Lets Get Dirty

Time to Plant the Garden

Our first Apple tree

Let's hope it survives the summer

Tyranosaurus

Luke drew this picture. He is the one who also wrote Bella's name. I asked him who was in the picture (the pink n purple drawing) and he responded a little confused that it was a tyrannosaurus. I later realized it was obviously a T-Rex by the fact that it has two fingers and three toes, so funny. The other person in this picture is me with baby Royce in my tummy. Cracks me up!

Bella drew this. The big image is Ariel and the smaller one is her. Later she added baby Royce in Orange. She also drew a B on Ariel's stomach which I was impressed by cause I just taught her to write those today.We were playing Go-Fish and Royce insisted on holding the cards. (He is obviously thinking very hard about his next move)

We were out on Memorial Day and just happened to drive by this Memorial cemetery and took the opportunity to show it to the kids and explain the meaning behind the day. It was a nice experience.

(This is my favorite tree in our yard, its our butterfly tree, last year when we moved in there were dozens of butterflys swarming it daily, its so pretty)

These pictures crack me up because this is seriously what we wear on a daily basis and I have no shame about it. There is no use getting dressed nice when you know you are just going to go out and get dirty. Its kinda liberating


These are some squash grown in our garden. We picked them this morning and below is what we had for breakfast. There is something really cool about eating a meal grown in your own garden.
(onions with squash fresh spinach and steak seasoning. Fresh and yummy)
I am just so happy that I actually grew something. That may seem silly but seriously the first year James and I were married he bought me a flower plant and it died within a week because I didn't realize I needed to put it in the sun. I always thought I just didnt have a green thumb but apparently these things can be learned. I still have a long way to go, but am enjoying learning.

Silly-ness

You can't escape the silly-ness in the Mortensen home!

Poor sweet Bella has been having a rough couple weeks. It started about 2 1/2 weeks ago when she broke out in hives on her face. It started spreading all over her body and the sores wouldn't heal. Finally last Mon the 16th I took her to the Doc. Bella had a bacterial staff infection from itching so she needed antibiotic. We started her on one type. The sores didn't get worse but they didn't go away so last Friday the Doc switch her to a different type (which was actually a pill that she has to swallow and thank goodness Bella is a champ at that) Well the sores have finally been healing but her hive keep coming and going. Today they came back with a vengeance. Poor thing is all scratched up, red and swollen. I called the Doc and they said to switch from giving her Claretin to Allegra and they want to start her on some steroids. I really don't want to give her steroids. I have heard awful things about them. I am hoping that the Allegra will clear things up for her. Its really sad, she wakes up every night crying cause she is so itchy and uncomfortable.My garden. This has definately been a year of learning but its starting to look good. We have harvested a few crock neck squash and a handfull of peas. I noticed yesterday that one of my tomato plants has flower. Lets keep our fingers crossed... Here are a few key points I want to remember for next year

• Start my tomatoes seeds early like January as well as plant spinach and lettuce then
  
• As much as I want a organic garden it is more challenging than I thought with the crazy bugs here in TX. Give in to the pesticides.
• Try to keep plants near each other of the same type so they can pollinate each other
• Mulch with old leaves it prevents weed, help keep the soil moist and fertilizes the soil.
• Thats all I can think of now but I am sure there is more.
  

This is a birds nest on our front porch. If you look closely you can see a baby in there. Its a little scary looking

We were teaching Luke to take pics. He took this one.

Royce in all his glorious cuteness

Garden Box

Bella being totally silly and trying to ride her bike around the box

Do you ever just feel so blest? I have been feeling that way lately, I have been thinking to myself that Heavenly Father is really in tune with my family and our needs. James and I have really been wanting to do a garden this year, we eat so much fresh produce that if we got things growing well it would come in really useful. The only thing is neither of us has any experience with this and we didn't want to invest a lot of money doing it in case we didn't grow anything. Anyways I decided that I wanted to do a raised bed because I heard they are easier to care for and to keep weeds out of. I didn't however want to spend money on the wood to make one. Well one day after visiting teaching I was walking home and saw men loading up these large pieces of wood into the back of a truck, so I decided to stop and ask them what they were going to do with them and they were just going to take them to the dump! so of course I asked if I could have them. They were so nice they even brought them over and help unload them into the back yard. Then last week my friend Kathryn called and said she had some extra dirt and wanted to know if we wanted it. Hello so awesome! Now all we have to do is till up the ground underneath, throw the new dirt in and plant some seeds.