August 2010-All That and More

I am making salsa today. We recently built shelves in our office to put our food storage on. In the past the boxes were stacked on top of each other, making the use of the said food storage virtually impossible, especially to rotate it properly. You'll see the shelves in a minute.



This month has been very busy! I keep saying that but it is always true. We helped Sean (above) and Krysten move to Colorado. Sean has a new job with the Arapahoe County Sherriff's office. (reason for moving here). They will be staying with us for a while until they start getting regular paychecks, and a place to live.

Krysten, she came with Sean, sometimes we like her better, especially when Sean burps or stuff like that.

A big banana squash we grew in the garden. We love this dark orange, meaty squash, probably will stuff one for supper tonight.

The previously mentioned shelves with an assistant builder posing in front of them. We found out we had more tomatoes than we thought so I am not canning any more tomatoes this year. All tomato production will go to salsa, ketchup, sauce, etc. Jan and Sean did a great job on them, don't you think?

Apricots canned (I think in July) to add to the food storage. We are supposed to have a years supply! Other things canned this year have been jam, green beans, chard, (these were frozen) tomatoes, and lots of corn, courtesy of the church welfare farm corn field.

These are the tomatoes and peppers I picked this morning to make the salsa. It is hot and delicious. I do not like sweet salsas, so no sugar!

The biggest Brandywine tomato we have picked so far. Isn't it pretty?

Nolan cannot wait to pick pumpkins, I think I might let him pick one today.

The sunflower are just for fun, I planted them a little too close together. The birds will like them, but I am hoping to roast some for the baseball fans to enjoy at our house.

The biggest event of the month is that we bought a house in Hereford. Hereford is my hometown, and I still have lots of family close by. While we were there in June, Owen went with Jan and I to see this house and I asked him if he would come see us in Hereford? He said yes, he would be sad if we still didn't have tie to Hereford anymore. We have been looking at properties all over for several years in preparation for our retirement. We have looked at farms in Missouri, land in rural Colorado, places halfway between Hereford and Ft. Worth (Jan's sister lives in Ft. Worth) and never have found anything that really gave us peace when we contemplated it. This house had been on the market for 2 years, has 6 bedroom, 6 bathroom, and 4200 sq. ft. of living space. We wanted a place that all of our kids and their families could come home and visit at the same time and not feel like they were not welcome. This really will fit the bill, and it is close to my folks so I can get my farming bug taken care of too. Mom already said I could help here with her garden. We are not ready to move just yet, the house has been rented, but we are looking forward to many large family events in the future. Enjoy the pictures.

This is the main hallway, lots of built in storage!

Large family kitchen!

This is the realtor's photo of the house. Y'all come see us ok!

Our 30th Anniversary

Our engagement photo taken in the summer of 1980. We were pretty young weren't we?

My bridal portrait, we were so poor that this is the only formal photo I have of my wedding dress. My mother made it and she did a fabulous job. It is pretty isn't it? We have the negatives of all the photos but I have never gotten prints of them made.

We were married in the Manti Temple on July 30, 1980.


We had a wedding reception in Hereford at the E.B. Black house a week later on August 9, 1980.

This was in the spring of 1895. We lived in Lubbock then and I was pregnant with Sean.

In the fall of 1985 while we were living in Midland. The Midland years were hard but made us stronger. This was taken on a Sunday after church. Sean is in his blessing outfit.

Here we are in Borger on a trip to visit Jan's parents. It was hard to come up with photos of the two of us together as one of us was usually behind the camera.

I do love that man!

We were married eleven years before we owned our first home. I took this photo after church one Sunday on the way home. We finally had a sold sign in the yard, and we would move in 2 months later!

Jan worked for Texaco the first 10 years or so that we lived in Denver. You can see Stuart asleep on the blanket at a company picnic in the summer of '92. We were certainly alot slimmer then.

Family photo taken in 1992. We were a happy family!

We took a long road trip to Washington D.C. in the summer of 1995 I think this was. Here we are in front of John and Rebecca's house the day we left to go back home.

In August of 2001 we sent our first son, Aaron off on his mission to Brazil. Many family members came to send him off and this was taken before church. I was expecting Nolan in this photo, but didn't know it at the time. It would be a few more months before I finally figured it out.

An informal portrait taken in 2008 or 2009. We put the camera on a tripod and got some fun pics. Owen has the guitar, Stuart in red, me holding Nolan and Jan beside me, Sean is in front of Jan.

Milly and Levi are our first grandchildren. They are so much fun. This was taken on a visit to our house after we took them for a walk in the wagon. They love to ride in the wagon.

We have been married for 30 years and I am grateful for a husband that loves me in spite of all my faults, we have grown older together and had many fun times and many trials. They have only made us stronger. We are grateful for our eternal marriage that promises us togetherness forever if we are faithful.

Battalion Soldier Of The Month!

Owen was named Battalion Soldier of the Month! We are so proud of him. Early in his life it was made known to me that if we (his parents) could channel this child's energies in the right direction he would go far in the world. That has been a very difficult thing to do, but here he is, a top grad in his language school, and now soldier of the month. I hope they give him a really good parking place at the office!

June 2010

WHEW! June was a busy month. The flowers are going strong, the garden is finally planted and doing well. We had visits from our kids and we went visiting! Here are some shots of what we have been up to in June.

Aaron came home for R and R the first two weeks of June. He enjoyed time with his family and also his parents and brothers. Milly and Levi didn't take any time at all to warm up to him, I had been afraid they would be afraid of him, but the were all happy with him. He and Milly are taking a walk in the park.

