Yeah! My garden is growing!

My garden got a late start this year because I made it bigger. Since I was digging out rocks, instead of planting seeds, it got planted around May. Around here, that's a pretty late start but it's starting to look great!

I planted tomatoes, onions, carrots, zucchini, green beans, yellow beans, jalapeno peppers (those were an accident, I meant to get bell peppers but still yummy), and russet potatoes. The potatoes were an afterthought. I finished planting everything I wanted to plant and had extra space, a rarity in year's past. The potatoes came up last week. Some things are still small; we had huge wind storms and then hail. Everything has been battered but a few weeks of nice weather has helped immensely.

Also, Juliet fell asleep on me after church. She still needs a nap but 1 o'clock church makes it hard to squeeze in a nap.

Other than that, I went to girl's camp last week and we had the best time. I was there from Wednesday to Saturday and the weather was great and the girls were too! Today I'm cleaning my house and doing a mountain of laundry! Yippee!

She's a thumb sucker no more...

Other than Juliet being a little grumpier than usual, she's doing very well! I can tell she's trying to figure out a new way to comfort herself without sucking her thumb, poor thing. But she hasn't sucked her thumb at all in days! The only side effects are she's the last kid to fall asleep and has a harder time getting over a upsetting situation. Even then, I'm sure those things will fade over the next few weeks as she adjusts.

Update: Day 2 of ceased thumb sucking...

Today Juliet threw a fit while trying to go down for an afternoon nap. Mostly from being overtired. I waited too long and she was tired from all the crying the night before. But, it was only 15 minutes and then she was off to dream land.

Tonight, she played around in her bed for a little longer than usual but then fell asleep without any crying or fussing or thumb sucking! Yeah! (I kept peeking in on her every 5 minutes and she kept smiling from bed like, "Why are you spying on me all the time?")

Someone asked what we're doing to keep her from sucking her thumb. She has a silky blankie that she would rub between her fingers while she sucked her thumb. For about 2 months, I said that the blankie would be taken back to its Mommy by the "blankie fairy" and then she'd have to stop sucking her thumb. The "blankie fairy" arrived on the eve of her 3rd birthday. She seemed okay with the idea until it went away, then she was very sad and said she wanted it back. We've also been painting her thumb with stuff specifically designed to make thumbs taste yucky. She likes to paint it herself, because it's like her own nail polish. I tried to put a sock on her hand before bed but she didn't want it. Mostly, she just knows she's not supposed to suck her thumb anymore. So she's thrown a few fits because she doesn't like the decision but is getting over it and hasn't sucked her thumb at all today.

So far things are looking good. It only took 3 days to break Maxine. Juliet appears to be on the same track! Keep your fingers crossed.

And Juliet had a birthday...

So I cleaned most of the day for my anniversary because it's also Juliet's birthday. When she turned 3, we told her she was going to stop sucking her thumb. We went to the store to get a present in celebration of the momentous occasion. She picked out a crown.

For her birthday she wanted, "shoes and a phone" and requested a pink cake with purple icing.

She did fine without sucking her thumb until bedtime. Then she cried for about an hour and a half. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Someone lost a bet...

10 years ago today, Merril and I got married!!

We were hanging out here in the shade, waiting for the photographer to load our whole families on the steps of the temple so we could stand in the front and take the traditional "family on the steps of the temple with the bride and groom in front" picture.

I'm sure there was someone out there who thought we wouldn't make it this far. I think we're happier than ever! Seriously though, we look like children. If my kids come to me when they're 20 and say they want to get married, I'm gonna roll my eyes and say, "Sure sweetie. Maybe when you grow up."

I'm amazed we didn't have to get legal guardians to sign the marriage license.

Anyhoo, I think getting married younger has advantages. We grew up together.

Wahoo 10 years! It's been a fun ride!!

Been busy...

So here's some picture catch up!

We went to the sand dunes with some friends to barbeque some dinner and have smores.

We went swimming.

And then I decided to take on a yard project!! The north side of my yard slopes badly towards the rear of the house. I went to the BLM and purchased a $14.50 permit for 1 ton of flagstone from a community pit. Then I made some stone stairs down the slope so the kids would stop sliding down. Jack snagged this picture of my working without telling me. My children must be terrified of me all the time because I furrow my eyebrows when I'm thinking or working. I look mean, but true to life.

Here's Jack standing on the stairs in his pajamas. If you can't tell by the sun, it's actually late afternoon in this picture. When I get involved in a project, I kind of let them do whatever. I'll attend to meals and naps, other daily routines are optional.

Then I decided I was sick of the slope and decided to make terraced levels down to the backyard!! I figured this would also help with the huge amounts of rain that collects in the backyard when it rains. And along the one side I decided to make raised bed grow boxes and plant blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries. And then 2 more grape vines in the back yard.


Luckily I have a million rocks in my backyard to hold up the terrace levels.

So I did this all last week. May has been so mild but as soon as I planted, it decided to turn into a blast furnace. I might lose a few strawberries. Here are the bushes in the ground.

The blueberry bushes had some blueberries on them. I've been eating them just as fast as they turn blue!!

Holy moly. It was A LOT of work. Fortunately, I didn't have to get any new dirt but just rearranged the existing dirt!! The whole project was pretty cheap and looks 500 times better! Now if I could just find a way to hang out in the side yard all the time!!