Square Foot Gardening

WOW...

 For only an 8X4 this plot is rocking.  I need to thank our landlord for allowing me to kill some lawn.  It's not deep... but it's mighty.  We had snow the 1st of June so I bought well developed tomatoes...  about $9 a piece.  Well worth it cuz I'm getting tomatoes... Yeah!!  The beans are bush and very close to each other... Just budding and growing and we are eating and eating. 

Neither Mike or I are tired
of fresh green beans yet. 
Yum!!
















We've gotten a few crooked neck squash ... this is small...


This is the biggest zucchini so far.  I haven't let them grow cuz I don't want 3 feet of BIG zucchini... The radishes went to seed, Al didn't pick them when they were good... He wanted them BIG... haha not in our garden space.  Oh well... it's all good.

This is the one and only bell pepper... and so far no jalapeno's ... they were not so grande when they got planted and I'm thinking they are not getting enough sun... Oh well... some days are winners and some are just whiners...

 

 The beans are close but seem to be having a great time in the sunshine and the rain...

 The tomatoes are loaded... they are just wanting to be picked and gobbled... R U Game???

 It's not much... but fresh vegies are delightful...

I've gotta run and get those beans snapped and in a pot...

Mike ate all the tomatoes while I was up here blogging...

dah...

guess I will have to peek again to see if any are still out on the vines...





TaTa!!!

EMPTY NESTERS???

Mike and I just realized we are home alone and it's not just for a day or two... John is staying with 'friends' closer to school and Al is out of state.  This is the first time since we were married, 40 years ago, we have no room mates. 

I'm going a bit crazy with so much quiet... I'm not complaining about the quiet, just so not used to it... I have had a nap, watched a tv program by myself with the remote... walked to the mailbox, dah... it's so odd...  I take Rusty with me to run errands.  hehehe

We have found, that when we are not stretched so far... we kinda like each other.  It's also been funny to sit and look at each other and wonder what to do next?? 

Now, we know this is a forever thing, with John still in school and Al not stable in his own place, but for now this is heaven.

We eat simply.  We have so few dishes, I have run the dishwasher 2x this week... not 2x today.  Our fridge is almost empty.  We are slowly going thru the food and stuff.  Our freezers are nearly empty.  Both of us want to get it whittled down and then clean it out before we get new things.  It helps we are putting all our money into bills and rent so we don't have much left over anyway. 

We haven't had to run to the store for anything.  Mike is the only one who drinks milk, but I use it to cook.  My yogurt is still ok and our fresh fruits and veggies are soon out... But until Monday, I think we are good to go. 

Sigh... if we had money to spare this would be more fun... More like a vacation, but it's not to be right now.  We are trying to get our bills in line to buy a house next June.  With a goal, I'm pretty good to stop the spending. 

Well.... so much for this entry.  No pictures... Unless you want to see the little girls of John's girlfriend... hehehe They really are cute, 3 yrs and 6 mos.  and both their names start with a K. 

Gramma's and Girls Camp

running and jumping into the water

OK... So Holly was assistant camp director... Davis is still in the Bishopric.  That leaves 5 children to go somewhere with someone. 

 

let's do it again

TaDa... I am the someone and my house is the somewhere.  Here I had the help from Al, John and of course Mike.  

We tried to keep them busy, but remember we have so many different age groups to deal with that Tanner kinda got the short end of the stick.

Let's get on the floating wood

We went to the cement pond mid week and took the whole shebang... the van was so full of stuff, I wasn't sure we'd have room for the kids.  The wagon was more for us than them to help us move things to and fro.  

The wind came up and blew the umbrella all the way down to the bathrooms.  We thought for a moment that our summer fun was going to be spoiled by torrential rain.  The weather man was able to hold off until we got home.  Yippee!!

putting his head in the water

Shaking off the water

Of all the things we brought, we didn't bring things to dig with... dah... it is a 'beach'.  The older 3 were fairly safe in the water, they had swim lessons all last year.  

But Mr. Bennett on the other hand is still only 2 and loves the water.  No he is not water safe.  I loved the shot of him getting his head in the water.  Matt told him to put his head in the water for a quick swim lesson.  So in his infinite wisdom, he bent over and put his hair in the water.  It worked for him...

fun floating wood

I was very appreiative for Al coming to fish and fill in the gaps as needed.  When one of us got tired, another would step in to give me a break.  I didn't get any naps, but I survived as well as did the kiddos...

gramma you cut off my head!

