Sad, Sad Day for All in Provo

For those of you who don't yet know, the Provo Tabernacle burned early this morning. I almost start crying every time I think of it. I had stake conference almost every single year there while at BYU (twice a year) and in our ward in south Provo. Click HERE to read the Salt Lake Tribune's article. It is truly a sad, sad day.

Fabric is My Bag Blog

Hello everyone. I decided that rather than continue to take over our blog with stuff for my creations that I would start a blog to post new things, tutorials, etc. We are right in the middle of finals (we being John) and will hopefully post something more interesting here in a week or so.

Check out my new blog fabricismybag.blogspot.com. It is still a work-in-progress, but it's something....

Our "Bloch" Party

The BYU Museum of Art is hosting a fabulous exhibit on display until sometime next year slammed full of beautiful and inspiring art by Carl Bloch. We went for the first time tonight and it was amazing. I warned John that I would probably cry uncontrollably for at least part of it. His art is so touching to me, especially because he is Danish and my dad served his mission in Denmark.

They have a short intro movie to help introduce you to Carl Bloch and then you walk into the main gallery right to his rendition of "Doubting Thomas". I could NOT stop crying. It was such a huge, grand piece. My emotion might have been partly that I have always considered myself somewhat of a doubting Thomas, especially since that was my maiden name. It was a very touching moment to see that piece and think of how merciful our Savior really is.

It was amazing to me to think that just a few short months ago, and for the entire rest of their lives, 8 of these gorgeous altarpieces were in churches in Denmark and Sweden. It makes me wonder what, if anything was put in their place. Do the people miss them? Do they realize how amazing they are? It was truly an inspirational exhibit and next time we will pay the $3 a piece and rent the iPad to have the full experience.

Christmas Music

Every year growing up (that I can remember and that I was at home to remember), my parents and sisters and I would always set up allll of the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. My mom has quite the collection of nativities that are mostly packed in their own box for each piece that go in a specific place in the house. We also have a ton of ornaments. My mom had the great idea to start getting an ornament from our vacations to help us remember them as we decorated the tree each year. My absolute favorite one is a sumo angel complete with sumo wrestler "garb" (aka a thong) and wings. He is probably going to be the most fought-after item with my sisters after my parents die. My dad would always get the assignment of setting up the tree, which at one point in time was an artificial 12-foot tree. My mom bought a pre-lit tree a few years ago to help alleviate some of the holiday stress with stringing the tree with lights. Some of my favorite holiday memories envolve a certain parent grumbling and growling about the lights and getting poked with the tree. I can't blame them. My sisters and I would usually chuckle a little as it went on and then go set up some nativities far, far away in the house.

Anyway, the point of the story is to say that the first, and I mean the absolute first, Christmas music my mom would always put on was Barry Mannilow's Christmas CD. I don't love Barry Mannilow, nor his Christmas CD, but it doesn't seem like Christmas without it. Last year I bought Ella Fitzgerald's "Ella Wishes You a Swingin' Christmas" and I LOVE, love, love it. She has such a fabulous voice reminiscent of times past. What's on your Chrismas music list? We always listen to Handel's Messiah along with a few choice Weezer Christmas songs that are surprisingly fabulous. I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the Holiday season and that we can all remember the true reason of the season being Christ and His glorious birth thus saving us all.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

34 down, 39 to go

I have been busily working in the sewing sweatshop trying to prepare for the Bijou Market that will be going on November 19th & 20th. I had 74 onesies to begin with and am working hard to get all of them done. I figure the more that I have, the more likely I am to meet someone's "needs" and hopefully the more likely I am to sell some of them. I have also been working on some baby shoes, which are way more adorable in person than they appear in picture, but they take at least 2.5 hours to complete 1 pair. Couple that with the stomach flu that hit me HARD two days ago, the horrible sick feeling I've felt for the past few days and it's been a little rough these past few days.

We are thoroughly enjoying the leaves that are changing in our neighborhood. One of the more main streets right by our house is flanked by the biggest, most beautiful trees. I love the fall for the leaves, especially for the sound of them crunching underneath my feet. Unfortunately, it also means that winter is on its way and soon it will be covered in snow..... Sad.

A Temple in Lisbon, Portugal

John and I so enjoyed General Conference this morning and afternoon. We sat down to listen to this morning's session in the comfort of our own home (I actually think we were eating Twinkies at the time) and heard President Monson announce that a temple will be built in Portugal. We both were SHOCKED and I immediately started bawling. John also joined in with the tear fest and we rejoiced at this announcement. For those of us in the states, it is really exciting to hear of a temple being constructed and making things closer for us. For those who live outside of the states, a temple even in their COUNTRY is a huge, huge deal. The Portuguese people are our favorites on the earth and we really came to love them as we served our missions there. We are so excited for what it means, the declaration that it is that Portugal will have a temple, that will probably only be populated by Portuguese, that the members are ready to have a temple to stand on its own for them, that Heavenly Father trusts them with the sacred responsibility of a temple. We feel so blessed to have served there and to have come to know such amazing and wonderful people. We are already planning on going to the dedication (whenever that will be....) with Laura and look forward to seeing the Church growing even more in Portugal.