Garden goodies

We are not super gardeners or anything, but we do like trying to grow a garden and get some fresh produce. And doesn't it always taste better when you know you grew it? I am no "foodie" but I do like things that taste good, and we did make some delicious food with what we grew. We tried cucumbers this year, and boy the plants went crazy. I don't really like cucumbers, but we wanted to make pickles, so we tried it out. Well....those weren't the best, but not too bad for the first try. The dill pickles came out a little less crunchy than we would have liked, but taste good. Then Joe tried to make whole bread and butter pickles, which didn't work out so well. The sliced bread and butter came out good, but I guess all that sugar is not meant for whole pickles. Oh well.

But what did come out delicious, were things we made with the fresh tomatoes and basil. With the basil, we made my brother Josh's sausage and pink sauce pasta, with lots of basil. Yummy. Also made some pesto which turned out good. Next the tomatoes. First up, homemade tomato soup. Have you ever tried making your own tomato soup? We use a recipe by Emeril, and it is scrumptious. (here's the link http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/tomato-soup-with-baby-grilled-cheese-sandwiches-recipe/index.html) As Joe put it, "How can Campbell's tomato soup and this even be called the same thing?" I highly recommend it. Next, spaghetti sauce. While my mom and dad were here, I got my mom to help me make sauce from the tomatoes we had picked and were saving until she got here. Add some fresh basil and parsley, and a few other things, and it is awesome. I am only sorry it didn't make more. And last, but not least, Three Cheese Tomato Basil Pizza. My own creation, it goes like this: pizza crust, a little bit of sauce, fresh sliced tomatoes, lay on some fresh basil leaves, slices of mozzarella cheese, crumbled feta cheese sprinkled over, and a little bit of smoked gouda layed on top. Bake it and eat it up! Delish!

So the garden was pretty good this year, I am just sorry I couldn't get my green beans to grow. I planted them twice, but they just didn't survive the heavy rain I guess. Try again next year. What do you all have success growing?

One year later

Happy birthday to Alice! I can't believe she is one already. She is a lot of fun and it has been a good year. Here is the birthday girl:

Also, Simon started pre-school this week. Here he is ready for his first day. His teacher, Miss Stacey, seems like a lot of fun. So far, he has come home each day exhausted! He gets to ride the bus to school, then I pick him up when he is done. He is getting to be such a big boy!

The other day, Alice woke up with bed-head. She actually has enough hair, so I had to capture the evidence.

And arguably the best part of summer:

That's right. Peaches. This is a peach glacee pie I made. Delicious!

Making things better

What would summer be without home improvement projects? We have made the most of the last two weeks getting as much done as we can. Earlier in the summer we made a gate in the fence. Last week I painted the bathroom (nothing special just a fresh coat of paint.) Joe fixed the outside spigot, which was in need of repair, and together we painted the fireplace. I have not like the fireplace since we moved in, but we finally did something about it. I like how it turned out. You can't see the whole room, but I think it goes well with red curtains and the area rug we have. It is hard to see in the picture, but before it was white with an ugly faux marbeling thing. Here is before and after:

Here is Alice after she crawled into the fireplace and ended up black all over:

And here are a couple pictures of the boys at swimming lessons. They both had a good time. Simon didn't want to go under water when he started, but by the end, he became a little fish.

I can't believe summer is over already! It will be good for Eli to get back to school (can't believe he is in 2nd grade!) and I am sure Simon will love preschool. What will I do with just Alice for half the day Monday thru Thursday? Hopefully get tons of stuff done!

Summer Fun

The boys were in baseball/T-ball this summer. Eli really wanted to do it, and Simon has loved baseball since before he could say baseball, we don't even know why or where he got that love. Simon did a lot better with t-ball than soccer. He happened to have the same coach, so that was fun. His team was made up of 3 Brooklyns, 2 Bodies, 2 Rileys, an Oden, and 7 other 3- to 4-year olds. I thought it was funny that there could be so many kids with the same names in our small town of Fort Morgan! We ended up at the ball fields 4 nights out of the week between practices and games, so I was somewhat relieved when it was over. Here are some pictures:

They both spent a fair amount of time playing in the dirt, such boys. We were out of town the day they handed out shirts, so Simon's shirt was more like a dress when they found him one.

My sister's husband Daniel built a flat-bottomed canoe. We loaned him our van with racks on top to take it to the resevoir to try it out. We went along. Some people didn't think it would float, but it actually worked quite well, and we all got rides. It was a fun day at the water. All our kids like the water and playing in the sand. Now we just have to convince our husbands to find jobs near the ocean so we can move there and see it more than once every few years!

