Gardening

      Typing that word makes me so happy!! We have a little garden plot in our back yard and Grace and I spent a couple hours yesterday clearing away last years leftovers and weeds so we could begin on this years!!! I hope I don't neglect it too much, and that things grow! I LOVE working outside and working with my hands. I have always been a very hands on learner and my Dad taught me very young that there is something special about working in and with nature that you don't get sitting at a desk going through paper work.

Yesterday was the first REALLY beautiful day I have enjoyed in Twin Falls and Grace and I though-ally enjoyed it. We started the day at a play group with friends and then had some of those friends come over for lunch and playing in the back yard. I failed to get pictures...again...I'll get you next time Diana! ;) But it really helped to brighten my day! After they left Grace must have put her head down on something int he yard she is allergic to, and making a short story shorter she went down for a nap with some Benadryl. THEN instead of doing homework like I should have I called a home school holiday and laid out on the trampoline soaking up the sunshine and talking to my sister Amber on the phone. It was SO awesome to just watch the birds in the sky and feel actual WARMTH from the sun! I don't think I have taken the time to just be still and sit outside in a few years. College life and friends, school, dating etc. seems to take your focus to everything complicated and make you forget everything profound and simple. God's world is so healing it just makes me wonder why I don't enjoy every day that way. Well, I know why I don't it's called school and dishes for me, BUT I was grateful for the chance I had. 

After Gracie woke up I cancelled making dinner (I was on a very irresponsible streak you see) and we went and cleared the garden! Grace tried eating dirt and rocks for the first time, and in-between saying, "that doesn't go in your mouth!" I pulled weeds and raked and cleared away old plants etc. IT WAS SO FUN! I loved watching her first experience with mounds of dirt and shovel. She was so inquisitive about every tiny leaf, plant etc. there is nothing like watching a child's mind turn. Then Craig came home with a garden claw and tilled the whole thing up for me still in his work clothes. lol I have a great husband. 

I then FINALLY thought to take pictures of our day.

Trying to push the wheelbarrow

I changed into grubby clothes and then wished I'd changed Grace the rest of the evening. :( Oh well, since today is laundry day I guess we get to find out how well they clean. 

See that lovely brown around the mouth? It isn't chocolate...

Garden plot all cleared away. Just waiting to be tilled up!

She ate a whole handful of dirt and then decided it was yucky and immediately asked for a drink. lol

yummy water when you're thirsty. 

Husband to the rescue! He was so excited about using the garden claw he bought that he wasn't concerned about no dinner. Phew! lol

Cheeser

 Craig has a work ID that attaches to his belt. It is tied to a little snap back mechanism so he can pull it out and swipe it at work and then just let go and have it go right back where it was. That was a lousy description but think of a measuring tape and you'll get the idea. Anyways, Grace LOVES pulling on it and then watching it zip back in place lol. She was pulling it back and then clapping and giggling for herself while he was trying to work it was very cute.

We so enjoy watching the sun go down here. Utah mountains, as beautiful as they are definitely rob you of  the sun going up and down and that is one thing I sure love having here!

I promise that someday I will post a picture of myself that isn't nasty, in a Utah State shirt with pony tail hair, but for some reason my happiest moments as of late seem to be more of the t-shirt and jeans kind. 

 Here is wishing you a fabulous day filled with sunshine!

Random Pictures

I took a bunch of pictures from our trip and as they don't fit in any one post I thought I'd compile them into a random one. 

The last couple days of our trip everything was about being outside and playing with my parents dog Mitzi as far as Ms. Grace was concerned.

Attempting to run after Mitzi

Love this one! Grace loooved playing with cousin Ethne the last few days as well.

The week before our trip she found that purple dress and carried it around for 2 days. lol

Driving to Utah. Does she have it made, or what?

Driving to Utah

Grandpa showing cartoons to his grandkids

Grandpa and then from top is Olivia and Grace and Dexter. Olivia refused to do anything but a silly face. Goof!

Neilson

Camilla playing with her new Camera

Camilla

Ms. Gracie Lou

Silly Boys

I was at my parents house the last couple of weeks (the next 3 posts are about the trip) and my little brother Neil found this watermelon car air freshener. We have no idea who this thing belonged to but basically, he loved the smell of it, and I thought it was terrible and told him so. It smells like cheap bubble gum to me. Like the zebra stripe kind with the little tattoo wrappers we are all ashamed to admit we loved as a kid?! Yea, like that. Anyways, I'll let that thought marinade for a minute and tell you a few other things. Neil and I have been playing jokes on each other basically since he was born. Which means I was probably playing jokes on him in his infancy and now it has come back to haunt me as he is suddenly 6ft. tall and high school aged, nuff said. I also have 2 nephews, Enoch and Ezra who think that anything Neil does is the greatest (a sentiment shared by all my nieces and nephews I think) and who are more than happy to help him out when the opportunity arises. So this past week I've lost my phone half a dozen times and each time I was pretty sure I had JUST had it. A couple times I asked my nephews if they had seen it and they kind of half smiled but insisted they had not. I asked Neilson too and all he could tell me was that he'd noticed I'd been losing it a lot and that I should really start keeping track of my things. Anyways, then right as I was packing everything up to leave yesterday it went missing AGAIN. This time i just knew that I had had it not 5 minutes before so I looked up at all 3 boys sitting on the couch and said, "alright, where is my phone!" They all looked at me completely stone blank and swore up and down they had no idea. A minute later as I am searching everywhere I hear it beep really close to me (It doesn't ring when people call it just gives periodic beeps). I searched everywhere. It would beep but it isn't a continual noise so I didn't know if I was crazy or what, but I could not find the thing anywhere! Pretty soon all three boys are cracking a smile and then giggling and eventually rolling with laughter as I narrowed my search down to a small pile of books and then went through these books over and over again more and more confused!!!
Turns out Neil had gotten an old book and hollowed the middle of the pages out(yea, for reals) and my cell phone was inside. I was going through the same books over and over again but for some reason hadn't imagined it could be INSIDE ONE OF THEM! BLEH! They got me! Here are a few pictures of the culprits. Sure love them!

