Small Town Has a Peice of my Heart!

I recently went back to my aunt’s town Wendell, Idaho it is a very small town. There is a lot of farm land all around it and it has one theater that has been open and then closes on and off. It has grown some since my younger days hanging out with my cousins there. But I remember spending a lot of summers there. The have a local pool “Wendell Pool” and we would throw our towels over a shoulder and walk down the street and go swimming all day. (You know the movie the sandlot…when they go to the pool…ya well this is just like that!) after a full day of swimming we would purchase lemon heads, fireballs and licorice ropes and eat them on the way home. There was a great park just a block or so from my aunts home and we would spend hours on the little merry go round…We would lay on our back and look at the sky as another kid would spin us as fast as they could and jump on. Not sure I could do that now and not lose my lunch but I can’t think of anything greater then spinning that fast! Wendell had Dairy Days where they have a parade and then a carnival at the park…as a child I thought this was the greatest thing ever…They gave us free milk and all sorts of fun “Milk” items.

The town now has a subway and a couple other convinces now then what was there when I was growing up. But one place that is the trade mark for me was “SIMERLY’S” Oh how I love to see that store. My cousins and I would walk up to the store to get odds and ends my aunt had forgotten earlier in the day, and sometimes my older cousin would just get paid from milking cows for the week and we would walk up there with him and he would buy us all sorts of candy, idaho spuds, sixlets, pixie sticks…and cigarette gum (shhh…we weren’t suppose to buy those, oh and mom if your reading this…it was only like twice!) and chew…the gum that resembled chewing tobacco. Which parents weren’t fond of either. The thing to know about Simerly’s is it wasn’t just a Grocery store, it was also a clothing store, garden center, and toy store and upstairs it had the coolest thing ever…a hunting and tackle store!!! I get so excited just thinking about it, even at my age now…We would pretty much skip up those stairs and go straight to the tackle part, where there were salamanders for fishing. They had all sorts of them, pink ones, green ones, neon, and even glitter ones. We would buy several and I am sure the cashiers thought “Oh no, here are those kids again”… I laugh as being an adult at how silly we must have looked. So salamanders in bags and candy in hand walking back on the road to the house to play with these rubbery weird critters happy as ever…I guess there is just something about growing up in a small town that has a special feeling to it. All the little hang out spots and our favorite places. So I was in Wendell visiting family when we were driving by Simerly’s and my husband turned to me and said lets go in and see if it’s the same. So we went in and I held his hand basically skipping all around telling him the stories of my childhood…The tackle and hunting store is down stairs now (main floor)…I was a little sad to see they no longer carry salamanders. If so I would have bought some, that’s for sure! It has changed some over the years. The check out and the entrance is the same and still has that Simerly’s smell. When we came out of the store, I chuckled as I seen a group of young boys on their bikes standing at the soda machine drinking their pops talking about what they wanted to do that day…It sure put a smile on my face. Simerly’s is still one of the prime hang out places…When I see the sign I feel at home, even if it was a few holidays and several summers, that I got to be a part of it. The town might be small but has a big spot in my heart!

The side view of the store!

The Stores corner...Local boys stop for a drink!

What a Girl wants!

What a Girl wants!

