my garden loves me

I had an awesome garden this year. I think I owe that to adequate sunlight and chicken poop. It makes me so happy when I go out to the garden to pick stuff for dinner, next year I will grow more onions. Maybe even a box of just onions and garlic. Here are just a few of my highlights

I couldn't believe how many tomato's I had. They are all roma's except for the few on top.

I made 16 bottles of salsa with my tomato's, onions and jalepenos and the rest came from the store of course. I even had half a bucket left over that I ended up giving to my neighbor because my back spazed out on me the next day and I couldn't stand up long enough to can. darn, cause I really wanted to do some plain tomato's.

A popular dish from the garden, bruschetta.

There was no way I would use all this basil before it got too cold so

I dehydrated it and made some look a like mary jane. I love knowing this is from my garden. It is very fulfilling to grow a garden and make it stretch so far.

and I can't forget my favorite crop, pumpkins. I like to grow my squash outside of the garden because it takes up so much room. I front of our house their is an "island" that was planted with flowers. They never grew back in the Spring so it ended up being a big black cloth so I planted my zucchini, spaghetti squash and pumpkins here. We have another pumpkin plant in the backyard so we ended up with 6 pumpkins. Hopefully next year I can be successful in growing mini pumpkins....

I am sad that gardening season is over, I hope to still have some herbs growing in my kitchen.

Dear Diary,

Ryan keeps a journal for the kids on his laptop and the other day he showed me this entry that I took the liberty to repost here :)


09-21-11
It’s 3:20 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Charlie woke up around 2:40 crying
because she was scared. All of our kids have had bad dreams at very young
ages. I went upstairs to calm her down and she said she wanted to come
sleep downstairs in my bed. Out of the question, says I, as I am very
interested in a better sleep than she would allow for if she were in my
bed. Also, her diapers leak, and I don’t want to wake up two hours from
now in a puddle of her urine on my mattress. Plus, I don’t want her to
wake her Mom up. So I calm her down and tell her she has to sleep in her
own bed and I sing her a song, Sweet Carolina by Ryan Adams. She calms
down a bit reluctantly and says she wants her bed to be cold. Well it is
a little warm upstairs so I turn on her ceiling fan. She says she wants
crystal light and a pillow. So I come downstairs on a middle of the night
treasure hunt for her sippy cup, find it, fill it with crystal light, grab
her pillow and take them back upstairs to her. I remind her that everyone
is sleeping and not to talk anymore or wake them up. “Do you understand
me?” I ask with a little harshness in my voice so she understands I’m
serious. She nods a reluctant yes. So I, only half believing she’ll
stick to our arrangement, wearily come back downstairs to my welcoming
bed. Not two minutes later she is calling out for Brody, and saying that
she is scared. Well, I’m upset. I have to make another trip upstairs
where I firmly remind her that she is suppose to be quiet and that she is
waking everyone up. She’s scared of the little green light on the fire
alarm. “No, you don’t be scared of that, it’s there to keep you safe.”
“I want Mom.” “No she’ s sleeping. “ I” want to sleep in your room.”
“No, you have to sleep in your own bed. “ And once more I firmly tell her
