How does your garden grow?

So I started planting my garden today.

I have two 4' x 4' square raised garden beds. Each of them is divided into 16 squares of 1 square foot each. The idea is to plant a different item in each square foot.


I planted two (2) square feet of lettuce. Lettuce seeds are very tiny, so they are kind of a pain to plant. Here are some.


I put four plants in each square, so I put in eight plants so far. I will plant two more square feet in a couple of weeks. Lettuce is a cool weather plant, and is frost hardy. Last year I started them a little too late. I hope this year to improve my harvest a little.

Here is a picture of my lettuce field. It doesn't look like much right now, but check it out again in 7 - 10 days. We should have little baby lettuce plants by then.

More Baby Food

It was Monday that I first attempted to feed Rachel anything other than formula or cereal. Both Tuesday and Wednesday Jeff was in charge of Rachel's dinner, so you will have to talk to him about any feeding observations he had. Tonight (Thursday) I fed Rachel her dinner again. This time I mixed the squash with cereal. I don't know if that is legal or not, but Rachel did eat it better, although I wouldn't describe her approach as particularly enthusiastic, but it was more successful. She did join the "Clean Plate" club that my parents were so fond of. I'm not sure if I got more food down her outside or her inside, but at least the bowl was empty when I finished.


Back in the olden days, when Rachel just consumed formula, her feeding only took 10 minutes at most. Tonight, however, it took over 40 minutes to finish her dinner.

What a beautiful day.

Today was so beautiful. I woke up this morning at 5:30 because Rachel woke up. That is not really like her, so I won't hold it against her this time. Besides, she went right back to sleep fairly quickly after I gave her a bottle. She is so easy to please. But with the brief interruption in her sleep, it caused her to sleep in later this morning, so she didn't wake up for real until a little after 9:00, so by the time I fed her breakfast, changed her diaper, got some clean clothes on her, it was about 9:40, so I missed my yoga class. No worries, though. I spent that time working in my garden.

I have two 4x4 foot raised beds for my garden. It is a simple little garden, but it is enough for us for now. I broke up the soil, removed the extensive roots that were occupying it, and generally got it ready to plant. As I was working the soil I thought that there must be some really good gospel analogy I could create, but I couldn't think of anything, so your task is to come up with a garden/gospel analogy.

Here is one of the beds BEFORE I prepared it:


Here is one of the beds AFTER I prepared it:



I don't know if you can tell much difference from the pictures, but in real life it looks really nice (if you like the look of soil).

Rachel brought her exersaucer outside and took on the responsibility of being my supervisor. She was firm but fair. What a good boss!

I missed yoga (like I said before) but I did go to my tae kwon do class this evening. Unfortunately I injured my ankle. I'm not sure exactly what happened. It is not a normal injury. It feels kind of like a sprain, but I didn't sprain it. Furthermore it bears my full weight with no problem, but it hurts to point my toe. Anyway, when I came home I put ice on it. I'm sure it will be better soon.

My muscles are so tired. I gave Rachel a bath tonight, and with my tender ankle, a 20 lb. baby, and my shaky leg muscles, I actually had kind of a hard time coming down the stairs. But still it feels good to work out like that.

Look at my sitting up baby . . .

My, what an interesting toy . . .




Woo hoo! Look at me!
I can sit up by myself
Except when I lose my balance. Then I fall down.

Rachel hijacked my blog - she wants to share some thoughts.

Hewwo evybudy, I is Wachel. I has sumpin weal impor'int ta say. Tuhnite fer dinnew, I camed to da tabul ta eat, and wike ahways, Mama gaved me my bottul uh milk. Den she said she had sumpin new fer me ta twy. I seded "otay, wut izzit?" She said, "squash." I never hearded of squash before, but I was willing to gib it a twy. Well, it was not wat I ecspecded. At dis time in my wife, I ar not to shur I wike squash. Izzit jus me? Wut about yuu? Da yuu wike squash?

Mama tookt a moovee ov me ea'in. Ya wanna see it?

Six Month Check-Up

Today Rachel had her six month check-up today. As expected, she is healthy and everything is looking great. For those who participated in the "guess Rachel's weight" competition, you all did TERRIBLE!

Height: 27 1/2 inches (97th percentile)

Weight: 20 lbs 8.5 oz. (>97th percentile)

Yes, she is petite, no doubt.

She had shots today too. She actually did amazingly well. She literally cried for just a few seconds. I learned from Holly to have a bottle ready for her to soothe her after her shots, which I did, but she didn't really need it. What can I say, she's smart, beautiful, and tough as nails!

