Zucchini/Summer Squash Cross

My garden has been producing a lot so far and it has been so much fun eating out it. So far in our yard we've been able to eat: cabbage, lettuce, radishes, beans, spinach, peas, tomatoes, zucchini, our weird zucchini/summer squash cross, spaghetti squash, raspberries, strawberries, hot peppers, and tomatillos. It has been so yummy! However, this year I had a volunteer squash plant come up and I decided to keep it to see what it was. This is what came up. It's shape is like a summer squash (crooked neck squash), but the inside it like a zucchini. It is good, but different looking. So instead of my yummy summer squash, I will have double the zucchini. I'm not sure I am too thrilled about that.

Lagoon

On the 24th of July we took the kids to Lagoon. Kaymin has been before, but this was Deilen's, Kameni's, and Gerrit's first time. We paid $25 for a coupon off of KSL that allowed us to get in for $18 per person. I can't believe Lagoon is $41.95....it is fun...but really...that fun? For $18 it was really fun. It just so happened that it was the last day to get bounce back vouchers. However, bounce back had to be used by the 26th, which was Sunday so we went back on Saturday. Some of our friends met us there, Jaime and Brady and we rode some rides with them. Blake and I took turns sitting out with Gerrit if he couldn't ride the rides. On the ones he could ride, he really enjoyed them, except for the Log Flume in Pioneer Village. He tensed up his whole body when he went down the hill. Kameni cried while waiting to get on almost every ride saying she didn't want to ride that it was scary (including the kiddie rides), but we made her anyway. Then she would laugh and have fun the whole time and get off by saying it was her favorite ride. Deilen is a dare devil. The bigger the ride, the better for him. The only time he cried was when he couldn't ride Wicked because he was 3 inches too short. He even woke up on Saturday morning saying that he grew bigger so he could ride Wicked. On the Tidal Wave he rode in the very back and put his hands up. Oh, he is going to be so fun when he gets tall enough to ride all of the rides. We talked Kaymin into riding Wicked and she kept her eyes closed the whole ride and screamed. She won't be going on that anymore. While I stayed out with Gerrit, everyone else rode Rattlesnake Rapids. They got soaked, especially Kameni. Poor little thing was still wet when we got home that night at midnight. We stayed until the park closed and we were all wore out. The next morning we decided not to take Gerrit and had Blake's mom watch him. However, when we got back to Lagoon, Kameni cried that she was tired and wanted a nap. Rather than fight with her, Blake ran her back home to his mom to watch. It was so much fun with the 4 of us. It was really crowded so we didn't get a lot of rides in and we didn't stay too long. We were so exhausted from the day before. But we sure had our Lagoon fix for a while anyway.

Youth Conference

This past weekend I went to Youth Conference with our youth and had a blast! I think I have built up a wall and didn't want to like Young Womens again, but Youth Conference is just what I needed. I love the young women in our ward. On Friday we went to our Young Women President's mom's house and had a dutch oven dinner, played team building activities and some volleyball. We were able to stay in our own beds that night and had to be back to the church by 6am to go to Camp Williams. It is an Army training camp in the Draper area, I believe. There we did some rope courses in teams. We had a lot of fun trying to figure out as a team how to get from point A to point B using limited supplies. Some of them we passed, others we failed but we had a great time. However, I learned that day how fast your life can change..or even be taken away from you. One of our male leaders was climbing over a cinder block wall that was about 6-7 feet tall when his wedding ring got caught on a nail that was flush with the wall but stuck out above the wall by maybe 1/32 of an inch. It ripped off his finger and about 1 1/2 feet of tendons. Half of the leaders helped him, while the other half gathered up the youth under the pavilion. We put his finger in ice, applied pressure to the wound and gave him a blessing. 911 was called and he was taken away to the emergency room for surgery where we later found out the they would not be able to sew his finger back on. They cut a V shape out of the bone in his palm and moved his pinkie over so there wouldn't be a space. Although it was a tragic experience, we all prayed and continued on our day including his two daughters that were there with us. We went repelling, had the bishop and our Young Women and Young Men Presidents speak to us and ended it with swimming. Overall we had a wonderful time and the lesson the leaders wanted to teach the youth was unity. Unity was definitely learned as we all worked together throughout the day and especially during our emergency. Finally after 1 1/2 years of being in Young Women's I am actually grateful that I am in it and I am really excited for what is to come.

