Book: Under the Dome by Stephen King

It's been forever since I've posted on this blog....many things have gone on in our world and I have many photos on my camera I should have downloaded (and put on here).  I need to try and catch up a bit.  This is a sort of silly place to start, but here it is.  I just finished reading this book, I think I saw it on a book blog and had it on my list to look for at our library.  It was actually there, and I about died when I saw the size of the book.  It was huge!  I've already returned it to the library so I googled it and one place said it had 1074 pages.  Pretty heavy to lug around.  I don't really like Stephen King movies, and have never read any of his books, but the story line of this one sounded interesting, and it was.  There was some trashy and violent parts that I could have done without, but still a very interesting story.  One of those books that I found myself wanting to read instead of doing something else I really should be doing (don't you hate and love that!)  One day, in a small town, there suddenly was an invisible dome surrounding it.  Birds, planes, and vehicles ran into it before people realized it was there.  They could communicate with the outside world, but that was it - nothing else could pass through this barrier, .  The story is about what happens, very quickly, to the political/social system within the dome.  Very Lord of the Flies-ish.  I have to admit that I enjoyed it.

The next generation?

I was catching up my quilting blog and this photo was with those pictures so I decided to post it over on this blog.  Ashley is here living with us for awhile and decided to give the longarm a spin on a baby gift for a friend.  She discovered that it does take some practice, but did a nice job :) 

Baby Elizabeth Kate

 We'd like to welcome baby Elizabeth into our family!  She was born Saturday and we are all so excited to have her safely here.  Mama Sarah and Daddy Blake are pretty smitten with her! 

 Grandpa was wielding the camera, so for once there are actually some photos of me -- so I'm going to go ahead and post them :) 

Pretty sweet to see your baby holding his baby. 

Update on downstairs

Molly's Blessing

I had to steal the top photo from Ashley since we weren't able to be there for the big event.  Our sweet little Molly was blessed the first Sunday of this past month.  It's nice that the other set of grandparents were able to attend. 

Here's a photo of the dress before I sent it off in the mail.  Ashley sent me a picture of a similar dress she found online that was pretty pricey....could I make it?  Well sure - is it made out of fabric?, PLEASE!!!  I'm super grandma, of course I can make it.  Well guess what, nada.  The original dress had fishing line in the hems that  made them wave beautifully.  (FYI, use super light fabric like chiffon if you want to put fishing line in the hem!!)  But of course, we chose a much heavier, wedding weight satin, and the fishing line just couldn't work the same way.  So our dress here has a different look to it, though I worked and tried until I wanted to throw the whole thing into the garbage!  We just decided to go with what we were getting and luckily Molly didn't care a bit! 

Sarah's BYU Graduation

 Our cute little daughter-in-law, Sarah, graduated from BYU on Aug 10, 2012 with a degree in Humanities.  We've been to several college graduations in the family, but this is the first time at BYU.  Pretty fun.  We are so proud of her!  Pretty good timing to get it done just 2 months before their baby is due to join the family.

 Sarah and Blake

 Walking from the parking lot.  Sarah had to get there earlier.

 Inside the Marriott Center.  I've heard about this place for years, fun to see it in person.

 There's her name!!!

 Proud husband.

 The graduates filing in.  Sarah was in the row on the left.

 There she is, just passing in front of that first chair.  She looks pretty pregnant in that graduation gown (but then so does everyone else!)

 It's official.

 Happiness

 Discussing the fact that they didn't have everyone change their tassels over to the other side during the ceremony.  So she did it now. 

 The coveted blank diploma.

 Blake had flowers waiting for her out in the car.

 Then to finish off the celebration, a trip to the restaurant of Sarah's choice, Macaroni Grill.  A wonderful evening.  We're really proud of you, Sarah, and so happy we could be there to share it with you!

2 bedrooms and media room projects

Ashley is trying to figure out how to arrange her furniture, and who to have in what bedroom - so I decided a video would be helpful.