Ethan's daddy was just too slow

Joshua was feeding Ethan some ice cream. Well Ethan thought his daddy was not feeding him fast enough so he took matters into his own mouth. Cute!



Chicken house is coming along

Update on the chicken house. The plan is to have it ready to be able to get chicks in the spring.

Linda, Linda quite contrary how does your garden grow?

Quite well, thank you! Between the pear trees, plum tree, apple trees and veggies in the garden I am one busy girl this time of year. This angle of the garden is the strawberries which I have picked well over 150 pounds. The middle left of the picture is the butternut squash which is not ripe yet and the acorn squash which I'm leaving on as long as I can before heavy frost to make sure it's ripe. To the right of those two plants are the zucchini plant and the yellow squash plant. We are getting veggies from each but those two plants struggled this year. I had wilting leaves to where half the zucchini plant died but the other half is doing ok. We are getting plenty for Larry and I to eat and to share so that's good. The far right middle are the tomato plants which just this last week started to ripen. I've been able to pick a few but will they ripen before heavy frost? Good question. The back right is our corn which did terrible this year. We got 4 corn cobs from the stalks that grew. Disappointing! Most of the cobs look really funny. Huge deformed puffy black stuff filled kernels. Then our raspberries which Larry pruned up ready for winter rest.

Compost piles on the left which a mole lives in I believe. Moles and slugs are my garden enemies!

The pumpkin vines are growing well. Right behind the pumpkin vines on the left is my mutant yellow squash plant. The plant that started in the compost pile is HUGE and produces pale green crookneck squash.

Peek a boo pumpkins. I'm literally praying they will ripen before it frost so I can share them with my grand kids.

Blueberry plants along the left. I love blueberries so I'm excited to have these grow well. To the right is the huge pumpkins which when yesterday I went out to the garden I noticed the smaller of the two is rotting. Bummer!

A closer view of the mutant yellow squash plant.

Tomato plants that I neglected to stake until it was too late to do it right. I will not make that mistake next year.

Marigolds that when planted in the garden are suppose to keep some kind of pest away. Which pest I do not remember. To the right of that are chives, lots of chives. Behind that row I have planted basil. I am using the basil in a wonderful Fresh spaghetti sauce recipe that I freeze. I love the smell of basil. To the right of the chives are green pepper plants and a Serrano chili pepper plant. I didn't know how hot the Serrano pepper is so Joshua was my guinea pig. And the verdict is.... very hot. Joshua was sweating after taking a bite and he didn't even chew it.

Closer look of the green pepper plants and Serrano pepper plant. Very pretty. I found out last year that Larry doesn't like green peppers. No matter how long you're married you are still discovering things about your spouse.

Rhubarb, lots of rhubarb. I got this rhubarb from Misty's house. It started as one plant planted by the side of the pool. I transplanted it this year to the garden and separated the plant. We now have no shortage of rhubarb.

That's it. That's my garden this year. I have used the bounty in various ways and have shared quite a bit too.

Note to self... Plant sooner next year to guarantee everything a chance to ripen.

And enjoy the down time during the winter.

Weekend fun at the beach

Ethan is loving the sand. It took him a few times of going to the beach but now he likes to play in it. This little guy is on mission and was very determined to follow it through. Where is that mission you ask. It's in the next picture.

That's right. The ocean.

Shannon, Jessica, Ethan and I took advantage of the sunny weather and walked along the beach in search of a sand dollar for Jessica. She had never found a sand dollar on the beach that wasn't broken. We walked and walked and walked. It's a clean beach in the sense that it doesn't really have any rocks or shells of any kind. After about an hour we finally found a sand dollar. Whew! We were so close to a light house that I wanted to continue. I don't believe it's a real light house but it is very cool. I could be wrong though.

Shannon got her exercise for the day carrying Ethan as he slept on her. She is taking a very deserved rest as I go check out the light house.

Ethan, Jessica and I took advantage of a fallen, washed out tree stump to rest on. It was a great time for a photo op with Ethan and Jessica.

Celebrate! Ethan turned 1!!! He's soooo excited. He sure loves his new toys and his cupcake.

Of course by the time it was over we realized we could have just given him the empty boxes and he'd be happy:)

He LOVES his birthday cup cake.

One of my favorite things is spending time with my kids and their families.

Joshua's graduation!

September 17th, 2010 Joshua graduated from lineman school in Warrenton, Oregon. Larry and I were excited that we were able to attend his graduation and spend the weekend with Joshua, Shannon, Jessica and Ethan.  Joshua took us on a tour of where he spent 4 days a week 11 hour days the last 10 weeks.  He learned a lot. His score was a little over 93% with a GPA of over 3.7. Yay for Joshua! I have no clue what we are looking at here. I should have paid better attention.

Ropes. They spent a lot of time on learning knots because tying the right knots could save his life or someone else's life. Joshua had a head start on the knots because of boy scouts. In fact he was helping everyone else learn the knots.

Poles, lots of poles. Up and down a thousand times. These were practice poles that had no real electricity lines.

Diploma! Everyone in the class had a nick name. Joshua's was Cornfed. He's big and strong like the corn fed cows I guess. The men on the sides were his instructors.

Time for demonstrations. He did a great job and it was fun to watch him demonstrate some of the things he learned.

See his pants pushed up above his boots? That was style that he incorporated. He got some friendly ribbing for it but I noticed 1 or 2 others on graduation day doing the same thing.

He has to carry a lot of things as he climbs the pole to work.

Jessica loved watching her dad.

Ethan was loving being able to hang out with Papa J and watch his daddy.

3 awesome guys in this picture!

Big Joshua and "Little Josh" Adorable!

Now that school is done it's time to get a job. The weekend after graduation Joshua and a couple of his classmates took a road trip to sign Union books for jobs in Utah, Wyoming and California. He has also been applying online for apprenticeships all over the country. On the 28th of September he got news of a job in Colorado and he called the office where the job was located. The lady told him on the phone if he was there when they opened he had a 95% chance that he would get the job. Him and Shannon bought him a plane ticket and away he went. He got the job! It's a temporary job working until the ground gets so hard they can't drill anymore. But he'll get experience which will help towards getting another job. The ideal is for him to get an apprenticeship so his whole family will be able to move to where it's at. I am praying it is in the west:)

But the weekend isn't over yet... Stay tuned for more fun at Ocean Park, WA. Our neighbors have a beach house there that they let us stay in over the weekend.  So off we all go to celebrate Joshua's graduation and Ethan's 1st birthday.