that she needs to be quiet. Everyone is sleeping and if she talks again
she is going to get spanked. Go to sleep. And again I trudge downstairs,
for the last time I’m hoping. Four minutes later, I hear her quietly
calling for Brody. Then a little louder, and louder. So I angrily get
out of bed and go back upstairs to give her her promised spank. She is
facing Brody and longingly calling out for him, with wonder in her voice
as to why he is not answering. Brody sleeps in a coma, you see, and can’t
be woken by anything other than an inconvenient early hour that is just
early enough to be annoying to his parents who enjoy their morning sleep.
But he is nearly impossible to awaken in the middle of the night. A
perfect roommate for Charlie on night’s like these. But Charlie doesn’t
know that and so she, scared as she is, is calling out to him hoping for a
hero. Instead she gets mean old angry Dad coming up behind her and
spanking her. “I said to be quiet and go to sleep! You are waking
everyone up!” Then I calm her down and go through the agreement again.
“You need to sleep in your own bed, you need to be quiet. I already got
you your pillow and some crystal light. It’s time to go to sleep. You
don’t be scared. Are you going to go to sleep?” “I need to go pee pee,”
she says. “If I let you go pee pee will you go to sleep?” She nods yes,
so I get her up and take her to the bathroom. This is when I get a
glimpse into the sweet, innocent, beautifully simple mind of my two year
old. As she is going pee pee, I tell her again that she can’t be calling
Brody because he needs his sleep for school in the morning. She so
sweetly looks up to me and says, “But he wasn’t answering me, and I was
scared.” How simple. Dad, I’m scared. I don’t know why, but I need a
hero and since you’re not helping, I was hoping Brody would. I got more
scared when he wasn’t answering me.
So I calm down, wipe her bum and put her diaper back on. When I’m
finished I say, “Okay let’s go back to bed”. Wynin (Ryan), can I please
sleep in your room on the floor?” she says with the biggest eyes and with
the most longing, and followed with “I’m scared”. For my half-hearted
last effort I say, “You don’t be scared. You go to sleep. If you go to
sleep you won’t be scared.” “Yes I will” she says, still wearing the
daddy melting eyes. “Okay….but you don’t talk to your Mom. She’s
sleeping. If you call for Mom I will bring you right back upstairs to
your own bed.” Not understanding fully as she has been repeatedly told
no on this, she asks again, “Please can I sleep on your floor? Jus fo a
lil’ bit?” And I’m overcome with sympathy. She’s won. That face. That
sweet, sincere face that wants nothing more than a feeling of safety. I’m
powerless. So I pick her up and she wraps those soft arms around me, so
clearly grateful that she won’t have to be scared any more. And we come
downstairs. And so she sleeps, finally and peacefully on my floor,
keeping her promise and not calling out for or waking up her Mom. And I
willingly lose more sleep to write this sweet experience down before it
slips into the clutter of the rest of life that happens so quickly. I
love that girl. I love the innocence and beauty of all of my children.
They are so sweet. They have such a simple way of thinking and being.
How amazing it would be to have such simple clarity, such simple desires
and such simple satisfaction. Chopin said, “It is simplicity that emerges
with all its charm as the great seal upon art.” In life as well I suppose
that is true.