It was just a couple months ago…Tyce and I took all the kids school shopping and I had found some really cute shoes for myself in the Target shoe department…I was trying them on, and my girls were trying heels on too. After I decided which ones I wanted, I told them to put the shoes back, and let’s go. Alexis put hers back and then my youngest child Jocelyn (age 6 at the time) held tightly to a pair of red high heels. I said “You need to put those back on the shelf, its time to go” she turned to me with the biggest eyes and said “But mooom, I want these!” I looked at them and said “Don’t be silly, they don’t even fit you and they are too tall for you.” She started to pout as I put them back on the shelf and we walked away. Later in another isle she continued to beg for these pair of high heels that were a size 5 ½ in women’s and she was a size 12 in girls. I thought she is just being so silly. Her sad face then turned into huge tears streaming down her face. Then her dad said “You know what I will buy them IF, they fit you! I thought she would give up on the shoes at this point…but NO way, a burst of sunlight lit her whole face as if it were Christmas morning! She ran back to the shoes faster than we could even turn around. When we got back to where I had set them down, she had already put them on and was walking back and forth. She was bellowing out at the top of her lungs in song “See they fit…Yay, yay I get high heels!” She then picked up her old shoes and said “I will wear them out!” Tyce (her father) kneeled down to her level and said “Sweet heart, they don’t fit, look at the back of your foot, its inches from the back of the shoe.” Tears; once again, began streaming down her face as she defended these Lipstick Red heels “My toes fit perfectly dad, look!” By this time there were many people peeking around the isle to see what all the excitement then sadness was all about! One lady whispered loudly from isles over “Oh come on just buy them for her”! Jocelyn was not going down without a fight. She still had them on, grasping them as tightly as she could. Tyce stood up and looked over at me and said “Now what?” …. I thought a minute and then turned to Jocelyn and said “If this is what you want, and you absolutely think that life cannot go on with out them. I will buy them on a few conditions”…. A smile stretched from ear to ear. “Ok yes I will, what?” she exclaimed. Thinking I was being clever I said “This will be your only birthday gift from us AND they will be put away until your birthday, AND you can only wear them in the house until your feet actually fit them and then you can wear them to church, or somewhere nice, do you understand?” I looked at her with big eyes and a very serious look on my face.  At this point I am thinking she will clearly think this is a horrible deal and put them back on the shelf…to my dismay she yells out “DEAL” with a squeal of excitement. I believe my jaw really did drop on the floor. Her siblings were shocked too. Tyce stood there laughing… saying “she does walk pretty well in them”! I looked at Jocelyn and said “Are you sure this isn’t an impulse buy?” “Nope, I want them, this is all I want for my birthday!” she announced as she switched back to her old shoes and hugged the red shoes. Jocelyn kept a tight hug on them as we checked out and all the way home! She handed them to me once in the house and said “Okay mom, save them for me!” I took the shoes, wrapped them in a plastic bag and put them away. Figuring she would forget about them over time.  Not one day passed that she would talk about these shoes. I would over hear her talking to her older sister…”by my Birthday I will fit my red heels” and things like this on and on. She also would look for them frantically through the house. Several different mornings she would walk to the side of my bed fairly early and say “pppst Mom, I haven’t seen my red heels, where did you put them?” “Jocelyn you know the deal, you have to wait!” Is all I would say rolling back over. Several times she would ask me, or her dad, “Where’s my shoes” her dad would always say “In the mud room”! “Not those shoes Dad, the special ones, those beautiful high heels!” She seriously drove me nuts; I thought buying them would keep her happy and that she honestly would forget about them. About a month back, Jocelyn and I were doing homework and in the middle of the story she was reading she turned to me and said “I know what you did with those high heels!” I said “You do?” and she got a sad look on her face and said “You took my shoes back to the store when I was at school, didn’t you!” I laughed a little because yes I did think about doing that from time to time. “No, I didn’t take them back, but you need to have a little faith and patience until I give them to you!” Every once in a while she would say “I can’t wait until my birthday”! Which; I have never seen another soul, as excited as this little girl about her birthdays. When she was around 18 months old she caught on to what birthdays were, and everyday she would ask us “Is my birthday today?” without skipping a beat. For her 2^nd birthday we bought her a special birthday shirt. She wore it every chance she could get. We told her she could wear it on other people’s birthdays and then when she was three years old it was a birthday bow and she still wears it on everyone’s birthday! Jocelyn is such a happy little girl and gets so excited over the simplest things! So as her birthday slowly approached she would blurt out “Is it ever going to be November 15th!” As time passed in November we talked about the cake she wanted, what kind of treats she wanted to take to school, etc. So a couple days before her birthday I thought “WOW, she actually forgot about her shoes!” Minutes before everyone came over to help us celebrate, I snuck down stairs to where I hid the red shoes and slipped them in a sack and covered it with tissue paper and quietly set it in the corner. Later that evening after she opened all her presents she opened up the sack and once again it was Christmas morning all over her face she cut the tags off and wore them the rest of the evening. Even while wearing her pajamas, she even tried sleeping with them on. The minute she gets home from school she is wearing them, until we ask her to put them away! So I guess it wasn’t an impulse buy like I had thought. That’s what my little girl wanted with her whole heart and she is delighted to have a pair of her very own high heels (that are too big for her)! That just goes to show when a girl makes up her mind…its set!  Happy 7^th Birthday to my sweet little Baby Jocelyn that no matter how big she thinks she is….she will always be her daddy’s and mommy’s little baby girl!

