Remembering

Tyler Brown (Rusty's brother) passed away a year ago today.

I remember Rusty and his family going to the hospital that day. I remember us all thinking he was getting better and it catching us off guard.  I remember how hard it was for everyone to say their goodbye's. I remember crying... the entire day. I remember the exact second I heard the news and it felt as if the world had stopped spinning for that instant. I remember the sadness in Rusty's voice when he called me and how I have never wanted to give someone a hug more, in my entire life, than I did at that exact moment. I remember every single time he's said, "I miss my brother" over this last year. But most importantly, I remember Tyler. I remember his kind soul and nice conversations and I'm thankful that I got to know him.

Rest in peace Tyler Brown

 6/12/90-4/20/09

Seedlings

It snowed just two days ago so I'm not going to plant outside yet. Good thing I'm doing a container garden again this year. I can start transferring the seedling into pots and just keep them in the sun room untill Mother nature has finally accepted the fact that it's spring!

After just a couple days:

First week:

Second week:

Seeds

The kids and I started some seeds last night. Lettuce, tomato, carrots, watermelon & corn. I found organic seeds for all of them (yay).  I need to decide which herbs I want to grow this year and start those next. They had fun planting them with the containers we made out of recycled newspaper.

Yesterday I was all excited for the warm weather coming up and looking forward to a great little garden this year...this morning I woke up to snow! Haha, welcome to Utah.

The Dairy

Winder Farm is a local Dairy here. They deliver farm fresh items right to your front door. My Mom has had their Milk delivered ever since I can remember. I knew they had a store where you could walk in and buy items. They sell ice cream in the summer and hot chocolate in the winter, and I've always wanted to stop in and check it out. I was a nice sunny day so I took the kids right to the farm to get ice cream from their little (and I mean little) Country Store.

The farm is down a narrow one way road. I didn't tell the kids where we were going and I swear they thought we were lost as I was driving us down this little road. The store at the farm is a little one room brick building and looks about a hundred years old. Theres a few coolers with milk, eggs, cheese, etc. and a few tables in the middle for enjoying some of their snacks.

I bought a gallon of milk and a few ice cream cones, which we ate outside in the warm sun. I'm sure we'll be back many times this summer since it's just down the street from us.... and super yummy! Ashleigh said it was the best vanilla ice cream she had ever had.

Ashleigh's 12 yr old Birthday Party

Ash's party was over the weekend. I surprised her with all these decorations after school on Friday. She got to invite two friends (since we were driving to the store later that night, I only had room for 2 more in my car) so she invited Ashley & Kylee.

First thing: Goodie Bags..

complete with Edward stickers, black nail polish, body glitter and Vampire fangs!

On the dinner menu: Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad and garlic bread..

..and a pitcher of 'blood'.

After dinner: Presents!

and then games, which turned into a cotton ball fight! (and they later used to stuff their shirts...silly girls)

After singing "Happy Birthday" & blowing out the candles, they all decorated cupcakes

then decided to see who could eat one the fastest

finally time to start the movie...

at Midnight we all went to the store and bought New Moon and then watched that one too.

The next day they made flower hair clips..

Which they are modeling here!

Ashleigh said her party was awesome and had such a great time. It turned out super cute and all three girls had a wonderful time!

Spring is in the air

I'm excited to get my garden started this year. I think I'm going to get it started inside since I'm planting in pots like last year. I came across this picture and I thought it was super clever so I wanted to share.

It's made out of rain gutters! How perfect for those without much room. 

I want to install a window box on my bedroom window this year. I have great views of the mountains and I would love some aromatics planted there. I know for sure I'll plant lavender but I'm not sure what else. (it gets full sun)

I was happy to learn that blueberries and raspberries can be grown in containers! I will be adding them to my garden this year, even though I wont get fruit right away. 

I'm looking forward to fixing up the planter bed in the front of my house this year. There aren't may flowering shade perennials but I have found a few that I would like to plant.  There are so many projects I would like to get done around the house but my tax return is only going to stretch so far. I need to prioritize and just go down the list till it runs out. If I buy from seeds and start the plants inside, it will save me quite a bit from buying the plants later.

Oh, and I bought the most darling garden labels the other day. They look like these, just not as tall:

Here's a couple cute ideas I saw while looking for that picture:

Mary Mary quite contrary...

How does your garden grow?...

Well, mine will grow with the help of this little gem I found. Automatic Watering Timer. I've been looking at them for about a week and I found one with great reviews so I'm excited.

On a side note, here a website I found for a family with a great garden/small farm in the middle of the concrete jungle!