And Speaking of Farming...

We've only had a garden once before in our married life. "We" had one this year in Mt. Pleasant, courtesy of Grandma S. She planted the seeds, she watered, she weeded, she harvested...we ate. Wow. That's my kind of garden!


Amy helped a little when she was there. We met the "herb lady" in town and she gave Amy some plants. It was a little late in the season, but she planted some anyway. She would love to be a gardener.


We ate some of the first corn when we were there for Labor Day weekend.


For not planting much, Grandma sure had an abundant harvest.


The squash was especially prolific. (Surprise, surprise.) She made zucchini "applesauce," (tasted, seriously, JUST like the real stuff!) zucchini brownies, zucchini crisp, and I don't know what all else. The acorn squash looks to be just as abundant. I think Amy counted 40- or 50- something when we were there!

Happy Birthday, Jeff! (Or, "Oh, no! My Dad is a Senior Citizen!")

Today Jeff turned 55, which in some cases means he is a discounted senior citizen, (as was sweetly pointed out by Maddie this morning!) Here he is wearing his John Deere hat his mom sent him and holding the magazine he gets as a result of owning green-belted property in Utah. (The closest he's gotten to farming so far is buying a riding lawnmower.) Happy birthday, Jeff!

Hmmm...

Maddie and her friend Becca gave me this cute blog background makeover. I really liked it till I messed with the blogspot background to make it match. Now I can not get my page elements back on the side. I will now have to have Ally or Loretta, the blog gurus (thanks, Leisel) help me fix it. Why can't I have a cute blog???


On the other hand, I do have cute girls! Becca is here for the evening while her parents are at her brother's football game. Look what she did to Maddie's hair. Beautiful, huh? The both of them...

Julie is sick today and the girls are missing her and Ally tonight. Get well soon, Jules.

A New Look 2

I know. I know. I am such a creature of habit.

But everyone else has such cute blog templates now.

I don't know where to find those or how to do anything fancy, but I can at least switch to a different blogspot format for a while. It's kind of nice to have LITTLE changes every so often...

You know. Kind of mix things up a little bit.

I know. I'm pathetic. Next week - Allyson helps me give my blog a REAL facelift!

Finally! A Job!

We got the good news today that FINALLY, in this depressed Las Vegas housing market, for the first time this year (nine and a half months!!,) we were awarded a local contract! Hooray! We will be putting in the sewer, water, and storm drain lines for an assisted-living complex in west Las Vegas. We have done work for this developer before. (The photo above is one of their previous projects - not one of the prettiest ones, by far, but the only one I could find a picture of on the web!) They are good to pay on time, they are decent to work for, and they like Jeff and Brian (especially Brian, apparently!) Also, they are partially funded by federal and city funds, so even though it means more paperwork for Susan and me, the money is always there.

We also received yesterday part of the money that has been owed us by another developer for over a year and a half . I feel almost giddy!

Now if all of the rest of the family could be similarly blessed as well...I'll be praying...

No More Wallowing

The cousin clan from Magna, Utah. Ellie, 7, Mark, Lilly, 2, Ben, 5, Sarah holding Maddie, 5 months, and friend Sarah. Man it was fun to have these guys here for Pre-Paid Legal Conference and family vacation last week!


Ellie filled us in on all kinds of exciting information. Starting at 6am. Every day. And she did not stop till bedtime! She has an amazing mind.


Aubrey enjoyed having someone around who's smaller than she is. She was SO interested in little Maddie.


Three of the "Five Princesses" (five great-granddaughters of Jeff's mom born in 2006) Isabel, Sydney, and Lilly. Jessica and Rachel are missing. We still want a picture of the five of them together...Preferably looking not quite this scruffy...They had a great time together! Manda, Ivan, Isabel, and Asher stayed with Unky Brian and Auntie Susan.


We created cute animals from new and old interesting socks. Manda made a blue-striped weiner dog, Sarah made a bunny, a bear, and a striped bird. Maddie made a lamb and Little Ally made a cat. Allyson made an elephant and later Maddie made a rainbow-striped zebra. I tied knots and threaded needles, watched, and was impressed...

Maddie's little lambie-chops, complete with argyle sweater!

We also swam in Grandma D.'s pool twice, had a barbeque, learned embroidery (and Sarah designed her own sampler that I am totally copying!) The cousins watched the dancing fountains at the Bellagio and ate at In 'n Out Burger (always a highlight!) The conference was great as usual, and Mark also made some money washing windows in Mormonville. It sure was fun to have a full house! It's very quiet here now...