Warren is a pill, he cries if you leave him, if he is tired, if he is hungry, just bored even... It was 90 degrees f. at 10 am. and putting a baby in that sun is deadly... 

hey I like it out here

 

so he and I sat under the shade and just watched.  I don't know if he was praying, but I was praying continually that no one would need my help... sigh... I was very grateful that I did not need to go into the water in my jeans and t-shirt.  

Our Heavenly Father watches over us and blesses us all the time.  I am very grateful for that.  

Over all the week went by quickly... It was hard for me to do breakfast, lunch and dinner plus bottles and baby food... Oh Then it was keeping up with the dishes and laundry.. WOW... I know why we have our children when we are young... Cuz we can't keep it up when we get older.  My body just doesn't move like it used to.

We got them home safe and sound.  There house was trashed after 5 minutes of being home, and our house was trashed due to having 5 more people and those people being kids. 

Dinner in the Mtns.

Our first open air dinner and we didn't get any photos of the food... Dah!!  It was yummy tho. 

 We met Holly and Davis and Mike and Mindy up at Affleck Park in Mnt. Dell area.  A gated campground.  This is our 2nd annual get together with them for dinner.  It's kinda hard on Mike and I to camp in a tent... So we just join them for dinner.

 Dinner is over and we are all in cars going to the fishing hole.  Up the road and tight corners, otherwise called 'hairpins' and finally a few goofy kids later... We were there.



This year we had Al, he is the fish whisperer.  He is so very good to help others catch their fish on his line.  We had the luck of the game warden to visit us and Davis left his license in the Suburban, which had just left to take a potty break with Ady and Holly.

The way down had a few steep places.  The adults went another way.  The kids on the other hand didn't.  Hm

 Matt was having a blast picking on Poppie. He did it well to...

 We brought our own snakes as Bennett called them, he wouldn't have anything to do with them either.  I finally got him to say wurms... but still no touchie...

 Matt was alot of fun on this trip.  Tanner wasn't here, he had scout camp for Friday and Saturday.  He stayed with the Huntsman's.  It gave the other kids a chance to do things they might not do with the older sibling around. 

 

Al, Matt and Mike had a great spot to fish.  It was tough to get to them and tough to get away from them... But the stay was great!!

Mr. Warren was having dinner before fishing to keep him a happy camper.  It didn't work, but it gave him a moment or two of peace.

Mike and his son going down the hill to get to their fishing spot.  Once you got there it was pretty nice. 

Fun Group Shot... I should have been behind Ady, but moving was touch and go.  If you moved to much you would go ... down the hill into the water... no break!

 Mindy and Luke having a good moment.  Babies and camping do not always make for ease or comfort.  Always a new trick up a mom's sleeve to help things go smoothly, and Mindy is learning them all...










The weather was really nice.  It was a mild 82 degrees while the valley floor boasted 100 degrees f.  When the sun went down... 60 was the temp.  I loved it.  Not to cold for me!! 

We had never gone up to that area before.  The fishing was pretty good in the area we were at.  The sitting and kids were not so great due to the depth of the water... but no one fell in. 

I think Bennett was a bit afraid of heights.  He started down and panicked so I went to his side and offered my behind pockets for him to hold onto to get down.  We repeated the motion on the way up and out too..  He wasn't in shoes, they were wet and left at camp to dry out.  He had on clogs and they do not hold well to rocks and sliding dirt.

It was fun.  We got home just about midnight to our lovely beds.... sigh...  and I showered in the morn... was just to tired to function ... sleep wasn't hard to find.

Family Easter Dinner 2011

Since Gramma and Poppie have moved to Spanish Fork it's harder to get all the grand-kids together.  

This is really our first attempt.  

I am very grateful for 

Holly and Davis letting us gather at their home.

We were able to invite all but Dylan who lives in Tempe, AZ.   We were very lucky to get most of them to come.  Seth was brought to the valley by Mike his step-dad.  Belle went skiing with her Grandma Lael.  Alexis didn't make it, but she was going to try.  All in all we have a fun time.  The kids were crazy... we had a few spills... No real blowups... Good decisions seemed to have been made... Hurrah a success...  

Most of the pictures didn't turn out, but thought I'd post a few just to keep me grounded and in brilliant form... (hahaha)

 

 

Life is good...

Spring is here...

Snow is still falling...

my Garden is on hold..

hoping to get it going soon...

 

We missed so many family and friends ... Usually our Easter Dinners are big events with friends and family gather from all around and meet up in our big back yard for a really great hunt and some great food and company with fun visits... I guess that is the hard part of 'down sizing' ... cuz it's just not the same.  

Matt, Seth, Bennett, Tanner, Audree, Adylin

 We will have to come up with another option... Oh well... another day!!