Stuff I've made

So, I had this idea when Alaina was using a pacifier, but I never found stuffed animals I liked for a reasonable cost. But this time, I just wanted one for Landon, so I looked up online where I could get Beanie Babies. Walgreens was the answer. I went to get one, expecting it to cost about $5. But Walgreens had some knock-offs for $1! Yeah! So I bought three. Gina was over when I was making them into Binky Buddies and I convinced her to go get some for Russell. And here they are:

The boys both LOVE them! They just cuddle right up with them and Landon, at least, goes right to sleep. I've noticed that Landon falls asleep faster if he has the guy to cuddle AND the binky than if he just has the binky. Russell loves to cuddle and chew on his. They're so cute!

They're great because the binky doesn't get lost as much and the baby attaches to the toy and the binky, but when the binky has to go, they still have the toy for comfort.

I should have posted these a LONG time ago, but with the holidays, they kind of fell through the cracks. These are the things I made for Christmas gifts this last Christmas:

I bought a wood lathe for Brice a long time ago and it just sat in the garage. When Christmas was coming we were pretty broke and I was trying to think of something I could make for people for free. I remembered the wood lathe and I got on youtube and learned how to turn. This was my first bowl made out of some cottonwood I found up the canyon.

The next one I made out of the other half of the same cottonwood log, but I was a little better and this bowl is thicker and bigger.

I'd gone to a woodworking shop in Provo (they are awesome!) to ask some questions about the first bowl and the guy gave me a piece of honey locust wood. With it I made this bowl:

William let me have a couple pieces of walnut from their tree and I used it to make a birdhouse for Brice's mom. I used cottonwood for the top.

With another piece of walnut I made a box for Gina and Toby. This was a fun gift because I used it to announce to them that I was pregnant. I labeled the wooden box "the oven" and put two little dolls inside. One of them said, "Gina's bun" and the other said, "Morgan's bun." Gina's face was priceless!

This is a WAY fun hobby and I need to spruce up the lathe table so it's more sturdy before I turn on it again. I've been wanting to get to it this summer, but haven't yet. I'm getting more motivated with the weather getting cooler. I really want to make some more stuff! It would be nice to make another batch of Christmas gifts before it gets cold because last year I was pretty freezing making these things in the cold garage in December!