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.

Memories

The other day I was driving home and noticed that there are already Christmas lights up on a few homes in my neighborhood. I thought to myself that Thanksgiving is not even here yet and I can already see signs of Christmas everywhere. I love Thanksgiving! There is something about the holidays that stir up so many good memories. I can remember the smell of our wood burning fireplace and almost feel the crispness of the fall air as the leaves dropped from the large pecan trees in our front yard. I can picture my grandkids having so much fun running through the big piles of leaves. I can almost smell the pot of chili or soup simmering on the stove in the kitchen. I remember staying up late and making cinnamon rolls and apple pies so they would be fresh and warm when the kids arrived home for Thanksgiving. I remember the turkey cooking in the oven, the yummy pumpkin pies and then sitting down with my family to a "feast". After Thanksgiving dinner we would all get together and clear up the dishes so we could visit and play with the grandkids. Sometimes a football game was on the tv and all the men were stretched out on the floor either watching the game or snoozing. The girls would be laughing and talking about some craft or project we had planned to do for Christmas. Seems like that was the best time to make a batch of fudge too. I have so much to be thankful for and appreciate all that I have. However, I have to admit that I am very excited for Christmas and can't wait until my tree is up. More memories come flooding back as I take my handmade ornaments out of the box and place them on the tree. I will never forget the people that gave them to me. I love this season of the year. I love the excitement, the beautiful lights, the color, the music, and the love that so freely is given by family and friends. I have to admit that I even enjoy the hustle and bustle of shopping as I try to find that "perfect" gift. I am so glad that there is a "Reason for the Season". I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the opportunity I have to celebrate His birth. I am so thankful for memories. Family is the best! Memories of Christmases past are sometimes the best Christmas presents!

My summer project

Just a few pictures of the work in progress.

My new room

I decided I needed a change in my bedroom. I have been stuck in a rut for a long time. Have you ever walked into a store and fell in love with something and knew it was just what you had been looking for. Well, this happened to me and I was so excited. I got a gonga deal and so I bought it right on the spot. After searching for a couple of weeks for a matching shower curtain I decided to just buy another comforter and take it all apart and use the material to make the shower curtain and the cornice box for the window. It turned out so nice. Then I bit the bullet and got rid of my parents 1960 bedroom furniture and got new stuff. It is so nice. While I was transfering my things into the new dresser I came across some personal items that belonged to my mother, my grandmothers and mother in law. I decided to put them in a shadow box so I could display them on my wall instead of hidden away in my dresser. I love my new room.

Due West

I thought you might enjoy listening to some of this great country music. My brother's boy Brad Hull is part of this group. They just released their first single to the radio stations. Listen for "I Get That All The Time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C_2TkW1elc

Grandma's Adventure

So which little cutie did this little trick? I think her name was Avery Jane Webb. I had the opportunity to stay with Avery and Daylen while Karen and Preston took Addison and Tanner to Disneyland this past week. After Mom and Dad left our first item on the agenda was a trip to the grocery store. Daylen said we needed some SNACKS! Mom said he could have some Lucky Charms cereal since he didn't get to go to Disneyland. We added marshmellows, and fruit snacks and banannas. We had a great time and fortunately the kids did not try to tie me up or anything like that but I am sure if I had suggested playing that game they would have loved it. I have come to the conclusion that it is not so bad to never see any news broadcasts or daily sitcoms on the television for 4 days. I actually have come to like Max and Ruby, Lil Bill and Dora and Diego. The Noggin channel is awesome, once I figured out how to turn all the media equipment on. I never have been very technical and a 4 year old's explanation didn't help. Looking at life through a child's eye is amazing. No worries, no stress... at least no adult worries and stresses. We had lots of play days at the park, rides on the carousel at the mall, and LOTS of treats. Daylen loves giant peanut butter cookies. Ending the day with a bubble bath was lots of fun too. Not so bad being a kid again when you are my age!

My Friday night date

I had a fun evening with my two oldest granddaughters last night. Megan and Addison are 10 years old and only two days apart. Our main objective was to help Addison find some tennis shoes to wear in Disneyland next week. After having no luck at Payless and Famous Footwear stores, we decided to just "bite the bullet" and go to the mall. Megan knew right where to find tennis shoes just like hers. We managed to find the perfect tennis shoes at the Van's store. That was enough to work up an appetite! I said we might as well eat at the food court so off we went. Lots of choices but Subway won out. Did you know that Subway does not serve french fries? The girls said that the hot dog place had the best lemonade and french fries and that they would taste so good with the with the bacon and lettuce sub sandwich. Who was I to disagree with these experienced mall shoppers. After dinner we decided that since we were already in the Mall, we might as well look around, right? I thought the girls were going to suck all the air out of every store we went in with their gasps of delight. Words like adorable, so cute, awesome, and Oh grandma look at this, came flowing out of their mouths. Of course Grandma could not resist. With our shopping bags under our arms and lots of chatter and giggling we decided to go check out some more stores. We were having so much fun that we did not realize how late it was getting. We got locked in the mall when it closed. The girls thought that would be ok because the JC Penney home store had plenty of beds to sleep on and the food court would be open the next morning. We finally found our way out the emergency exit. I had so much fun and hope the girls did too. Awesome friday night date!!!

