So it's been a while

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and that's because we've been really busy! Not only did we take a great vacation to San Diego for Spring Break, but we also started some house projects, and Nick broke his wrist in the middle of everything too. Just more craziness in the Geddis Household. So here are some photos of what we have been up to. I will try to get back to more regular postings as we have some big house projects on the near horizon!

The sunset from our Hotel window

The fam at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. Beautiful Ranunculus flowers as far as the eye could see!

Crazy boy!

Our new teenager! Can't believe she's 13 already!

What a sweet couple!

Overlooking the San Diego Wild Animal Park - These are the lions.

Took the tram tour to see most of the animals in more natural habitats.

He's really yawning. But I love this picture!

Flamingos were everywhere it seemed!

The cheetah was purring the entire time he was out. Didn't get to pet him. Kinda like my arms the way they are, but we were really really close to him!

All of us at the Wild Animal Park.

This statue is awesome! Huge and way cool!

The Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. We toured most of it. Took us over 3 hours! But a very cool thing to see.

Here are Nick, Gabi & Bryan in the sleeping bunks on the midway, pretending to be sailors.

Sea World was cool!

Fed the dolphins at Sea World

Watched the Shamu Show. Way cool! Such amazing animals!

The Sea Lion show was also very funny & entertaining.

The San Diego zoo was way too amazing for words, but I'll sum it up with this: PANDAS!

They were so adorable! Loved finally being able to see pandas first hand.

There were other animals too - like baby giraffes!

And baby Orangutans. Oh wait. That was mom posing as one!

I have so many more great photos and video of our trip, but I think that's a pretty good over view for you guys. Don't want to bore you too much with our vacation photos.

All in all it was an amazing trip. The weather was great, the food was amazing and the company was pretty great too. So many great memories from that trip. Can't wait to go back! Maybe when Nick doesn't have a broken arm so maybe the kids can learn to surf. Cause what trip to San Diego doesn't include a little ocean time?

Next post will be an update of the house and the newest project we are working on!

Gabi's second ever sewing project

So Gabi has a new interest in wearing skirts and I thought it would be a great idea to not only encourage the girly desire to wear something other than jeans and t-shirts, but try to interest her in sewing again. Her first project was making some sleep pants which she wears all the time and loves, but didn't really want to make anything else.

So we made a trip to the mothership of all fabric stores... Fabric Depot. They actually advertise that they have over 1-1/2 ACRES of fabric. Truly the Mecca of fabric stores. If she couldn't find fabric she liked there then it just didn't exist! So we found the pattern we wanted to try:

Nice and easy, with lots of different options. So she picked this view:

We found the PERFECT fabric, took it home washed it and cut it out. After another trip to the store to get more fabric we finally had the entire project cut out. See Gabi has VERY long legs and I forgot to check the finished length before purchasing the fabric. Did I mention it's been a LONG TIME since I've sewn clothes? Like since she was a baby I'd say.... at least 10 years. (YIKES!) So we had to lengthen the skirt 3 inches to make it decent and not some hoochy momma length. Anyway, Saturday was our sewing day and we got busy putting it all together so she can wear it on her birthday on Tuesday.

Notice the CUTE polka dot fabric! Suits her to a tee! All her favorite colors and she loves polka dots!

Here she is carefully sewing the hems on the ruffle layers. I had to do a few parts of it cause she was a little too nervous to do it. Especially the zipper. And she was afraid of the serger so I did those seams. But the finished product is adorable! She did think all that pressing of the hems on the 3 layers was BORING but when I told her at least she didn't have to sew them BY HAND she didn't think it was so bad afterall. She really loves the actual sewing part, but does understand the importance of proper pressing to make the prefect final product.

She is so proud of herself and I am proud of her too. She was so excited to finish it and can't wait to do her next project. I think we'll make another skirt, and she's already telling me she wants to take over making my projects for my Aunt's store. I think we have a budding little seamstress on our hands, and I couldn't be happier!

Valentine's Day 2010

We went camping and riding for Valentine's/President's Day weekend. Had a great time and the weather actually cooperated with us for once! It only rained at night after we were in bed. The above picture is what it looked like on Monday. Just perfect weather! We had a great time hanging out with our quading family. Celebrated Erika's 18th birthday, had a great Valentine's dinner, and lots of great riding. Nick did have a bit of an accident and we got to visit the Florence emergency room for the first time in all the years we have be going there. Luckily it wasn't that bad, and he's healing very nicely now.

