Garden

I can't believe I haven't posted a single garden picture so far this year! It's doing pretty well although I haven't kept up on my weeding like I should. They haven't strangled out any veggies yet though:-) We did put up a cute little picket fence around it to keep the dogs out which has worked wonders! I've gotten a lot of zucchini, after finally ridding myself of squash bugs. I've sauteed it, barbequed it, made zucchini fries, zucchini bread and muffins, steamed it, and have 3 bags of frozen zucchini in my freezer! Anybody have any recipes to share? I also have lots of tomatoes but none are quite ripe yet, a good amount of corn coming on, yellow and purple "green" beans, green onions, walla walla onions, sweet peppers (we'll see, they're not looking too good), carrots, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, and watermelon which is completely hidden under my zucchini. In another little bed I have strawberries which had a very sad number of berries, and rhubarb which has done really well. I LOVE rhubarb crunch!!!

Anyways, overall, gardening is going well. Each year I learn a little bit more and figure out what I want to continue to plant and what isn't worth it. Someday I'll be a pro, but right now, I'm still learning! Happy gardening:-)

Catching up...

I haven't posted some fun things we've done over the past few weeks so I thought I'd catch up.

Troy, Jenny's little guy, turned one on June 25th so we had a big birthday party at her house. It was so much fun to watch him dive into his cake and open all his presents. Okay, I mean Cole open all his presents:-) I'm sorry Jen! He is such an adorable little guy and we love him tons! Happy Birthday Troy-boy!

Adam's Uncle David and Aunt Cathy from Pennsylvania came to visit along with his cousin Lori and her husband Dustin, from Arizona, and his other cousin Julie and her husband Justin, from New York! We had such a good time and it was fun to all get together in High Valley at his paren'ts cabin for the weekend. We had a great time 4-wheeling, playing blongo ball, having a wagon ride pulled by mules, canoe riding, fishing, and hanging out. We wish we could see them all more often. Thanks guys for coming so far to see us:-)

We also had a great 4th of July. We had a BBQ at our house, played bocce ball, got out the slip n' slide, and just hung around for the weekend. That was especially nice because we had been out of town for the past 4 weekends! I love getting to go places and it was great to have all those weekends off work, but there is something nice about a lazy weekend at home too! Cole loved the fire works at first but was plugging his ears and wanted them to stop by the end. Mason couldn't take his eyes off of them and I was worried he might go blind when we lit one of the strobe lights off. Our neighborhood had a great fireworks show too so we sat on our driveway and watched those. Good times!

Also, here's a picture of Mason in the bath. He doesn't want to have anything to do with his bath sling anymore because he has to lay down in it and all he wants to do is sit up and splash. I finally got the bath seat down and he loved it!

The Best Dad Ever!

I don't want to miss the opportunity to post a Father's Day tribute to the dad's in my life. I have been so incredibly blessed by some of the most amazing men!

My dad is probably one of the most honest, integrity filled, giving, and loving men I know. He has always been an example to me of being accountable for my actions, being kind to others, having a sense of humor to get through rough things, and being a wonderful parent. God blessed me with an awsome example of how a father should be and what I've got to look forward to in Heaven! He taught me how important my relationship with God is and has been an example of Christ to me! My boys adore him! Cole thinks his Papa is just wonderful and Mason always has a smile ready for him. He has welcomed Adam as a son and always included him in our family!

Adam's dad is another example of the kind of father every man should be. He is so kind and generous to everyone he knows, even when it isn't convenient or easy for him. He is one of the hardest workers I know and has the kind of work ethic that is rarely seen these days. I told Adam the other day how much I love the genuineness his dad always shows. He is a true gentlemen and I appreciate him so much! He is a Grandpa to top all grandpas and you can tell he absolutely loves it! Cole and Mason love him so much!!!

And my beloved husband! I don't even know where to start! He has become an even more incredible dad than I ever thought possible! He can not only take care of the boys from morning to night - diapers, bottles, fussy times, and playing - but he cooks dinner when I work, works day in and out to provide for our family, and is the best husband a girl could ask for! When I met him at 16 years old I thought he was great but never imagined he would be my husband and the father of my children. As we dated over the next 5 years though, he became the love of my life and I can easily say that love has only grown every day of the last 7 years of our marriage! Thanks Adam for being a godly example to our boys. For not only teaching them how much Jesus loves them, but for living it out for them! Thanks for being an encouraging, supportive, and loving husband and for making me smile every single day! I still get butterflies in my stomach when I think about you! I love you tons and want you to know you are the best dad ever!