Are they trouble, or what?!

Oh, and still wondering where the gum fits in? I opened my suitcase when I got home and was suddenly enveloped by a huge waft of that horrible smell. My husband comes running in wondering what I'm sputtering about. I think it was a mix of laughter and "I hate Neil!" I haven't decided what my revenge will be, but they'd better watch their backs. ;) And in the meantime I'd better get started rewashing everything that was in there.  

Camilla

My little sister Camilla has made the decision to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we are all so excited for her! She was called to the San Diego California mission.  On a more selfish note, I will miss her terribly.
Camilla is one of those wonderful people that you secretly wish you could be like. It's not so much that she's read more, done more, and seen more, but it's more that she seems to know how to squeeze every bit of knowledge and goodness out of every book she's read, and get more experiences and wisdom out of the life she's lived and out of every place that she's been. You sort of just watch her speak and try not to feel too ordinary while you listen. lol That only sounds silly if you haven't met her I promise.
Anyways, here are a few pictures I captured from last week, featuring the main reason of our visit to Utah.

The whole gang at the setting apart of our missionary.

Ashley (sister) Ezra(nephew) and Neil (brother) waiting for the  setting apart.

Lacy(Sister-in-law) David(Brother. And the husband of sister-in-law) Enoch(nephew) Camilla(featured attraction) Ethne(Niece) Lengel (Mom, Grandmommy, women extraordinaire) David (Dad, Grandaddy, Man extraordinaire) 

Milla with her brothers

Milla and I

C and Mom

C and Dad

C and Sister Ashley

Riding in the car with Cousin Dexter

Ready for the Setting apart. She was still not feeling 100% as you can tell.

Well Camilla, we love you, we miss you and we will see you in 18 months!

  

Sick Babies

I am looking through old posts I've put up and I have to say that my first thought is, "where did my happy little girl go!" Our trip to Utah started out with a rather unpleasant bang, as Gracie came down with the worst stomach flu I have ever personally witnessed. She threw up EVERYTHING for 5 consecutive days and I started to take her to the hospital a half dozen times before it was all over. We had so many long difficult days with even tougher nights that as I am writing this I am realizing it is better that I remember that it is over now, and that we had wonderful help in the way of my wonderful family. "Gandmomom" was Grace's favorite person through all of this. Let me rephrase that. Grandmomom was the ONLY person Grace wanted besides me for almost 2 weeks. My other family were all so understanding and helpful with her being sick as well and I am so so so grateful for them, I really hope they realize that! After the throwing up subsided the fever persisted for 3 or 4 days and we had almost 2 weeks of a very very sad sad baby. No planned trips to the zoo with friends and family, no walks and picnics, we really did almost NOTHING that we had gone on the trip to do. I almost missed my little sisters farewell talk that we had gone to hear, (Another post about that later, I have fabulous sisters) but Craig was luckily there and was willing to stay home with the babe while I snuck in to hear her speak at church Sunday. Craig. I have to take a moment to talk about my poor husband. Now for most of you Mom's you are probably thinking, "psh I've been through way worse, this girl is such an amateur" but this was the first time I have had my daughter very seriously ill, and I say that because I really feel like if it hadn't been for a priesthood blessing (and every homeopathic medicine under the sun) I really think that Grace and I would have spent some extensive time in the hospital with an IV in her tiny little arm. As it was she has definitely lost weight and is just not her happy sunny little self still. Ok, back to Craig. So imagine me going through this, and then imagine being a first time Dad and having to LEAVE and go back home to provide for your family when your little baby is a million miles away somewhere very sick. Craig walked out the door after I jokingly assured him all was well (It was one of those moments where you scream inside dramatically "don't go!!!" and outwardly say, "Psh, we got this! I love you, now goodbye!") and then I watched him peak anxiously back into the house 3 times before he finally took off. He doesn't have phone service where he works (we ARE getting new phones asap people I promise) but he called every day on his way home asking if she was ok, and I could tell by his not so steady voice that several times he was about to lose it. He was SO worried and as hard as it can be to comfort and sooth sick babies, I wouldn't have traded places with him, or been anywhere else, for the world. Having said all of that, I did have some wonderful experiences the last few days that I will share in another post. Grace IS getting better, slept through the night last night, and although her appetite is still small enough that I know we are not quite there yet, every day is a little better. It is hard to go through very humbling experiences unchanged, and I hope that I will always remember how precious and fragile life is, how wonderful my earthly support system is, and how incredible it is to have a family for eternity. Thinking about getting married and being hugely nervous and excited but mostly a bundle of nerves (I don't do changes well, especially big ones) and then thinking about my little family now, it is crazy to ever think I thought life on my own might be "a better idea".
Here are a few pictures from it all. I didn't take many in the beginning (just the picture from the top) but here are a few more from when she had a little food in her system and was feeling a little better.

Fevers = lots of cuddle time at least, right?

After a few days she asked me several times for "Dada". This  is her getting to talk to him on the phone.

The three of us played the piano quite a bit together. Not sure why Ethne girl is frowning she was perfectly happy before the camera. lol