July 25th, 2013

So, things seem to be moving along as usual. Nothing too fantastic happening. Rex just got back from a short business trip to Idaho Falls. He took some beautiful pictures of the temple and the falls. He even had some time last night to go to the visitor's center. I am glad he got to have that time.

We are almost all set and ready to start school. Organize and prepare!! It is fun. Ben is very excited to start his official Kindergarten work. It should be a great year in the school of mama!

I am heading to the doctor again soon. I am just not finding the umph that I once had. Evelyn is sleeping through the night, I have been eating healthy and exercising, and doing all the things I should be doing, but I still have no energy. I get completely exhausted and have had a hard time even functioning on some days. My iron is somewhat low, but not in the anemic zone. They next thing they are looking at is my thyroid. We will see how it goes.

The garden is growing like crazy. I don't have as much time as I would like to put towards it, but it is surviving and I will have plenty to can and eat! My apple and pear trees are packed full too.

Until another day!

Garden Update

It has exploded! I have picked over 30 zucchini, 30 cucumbers, a pound of green beans and 6 jalapenos.  I have tons of watermelon one is the size of a tennis ball already and about 6 more smaller ones. I have 3 pumpkins and tons of tomatoes.

In One Month

This is how much my garden has grown in less than one month!

Can I Getta "Whoop, Whoop!"

I have pictures.... Whoop Whoop!

 The boys putting flags in Veteran graves.

 They really appreciated the history of our Veterans. We found a lot of World War I graves. 

 I did not hate this picture of me... 

 There were a lot of killdeers running around.

 

 We had fun with our neighbors and tons of fireworks!

 Mmmm, Mmmm. Made some raspberry jam today. SO tasty! 

Here is an updated picture of my garden. I put all the stakes in for my peas, green beans, and cucumbers to vine up.

Thingamajiggy

I finally took the time to figure out what other flowers I bought on Monday. So here are pictures and NAMES!

I got 3 delphinium plants. I am excited to see what color they are! 

This is a purple cone flower also known as Echinacea or Black Sampson.

 

Dianthus flowers in white. 

And of course, holly hocks. 

I got one other flower, but I lost the tag, and all I can remember is that it was a hybrid something.

 

Just Another Day in Paradise

Well, almost. Besides the fact that my poor camera is on the fritz and that I cannot take pictures right now. I had a picture perfect day.

Send me to Moss Green House any day of the week and it will be a good day! First of all, I was able to snag an internet deal for a 30.00 gift card for 15.00 ((SCORE)). I ventured off BY MYSELF today. I honestly did not know what to do. I think I walked around the whole time talking to myself, due to the lack of children.

I was able to get a raspberry bush ((Hyperventilating,Ecstatic,Overjoyed and Jumping with Joy)

Holly hocks ---- my absolute FAVORITE flower in the whole world!

And a bunch of other flowers, whose names are too long and confusing for me to remember, but they are pretty! I got them all planted tonight and I hope they stick around.

On the topic of gardening, I weeded my garden today. WHAT A CHORE. I forgot how huge it was. And MAN how fast can weeds grow?? But while I weeded, I got a chance to look at every thing. I have peas already and tomatoes, and hot peppers!  I just love my gardens!

A Dream Come True

I will have pictures soon! The past week we have been working on making my new garden. You know, the one I have been babbling about for the past two years..... well it is finally happening. With the help of many gracious friends, days of very hard works, sore muscles, blisters, blisters that have turned into calluses, sweat, more sweat, and a great sense of pride that we did this all with little money, lots of help and hard work.

I am excited to plant tomorrow! I have already bought my goodies. Everything is sitting on my dining room table, acclimating, as well as waiting out the crazy weather we have been having. It is SO different going from a 3ft by 20 ft garden to a 25ft by 23ft garden! Lots of space to fill!!!

Here is what I have so far:

4 pumpkins
4 zucchinis
4 summer squash
4 acorn squash
10 cucumber plants
10 snap pea plants
10 green bean plants
2 basil
1 cilantro
1 lemon thyme
1 rosemary
1 dill
16 tomato plants
1 cayenne pepper plant
2 jalapenos plants
6 bell pepper plants
2 watermelon plants
1 pack of mammoth sunflower seeds
6 packs of carrot seeds
8 onion packs ( about 5 in each compartment)


Ahh! I cannot wait!! I am also getting a raspberry bush soon. We also have strawberry plants from last year.

I wish I would have taken before and after pictures, but the children.. hid my camera from me for a few days. I found it this morning under my bed. Hmm. Interesting.

This That and Then Some

 We survived the first week of school. It is going to be a hectic year, but the boys LOVE school. Trenton thinks 3rd grade is just the best thing ever and Joe was born to go to school. Tuesdays will be a bit nuts, but we will make it work. Joe goes to school at 12:10 then the boys get out of school at 3:10 and then Trenton has to go to scouts at 3:30pm and picked up at 4:30. No biggy though.
 My school is going fine so far. I am still not sure of myself with my math class but so far so good and I am pulling an A in the class. My first test in next week.. and I am a bit scared.
 We had a fun Boise trip last week and got lots of goodies and odds and ends. We have started Christmas shopping  and have a good start so far. I hope we can be done by next month.
 We finished the last hurdle of potty training Ben and he is full fledged in undies 24/7 no accidents.. full on BIG BOY. It is awesome.
   Speaking of Mr. Ben... he turns 3 on Thursday ...crazy I tell you!! He is such a cute, sweet and kind hearted little boy. ((Sigh)) 
Everything else.. is quiet. Not too much going on. I need to enjoy this quiet time before chaos ensues and I am grumbling.
  My garden is still going strong and I have TONS of tomatoes. Tons of zucchini and squash, my cucumbers are sub par and I wish I had more so I could make pickles but.. oh well. My artichoke is coming up nicely and I think I am going to plan a lot more next year. I have 2 five gallon buckets of apples waiting to made into apple sauce :) Pears will be on their way soon and I have a TON of canning to do. I love it though. I am looking into getting a pressure canner so I can can soup, meats and veggies. They are spendy little suckers though.
  That aside, I must continue on my journey of educational fulfillment.



