Moab

After Ben and Whitney's wedding, we took a family trip to Moab, Utah and went to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. I just went through all of our pictures and there are a lot! This will be a long one. This post is more for family, but hey, if it convinces you to go to Moab, then great! 

Here's Josh :)

ben and whit 2014

Over the weekend, Caleb and I went to Utah for a much anticipated wedding. Ben and Whitney were married on August 14, 2014 in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony. Everything was perfect. Before the wedding day, we went around visiting friends and relatives. It was a really busy day, and we were very exhausted, but it was worth every minute. I was grateful to see so many old friends. And a big shout out to my friend Allison for being so loving! I love you Lew Lew! I was also glad to see Ben, even if it was for a little bit, he seemed to be pretty calm and relaxed. I know he'll rock this whole marriage thing. :)

The wedding day went perfectly. We rode with Josh, Shannon, and Phoenix and had time to spare before the actual temple ceremony. With our extra time, we went to the temple square visitor center and saw the famous Christus statue. It was so peaceful. I just stood there looking up at the statue for a few silent moments, and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for my knowledge of the Savior and His love for me. I am so grateful for the faith I have in Him. Because of Him, I've had the strength to do hard things and to change for the better. 

So I had been talking with Caleb about planning some sort of camping trip to the Great Lakes. He's so busy these days though that we haven't really been able to plan a real trip, but then last Saturday we decided to just go. I had sent an article to Caleb about the wonderful beaches at Lake Michigan, suggesting maybe we could go on a Saturday. When Saturday rolled around, we slept in, and I didn't really expect to go anywhere, because we're kinda boring like that. But lo and behold, he suggested we go to a beach. So we did. :)

It was AWESOME.

And it's not like it was the most beautiful beach on the planet, but the stars were aligned just for us. Perfect weather. Perfect water. Perfect sand. It felt amazing to be outside. That morning we didn't even know which beach we wanted to go to. We just chose the one that was closest. Tiscornia Beach was about a two and a half hour drive. Not bad at all. 

The water felt really good. It's also really shallow, and so we ended up throwing a frisbee while standing knee high in the water. That was really fun. I told Caleb before that I know how to swim the butterfly stroke, but he didn't really believe me. So I took the opportunity to show him I could do it. He was quite impressed with my swimming ability. Why would I lie about something like that? :) 

The sand was so fine that they would make these little peaks on your toes. Caleb thought is was really cool. 

We walked out onto the pier. The view was really pretty. And the skies were so clear. It was beautiful. We had a nice romantic walk.

Because this is a lake, it was fresh water. No salty water in the mouth. No smelly kelp. Love it.

A view of Tiscornia Beach from the pier.

It was such a lovely day. If there's anything awesome about Michigan, it's got to be the beaches on the Great Lakes. If any of you come to visit in the summer, I'll take you to one.

sew i need to move on with something new...

In the last couple months I made more baby blankets. This is like my go-to baby gift because it gets me sewing and I enjoy shopping for different prints. JoAnns was having a huge sale a couple months ago so I bought a bunch of discounted flannel for baby blankets. "But Jess, who are you going to give all these baby blankets to?" Well friend, if you don't know already, I'm Mormon and we believe that we can be with our families forever. It is a sacred privilege to rear God's children in love and righteousness and well...would you like to learn more about why we believe in the importance of families? Yes? Then click here. In my church community, there is no shortage of awesome women taking on that sacred calling of motherhood. Want to know how to make these adorable blankets? Click here.   

I made another robot one. Seriously, love those robots.

Apparently owls are all the rage these days. My hand embroidery ain't great, but it'll do. It's the thought that counts right?

So...I gave this to a family who just had their first boy, and the father just ran his first marathon. I couldn't resist. I even bought extra of this print because I secretly want my future child to have one as well. Gotta start'em young. :)

I made two more tubular infinty scarves out of this fabric I got a while back. I'll be giving one to a friend. For some reason I'm just so attracted to floral prints. They add a little pizzazz to my boring wardrobe. Want to make a scarf like this? Click here. 

Oh and you all should be proud of me. I took this selfie on the first try and was satisfied with it. I was just telling someone the other day that I don't ever take selfies...because it just feels weird. One of my young women from church said that selfies are in fact associated with a mental illness. I chuckled and told her, "Yeah, it's called vanity." I don't think she got it. I thought it was pretty clever. 

So I think I've become somewhat a pro at making these baby blankets and scarves. I think it's time I try something new. I really have been wanting to try my hand at making some cute clothes, but I've always been a little nervous about it. I think it's time I start trying instead of delaying. 


I bought some patterns at a garage sale thinking it would be good practice. I might as well get started. I'm thinking of making a cute midi skirt from the pattern on the right... 

Happy Sewing!

<3 Jessie