Obedience Garden

That's the name my mom so perfectly named our little garden we started this year. I've been wanting to have a garden really ever since we moved here but our house is situated on our lot so that the sun hits our backyard weird and is mostly shaded in the flowerbed areas. So we resorted to using our side front yard. I know, sounds totally white trash right? But it is somewhat hidden by the pillars of our portacashere. So I asked my parents who created their own garden when I was in high school, to come help us get started.

Dan and Cole were on their way back that morning from the Fathers and Sons camp overnight...which looked fun when we skyped each other before going to bed. Shannon and the girls spent the night and Shannon and I sewed until the wee hours of the morning. Little did we know that as we were going to bed, Dan was waking up to Cole puking in the tent....and even better, Andrew woke up and put his hand right in it. They spent the next 45 minutes cleaning it all up with paper towels . EEW! OF course Dan pointed out that the lantern he got from Costco...the one I was going to take back after convincing him is was an unneeded purchase, came in quite handy during the clean up. So Cole was quarantined inside when he got home.

Meanwhile, we started by mixing in tons of soil amendment everywhere like 6 inches deep. The soil is very clay based here so it was a must to a successful garden (and it's the key to why my parents' grass has looked amazing for 20+years while all their neighbors have replanted their grass over and over. They tilled it all and took out all the rocks before planting their sod.)
So the kids had fun digging around in the dirt with us...except for Cole whose flu landed right on the weekend we FINALLY get my parents to come up for their first over-nighter (seems silly when they live only 30 minutes away but we were getting jealous of my sister in Utah getting all these sleep-overs from Grandma and Grandpa that we wanted one!)

Mom came with me to Home Depot and we got small plants of Cucumber, Zucchini, bell peppers, watermelon, strawberries, and some tomato plants. Oh, and my parents brought two tomato plants from their garden to transplant into ours. We then bought seeds for growing beans, corn, and radishes (which we don't eat- we just thought it would be a rewarding thing to grow since they don't take long. ) I know, when stalks of corn start growing in my front yard...it's gonna be crazy? Crazy but fun!

So here's where the name comes in. Our Prophets for years have counseled us to have a garden. Being self-sufficient is the motivation, and of course, we can't grow everything we would need to live off of, but this was my attempt at following our Prophet! I assumed that since I have no green thumb, I would plant this stuff and maybe the zucchini would make it because zucchini pretty much grows no matter who's taking care of it. I'm not expecting much so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised!

Women's Conference

I had the opportunity to attend a Women's Conference at BYU. It was cool to go back to my old college and see the changes. I felt that same strong spirit there that I did when I attended. It made me really wish and hope that my own kids will have the same amazing opportunity to attend there. It is really unlike any other college. A few of the messages that really stuck out to me were these: First...get back to the basics. We are told over and over by our Church leaders to pray daily, study the scriptures daily, have FAMILY prayer and scripture study together daily, and hold a Family Home Evening once a week. They seem like simple tasks. And they are simple, but just because they are simple doesn't mean they're always easy. It takes prioritizing. But I've decided they are easier than the alternative. I attended one class about effectual and fervent prayer. They described "effectual" as powerful and pointed out that the way to have effectual prayer us to express deep gratitude. Looking back, I can see great blessings poured on our family because of our expression of gratitude to the Lord, even during hard times, for the blessings we had. Since becoming a mother, I have struggled with having a quiet moment to communicate through prayer... oftentimes, my prayers are a quick check-in with my Heavenly Father, and while I realize that we have different seasons in our lives, I think that it's not about just having a quiet moment, but making one. I'm still trying. It's a work in progress. I got doinked when they brought up scripture study there because I have gotten in a good habit of daily scripture reading (even if it is in bed when I wake up, on my ipod touch.) But I realize that that is not enough to gain the protection and instruction I need for my day. I started feeling the need to improve after hearing a great talk in church by my friend, Wendy. She talked about how she felt like she was studying her scriptures rather than just reading, when she had something to write down her thoughts and insights, and a manual of some sort to supplement the reading. I got the best gift from my sister-in-law that is a great study guide and I bought myself a new cute little notebook to record my thoughts in.
In addition to all the amazing uplifting classes I went to, I was surrounded by great company. We ate...Shopped our hearts out...
And pampered ourselves...This is how we traveled around town....the car was a little full. Thanks goodness for some good Ford Flex trunk space :)We were almost all related one way or another--most were my in-laws' in-laws. But we are all family just the same and it was so enjoyable to chat with these amazing ladies that I truly love. Here's to hoping the hubby will be willing to send me off again next year!