I thought Cayde looked so cute in his life vest. The boys were very good and all stayed in the boat, although every time they reached over to feel the water, I was sure the whole thing would tip.

There are no aliens in the cave

I forgot to put this in my post about our family reunion, and it was too funny not to share. As we were standing at the mouth of the cave, the guide mentioned bats being in the cave, which turned Eli into a wimpering mess. He hid his face my sister's side and didn't want to go in. We drug him in anyway. However, it was Simon that was really funny. He started throwing a fit when we were supposed to go inside. My dad was holding him, and he started kicking and saying "Let me down, let me down!" We kept telling him it would be fine and fun. As we got into the cave, he started talking about aliens. He asked us if there were aliens in the cave. We said no. Simon- "There are no aliens in the cave?" Me- "Nope, no aliens." My dad - "You don't have to worry about aliens because we have Uncle Evan." We had to repeat this conversation throughout the entire cave tour. I have no idea where he got the idea there might be aliens in the cave, but who knows how a 3-year old's mind works. Eli, we had to convince that the bats were "rock bats" or rocks that just looked like bats. Actually we did see a couple, but I guess he missed them, thank goodness. Don't know why he is so terrified of bats, or why Simon thought there would be aliens. Gotta love my funny boys.

Family Love

Is it the 4th of July already! Happy Independence Day! June flew by with vacation, closely followed by a trip to Bear Lake in Utah for a double family reunion. The Mecham's came for the first half of the week, then followed by the Marlers for the second half. We rented a lovely house in Garden City, UT with a fantastic view that we all shared. Good thing it was big because while the Marlers were there we had 26 bodies in the house! Here are some pictures from it all:

The Mechams went to the Minnetonka Cave. Here is Alice all bundled up, it was only 40 degrees in the cave!

We went to the beach with both families. With the Mechams, the water was barely 60 degrees, so we mostly played on the beach. A couple of days later, and it was much warmer and the kids were like fish!

We found a real shave ice stand, authentic Hawaii-style! It was so yummy and sure made us miss it!

A historic picture--all the Marler cousins together! And here are the 5 of the Marler brothers with their dad.

After a long drive home, we were greeted by a very cool rainbow. We could see the whole thing from end to end. Joe took this fun picture of Eli (who had a birthday and is now 7!).

Vacation

Has it really been that long since I posted? Well I suppose it has seeing how we went on vacation just after my last post. We spent 10 days back east visiting my parents and oldest brother and his family in Virginia, just outside Washington DC. It was a lot of fun and we did great stuff. We saw a lot of the museums and monuments in DC, and we took a weekend trip to New Jersey to see some of the areas Joe served in when he was a missionary. It was pretty awesome. So here are some pictures of our adventures.
The Washington DC Temple is so beautiful! We had the opportunity to do an endowment session with my brother Josh and his wife Erin. It is huge inside!

We went on a tour of the Capitol building.

The Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial (my favorite)

Mr. Lincoln
Simon loved the Smithsonian Air and Space museum

The Natural History Musuem had a butterfly pavilion which was free on Tuesdays, so we got to go and see really cool butterflies.

Alice and I visiting Julia Child's kitchen


We went to Mount Vernon (George Washington's home)

Here is Joe and the kids with Josh and cousin Andrew

Alice with Auntie Erin outside the Torpedo Factory (now functioning as an artist co-op) in Old Town Alexandria. Lots of cool houses in Old Town.


Grandmama and Eli with the Park Place sign in Atlantic City New Jersey. We went along the boardwalk and saw the famous streets and signs from Monopoly.
We also went to the beach in Ocean city and enjoyed playing in the sand. The water was frigid, but Alice had fun on her first trip to the beach.


This is Lucy the elephant in Margate, outside Atlantic city. She is really big!This is the view from the ferris wheel we rode on the Ocean City boardwalk.

I have a few more pictures to download from Joe's camera that I will have to post sometime (hopefully sooner than later). We really had a fabulous time. I loved how green it was, trees everywhere! I felt like I was in a forest all the time, even driving down a main road. Maybe we could bring some of those trees out here to the plains. Of course that is why they are the plains right? Well I don't think Joe or I want to live on the plains forever.

Last week I turned 30. It was all very low key, seeing how we just got back from our trip, so it just kind of came and went. I don't really feel different, but it is a little strange to think I am past my 20s. Where does all the time go? Eli's birthday is this Friday and I keep thinking to myself, "How do I have a 7 year old?" but I do. I am glad we have cameras to help us remember it all.

We are headed to Bear Lake in Utah for a family reunion next week. We will get to see extended family from my side and Joe's side. We get to see them all in the same week. It should be a good time.