This week's happy thoughts

After a week of diligently watering dirt....we have some proof of life appearing. WAHOO! You don't know how many times I have told Rachel "I am sooooo happy that our grass is growing! and our flowers are sprouting!"

(this one is of Rachel's carrots)

(I thought this tomato plant wasn't going to make it...but it pulled through and now has about 5 tomatoes starting to grow)


It's hard to tell, but I made a little pathway around in a circle in the front yard. The big flat yard yard full of dirt was driving me nuts! Not sure how, but this makes me feel much better. We planted wildflowers and sunflowers all around the outside edge, and then pumpkins and water melon and dwarf sunflowers are in the middle. Then on the side yard we planted corn, beans, squash, cucumbers and a cantalope. All the food should be ready for a labor day BBQ--maybe for once we will have something appealing about Chinle to lure our families out for a visit :-)

And--there is this adorable grocery list that Rachel wrote. When she saw I was starting to write a list she begged if she could write it for me. So I recited the items while she wrote. She got invited to a friend's house so I went to the store by myself, and what do I see snuck on the bottom of the list...so cute! I wish there was a puppy or a kitten store here in chinle, or even a little cardboard box in front of the grocery store that said "free kittens" and i was actually able to bring one home and suprise her. She plays with her stuffed kittens, dogs, and sheep all day long.

I may have found a puppy to dog sit this week and if it works out I am sure it will be the highlight of her summer.

Lastly--It is finally July...(well almost) which means I get to go to Boston soon! I am so excited that I have been having dreams about my friends there. Last night I had this dream that I got to Boston and Jamie's twins were 15 months old. I didn't understand, because I had mailed ehr premie clothes just a few months ago. She said she had just gotten around to posting all of the baby pictures but duh-they were born over a year ago. I felt that the blog that was supposed to keep me up to date with my friends had failed me..talk about a nightmare! lol!

I fly into Boston on Tuesday July 21st in the evening (so I will be ready to party first thing Wednesday morning) :-) Then we leave in the morning on the 28th. Let me in on what is going on that I shouldn't miss. My plan is to hang out with friends and pretend that I live in the same city as them again. good times :-)

An official gardener

Now that I have an official garden I think I can now call myself a gardener. Or maybe I have to wait and see if any of the plants turn into anything. :-) We spent all afternoon starting our garden. The circle in the middle has grass seed and all around that is flowers. I was glad we had a couple flowers already in bloom to plant, because it will be a while before anything else looks remotely like a flower.

For now-This may be what everyone else sees...

But this is what I see :-) These are all the flowers that I planted...hopefully they will actually sprout.

By the way, the weeds I planted a while back -didn't make it. Eh-it was worth a shot.

Pictures from Vacation

Victoria, British Columbia

Whale Watching-this is the best picture I have, and it is zoomed in about 150%

Bellevue & Seattle, Washington

The infamous lemonade stand.

Sam's brother's house, where we all stayed.

Kids playing at Lake Sammamish.

A park near their house, and a trail that is connected to all of the neighborhood parks.

World's Longest game of Hearts (2 hours on the grass in front of the legislative building in canada, 3 hour ferry ride, and a couple hours on the last night of the trip).

Back from family vacation

Last week we were in Bellevue (near Seattle) for a vacation with Sam's family. Pictures to come but here are the highlights:

• Arrived in Seattle on Saturday -went golfing, and hit a tree on almost every hole-nice!
• Monday-took a ferry to canada -just because we could (we just got our passports since we had planned on going on a cruise where they were required)
• Got delayed through customs...no doubt it was because of Sam's beard
• Went Whale Watching, it was okay--decided I should have just went to Sea World because I had images of the Whales doing flips in my mind and they barely grazed the surface
• Ate a variety of food: sushi, greek,
• Toured Buschardt Gardens (if I could get 100 sq feet to look like any part of the flower filled 50 acres I would be happy)
• Played on the beach of Sammamish Lake (to justify the purchase of the 3 swimsuits I had bought for the cruise, and all of the hours I spent tanning)
• Watched a talent show from our very own self-proclaimed "Dancers of Joy" and was suprised to see the dads all join in when requested by the dancers
• When to Pike Place Market
• Went to the Space needle
• Played many games of Nerts, Acquire, and Hearts
• Went on a hike to a waterfall (with insider information about a short cut that made the hike with 5 kids a pleasant experience)
• Let the cousins have a Juice Stand at a park, (with a little help) they sold peach juice (because the glass lemonade jar was dropped while getting out of the car)

At a park, undercover, paying people to buy lemonade from rach and her cousins :)