Let it Grow, Let it Grow, Let it Grow!

In the midst of all my consta-blogging lately (well, my version of consta-blogging anyway), I figured it was about time to stop and smell the roses.
Or...the pomegranate, cucumber, and tomato blossoms plus marigolds, oleander (nasty smell if you ask me), and...and...lettuce? Okay, well, I ran out of things that smell in my backyard. But, what I'm trying to say is, it's time to dedicate an entire post to what we've got growin' on around here.
Ha.
Did you get it?
I said 'growin' on...like you would normally say 'goin' on but since I'm talking about plants and stuff....it's...you' know...growin'...
.....
you get it.

So anyway...here's an update on all things green here at our homestead.

You've met my garden box before, yes?
Well, here she is all covered up, modest-like, in her shade cloth.
Yeah, this was my first attempt at keeping our mini-garden covered from the delightful amounts of sun our backyard gets!
It's tomato cage wire covered in cheese cloth, held together with clothespins. I would say I had a love/hate relationship with my shade covering but...that would be a big lie.
I hated that thing. (Imagine taking it on and off to water)
But I am nothing if not a by-the-book kind of gal and a version of this is what was suggested in one of my gardening books and anyway...I gave it my best shot. JC humbly went along.

And there's a shot of our meager little family of plants toward the beginning of April.
Along the back, we have tomatoes and cucumbers, running down both sides we have lettuce and marigolds at the front, and in the middle, peppers. All just kind of starting out.
The rest of the spots were waiting to sprout some carrot and radish seeds!

Momentary subject change! Here is what our grass looked like for a little while at about that same time. I think it's beautiful! I am guessing it starts to look like this when the regular-type grass starts to come back among the winter grass. I have no idea if I'm right but it was really really pretty.

Bethany thought so too!

Our apple tree is a confusing fellow...I can never really get a good read on him, so I am often left to just wonder to myself how he is doing.
But this year, he gave us a little present...blossoms! At least we know something good is going on!

Speaking of blossoms, here is the Queen herself, always willing to share her mood and progress with the world. And you people wonder why I assign genders to our trees...

The plum tree offers shade to the littlest ones!
(Ben found a little plum on the ground after a windy night. I later found it stuck down in our garden soil. I believe he was planting it.)

And there are still plenty on the tree!


This was a fun day! The first day we used lettuce from our garden in a salad.

Then there was the day we got Bart.
Bart is yet another attempt to keep birds from the blossoms on our trees. The cd's we hung are great but once we have a cloudy day or the sun starts to go down, they lose their reflective helpfulness and we needed something equally intimidating.
Bart the Owl.
From Home Depot.

See, if I was a bird wanting to grab myself some budding fruit off a tree, I would be like...those blossoms look good! ...but...what is that...?

And I'd look closer and I'd be like...oh man, that is one scaaary lookin owl. I don't know why he cares if I eat these blossoms but I rather prefer to not get him riled up.

And besides that . . . it appears a half-naked child is patrolling the area as well.
I just assume not catch his attention either.

Yep, that's how it'd happen.

Moving on.
A while back we let the kids start their own little seeds in their own little mini-green houses we found at Home Depot. They wanted them so badly and we let them earn them and honestly I figured they would just die anyway.
Not so.
Those seeds did rather well! It got to the point that we needed somewhere to transplant them. JC found the old planters that used to hang in front of the windows on top of our house and decided they were in plenty good condition to re-use as...well, as actual planters!
There was enough to have one per kid, so we got to work on that!
The kids filled their own planters with good soil...

With some help. I can't ever pass up an opportunity to get my hands dirty.

Bethany feels the same way that I do.
This is often the case.
She's her mother's daughter!

They worked hard.

Ben helped with some soil prep.

And at some point along the way, I told JC to have at the project of finding a good shade solution.
Because I was really tired of the shade cage thing. And he had this idea simmering for month and months. But...you know...it wasn't in the books so...I had a hard time...and anyway...I have repented. Because . . .
look:

From pure JC-innovation was born our perfect shade solution.

We tried it out for a week or so.
And it worked. And it was beautiful.
So he made another one.

And it worked. And it was beautiful too.
So he made another one to cover the kids' planters.
And I finally took some pictures of him working.
(And yes, I know his shirt appear very sweet. It is Bethany's favorite shirt because of the love it professes between JC and I. I feel for her the day she looks closer and realizes it actually says, "I LOVE it when MY WIFE lets me go hunting." Yep. I have no comment.)

They just roll on out!

Soon, all was operating under custom amounts of shade every day.
I love that they go down and up so easily! I can determine exactly when and how much sun my plants get and it is wonderful.

It makes for a very happy little garden!

