Summer Time

 

These are just some of the random things that have been going on this summer around our house.

A couple of my day lilies. The first is called Ruby Spider, and I don’t remember what the pink one is. I bought it last fall at the nursery at an end-of-the-season discount sale. I had no idea what it would look like – and I have been pleasantly surprised!

 

 

Here are some typical Spencer pictures. In the first he is cooling himself off on the a/c. This is a favorite spot on summer days. The next picture is “bucket head”. That Spencer is always making me laugh!

  

Here are the kids helping me make fruit leather. I tried this for the first time last summer, and it is so easy! I also love that it’s a way to preserve my fruit, and the kids love eating it! We found that cherry was our favorite.

I had the kids help me by pulling the stems off the cherries, and then I removed the seeds with my cherry pitter (that’s a messy job!). Then I puréed the fruit. I added one Tbsp of honey per cup of puree, but after eating it this time, I think I was only supposed to add 1 Tbsp/2 cups of puree. Anyway, I’m not really sure what the honey does, but I’m assuming it is just for a sweetener. 

Then I lined my pans with saran wrap, poured in my fruit, and smoothed it out. I put my fruit in the sun for a full day. Most of the time I find that I need part of the next day also to “bake” it (but I do often forget to move it around so that the sun is actually shining on it the whole time it’s outside). Once it’s dried out enough I just cut it into strips (short way) and roll them up. I’ve stored them in Mason jars before, but this time it got eaten too quick for that.

 

And lastly, some pregnant pictures! I have very few pregnant pictures, I just forget to have Adam take any. So at least I’ve remembered this once. I think these were taken about a month ago, and it was the day I was doing the fruit leather (that’s what the apron is about). I’m 28 weeks today, and feeling much bigger than what I was in these pictures. Last trimester here I come!

4th of July

 

We went to Soda Springs for the 4th this year. Adam’s brother Chey (who lives in Southern California) was going to be there, so of course we wanted to be able to see him! It’s also fun to spend the 4th of July in a small town.

Just about all my pictures from that weekend were taken at the parade. We lined up on the side of the road and waited for it to start. Several of Adam’s cousins and their kids were also.

                      Ben and Daniel                        Me and Emma

                    Emma and Emma                 Spencer and Grandma

It’s Uncle Chey! He’s a good candy getter. :)

                    Daniel and Rachel                 Adam and Spencer

 

After the parade there is a carnival at the park. It’s generally hot and crowded. But the boys went on the barrel ride while Emma got her face painted. We all had a good time, and it was great to see and be with so much family!

The first harvest of the season!

 

I have been so excited about my peas this year! They grew beautifully! This is the first year that I have had enough to actually harvest. Usually we just snack on them while in the garden.

So one day Ben and I picked all the pods.

 

Then Ben and Spencer and I shelled them all. I didn’t get very good pictures (I was trying to use the macro mode like Adam had showed me, but I apparently forgot how to do it). But I was so pleased with the size of the peas!

    

And here’s what we ended up with! I think I got about 5 cups worth. So not a ton, but I’m still happy. I just put them into freezer bags and stuck them in the freezer. I think raspberries will be next. :)

 

Cats, Tarzan, and Family

What do all these have in common? Ivins, UT! It’s my last post about our trip to Grandpa and Grandma Fullmer’s house. First of all, Cats and Tarzan. If you haven’t heard of Tuacahn, it’s a performing arts high school in Ivins (which is just outside of St. George). But the thing about Tuacahn is that they put on professional quality musicals during the summer months. The theater is outdoors, so the show usually starts around 8:30 when the sun has gone behind the red cliffs. Adam and I (and the kids for that matter) love musicals! This year we were able to see both Cats and Tarzan!

We took Emma and Ben to see Tarzan. Also Grandpa and Grandma, and Wendy’s family went too. We decided to leave Spencer and Mitchell home with a babysitter.

These are pictures of the scenery off stage.

 

Ben and Grandpa and Grandma Fullmer waiting for the show to start.

 

Kayla and Emma.                         Ben and Kelsey.

Tarzan Ben, Jane Emma, and Gorilla Grandpa and Spencer!

 

A couple of nights later we were able to see Cats. Adam and I took only Emma to this one, and Grandpa and Grandma came also.

