The Garden is Growing

Now for another exciting update on our square foot garden!!! It has been growing very well. There are a few pea pods growing, and we had to add to the pea trellis because the peas outgrew the original trellis Garrett constructed for them. We even had a salad tonight made entirely from our garden lettuce, and it was delicious! 

Thanksgiving!

This year, Garrett and I went to my aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving. We had a great time. The food was delicious, and the company of my cousins and uncle (who have very witty senses of humor) was lively and pleasant. We arrived around noon to find my uncle putting up the last of the Christmas lights on his house. I was surprised to see that he had a blue print for his house, complete with a guide to where each particular string of Christmas lights would go (labeled A, B, C, D, etc.) I have never seen anyone be so organized about putting up lights!!! He had already picked up the turkey that morning-completely cooked and ready to go whenever the rest of the meal was done. And the turkey tasted fantastic! My uncle was telling me that a local Scout troop does a fundraiser every Thanksgiving that consists of cooking people's turkeys overnight & underground in a sort of "pit roaster". So every year for the past several years, my aunt buys a turkey, and my uncle takes it the night before Thanksgiving to the property where the turkeys are cooked and drops it off, then picks it up the next morning after it's been cooked. The turkey fell off the bones, and was very juicy and moist. But the highlight of the meal was this chocolate cake that my aunt made-Buttermilk Chocolate Cake (nicknamed "Trenchbull Cake" by my cousins--remember the book "Matilda" by Roald Dahl?) It's four layers thick with rich, creamy icing that melts if it isn't kept in the fridge due to its high chocolate content. Oh yes, I've found a new favorite dessert! (You will see me pictured with my aunt beside the famous "Trenchbull Cake" in one of the pictures included with this blog). 

Besides participating in the Thanksgiving festivities at my aunt and uncle's house, Garrett and I also enjoyed remembering our blessings and being reminded of the counsel that we are to give thanks in ALL things (even challenges and trials).  Garrett showed me this YouTube video produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that helped me get in the true spirit of Thanksgiving. I highly recommend watching it. The video is called: "In the Spirit of Thanksgiving"

http://www.youtube.com/MormonMessages

I know from my own experience that when I am willing to give thanks in all things that I am given strength to endure well whatever trial or trouble I am going through. 

Our Friend's Baptism

Garrett and I had the privilege of attending (and speaking at) the baptism of our friend, Otto. He lives very near to us and we started having him over for Family Home Evening a little over a month ago. He took the missionary discussions in our home to learn about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and committed to be baptized yesterday (Nov. 7th). Our Bishop baptized Otto, and today, Garrett performed the ordinance of confirmation for Otto to be confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost. It has been a sweet and wonderful experience to be with Otto as he learned the truths of the gospel and gained a testimony for himself that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We have become very good friends with Otto, he feels like a long lost brother who we finally got to meet! A piece to the puzzle that we didn't even know was missing in our lives! In addition, he knows some delicious Cuban recipes, and he has already cooked a Cuban-style dinner for us. 

I also attended my first Scout O Rama activity yesterday. What fun! I wish Garrett could have come with me, because he would have loved all the physics in action! All the troops from the cities in the area had set up booths to make and do different things. Some of the booths could help the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts pass of requirements for badges. Other booths were just for fun. Our troop set up an Obstacle Course booth, for example. Perhaps that could pass of a physical fitness requirement...but overall, it was just meant to be fun. There were rocket making/launching booths, a marshmallow gun making booth, a chess playing booth, a science booth (with dead animals preserved in jars of formaldehyde) to name a few. And my favorite...the FREE ICE CREAM booth! Well, that booth was actually operated by a sponsor of the event (Blue Bell Ice Cream), and not a Scout troop. I really like being a Cub Scout leader and being involved with the Scouting program. It really is a neat program!

News from the Square-foot Garden

It's Growing! We kid you not! Today when Kylie went out to water the garden, she saw about 8 tiny sprouts. Hooray!

