Our Midwest Vacation {Omaha: Part Two}

This post will be a picture overload, but there are so many photos I took of our sweet nephew & Godson, Hank, for his baptism:) 

If you missed part one of our vacation, you can find it here: Midwest Vacation {Texas to Iowa: Part One}. 

Sweet baby!  Notice he's laying on the blanket I knitted for him:) Warms my heart! 

 He's such a smiley boy! He'll smile for his mama anytime:) She helped get his big smile for many of the photos! 

 We also went to a friend's wedding at this cathedral in Omaha. It was so beautiful (aren't they all?!). 

My handsome date and I 

Bright and early the next morning, we got to be part of Hank's baptism as his Godparents, along with Zach's sister and her husband (her hubby was out of the state that week so he isn't pictured). It was such a sweet morning and Hank was a brave little guy and handled it so well! 

We're so honored to be part of his life and be able to pray for him, with him, and help guide him in life. 

Amber, Nick's little sis is such a great mama and it's been so neat to see her and Zach grow as parents and raise Hank. They just need to move closer so we can see them more often;) ha! 

 Hank wore the outfit Uncle Nick was baptized in :) such a neat idea that his mom kept it nice to it could be used again! 

He also wore his Uncle Josh's baptism bonnet.  Just look at that face! 

The first time grandparents with their very loved little grandson. 

I hadn't seen Hank since the week he was born (blogged about in this post) and it was SO good to hug, kiss, and squeeze this little guy. They grow up TOO fast, especially when we don't get to see them very often. 

 Here's a flashback to the first time I got to hold Hank back in April. My heart grew to a new level when I held him for the first time.

A few funny ones

 After the baptism, we traveled back home (another long drive!). As usual, I took a few photos on the drive. 

After 5 days away, we were looking forward to seeing our sweet Ranger boy.

He grew a lot while we were gone! He's a wild boy now:) 

 Ranger and Mama Indy sleeping sweetly. 

Ranger will be 6 weeks next week which will mean starting his shots! I'm excited to get through his shots so he can be around other dogs and we'll know he's a healthy pup. Our little guy is growing so fast! I took a few videos I posted to my YouTube channel of him playing a few days ago - the first one is pretty funny when he sneak attacks Indy!

Now we have a big game to look forward to. Iowa State vs. Iowa! I hope we have a good outcome:) Go ISU!!! And to cover both of our teams, go Huskers!!

Today's Pinspiration:

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BLTs, Puppy Cuddles, Etc.

 My mom's house in many ways is a pool centered house. You can see it from the front door, from the kitchen, living room, and her bedroom. This is the view from the couch. So lovely. 

 Tongue-out baby Indy, as usual:)

We Made BLTs this week. I don't know the last time I had one (it's been years!) and it was SO delicious. Every summer needs a BLT. Or multiple BLTs. 

 I added mayo to each piece of toasted bread, a thick slice of tomato, big pieces of iceburg lettuce, and some thick Texas bacon. Then I squished it to eat it ;)

My mouth is watering now, wanting another one of these. I shared this photo on Instagram and tagged Udi's Gluten Free Bread and got a like and comment the next day! I think things like that are pretty fun. 



Similar story: I follow Lisa Leonard on Instagram and one time I commented on her photo (that showed a beautiful spring day with sandals and I commented that it was snowing currently in Minneapolis (ha! This winter was so rough), and she liked my photo I posted of it and started following me. I was so excited! Yes, I took a screen shot of it when it happened;)

Then not even an hour later, one of my BFFs texted me, "How did you get Lisa Leonard to follow you?!" Ha, for someone else to notice was even more fun! Lisa has liked a few of my photos since then which is always neat:) She has well over 11,000 followers so I always think it's neat to connect with someone like that! A bit nerdy, I know. I love her jewelry too. 

 As you can probably guess, I got more cuddle time with the "puppies" as I call them, though neither of them are really puppies anymore.. This is Boo being sweet (and wanting his belly rubbed). 

Boo cuddles again and Indy beside him. 

 Cuddles with both puppies. Do you like my blanket-scarf? Ha, even in this Texas heat, I get chilly moments inside and was wearing a few blankets at this time... 

Me and Boo buddy. I also call him Boo-manchu or Boo-friend to name a few. :) 

One of my co-workers brought garden fresh tomatoes. They are one of my favorite foods.. in moderation since they give me canker sores. Love them with a little salt!  