Too late

I got this broccoli plant from Sharon and I have tried to take very good care of it. I planted it in a pot on my front porch where I could see it every day. I watered it, babied it along until it got big enough to stand on its own. I fertilized it, made sure it got plenty of sunshine. I watched it grow for weeks. I was so excited as it began to get bigger and bigger. Soon the little broccoli spears began to appear. It grew into a nice healthy stalk of broccoli. The other day I decided it was time to harvest my first stalk of broccoli. I planned to do this as soon as I got home from work. After work I went inside, changed my clothes, got a knife, went outside to the plant and this is what I found! Some hungry critter beat me to it. This is all that was left. Hope they choked on it!

The white stocking

I love this time of year. It is a time to evaluate myself and make resolutions for the new year. For the past few years we have added a white stocking to our row of christmas stockings. Each family member writes down a goal for the new year on a piece of paper and we put it in the white stocking as our gift to Jesus. We work on this goal all year and then on Christmas Eve we evaluate ourselves and then write down something new to work on for the next year. Seems like time slips by so fast and I hardly had time to accomplish my goal. Why is it that when y0u are young time seems to move so slowly but as we get older the birthdays seem to come around too fast? This year I felt like I did not do as well as I could have and so I put the same goal in for next year. Maybe 2009 will not slip by quite as fast as last year. Even though I did not accomplish my goal I am grateful for a new year and the chance to try again. I was reading in the Ensign this morning and was reminded of a talk by David Bednar. I recognize the sweetness of "tender mercies" in my life. I have truly been blessed this past year. Happy New Year to everyone! May 2009 be as Elder Tom Perry said in General conference. 'THE BEST IS YET TO BE'

My Claim to Fame

Christmas was so wonderful this year. I love everything about Christmas. I am thankful for the excitement, the colors, the music, the giving, the love, and most of all for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I even don't mind all the hustle and bustle. I did get to spend a lot of time with family and that made it extra special. One of the highlights of my holiday was a trip to Safford. I took my friend Sharon Johnson, my grandaughters Addison and Megan to a concert. My nephew Brad is a member of a great group called Due West and they did a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society. It was so good. His new Cd should be out in February. Brad also got his guitar out at our family party and Megan jammed with him on the piano and all the kids sang along with him. We are proud of Brad and his accomplishments. He is our claim to fame!

I thought I should let you know that Mickey Mouse is alive and well. I just spent four wonderful days in Disneyland with four of my grandchildren. Karen and Preston invited me to come along to help push the stroller. Wow, what a vacation! The weather was perfect and there were not very many people there on Wednesday and Thursday. The park turned into Christmas on Friday and the decorations were amazing. We had so much fun. I still can't handle the roller coaster rides but I really had fun on the others. Trips like this keep you young!

Morning blues

I am having a hard time getting up at my usual time now that it is still dark at 6 am. Don't you love these cool crisp mornings? Makes you want to ignore that alarm clock, pull the covers up over your head and snuggle down in your warm bed and sleep just a little bit longer. AHHHH, so nice!

Maybe ignoring the alarm clock is not such a good idea after all! Thanks for warning me Sharon.

Up Date

I am trying to remember where I am in my life. I have that senior disease and can't remember where I was in my old blog. I guess to start off, my car is good as new. Can't even tell it was ran into by a delivery truck in the church parking lot. I also got my mission call as a service missionary to the Mesa East Church Facilities Management Office over on McDowell between Lindsay and Val Vista. Right now I am doing a little bit of everything. If things quiet down at this office I will move on to another FM office but right now I am pretty busy. I only work 20-25 hours a week so that is good. I still have time for my grand kids and rimming around with my friends. I love what I am doing mostly because it is service and it keeps me busy. I am having a hard time gearing down after so many years of working. It is good for the ole self esteem too. I am learning some new computer programs as well as learning a lot of new things about how our meetinghouses are kept in tip top shape. We are so blessed to have all these beautiful buildings to worship in and soon a new temple here in Gilbert all made possible by precious tithing money!