Parley and the Tractor

Garden Harvesting Fun!

I love gardening and am having so much fun seeing new things growing each day. Almost everyday i pick some vegetables and saute them with butter, olive oil, and some spices. It is a delicious treat!! Here are some pictures of some of the things I have harvested. I have been storing stuff away a little bit, but we eat a lot too. Today we pulled up 3 square feet of carrots, which was about 48 carrots, minus the ones we pulled up in the last couple weeks. Also we harvested the potatoes from our pots. We planted some in about 12" round pots that wouldn't fit in the raised bed. I wanted to see how they were growing so i dug them up and there were quite a few red and yellow pototoes in all the pots. They are just the right size for roasting. I threw some in with the sauted veggies today and Kohl loved it. Anyway, we are now just starting to plant our fall crops and a few things that will be ready by the end of the summer like radishes. We are just having a good time gardening!

School Around the Corner

So i finally got everything together for school, i think. I am enrolled this summer in Biology and Organic Chemistry. i think this could be a mistake to try to conquer two classes that i didn't do so well in during high school. I usually take on one per semester/quarter at a time, but this time i decided to really kill myself or something. My husband just got called as the Elder's Quorum President and so he will be pretty busy with that calling and will not be taking classes this summer. Initially i thought i should do as much as i could during the summer because Dean would not be in class, but now that didn't work out the way i planned because he got a new calling. So then i was thinking about waiting until the Fall or later to start, but then a sweet friend who offered to help out and babysit Parley a couple days per week so that i can be in class and Dean can fill his calling. So it looks like it will all work out and i can go ahead with school. It is very exciting. Today i had to finish a couple things and turn in some more forms and i happen to run into a good friend at the desk and then met with a great advisor who was super helpful and got everything together for me. It is really nice to come across those people who are just really helpful and a blessing!!

Midwifery

So today was an amazing day!! I had the priviledge of being present at my sister's delivery. It was so cool!! I was serving as her doula kinda. I am not really a doula yet and i probably didn't help too much, but i was just there to help and support her during her labor and delivery in any way that i could. I hope that i was some help. Anyway, I don't want to spoil any blogging or telling that she might do, so i will leave out the details until later, but it was probably the coolest thing i have ever seen and she was awesome and her little baby is beautiful!!

Anyway, I am just starting school again this summer to finish a few required classes and then apply to the Seattle Midwifery Program. I will be going at the same time as my sister Sarah. This was a wonderful experience for me to have in preparation for school and just in general it was really cool. There is something pretty amazing and spiritual about seeing a baby being born, it made me cry! I guess that must be because the veil is so thin when that sweet baby is being born!

Beautiful Music!!

Parley...zoom zoom zoom

Dean finally pulled out the camera the other day and took some pics of Parley. He is really getting around well, but hasn't quite started walking. He has taken a few steps, but that is is so far! :-)

He loves to stand up though and he can stand for a long time, he usually gets quite the grin and you can tell he is pretty proud of himself!

I have to love this picture. A few hours with dad, a dirty face, a bruised head, and having so much fun!!! I confess the bruise was from an earlier fall, but it was funning coming home to this face. He loves to hang out with Dad and even says the little Da Da Da. It is pretty cute and you can tell he is trying to say Dad! He does the same for Mom too! :-) (He likes to stare people down with his mouth open... he gets that from me i guess)

Garden Pics 2009

I know that it has been quite a while since i put anything on my blog, but i have been very busy as you can see. I enrolled in school, got a new calling at church, helping out with my brother's new baby, trying to get these gardens up and running and doing the everyday things like laundry, changing diapers, watching my super cute little boy and all that jazz! So anyway, here are the pics of the garden as it stands right now and hopefully there will be more delightful pictures of lots of things growing very soon!! :-)
Okay, so here is the little map of my garden that i might have gotten a bit carried away with when i decided to do up a little map on the computer.... now i have 8x10 glossy colored copies of each raised bed with the all the little details of the garden. We shall see if this is helpful or a bad idea in the end.

Here are the tomato starts that i recently got and they are doing quite well and look very healthy, but i only have two to three weeks before i have to get them in the ground or they won't do so well. I put them outside during the day and inside at night for now.

