I've really been into sewing lately.
Not the sewing that I used to do as a 6 year old (which included creating boxy doll dresses held on by rubber bands and pillowcases sometimes held together with duct tape).
I've been receiving sewing lessons twice a week by this awesome lady in my ward (Sister Davis), who happens to be a seamstress, and she lives on our street. She gives me lessons on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when her daughter goes to kindergarten. I am very thankful for this, because I know that she could be sewing things for her job rather than giving me lessons in the hours that her children are gone! She's amazing.
I've made two shirts so far. The first (and rather sad looking one) is a Dolman swing top made with super light and breezy fabric. I made it oversized so that it would look very "swing top"-ish.
However, as hard as I tried to avoid it, the edges have been fraying really badly!

The second shirt I made is with a thick knit fabric, and is made with the same pattern as the first. I did not account for the fabric stiffness difference, so the second is a little "tent"-ish. I am going to put darts on the front to try and minimize this, and Sister Davis showed me how to put a seam down the right side of the back and we are going to put red buttons on the back! (It's purely aesthetic). You can't tell in the picture, but the shirt is actually black and white striped, and I LOVE the combination of black, white, and red!

To top it all off, most of the sewing work is done with a surger, and then folded over and sewn. Well, another awesome woman in the ward (Sister Saben) gave me a surger in exchange for helping her with her yard sale this past Saturday!

 Here is the kicker ~ she had no idea that in the past few weeks I have learned to sew.
What an amazing "coincidence"!
I love the grace and tender mercies of our Heavenly Father! He is honestly the best.













Oh, and as an afterthought, I got a rock-awesome shirt for 25 cents at that same yard sale... Cha-ching!

I lost my Marley on November 27th 2011..
He is such a good dog(: He is honestly the only dog that will ever be mine.
He has such a sweet, sweet spirit. And he is such a boob(: I love this guy. I will never have a dog like him ever again.

What a wonderful, absolutely wonderful, once in a lifetime experience. I will miss you my Marley. I will miss you my sweet baby boy.

School has been working out really well for me(: Of course, I still wish it was summer break (we all do), but so far homework has been surprisingly more enjoyable than last year. I say surprisingly because last year I was in 2 Honors classes, and this year I am in 4(: Of which are my favorite classes I've taken so far!
Seminary has also been surprisingly good! It's not as hard for me to wake up as it was last year.. must be the fact that I'm a stinkin shorty!!!!! I better grow at least a little taller!!
This is probably old news to most of you, but Mattix was born this month!!! If you want pictures and info, go to Gregnalexis.blogspot.com!
Sorry for this short post, I've been having a hard time getting recommitted. These past few months have been hard.

Yours truly(:

 ~ Tatiana


PS. My mom is a cooking beast(:

Oh, and I was looking over my posts from last year, and apparently I was complaining about having to wake up at 5:30 last year for my 7:00 Seminary......

Seminary starts at 6 this year

I know I haven't blogged since trek, but here's the dealio :)

.........................................

Okay, I can't think of a good excuse. Sorry. Guess I was just having too much fun! I went to Girls Camp July 12 -15 and it was SO FUN! I was a 3rd year, and it was by far the best Girls Camp I have ever been to :) I will put up pictures as soon as I get them this Wednesday.... err.. on second thought, give me a couple days ;)

Well, other than just hanging out with my family and friends, I don't really have anything particularly special to report but here goes. 

I went to the emergency preparedness store with my mom and I just had to take a picture of this when I saw it!! I showed it to my friend and she said 'Wow! They really can dehydrate anything these days!' 

I hope this makes you laugh as much as it did me!

This was a storm that came in a couple days ago. It was super fun to watch it ... safely.. indoors.. wearing rubber shoes... a couple hundred feet from the metal window frames... 

....

(My mom got struck by lightning a couple times.. and since I've inherited so much from her, I don't want to risk finding out if I've inherited that!!)

Here is one of the pictures from Girls Camp that I've gotten so far :) Can you find me? 

We drove by the Gilbert Temple the other day.. lookin' good!! 

So.. I hope you've enjoyed this extremely little piece of my summer!

Oh, and I saw this on the internet a little while ago and it reminded me of what Mom and I are gonna be doing in a couple years..
 I am, of course, holding the cord.  ;)

By the way......

This is my blogging face ;)

I had such an amazing time on our stake trek! My testimony has grown so much. I really am just shocked by the love that my Heavenly Father and Savior have for me ... it encompasses my every flaw :)

Here are the pictures I promised!

The first night :) We pushed our handcart 11 1/2 miles uphill so I was too tired to take pictures of anything else haha :) 

My "Ma" on the first morning :) 

 We stayed at this camp from Tuesday night - Wednesday morning.

Our wagon at the camp we stayed at Wednesday evening - Friday morning.

Thursday was our "Sunday", and this was the meeting we attended. We didn't have to walk Thursday! Whoo-hoo!!

My "siblings" :)

From left to right:

 Megan, Adrena, Shawn, and Michael :)

.........

And then my real dad in the back-round hahaha :)

Hair washing! My favorite part!!! 

I cannot explain to you what a difference just having your hair clean makes ...

Getting my hair re-braided after the washing :)

A crazy tree that my dad found ... it splits at the top!!

Friday afternoon... we made it to base camp!! We are waiting for the buses to arrive :)

The bus ride home I was braiding my hair because I was bored lol :)

Walking 20 miles wasn't the only adventure I had on that trip! On the way to the trek (Tuesday morning) my ward's bus broke down ... twice!! We had to switch buses and reload our buckets and sleeping bags onto it. 

Then on the way home, my ward's bus got a flat tire!!! We again had to switch buses and reload our belongings haha :) 

It was an unforgettable experience though ... fatigue and dirt aside ;) Some of the relationships I made on the trek are those of a lifetime ... it's amazing how bonding pushing a heavy handcart 20 miles with complete strangers can be! 

I just wanted to do a quick blog because, YES, I haven't blogged in a looooong time.  I am sorry!  I am going on our stake trek next week and I promise I will put those pictures up as soon as as I am clean and rested :) 

I hope everyone is doing well!