Square Foot Gardens and Nose Picker Pliers

Garrett and I set a goal a long time ago to establish a square foot garden. We finally accomplished that goal this past week. With help from some birthday money, we purchased the needed supplies. Garrett built the garden box a couple of days later, and then I finally planted the seeds on 10/13/09. Here are some pictures of the building of the square foot garden box. You will notice a picture of me holding a long, black extension cord. It took me about 10 minutes to get it untangled. I tried to be helpful, but honestly, I was mostly underfoot! We planted some carrots, peas, lettuce, scallions, yellow onions, and broccoli. If all goes well, most of the seeds should sprout late next week. A number of families in our ward at church also have gardens, so at their suggestion, I put a nylon bird barrier over the garden so the birds wouldn't try to eat the seeds I had planted. So far, so good. 

The second part of this post is based on (you guess it) another experience I had at Cub Scouts. The Assistant Den Leader and myself set out a number of different tools on a table and told the Cubs the name of each tool and what it is used for. Among the tools we told them about was a pair of needle nose pliers. After a while, we covered the tools with a towel and had the Cubs recall as many of the tools as they could. They did very well. They remembered there was a pair of pliers, but none of them could recall the specific type of pliers they were. After a few seconds of hard thinking, one of the boys said, "Nose picker pliers?" (in all seriousness). Needless to say, we all had a good laugh, and I explained that the pliers were known as needle nose pliers. But if a person ever wanted to use a tool to pick his nose, I must say that the needle nose pliers (also known as Nose Picker Pliers by my Wolf Cub den) would probably be the best choice!

Addendum to the Code of Conduct

I had a Wolf Cub den meeting this evening. By the end of the meeting, we added another rule to the Code of Conduct. I will let you discover the new rule! (Hint: The new rule is written in black ink). The first version of the Code of Conduct is pictured a couple of posts below this post. I'll admit-it seems like a funny rule, but very much needed. For example, we did a First Aid Kit Scavenger Hunt. One of the requirements I wanted them to be able to pass off was to list 4 ways to prevent the spread of a cold. I attached this particular Scavenger Hunt Clue to a roll of toilet paper and hid it for them to find. You may be wondering why I used toilet paper: For one thing, some people use toilet paper instead of Kleenex if they have to sneeze or blow their nose and can't find a Kleenex box. Also, I figured that I didn't want to hide a nice box of Kleenex outside in case an animal decided to get into it or it got dirty (I know, I know...I'm a bit strange). I figured that toilet paper was cheaper, and besides, each roll of Kirkland brand toilet paper comes individually wrapped in plastic! OK-enough explanation! I attached the clue to a roll of toilet paper, and this action proved to be a mind snag for one of the little cubs who couldn't seem to stop bringing up toilet paper in every conversation from that point forward. Hence, the addendum to the Code of Conduct!

 

Fun in Canada

Garrett and I flew to Canada on Saturday, August 15th. Garrett flew back to Arizona yesterday. I will leave Canada next Saturday. When we figure out how to do a slideshow of the pictures for our blog, we'll post a few more pictures.

Now tell me please: Who would not want to take a drink? But my wife advised me to not drink because of "beaver fever".

No Wrestling During the Meeting!

For the first time this week, I welcomed 5 energetic little 8 year old boys into my home for our first Wolf Cub Scout meeting. My assistant was out of town, and so I (with a little help from my husband) ran the meeting. One of the things I did with the Wolf Cubs was create a Code of Conduct for our den. And let me tell you...I barely got them to sit still long enough to get any comments. My favorite rules were: N0 Wrestling During the Meeting (I came up with that one), and "Don't ignore Akela" (Akela is me...and one of the boys actually came up with that rule after I said aloud that no one was listening to me). After the meeting was over and they all went home, I felt exhausted! They didn't stop moving the entire meeting! Even when they were sitting still, they seemed to be buzzing. They also asked very random, funny questions and said the most interesting things to one another as they talked about things they liked to do (like play video games). There is one very quiet boy though; he mainly listened to the other boys talk. He asked me at one point (as the other boys were excitedly talking about video games and guns) "Why do they like guns so much?" I said, "I don't know, I'll ask them." So, I asked the boys, "Why do you like guns so much?" One of the boys (without hesitation) replied, "They're faster than swords!"And so begins my next great adventure: being a Wolf Cub Scout leader!

Happy Father's Day!