10 grateful things- school-self control-prayer-listening-learning-my great husband-a good schedule- planning-my great young women-self reliance

The Blahs

School (for me) starts Monday. My brilliant professors are slacking on top of things in the matter of posting Syllabuses and required text. I already have to return 3 out of 5 books I bought on Thursday. Oh well, more money in my pocket. I am very excited to get into my Philosophy class and my Cultural Geography class. I am almost done with my Educational Technology class (hooray for teachers who post assignments early!) and Math....well, it's math and how excited can I get over that? Blah

The boys are set for school and I cannot believe my Joe will be in school this year! Crazy...pure insanity.  Boo Hoo.

My allergies have been so bad this year. I am going into the doctor coming up because I have had a hard time breathing. I hope its not asthma. It feels like it though. Blah.

I made peach JELLY yesterday. I have made jams before but never jelly. It was fun and simple.. but boy there is a lot of sugar in jelly. Blah.

Today I am dehydrating apricots for snacks and to make low sugar jam. I love canning, and I have a lot more ahead of me. My tomatoes are going to ripen all at the same time, which is nice. I hope to get about 10+ quarts of  of spaghetti sauce put up this year and 5+ pints of salsa. We will see. Next up will be cucumbers so I can make pickles! Hooray! I love home canned pickles. They are awesome. I am on the hunt for apples and pears and maybe some plums. I have an abundance of apricots that I hope to trade with for the fruit I need. I really want to make my own applesauce this year. ---Not blah

OH! Trenton had dental surgery last Monday. That kid GRINDS his teeth SO bad that he had to get crowns put on his back molars and then have a few baby teeth pulled that weren't coming out on their own. IT was scary, but he did just fine and he feels great. So all Bateman's are perfect in the mouth department now. HOORAY. Excema is rearing its ugly head already though. Blah

I think that is about it for my BLAH post. I hope I can maintain the blog a little more this fall... but we will see.

Garden Hault

I know, what is with this crazy lady and constant jabber of her silly garden? I LOVE MY GARDEN. I love gardening and canning. Simple as that.

We had a MASSIVE downpour the other day and rain off and on since. Thus making it hard to garden and very very muddy.

We got some great news that we can get FREE fill dirt from our 2nd counselor in our ward, and some one will haul it over too! BUT............. in order to expand our garden.. we need about 10+ more rail road ties than we thought and  those are not cheap or easy to come by. So I have flats of veggies waiting to be planted but I can't plant them until we get everything in place. Yikes. what to do what to do. Maybe plant them and them dig them up when we get everything and re plant??

2011 Garden List

The boys and I ventured to Moss's Green house this afternoon and we are ready to plant!! We have the start of our garden expansion going right now, but we are not sure if it will be ready in time to plant. So we got enough (probably more) for our small garden.

Red onions
Walla walla onions
Watermellon
Zucchini
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Cumbers
Cilantro
Jalepenos
Carrots
Bell Peppers
Dill

If we expand the garden in time, I am going back to get :

Lettuce
Radishes
Pumpkins
Corn
More tomatoes
Cantaloupe
Raspberry Bush


And we are also planting a new flower bed in the front of the house. So I got snap dragons, pansies, violas, petunias, chrysanthemums, marigolds and daisies.

I was excited to plant, but as soon as we got home a thunderstorm rolled in and we had a huge down pour. Maybe Monday for planting.  

I LOVE this time of year!!!

Goodbye Garden

I pulled up my carrots the other day. I shredded them and froze half. The other half I made a carrot cake with. It was yummy, but I hate it when my garden starts to dwindle. We are thinking about heading to Shoshone on Tuesday to get some railroad ties to help expand the garden for next year. They are only $1 each or $15 for 20! Not too shabby if you ask me. I am already mapping out my plans... there will be : peppers, onions, carrots, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, peas, radishes, pumpkins, squash, and I think I might put in a blueberry or raspberry bush. Hurry up spring!! Geesh.....

5 things I am grateful for today

~ * Growing my own food * DVR * The Scriptures * a Full kitchen of food * Understanding Teachers ~

More Carrots

Garden!!! WAA HOO

Today, we managed to get a lot done! Elder Maples and Elder Oliveria came over to help me today as Rex has to go to work unexpectedly. They called up a few people in out ward and managed to get a tiller to work up all the dirt and work in the new soil and fertilizer. Oh man were they a HUGE help! We have the whole stretch of fence is lined with corn that I am planting form seed, and also ; squash, zucchini, pickling cucumbers, cucumbers, little jack pumpkins, Horton pumpkins, basin, lavender, red bell peppers and yellow bell peppers. It all barley fit! I told Rex that we are going to have to expand it next year. I LOVED planting my little garden and getting my hands REALLY dirty!
Spearmint, Lavender, basil, and peppers

Part of my own little heaven!

These beautiful clouds are what I had to stare at the whole time I planted my garden. Shame huh?

Oh! Also the Elders and Brian got most of the tile put in while I planted! Bathroom is so close to being done I could taste it! Ewww, not that I would want to taste it, but figuratively speaking.