The veggies of our labors

So about 2 months ago we planted our garden. We have been weeding, thinning, watering, killing bugs (squash) all in the hopes to eat some yummy home grown veggies (and a few fruits). So yesterday we went out and picked all this:



Tonight for dinner we are having veggie/beef/barley soup for dinner using our red skinned potatoes & carrots. Right near the end we are going to throw some zucchini and yellow sqash in. All our onions (except a few green onions) were pulled by the twins thinking they were weeds. Oh well!
Last week I pulled out beets from the garden to can. I just got to that yesterday. 2o feet of beets only gets you 2 1/2 quarts of pickled beets! Of course, Ryan and I probably ate a pints worth while canning them. I definately need to plant more beets next year. It was my first year doing beets!



Our first planting of corn has quite a few ears that will probably be ready in another week. Our second planting of corn jsut started getting ears. So we are excited about that. Squash bugs have again invaded so we do have lots of spaghetti squash we hope makes it. Our hubbard and banana squash, I think, are a lost cause. Also our giant pumpkin plants will hopefully survive. One line didn't, but we'll see about the rest. They (the bugs) popped up, of course, when we were in CA. So we will see how they do. Our tomatoes and peppers are gonna hopefully be ready when we get back from Utah next week! Even one of our fruits trees (apple) has about 4 dozen apples on it. They are about 2/3 of the size they should be. So hopefully soon! I LOVE to see all the hard work pay off. The kids are loving it, too! We have decided, however, that we are going to expand our garden. We just need to plant more food! There was about 4-5 things I didn't have space to plant.

Bryce-ism

Bryce is 7. He is going into 2nd grade. Remember that as you read below:

B- "Mom, has homework ever killed anyone?"
M- "No it hasn't"
B- "I don't plan on doing my homework next year. I don't want to be its first victim."

My Weekend

So I have been looking forward to weekend for a LONG time! Let me tell you why. I can't remember the last time Kevin and I spent a night away from the kids together. I was going to ask mom and dad, because they are the ones that always watch the kids for us. Anyhow, we drove over Friday and ran a bunch of errands. We ate a nice dinner at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino. Kevin got his Prime Rib and I had my Shrimp. This is a picture of our room. It was so relaxing and quiet! We had a great time!


Then the next day we went to the Reno Temple for our Stake Temple Day. They have been announcing it since last fall. I took 222 names for my ancestors. 894 ordinances needed to be done. 598 were completed! I am VERY grateful to everyone that helped do all that work! My names stayed up there all day and people were able to do them! So Kevin and I started in baptisms, then initiatory, an endowment session and then did some sealings. It was SUCH a wonderful day! 7:30 to 3:30 pm in the temple! WHAT A DAY! It was wonderful!

Thank you mom and dad for coming over to be with the kids. We really appreciate it and hope you enjoyed it. I am sure not as much as we did, but we still thank you VERY much!

Summer Fun Update

Here are some things we have been doing lately over the last few days:

We went out to Perazzo Dairy. President Perazzo arranges the bales of hay in a maze. This year was a little different. There were 3 enterances and only 1 exit. We went out with the Coblentz and Youles families. It was a lot skinnier in places this year, I think. It is amazing (no pun intended) to me how President Perazzo does that! The whole thing covers (my guess) about 1/2 a football field. It was fun! Then we walked over to the calves and watched some getting milked. We were able to feed the calves....the kids (and adults) had a great time!

This is the outise of the maze. HUGE!

This is inside....notice how narrow the passages are...there are even narrower ones. You have to turn sideways to get down them. There are some places that are totally dark and you have to use your hands to get to a corner and then you see light at the end of that passage. Bryce kindof got freaked out a few times.

Nathan putting a bottle up to feed.

Daniel putting a bottle up to feed.

Then later that night we were invited over to our friend's house...the Sommer family. We had a fire and roasted marshmallows....s'mores! YUM! The kids played in the yard and adults sat around and visited. It was nice and relaxing....when my kids weren't throwing plums at each other!

Yesterday (Tuesday) Kevin went with the YM over to Auburn, CA to go white water rafting on the North Fork of the American River. He had a lot of fun! There were not any injuries and only a few went overboard.