My Tomato Bushes...Almost Trees

For some strange reason my garden has decided to go crazy this year. I am not exactly sure if there was some magical substance in the cow poop I got from my dad or if it is because I started a lot of my stuff from seed indoors, but my garden has taken off. I have already had peas, lettuce, radishes, spinach, strawberries, cabbage, zucchini, and summer squash. My green beans will be ready in a couple of days and then I guess it is back to canning for me. I have never grown green beans so this will be a new experience. However, I have never had my tomato plants get this big. They are covered in tomatoes, although they are all still green. I had Deilen and Kameni stand by them so I could take a picture in comparison to them. Although it is hard to tell the tomato plants are about as tall as they are (they are a little over 3 1/2 feet tall). Our fence is 6' and some plants on the left of the picture are getting pretty close to that. To the right of the picture are my potato plants. Oh, I can't wait to be eating them.

Activity Day Girls at Camp Fife

Yesterday, Kaymin got to go to Camp Fife with the Activity Day girls. I still can't believe she is old enough to go. She could hardly sleep she was so excited. She made this camp shirt to wear and looked so cute. I didn't go, but she came home smiling and full of excitement. However, by 5:30pm she was asleep. I woke her up at 6:30pm to eat dinner, but she wouldn't stay awake. I finally just let her sleep and she woke up this morning at 6:30am. She was really tired. Too bad they don't have camp more often.

4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we had a blast. First thing in the morning the kids were begging to do the smoke bombs and pops. Pretty soon they had invited all of the neighbor kids and the festivities began. Afterwards we took the kids swimming at the Roy Complex. We had so much fun. Thanks to our pool, Deilen and Kameni were fish and did not want their floaties. We had to really watch them. All Kaymin could talk about was jumping off of the high dive. During her swimming lessons the last two days her instructor was teaching them to dive into the pool from the side. Everyone was trying on their knees, but Kaymin picked it up pretty quick and moved onto her feet. Well when we got there she walked as fast as she could to the high dive and dove right off. I couldn't believe it. Kaymin had never been on a high dive before and had never dove off a diving board. Well at least with some things we know she doesn't have any fear. She even landed pretty good, but still landed too much on her chest. So she just stuck with diving off of the low dive. She played the whole time on the diving boards while Blake and I watched the fish so they wouldn't drown. Gerrit didn't like it too much and cried most of the time, but it was nap time so I think he wanted to go to bed.

Later that night we took the kids to the Hot Rock'n 4th in Ogden. We basically bought the tickets for the Demolition Derby and fireworks. The derby lasted 4 hours and the kids loved it, especially Deilen. Gerrit was really good too and wasn't too afraid of the loud engines. I've been to MANY derbies and I've never seen a truck and suburban derby...except for now. I now know why they don't do them. For one, they would last forever and had to wait for them to get stuck, and second they tip over way too easy. Towards the end of the derby Kameni began complaining about her ears. After the fireworks, we came home and crashed.

That night I gave Kameni some Motrin and hoped for the best. She woke up in the morning screaming in pain. Because I had to teach Young Women's and prepare a talk for Kameni (the Deilen gave because he is the best big brother ever), Blake took her to the doctor. Yesterday she was suppose to have her 3rd set of tubes, but since she can't swim for 6 weeks we are waiting for the end of the summer. Heck, what is the difference? She is going to get ear infections regardless.

Gerrit Finally Crawls Down the Stairs

I've been crazy busy so I am playing catch up today. While I was at girls camp, Blake stayed home with the kids. The next morning after I came home from picking up my Bountiful Basket Gerrit was halfway down the stairs, saw me and hurry crawled to the top and cried for me to get him....the little stinker. Blake said, "why didn't you tell me that he could crawl down the stairs by himself?" I would have LOVED to tell him that, but I didn't even know that he could for I had never seen him do it. Now Gerrit, and myself, have found new freedom. I never thought this day would come.