~Jocelyn Annie~

How to make: A Happy Birthday Slipcover!

Happy Birthday Slip cover.......

I have wanted to make something like this for years…along with all the other great ideas in my head. I think I got the idea from a teacher I had in grade school. I believe it was 2^nd grade, the teacher pulled out a pillow case that had a lot of colors  ( It was the 80’s) and placed it on a chair when it was a child’s birthday, boy I was so excited I was always the first to have my birthday each year. It really stuck with me. The thing was, it wasn’t fancy at all, but it made each one of us feel special.

A few notes on this project. I always go forward sewing, and then back up to make my ends stronger. Some people can sew right over there pins, I cannot, so I remove them as I go. I checked the measurements on my chair several times, I checked after I sewed my slip cover sides on to see if it will fit just right. I made this to fit my chunky chairs and my bar stools, so it works for either. You could use a pillow case, I couldn’t find one I liked and I thought they were rather big. I drew the cup cake so you could even come up with something with your own style. The lettering is the font Karaoke superstar. I kind of cheated on this step, I own a vinyl cutter and cut out vinyl and stuck it on my material, then cut it out. This saved me the step of cutting out all the letters twice (once from paper, then second from material). You may want a simpler font for the lettering as well, or to say something else.

I bought my ribbon from Michaels, flannel from Jo anns and fat quarters glue and buttons from Walmart. Remember to always use coupons!

Shopping List:

These are what I used

Ribbon:

*Red ribbon 18” long

*Orange with white polka dots 18”

*Blue ribbon 5” (Don’t cut this until you fit to cupcake)

*Brown with pink polka dots 4” (Don’t cut this until you fit to cupcake)

Material:

* Tiny piece of green for leaf

*The red for the bottom 4” x 21” (fold over and iron to make 2”)

Side strips of slip cover 3” x 18” (My Slip cover is 18” x 18”, adding the sides give it a nice fit)

*Netting (tulle) to over lap red bottom 2.5” tall x 70” long (you bunch it up)

*Pastel yellow flannel (for the chair slip cover) 18” x 18” (half a yard) Also another idea is a pillow case.

*Material for the letters 3 or more colors of ¼ yard each. I only used a small amount; I bought fat quarters and used such a small portion, that I will be using leftovers for something else as well. I bought 4 different ones. If you bought ¼ a yard of several, you will have plenty. The mistake I made here was I used material that frays; I suggest you use printed flannel. If you’re not worried about the fraying then go for it!

*The pink for the frosting on the cupcake, were scraps I had. 4” x 4”

*Brown 4” x 4” flannel

*4 white buttons

*1 pink button

Items needed to complete project:

I used a cutting mat and rotary cutter (you can do this with scissors though)

Pins

Material scissors

Sewing machine

Iron

Thread, you can do any color you want, I suggest colors of material you will be sewing.

Needle (Needed to sew on buttons. You could glue buttons on as well)

Fabric glue

Iron if needed

                                      Step 1: Gather all your items, so you are ready to begin!

Step 2: Measure and cut the main material (the base material of chair slip cover) Iron it if needed before. I left the top of mine folded so I wouldn’t need to do any sewing at the top. 

