Treasures

Most of my trips to D.I. are pretty uneventful but today was something special.

 I love this little cabinet and it was only $3! Not sure yet what I'm going to do with it but once I've cleaned it up a bit I will have a better idea. Everything works great, the two drawers on the bottom just need new knobs. I was thinking storage for spools of thread but then I remembered that I don't have very many of those. Hopefully I will have more in the future as I do more projects and my sewing skills improve. I am definitely open to suggestions!

The fabric measuring guide in the background was an answer to prayer as I have been trying to work on curtains for Abby's room and was in desperate need of help with measuring and cutting.

Garden update!!!

The corn"field" is next to out driveway and is just shooting up out of the ground like crazy! I plant two new sets every week so they will mature progressively during the summer. We are experimenting with three different kinds of corn this year to see which works best for us and which taste we prefer. (and yes, I will weed it when the stalks are a little higher)

The raspberries are still in pots as we haven't had time to dig out the grass in the back, put together the support T-stand trellis's and plant the raspberries yet. Despite all of that we have some raspberries coming on. This is a fall harvest gold berry. We have four of these and four traditional red berries.

We are planning to put the raspberries along this back fence with enough room to walk between our neighbors grape vines and the raspberry trellis.

My dad put together these raised square foot garden beds for us. We have four but are only using two right now.

This one has cantaloupe and watermelon planted in it right now along with carrots planted along one side.The flowers on the corners are marigolds to keep the bugs out.

This box has tomatoes, orange and purple sweet peppers, carrots, cilantro, caraway seed and basil. Sweet sugar snap peas are planted around the outside and we will train them down the sides instead  of up a trellis.

The strawberries have been a big challenge, to say the least. The original ones have almost all died and so I got some new ones which have done much better! Not many strawberries at this point so we may just let the rest of the runners stay around to make plants for next year.

We planted three fruit trees in the backyard. The closest is an O'Henry Peach, then a self-pollinating Stella cherry and the last one is a Redhaven Peach. 

Dear Driver

Dear Driver in the green mini-van,

Thanks for not running me over while I was out running with my baby in the jogging stroller. I know you tried super hard and came REALLY close to hitting us. If I could do it over I would go back and give you a piece of my mind! When did you decide that looking in front of your car before hitting the gas was optional? You should lose your drivers license!
But, it's a good thing for you that my fight or flight instinct chose flight, otherwise you would have a black eye to show for your morning.

Sincerely,
A pedestrian

Sleep update

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who offered words of wisdom to help with getting Abby to sleep through the night. I decided to let her cry herself out the first night, which is what we did months and months ago and it worked then, don't know why I didn't think of it myself this time. She went to bed just fine, like normal and a few hours later when she woke up wanting to be held we just let her cry. Two and half hours of wimpering and crying later I finally couldn't handle it anymore and went in and held her for a couple minutes so that she would go to sleep. I was too tired to listen to her any longer! Apparently it did the trick. She has been sleeping SO much better! This has made for a much happier Abby and a much happier mamma! Thanks again everyone for your help!

What is sleep?

After a night like last night for which there are no words, I am asking for advice. WHY DOESN'T ABBY SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT?!?!? She was starting to do really well with sleeping through the night before we moved in January and I think she has slept through the night maybe four times since then.  She wakes up wimpering and crying if her diaper is wet and won't calm down until it's changed. She can go for over an hour asking for a change. If she doesn't get at least one bottle during the night we have to listen to her sobbing and screaming. I try to just ignore her but it never works. And, I often wake up super hungry in the middle of the night, so I feel bad when she does the same and I ignore it. Any advice?

Abby has never,ever been a great sleeper but where did this baby go who at least tried to sleep?

Summer has begun!

Summer has officially begun: The ice cream truck just drove by with it's music playing! I was super tempted to run out and buy some ice cream just for sentimental reasons.

Yesterday was a monumental day for us and one I hoped wouldn't come but I knew it would. Scott took Abby to priesthood meeting with him while I went to young womens. He told her no and shook his head when she was trying to do something she shouldn't and she imitated him right down to the head shaking. For the next few hours that was almost the only word she would say, over and over and over...

A few weeks ago my sister and her family came through Utah and stopped to have lunch with us. Here's Abby with three of her cousins.

 Our trip to Cooks nursery in Orem (super cool nursery) when we finally picked up our strawberry plants. We got 24 plants and are considering getting a few more of a different variety that will come on at a different time during the summer.

 Abby insisted on either pulling or pushing the wagon and was devastated that we had to leave it behind.

                                                                     

                                                                  My silly girl

A friend of ours was turning 30 and had an 80's themed party. Scott and I get a kick out of dressing up a little crazy. We totally rocked the 80's hair (hard to see in the pictures).

Life as a homeowner!  We finally got our washing machine hooked up and it's only flooded the floor  around the machine once. We haven't hooked the dryer up yet since the wiring in our basement is so old and we haven't replaced it yet. Until we do, we are rocking the clothes line.

Where is she?

I had quite the shock this morning. After Abby got up and had breakfast I left her inside looking out the front screen door that I keep latched while I ran out in the back to water the strawberries and raspberries. I heard Abby jabbering very loudly at the cars driving by.  While in the back I had the impression to check on Abby. I brushed it off and it persisted so I filled a watering can and walked around the front of the house anticipating seeing Abby looking through the screen door while I watered the flower pots in front. Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner to see her sitting on the front steps with her cheetah sitting in her baby stroller next to her. My heart stopped as I realized what could have happened to her. The scenes that ran through my head were alarming. The road is so close and has been so tempting to her. What if I hadn't listened? What if she had been hit by a car? What if, what if, what if..... Of course the one time I forget the latch the screen door is the time that she tests her boundaries and goes out the door. Even now just thinking about makes my heart pound and makes me want to hold my Abby close and snuggle her.

On a similar note, Saturday was our ward spaghetti dinner fundraiser for girls camp. Right after we moved in Scott was called as the ward executive secretary and I was called as an advisor in the young womens. We went early to help setup for the dinner and Abby stayed pretty close to my side and never got lost. Right before the dinner started I got distracted helping get the food out into the cultural hall and when I glanced up Abby was gone! I checked the cultural hall and she wasn't there. I ran down the hall looking and grabbed Scott out of the clerks office to help me look. We looked and looked and couldn't find her. When I had almost given up, Scott found her drinking the water out of the toilet in the handicapped stall in the men's room.  The little stinker heard me call her name into the open doorway of the mens room and didn't say respond. I keep forgetting how fast she moves and can get away from me. So, glad that Scott found her(I could have done without the wet nasty clothes and the fear of what kind of diseases she could have gotten) but at least she was safe and in our arms!