On The Road Again!

The Sew*CakeMakers have hit the road again!  We were home a whole two days from our Church History Trip with our youth group before we packed it all up again and started our very slow crawl to Utah to visit old family and friends.

We stayed a night in Fairmont and shot a couple family sessions, then headed over to see our long lost Arizona-to-Minnesota friends that have moved across the country with us {without planning to ;0}.  Lindsey and her family live a good four hours from us now after we moved to the Twin Cities area, so we haven't seen them all since the wedding last fall.  After a two night, one day marathon of game playing, we finally got serious about this Utah thing and started driving.  

I am thinking my husband is super, duper excited he was not with us for the trip.  You see, as an engineer he likes to look at a trip like a work project.  We measure the miles, subtract wasted time from potty breaks {even though he would rather just pretend those are not even going to happen}, divide it all by the safe, under the limit speed he plans to drive, and then we are efficiently arrived at our planned destination.  

WELL, me on the other hand, I want to see everything.  I want to stop and get cheesy road-side pictures with every strange attraction and actually enjoy the journey.  We started said enjoyment with a quick stop at Mitchell, MN's Corn Palace.  I thought, " I have never been to the Corn Palace.  It is nearly 8 hours from my house....Let's go!"  Some people would have been discouraged by the fact the palace was closed for construction, but not me!  I got my cheesy picture and didn't have to pay admission.  Score!  Got gas and fresh soda across the street and hit the road again.

Next stop, The Badlands!

If you have never been to the Badlands, you have to go!  It isn't like the Grand Canyon where you would plan a trip just to see it, but it is magnificent all the same.  I really consider the Badlands to be the Northern Mid-West's Grand Canyon.  You drive the four hours of flat farm land that spreads across South Dakota, and about an hour before Rapid City, you come to the off ramp for the park.  One would never suspect that three miles south of the freeway this mountainous land begins to unveil in a crazy vast valley below.  The rocks are simply breathtaking, huge mounds of layered colored minerals, made intriguingly detailed by erosion and thousands of miniature caves that I can only imagine house all the little mountain dwelling critters in the area.  

Even the grassland areas are beautiful.  One of my favorite aspects of this park is that there is a short little u-shaped path you drive, maybe 30 miles long, that takes you from the freeway, through the canyon, and back to the freeway again.  You can seriously speed-tourism through this National Park on your way to more fabulous destinations.

We were just about out of the park when we spotted two mountain goats standing on some steep cliffs just below the road.  I quickly made a U-turn, then another U-turn just before a super nice elderly motorcycle gang came upon us {mid U-turn...Thanks guys for waiting so patiently}, then pulled over at the spot we saw the animals.  They were already gone.  Don't even ask me how they were standing on the lose rock on that jagged cliff, let alone managed to get themselves off of it!  Just as I was ready to start driving again, my kids spotted this...

One..No Two... Wait!  There are three and then four goats popping up the backside of the mountain!  I threw down the phone and grabbed the nice camera to take pictures.  Unfortunately for you, you only get to see phone pictures today.  Maybe I will post those good pictures another time, but for now, you are stuck with these.  Anyway, I grabbed my nice camera and hopped out of the car to get a closer picture.  That goat on the right, he started walking right toward me.  I am thinking, it's a goat.  No problem.  He won't charge me or anything.  

He didn't.  He walked right up to me, but at the line in the middle of the road turned to the left and walked away.  

The whole while I am thinking, "I am totally fine.  It isn't like this is a buffalo coming at me," my kids were all, "Who will drive us to Utah.  That animal is going to eat Mom!"  The second goat followed the first and stopped for a grassy snack two cars behind us.  By the time we pulled back on the road headed West there was a whole heard of goats...maybe 20 that had popped up over the cliff.  I still have no idea how they can do that.  Maybe there is a hidden staircase back behind the cliff's edge?

Remember Hula Bobble Head?  She liked the trip.  She was getting a little tired of seeing nothing but green trees there in Minneapolis.  Some people travel with a rubber chicken.  We Sew*CakeMaker's travel with Hula Bobble Head Girl.  

Ever heard of Wall, South Dakota?  Come on!  You have to have heard of Wall, South Dakota.  You know, Wall Drug???  Well, it just so happens that our little Badlands loop ends at Wall, SD.  We ran over to see Wall Drug just so my kids could say they have been there.  It apparently was biker week, cause we were one of the only four wheeled vehicles around.  We managed to find a post office there to mail my usual I-will-just-take-it-with-me Bubble Box order.  I always love finding a post office during  my travels.  Not the usual stop on the tourist list, but it always seems to be on mine.  They were closed from noon to 2pm, and didn't have a package drop, so the traveling package had to wait until Salt Lake City before it got mailed.  