So tonight we are going to start on veggies. On the menu is squash. Try to not be too jealous, if you are good, maybe you can have some squash tonight too.

The doctor recommended starting with veggies, in reverse alphabetical order (color), so first yellow, then orange, then green. After that we move on to fruits (peaches last due to the fact that they are somewhat more likely to cause allergic reactions). No corn, no berries and no fruit until after we are one year old. So that is the solid food plan. Every day should be a colorful adventure!

Six Months Old

Today Rachel is six months old. Un-believable! We love her so much. She is such a sweet little girl. I can't believe it has already been six months. That's half of a year! She has her doctor's appointment this Monday, so I'll supply her statistics regarding height and weight then. In the meantime, enjoy this little picture of my little sweetie.

Just random stuff

I'm putting this picture up again for two reasons. Reason #1 is that it is so cute I don't want it buried under several other posts. Really everyone should see it. Reason #2 is that Jeff took out her red-eye. He used the Gimp which is kind of like Photoshop, but it's free. (See Jeff's blog for a list of free, very useful programs.)

So how is everybody's bracket coming along? So far I've picked 13 of 16 correctly. That's pretty good, but history says it won't last. I'm notorious for choking down the stretch.

Update on my book project:

I've mentioned that I am writing a book of baby songs. I am finished with the first draft, and it is currently at my editor. (You didn't know I had an editor did you?) Hey Holly, did you know you were my editor?

Now I need pictures to illustrate the book. Below is a list of categories that the pictures should be about:

baby in the morning
baby with mommy
baby with daddy
baby with grandma
baby with grandpa
baby with aunts, uncles and cousins
baby with doggy
baby playing with toys
baby at church
baby taking a nap
baby as princess (girl)
baby as prince (boy)
baby getting a diaper change
baby in the bath
baby getting ready for bed

The size of the photo doesn't really matter. I (or rather Jeff) can always make it meet my specifications. (Right, Jeff?) The only thing is that I would like the pictures to be of babies less than 1 year old. I would like 3 or 4 pictures per category. Thanks for your help.

Here is another cute picture of Rachel with a couple of her friends (two of my piano students).
Anybody besides me ecstatic to see the sun again? I was just about FINISHED with the rain. The Beatles summed up my feelings pretty will with this song:

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

Huckabee Announces Candidacy for American Idol; Vows to Defeat Mormon Finalists

Normally I wouldn't post political things here, but this was too funny:

HOPE, ARKANSAS — Last Thursday night, America chose its top 12 finalists on Fox’s hit show, “American Idol.” On Friday, former presidential candidate and erstwhile Baptist preacher, Mike Huckabee announced he would campaign to win the nation’s biggest singing competition.

Despite the initial shock among the entertainment elite at the politician’s decision, Huckabee has a lot of support among his base of Evangelical Christians. They see two Mormons among the top twelve contestants, and clamor, “Who can stop them?”

“Naturally, I thought of Mike Huckabee,” said one Idol fan from rural Kansas. “He’s the one who can step in and stop these Satan-worshipers from winning and legitimizing their cult….’cause that’s what it is, a cult!”

Many in the Evangelical community revere Mike Huckabee for his surge in the Republican primaries, and credit his “Huckaboom” with derailing the campaign of a Mormon, Mitt Romney.

One supporter added, “If Romney took the White House, it would make his religion look legitimate and everybody would want to join his church, just like how I’m pretty sure lots of people became Methodists after George W. Bush got elected in 2000.”

Huckabee admits he does not know much about singing, but argues he knew nothing about foreign policy, tax policy, immigration policy, or really anything except how to play the bass guitar when he began his campaign for president in 2006.

“I’m sure I’ll learn how as I go along” Huckabee said about the ins and outs of the singing competition, “the important thing is, I need to give the voters a choice. I want them to know I am the Christian Singer running for American Idol, and that they won’t find that in David Archuleta or Brooke White.”

“One more thing: Whenever either of the Mormons in the top twelve tries to out-sing me, by definition, they are engaging in negative singing. I hope voters reject their vicious attacks and vote for me.” Huckabee said.

At the end of the interview, almost as an afterthought, Huckabee asked, innocently, “Hey, don’t Mormons,” he paused, “believe singing brings glory to Satan, whom they worship?”

Update: Since our exclusive interview with Mike Huckabee, his surrogate, Charles “Chuck” Norris, has attacked David Archuleta as “too old” for the job of American Idol. Norris asserts that, based on the way past American Idols have aged under the stress of the prize, the 16 year-old Archuleta would be 84 by the time his first record goes platinum.

