Our Garden

This is the first garden Brent and I planted together. Technically, I dug out the 3 years worth of weeds in the planters, tilled the soil, planted all of the seeds and watered them daily until Brent put in the drip system. I'm so glad he finally put in the water system because the plants really took off after they were on a consistent watering schedule. This is my first garden in my adult life. I'm just amazed at how big everything has grown!

We have many tomatoes growing on our 9 tomato plants. This is the only plant we transplanted.

The zucchini plant has just started to grow zucchinis. In a few more weeks I'll be begging you to have some of them!

Our GIANT sunflowers have now reached the top of the fence. By next week, they will be peeking over the fence to look at the neighbor's pool.

Lastly, we have a few carrots that popped up. I haven't read up on when to know when the carrot is ready to be pulled and eaten.

I am going to have to declare that my first gardening experience as an adult is a success. I've enjoyed watching everything grow. I'm going to enjoy watching others eat all of the vegetables that are harvested :)

I love my boys!

Sometimes they are normal...

Sometimes they are NOT!

Snake Bite!

This weekend Grant and Brent attend our ward fathers and sons outing out on the Mogillion Rim. The campsite was very difficult to find and it was dark by the time they arrived. Grant decided not to set up his tent and ran off with the other boys to have fun.

He had a great time hanging out with the other boys his age but as it got later into the evening it kept getting colder and colder. Eventually, Grant asked Brent for the keys to the car. Brent didn't know what he needed out of the car when he handed him the keys. As it got later into the evening and everyone else had gone to bed. Brent was worried about where Grant had gone and who he was hanging out with so late at night. He looked all over camp and asked one of the other late night campers if he had seen him. Eventually, Brent went to the car and found Grant sound asleep, in fetal position. He was shivering. Brent wrapped him up in his sleeping bag and let him sleep in the car for the night.

The next morning the smell of breakfast energized Grant out of his sleep. The ward breakfasts are always soooo good. Once food had been consumed, Grant and his friends were off exploring. While they were out, they found a bull snake. It wasn't huge and Dallin decided to pick it up. Although Grant is terrified of spiders, he had no problem taking the snake from Dallin and holding it. This is when the snake bit Grant on the thumb. According to Grant, he didn't freak out; however, the snake wouldn't let go of his thumb. I think I would have freaked out!!! In the end, the snake released Grant's thumb and left him with some teeth marks. The boys took the snake back to camp to tell their story.

Here is their "vicious" snake. Thank goodness it wasn't poisonous!

Trip to Safford

On May 1st our family headed out of the hot valley to the much cooler Gila Valley to visit the new temple and go through it during the open house. Brent had never been to eastern Arizona so it was quite a scenic drive. We stopped in Globe at the Jack in the Box for some lunch. To Brent's surprise he recognized the manager of the restaurant. She was someone he hadn't seen for 15 years or so. I am always amazed at how he knows someone everywhere we go! The Gila Valley Temple is absolutely beautiful. Brent, Grant and I had minimal waiting time to get into the open house even though that Saturday was extremely busy with van-loads and bus-loads of people visiting the temple that day. As we were passing through the lobby of the temple, Brent recognized and said hi to someone else he knew from a long time ago. What are the odds of that????

Outside the temple we posed for a few shots in our very casual clothes. Julie said that you didn't have to wear "Sunday" clothes and since we were traveling and doing other things during the day we didn't. At least we weren't the only ones not in "Sunday" attire.

Grant loved being inside the temple. He had lots of questions. Later in the evening he was able to go back for a second tour with Julie, Jordan, Grandma and Gramps. Lucky!

Ahhhhh....its been almost 2 years that we've been married and we still look good together :)

So after we went on our tour and were heading back to the stake center for cookies, I heard someone call my name. When I turned around, I saw Sister Hensen and her family of 5 right behind me. I used to be in Surprise Ward with them. It was great to see her and her family and it made me feel better that Brent wasn't the only one who was able to run into people he used to associate with.