Emma and Ben Cats. We took this picture (and the two from above) on the Saturday before. They have a craft fair/farmers market there on the weekends.

These two pictures were taken with Adam’s phone (by me – who doesn't know how to use his phone), so they’re not that great. But I think Emma enjoyed being able to have her picture taken with some of the cast! She had such a great time! We sat in about the 4th row for this show, so it really felt like we were a part of it all. Emma even got to see one of the cats as he walked around during intermission, and she pet his paw. It was so much fun! Can’t wait for next year now.

 

Also while we were there we took some family pictures.

 

Grandpa and Grandma Fullmer

Kyleigh, Jody and Jacob. It was so fun to get to see them! Our vacations were able to overlap by a couple of days. Unfortunately Darrell was unable to make it, but it was still so good to see Jody and her kids. It had been far too long!

Kelsey, Wendy, Kayla, Jeff, Elise and Mitchell

My family.

All the grandkids (who were there).

All of us together.

 

We missed Chris and Fenna and their family, and Don, Kelly and Dominic. We do get to see them in Driggs in a week, so hopefully we can remember to take a lot of pictures! Well we had such a good time! Plenty of food, fun and cards. I’m already looking forward to next year!

I love to garden!

 

So I still have one more post about our trip to Ivins, but there are a few pictures I still need to get off of Adam’s phone, so I’m posting about my garden today instead. Fenna has asked how my garden is this year, and I love talking about it, so this is perfect. :)

I only really started gardening since we moved to this house. So this is my 5th season. I have learned so much, and still have so much to learn. But I absolutely love to be in the garden, to work in the garden, and to think about it when I’m not in it. :) By fall, I’m usually ready to take a break from weeding, planting, harvesting, etc. But then shortly after Christmas I begin laying out where I want everything planted in the spring. Gardening is definitely my passion – I can’t seem to get enough of it! These pictures are probably a few weeks old, so much has changed in the garden by now. But I’ll post again later in the season about the progress everything is making.

 

So if you haven’t been to my house, my garden is on the side of the house, on the south. When we moved in, this spot was already designated for a garden. The little fence was here (well, what’s left of a fence), and the little brick pavers were there (that’s where I have my strawberries), but we put in the garden boxes two or three years ago. I just noticed that you can see Ben’s head peeking over the daisy bush in this picture. Yes I know, what is a huge daisy bush doing in my vegetable garden? It’s a silly story and I definitely need to get it moved!

 

These are just a couple more overall shots of my garden spot.

Here are my onions. I’ve never planted this many before. I think I planted close to 100. Hopefully I can learn how to store them better this year so they can last all winter too.

These are my peas (next to the huge daisy bush). They did really well this year. It is so rewarding to snack on fresh garden peas when I’m out watering! And especially awesome when the kids do it too! Ben is my gardener. He loves to help me in every way. He especially loves to harvest anything and eat it right on the spot.

 

These are just a couple of close ups of all our beautiful pods.

Here are my carrots and cantaloupe. This is the best our carrots have ever done (for some reason I am almost incapable of growing carrots). And our cantaloupe almost fills the whole box at this point. We’ve never eaten a single cantaloupe from our garden even though I’ve planted them probably every year. It seems like fall always sneaks up too soon. Hopefully this is our year!

This is my asparagus and bell pepper plant. My peppers have grown quite a bit, and will hopefully start blooming this week. My asparagus I planted two years ago, so I should be able to start harvesting next season!

This is my garlic and tomato plant. I have about 15 tomatoes on now, and more coming.

Adam’s parents gave us some large barrels last year – and they are awesome! So far we have put 3 of them across the back of the house. Please don’t mind all the weeds.

One barrel is still empty. I meant to plant some red potatoes in it, but I never got around to it. The others have my green beans and zucchini.

 

Lastly, are the raspberries. They are also on the south side of the house, but in the front yard. Emma helped me take some of the pictures, so she had Ben pose – silly boy. I have also planted a pumpkin plant in the front, but I don’t have a picture of that.

So that’s what I have for now. We were going to plant grapes this year also, but my morning sickness slowed down the whole family – so maybe next year. I’ll try to post new pictures of what’s happening through the season. Happy gardening everyone!