Measure it 18” x 18”

 

Step 3:  Cutting Patterns

Cut out patterns and then pin them to the material you want for each item. Then cut out all of them. Letters (I went in a pattern alternating colors ..see pictures, then I traced a cupcake base pattern and pinned it to brown, top of cupcake I did pink and cherry on red, the leaf on green. Have all your design parts cut.

Also cut the side strips 3” wide x 18” long. (2 pieces needed)

The bottom skirting part cut (Red material) 4” x 21”

Also cut Netting (tulle) (if not already cut) to measure 2.5” x 70” long 

Step 4: Arrange your now cut out patterns the way you will want them. Set it aside.

Step 5: Hem one side on the slip cover…this will be the part that touches the inside of the chair at the bottom. Fold it over a ¼” in and sew, it to give it a finished look where the child’s back will be…You can see the pink thread in step 5 photo of mine. After that we will sew the sides. Now at the top of the material (yellow material) where there was the fold, line up the (side material the 3” x 18”) take one strip and pin it to match the fold and go straight down. Sew. (Now don’t be alarmed, the side that we just hemmed will be shorter. This will give a skirt look to the slip cover)

Step 6:  Now working on the same strip we just sewed, pin the top of the strip to the yellow material and follow it down on opposite side, pinning all the way down. This will give it a square top effect. Do this and step 5 to the both sides of the slip cover.

Step 7: This is how it should look after you have sewed each side, after this you can turn it right side out. Make sure you cut any unwanted strings before turning right side out.

Step 8: You will have extra material at the bottom, also see how the front and back of the slip cover are different lengths this is what you want to make it skirt around the chair.

Step 9: You can hem the extra and cut it off… or what I did was. I folded up like shown in picture and sewed down the left side, then turned it right side out and tucked the corner in. It gave it a nice corner finish.

 

Step 10: Notice the finish look on left corner (I used pink thread, to show you where my inside hem is, as done in step 5). The long part is where we will be adding the skirting.

 

 Step 11: Take red material, fold short side over ¼” and press with iron, and sew. (Note: you will only want 18” in length once all the hemming is completed) Hem on both sides of the red piece. Short ends only. After, fold in half,  right side out and press it with an iron. Set aside.

Step 12: Now we will be working with the netting (tulle) this piece is to be 2.5” x 70” long. Cut it and have it ready. Then thread your needle and start weaving it in and out of the material to create a bunch of the material. The tighter weaves the better. (Note; you will want the thread to be 18” long) This will be the length of the bottom of the slipcover.

Step 13: After you have it all bunched up on the string, then pin it to the red that we sewed in step 11. Pin it well, to keep it from shifting while sewing.

 

Step 14; I pinned and sewed my netting backwards because I found it easier, than the netting catching on the foot and fighting the red material. Make sure you can see your pins, so you don’t break your sewing needles. Sew from one end to the other.

Step 15: Now that your skirt is on. Take the red ribbon and place it on the top just barely over lapping the yellow and red, pin it and sew down the ribbon with one sew strip.

Step 16: Lay out the now slip cover on a surface that is height comfortable for you. I did this on my iron board. Take the fabric glue and glue the orange ribbon on top of the thread line that you just sewed the red ribbon on. Then place the letters and cupcake and all the fun things that you spent the time cutting out in step 3 and place them where you want them. You may need a tape measure to get it centered. (It took me a few times moving everything) Then bend the letter over half way holding it down with your left hand and dab glue on the side flipped over, then lay it down on the material and flatten it out. Its okay if the fabric glue oozes out a little from the sides…It dries clear. Do this with all pieces. The cupcake base brown, then blue ribbon, then the brown with pink dots, is layered and I glued each piece. Note: stick a piece of paper or cardboard underneath the part you are gluing so it doesn’t stick to the other side of the slip cover.

 

Step 17: Now time to glue on the buttons or sew them on, remember not to sew through both sides!

Step 18:

You did it! Now everyone can have a fun way to eat their birthday breakfast, lunch and dinner…just to make it even more special!

