and neither one is tainting the good name. :)

He worked on making the skin of the characters look awesome.
Check it out!!
That's my man's skin up there!!!
(unlike grandma's skin in Madagascar, or Shrek's which looks. . .
not as good)
He also worked on Dr. Cockroach and other surfaces.

Elle and I had the privilege of getting our picture taken with B.O.B.
last Halloween.
I'm pointing at the tiny kid trying to make off with B.O.B.
She was v cute.
Chris helped to make B.O.B. quit chattering.
"translation"= he made it so B.O.B's reflections would stay smooth and coherent.

So, go see how cool my man is and see
Monsters vs. Aliens.
(sorry the trailer is so lame, but at least you can see the skin up close) ;)

Quilt patterns

Chris spent about an hour one night making this nifty little program for us, so we could see all the different possibilities of quilt patterns.
(It's pretty handy having a talented programmer around :)
He's thinking about making a program for the G1 phone,
but he's not sure how many quilters out there own a G1.

The first is a randomly generated pattern.
Not so good.







Next, we have an interesting pattern, but as you can see, it doesn't quite match up there in the middle.
This can be reprogrammed to make a diamond shape or something like that.
He also suggested that we could make a big "E" with the purple floral pattern.
All too complicated.













Finally, we have a repeating abcde pattern.
This is the one we're going with.
Simple, yet appealing. :)
















In other news, I bought Elle a raincoat.
I thought it was high time she have one.
When she saw it, she hugged it and said,
"You didn't?!!!!"
It was v satisfying. :)

Quilt update and Elleisms

We decided to step back and practice sewing by making bean bags out of the extra fabric.
Elle pinned the squares then sewed then. . .

Had the fun of turning the darn thing

Inside out.
We stuffed it with rice. Then. . .

I taught her how to stitch up the side.
She did NOT like that part at ALL!
So, for the next bag, she just used the sewing machine.
Elleisms:
We were listening to music while we worked. I changed CD's and Elle noticed.
"You're very observant!" I told her.
"Aren't I my father's daughter?!"
She started to work on another bag right away.
I thought to myself, "If Chris were here, he'd say,
'Let's time her to see how long it takes to do one bag.' "
The next thing I knew, Elle said,
"Time me, Mom!"
I did.
20 min. per bag!
I had to go upstairs to do something, and when I came back down,
Elle had finished a whole bag by herself!
"You're amazing!" I told her.
"Of course I'm amazing." She told me, "I'm your daughter!"


She ended up making SEVEN bean bags!

Quilt update

We used Chris' template to trace. . .

And then cut squares. It turns out she's pretty good at cutting straight!

Ta Da!!
She (and I) cut out 80 squares!

Oh ya, and we made some freezer jam in the meantime. . .
More sewing fun to come!

Sunday Dress and hair and stuff

Today Elle wore her Easter dress from last year.
(It's about time to get a new Easter dress!!)
























She finally got to wear her new bow that our good friend Jeanne made!
(Thanks again, Jeanne!)

















In other news, Elle has a new removable expander for the bottom teeth!!
Whoo hoo! She is v.v. excited about it :)




























Here it is in action.
BTW, the quilt is coming along--
more pictures to come!