Mission Thoughts

Thoughts and feelings on Brock's mission to Zimbabwe.

Busy Busy Busy

Fall is here and I am loving it. I think I have said, "this is the perfect temperature", almost every time I walked outside this week. 

We have been hosting singles ward family home evening the past few Mondays. It has given me the perfect excuse to experiment with some delicious treats. 

Instead of frosting these, I used an egg yolk and food coloring to spread over the cookies. I used the egg white to get the green color. Then I baked as directed and was quite happy with my enhanced sugar cookie results. 

Saturday morning I tried my hand at some decedent french toast.  I think my heart stopped but it was so good I just might post the recipe.

Saturday was just a baking sort of day. I made up some pie crust real quick. Rolled it out. Cut out pumpkin shapes. Coated in butter. Sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and tossed them in the oven. Pretty sure I single-handedly ate over half of them.

Aside from baking to get in the fall spirit, I can't help but enjoy every excuse to wear every combination of fall colors. To be honest the majority of my wardrobe would be in the "fall color" category. It is just what comes with being a red head. 

Here are the promised pictures of my linen project. We start on pillows this week and I am just so excited! I have decided to monogram  everything I make so no one forgets where it came from.

This is my table runner. The monogram is under the right corner. It is 100% cotton finished with a satin stitch. 

This is my table cloth. I made the table runner out of scraps after I realized this would probably not get me a good grade if turned in. As you can see my border is not even which made my mitered corners a little wonky. And this genius decided to monogram on the fold.Hey, now I know the right way to do it, and what not to do.

  

Complain as I might about the table cloth not turning out perfectly, it will still be featured on occasion. I kind of love the colors and the cotton that looks similar to burlap.

Happy Fall!
Don't forget to scroll down and check out Zach's latest movie featuring the Pearsons. 

Movie Stars

Our good friends McKay and Ashley were kind enough to let me film them for my Broadcast Journalism class. It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience for my first small film. Is it perfect? Not even close. So, while the movie making and story telling might be lacking, I had some of the best subjects in the world. Thanks again McKay and Ashley!

Game Night

 Friday Night Mckay and Ashley hosted a game night.  Usually we all get together to watch our husbands play flag football, but this time we enjoyed chatting while eating some delicious snacks and playing games. 

We played a "Minute to Win It" game where one person throws a ball and the other has to catch it in a cup.  But it gets harder because for every one you catch you have to stack another cup on top of the ball inside the last cup.  First one to get all the cups stacked wins.

Zach and I got 5 each time, which we thought was pretty good until Jamason and Sarah beat us. 

 We sure enjoyed playing with your friends kids.  Especially the cutest Tyler and Brinlee in the world!

While Friday was all fun and games the majority of Saturday was not.  We spent almost the entire day working on projects and doing homework.  We got to play in one of the media rooms while Zach worked on his movie project.  I am personally really excited to see the finished product.  Doesn't he look so professional?

Luckily we were able to save our weekend with homemade pizza and a movie.  I always love a good homemade pizza. 

Happy 45th Birthday to the greatest Dad in the world!  I wish we could be there to party with you!  I am so excited to see where this new year of life takes you.  It already looks like you have quite a few exciting journeys ahead of you and I can't wait to see where they lead.  Happy Birthday!

We based our photo collage on Elaine S. Dalton's talk 'Love Her Mother'.  Throughout the talk she describes what Dads do to teach their daughters about true love in its purest form.  So with the help of my Mom and all of my artistic siblings we created a thank you to our best example of love.  Thank you Dad for being the man we all needed you to be and for loving Mom.

The Tallest Man on Earth

When I first heard Kristian Matsson sing, I was intrigued.  I thought his voice sounded so unique.  The more I listened the more I liked it.  Now I have to say this is one of my favorite performers.  The King of Spain is one of my favorite songs.  Zach and I always have to sing along when it shows up on a play list. Hope you enjoy it too!

Home Decor Sewing 101

As many of you know, I have been enjoying my sewing class like no other.  I have been dying to conquer the sewing machine once and for all.  I feel like I just might be able to complete almost any given project with all of my hair and sanity still intact.
 As a teenager, my mother patiently tried to teach me the basics of sewing. She was able to open me up to the wonders of altering, mending and creating.  However, creating always, always ended in frustration.  So in an attempt to create and actually enjoy it I am creating a new room and learning every step of the way.  These are some of the bedroom treatment ideas I have collected on Pinterest.

Douvet Cover:

Accent Pillows:

Curtains:

I just completed my linen project by making a tablecloth and a table runner. The tablecloth came out too small and a little bit butchered. The table runner on the other hand, though pieced together, was my first frustration free creation!  It may be simple, but I could not be more happy about it.  Here are the cotton fabrics I used. The completed projects will be posted soon.

On another happy note, guess who made it safely to South Africa?! Yep, Elder Allen did. We are so proud of him! He is holding up well and excited to start preaching the gospel. 

One Last Hurrah with Brock

Of course we will never be done having great times with Brock, but we are all excited to see what his next two years in Zimbabwe will bring. I think growth and maturity are a given. So, we will party again, and hard, but this was our last weekend all together for a while.

Zach was working on a class project that required a lot of filming. Zach enjoyed Brock's artistic eye, so, our Saturday was spent filming around Fairfield and taking pictures in this wonderful field.

The best looking directors and film crew.

The latter part of the day was spent in the kitchen getting food ready for the big farewell party Sunday afternoon. To keep us cheerful Brett poured us all shots of apple beer.

After the party in the kitchen we headed out to the yard to burn the giant wood pile. It took a while to get it going because of the rains the days before, but when it finally went, it went big. We had a good time roasting marshmallows and watching Brock and Tate entertain themselves.

Sunday was a bitter sweet day full of good food, visiting and good-byes. We all had a great time mingling with cousins and friends. We were even privileged enough to see the Haka performed by our friend Clint. (video below).

We sure love Brock and will miss his visits, but we are so proud and excited of the work he will be doing. The people of Zimbabwe will be so lucky to have him.

We sure love you Elder Allen!

The Haka

(not on Facebook, as promised)