Kara Joy's hand crochet dress

I made this dress for my sweetie pie, Kara Joy. Kara Joy is six months in these photos. This is hand crochet. I used the Patons Grace yarn. I am pleased with how well it turned out. I  bought this pattern on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/56542523/charlotte-belle-crochet-pattern-baby and then made some changes to it. I designed the underskirt and ribbon to be inter-changeable with different colors which I haven't got around to doing yet. :)

I love the ribbon in the back.

Kara Joy is truly a joyful baby and brings lots of joy into our family. She is always smiling.

Jonathan Robert loves Kara Joy the most! Sweet siblings.

My sweet boy!
Here he is just a couple of weeks before his fifth birthday!

crochet pictures

I came across an Etsy shop selling Russian crochet magazines. I fell in love with the style (Irish crochet) and copied all my favorite photos as a draft on my blog so I would always have them. Good thing I did because, once the magazine is sold the pictures are gone. I am really kicking myself for not buying any. The patterns are written in charts so I would be able to read it. This first photo I really wanted because I think this pattern of the shirt would make a cute skirt on a dress for Kara Joy. I guess I will have to learn Irish crochet and come up with my own version. Some of these really amaze me at the complexity of the pattern and the amount of time it takes to make one dress for a model.






                                                                          
  

Micah

I've been wanting to post for a long time. I have a lot of updating and one update that is really hard for me but, I think belongs here on my blog as it has to do with two of my last posts. I need to get this hard one done before I can move onto happier and easier topics.  

In December, my brother-in-law Micah died in a car accident. He was only 25. My heart still aches for him, for my sweet little sister and for the tragedy of it all. One of the things I keep saying about Micah, is that he was the most sincere person I've ever met. It sounds like not a huge thing, to be sincere, But I believe it is a God given gift to have a true sincerity that Micah had. 


I have no regrets, I told him that I loved him and I was glad he was in my family and married my sister. I admired his faith and his ability to share his testimony. He was amazing with kids! He loved and upheld my sister as the most beautiful woman in the world. He helped her to become a better person and grow into a faithful daughter of God. 


He brought an aspect of fun into my family and got us off our lazy butts to go outside and play a game of kickball, or a card game or some kind of activity as a family. We've lost a piece of our family. We are hurting. We miss him.  


I am comforted at the thought that he is with Christ and is, I'm sure, continuing in the work of spreading His good word to others.


The news did a nice story on Micah a couple of days after his death I would like to share. 

Here is the blog Micah's cousin, (who is like his brother) created for him. He with the help of his wife, also put together the wonderful picture video of Micah's life which includes fun little video clips of Micah. He also wrote Micah's obituary. Which are both on the home page of the, I love Micah Kaplan blog.

http://ilovemicahkaplan.blogspot.com/

These video's are hard for me to watch. It's been 4 months now and for this whole time, I'd open my blog to do another post, but than I'd see the previous two posts I've done and they have Micah's words and his video. I just couldn't post the birth of my baby or other happy news on here until I was ready to share the news of Micah. 
I love and miss you Micah!!

Surprise, surprise!

We are expecting our 4th baby!!!!
I am twenty weeks along and we are having a girl.
Her name is Kara Joy!!!
Kara is due February 9th of 2011.
I am so excited to again hold a newborn infant in my arms in just a few short months.


We also moved back to Utah.
We are in Midvale right next to all the shopping which is nice.
Jonathan really likes his new job. The company is great!
We are happier here even though I left behind my house in AZ.
The house is currently rented out, so that is really great for us. I just hope we will have good renters for the next few years before we sell it. :)

update on the free rent contest

Micah and Susie did not win the contest. Here is what Micah had to say about it.

I found out that we did not win the contest & I'm losing part of my job at my school. But God is so good! My wife and I were overwhelmed with the support that we received from everyone. How great it is when you can depend upon a God that never lets you down. Its amazing what strength and perfect Peace He can give you ...in times of uncertainty. We truly are so thankful and grateful to you all for your help and support.

