Virginia Trip= Lots of Pictures

With Evan at the Virginia Tech campus.

Sarah and Evan at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech Campus was absolutely gorgeous. 

Blue Ridge Parkway scenery.  Virginia is beautiful.

Poor Evan.  He was so exhausted from driving everywhere. 

Evan and his Auntie Sarah at her house. 

Mt. Vernon.  Home of my favorite president, George Washington.

Evan, Sarah and Dad at Mt. Vernon.

Mom, Sarah and Evan.

Evan and I at Mount Vernon. 

Sarah, Evan and I at Mt. Vernon. 

Close up of Evan.

Memorial of students killed at the Virginia Tech shooting just over three years ago.

Nana Carpenter and Evan.

Evan eating his book in the car.... I promise we weren't driving.

Evan all smiley in the car.

Myself and Evan.  Love this little boy. 

Evan's visit to his 7th state in his first year.  Wow! 

A shot of Evan and I in front of the Mabry Mill. 

Evan and I in front of the mill.

Evan and I at Mabry Mill.  This little boy LOVES being up high to look around.

Evan and Sarah at Mabry Mill.  Evan looks so handsome!

Sarah, Evan and I in the Mabry Mill in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Phew... lots of pictures. It took FOREVER to upload all these pictures.  Anyways, Evan and I had a lot of fun traveling.  Evan was great on the airplanes.  I don't like the Atlanta Airport.  We love Virginia and it's beautiful scenery, even though it was way too hot.  We ate at some yummy restaurants, spent time at Aunt Cathy and Uncle John's house near Christiansburg AND had a lot of issues with Evan's disposable diapers.

It was so nice seeing family because we aren't going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

I tried Huggies Pure and Natural Organic diapers... Evan wet through all of them... seriously, so annoying.  Then I bought him Pampers and he wet through all of those also.  I am so glad to be back home with his cloth diapers. 

Needless to say, as much as we enjoyed our time out of Mississippi, we are relieved to be home with Rick and are so done traveling by ourselves.  

This is where we will be living soon...

This is where we will be living soon. At Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii! It wasn't on our dream sheet at all, but that's okay! We're so excited to be going here!

New Callings

Today Rick and I got our callings! I was so nervous about going in this morning, and the Bishop asked us to be in Primary. Rick and I smiled at each other, then the Bishop said, "Oh no, wait. Brother Chappell will you be the Youth Sunday School Teacher and Sister Chappell will you be the 2nd Counselor in the YW Presidency?" I was like "uh.... Are you serious?" Bishop smiled and nodded. We accepted of course.

I am totally nervous about being in Young Women's! The last time I was in there was when I was a Laurel! It's a really small group of girls, but I am so excited, especially about helping girls transition from Primary to YW and to help introduce Personal Progress!

This is going to be a fun calling for the next 7 months or so (we leave Mississippi in April!)

Sew Awesome

So, I love to sew (ha ha!)

But seriously, I just picked up sewing and I am really enjoying it. I "zone out" when I sew and I am having so much fun using sewing as a stress reliever (besides exercising, which I've recently started doing quite a bit again).

In July, I bought my very first sewing machine--- without any idea of how to use it! I mean, I sewed a quilt for a Laurel project, but honestly, I think my mom did most of the sewing. So here's my awesome baby: I picked this lovely machine up from Hancock Fabrics for about $5o off it's normal price. So far, I love this machine (not like I have anything else to compare it to!)

My mom, since she's not here with me in Mississippi to help me learn how to sew, sent me a book for my birthday, and it's an awesome book. It's called Sew Everything Workshop and it's by this lady named Diana Rupp. It's a great beginner's guide to sewing. She covers not only sewing and stitching, but material, embellishments, patterns, preparing your fabric, handstitching, etc. And she also has about 60+ patterns in this book for you to try.

My very first project was sewing a hand towel. Very easy. The point of it was to try the different types of stitches on your machine, and since my machine has about 20 different stitches, I had a ton of fun doing it! Sorry no picture!

My second project was making a pin cushion. I had one of those super tiny tomato ones, and in my book, she gives you directions for making your own pincushion. The bottom fabric is denim (from Rick's old jeans). The top fabric is cotton. It's embellished with embroidery floss and a button. Sorry if it's a little blurry!

Then, I just spent a few hours today making myself a shoulder tote bag. It took me forever to find the material that I really wanted, but I persevered, and in the end, I came up with this: Love it. I am so glad that I chose these fabrics, because I can definitely see myself toting this around! My mom is going to help me with the embellishments when I go to DC and meet up with her at my sister's place later this month. One of the pieces of advice that Diana Rupp gives in her book is to only buy fabric that you love. I spent about an hour and a half choosing these fabrics and I am glad I chose the ones that I love!