The kids quads. Nick's is the black one, and Gabi's new quad is the white one.

Gabi attempting to climb a hill on her bike. She made it up too!

Nick playing around on his bike.

Gabi loves her new bike. It was an early birthday present for her.

Larry was having issues with his bike, but there were lots of little helpers around if he needed the help! Nick and our friends Chad (on the right) & Craig (on the left) are supervising Larry as he deals with his chain issue.

Bryan riding my quad as he tried to fix it. It was a bit temperamental over the weekend and Bryan spent a whole day trying to fix it. He finally got it all worked out. Runs great now!

Here is Nick's injury. He was trying to pop a wheelie and didn't quite make it. Hit his head on the bars and ended up biting his tongue among other mouth injuries. He actually bruised his mouth too on both sides of his lips. Poor guy wouldn't talk for 3 days! He's healing fine now and should be back to normal in a few days.

All in all it was a great trip and as usual we can't wait for the next one!

The finished product...

Here is the finished product of our glass blowing adventure. The red didn't show up very well in Bryan's ornament, but overall they are beautiful! The kids are going back today with Grandma & Grandpa to make more. Can't wait to see how theirs turn out!

Bryan's ornament

My ornament

Blowing Glass

Saturday we went and made our own blown glass ornaments, which was a blast! The hardest part I think was picking from the hundreds of color choices! It was hard to narrow it down, but we did. Bryan picked a red, green and white mixture and the kids and I picked a turquoise, lime green and pink mix for the 2nd one. I got to make one of the ornaments while Gabi took pictures, and Nick did the other one.

The temperature in the fire where the melted glass is was somewhere around 12oo degrees I think he said.

Here he is showing me how to mix the colors into the hot glass.

Then you stick it back into the fire to melt the glass pieces together into the base.

After the colors are mixed in you blow gently to make the ball. You blow really really lightly, like blowing out a candle. I thought you would have had to blow harder, but nope. Barely at all.

Here is the finished product when he puts the curly top on it to hang it from. It's still extremely hot so you can't see the final colors much at all. I'll post the finished products once we get them home.

Then it was Nick's turn.

Spinning, spinning, spinning

Adding some color

Mixing the colors together

And blowing to make it round.

I saw a blurb about making these on the news one morning, and called that day to make an appointment. The guy told us that was the first time they had ever opened it up to the public before, and the received 300 calls the first day! It was crowded there, but not too much. The wait wasn't too bad and once you were making your ornaments it seemed to go really fast. It was really a great experience and we've already decided we want to go back next year and do it again!

Before and the beautiful after

Well the living room is finally officially done! And it looks amazing! Still have some decorating to do, but the final piece - the new couch was put in place last night. So in honor of the beautiful new room here are some before, during, and after pictures to document a job well done!

The before - with the ugly carpet & dirty fireplace

The boring stark white walls, lack of proper lighting and popcorn ceilings. Ugh.

Freshly scraped ceiling, new lighting installed and nicely primed walls

Oooohhh beautiful paint!

The floors are going in. I am so in love with my new floors!

Our beautiful and VERY BRIGHT new entry way chandelier, & the newly tiled railing

The finished hallway. Just need doorknobs & paint on the air return vent

The fireplace ready for Christmas. Just need to hang the stockings!

The finished room, complete with Christmas tree, couch & sleepy boy!

The view from the hallway - with a very cute Muscles I might add!

More house progress

Well we have made some great progress with the upstairs living room & dining room recently. Here are some pictures of the progress we have made. The finished results will be fabulous, and just having the paint on the walls has been an amazing transformation! Can't wait to get the new flooring laid!

 

Living Room before pictures

   

Living room during - Popcorn scraped off the ceiling and new lighting has been installed, and Bryan built a little wall by the entry to help straighten the wall by the stairs.

 

Look how the fireplace pops with the color on the wall! 

Dining Room before

Dining room during - Popcorn scraped off the ceiling, and the random niches filled in

  

Dining room with paint! Looks fabulous!