Now Hula Girl can say she has been to Wall Drug too.

Lunch, more gas, and not even two hours later...Mount Rushmore!  My happy travelers were waning, but we still managed to have a good time.

Mt. Rushmore is a fabulous quick stop too.  You have to pay $11 to park, but on the bright side, it is free to tour the whole amazing visitor's center, AND the parking pass is good for the whole year.  I actually used my same parking pass from our insane trip in May to get into the park for free this time. 

One other stop on my agenda was the Battlefield of Little Bighorn, or Custer's Last Stand in Crow Agency, Montana.  It is about 4.5 hours from Mt. Rushmore and right on the route to Yellowstone.  I remember going here as a kid and being amazed at all the graves and hearing all the stories in the visitor's center.  Unfortunately, we missed getting into the visitor's center by about a half an hour, but we were still able to slip in the gates and see the sea of grave markers on the site.  There is no way to forget them once you have seen them.

Another fun part of the trip for my family was to see all the Latter Day Saint temples we came across along the way.  We drove a few miles out of our way to see the Billings, Montana Temple at about 10 pm their time.  It was worth the crazy GPS instructions to get there.  The Temple was lit up and beautiful.  We consider the temples to be a symbol of eternal families.  I love to see the temple and know that my family will be together even after this life.  

From Billings, it was about three more hours to the North entrance to Yellowstone.  We got there at about 1am.  I drove until we found a bathroom right on the road, part of a campground, then found a road-side pullout and parked it  for the rest of the night.  I would have camped, but the last time we came to Yellowstone, there had been a little boy pulled from his tent and eaten by a bear just the night before.  No camping in Yellowstone for this family!  We leaned the seats back all the way and took a quick snooze.  In the morning, the whole park was just majestic.  There was a thick haze all over the park until about 10am.  I am glad I started driving while the kids were still asleep because I ended up pulling over every 5 minutes to take more pictures.  As least they could sleep through my crazy spontaneity.

This is actually a reenactment photo-ish.   We have a picture of Scott holding Madison at this very sign when she was one year old.  Emmalee was pretty upset that there wasn't a sign that said her name, so I took her picture in front of the next sign...

Kinda fitting, 'ey?

Don't ask me what is going on here.  Emmalee looks like she is flashing gang signs.  Then I started thinking it kinda looks like scissors, so maybe it can be the Sew*CakeMaker gang sign.  Just remember that the next time you see me.  It can be our sign that we too are fellow crafters of the cloth, or something like that.  

Clearly I have not caught up on my sleep yet!

We saw paint pots and geysers and got to Old Faithful just in time to see it blow.  We bought the t-shirts and weird breakfast they had available at the lodge, then waited to see Old Faithful blow one more time before we hit the road.

After Yellowstone we drove the not quite 2 hours south to Rexburg, Idaho.  Madison was born in Rexburg 16 years ago when Scott and I were students at the college there.  In just two more years my Madison hopes to go there for her own college education.  The whole idea blows my mind.  My baby is clearly too young to go to college!!!!

We made another quick Temple stop in front of the Rexburg, Idaho Temple.  It was a gorgeous day.  Couldn't have been more beautiful.

By now you have to know I am a weirdo.  When we were driving away, I saw this bride and groom walking out into the wheat field across the street from the temple.  It was so beautiful a scene I had to stop and take a picture.  If this is you, let me know.  I will send you a prize for having the best wedding photo location in town!

A trip to Rexburg is not complete without a trip out to Big Juds.  We got the Big Jud special; a giant hamburger {it took the whole family to eat it and we still had leftovers}, two baskets of fries, four sodas, and ice cream for the road.  Whew.  It was a ton of food.  Good thing we only stop there once ever couple years!

Before we made it back to the interstate we managed to squeeze in one more Temple Visit.  

This is the Idaho Falls Temple.  When I was pregnant with Madison, Scott and I would come down once a week to go to the Idaho Falls Temple.  It is a very special place for me.

.

Finally only four hours from our destination, we started seeing signs of being close to Utah, other than the sudden flood of temple visits ;0}

This Smith's truck was parked right by us.  That is the local grocery store I haven't even thought of in years.  We must be getting closer!

Sinclair gas stations.  The one by my grandma's house had a giant green dinosaur statue we always longed to play on.  You don't see these stations in the mid-west!

And how about these???  Check out those mountains!  We have spent the majority of the last then years either in flat farm lands or sparse deserts.  These mountains are definitely a sight for sore eyes, don't you think so Hula Girl?