Once I got inside the stake center, I ran into the rest of the Surprise Ward young men, young women and their leaders. What a treat!!! I used to teach math to some of these kids. One of the 10 year old's there use to be in my Sunbeam class. It was a wonderful reunion! What are the odds that my Surprise Family would be in Gila Valley at the same time I was. This place was 200 miles from where we lived. It was so much fun catching up with all of them!!!

Once we left the temple we went to Joe and Kami's house to meet Ember. She is adorable. She is such a good baby. Loved being able to take care of her while we were there. Her brothers adore her. It was a blast to hang out with Justin. He is so funny. He claims that diaper changing is only for girls and didn't know how to address the fact that his dad had changed Ember's diaper last. All of the boys were anxious to wrestle and climb all over you. Good times!

Of course Mom (Grandma) had to hog Ember once she arrived at the house. I guess that's okay since this is her newest grand-daughter.

We stayed overnight in the luxurious Days Inn motel. Grant thought the Continental Breakfast was the coolest thing he ever had. All I need to do have at my house is lots of English muffins, dry pastries, generic donuts, and jam in little pouches and Grant will think I was the coolest person ever. On Sunday we attended Joe's ward to witness Ember's blessing. She was a perfect little angle; absolutely adorable.

It was an amazing weekend and we can hardly wait to come back for another visit.

2010 Pat's Run!

This morning Brent and I ran in Pat's Run. This is an annual event that takes place at ASU where Pat Tillman played on the ASU football team. This is the 2nd time Brent and I participated in the 4.2 mile run. I am pleased to announce that we were able to jog/run the whole thing! We even beat our time last year by 4 minutes! Who knows what we will be able to do next year??? Brent and I crossed the finish line in 39 minutes and 48 seconds. I finished in 1,620th place out of the women in the race. Brent finished in 4,060th place out of the men. Overall, we finished in 5,685th and 5,689th place. There were 28,000 people signed up for the run this morning. I hate crowds! I hate the insane line of cars to get in and out of the place. And it is so annoying to start the race in the correct race bracket and have "supposedly" faster runners walking at the beginning of the race. Despite these irritations, I will be running again next year!

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter egg hunt in our backyard this year. Robbie, Madi, Bearett, Andrew, Mitchell, Grant, Julie and Jordan all fought over collecting the most eggs. Madi is off to a great start finding the colorful eggs. How many eggs do you see in this picture? How many Easter baskets do you see in this picture? (Answers at the end!)

Mitchell is an awesome big cousin. Instead of finding eggs for himself, he buddied up with Andrew and helped Andrew find the most eggs. Andrew was so excited to be able to get all of the eggs that were hidden up high!

Julie is in on the action and trying to determine which ones are Easter eggs and which ones are lemons.

Andrew's egg collection bag is so weighed down that Mitchell gets to carry it!

Grant was the lucky winner of the HUGE yellow egg! There are lots of treats packed in this one!

*

*

*

Here are the answers to the hidden egg question:
There are 9 eggs and 2 Easter baskets!

Motorcycles!

Before Brent and I were married, he started purchasing motorcycles that needed to be fixed. He ended up getting a half a dozen of them of various sizes and abilities. This last Fall he finally made time to start fixing them. It was a big undertaking and Mitchell helped where he could. Finally, in February he had a bike ready for Mitchell and a smaller bike ready for Grant to ride. (Brent already had a dirt bike that worked before this project began). Ever since the bikes became roadworthy and licensed, Mitchell and Brent have been taking off to 4 Peaks to go riding on Saturdays. They love it! They've been riding the trails, seeing the desert bloom and just having "manly" fun.

This is Sycamore Creek. The guys had to see how fast and deep it was before riding through it. It is so hot today that I think the water looks rather refreshing!

This last time Mitchell and Brent went, Brent ended up getting cholla stuck in his boot. I think this is a picture of Mitchell being the typical teenager displaying the skill of invincibility!

Grant is still learning to ride is motorcycle. He rides up and down the street in front of our house and has finally made it into 2nd gear. Eventually, he will be able to ride the trails with Mitchell and Brent!