Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

This family was in our ward when we moved in. We weren't here when the accident happened, but Sam, the youngest boy was in our primary class. Chris remarried my cousins really good friend who lost her husband to brain cancer. She had two kids and then she and Chris had a little girl together. Happy ending to a real tragedy. Great video and amazing people. Also when Chris is walking down the street (at minute 5:00), that is our street and on the right it Jeff's gray Honda Civic. We're famous!

Peas Potatoes and Carrots

I have spent super amounts of time in the yard and garden this year and I have loved every minute of it...almost:)

PEAS

We grew two varieties of peas this year.

Oregon Giant: long peas harvested before the peas fill out the pod. More of a stir-fry pea. They were delicious, and I got to eat a lot because the kids didn't like them.

Sugarsnap: These were the kids favorite. Hannah would wake up everyday and ask to go pick them. I know you're supposed to be able to eat these pods, but they really weren't very good. So we shelled most of them and only a few ever made it to the fridge. We just sat outside and ate them.

Lots of other things loved out peas. Here is some slug and snail damage, and later on the birds took to eating any part of the peas: greans, blossoms, and the pods. I finally bought some bird netting.

These peas were overgrown and disgusting.

These are the perfect size:)

Potatoes..yummy

I know it doesn't make a lot of sense to grow 3 pound of potatoes when you can buy them for a few dollars. BUT harvesting and eating potatoes is just too much fun. The best part is hunting for them in the soil. And of course roasting them in the oven:)

Carrots

We planted to varieties, both small munching carrots. Chantenay are the fat ones and little finger the cute long ones.

"What the?" Hannah pulled this one out. This usually happens when carrots hit a physical barrier. It can also happen if the soil is too moist. And if you grow carrots that have a lot of little "hairs" on them, your soil is definitely too moist.

Here is Owen showing off his loose front tooth! Happy Gardening everyone:)

Off-line blogging

I was really hoping to off-line blog while we were driving on our trip. Then I could post when we found wi-fi. I downloaded scribe-fire before we left but it wouldn't let me upload pictures from the computer. (Grrr) I was too busy to find another application that worked, so once again, our trip is in my head. If anyone knows of a good off-line blog application for macs let me know:)

Our trip was FANTASTIC! LOTS OF: family bonding, camping, hiking, craziness (especially in the car), beautiful sights, funny people, small towns, ocean views, and camp fires.

Here is one adventure that made the top 5.

LOST LAKE

Nestled on the slope of Mt. Hood you simply have to take a narrow, somewhat bumpy, and extremely curvy road to get there. With 144 curves (in 13 miles) this lake could be called lost for more than one reason, (we all thought we were going to lose our breakfast).

Beautiful Mt. Hood right before the curvy road.

The kids all ready in the row boat.

The very good looking and strong Master Rower.

The back up rowers: also good looking and somewhat strong.

The clear water and sunshine were just too much for Master Rower to resist.

Owen adding a temporary motor.

Hannah knocked an oar into the water and to our surprise it didn't come back up. So Master Rower had to sit in the front and row with one oar.

But apparently the oar was just getting a better look at the underside of the boat and reappeared after 5 long minutes.

We give lost lake 5 stars *****. Maybe someday we'll be back.

If not I'm sure this patriotic big foot will pop up in my scary dreams one night.