We only passed 6 or so more temples on our way to Grandmas.  Love it!

We arrived safe and sound and totally exhausted.  Emmalee only sat about two minutes before this happened.  Rest up girl!  We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us!

I will be back with some stores you will wish you were at with us.  Utah is the best when it comes to fabulously creative craft stores!

Growing Like Weeds

I ventured into the garage the other day and finally pulled this old board out of the box it was resting in.  I purchase it three years ago, then painted it last year at Christmas time, all the while planning to make a growth chart out of it.  I painted one for me and one for my sister last December, but due to lack of time, I still never finished my own chart.  After a whole year and a couple of really cold, really bleak winter afternoons this past month, I decided to grab that board out of my garage and make a finished project out of it.

With the board painted and distressed, all that was really left was to add the tick marks and numbers.  Vinyl seemed to be an easy way to accomplish the job, so I pushed the power button on my Silhouette Cameo and settled into the computer chair.  

Think about how you would make vinyl pieces for a growth chart.  We are talking about 6-8 feet of little lines all one inch apart.  To take 6-8 feet of vinyl, make those marks where they need to be, and then throw away the rest is a total waste.  Instead, I made these crazy rows of tallies so that the inch tally lines are spaced just like they should be, but my whole set of vinyl fits on two sheets of 12x12 vinyl.  

One note, I started my chart just below 2 feet.  All my kids were 21" long or longer, so I didn't feel the need to start the chart any shorter.  I, instead, was worried about exactly how tall they would be {my boy especially}, plus I wanted him to see just how tall his favorite basketball players were, so I made my board go over 7' tall.  My husband is 6'4, his cousins are 6'8 and 7'1 so I am thinking it just might be a possibility we will need that 7' marker ;0}  

Can you imagine me grabbing the step ladder to get up high enough to plant a kiss on Eli's cheek?  No, me either.  That boy is gonna bend down so I can kiss him ;0}  I am his mama!  Anyway, I added a 7 and a few more tallies to the vinyl just in case you want to use them too.  

I have the silhouette cut file for the vinyl for this project available HERE with Dropbox!!!

You will also need a ruler, scissors, and a 

marking pencil to make this project, in addition to a painted board and a set of vinyl numbers and tallies.

So basically, if you are going to make a growth chart of your own, cut the 12x12 sheet of tallies into three columns.  Then you need to separate the two columns like this...

It is kind of tricky, but stay with it.  If all else fails, you will be back to marking the board for inches, then putting the tallies where they go on the board.  When I cut these apart, I just started at one end of the row of tallies and cut in a zig zag until I ran out of tallies.  If you notice {chuckling at self} I actually forgot one tally on both sides of 6".  For some small moment I forgot that there were 12 inches in a foot instead of 10.  Um, yeah.  Have I mentioned that my children have had no school 8 of the 15 days we have been back in school???  Something about arctic blasts and -40 degrees, blah, blah, blah...  The school district needs to realize it does bad things to my mind when my ears never hear quiet LOL!

{do you like the sight words Emmalee is working on.  Hee, hee...}

Decide if you want to start at one, or just below two...or even at 0 if you really want {just make sure you don't actually start at zero unless you will be hanging your growth chart where there is no baseboard.  Yep.  That is right.  If you plan to start at the floor, you will need to pry off the baseboard, otherwise you will need to start your board at least at 4 or 6 inches.  

  

When your growth chart is ready to hang, measure 2' off the floor and mark the wall.  Then have a spotter sit on the floor and make sure you get the board up so the 2' mark on the board matches the mark you just made on the wall.  I drilled two small holes at the top of my board before I tried to hang it.  That made it easy to just nail it right to the wall way up around 7 foot.  

Once it is up there on the wall, line up those kiddos and mark 'em on the chart!  Just do it.  Just get those cute little marks on there before they are too big to remember those kids ever being small.  I have been pretty sentimental lately about my little kids that are growing like weeds.  They are growing so, so fast.  I am so grateful for the three darlings I got, but am so sad these years have passed so fast and now we have so few left with our babies.  Madison will be in college in two years.  

How sad is that!?!

Now, here is another funny story...We had been marking the wall by the kitchen table with the kid's heights in our house in Arizona starting back in 2008.  When we moved in 2012 I took a 1x4 board from the garage and transferred all the marks from the wall to the board so we wouldn't lose that memory.  Now, two years later, I transferred all the markings from that 1x4 board {that by some miracle I didn't chop up in a sudden, random project-still amazed at that!} to the newly finished growth chart. 

