Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Peter Piper Picked a Peck...

This summer has been truly great so far. As you all know- Hailey is quite the handful and so I try to keep her busy each day with new adventures, learning experiences, books, movies, games, foods, etc. Well one of my favorites recently is picking our own fruits and veggies! We've been to two spectacular farms recently for "pick your own" seasonal produce. The first farm we went to was called Frog Eye Farm. They only have blueberries... but WOW are those blueberries AMAZING! I am not usually a blueberry person. But this farm has converted me. They were so fresh, so sweet, and sometimes tart (which I kinda like!). And they had TONS! It was perfect for Hailey too because the bushes were just her hight! and she could eat what she wanted (they don't spray chemicals on their bushes). We went with my two youngest sisters, Elise and Brooke, and my dear cousin Abbey and her younger sister Allie. It was a blast... but also ridiculously hot! Collectively we picked about 1.5lb in 30min and we were so sweaty we had to call it quits. But it was only $4.50 for for 1.5lbs!!! WOW! Such a good deal!

(Allie, Elise, Brooke, Hailey)


(eating whatever blueberries she can get her hands on!)


nom nom nom

(Hailey and two of her Aunties)

(She pretty much IS a blueberry!)



The second place we went to is called Rock Hill Orchard. And OH MY GOSH! I was AMAZED! THey have pretty much everything you could want in a garden! We picked: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes, okra, eggplant, green bell peppers, and jalapenos! I also picked up a $1 carton of 3 large cucumbers and a $4 carton of 5 nectarines! Then we went to the flower rows and picked a bucket of zennias of all colors for $7.50. All of this was only $20ish (can't remember exactly). What an awesome deal! In a grocery store $20 wouldn't have covered most of that! The fruits alone would have been over $20! Anyway, the farm also had blueberries (not nearly as good looking as Frog Eye Farm's) and tons of herbs to pick! Overall- I HIGHLY recommend this style of grocery shopping! :) It was a great experience and Hailey thoroughly enjoyed drenching herself in berry juices!


(eating all the strawberries I so diligently picked!)

(she loved looking at the huge flowers... they are bigger than her head)

(tired of picking haha)

(the reapings of our labors)

Fruit Salad anyone??


(salsa??)


My beautiful Zennias!


Any good okra or eggplant recipes out there???

North Carolina Mini Trip

In 2006 Ryan began his two year LDS mission to serve the hispanic people of North Carolina. That was 6 years ago. Since then, one of the families he baptized has a son that has decided to serve a two year mission of his own. So, we planned a trip back to NC to visit with this family and to support this young man as he sets off on the next chapter in his life. Incredibly, Ryan's mission companion, Heath Dewey, who co-taught this family only lives 20 minutes from us and so he and his wife were able to come with us! We took off early Friday and drove down to VA Beach where we stopped for the day/night. We stayed with one of Heath's cousins and her family. They have a daughter that is only 6 days older than Hailey- they had a blast together! They took us to the beach and Ryan and the other guys had endless fun surfing, skin boarding, and whatever else activities they are called on the beach with a board.
(Hailey and Kennedy playing at the beach)









(hanging out at Heath's cousin's house)

On Saturday we drove down to NC and did some site seeing around the areas that Heath and Ryan lived for 6 months together. We finally met up with the Cabreras (the family they converted). We helped set up for Carlos' (the son going on a mission) farewell party at the church and enjoyed some authentic homemade mexican food... Holy Heavens Above- SUCH GOOD FOOD! I've never had such amazing tamales in all my life! yummm.


(pinata!)


On Sunday we went to church with the Cabreras and Ryan and Heath were given the opportunity to speak in church with Carlos. It was emotional and very touching. We spent the afternoon with the family and were able to all bear testimony to the gospel and the spirit that was being felt. It was such an amazing opportunity. I absolutely LOVE seeing how Ryan has changed the lives of others. I was not given the opportunity of serving a mission myself, but I have been given the opportunity to see the blessings that come from serving one, or marrying someone who has. I am SO blessed to have such an amazing husband who was selfless enough to give up two years of his life to serve others and bring the knowledge of the gospel to them. I couldn't be more proud or happy for my husband. And how amazing it was for him to see the rippling effects of his mission taking into effect. 


(us and the Cabreras)

(Cabrera family and their missionaries!)