These are on regular sized paper. The letters measure 2 1/4" tall by 1 1/2" wide (this is measuring the "H")

Base of Cupcake measures 3.75" wide and 2.5" tall. Frosting is 3" tall 4" wide. I was hoping to have it so you can just print them out. I apologize if you cannot! You can print letters off from your computer and the cupcake is really easy to draw...Simple!

Trike Racing ...

http://youtu.be/CRD8AUg2ApE

We have all heard the saying.. Boys will be Boys…As the adventures and crazy opposite sex takes on new lengths of life…a little more daring than us girls would want to try (well MOST). Tyce Jensen of Hooper, Utah (yes my Husband) takes his ideas and actually tries them…after 5 years of this TRIKE brewing in his head…he finally builds it and takes his first ride in September of 2010. Tyce first tried big wheels tires (Off an actual kids big wheel) on this death contraption of his. Taking a crash test dummy…his friend Ted Nielson on a test run…after 3 rides down Farmington Canyon road…the wheels melted completely off! So it was back to the drawing board…Or the hardware store! 
     Tyce tried a different pair of wheels and he had success! Tyce and Ted went on many rides before snow hit. (I even went down with no helmet, no gloves and a short sleeve shirt, strongly not suggested)  These Boys decided that Farmington Canyon just wasn’t a big enough rush anymore. Tyce got even beefier tires and they tried North Ogden Divide. Snow hit and that season was over. 

     As soon as the roads were clear again you could see these Trikes traveling down faster than a car. They added a new rider Kevin Potter to the bunch. They took him down Farmington Canyon to get him use to it…Kevin was shaking with adrenaline…After several days of riding they decided they wanted to try Powder Mountain road (which is a 9% grade).
     Driving to the top, they had many people stopping and talking to them and mountain bikers excited, this one guy rode down just to watch…of course all of the spectators told them they were completely crazy…but was thrilled to watch anyway. The hill racers caught some serious speed…so the next time they got a speedometer to attach to the Trike and clocked 50 mph…until they finally hit 55 mph. Now this roads speed limit is 40 mph…
     After several trips up to Powder Mountain Road. I called Devin Graham a director/filmer  who is well known on youtube. He brought his friend Jace Leroy with him and spent the day in fast, rugged terrain with us…They filmed all day…the challenge was to have the trikes stay behind the van. I was driving with the two camera men hanging out of the back of the van, in order to get the footage needed. 
     These trikes are built for speed and want to go fast, so they were burning through shoes like crazy. These shoes smelled terrible as the pavement melted them to pieces, and they were smoking…even chunks would fling out from the back. The shoes are the brakes you see…the trikes are not equipped with brakes…One trike has a hand brake but it doesn’t even slow you down! When you drag your feet it gives you better direction, a control over the bike. At 30 mph the bike is shaking and feels like it is going to fall apart. (37 mph is my record). There are some super tight turns on this road and one side is a drop off. This only adds to the excitement, right?! 
     At one point of the filming Devin Graham is hanging out of the passenger side window at nearly 50 mph filming the trikers in front of us, he has a rope tied around his waist and Jace Leroy is holding the rope as Devin hangs as far as he can out the window to get this epic footage! During that part, the trikers stopped abruptly and I slam on my brakes, camera gear is flying forward in the van, Jace fly’s forward and I thought for sure we would loose Devin out the window. Luck has it cameras, trikers, camera men all survived. 