Sev, Schlof, and Chaunce

Two of my best friends from high school were in town this week and we actually were able to find a time that worked for all three of us to get together! We played basketball together in high school, shared Mrs. Henley's English class, and Mrs. Krausse's Spanish class. We went to dances together (with dates of course) and had a great time hanging out! Marianne (Schlof) now lives in Utah with her husband and three beautiful kids and Krissi (Sev) lives in Council, ID with her husband and 3 handsome boys and adorable little girl! It was so fun to see them. We've only gotten to meet the youngest of our kids through pictures so far and it was great to get to see and hold each others babies and just to see how much each of our kids have grown! Of course it's always nice to catch up on each others lives too and reminisce about old times! I hope we are able to do these get togethers for a long time to come, it's such a wonderful friendship and I'm so blessed to have these two incredible friends!

From left to right: Sawyr, Piper, Krissi with Walker, Me with Cole and Mason, Marianne with Luke, Savannah, and Emily (Krissi's oldest, Hunter, couldn't make it)

Camping

We've had some fun weekends this June. We've been camping twice and to my parent's cabin in McCall once. Unfortunately, it's rained every weekend but we've had a blast anyways. The first weekend in June we went up to Crooked River past Idaho City. It was beautiful and we did a lot of fourwheeling, relaxing, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and t-ball. Cole loved it and he thought the bunk beds in our camper were awsome! The night on the top bunk didn't go so well after him begging to sleep up there but he loved his own "room" on the bottom bunk the next night.

The weekend after that we spent in McCall at my parents cabin. It was tons of fun and very relaxing because of the rainy weather. It made us have to stay inside and just veg all weekend. And having Vicki and my mom to help with my boys was heavenly! We played Ticket to Ride (I couple play it about 10 times in a row!) and Sequence, watched movies, ate divine Double Chocolate Cream pie, and spent time with Casey, Kim, Jenny, Chad, Troy, Mom and Dad J. and Laird and Vicki Graham (good friends of our family). Lots of fun!!!

(picture of Troy and my dad)

As for our next weekend, we decided to go camping for Father's Day. We headed up to Landmark and camped at Mudd Lake. Being Father's Day weekend, Adam picked the camp spot and doubled it with a little bit of elk scouting. That area is where they have elk hunted for years and it had a major forrest fire 2 years ago and they haven't been back since. It's so sad to see how charred it is but it was really beautiful with all the new bright green growth and various waterfalls flowing everywhere due to all the rain. It might have some hunting potential still:-) We did a little fly fishing and I caught 2 very small trout which are still really fun to catch on a fly rod! Adam used his float tube and got soaked when he jumped on in and realized his waders had a few leaks. The fire felt good after that! When we woke up Sunday morning to a major down pour, we decided to pack up and head home after breakfast. Adam was outside and yelled for me to come out. Across the meadow from us was a big bull moose. I haven't seen very many in my life and was so excited! We watched him for quite a while and he ended up coming within about 30 yards of us and Cole was really able to see him! It was so cool but of course, I had forgotten our camera so no pics. We had a great time though and can't wait for more camping this summer!

Mason's Firsts...

So over the last couple of weeks, Mason has had a few of his big "FIRSTS"!

He has been working on sitting up and is now pretty good at it. He still topples to the sides and back occasionally but is really getting steady! I think his big tummy helps hold him up from the front:-)

Last week he had his first solid food... rice cereal, yummmmm! You really can't get much blander than infant

rice cereal but they all seem to enjoy it before they've tasted real flavor. He gave the usual funny faces saying, "What is this?", "I'm not sure I like this.", and "Here, take it back!". He did really well and even decided he wanted to try his hand at manning the spoon himself! Other than ramming it down his throat, he did okay:-)

The other first is rolling over. While I was at work on Sunday Adam told me Mason rolled over for the first time! Of course I was sad because I missed it but was excited that he finally did it! Then when I got home there was no way he was going to show me his new trick, he just fussed every time I tried to put him on his tummy. Well, today I got my chance to see! I put him on his tummy and helped him a couple times and then it seemed to click. After that he rolled over about 10 times and would hardly wait for me to get the camera going before he'd roll again! When I would clap and praise him he'd just smile really big, knowing he'd done something I liked! What a sweet boy!

So, at 5 1/2 months, those are Mason's tricks! We'll start him on some veggies next week so I'll post some picks of that. Those are always good for some laughs!

Water fun!

We've been to our neighborhood splash park a few times already this spring and Cole is having a blast there! Jenny and Troy have gone with us a couple of times and my friend Brenda and her girls, Riley and Ella, joined us last week. It has been perfect for hot days. Mason even got his toes wet a couple of times but he's not sure yet what he thinks about that cold water! Anyone who wants to join us, just give me a call:-)