 Now, I look at these markings and think they must be wrong.  I am pretty convinced that when I wrote "09"  on the board, it was actually 2008.  I really don't think he grew 1.5 inches in 6 months...I guess he could have, but even if he did, I only have 5 marks for him, or any of the kids, and I just don't think we measured 4 times in that 6 months and only once before...

I just can't figure it out.  I guess I will just have to look at doctor's notes to straighten out the mystery of our height pasts.  We did line everybody up and make our new marks last week once the chart was hung.  At least from here on out we will be recorded properly.  I started adding the date AND the age.  When these guys are married and bringing their kids to Granma's house, they are going to want to know how their kids measure compared to themselves ;0}  I want to add a couple famous people's heights to the board, but that will happen when it happens.  I chose to do a 10" board so that we had plenty of room for all the kids, and even, dare I say, grand kids when the time rolls around.  

As for me, I love each and every day I walk past this growth chart in my hall.  My kids may be growing like weeds, but from now until the day I die, when I look at this chart I will see their smiley faces that looked up at me while I measured.  I will never forget the light in their eyes as I lined 'em up and marked 'em down, each trying to sneak up on their tippy toes and trying to grow up just a little faster than I would allow. 

I sure love my kiddos.

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Sunday we took a little stroll in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

If you are ever in the Twin Cities area, you have to go there!

We felt a little dorky being the only people around in church clothes, but we just had to go!

You see, in the whole past 6 weeks we have been Minnesota residents, we have looked out the window and seen this, 

And this...

And sometimes this.

I really, honest and truly, don't remember seeing 

This or anything close to it in the whole past 6 weeks.  

We went to a special meeting in Oakdale where we had the privilege of listening to Jeffery R. Holland speak.  He even joked about the weather here in Minnesota.  He said, "We always saw Minnesota on the news and heard the weather man talk about how bad it was here for all you Minnesotans."   Then laughing because of our sudden instance of fabulous weather, he said, "I don't know what those guys were talking about!  I think the weather here is marvelous."  

I am glad he was able to be here for the first perfectly clear sunny, non-humid day we have had this year ;0)

That said, once we left the church building I just couldn't stomach going back home with all this sun and richly colored scenery to enjoy!!!

We looked up the sculpture gardens and drove there straight away.  The Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens are  off of 35W right near downtown Minneapolis.  They are nestled across the street from Walker Art Center and are free to walk through.  You do have to pay for parking if you want to park right there, but we were able to find a spot down the road a way and enjoyed the shady walking path that led right to the gardens.  

I have been waiting 8 years to see this sculpture in person!  

I have to tell you, these are all pictures taken on my phone.  I cannot get over the crazy blue skies and green spaces in the city!  I am guessing that all that rain wiped the atmosphere totally clean and left us with amazing colors to look at.  

Most of the structures are just amazing to look at and examine.  It was really fun to talk to the kids about art and perspective.  I got to impress upon their moldable minds that art isn't something you can just decide yes I like it or no I don't.  You have to look at it from different angles and think about what the artist might have been thinking or feeling, think about the difficulty of working with the particular medium, and what feeling was the artist trying to portray.  Don't just look and decide you don't care for it, but think about what you don't particularly like and why, or why you are drawn to certain pieces.  It all makes you a better artist.  I particularly enjoyed giving that lecture since each of my kids is quite the budding artist and it was fun to see their minds work over the things I told them and equate it all to their own projects.

Ah, just another moment I have loved about motherhood.

Empty clothes

{sorry about my finger in the picture}

Flattened woman.  

I feel like that sometimes.

Behind the flat woman was this random, very long brick wall.  Kinda weird, very cool!

This one was a crazy one.  I didn't notice from far away, just thought it a couple pillars...

But when you come here you will see all the fun and different shapes, animals, etc up in the roof of the dome.

I LOVE this picture!

I can't even express how much I love this picture!!!

I love the angles and levels and layers.  I love the bit of city in the background.  Mostly I think I am just amazed at the blue, BlUe, BLUE sky and the green, GrEen, GREEN grass.

I never knew such colors existed in a city.  I guess I have become so used to the smog of Phoenix, and the grey, overcast skies that surrounded my family ever since we left Phoenix, I just marvel at the sight.

This was Emmalee's favorite.  It is as if Cinderella made this snowman herself.  

This sculpture has a big swing underneath it.  It was a hot spot for that very reason.

Here is Emmers making a snake face.  

What a fun pit stop!  

We didn't stay too long with it getting hotter in the sun and us all in our church clothes, but it was worth the trip a thousand times over.  We will be going back and we will be going through the Walker Art Center as well.  Next time I think we will have to play the mini-golf course they have set up for their 25th anniversary.

Be sure to put the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden on your list if you plan to visit any time soon!!!