.: May 2012

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Weigh in Wednesday

I picked another 3lbs 2 oz of onions from the garden last night. That puts me at 5 lbs 11 oz so far for the year.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

A look at the garden...

apple tree

Grapes

Green beans, sweet peas, and strawberries

Watermelon--only one has broken through so far

Sunflowers and pumpkins---3 are poking up with too hard to see in the picture

Onions, arugula, cucumbers

Carrots and my shadow

Onions, cauliflower, zucchini

Tomatoes, celery, peppers

Zucchini and raspberries

Tomatoes and cilantro

Swiss chard, broccoli and radishes

Potatoes

Romaine, green beans, herbs

Our cherries are beginning to turn pink....all netted to keep the birds away

Peaches, not as many this year but hopefully they will be good!

Asian pears

Mormon apricots

of our house, and moved into their own house yesterday. They seem to really enjoy it so far. We were a bit worried because it did get pretty cold in the night but they didnt seem too bothered by it. So happy to reclaim our guest bathroom!

More Projects

Kelly is painting an outdoor chalkboard for the back yard!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Volleyball

Chelsie finished her volleyball season today. She is quite the player, she is not afraid to slide on her knees to dig a ball. She is working on her overhand serve.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Field Day for the chickens and first harvest

It was nice out yesterday so we let the chickens roam around the yard for a while. They were unsure at first but soon they began to explore. They stayed together, but by the sounds of their constant chirping from the current Rubbermaid home, I'm guessing they want another field trip.

Here are the first onions from our garden. They actually wintered over and were beginning to bolt so I started picking them.

My first weigh in comes in at 2 lbs 9 oz.

We have some tiny strawberries beginning to ripen already as well and it won't be long before the cherries are ready. This year we hope to get them before the birds or aphids do!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Mother's Day

The best omelet ever! Looking forward to more of these when the chickens start laying.

Best Skype Ever! Talking to Wes was wonderful!

I had a great day being pampered by Scott, Kelly and Chelsie. We were also able to feed the missionaries dinner so that made it even better.

Project, projects, and more projects

We've been spending much of our time lately working on home and garden projects. Here are some of the things we've done:

Leveling the coop site

Building a playset

Replacing the water main

Adding retractable curtains to pergola

WEEDING

Planting

Fencing

More planting

Pruning

We still have many projects on the horizon, we'll see how many get finished this summer! We absolutely love our backyard and are having a great time continuing to improve it. I'm hoping for a great harvest again this year, I may be crazy but I'm going to weigh the crops I pick so I can see just how much we grow. Stay tuned for results in a few months. This year we are attempting to grow carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, green beans, sweet peas, zucchini, cucumber, romaine lettuce, potatoes, swiss chard, broccoli, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, peaches, mormon apricots, asian pears, cherries, cilantro, oregano, basil, orange mint, parsley, rosemary, dill, sunflowers, and pumpkins. Gardening has become a great hobby!

Chicken Update

Chicky

Well, the chickens are getting big, noisy and messy! They are 4 weeks old now and will soon be moving out to the coop. We are working hard on getting it ready for them. Hopefully it will stay warm enough to put them out in a week or so.

Buffy "Fatty" Bowen

Ralfeefee

Rue

The Omelet House

Getting its site predator proof!

Quotable Quips and Laughable Life

I decided that I wanted to add a small section with little things that my kids have said or done over the years that I never want to forget and I think are worth sharing. Unfortunately I was much better at writing these things down a bit late in the game....Chelsie steals the show here a bit. If only I could remember all those things I thought I'd never forget. I hope you take my challenge to write down all those things you hope to pass on one day.

When Chelsie was about 2 she had been jumping on my brand new couch, so I promptly told her to stop jumping on the nice furniture. Her response was very logical. "Then where's the mean furniture?"

While camping in the Sequoias, the entrance sign read, "1 bear incident this week...." Kelly mispronounced it as 1 bear accident....later in the bathroom, Chelsie noticed wet spots on the floor, and announced, "This must be where the bear had the accident."

We had a family home evening on choosing the right, and we thought Chelsie understood but when we asked her she said, "Yes, don't choose the left!"

When Kelly was in the 5th grade, she needed to use the classroom phone to call me. She dialed 9 to get an outside line, then she had to dial 1 because I have a long distance cell phone number, but she accidently hit the 1 twice. When the 911 dispatcher answered she was scared and just hung up. 5 minutes later the front office called the classroom stating that 3 sheriffs had arrived ready to take action and were wanting to know who called and why. Now it was by sheer coincidence that this was a morning that there was a prison breakout, so officers were on high alert. Kelly was embarrassed then, but can laugh about it now!

When Wes was about 4, he used to tell everyone that he was going to marry his friend Elizabeth, and that they were going to have 16 kids, and maybe a car.

When Chelsie was 3 1/2 we told her she needed to learn to spell her name. She responded, "I already know....A L I Z A."
(That was her best friend who taught her)

I was talking with my girls about the weather, and Kelly said, that stupid beaver was wrong, spring is not around the corner. Chelsie then chimed in, it's not a beaver, it's a warthog. Clearly I have failed them.