(Heath, Carlos, and Ryan)

(Ryan and Heath with the current missionaries serving in that area, and Carlos!)

Carlos will now serve in the Salt Lake, Spanish Speaking Mission for 2 years. He will now get to experience the giving end of the conversion process and have personal experience from the receiving end. 

What an amazing weekend. My testimony has truly grown and expanded. The Lord has truly blessed me and my little family. 



(rocking out in the back seat on the way home)

One Trauma After the Next

My dad has always said, "It's a good thing kids are so dang cute- or else, they wouldn't make it!". I have never understood that saying better than I have over this past week. Now I know...

Let me start with last Thursday. Thursdays are usually the days we go spend with my mom and sisters down in Burke. So I was getting ready and straightening my hair. When I was done I put the straightener on the counter and turned it off. Well Hailey decided it was her turn to give it a try (I'm sure you can see where this is going). She only had it in her tiny little hands for a moment. But her soft delicate skin was no match for the 400F (give or take) hot flat iron. It scalded her pretty badly. And I felt awful! I thought that she had walked out of the bathroom... I guess I was wrong. She burned her first two fingertips on the left hand and the entire length of her thumb on the right hand. We rubbed ice and ran cool water on her burns for almost an hour before she could stop crying.


(the pictures really don't do the actually thing justice. the next day the whole thing turned into a HUGE blister that made her thumb 2x bigger than normal.)

Of course this all happened the day before our beach trip! Great. So I did my best to bandage her wounds- but have you even tried to bandage a finger wound?? THERE. IS. NO. GOOD. WAY! Especially on little tiny fingers! ugg. But I did what I could, and it seemed to work pretty well. I wrapped some gauze around it and then fashioned the bandage tape around her thumb and secured it around her wrist to keep it from falling off. Success!
(all bandaged up!)

At the beach, my main concern was to keep her wounds free from infection- but I should have been more concerned with what she was ingesting... sand. She loved the beach (Separate blog entry on that).  But she kept getting sand in her mouth! Yuk!


Hailey has been on a big ELMO'S WORLD kick. She always wants to be watching "Elmose". So on our drive to the beach we had to watch the same 2 Elmo's World episodes over and over again! I was just about to blow my brains out when we finally got her to enjoy some "How to train your Dragon"

AFter our adventures to the beach we were pretty tired. So the next day Hailey took a pretty long nap (about 3 hours) in the which time I also fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of Hailey knocking on her bedroom door. You see, we recently changed her from her crib to the convertible toddler bed.



So in order to keep her from getting up and walking out the door, we put one of those baby door knob safety things on. So when she wakes up, she comes knocking on the door for me to come get her. Well, I failed to realize that she would become interested in the little whole opening for the handle lock. She locked the door from the inside and I could no longer get in her bedroom to get her.



I tried busting her out for about an hour. I had called Ryan and he was making his way home as fast as he could- but he works an hour away. I was freaking out pretty bad. Hailey was calling for me and I couldn't get to her. There is nothing worse than feeling helpless to aid your child and save them from pain or discomfort. I was distraught. So I ran downstairs and dragged a neighbor up to help me. Luckily, he had the tools needed to bust through the door jam. Of course, now he thinks I'm a blubbering idiot. But I made him some awesome cookies to try to make up for it. :)

Thus concludes the adventure/trauma of the past week. Bring on the next week.

Friday, July 12, 2013

The DIY Kitchen

Awhile back I posted pictures of my new home and all the things I was changing around the house- well I am finally done with our Kitchen! A few Saturdays ago, after we were starting to finally feel all settled I said to Ryan, "It's time! I'm doing the kitchen!". And bless his heart- he helped me each step of the way, even though he was not completely on board with tearing the kitchen up after settling down (I didn't know this until half way through our project). I am so grateful to him for always being supportive  of my crazy ideas and my DIY obsessions! He is so great at letting me be creative. It's nice that, after the day-to-day routine, I can sit down and be in my own little world of creativity and accomplishment. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband :) (by the way, he totally loves the kitchen now and is glad we did it!)
BEFORE

(sydney taking down wallpaper)

(brenna taking down wall paper)

(most wallpaper down!!)

(doors and drawers down)



ALL DONE!

ALL DONE!

Do you like it??