Father's Day

Father's Day started off with sleeping in! Yeah!!! Jared and I both have callings at church that require us to get up early each Sunday and we always have to drive seperately. So once in a great while we get to have a Sunday to sleep in and drive together. But then again we were barely on time to church so getting up early isn't always a bad thing I guess. I really don't like being late to church.

Anyways after church we got home and tagged team projects together before going over to his parents house for dinner. Where we would have the traditional burritos. Which are always delicious and I always eat way too much. Jared made quacmole while I wrapped his Dad's Father's day present that everyone pitched in together to buy for him.

Not even 5 minutes after walking into his parents house did his Dad have the present opened and on his way to playing with it. He got a new RC car (more like monster truck) for his new hobby (more to come on this new hobby). Jared's Dad had a hope that this was what he was getting for Father's day.

Heather, Brooks & Brooks Jr. had arrived Saturday morning for the 1st half and Saturday night late for the 2nd half. It was great to have them home. I got to take lots of pictures of Brooks Jr. The first few I took he didn't seem to care for the flash but I said you will get used to it. :)

Connor (one of my many nephews) has taken to acting like a scary dinosaur. He has gotten really good at sticking his lower teeth out.

Corey (Connor's baby brother) is so darn stinkin' cute. I love his vest outfit. It is rare to get a picture of him without a bottle in his mouth these days.

At dinner Connor demanded that I take his picture. I took a few and then said ok all done. And he did not agree. He said take my picture! Take my picture! So I kept taking his picture. Here is just one of them but I did take a lot as he demanded.

Later Corey decided he was going to clean the kitchen floors. He is starting young but what a good habit to have.

While the boys were working on the new car and getting it ready to drive Connor and Corey decided to go back and forth via the doggy door.

Brooks Jr. is my newest nephew and I am having fun taking pictures of him and his mother Heather.

It was a good day and to top it off on the way home we saw three deer out in field and I was able to get a few decent shots of them.

Father's Are So Special

Father's day has come and gone but I wanted to share some of my favorite memories of my own Dad. I love my Father greatly. I am one of those rare children who is a Mother's girl and a Father's girl. Both of them hold a very dear spot in my heart and I cherish the time I have with them and enjoy their friendships.

I remember when my Dad would help me with my math homework. One night in particular we were hanging out in my room and I was extremely frustated with my math homework. My Dad took the time to help me learn how to do it. Recently my Dad shared with me that my teacher didn't like the way he taught me to do it because I didn't show my work.

Christmas is my favorite time of year and one of the things I love to do is go driving around looking at Christmas lights. This is a favorite for me because my Dad would come and take me and my sister out to look at all the lights. It was the one on one time or two on one time that I enjoyed.

I have a love for sweets and especially ice cream just like my Dad. He would come and visit Megan and I and take us out for ice cream. We would go the Dairy Queen in town no matter what the time of year...winter, spring, summer or fall. Dad usually finished his first and always offered to help us with ours.

Growing up us kids would go to bed and before we fell asleep we would hear the blender come on and then wait a moment and run downstairs and Dad would have banana shakes ready to go. It was funny because we would always come running so Dad eventually started making one and pour it into small glasses for us kids and then make a second one for himself.

After I moved to Idaho with my Mom my Dad came and got me to go up to Canada with him to spend a week or two with him during the summer. I had my driver's permit and he let me drive as long as I wanted to drive. I could tell I made him nervous a few times but he didn't say much.

My Dad has traveled a lot in his lifetime and he had a cigar box full of different coins and bills from all over the world. I've started my own collection like my Dad. I always loved playing with it and seeing the strange coins and bills.

I love my Dad and I am grateful he is my father!

My Own Garden

I've wanted to have my own garden for years now. Our church leaders have counseled to have your own garden and to eat from it and put food away for food storage. You never know what the future holds so having a 3 month (or more) supply of food storage is always a good thing.