Hello to all the dads out there who are reading this blog! Happy Father's Day! Where would we be without our fathers? I would like to honor my own father in this post. Here are my 5 favorite memories with my dad:

(1) Canoeing on the North Saskatchewan River near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada. We set a record that was only tied but never beaten for the number of times our canoe tipped and we fell into the ice cold, glacier-fed North Saskatchewan River. My dad would always make us an oatmeal cookie bar (he would use an oatmeal chocolate chip recipe and then bake it like a cake in a 9x13 pan, cut it up into squares, wrap each square in aluminum foil, and the bring the ENTIRE thing for us to eat throughout the day as we canoed). It was delicious, and I always had a lot of fun going through the rapids with him.

(2) My dad was the only dad who came out for Parent Night during my Grade 6 Outdoor School at the Silver Creek Ranch campsite (somewhere in Alberta). Upon arriving at the campsite, my dad was informed by the Principal that he needed to pick a wilderness name, like an animal or tree name. My dad picked the name "Owl" because owls are very wise (at least, I think that's the reason he told me he picked the name owl). All the grade 5's and 6's gathered around the campfire and sang a song that would get each teacher (and parent) up and dancing. Sure enough, we sang, "I like the way the Owl does the hula", and down came my dad to dance with the other teachers by the campfire!

(3) I'm not sure that this is a favorite memory, but I think it's my first memory EVER of my dad. We were at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. My mom and dad had brought me to Edmonton to visit one of my mom's friends. There is a big indoor water park at West Edmonton Mall, and so the adults and myself had gone to play at the water park. Unfortunately, I was quite small (probably 2 or 3 years old) and couldn't go on most of the slides. So the adults took turns watching me while the others would go down the slides. I can remember my dad took me to the giant wave pool when it was his turn to watch me. He would say, "Watch this, Kylie!" and then duck his head under the water every time a wave came. 

(4) Going "Bull Busting" in Wyoming with my dad, his friend Big Joe, and a couple of other cowboys(I can't remember their names). We rode horses all day long, moving 3 or 4 HUGE bulls from one pasture to another (away from the cows, I think). I was probably 10 or 11, maybe 12 (I can't remember exactly). But it was a lot of fun! My dad spent a lot of time on his grandfather's ranch growing up, so I got to see his adventurous cowboy side that day. 

(5) Driving with my dad in Australia on the other side of the road. I can still remember pulling out of a parking lot in Cairns...yikes! He went to turn on his turn signal, but ended up turning on the windshield wipers! (Everything was opposite about the vehicles in Australia: the windshield wiper lever was on the side that our turn signal lever is on, etc). Then he pulled out and almost went down the wrong side of the street (an oncoming vehicle honked at us). My dad just said, "Woops!" and chuckled in his calm way.

I certainly love my dad, and I am very grateful for him. 

What's Your Favorite Room in the House?

Do you have a favorite room in your home? I suppose when I was younger I would have said, "My room." Or I may have said, "The TV room." I'm not sure what my favorite room is now. But my husband, Garrett, has a favorite room: the closet in one of the spare bedrooms. I knew he was a bit strange when I married him...but I didn't know he would get stranger with every passing year of marriage! It was on May 30th, our first wedding anniversary, that he suggested he turn the closet into a study area. Now, he spends most of his time sitting in the closet studying. He laminated a white poster board, which he put up on the wall of the closet. He uses it to write equations on and work out calculus problems. Sometimes he studies so hard that he forgets to eat! Just in case you don't believe me, I have posted some pictures on the blog for proof. Whenever I come home and the house is very quiet and there's no sign of Garrett, I think to myself, "I guess he's in the closet again." Yep.

Supply and Demand at 7000 feet

Kylie and I drove to Flagstaff this weekend to pick up my brother Jordan (pictured) from Boys State -- a sort of mock government convention for juniors in high school. Here's a snippet from the Boys State official website:

"At American Legion Boys State, participants are exposed to the rights and privileges, the duties and the responsibilities of a franchised citizen. The training is objective and practical with city, county and state governments operated by the students elected to the various offices. Activities include legislative sessions, court proceedings, law enforcement presentations, assemblies, bands, chorus and recreational programs."

I didn't intend the photo of Jordan to be some kind of commentary on the economy or student life. I just thought it would be a funny picture to take.

I was impressed with the air in Flagstaff. It was very nice.

Hello.