Cool.

So, I'm passing out Fun Dip to my kids and nieces tonight, totally sure this cements my "coolest aunt" status. To prove my point, I ask Cumorah, "Who's your favorite aunt?"

"Aunt Crystal."

Guess I was wrong.

Pearl and Makayla

This is Pearl and her mostest bestest friend Makayla. They were being sillies after their school play (I'll spare you the video... Pearl was a narrator, so she had a big part and she did a REALLY good job...). It seems that they get closer and closer as they get older. They constantly remind us that they NEVER get to see enough of each other (as if daily at school and weekly at church and girl scouts and at least 3 times a month playdate isn't enough) and that they are practically sisters.

I'm glad she has such a good friend. And that they are such good girls. We hope the Larsens never leave!!!!

Max's new love...

I am feeling major guilt tonight. It's because of you, Lora. You really look at my blog every day? I guess I should be posting more frequently...

Max has a new love... and it is watermelon.

He does an amazing job considering he only has two teeth on the bottom.
I think his favorite part is that he gets a big person chunk to chew on. Yup. He's one of the big people now!
Ahh, sweet watermelon!

Maxi

Max learned to talk this week. It started out as just bu bu bu but he's moved on to gee gee gee. I'm pretty sure he must be a genius.

My Max - Nine months!

I did it, I officially took his 9 month pictures. It happened after bath time at grandma's house, so no cute outfit, but at least he's clean!

He opens his mouth SO WIDE when he's happy, and just about every other time too. I think he's hoping something good will fall into it.
Thinking face...
Showing off his two teeth - he can do amazing things with these teeth... including In-N-Out burgers!
He's just starting to be interested in standing, with support, of course.
And, as of this photo shoot, he has scooted backwards a little bit. Well, gotta start somewhere!
Love you baby boy!

Garden

It started in February. The looking and poring over the seed catalog. The big tractors bringing dirt in from the fields. The planting of the seedlings, hoping that somehow, that would ensure that the garden would actually get finished this year...

The very expensive perfectly lovely and slightly stinky dirt that has been sitting in my parking spot for two weeks...
and here we are! Three of 9 beds finished! I'm hoping the fence gets finished soon and that we can save the very steep slope for next year... I'm already tired!
Aren't they lovely? The indigenous dirt is RED CLAY, as in, get it wet, and it's practically playdoh that takes forever to drain. Not so great for planting. We had invested lots of time and effort and rototilling into a 20 by 30 foot somewhat flat spot that after about 4 years of soil additions was showing promise. But, when the decision was made to totally revamp the space between Grandma and Grandpa Hulbert's house and ours, it was time for raised beds.

So, I did the math, toddled off to Home Depot, ordered bricks and had dirt delivered and filled Jared's camel back and sent him outside to work. I did help build the walls up quite a bit, but he did all the hard parts like the corners and making sure the bottom layer was level.
They are awesomely high (because of the slope, one side is higher than the other) and Jared has plans for water to each bed and power to put the drip systems on timers, a separate amount for each bed if I want. Isn't he smart? Once all the beds are done, he'll hook the water up and we will spread all of the walkways with rock, so it will be dust free in the summer and you won't sink in the winter. There is a big path down the middle for tractor access, if we ever need to dump more dirt or rock or whatever.
Yesterday I got to plant two beds!!!! In the first went potatoes (I think it's late for potatoes, we'll see how it goes...) and marigolds (above), sage, and nasturtium for bug control.
In the second went peas, the lettuce transplants (and some more seed), sage, cilantro, marigolds, edamame, carrots, radishes, and two kinds of beets. (the milk jugs are to protect them from the deer until the fence gets up. Hopefully the fence will beat the rest of the seedlings!)
I've been meaning to take pictures for days, Max woke up at 6 so I snuck out to get some in the good morning light. These two pictures turned out so beautiful, and it's appropriate because that's how I see my garden. I don't see dirt and trash from all of our work, I see a beautiful place full of plants and fresh produce.
Thank you Jared, for working so hard! It is and will be BEAUTIFUL!!!

Stuff.

1. Max is 9 months old now... I'm going to try to take pictures tomorrow. Let it suffice to say that he has stolen my heart and adds light to my life.

2. I gave Max some birthday cake tonight. Not just any birthday cake... rainbow cake with so much dye I'm surprised all of our teeth weren't green. He highly approved. This makes me feel slightly guilty, I NEVER would have fed Pearl frosting at 9 months! I guess this just makes me Worst Mom of the Year (or Best, if you look at it from Max's point of view).

3. I planted potatoes today. Purple ones. I feel like a real farmer. I also planted beets, but first I had to ask Sherry if we like beets. I think I've only had canned ones, fresh ones should be much better, right?

4. My amazing studly husband put in an 11 hour day in the garden. We are up to a total of 3 filled beds. Unfortunately, we have no fence yet so anything I put in would end up as a deer buffet, so today I mostly planted seeds (hope the fence will be up by the time they sprout...)

5. I made lasagna for a women's shelter with 20 7 year old brownie girl scouts this week. I think that makes up for feeding Max cake.

6. Last night I made a stir fry from the bok choi I had planted in my window boxes. Talk about feeing like a super homemaker! Don't worry, it didn't last. I'm pretty sure my sink is dirty right now.

7. Went to lunch with Jared and the boys on Friday. I love watching Jared with his boys. Those are my men (big and small). Max ate 1/5 of a cheeseburger and fries. Did I mention he only has two teeth? Not sure how he's doing it...

8. I bought Oreos because Sam asked for them in the grocery store. Sucker. Why does he have to be so dang cute!

9. In one day I made 5 pounds of meat worth of meatballs and 2 full flats (3 gallons pureed) of strawberry jam. I was tired after that.

I think that's it. I'll try to get pictures up next time:)