On Thursday, we had a wild storm run through. Hail, crazy winds and all. It was short lived and very isolated to a short area, but it was weird seeing the storm clouds come through. I bet it's rained/stormed 3 times since I got here at the end of May. Locals were so thankful for rain since it's been SO dry! 

The storm had a light blinking on my way home, causing me to go about a mile in a half hour, then further on my commute home, traffic went from three lanes to two because of construction. Ugh. An hour and twenty minutes after leaving work, I arrived home. And went straight to bed for a nap.  

Another storm cloud overhead.  

My cousin sent me this headache idea (she gets terrible ones too). Anything is worth a try! Anyone else have helpful home remedies for headaches? 

Amber, my SIL, texted me this photo of Hank-man yesterday that melted my heart. Nick and I gave Hank that monkey for Christmas (far before he was born in April, but he was top of mind for all of us last Christmas!). She said he was fussy yesterday so she decided to try giving him a stuffed animal for the first time and game him our monkey. You can see his tear-glossy eyes and little arms gripping that monkey. Oh my melted heart! Can't wait to hold that cute boy next time we see them. It was also Amber's birthday yesterday:)

Today's Pinspiration:

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Making Hank's Blanket

Once we know Amber was having a baby, I had decided early on that I'd like to knit the baby a blanket, one way or another. I've knitted many scarves in the past, but wanted this baby to have something special made by Aunt Marissa. After watching many youtube videos trying to figure out if I could use my "regular" knitting needles, I picked out the material for the main part of the blanket and started it at the end of February.

I used my regular needles, and squeezed the entire width of the blanket on there (lol). It worked though! Typically for blankets, people use circular knitting needles from what I learned. Doing it this way made it take a bit longer since I had to keep it all squeezed on the needles:)

Finished blanket earlier in April:) No makeup and after a long knitting day...

Next up? I wanted to add a border and his name. I thought I could knit this, as knitting is what I know. After seeing a few videos, I realized knitting it was out and I may be able to sew his name with yarn sewing needles. 

I was quite intimidated when I realized the only way that really made sense to make his border is to crochet it. I've never (ever ever) crocheted before and I was scared. Nick can tell you how nervous I was about messing up the blanket and figuring how to make it look nice when it's my very first attempt. 

Thankfully and amazingly, after learning by watching youtube videos, I figured it out and the entire border was finished within two hours or so. I was SO proud, let me tell you:) In case you find yourself in need, this website of videos was very helpful from basics to tricks and neat stylistic things to do with knitting and crocheting. 

I think the fuzzy yarn helps cover up any mistakes I may have made and is so playful looking. 

I was torn about what yarn to use for the border and what color to use for his name for quite some time and I think we nailed it, I love the look! Nick helped me pick it out too. 

As scared as I was to do the border, I was equally nervous about messing up the letters of his name. Thankfully, his name is short (thanks, Amber and Zach;)). I had to use a crochet hook to crochet into the blanket and after drawing out a few ideas (all caps, which "a" I liked better lowercase, etc.), I started in. The nice thing is that you can easily rip out any mess-ups and start over. I did a line to practice. 

I wanted to keep the back of the blanket as "clean" looking as possible, so I stopped crocheting after every line and basically wrapped the yarn around the back of the blanket's white stitched line to get my crocheting point back to where I wanted it. 

For example, I crocheted up the left line of the H and to get back down from the top left to the middle left, I wrapped the yarn around the back, so I wasn't double crocheting to get back down. 

In the end, I'm so proud of this big project I took on and completed. I love the blanket and knowing some of the things I learned, I have more tools in my belt for future projects. 

It was time consuming to make, so I estimate that If I tried to make these to sell for example, I probably wouldn't make much money per hour ;) They are so fun and rewarding to make for loved ones though, thinking of them every stitch of the way. 

Finished product!

Here are the materials I used (this blanket is SO soft, I love the softness for a baby blanket):

Body of the blanket: Bernat Baby Blanket in Baby Blue (I used two big skeins from JoAnn's)

Border: Bernat Tizzy in Blue Skies (I used less than 1 skein)

Name: Bernat Baby Blanket in White (I used less than one small skein)

The most fun thing was to see Hank on his blanket, just as I envisioned many times while I was working on it. So cute to watch him check it out;)

I'm pretty sure he likes it. Oh my melted heart. 

Cubby likes it too:)

Today's Pinspiration - I'm LOVING finally feeling some Spring! 

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