Raining Tomatoes

Last year we started a garden. I was pregnant and craving home grown tomatoes. We ended up planting squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and watermelon. The cucumbers and squash did very well. We were pulling off about 3 a day of each. Our water bill went up so much we decided to let everything go except the tomatoes hoping they would start producing. We got maybe 2 or three tomatoes last summer. This summer we decided to try planting tomatoes again. This time we bought more tomato plants and some strawberries. Now I can see that we are going to have more tomatoes than we can use. When Charles planted them he wasn't expecting them to grow as fast and as big as they did. Now the only problem we have is the middle tomato plants are very hard to get to. Next year Charles will have to space them farther apart. The strawberries are producing ok. We get little ones here and there. They taste so good it's still worth keeping them watered everyday. Next year we will have to do some squash too.

Growing Fast

Sadie will be promoted to the 5th grade today and Sam turns 6 months old today. Wow time flies. If you would have asked me 10 years ago what I thought my kids would look and act like I never would have been able to even dream up Sadie and Sam.

Sadie is a beautiful, smart, funny, and a very sweet lovable girl. I would be happy for my daughter to have just a couple of of those characteristics, but she seemed to get all of them. I am very proud of her and couldn't imagine a better daughter. The last 10 years has been a pleasure as a mother. Heavenly Father really has blessed me with her in so many ways.

Sam is only 6 months old but is already almost 22lbs and in a size 12mo! I never imagined me with A giant baby. Sam is rolling over, does crunches, has 1 bottom tooth, chews on everything in sight, and says mama all the time. He is growing so fast and learning to do new things all the time, I can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings.

More School

Charles finished LVN school this last September. Since then I have been anxious for him to start RN school. I am just ready for him to knock out school as fast as he can. Charles had to finish up a couple of classes before he could apply. I thought the soonest he could start would be September. We were leaving to go to lunch yesterday. I was in the house getting Sam's diaper bag ready. When I got to the car Charles hands me his phone and told me to check his Facebook status. I read it and it said he is starting RN school in June. He had just found out while I was packing. I was really excited, but had to tease him for telling me via Facebook. I told him next time I get pregnant I will post it on Facebook and hand him the phone lol. He glared at me. Our lunch turned into a celebration lunch. Well for me I guess since Charles doesn't care about food. I am very excited. Charles will start the beginning of June and if all goes well should be done October 2013. I am proud of him for staying on top of things so he can be done with school faster. I always think it must be hard on him to work a full time job, and juggle school and a family. I am grateful for all of the effort he has put into all of those things.

Squealer

This past week Sam has learned how to squeal. He thinks he is so cute and loves all the looks he gets when he squeals. Some people love it and smile and some people hate it and give me dirty looks like I should muzzle my kid. Well at church today he started squealing. Charles was translating right next to me so I got the " Muzzle your kid" look from him. I took Sam out in the foyer where he sat quietly until sacrament was over. Little turkey. During Sunday school Charles and I just sat out in the foyer with Sam where he started squealing again. The sunday school class had to shut the door because he was that loud. I love that boy and would much rather a happy squeal than a cry any day. I think I will keep him squealing and all.

Sam's First Campfire

I have always enjoyed camping. Luckily I married a guy that enjoys it also. I have been waiting for the right time to take Sam camping, but feel like he isn't ready yet. He has trouble sleeping in his own comfy air-conditioned room at home. I would think it would be impossible for him to sleep in a stuffy tent. We decided not to camp this year with Sam. We figured he would make it a horrible camping trip for us. Who wants to camp with a screaming baby? Not me! So we talked about going to the fort here in town and having a " Camping Day" Well we haven't done that yet. Charles had the idea one night of building a fire pit in the back yard (since that idea is cheaper.) It turns out I like that idea better than a camping day. Sam was able to hang out and enjoy being outside, and when it was bedtime I took him in and put him to bed. I had the alarm system on and the baby monitor outside ( I would still go in the house and check on him a bunch because as Sadie says I am a worry wart mom) we were still able to enjoy the "outdoors" especially when it got dark. The stars are beautiful in this town. We all laid on the grass by the fire and enjoyed watching them. We had s'mores, and hot dogs and reeked of campfire. We loved every minute of it. The good news is when we were done we all showered and went off to a comfy clean bed with an air-conditioned room. Easy and fun, that's how we like it. As long as rain keeps coming so we don't have a burn ban this may be something we do more often.

Trying new things

I have always been that girl that sees a hairstyle or an outfit on someone else that I like, but when I try it it looks funny on me. Somehow I don't do it right lol. I always think how nice it would be to have a personal stylist, hairdresser, and makeup artist to help me out. Since I am not rich, and even if I were wouldn't be able to talk my husband into spending money on something that silly I just have to keep trying to figure it out on my own. Now that I am a mother of a daughter I see little girls hair that I want to try on Sadie's hair. Since I had Sam I don't have as much time. Recently I found a new hair curling technique that saves me half the time. I was able to curl Sadie and my hair on Sunday in the Same amount of time it used to take to curl one of our hair. So I was excited. On Monday Sadie asked me to curl her hair again. Since it only takes 20 minutes tops I couldn't say no. I asked her if I could try a different hairstyle that I had seen on YouTube while searching for something new for my hair ( that didn't work for me of course) she let me and this is how it turned out. I liked it a lot on Sadie. Sadie even liked the hairstyle. I was super excited about her hair. I took this picture and when Charles woke up I showed it to him. He said, "It looks good except for the weird pony tail thing in the back." I told him that was the part I was excited about. I didn't know if he was being a boy who doesn't understand cute hairstyles or this looks weird and kids could possibly tell her this at school. I just had to wait and see. As I waited for Sadie to come out after school I wondered if she had pulled the "weird" ponytail out of her hair. When I saw her come out her hair look exactly the same as when I dropped her off. Somehow the curl stayed in and everything. The first thing I asked was did everyone like your hair. She said yes! Everyone loved it and even wanted to know how it was done. I am glad Charles was wrong, he was too. So I guess I will just keep trying to find new things and trying them out. I am sure some will flop some won't, but I guess it's always fun to try.

New Beginnings

Spring is my favorite season. All of my life I have loved all of the seasons. I never could pick a favorite one. Now that the summers are too hot to go outside and the winters are too icy to drive anywhere, I really look forward to spring and fall. But spring is my favorite. Everything is so fresh and new. Although I do have to complain about the bugs that's the only downside. I was just telling Charles that the last 3 springs we have had new big things happen in our lives. 3 years ago Sadie was baptized, and Charles proposed to me. A year and about 2 weeks later we find out we are pregnant. Now another year has passed and still so much is changing. Our family is growing so we have moved to a new house double the size of our old one. I am especially enjoying my favorite season with our new house. It's only a 15 min walk to Sadie's school. We do a lot of walking or riding bikes to and from school. We have nice neighbors and live in a good neighborhood. We have a front and back porch. We like to sit on the front porch. We sit in our swing either swinging Sam or put him in his jumper or portable swing. On the back porch we like to cook out and have lunch or dinner and eat out there as a family. It really is such a big difference in this new house. I don't know how long we will be here but we are going to enjoy it as long as we are here. It's crazy each year so much seems to change. Charles and I will be married for only 2 years in July and it seems like we have been married a lifetime. I don't think that's a bad thing. I just feel like we have been through a lot together already. All good memories. I can't wait to see what next spring will bring. Hopefully good things again.