It's that time again!

They make me heart happy!

Unfortunately, this is pretty much the only thing that made it to planting in my garden. But only because they planted themselves. No garden this year. Just too busy doing other stuff. We'll have pears and walnuts. And eggs. :o) So it wasn't a complete loss. OH...and big pumpkins!

Now that summer is officially over (for the kids) I can do sort of a re-cap, So here goes.


Garden is doing fantastic!!! Cucumbers are endless. They're the "skinless" kind. But taste just as good.


Beans are doing the best! Every week I'm getting a bigger bowl full than this one. So I have blanched and frozen till they are all done, and then I'm going to go crazy with making dilly beans. I'm still looking for a good recipie if any of you out there have one.





We've had some unusual rain storms this summer and the gutters have flooded PLENTY. On this particular day, Dylan ventured out to play in the water. The other two quickly followed suit.

You can't tell, but for some reason they only wanted to wear jackets and underwear. Whatever works, I suppose.

Mykael started Junior High! And for Gym class she needed clothes. SO I took her to D.I. (equivalent to a second hand store) to find something that would work. Requirements were white t-shirt with name on it and shorts. We found two white shirts for $2.00, the running skirt for $3.00 and the pants for $2.00. I wanted to do something cute with her name but didn't want to go overboard, but didn't want to go with the traditional magic marker. Walmart had these iron-on letters for $1.00. She didn't know if it had to be first and last name so I put both. First name on the front. Last name on the back butt area. I thought it was cute. And she even went along with the sparkles on the gray set.

Jade and Ash had thier first day yesterday and looked mighty fine I must say.

Pictures that Mykael took. I like what she sees through the lens.

This is my favorite. I like the focus on the yellow flowers in the background. But I doubt thats what she was going for, it just happened.

This is Aspen. And this is how she sleeps at night.

I found this chrysalis a little over two weeks ago. I've researched to find out what it's going to be but I'm still unsure. I thought it was a moth but moths have "cacoons" that look like white wrapped sacs, and this looks a like butterfly "chrysalis". BUT...moths take up to 8 weeks to change where as butterflys only 2. This little guy is still wrapped all up nice and cozy. Or maybe it's dead. I don't know.

An elderly lady in my ward had a birthday recently and it was suggested that a cake be made for her. I of course jumped on that and this is what I came up with. I REALLY wanted to play with the flowers, so I borrowed a friends fondant tools and had a blast. Cute stuff.

Garden 2010

At the beginning of the year, I was stressing big time how I needed to plant a garden this year. To the point that it would wake me up in the night and I would just think about all that would entail in puttin one it. We didn't plant one last year so the crab grass just grew in and it was like there was never a garden. I know I've expressed my hatred with crabgrass and how hard it is to get rid of. I've accepted the fact that it's just going to be the grass I have around here and it's actually not that bad with it's green and lush. Till not as soft as Tom's grass but I can't walk on it with barefeet.

Anyways, we rototilled it so we could actually pull out the grass and spent day after day after day after day......etc weeding all the grass out. Actually Jared did a majority of it, but there quite a few family weeding nights that took place.

FINALLY we got to the point of planting and started planning out the layout. Jared wanted to attempt growing a Giant Pumpkin so he planted that in the rocks out front. Three plants and one watermelon. They are doing well so far, but by the time harvest comes, I don't know if he'll have the giant pumpkin he's planning on having. Definitely keep you updated for that.

We planted regular peas and snow peas. These are my snow peas. The regular ones are pretty much done.

Jared found purple beans and planted those. SO glad he did cause the flowers are beautiful and the beans themselves look pretty cool. The bummer part is that when cooked, they turn green. So you have to eat them fresh to enjoy the color. They taste just like a regular bean.

I think I had 12 tomatoe plants varying in roma's, cherry, and big beefers. Should've given them more space. I only had 3 cages and was going to buy more, but never got around to it. It wasn't until I went out and they were growing into this giant mound of tomatoes that I decided to separate them. We bout these 1x2's and designed these "cages". Next year, I'm going to do something taller and more supportive. But it's the trial and error that cause growth and learning.

I've been praying for a good sized pear crop because last year was pretty sad. Only got about 2 boxes worth. And this year is proving to be bigger. Not as big as I hoped, but still big. Blessed for whatever I get! Unfortunately the tree has become diseased (not affecting the fruit) but to get rid of the blight it has, will result in a major tree trimming. Like stumpy trimming. (at least that's what Jared was told to do.)

Ash and Eli looking for bush beans. I'm canning these suckers into Grandma L's Dill Beans. YUM! I thought the purple beans would look super cool in the jars but not going to happen with them turning green in boiling water.

Banana peppers. They are doing so well! We didn't know what to expect from them taste wise, but think of a sweet yellow bell pepper.

I'm hoping for a fatter grape this year because I've been more deligent and watering them lots. If not, I'm not worried about quantity. They never let me down.

A little watermelon. So cute. We have about 4 watermelon plants planted around my property a cantalope, and some other melon. At least Jared didn't go crazy like he did that one year!

Tomatoes all caged up. Don't use chicken wire. (I was experimenting) I'm going to have to cut these ones loose when they turn! So I staked them with the wood for when I do have to pull them. They'll still be supported.

Cucumbers. These are going CRAZY!! I've got more bloosoms than what I know I can use. So this will be interesting. Perhaps the kids will have a cucumber stand this fall.

Of course my sunflowers are growing, but this time in places they planted themselves. I've kind of just gone with it and mowed around them in turn making these cool little "cul-de-sacs" where I can put a chair and chill in private. FUN. Next year...It's going to be a maze!

Not pictured in my corn. I don't really need corn, but I planted for decorational (is that a word) purposes.

Stay tuned for harvest! SOOO excited!

Life's Little Gifts...

.....and I got three today!!!

And as promised, here are the Iris that made a second go-round this year! The "other" plant that I was waiting for to open, turned out to be the exact same variety. Which I knew could happen. But still happy I got to see it twice this year.

It's that time of year again..

I will try not to let the flowers take over my blog this year......

But I'm not going to promise anything!

Butterfly bushes are DEFINITELY worth the investment! I caught this one flying around the bush for a good 10 minutes. PLENTY of time for a photo shoot!

MORE FLOWERS!

WhileI was gone in Idaho, my sunflowers definitely grew some more. Here are some more of these very cool flowers! As I've said before, it amazes me, how many different kinds there are!

This one is a "giant sunflower" I had to zoom in all the way to get a closer shot, and was still not as close as I would've liked to have been. I'll have another picture later to show just how tall this thing is!

I threw in this picture of morning glory. It's awesome how the center stigma is so white that it makes the whole center of the flower look like it's glowing with purity! Absolutely love this flower. (For those who didn't know, it only blooms in the morning. After about 9:30/10am...they're closed for the day. It took a while to get this shot. I just couldn't get my lazy self out of the house early enough.)