Garden photojournal update

Pumpkins are like cockroaches - indestructible. These volunteers (every last one of them) just took off last weekend with all the rain. I'm wondering what we are going to do if they take over the driveway -

As for the garden - one week, no change. Well, except for the watering system now being totally set up and working, potatoes being ALL planted and the grapes in. The green that you see would be . . . weeds. Neverending. Can't wait until next week when I get the kids to put in their 15 minutes a day, every day.

Memorial Day

Okay, I have to admit, we don't do a whole lot about remembering our fallen heroes on Memorial Day. Ever since I was a little kid in Southington Ward in Connecticut, Memorial Day has always been synonomous with barbecuing and outdoor fun. Our whole ward would have rockin' parties at a park by a pond every year (yes, the name escapes me, as so much does!). We would run around in the woods, play softball, "not" swim in the pond - since there were no lifeguards - and eat and play. Some of my fondest memories as a kid were those Memorial Day picnics. I will always remember picking "lady slippers" which are endangered flowers in Connecticut, but which were too beautiful for a little girl to pass up.
Since moving out here to Utah and having the whole family move west, Memorial Day still means barbecuing and playing, just on a smaller scale. It wouldn't be a holiday without getting together with Jeff's and Mark's family, and Mom and Dad when we are lucky. Wish Tim would realize what he misses out on - we still hold out hope - and Leah would move closer.
We eat a lot of food, play games and the kids have a ball altogether - even Josh and Peter who sometimes probably feel that they are outgrowing this kind of thing. :-) Josh was heard to say after this year's festivities, "Now I know how a jungle gym feels." Even Grandpa gets in on the fun! He used to race the young men every year back in Connecticut. Now he entertains the children in other ways. . . .

I hope that this Memorial Day tradition continues forever through our children and their children as well . . .

What do girls do when they find a camera and think that noone is watching?

As I was putting together the pictures of the garden for my photo journal, I found a treasure trove. My girls and their cousins are the best of friends. I love that Markee, Tamsyn, Megyn and Marin have so much fun together. Marin, my budding photographer, loves to take the camera whenever she can. I found that she had captured one of the girls' get-togethers on the camera. She, of course, is always the photographer, so unfortunately she is not in any of the pictures, but I am sure that she was the mastermind behind some of the poses. . .. So, here is for posterity - and blackmail, should the need arise . . .

While their parents are doing this . . .

. . . we find that the girls are doing this . . .

. . . and this . . .

and this . . .

They even brought the little brother into their game. I'm sure Nicolas was excited to be the prince. ;-) I guess girls never grow too old for dress up!

I hope these four will always find such joy in each other's company!

Garden photojournal

It's been a while since I posted because life gets so busy I don't have time to just sit at the computer and think about things to - well, think about. But as I sit here today with the windows open, the birds singing, the green trees, grass and weeds extra fresh with the little rain that went through, I decided I need to keep a photo journal of our garden this year.

Last year, I have to brag, we had the best garden in the world. Our corn was fantastic, our tomatoes non-stop, beans coming out of our ears, spinach, onions, carrots, peppers (we actually got sick of salsa! :-0), potatoes - oh, the potatoes!, zucchini, cucumbers and well over a hundred pumpkins. It was incredible and we gave credit to the dump truck full of mink manure (4 inches thick over the entire garden), our new watering system, and the 15 minutes a day per child weeding.

This year we brought in more mink manure (not quite as much), have the same watering system(still finishing putting it back together) and expanded the garden a little. We moved the pumpkins to the front of the house, in the weed-ridden front circle that we haven't gotten around to landscaping in the last 9 years, so that they wouldn't take over the garden again. We added strawberry patches by the fence and several grapevines to grow on the fence. We made our garden map about the same as last year and it is planted and our fingers are crossed (except when weeding, of course). Now just add water, sun and time . . . and hope for the best.