my butt is sore

I did another bike race on the 17th with one of my good friends. And that is the only way to do them. This one was a metric century so in miles, it was 62 miles. That is why you need a friend you enjoy talking to, that is a long time on a bike. It started in Payson and headed south then west then back north to Payson. I was surprised at how beautiful the scenery was. Goshen Canyon was probably my favorite part of the ride, we had a tail wind and it is a pretty canyon, different than the usual canyons around us. We also got a really cute finishers bracelet made from a bike spoke, I wore it to church today :)
This was an all woman's ride and I recommend it if your looking to do something fun. Yes, I used the word fun. On a good bike and a little training, this kind of stuff is fun. Their is also a 35 mile and a 100 mile distance and it's called The Wonder Woman.

quick trip

literally, a quick trip. Like, there and back in 13 hours. Ryan was driving a painting up to Jackson Hole and we have never taken the older kids (charlotte went once while she was still nursing) so we thought we would take them along. They thought it was fun to go to a new place and there was a small street that for some reason reminded them of Cinque Terra in Italy. I didn't see the connection.

we have lots of pictures in front of all the western and wildlife statues.

It was the art festival so it was really crowded and I had a hard time getting a descent picture in front of the arches.

lunch at Merry Piglets.

because

there isn't any pictures of the two of us.

at it again

I decided not to do the Share a Smile triathlon this year but still wanted to sign my kids up. When I signed them up, I knew that if I went to watch my kids I would regret not doing it. Therefore, I signed up as well. But I didn't want the stress of feeling obligated to do certain workouts to train so I decided that since I was already biking and running, I would just keep doing what I was already doing because I wanted to and because I enjoyed it, not because I had to.
Ryan had a workshop at his studio all month so he wasn't able to come and help with the kids so then I considered not having the kids do it so that I could. But my mom and sister to the rescue, they photographed, helped with transitions and my mom hung out with them until I was done. They saved my butt!
I felt strong in the swim and swam with ease except I get a little anxiety when someone is behind me, regardless of how far back they are. The start is staggered so they start someone every 10 seconds which leaves plenty of space. Just something psychological that I need to get over. The swim was 400 yards (7:58), the bike was 12 miles and I rode so hard, I felt like I was going to puke (37:30). The run was 3.25 and it took me a while to kick it into gear (28:35 slow for me). The tri that I did in May, I didn't practice my transitions and my first one took me almost 5 minutes, this time I did practice and went over it mentally a few times. I know this sounds silly but when you look up the results you can see how you ranked in the swim, bike, run, overall and the transitions. Considering how long I took in the last tri, I was happy to see my first transition time was the fastest overall for the woman. I know it's silly, maybe you have to try it to understand ;) My total time was 1:17:06


seeing them stand at the edge of the pool made my heart proud.
watching them jump in and swim their heart out made my heart melt, I loved it.

transition
"yeah, we're tough"

SWIM (in the green cap)
BIKE
RUN

this is my buddy Lisa and all activities friend. She beat me by a minute, argh. just kidding. Did I mention that the medal around my neck is a 3rd place medal!? YES! I kind of set a goal/thought it would be cool to place in a race this season and I actually did it! That was pretty exciting.

First day of school

I recall a post I did about not wanting summer to end, well I changed my mind. We were all ready for a little change and I am looking forward to a season change as well, I love Fall.

This year, Cloe is in 4th grade. I still have to think about that when I say it because it doesn't sound right, it can't be.

Brody is in 3rd grade

and Abbey is in 1st grade. This year she isn't going to the Charter school. Our plan is to move to France and we came across a school with a French immersion program that starts with 1st grade so she is going there. 20 minutes away might I add. Luckily luckily luckily, there is a boy nearby that is also going to the same school for French and we can carpool! I'm really excited for her and this opportunity that she has, I just wish the older 2 could've had it as well. They will just have to do it the hard way.

and as you can imagine, the non uniform part is pretty exciting for her.

Brody's Baptism

Brody was baptized on August 13th. I thought since Cloe had already been baptized, this one would be less exciting. Not so. I have decided that I love my kids baptisms. They are so sweet and special and I love the blessings they receive. He has wanted a suit or a long time and I told him that he could get one for his baptizm. He looked very handsome and knew it. A lot of family came and my dad gave a talk. He seemed like a different person, not the Brody I am used to. He was reverent and mature :)


at his bishop interview



his new set of scriptures from G'ma and G'pa Brown

celebrating the pioneers

Mapleton puts on quite the Pioneer day celebration. The 3 older kids were in the parade with our ward and Charlotte and I thoroughly enjoyed it from the side lines, especially the marching band. Later that night we went to the park for the helicopter ball drop, a concert and then fireworks. It was really a time for the kids to run wild with friends until way past bed time. This was all on Saturday and then on Monday we went to the Spanish Fork

parade. I know, 2 parades in one weekend, shoot me in the head. To make it worse, SF wouldn't let them throw candy this year, that is the best part of the parade.

Can you spot Cloe and Abbey? just barely.

spanish fork parade

small fruit does not go a long way

my neighbor has 2 apricot trees that they don't harvest so I asked if they wouldn't mind if I picked some. Of course it was fine, so my mom and I loaded up buckets of apricots. They were so delicious fresh off the tree and I had some grand ideas for these here apricots, minus canning, not in the mood yet for canning. I made fruit leather, dehydrated, freezer jam and then just froze the rest in baggies for later use. It seemed like they never ended but then I didn't end up with a lot of leather and dehydrated fruit considering the amount it required. At our new house we have a grape vine, cherry tree, pear tree and my neighbors apricot tree which is all a first for me, but I'm liking it :)