So while he was gone, the Coblentz family and the kids and I went up to Squaw Valley (which I have fallen completely and totally in LOVE with!) and hiked. (1960 Olympics were held here.....I can get a .62 acre lot for $200,000....someday when I am rich!) Anyhow, it was a beautiful area! Waterfalls, grantie rock, lush forests.....We never did make it up to Shirley Lake, but someday we will get there.







So after coming home and bathing.....we had FILTHY kids....which means they had lots of fun!.....Sister Harrigan came by and brought 2 of her 6 week old puppies by for the boyz to see. They were such cute puppies! I am glad I am allergic to animals....otherwise I'd have a TON!

So that has been our last 2 days! We are going swimming at the pool today and we'll see where the rest of the week takes us! Hope you are all having a great summer, too!

Encinitas, California vacation.....FUN!

So a friend of ours got us a room (with an AMAZING view!)on Moonlight Beach in Encinatas, CA. It's just about 15 miles north of San Diego. We had SO much fun! Bonnie was down there so we got to hang out with her and met her sister and brother-in-law. They had boogie boards and skimmers for us to borrow. Well....see the pictures below......

Daniel waiting for a wave to come up to him and move him on the boogie board. The kids, once they go the hang of them, really loved the boogie boards. The skimmers, on teh other hand, were a lot hard to do. We gave up on those!
Comptyn lost his head, again, so here he is picking it up! (For any of you that has every gotten that email with those pictures of all things boys do, that is where I stole the idea.)
Ryan trying the skimmer. Ryan only came out of the water for food! He is 1/2 fish, I swear!
Determined! He still tried the skimmer!
Nathan even gave it a try. He'd just fall on it!
We dug deep holes, wide holes, long holes and built castles! Here Sammy is sitting in one!
We went for walks on the beach. It was such a clean adn beautiful beach!
The beach next to us was for surfers. I don't know if you can see that black dot out there, but this guy was standing on his surf board with an oar. Apparently this is the new 'sport'. They balance on their surf boards and paddle around out there. It was really incredible to watch. I can only imagine their balance and core muscles strength! Gives Wii Fit a whole new idea for a game!
Here is our fire on teh beach with Bonnie. We roasted hot dogs, and marshmallows. YUM!
This picture you probably won't see them unless you click on the picture to enlarge it, but one of the days we were at the beach, there was a family of dolphins or porpoises swimming out just beyond the bouys. You should see little black fins! It was really cool! The kids (and Kevin and I) were all excited!
We found a really fun park to play at about 1 block from our hotel. Kids are posing on a rock that was there.
Daniel and Sammy 'made' some pizza. They invited Comptyn to come eat with them and they are saying prayer over it before they eat! :-)
We went out to my uncle Marty Stewart's house. His wife Elizabeth got ou their bunny Huggies. The kids had a blast! Then when Marty got home from work......
Kaa came out to play! he is a baby boa. Marty also had a tarantula, but that stayed out of view per my request!

We checked out on Friday and drove up to Sequoia National Park. As we were driving we saw.....

This very tame buck. He was about a 10 point. Very big creature! But the thing that made the kids crack up......
He started pooping! Bryce was pretty excited to watch a deer poop! Glad that made his vacation!
Here we are at the trail head to go see General Sherman. The giant sequoia!
Daniel and Sammy! Such cuties!
It was dusk, so being among the trees we had a harder time getting some good light!
We spent the night near by and then drove back up Saturday to check out Kings Canyon. Here is a picture on a trail. I set the camera on a fence. The background is actually that slanted! Even though some of hte boys are leaning! And here is the view once we got to the top......
Beautiful! It was so pretty! That is Lake Hume in Kings Canyon National Park. We asked a not well informed (must have been new) park worker where the canyons were. They are the deepest canyons (Grand Canyon being the widest) in the world. Anyhow, he told us wrong. We figured that out when we got home. So we were a little disappointed in that. But we had a great time! Thanks Bonnie and family! We can't wait to go back next year! It will be our yearly homage, I think!