Click here for the original.

mmmmmm Waffles

We went to Holly's place last night with Marlene and Gary and made green waffles (in honor of St. Patrick's Day). I have a really nice waffle maker. It makes waffles taste better - really.

Gary was in charge of making strawberry syrup.
Marlene was in charge of buttering the waffles and keeping the endless supply of kids occupied with waffles.
Holly was in charge of eating the waffles.
Oh yeah, she also made whipped cream - that's REAL whipped cream. Cool whip just isn't going to cut it for us connoisseurs. She also supplied the genuine maple syrup. That's the stuff from the trees, not the stuff from Wal Mart.

We learned a game that I can't remember the name of, but even though I never really had any strategy, and everybody was making fun of me, even in my ignorance I won twice. (I also came in dead last once.)

Rachel's job was to be cute as a button, at which she succeeded, as always. This photo is not from last night, but come on, how cute is that? With the bookshelf behind her, I might just use this photo for her application to go to law school. She is very well read.


The entire event was an unqualified success.

My Project

So a week or so ago I began a project writing a book of songs for babies. I have now finished the first draft. I have written a total of 15 songs (14 of which are unique - two of the songs are nearly identical - one for baby girls and one for baby boys).

The next step is pictures. My plan is this, to put pictures of babies doing the things described in the song. I will leave a space blank on the page for the person who owns the book to put in a picture of their own baby doing whatever the song describes. For example, there is a bath-time song. I want three or four pictures of different babies in the bath, and there will be one space for the owner's baby.

So basically I am asking for my friends and family who would like their baby's picture in the book to let me know. I would like for this book to have pictures of babies less than 1 year old. I need the following:

baby in the morning
baby with mommy
baby with daddy
baby with grandma
baby with grandpa
baby with aunts, uncles and cousins
baby with doggy
baby playing with toys
baby at church
baby taking a nap
baby as princess (girl)
baby as prince (boy)
baby getting a diaper change
baby in the bath
baby getting ready for bed

If your baby is now older than one but you want their picture in the book, it is fine for pictures to be older. For that matter if you want your own picture in the book, I'll take it so long as you were less than one when the picture was taken.

Thanks

The Zoo

On Thursday the weather was nice, we had no real plans, so we went to the zoo. Rachel's favorite was the baby Elephant.

The picture is a little bit confusing, because the big elephant is no relation to the baby elephant. You can tell because the big elephant is an asian elephant (note the shape of the ears) and the baby is an african elephant. Still, cute picture.

My favorite was the orangutan. I don't know why, but I have always liked monkeys. When I was (very) little, I thought that people had little monkeys inside of them, and that was how we moved. Turns out that's not true.


We both really liked the tiger. He was a real cutie.

Developing Your Talents - an essay by Rachel

I think it is really important to develop your talents. I mean, it says so in the Bible, right? Well, I have a new talent I would like to share. Rolling over? No, that is so last Monday! This is a little skill I like to call Razzberry Cereal.

You know how to blow a razzberry, right? First you lightly place your lips together, maybe even slightly protrude your tongue for effect, then blow. You should achieve a nice spray of saliva. Go ahead and try it. I think you'll really enjoy it. I know I do.

Add a little cereal, nice, thin, runny cereal, and voilá! If you time it just right you should get a nice spray of cereal, and if you're lucky, maybe you can get it all over the place, especially in Mommy's face. That's really funny! Of course, you can usually expect to get some on your own face too, but the sacrifice is totally worth it.

Rachel is rolling over - and it's not just a mistake anymore!

Well, it has happened. Rachel is finally rolling over consistently. She had done it in the past, but it was very unpredictable. Now it is for real. She starts on her belly thus -

Next she holds this position for a while -

Finally, with a little twist of the hips she is on her back -

Frankly I have mixed feelings about all this. I have greatly enjoyed her immobility, but it is also fun to see her achieve these milestones. Yesterday she rolled over from her back to her belly. My baby is growing up. Before you know it she will be graduating from high school. (The horror!) Rachel is definitely enjoying her new skill.

Here is the whole thing in real time. My narration is for the unique purpose of encouraging Rachel. I would like you to turn down your volume because I sound like an idiot!

A New Project

When I took Rachel to the doctor for her very first check-up at the ripe old age of 10 days old, the doctor told me to sing to her. That advice was also echoed in the pages of my bible on how to take care of a baby (a.k.a What To Expect the First Year). In my attempt to be the best Mommy since my own Mommy did such a brilliant job of raising me, I sing to Rachel a lot.