SO, we have spent a whole lot of time working outdoors the past couple of months! It has been really nice and very fulfilling for all of us! The kids are at such a phase where they can either help or occupy themselves (somewhat) happily while we get the stuff done that needs to get done!
It's kind of weird. I don't know what to think about it. But, luckily, I haven't had much opportunity to sit and think about it! It's been so fun to be involved as a family in something great like this.
I'll tell you what though, having one more category of living things to keep alive and thriving can feel a little overwhelming! I make sure to keep priorities in order though...kids have gotten food, water, and attention? Scout has gotten food, water, and the opportunity to shun my attention? Okay, I can give the garden some food, water, and attention.
The good thing about the garden as opposed to the other two categories...it doesn't really leave any sort of mess behind...

Well, anyway, it has been a wonderful time being outdoors among our growing things the last several weeks. I am determined to abandon nothing once we start staying over a hundred degrees but I know it won't be quite so pleasant at that point! We will see!

Oh, and for an update - - we lost some plums and lots of citrus blossoms. Bart needs to up his game. The kids' precious little transplants didn't survive the transfer and I blame myself. We shall get flowers to replace so that James can stop being sad. My lettuce is all going to seed...we planted quite late in the season and it took us a while to get the hang of appropriate watering and (obviously) shade. No carrots came up, very few radishes came up and I squashed some of the ones that did...the shade things are still working great and our tomatoes and cucumbers are FLOURISHING. I love them. Though the cucumbers have some sort of fuzzy fungus-y thing I am trying to figure out. Ugh. Seriously, it's like having more kids. Haha

I still say it's all growin' great though!
(See how I brought back the joke I made earlier?...)

Easter

Two things before I get started in on Easter - -

1. I just tried listening to music to accompany my blogging. I used to do that all the time. Somehow, my style must have changed because, within thirty seconds I had a headache and a complete mental block. ...Easter...? What's Easter...? ...Who are those children in these pictures...?
Then I turned the music off.
And I was fine.

2. My visiting teacher came by late Saturday evening. She held both a hesitant expression and a pint of ice cream. She then began to apologize up and down for not coming to see me this month, repeatedly told me how awful of a person she is, and promised to do better. I, for one, am plenty fine with a visiting teacher who is friendly, supportive, and kind. Whether she sits down in my living room once a month isn't really all that important to me at this point in time. I do enjoy her company though, and think she is a wonderful person so I am always happy to see her. On this particular night, she was so overcome with self-loathing at having "missed another month," I was super thrilled to have information which would soothe her somewhat.
I had been craving ice cream for days.
Not just craving it.
Talking about it, thinking about it, wanting it wanting it wanting it!!!
JC laughed when she handed me the ice cream because he was well aware that what I wanted more than anything that particular evening, and the few before it, was...ice cream.
I told her she was more in tune than she knew.
And it made me feel very little guilt at eating that ice cream.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Ahem....

Anyway, so...yeah, 1) must blog in silence and 2) Jesus thinks it's okay if we have ice cream sometimes. And if we miss a month of visiting teaching.

Moving on to Easter now...
Easter is my favorite holiday...for so many reasons.
Chocolate is involved and yet not even at the top of the list...that is how good this holiday is.

This year, the weeks leading up felt busy. And I had already decided that we were taking a simpler approach to holidays this year, so I didn't fret too much about it all. But then, suddenly, it was here. And besides the Easter Bunny having his act pretty well together, we really were not prepared!
BUT, take a look at the fun we did have...

Thursday night we colored eggs. Sunday morning, church would come early. Saturday, Bethany had fun plans with Grandma Teri and cousins, so Friday was going to be the fun egg hunt! We let the kids know that just like Santa Claus knows if you have been good, the Easter Bunny knows when you are ready for your eggs to be hidden.
We went with the simple approach this year...just bought some egg dye kits at the store. Next year I really want to try making our own dye...but, all in due time.
The kids are growing so much...they were capable of doing most of this on their own, with close supervision, of course!
Steady hands!

They came out very pretty.

James started rebelling against happy faces for pictures again.

Bethany did not!

The stinker even started trying to dodge the camera.

But I could keep up pretty well.

Anyway, once all the eggs were dyed, we showed them how to put their eggs and some empty plastic ones in their very own cartons.

All filled up.
With colored eggs, plastic eggs for the Easter Bunny to fill, and one empty spot we filled with carrot sticks for the big fuzzy guy.
Figured he might need a snack.

Ben counts his.

Then it was time for us to place them in the fridge for the bunny to find.
(Is this normal? I don't remember what we did growing up...why don't I remember??? But I don't think we put them in the fridge...but for some reason that is what we started doing!)

There they are, right near the orange juice, pineapple, and leftover turkey burgers, ready to be found and hid.

That night was another night that I spent sleeping in the boys' room, keeping an eye on James' breathing. It wasn't even six yet when Ben popped out of his bed and threw his face into mine with an excited, "It's Easter time, Mama! It's Easter time!!!" I felt so bad, knowing I was going to need to talk him down a bit and get him to be okay with waiting for a while so we could let James sleep as long as he needed to so he could get better. It must have been the spirit of the holiday or something but he so readily agreed to waiting for James that it was actually rather touching. He graciously set aside his excitement for a couple of hours and then when everyone was up, nothing could have kept any of them inside!

