Not a cucumber!

Seems like all I ever blog about is my garden. I love to tinker around outside and plant things and then watch them grow.   I had pretty good luck with my tomatoes and my zucchini seemed to multiply over night.  I wanted to try my luck with cucumbers this year so I purchased a 6 pack of already sprouted cucumber seeds.  I planted 3 in one garden box and 3 in the other so they would have lots of room to grow.  It wasn't long until I noticed lots of tiny cucumbers. They were doing really well, I mean REALLY well.  I mentioned to my kids that the cucumbers were getting really big and soon they looked like this.

Today I picked my first cucumber.  This is what it looked like.  You never know what those little seeds will produce. 

October in the valley

This is what I found at the local Home Depot today in October!

 Can you believe it is October and it is planting season down here?  I still can't get used to planting my garden in the fall. It was always too cold in Duncan this time of year but the weather in the valley is beautiful right now.   I had lots of help getting the garden ready.  I rented a tiller and Treston spent all morning tilling the soil and adding topper. Karl helped us put in a new watering system.   I am excited to plant lots of vegies next week. We discovered grub worms in one of the boxes so we will have to get rid of them ASAP so we can plant our garden.  Wish us luck!

Look what I did!

I wanted something different to serve fruit in for a party I helped with last night. I have always admired these watermellon baskets so decided to try my hand at carving one.   I was worried about making the V shapes but my daughter Karen who is "Miss Pampered Chef " showed up with a knive that cuts the  v's.  Amazing!  I love modern inventions. The knife made it so easy and everyone  at the party loved it.

The desert blooms

I love living in Arizona.  The recent rains have made the desert bloom.  I made 6 batches of prickly pear jelly last week.  It is amazing to be able to turn
this
into
this

Rain

Rain is such a rare thing around here that when it does rain, even just a little bit we are not quite sure how to act.  Megan  and butter dog showed us.  Love it!

Sometimes

Sometimes life throws you lemons, or a curve ball or whatever! Sometimes the wind just gets knocked out of your sails. Sometimes I think I get too comfortable in my life and take a lot for granted. Sometimes the only thing I can do is endure. Sometimes I put priorities on the back burner. Sometimes I wish things could be different. The past two weeks I have felt all these feelings but I think I have finally come full circle with a situation in my life that stinks! It was not really hard to figure out. Here is what I discovered. I am not alone and never have to be alone. I know my family loves me. They show me how much every day. I love them all so much. I know I have good friends who love and care about me and most importantly I know my Heavenly Father loves me. All I have to do is ask and he is there to help me make lemonade out of my lemons, help me catch the curve ball and put the wind back in my sails. Today, some very special friends brought me a gift, A gift like no other I have ever received. A gift made from kind and loving hands. Those of you who are close to me know how much I love ELVIS. I love to listen to his music and watch Elvis movies, mostly the oldies and wow, that cute curl that hangs over his forhead makes me shiver. Need I say any more? Well look at this amazing quilt that was made especially for me. What more can a girl ask for than to be wrapped up with an Elvis quilt when life throws me curve balls, or lemons, or the wind gets knocked out of my sails. However long and hard the journey, I know that I CAN DO HARD THINGS and with everyone's love and prayers and the help of Heavenly Father I will get through this.

Flowers

I love springtime. I love flowers. I go out side every day and just stand in front of the flower bed and stare at them. There is something about flowers that make me happy. They smell good too.