Yesterday when I was giving Rachel her bath, I was singing to her, making up a song about bath-time. I kind of liked it, so I went to my computer afterwards and wrote it down. Then I started thinking about other songs, and I decided to make a book of songs I had written about being a baby. First I had to write the songs, though, so yesterday and today so far I have written seven songs, with many more on the way. These songs are not exactly masterworks, but hey, Rachel likes them, and who would know better than a five and a half month old baby about the quality of baby-related songs? Hmm?

I plan to publish it, though I still have to learn how to go about doing that. So wish me luck, and please nobody steal my idea!

More Snowy Fun

We got quite a lot of snow. I'd say it was about a foot. That may not be so much for the mountain dwellers, but in these parts that makes for a pretty good storm. Jeff cleaned off my car, but left a pillar of snow to see just how much we got. We put Rachel next to it to give some sense of proportion.

Rachel was feeling quite creative in the snow, and made a snow baby. Here she is displaying her artwork.
Scout got into the action a little bit too. He briefly escaped the confines of the yard, and when he was running back through the deep snow we got a bit of a chuckle. We recreated the moment in the back yard by playing a little fetch with him. He really likes the snow a lot!


I wish it were Christmas again.

It's still snowing.

On days like this I like to think aboutand thisor maybe thisWhile my real life isand this

Finally - a good snow storm, bad timing.

So far all winter long Jeff has lamented the lack of snow. We have had ice storms, and even the one time when a decent amount of snow fell we had sleet afterwards which left a thick sheet of ice on top of the snow. It was okay, but not exactly my favorite. Well, today it is really snowing. It looks llike we will get a decent amount, too. I don't love the timing. I am supposed to go out of town tomorrow (Saturday), and I don't relish driving on slick roads.

Rachel has started reaching for me when I reach for her. It is so sweet. In fact, when she is on her back she reaches for me with her hands and her feet. It makes me feel very loved.

So this morning when I was feeding Rachel her breakfast I made up this little song. It is a pretty snazzy song. Don't be surprised if you hear it on American Idol next season. Of course the lyrics are pretty specific. It only works at mealtime in the winter (specifically when there is snow outside). I think that the impressive quality of the tune compensates for the limited appeal of the lyrics, though. I officially give my permission for you to use the song, as long as it is not-for-profit.

Rachel is getting to be such a big girl. We love her so much. Here are some recent pictures:

What I Am Grateful For

I am grateful for my sweet family. I am grateful for Jeff, my supportive, loving husband. I am grateful for Rachel, my beautiful, cuddly, precious baby girl. Rachel has brought me more joy that I thought I could ever experience. I am grateful for my parents who taught me, and helped me become the person I am today. I am grateful to my brothers and sisters who love me.

I am grateful for the gospel. I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for a living prophet who teaches us and reminds us what we should be doing. I am grateful for the temple where we can go regularly to get away from the cares of the world and commune with the Spirit. I am grateful for the eternal nature of the family.

I am grateful for music. I am grateful for the gifted composers who create beauty for my ears. I am grateful for gifted musicians who express beautiful music. I am grateful for harmony that makes me feel great (all tingly inside)!

I am grateful for Anna. She is my dear friend who gave me the greatest gift out of selfless love.

I am grateful for my temporal blessings. I am grateful for my home. I am grateful for my husband's job that supports our family. I am grateful for the food on our table (too bad I don't cook it better).

I am grateful for friends. As my family lives far away, I am grateful for friends who become my surrogate family, who are there for me when I am in need.

I am grateful for my health.

I am grateful for my dog, Scout. He is such a little sweetie. He never poops in the house anymore, and he is getting better about his barking.

I am very content.


Remember how little Rachel used to be?

Haircut

Today Scout got a haircut. I was going to try to wait until the weather was consistently warmer, but he had so many mats in his hair at his collar that I just couldn't wait any longer. I was trying to brush them out, but it was not happening.

This is Scout "before": I think he is so cute with his curls and shaggy look. Some people even (mistakenly) thought he was getting fat. But with warm weather coming, not to mention the matted hair at his collar, a new look was necessary.

Unfortunately, for about a month, Scout looks like a scrawny, geeky little nerd with his haircut. Fortunately his personality stays as sweet as ever. Here is his "after" picture:
It's hard to believe it is the same dog. But it is! You can't really tell from that picture, but he sure looks scrawny after a haircut!

New LDS Web Site

Just in case you hadn't heard yet, the LDS Church has created a new web site dedicated completely to Jesus Christ. The address is JesusChrist.lds.org. You can also link to it from lds.org. It is very well done (of course), very user friendly, and most importantly, it focuses on the most important aspect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Savior. If you haven't had the chance to see it, I encourage you to check it out.