Out the kitchen door onto the balcony, this is what we found...
empty cartons!!!
Where did all those eggs go???

Time to find out.

Yesss.

Requests to wait until we were inside to start opening eggs fell on deaf ears.
Especially once they realized that each of them had one egg that held a whole dollar!

I love this. They're working out their strategy and take a look at our little garden owl...
Green egg.
Right on his head.
Awesome.

Ben got really excited every time he shook an egg that he found and he could hear something moving around inside!

Ah, clever bunny. On the basketball hoop.

There were many to be found!

The kids were so gracious with each other on this morning. Sometimes excitement can kind of send manners and thoughtfulness out the window but this time it did just the opposite!
The boys kept finding each other's eggs. They would just trade like it was nothing and help each other best they could. Bethany was, of course, a huge help too, for her brothers.
I love experiences like that when I can see their relationships building.
(They usually start bickering and/or screaming at each other a few minutes later, but...I will take the good with the bad!)

Searching!
(Look at our neighbors' gorgeous Oleanders)

Bethany got to a certain point where she had found all but one of her eggs. It was the very last egg to be found and we all helped look!

She finally found it by the air conditioner on Daddy's shed.
Waaay up high.
That Easter Bunny asks a lot!

I love how Ben stands watching, scratching his head...
"I'd like to help...but...you've got like, six inches on me, so..."

But, no worries, Bethany was up to the challenge. She went and found the old wrought iron mini garden bench that resides in our backyard.

The previous owners of the house left it here for her when we bought the place. I think it was rather sweet of them.

Little did they know, someday she would reach great heights because of their generosity...

"Are we done? Is it time to go inside and see what we got???"

"Yes."

And they're off!
(This is his superman run, which was only fitting considering his pj's.)

They had so much fun opening their eggs and finding little treats and, of course, their dollars.
We took the dollars to the dollar store later that day and they had so much fun spending them!
When they are going through Easter baskets, it is so funny to notice the dynamics of the room. It alternates between complete silence and random squealing for a solid five minutes or so.

The rest of the weekend was kind of an ordinary one. We did some stuff with the boys while Bethany was out on her girls day. She went to see Cinderella, we visited "The Elk Store" (Sportsman's), and Deseret Book. Can you tell which idea belonged to which parent? :)

Sunday came and we got up and went to church. We did get Bethany an Easter dress, though I managed to not take a single picture! Darn, that really might be the first Easter I didn't take pictures of the kids in their church clothes for Easter! ...May have to do it next week or something...haha who cares if I'm a couple weeks off???
Anyway, the whole day kind of felt a little off for me...I think I struggled with the fact that it was so low key that it felt like a nothing kind of day. Being such a wonderful and important holiday, it just felt sad to me for it to be so plain. I tried to adjust my attitude, and remember that a big celebration or acknowledgment isn't as important as what's in our hearts. So I tried to focus on having gratitude and joy in my heart. I did get to play the organ, which was great. I play every other Sunday and I was so excited that my turn fell on Easter Sunday! I did enjoy that...though two of the three songs I was playing were completely out of control as far as ease at the organ goes (some hymns just are not meant for that instrument, I swear!) and I had to grin and bear my way through them, trying not to be prideful and feel embarrassed at my obvious struggle!!
It was a nice day at church though, bad organ moments and all. :)

After church, we took it easy, had a simple, thrown-together dinner and settled in for three of the Living Scriptures movies that the kids like so much, ones that center around the last week or so of Christ's life on the earth, His death, and resurrection. It was the best part of the day, sitting together as a family, comfortable and happy, our minds on the Savior.
I remember Ben snuggled up next to me at the start of the first movie, made himself into a little ball in the crook of my arm. He was asleep within minutes, so peaceful and darling!
It turned out to be a nice Easter.

Here are some pictures that I took on my phone earlier in the day, during dinner prep. I put in the Reflections of Christ DVD that Grandma Polly gave us a few years back. Their is a slideshow of Mark Mabry's photography put to a beautiful arrangement of "Come Thou Fount" - - one of my (and Bethany's) favorite songs. I snuck in and snapped some pictures of them watching it.

Enthralled.

James...you can barely see him but he is glued to the TV.

As is Bethany.
She reacts so strongly to pictures of Christ. So soft in spirit...I love that about her.

Though it may not have held any momentous celebrations, fancy meals, or grand gestures, it really was a good Easter. In the small things we did that day that mirror most other Sundays, I found a simple truth - - We celebrate Him always. In our hearts, in our conversation, in our very existence. Or at least, we try!
I am reminded of a wonderful scripture...one that's message sat strongly with me this Easter Season.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
-2nd Nephi 25:26

I love it.

The following night, we had dinner with my mom and sister, Laura. My mom had made a pasta dinner with noodles shaped like bunnies and carrots from her garden, "bunny style" (greens still on and all!). So cute. The kids did an egg hunt out back and it was all fun.

Another Easter, come and gone!

Now, if you will excuse me...JC had to run to Walgreens this evening and he brought me back a chocolate bunny.
Gotta love the clearance candy sale!