       This whole day I had riders Andrew May, Andrew Voyles, Kevin Potter, Ted Nielson, and Tyce Jensen, Camera men Devin Graham and Jace Leroy’s lives in my hands…and they thought riding down this hill was an adrenaline rush! The cargo van that we drove had two back doors that swung open, we pulled them wide open and strapped them that way, the camera men could hang out of it, this blocked the tail lights and the view on the opposite side of the road…there was some close calls due to this, and they all were my husband Tyce! 
     Jace Leroy hiked up this huge mountain side to get an angle that will fool your eyes to believe it was a helicopter shot! I laugh just thinking about this day, cause Jace says” I think I will hike up the mountain to get a shot” I look down at his feet (which was barefoot most the time of filming) and I see his flip flops… I said “You’re going hiking in your flip, flops?” He actually had a pair of shoes in the car. There was a crash this day, our first crash while going down a road…Devin happened to get it on film…I thought the crash was going to involve Devin and his camera as well. So the Trikers are coming down the mountain road…the scariest turn ahead and Kevin turns too sharp, his butt slides right off the seat which makes the trike, his cell phone and Kevin tumbling all over the road, he gets up and Kevin still has the handle to the trike in his hand…his grip was so tight it took it clean off! 
     The thing you wouldn’t know without taking these trikes on a ride is, you are going so fast that you are being pelted with bugs and with little rocks on the road from your front tire as well as from the rider in front of you. A full helmet, with a face guard is ideal. There is some huge niches in the trikes…A little road rash and a leg puncher from stunt man Ted, sore muscles a few tasty bugs but you know… “Boys will be Boys” and I must be the crazy girl out there cheering them on. Yes I do enjoy a ride on the trikes occasionally; I prefer doing tricks…rather than going fast! So are you ready to embrace your childhood again and go for a ride?! Keep your eyes out you might be passed by a trike on a steep hill on day!

~Tyce Jensen & Hill Racers, can be found on Facebook.

This is Powder Mountain road from across the valley, just to show you how steep and curvy it is!

Tyce, Ted and Kevin, geared up to try Powder mountain for the first time! 9/2011

Ted, Kevin, Danielle and Tyce after Riding Powder Mountain

Hill Racers

The Helmet that took the blow in the Crash!

Ted burned the sole completely out of his shoe!

Devin and Tyce, Ted in the back ground!

Jace Leroy, Tyce Jensen, Danielle Jensen, Devin Graham

Jace films Devin as he straps a camera to the helmet of Tyce 


Don't Miss the Video, Check it out!  http://youtu.be/CRD8AUg2ApE

All The Contestants

 

Smashing Pumpkins???

Do you have extra pumpkins lying around? What better way to enjoy those squash plants called a pumpkin….than putting the squash back into them! There is many things you can do with a Halloween pumpkin, you can either eat it, carve it, toast the seeds, pumpkin pie it….or have a good ‘ol time… smashing it! I have seen people with slingshots flinging them into the air, and heard of other ways to put pumpkins to good leftover use. Local zoos also give them to their elephants. But a local radio station (K-bull 93.3) gave away $6000 in prizes to the person who could get the most pumpkins in the sunroof of an older beat up car. The pumpkins are dropped from the tower of Trolley Square in Salt Lake city Utah…I thought hmmmm….why not go check it out! Everyone that wanted to throw a pumpkin had to be in costume. There were a lot of different costumes. The one I thought was cutest (Curious George theme) The dad was the man in the yellow hat, the son a monkey (curious George) which was very clever. So the parade of vampires, jelly belly beans, monster, big bird and not to forget Pumpkin head Harvey marched up the winding stairs with two pumpkins in hand. Once at the top they each took a turn heaving a pumpkin over the edge, trying to make it in the sunroof. Some were able to get pieces in the sunroof; some didn’t even make it close. One of my favorite drops was the one that took the passenger side mirror …Clean off! It came down to 3 people who made it in the sunroof and they had a pumpkin war…The man in the yellow hat was able to hit all 6 that he threw in the sunroof. It was interesting to watch. I even got hit by a piece of flying pumpkin! Next year I just might go, as who knows…. a flying monkey or a pumpkin and join in the fun! Of course they did do free give always to the people who watched as well. Believe it of not but the man in the yellow hat…his wife won a free gift card! Talk about their lucky day! 

Another fun way to see smashing pumpkins in action is to check out Devin Grahams video, with music to set the tone and with the camera catching every detail on the break in slow motion your not going to miss a thing!

.http://youtu.be/4bALl6dhVRk

Pumpkin Head Harvey!

Up they go!

Note: This car had no visible damage in the beginning!

Did Harvey just loose his head?!

Inside the Car!

The man in the yellow hat!

Look out below!

 WINNER!