Here are two of the raised beds with them all plotted out into 1x1' squares ready for planting. Don't they look great!! :-)

here are the other two raised beds. One is a double decker because we are planting carrots and potatoes in that bed. These are not finished yet as you can see, but are getting super close. Hopefully tonight. I am also putting in little stepping stones between the boxes and tiny pebbles to go around the stones, just so it looks delightful! I hope they grow well.

Gardening 2009

So i am super excited this year about my garden. I got Dean to build me some raised beds after Sarah and I plotted them out. We have 4 4ftx8ft raised beds, 3 6" tall and one 12" tall. We feel like we are part of a revolution or something. Almost everyone in our neighborhood is planting a garden. It is super exciting!! Last year i just planted tomatoes and a few other things in pots, but this year we are getting a bit more adventurous. Anyway, there will be pictures to follow soon!! :-)

The Fun Begins! ;-)

Here is a little video of Parley crawling! He has been crawling for a little while. First he started out with the military tummy crawl thing then got up on his hands and knees. I was pretty excited at first, but then i realized my job just suddenly got a bit harder.... he some how knows exactly where to go to get into the most trouble and danger and it is surprising how fast they can move once they crawl. Yesterday i spent a few hours as a spotter while he was trying to balance himself standing up holding onto the laundry basket, toy basket, etc. Funny thing though, he still can't really sit. Apparently he has no time for such things, always must be on the move, that seems to be his personality! :-)

Potty Training Adventures!!

I know what you are thinking, is she crazy?? Parley is only about 6 months now. That is what i would have said too, but here is the story. So about a month ago I was holding Parley in the rocking chair and realized that he was trying to poo. As i sat there thinking that I would need to change that when he was done, it all of the sudden occured to me that i didn't want to change a poopy diaper, go figure! So instead of waiting for him to poo, i went and put him on the toilet and he went in the toilet without any trouble. After that success i decided that everytime i noticed him trying to poop, i would do the same and save myself from a poopy mess. Then after a couple more times of catching him pooping and setting him on the toilet, i decided why wait until i catch him pooping. So then i started putting him on the toilet everytime I changed his diaper. I was amazed at the results. It kinda feels like an experiment!! :-) Anyway, so now it has been about a month and i haven't had any poopy diapers. He pees and poops in the toilet and I don't have to wait for a long time, he just goes when i put him on the toilet. If he doesn't have to go, then he wiggles himself off and will fuss a little. Then i just put him back in his diaper. I honestly think he is starting to hold it though. He still wets in his diaper, but he will go in the toilet as well. Also as a result I have been noticing more of what is going on with him and paying more attention to how often i take him potty. Not that i didn't pay attention before, but i didn't notice as much. So it is pretty cool and thought i would share this with all of you. It really hasn't been much work, in fact it has been less because i don't have to clean poopy diapers. I never thought that the elimination method or whatever it is called would work, but i guess that is kinda what i am doing. I have never read anything about it, so i am not sure. I have just been making it up as i go along. If it helps him to be potty trained a bit sooner, well then i guess it is worth it to me!! :-)

Parley and the Monkey Toes!

A few weeks ago... okay it has probably been a couple months now, Parley discovered how yummy his toes taste and now every time he gets a chance, when his diaper is off, he loves to suck on his toes! I finally got some pictures of it and now i am finally posting it, after a long silence on my blog! I have been busy with our Best Loved Baby website and after i am done working on that for the day, i don't want to see a computer for a while.

From LDS Daily Gems!

I really like this and thought i would share it!

"I take great delight in my role as a nurturer, which allows me to express my deepest identity as a woman. I never fail to be struck by the way that women, young women, and even little girls seem to have an instinctive interest and ability in nurturing. It is not only a mother's primary responsibility but also part of our 'individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose' ("The Family: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). To nurture is to teach, to foster development, to promote growth, to feed, and to nourish. Who would not shout for joy at being given such a blessed role? "The scriptures use the word nurture only twice and in both cases speak of the responsibility of parents to raise their children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4; Enos 1:1).Susan W. Tanner, "My Soul Delighteth in the Things of the Lord," Ensign, May 2008, 82