Isn't he such a great guy?

Hoping for another miracle

In 2007 My little sister Susie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the tender age of 21. It was absolutely devastating. Susie was a miracle and survived the cancer but was left with one barely functioning ovary. However, years later Susie is now struggling with the second horrible part of cancer, as if the first part wasn't bad enough. She now has to overcome "The Medical Bills".

We have a chance to help her achieve yet another miracle in her life. Susie and her husband have an opportunity to receive a years worth of free rent, but they need people to vote for them. This year of free rent would give her the second miracle in her life, to be free from her cancerous debt! She would also be able to finish nursing school, supplement her husbands teacher salary and thus, be able to pay for fertility treatments to bring them closer to their third miracle, a baby.

I love my Beautiful sister so much! I would appreciate any help in getting her the votes she needs to get this one year of free rent. The voting only take a few seconds. You do not need to register or anything annoying. Just a click.
Voting is open now until May 9th.
Be sure to watch their touching video and vote for Micah and Susie
Click on the link to get to the voting page.
http://www.trilliumresidential.com/free-rent-vote

Grace turns FIVE!

Ok, so I know it's been months since I've blogged. I think about blogging but can't think of anything interesting to put up.

Luckily, we've had a birthday! This is a big birthday for this little girl. Being 5 means that she can Finally start kindergarten in the fall. It also means she is bigger than her cousin Tommy who is larger in size and is like 6 months younger than her.
(I know he's a boy and boys are bigger but, Grace doesn't understand this fact. She's older and should be bigger and have seniority over him. Right?)

(Jonathan Robert, Grace, Tommy)

Sooo, My kids are totally spoiled! They each get two parties when it is birthday time. One for the Hoopes' side and one for the Steffler's. Grace wanted Tinkerbell/princess themed parties so I whipped up some cakes super fast to make these birthday dinners special for her.

Her first cake didn't turn out as planned but she still loved it. It was a chocolate cake with pudding mixed into it so it was very moist. The frosting was a yellow color so I thought,"Oh, I just have to make it banana flavor!" It was kinda yummy....but not delicious. In my excitement I added too much flavoring to the frosting.

Here's her Tinkerbell cake at the second party. I ran out of time and had to put the frosting on while the cake was still warm, so it was a little drippy. [sigh, these are imperfect cakes by an imperfect mom.] I shoved the tinker doll in this cake and quickly realized the doll was too tall. So I ripped the tree trunk legs off the doll and shoved it back in. Walla!!! Perfect fit!!
When we were all done, I was able to get the legs back in after lots of grunts and frustrations. Grace never knew the difference. She was a happy girl. This was a white cake with vanilla frosting.

Happy fifth birthday Grace. I hope you have good memories of turning five.

Adventures from the Bard

My Awesome Father-in-law decided to take my family to the bard.
(which is church property and also is where my hubby proposed to me!)

The church used to keep up the land and sell oranges but, it wasn't making money so they stopped watering the trees. It's kinda sad to see hundreds upon hundreds of trees die.
They have it all locked off and for some reason they have some beautiful horses in it. It was so much fun to be in this huge area with horses just wandering around!



We picked as many oranges that we possible could before going crazy. We ended up filling our trunk with oranges and now are drinking lots and lots of fresh tart orange juice!

So, I love nature! I love to go for walks just to enjoy the scenery. Well... While at the bard, I took some pictures in the rows of trees thinking how cool is it to look though this tunnel of trees and see a tiny arch at the end of the row! It's like really far away. Totally cool right?

I mess around with my camera to try and get the best possible picture,
so I can enjoy this lovely site for time to come.

When I upload the pictures of these supposed beautiful scenic photos, all I can see is the million piles of horse poop!!!

Here they are, the big poopers, on the other side of the road from the trees. Just eating and pooping, of course. sigh.