Over the past few years I have been learning to can jams, corn and a roasted red pepper spread. My Aunt Cindy got me a book all about canning filled with recipes for canning when I got married. I've used it every single time I've done any canning and have marked several things I want to try. I'm still waiting to get my mom up here with me while I am doing some canning to learn from her. According to Aunt Cindy my mom is a renowned canner (she's got enough jars, I was blessed to take from her abundance).

This summer I get to try some of the recipes I've been wanting to try. Over Memorial Day Weekend Jared and I worked on building a box for our new garden. My mom had introduced me to Square Foot Gardening (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/) and I wanted to try it. So I did some research online and ordered the creator of Square Foot Gardening's book for more information so we could build our garden. We have a small backyard and so this appealed to me greatly to be able to grow tons of different things in such small places.

We made a 2 and a half foot by 10 foot box and put it in the corner of our backyard by our patio. We made several trips to Lowe's that day for lumber, the soil parts and seeds. It was a lot of work but we enjoyed ourselves, had fun and felt a great accomplishment once it was built and put together.

I soaked the seeds we got to give them a jump start and got them planted. I made a grid of everything we planted so I would know what I was growing. It is also helpful for the section that failed. I still need to plant something in that space.

It has been a lot of fun watching my garden grow. We also have tomato plants on the side in big planters of their own. I can't wait to harvest and make salsa, spaghetti sauce, eat fresh salads, and cook with fresh ingredients from my own yard. For those who know me really well my taste buds have usually rejected the thought of vegetables but they have been changing and I am excited to eat more veggies. The most surprising thing is my craving for tomato's (I can't tease Ashley and Sam anymore...I'm not quite to eating them like an apple yet but time will tell).

We are growing tomatoes in planters, strawberries in a hanging basket and basil, chives, cilantro, corn, broccoli, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe, melon, green beans, green onions, lettuce, spinach, hot peppers and bell peppers. I had oregano planted but it never grew. So I will try it again...I just need to grab the seeds and go plant them.

Gardening can be a lot of work, but I feel like I am doing something that will benefit my family and friends. Each week as things get bigger and start to produce I get more and more excited. Jared checked out the hot peppers tonight and there is tiny baby starting. We will have a ton of tomatoes. Jared even ate a leaf of spinach fresh from the garden and had me taste the cilantro. I love the smell of cilantro.

Happy Gardening!

A Real Live Piano!!!

I have always had a great love for music and piano's. Music is a great passion in my life. I want to learn to play almost every instrument. My dream job is being a music teacher out of my home (maybe at a school).

I am on my way after being a self taught pianist for 10 years I started taking piano lessons in January from Connie Berner (she is amazing). I am working on some basic skills and filling in gaps in my knowledge.

Today was a milestone in the journey (no I can't play Georgiana perfectly yet with the turns)...but I got a real live piano!!! I got an upright Samick off of Craigslist today in Renton.

Jared with the help of his Dad and brother Brian got the piano from the house in Renton to the trailer.

Back at our place we had our brother in law Terence and some friends from church (Bro. Shearin, Bro. Stone and the Missionaries) come over and help get it up the porch stairs and inside stairs to my living room.

I was a 100% positive that I wanted it upstairs in my living room. It is where I love to hang out the most in my home.

Jared of course was very inquisitive of the piano once he was cooled off. He always makes me nervous when he takes things apart. But if he brakes it he will fix it.

Thank you so much to everyone that helped out! I love it! I actually almost cried while I was playing it.

Finally Joining the Blogging World

I can't believe I am doing this! I've put it off for how long now? After reading other's blogs and becoming addicted to reading them I've finally decided to do it myself (thank you Sara & Meredith). I've been going back and forth and debating for quite some time now. But the final push for me to join the blogging world was so I could share pictures with family members that are far away like Ed (see picture...one of my favorites of us together) & Leslie who are in Germany.

I figure this might be a helpful tool also for my scrapbooking. As most know I love to take pictures and scrapbook. I am of course like most scrapbookers always behind so maybe by doing a posting with a few pictures it will help with my memory and journaling of my pages. I am bad at journaling my pages for some reason even though I love to write (as you will all soon find out). This of course will only be a precursor to my scrapbook pages nothing like what I do there.

We shall see how this goes. Wish me luck!