Travis is Home and Now We Are Off to CAMP!

Hey there! Travis arrived home safely from his cross-country journey. He had a good time and was happy to be home. He also brought the camera back with lots of great pictures. So now I can post pictures of the finished quilts for Morgan. There are 2 quilts - they are NOT identical (even though they may look that way). They are pretty great, if I do say so myself. I am so pleased with them and have been thinking of other t-shirt possibilities.

On the way out to Utah, Morgan was adamant about getting her National Park Passport stamped at some point. She looked at the planned route and she chose this location (Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site) based on what she had learned in her AP US History class. She and Travis learned a lot and enjoyed their stopover here and Morgan got her stamp.

She was thrilled to arrive at BYU campus and thought it was just beautiful. She wrote to me today on facebook and stated that she knows she made the right decision and is so happy. I asked if she still goes to dinner by herself and she said, "My dorm is so much fun!!" She also reported getting an A on her first Bio quiz!!

Her roommate never showed up, so she has a room to herself for the summer (that will change in the fall). She was concerned about this at first so I suggested that when she was in her room and willing to take visitors, keep the door open. Then, every once in a while, take a walk around and go visit someone. That worked very well for her!!

After leaving Morgan, Travis drove down to Hurricane, Utah, to visit his parents for a couple days. He helped with a few things around the house and enjoyed his visit.

Then it was time for Travis to head home. His dad rode along with him and kept him company. He really enjoyed the company!! They stopped over in Houston for a short visit with his brother Shan, Mikkyn, and their family.

The kids are a hoot! They were thrilled to have Grandpa and Uncle Travis there. They were entertaining. Here is the family in their natural state. The above picture is completely posed!! This next picture is the REAL family!!

So the next phase of summer brings us to Girl's Camp. We are all going (except Morgan). The theme is "BEE" oriented. It is kindof a tradition in our ward to make matching tshirts for the girls to wear as they arrive at camp. I offered to help them tie-die. The shirts came out beautifully!!! This is my shirt:

Then I took the shirts home and embroidered them thusly:

There is a story here and I will start by saying that those three dots under the bee are not blood. The black dye has many different color dyes in it and those are pink flecks. As I was embroidering my shirt (with my titanium embroidery needle) I was moving the fabric out of the way and the machine made that "chunk chunk chunk" noise and I stopped the embroidery. The needle had broken and the lower part was bent in a "C" and stuck on the pad of my right ring finger. I went to pick it off and realized it was stuck. Horror filled my sould. I slowly turned my hand over, and...two strands of thread were coming out my fingernail. "What have I done?" "I'm so embarrassed." "I have been sewing for 31 years and have never done this." "I can't teach a sewing class if I just sewed my finger." All those thoughts were running through my head. Then I thought, "I have to pull this out." The needle was out and I cut the thread running to the maching. Then, with firm resolve, I grasped the needle and pulled really fast. I put my finger in my mouth and ran downstairs for a paper towel. I thought, "I need to apply pressure." So I did. I paced the kitchen for a minute and then felt a little dizzy, so I sat down on the bed. I held my hand until it was numb. I put a bandaid on it, and then went back to finish the sewing project. I still had 9 shirts to go!! I have a hole in my fingernail that I have to keep filing down as it catches on things. It still gives me the heebies to think about it.