I Love a Garden!

Okay, so the vegetables aren't doing so hot this year (again...), but our strawberries and raspberries have taken off! This afternoon the girls and I went to pick some. This wasn't the best strawberry-picking day, but I've never seen so many raspberries from one little patch! I think they're doing pretty good for our second year! There's something about a garden, and growing our own food, that I love. I'm just glad that my Idaho-grown husband is the green thumb (don't laugh, those of you who know we can't even grow potatoes). One year, our vegetables will out-number our weeds!

Kortney and Taylor picking raspberries, and Emmrie picking... mud.

Kortney with the bowl full of both strawberries and raspberries.

Taylor- she picks anything not completely green, then eats it before it makes it to the bowl.

Today's little harvest (They fought over who got to hold the raspberries).

The Lord's Hand In My Life:

I'm grateful we can grow our own food, and that the Lord has blessed us with healthy, fun food to eat! He has blessed us with ways to take care of ourselves, and to share with others.

Kortney

Kindhearted

Obstinate

Reliable

Talented

Nurturing

Entertaining

Youth

Taylor

Trusting

Amiable

Young

Loving

Outgoing

Rambler

Emmrie

Energetic

Mischievous

Motivated

Rambunctious

Impulsive

Elf

What's In a Nose?

... Apparently, it can be anything! What is a child's fixation with putting something foreign into their nose? What goes through their minds? Do they examine something small, take a quick measurement, then think "Hmm, this looks interesting! Oh! I know! Let's try it out riiiiight here!"? Or do they think they're putting it away for safe keeping, where they know NO ONE will ever try to take it away from them? Well, Taylor must think along those lines, since this isn't her first experience, either. I know she had another, and I only wish I could remember what it was. She must've tried a bead or something, because I remember it hurt, and when I first squeezed her nose to try to get it out, it was hard. By the way, squeezing doesn't work- at least from my experience. And, thankfully, Taylor is my only guinea pig in this type of test.

Anyway, so today my dear, sweet, interesting girl saunters up the stairs and casually says, "Mom, I need your help." I ask, "With what, honey?" She starts squeezing her nose, and wiggling it like Samantha on "Bewitched". Then she sticks her finger right up it (sadly, nothing out of the ordinary for her). After digging for a minute she actually points and says, "My nose." So I say, "Did you put something in it?" It was hard to get a real "yes" out of her, but when I finally did, I asked her what it was, and she pointed to a blue slap bracelet laying curled up on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Huh? Whatever, hon. We would soon find out. I took her into the bathroom to get a tissue. She sniffed, and I told her to stop! I'm getting a tissue for you to blow into! Nothing came out into the tissue, and I even started doubting her whole story. But then she tilted her head back so I could look in (sorry- I'm trying not to be too graphic here), and sure enough I could see something way back up there. I reminded her not to sniff, and quickly found my tweezers. When I started putting them up her nose, she backed away, as if to tell me, "You're not putting those up there!". Well, how in the world did she even get anything else up there, then? Seriously? Anyway, I'm either really good at nose excavation, or I just got lucky this time, because I pulled something out on the first try. It was a piece of blue plasticy paper the size of a postage stamp, all wadded up in there. It had come off the slap bracelet, and I can't imagine what made her think it would fit nicely up her nose!

Now, if you're not already grossed out, what's the worst that you've found (or that you've had) in a nose? I'm just a little curious...

Tawnya's Visit

My sister, Tawnya, came to visit us from Arizona with her five kids the last week of June, and we had such a fun time with them! Her husband, Brad, has been on crutches because of a broken leg, so I think she brought all the kids to give him a little time to himself to recouperate, and to catch up on work at home. It was good of him to let them come for so long. My niece, Koralyn, stayed at Neil's parents' house for five of those days to ride horses, and then came back with us after the weekend. I don't think I've done as much stuff here since we've lived here as we did with Tawnya and her kids while they were visiting. Here's just a rundown of some of the things we did (that I got photos of. Sorry, this is my journal, too, so bear with all the photos):

We pulled out the slip-n-slide and sprinklers and played in the water...

... went to Kortney's last two T-ball games...

... ate ice-cream at Reed's Dairy (Emmrie was so mad that she had to share with me)...

... walked down the greenbelt to see the falls and the temple...

... met up with Neil's mom in Lava to swim at the pool (Kortney finally got brave enough with her water wings to go down the big slide, and daredevil Taylor wasn't afraid at all to dive right in to Grandma. Thanks, Mom, for going, since I won't be caught dead in a swimsuit right now)...

... and of course we had to see the horses back at Grandma's house...

... had a picnic and played at the Hooper Springs park...

... watched the Soda Springs geyser go off (and that was my first time ever watching it, even!)...

... met up with our sister-in-law, Sherry, and her kids, also from Arizona, who were close to town for a family reunion, and took them all to the Rexburg spray park (thanks, Sherry, for driving the extra 2 hours to visit)...

... let off small fireworks and sparklers in the driveway (the day Kortney and Koralyn got their ears pierced- sorry I had no photos of that whole dramatic event)...

... and then we finally said good-bye when they left on the second of July. It was sad, but I was glad that our kids had a chance to get to know each other again, and that we could show them our town. We sure love you, guys! Thanks for taking your vacation all the way up here to see us!

You know, with three boys in our house for that many days, I think the noise affected Neil a lot more than he expected, having lived in a quiet (although very dramatic) home of girls for so long now. I realize that boys are so much different, and even though those boys were very well-mannered, a boy in general is going to be a wake-up call for all of us!

Kortney Turned 5!

Okay, so I'm a little behind on this post, since her birthday was about 2 weeks ago, but our sweet Kortney finally turned five. She's a whole hand old, as my sister, Tawnya put it. The morning of her birthday, she woke us all up to tell us it was time to open presents, and we all gathered on our bed to watch her open them. Then Neil was off to work. It was a pretty busy day for me, but it was good for the girls. She spent a lot of the morning learning a little bit about how to ride her new scooter, trying to balance and go fast, and then playing with all her other new things. She loved it. Then we made her cake. It looked a lot like Taylor's, only Emmrie didn't get to it this time, and it had to have purple frosting. Yeah, and it's a little concave, as you can see in the photo- just don't ask me to do any wedding cakes. Kortney also had another t-ball game, so we went to that, where she told everyone she's five now. (side note: She was on a team that my neighbor, Kalli, coached, and it was so cute. Their team was called the Red Dragons, and most of them are too young to be on city league t-ball, but since Kalli is the coach, she got to choose the team, regardless of age, and I'm glad Kortney wanted to play. It really was so cute to watch those mostly clueless kids hit the ball, then forget to run the bases. Kortney never looked excited out on the field- that's just how she is- but she told everyone about t-ball like it was the coolest thing in the world. Thanks, Kalli, for being such a fun coach!) Anyway, Grandma and Grandpa Price surprised her by coming to celebrate Kortney's birthday with us, driving all the way on the dirt Bone Road on their Razor. They were dusty and cold from the drive, but Kortney was so excited to have them there. We just hung out with them and had a fun time that day. Once Kortney turned five, she thought she would be starting Kindergarten. I had to explain to her several times that it's going to be a while still, before school starts back up. It might be a long summer for her... But the most exciting thing was that, for her birthday she wanted to get her ears pierced. Neil said sure, and we finally got them pierced this week! She loves them, and, even though she cried pretty hard before and during the whole thing, afterwards she said it didn't hurt as bad as she cried. She's so proud to show off her new earrings to anyone she sees. Happy fifth birthday, Kortney Ann! We love you!