The busy Red Hens are a-working and HARD!!!

Today Mikin totally surprised me and came over bright and early to help in the garden! She and Cameron worked almost all day fixing the garden on the porch and weeding like crazy in the huge field garden!! Mikin is such a hard worker!! Nothing stops her--I am amazed and grateful for all the help.

The garden is growing and I was feeling pretty confident about it until Natalie told me that she knows two friends who have tomatoes much bigger than our little starts in the basement.

Maybe we should have planted earlier???? Gosh will I ever get the hang of this gardening thing??? Maybe a New Yorker is just genetically challenged not to ever grow green things, just concrete.......Aughhhhh!

Terrific Tubbs Hill! A family Saturday outing.....

So we took advantage of the wonderful weather and headed toward Tubbs Hill--with a stop at Costco to get something for Duane's camera, and by the time we got there, the weather had changed a bit......

Undaunted, we pressed on and took pics all along the way....flora, fauna, mostly us! Smile! You're on Candid Camera!

The Wind picked up and really started whipping around--Duane was afraid he would get caught in a rainstorm, so he quit and waited for us--Alora jumped on a rock with the hair and everything a flying!

OK, so the funniest part of this picture is that this guy and his dog (pictured) came along the path and Duane asked if he could take the dogs picture--the man said "sure" do you want to hold him? And gave the leash to Alora--the dog was very friendly and turned around and snotted all over Alora!! I almost hurled!!! It was so funny I'm still laughing!

The Field garden!!

I think I can- I think I can-I think I can....

Cameron made this amazing gate to keep out deer, critters, and Preston! We decided to name it the Little Red Hen's garden because Natalie and I have been the main gardener's so far......

It's really happening!!!

Can it really be?? Natalie and I are trying a fantastic experiment this year--the "family" garden. It started out with four families and now we are down to three--we have already begun our seedlings (marigolds, nastursiums, peppers, and two types of tomatoes) and as you can see--they are sprouting up really well!! I am so excited!! We have also had Cameron till up our field garden and we have planted our potatoes, strawberries, onions, lots and lots of onions, and lettuce and carrots----the whole cool crop kit and kaboodle!!! If we are really lucky and pray alot, we are hoping for a pretty terrific harvest this year (no more Carvers farms??)

ALLIE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

     What a fun day!!! Allie's birthday party was themed on 'bugs'!  Natalie really went all out!! She headbands with antennae for each party-goer and decorations galore!  I made the caterpillar cake and her 'personal' cake--a lot of work, but lots of fun too!  I also made a pinata in the shape of a bee and I think the kids had a lot of fun whacking the daylights of it. 

      Natalie also had a find the bug egg game (like and Easter egg hunt) and a pin the head on the butterfly, which we didn't get a chance to do--too much fun--not enough time!  Lots of good food to eat and family to share it with!  A great turnout for a terrific little girl!  Grandkids are fun! (most of time!)

A Soggy Spring Break!!

Alora and I  started out in North Idaho with freezing weather--hopeful that we would be able to use the bikes we strapped to the car when we got to Utah.  As you can see, the weather on the road was just as icy as home!!  We did get a slight break on Tuesday and went for a short, but pretty dang cold ride, just so we could say we did!  We were doing the 'girls away for the week' thing until Wednesday--then Duane flew in and joined us.  We went to the zoo--as pictured--and I discovered I really like zoos!!  O.K. so I'm weird, but they are really interesting to me.  

We were going to come home on Saturday, but Duane got a ticket to Priesthood, so we stayed until Monday.  Yes, Alora missed a day of school--again.....  But--she did get a ticket to the Saturday morning session so both of them got to go to the Conference center--which was pretty amazing!!  

We also took Friday to be our "church" day and went to the Salt Lake Temple.  Alora did baptisms--with a slight hitch--and we did some initiatory work.  I had called the temple the day before to make sure she didn't need an appointment or anything, and they said that it is on a walk-in basis--no problem!  So after finding out where we needed to go, I checked her in and left to go back to the main entrance to find Duane.  After an hour we were done and we went back to the foyer to meet Alora.  We found her there, and she had a strange look on her face---we found out that there was a huge group from Florida that came in and she wasn't able to do any baptisms!  She was crying and upset, so I went back to the font area and talked to the leaders there--we ended up going to the museum for a couple of hours and then returned when the 'Florida" group was done.  The next group to come in was just four boys from-----yep---Spokane!  Alora didn't see them, but she said that although it was really neat to see the elegance of the SLC temple, she liked Spokane better!  More opportunity--they only let you do five names in SLC.  The best part of the trip was getting to be with family and having an opportunity to do whatever we wanted without interruptions!  

I'm Back!

So, I know it has been way too long, but I need to get back into the habit. Finally, I am done blogging about Peru. Too many things have happened in the short months since I last blogged, so I will mention a few of the highlights.

First, and the one that consumed most of my time was Tami's wedding. I do have to brag for a moment though, I believe it turned out so beautiful. Tami was sealed to Casey Fowler in the Spokane Washington Temple on March 6, 2009. Besides the freezing cold weather outside, it was the perfect sunny day to take pictures on the temple grounds(even though the forecast predicted rain, and we brought umbrellas just in case). After the wedding, most of the family that attended the sealing went to the church building next door and ate lunch. Next, we went straight over to the reception and took the last of the pictures before the guests started to arrive. The reception followed. It was full of dancing, food, and the traditions of wedding parties. It was fun planning and participating in Tami's wedding, but I can honestly say I am glad that it is all over, I was exhausted!

Second, Asa turned one! Actually, he turned one on Tami's wedding day, but his parents celebrated his birthday a week later. He had a polka-dot themed birthday, it was really fun. I can't believe he is already a year old. He' s walking all over the place, getting into mischeif and just plain being adorable, I love those dimples. Happy b-day Asa, we love you.

Lastly, Natalie and I went to a musical at the Spokane Opera house this weekend called "Aint Misbehavin'." It was a blast. Beforehand, we enjoyed dinner at "P.F. Changs." Delicious! We even got appetizers on the house, because they thought that we had to wait for a long time, but we had a reservation, so it was only like 20 minutes. After that, we walked around the mall across the street and window shopped, then went to the show. It was not what we were expecting, but it turned out to be really well done. It was fun to have a girls night out!