Nolan having a little splash time in the backyard, it is summer after all. He was going to 5th block (summer school) the first month and needed some down time.

The garden is looking good! Hopefully it will pay off in produce!

Nolan is learning to cook, he was very proud of his first grilled cheese sandwich. He now has ramen noodles, grilled cheese, mac and cheese and cereal in his repetoir! Good thing cause he is my pickiest eater ever!

Cub Scout Day Camp! He and Kimball had a good time with the marble playing area! We had a good turn out from our ward for day camp this year and everybody had a great time!

Levi and Aaron blowing bubbles!

The day Aaron came home! We went to the airport to meet him and had signs to welcome him home thanks to Susanna! It was a happy reunion!

Nolan is on a baseball team this summer! He loves baseball and is a pretty good pitcher, and he gets to play other positions too! Our coach is his best friends' dad and he does a great job!

Owen came home the last 2 weeks of June, he and Aaron missed each other by one day. :( They were problably in Kuwait at the same time but were unable to find each other in the crowd. Owen quickly got back in the kitchen again and astounded us with his skill. He helped make the Father's Day feast which we enjoyed sharing with Jan on Father's Day!

The last week of the month we went to Texas for a much needed trip to help out on the farm and have my dad's 80th birthday party. We had it two months early because everyone was there and invited many of his cousins. These are the grandkids who were able to make it-Camille, Emily, Reagan, Owen behind Beau who is a blur on Owen's shoulders, front row-Nolan, Brynna, Courtney, Marion, Jessica, Caleb and Sam.

Mom and Dad and the kids and spouses. l-r Dad, Mom, Vaavia, John is behind her, Rebecca, Wesley, Janna, Elizabeth, Steve, Jan is behind Steve and me.

Mom and Dad and us kids,

Vaavia, Rebecca, Dad, Mom, Wesley, Colleen, and Elizabeth.

We were missing David.


As you can see June was a very busy month, full of family and friends! We had Sean out for his job search, got to see many old relatives, missed many relatives, had some good rain, passed around as much loving as we could. Hope you all had the same fun!

Gardening and Backbone!

BACKBONE!

This is what one must have if you are to do much in the way of gardening! I know this is true and especially wish for a strong one when I make a tour of the yard and see this...

THISTLES!

We have been fighting them for 19 years, ever since we moved to this house. It is better, but we still have them. It doesn't help that some neighbors let them grow eight feet tall and don't ever hoe them down or pull them out! :(

IRIS

This needs to be thinned in order to bloom nicely. Must dig it up and separate the rizomes and replant.

SEEDLINGS

These are still not doing as well as hoped. Not enough light seems to be the problem. I have put them in a southeasterly facing window this morning. We'll see. The new lights that I added the aforementioned greenhouse did not do well. I need a greenhouse or a cold frame.

Gardening is such a great joy and such hard work. I love it and I hate it. We have been commanded to have a garden, I love when I see it prosper, and I especially love to eat the good stuff out of it. Canning always makes me feel good when I see all those jars lined up on the table and know that we will have some good stuff in the winter.

I am grateful for a strong backbone that can do all those things!

BYU Graduation 2010

Graduation April 2010 BYU! Krysten graduated with a degree in Marriage, Family and Human Developement! We are proud of her.

Sean and Krysten after the graduation under the bell tower. The whole family met there. It was crowded with many happy people and their families!

Spring 2010 Hope and Promise

Spring is all about hope and promise. We have Easter with the story of the suffering of our Savior and His resurrection. We have new life coming forth in the animal kingdom and also the plant world. Our garden was tilled this month by Sean and Krysten as they came out for the weekend to look for housing and work opportunities for when Krysten graduates. They hope for a job and feel the promise of opportunities as they graduate and start new life. This is our greenhouse that we built a few years ago. It is small and portable and so far has not been a rip roaring success. Our friend John Hadfield gave us the idea for it several years ago. This year I am going to try again to start my own tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. I am raising the little plants up closer to the light. I saw a photo on the net showing them really close to the light and so will try it this way. It is all about hope and promise. We went all over town looking for Early Girl tomato seed. Finally found them at Nick's Garden Center. They have everything. Nolan was glad I bought balloon tomato seeds (yellow pear) and cherry tomatoes.

These barrells were bought last year and cut in half to plant more stuff in. I got the idea from a gardening blog about English allotement gardening where they grow carrots, and parsnips in whole and half barrels. Our soil here is so clayish and hard that carrots don't generally do well. This is to try and beat that soil. I am also going to put vining stuff like cucumbers, and watermelons in them. Next week we will get the soil and fill them up. Hope and promise again.

Levi in Grandma's back yard. He quickly spied the football and the bouncy ball. You can never have too many balls.

Milly likes it outside too. We played for a little while outside and then she decided it was time to go in and led the way into the house. We followed.

When Sean and Krysten came out the kids quickly warmed up to them.

Nolan turned 9 years old on the 5th of April. He graduated into the Bear Den in Cub Scouts at the April 6th pack meeting. He had earned his Wolf badge and five arrow points. Good job Nolan!

Nolan on his new roller blades. They were his favorite birthday present and were a gift from Owen. His friend Kimball came over last night and they bladed till dark and then were out again early this morning. Nolan is getting pretty good, and has a big rasberry on his knee to prove it.

We will be going next week to Provo for Krysten's graduation. More hope and promise. The Lord is good!