The T-Shirt

I wanted Merritt to have a particular t-shirt for his birthday. I had seen it, once upon a blue moon, on a t-shirt site, but when I went back to order it, of course, it was nowhere to be found. Does that happen to anyone else or just me? But not for nothing am I married to a creative genius! I gave Chad a vague description of what the original looked like (I think I said something about a stick man and dinosaur bones) and he took it and ran. Chad is amazing and Merritt was tickled pink and the t-shirt looks FABULOUS!

My Growing Garden

The stage of my childhood was set in a colder climate, so the growing season was a lot shorter than here. We couldn't grow tomatoes or other temperamental vegetables, but anybody with a patch of dirt could grow peas. We always had peas coming out our ears and I figured they were the easiest thing in the world to grow. Apparently not, however, because I have struggled with growing peas here! Maybe it's my pride. Who knows? This year, I finally had a little bit of success. Only three of my six pea plants died. The remainder struggled, grew a bit, and produced 10 pea pods. I was so thrilled! My first peas!!! I sat in our swing, shelled them, offered some to the kids (who turned up their noses...what is the matter with them exactly?) and ate each one with great gusto. They were extremely tasty. I'll just keep babying those peas and maybe I'll get some more. In the meantime, I'm planning a raid on my dad's garden. MWA HA HA HA!

I have had much more success with beans.
My bush beans have done splendidly this year. I love kneeling in the dirt and picking fresh vegetables. I get such a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction...especially when I go to the store and see how much fresh beans cost! I love my garden!!

Crash and Burn

Grace's primary class was taking a "let's get our wiggles out" walk around the church when Grace missed the curb and did a sidewalk face plant. As luck would have it Chad had just taken Merritt, who had a headache, home to rest and I was in another ward doing stake primary stuff. Luckily Grace was cuddled and bandaged by a bevvy of wonderful sisters who saved the day. She was pretty sore and scabbed but, amazingly, didn't end up with prizefighter style bruises on her cheek and forehead. Ouch though, poor sweet thing, ouch!

Say What?

Joseph is 5 months old. Even he seems surprised by that! Where has the time flown?? What a wonderful presence he is in our home. A friend said that Joseph has a peaceful and gentle soul; I completely agree. He is such a gift! We couldn't do with out him.

The 4th

Ack! Time...she flies!! I've got some funny pictures from the local Independence Day parade. It's not a very fancy parade, by any means, but I love parades and my kids love the taffy that gets thrown at them and Chad loves me, so we go every year.

Since we were at the end of the parade route we killed time by playing chess, doodling, and kissing Joseph.

I don't know who set the parade law that states every parade must begin with fire engines blaring their horns and sirens as loud as they possibly can, but that's what happens.

Joseph, however, wasn't impressed with the noise.


He eventually woke up and enjoyed watching the parade from Merritt's lap.

A good time was had by all.

I already have plans for better seats next year...cue evil laughter.

Attack of the Virginia Creeper

Don't ever plant Virginia Creeper...it is pure evil. It will take over your fences and send feelers into your yard and climb trees and scale the side of your house and snake into your garden and wrap everything in curly tendrils that choke the life out of plant and tree. Evil I tell you!! The creeper was planted by a former neighbor long before we showed up and it has taken over the fence lines of five houses. This spring we combined our efforts with that of our neighbors and began to fight the creeper's encroachment. Chad has been amazing in the effort. He pulled down and then piled up a heap of vines that almost reached the top of our deck...

we are getting ready to haul the vines off in this picture, so the pile is already toppled over a bit.

A look at our fence line gives you an idea of what he's been dealing with.
Chad had removed all but this last section of green, which is now gone. It will take even longer to get rid of the roots that are tangled around the fence, but we've won a major battle here and won't surrender our gains. If we can get rid of the creeper for good, I'd like to plant grape vines along one fence and blackberry bushes on the other. Those would be plants to get excited about!

Heather the Artist

Usually when we think of artists, we think of people who draw or paint or sculpt or carve, and we should because they are certainly artists, but lots of other people are artists too: my friend Harvest makes food art, my husband makes computer art, my friend Amy's home decor and atmosphere is art, and my friends Melanie and Amber do quilt art. My sister Heather does quilt art AND cake art too!

Heather made this quilt for Grace's bed. It is so beautiful!! It seriously looks like something you'd buy at Pottery Barn Kids!

She even made a matching pillow case for Pete's sake! I actually have a hard time remembering that Grace is supposed to make her own bed because I have so much fun smoothing that wonderful quilt straight!

Now, on to the cake art! Heather's first cake was my wedding cake...she's a "go big or go home" kind of gal. I loved that cake; it was tasty and such an amazing gift. She went on to make wedding cakes for Jaime, Sandra and Jay.

I'm really not that much taller than Chad; he's been relegated to the background by my poofy skirt!!

She's made birthday cakes in all shapes, sizes and themes: Jedi lightsabers, Autobot faces, towers, castles, you name it! Thus it only made sense that when I needed help bringing Grace's latest birthday cake to life I called my own personal caker-baker fairy. Our conversation went something like this:

"Heather, o cake decorating goddess, Grace wants a cake with flowers and a rainbow and lots of other girlie stuff. I thought I'd buy some unicorns to go on top. I have no idea what I'm doing! Will you help me?"

"I WILL HELP YOU, O SNIVELING MORTAL WHO CAN'T DECORATE A CAKE TO SAVE HER LIFE! YOU'RE AWFULLY LUCKY I'M AROUND!" Actually, she graciously accepted my plea/challenge and we stayed up late to decorate; an I AM lucky she's around.

I made the cake and the frosting and helped mix the colors. Heather made the magic.

Here's the cake complete with unicorn.

Grace was all smiles and declared her cake to be "beautiful!" And despite Dax's "color cooties" comment, it was tasty too. (Dax, you make me laugh :)

Thank you, Heather, for generously sharing your talents and brightening the lives of all your lucky nieces and nephews!