Living in Paradise---Summer in April!

Our roses just recently bloomed and they are so beautiful!! I want to get 2 more bushes just like them for the side of the porch.


The one catastrophe so far. I have never used a weed eater before but I decided it was time to learn. Well I learned a valuable lesson. Weed eaters pretty much eat anything. Including your house! Really don't like using the weed eater.


The sand and water table that is pretty much a "mush and muck" table now. Has been a huge hit and Caleb has most definitely made it his own.


The new "Breakfast Nook". Since we don't have patio furniture we improvised. We spend so much time outside and I love that we can eat outside too.


Is that not the face of summer!! Caleb loves being outside all the time and he is so cute! As you can see, we were having a clothing is optional day.

I love the heat and rarely like air conditioning. Texas has had some gorgeous weather and it has been so fun to see the roses bloom and green trees in April. I actually have a tan already and I never tan. So now that you are all jealous, you have to come check out our little paradise here in Texas!

The "Green Thumb" Experiment

If you know me at all, then you know that plants and I really don't get along very well. I pretty much kill plants. So any gardening and plant care has fallen on Brydon, who enjoys it and does not kill plants. But here I am in Texas and it is 90 degrees outside with a beautiful yard and no husband for pretty much the whole spring/summer. So for entertainment and sanity and for fun, I have decided to see if I can indeed plant a garden and flowers and actually keep them alive. So for so good!!!
I am trying my hand at "Suburban Gardening" or whatever you want to call it. We are allowed to dig up our yard to plant a garden if we want to, but when we move it must be restored to its orginal condition. So I am opting to not tear up my lawn so I have to replace it in a year or so. Instead I am using 5 gallon buckets, planters, and a great garden stand I found at Wal-mart. So far things are growing really well. I have 2 tomato plants, 3 pepper plants (they are struggling the most), radishes, green and regular onions, romaine, beans, and peas. Caleb also really wanted to grow giant sunflowers so I am planting a patch of them right under our kitchen window. I was also told about growing corn in 5 gallon bucks and so tomorrow we will be planting sweet corn in buckets. It has been so much fun to do together. Caleb is facinated by the growing seeds and we have our nightly "watering the plants" ritual. Which if you know Caleb then this is the most exciting part of the day. It will be intersting to see how it all works out but so far it was a pretty cheap project and has been well worth it!

Caleb's Flower Pots


I thought they looked really nice on the front porch


Our Garden Stand has 2 upside down tomato plants and then the top is a 5x5 garden patch with 3 pepper plants and I stuck some romaine seeds in there but we will see how they do. The Flower Planter has radishes and onions.


Caleb was so excited to find these radish sprouts today. It was so cute!


I started the beans, peas, and sunflowers in these seed starters. I have never done that before and it is wild. I hope I can actually transplant them ok.

We will keep you posted on how we do with our new experiment!

Team Bradshaw---Autism Speaks

One of Caleb's amazing friends in Abilene has autism. Ethan is the sweetest boy and Caleb loves him to death. A couple Saturdays ago, we had the opportunity to be a part of an Autism Speaks Walk at the zoo with the Bradshaw family. Autism Speaks is a great oganization that offers support to families with autism and continues to support autism research. It was a super fun day and we were so happy we could be a part of such a great cause. We are so grateful for the Bradshaw family and the wonderful friends they have been to us here.

Two Handsome Boys and Best Buddies!


Not Sure Who the Animal Is?


Darth Vader!!


Caleb Was Terrified of Elvis (well actually all the characters but particularly Elvis)


Go Team Bradshaw!!!

Perfectly Framed

When we got married, I asked my sister (who is amazing with cross-stitch and crocheting) to make us a cross-stitch of the well known scripture in Ruth. During our dating/engagement time (if you know our story, you know they are pretty much the same thing), I found a conference talk called Eternal Marriage by Elder F. Burton Howard. It is a wonderful talk that was very meaningful at the time and in it he refers to this particular scripture in Ruth 1:16-17. I have always loved this story and had a special connection to it, so it was a scripture that I wanted to symbolize our marriage. I remember feeling a bit nervous about what I was getting into, but after reading this talk I felt at peace and made a decision then that I would follow my husband wherever he went. Little did I know what I was really in for, but I am so grateful for that decision and the peace I felt.
Well my amazing sister custom made a beautiful cross-stitch for us for our wedding. It was so beautiful that we had it specially stretched so that it would be preserved and not yellow, but did not have the money to have it custom framed. So we have cared for it for over 7 years but never been able to hang it, until just recently. For my birthday, the cross-stitch finally got the custom frame it needed. It is so beautiful and sits on the wall that people see when they first come in our home. I love it! It is so wonderful to get to hang the scripture that has truly become more of a symbol in our marriage than I thought. Thanks sis-sis-er!

Missing Daddy on a Very Daddy Adventure

Yesterday Caleb and I decided to explore the base a little more. So we got out the bike and went on a walk with Cooper to explore some trails we were curious about. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun, but it really made Caleb miss his Daddy. This is a very Daddy activity. He loves to go on walks and be out and about. So throughout the walk, Caleb had me take vidoes so we could share the experience with dad and he could talk to him. They didn't all turn out but that's ok. It was so cute but it was hard to see Caleb miss dad so much. Yep check out that amazing Texas weather!

The "QUIET BOOK" Project

So if making 6 aprons during Christmas wasn't enough, I had to make 2 Quiet Books. Over a year ago a good friend of mine made these and introduced me to this great website "How to Make a Quiet Book".

I love this website and all the links she has listed. After going through all the websites, I picked out my favorite designs and ways to do things. My mom was a lifesaver and helped me by contributing felt, ric-rac, and other fun crafty stuff. She also helped me by get everything set up and gave me the courage to get started on it. Another sister in the ward also donated felt and that helped a lot. I made the two books at the same time. First I would do our family's book and then cross my fingers that all the mistakes were out of my system to do my sister-in-law's book. They are most definitely not perfect but turned out well. I am excited to add new pages to it. It was really fun to do and Caleb loves it. It made the 3 days of being locked away well worth it!

Our Family's Front Cover

My Sister-in-Laws Front Cover

Flowers with Buttons and Color Matching

Mail Box and Notepad (A definite favorite)

Shape Matching

Counting Beads

ABC's and Word Making

Number Matching and Addition/Subtraction

Noah's Ark

Ikea Fingerpuppets Inside

My Sister-in-Laws Backcover


So that is all my latest craftiness. I am getting the itch to pull out the sewing machine again, so who knows what I will come up with. I might have to work on my digital scrapbooks first though.

You have got to read this!

I saw this post on some of my friends' facebook pages and I just have to post it on the blog. I really, really like it and it rang so true, especially after some of the trials we have faced as a family the last little while. I truly hope that I can teach my son to be content with life and to always have an eternal perspective. I know that this is something Brydon and I really work for and value in life. Enjoy!

"I Don't Want my Children to Be Happy"