Sammie

My grandmother came to visit from Missouri this weekend. It was so fun getting to see her.







While she was here we went on a few little adventures-- Dallin, Madison and I took her to Lynn's Paradise Cafe-- a quirky little restaurant in Louisville with what they refer to as "gourmet diner" food...I took my camera so you could see the decorated trees they have in the middle of the restaurant and the pairs of legs with funky pants that are hanging out of the wall. But I left the battery at home in the charger...so here's the link and you may be able to see some of the fun decorations and the yummy menu...
http://www.lynnsparadisecafe.com/

When Sammie was teaching dance in Joplin (she taught dance for over 40 years) she had a student named Shannon who she has kept in contact with over the years. Shannon now owns the Frankfort School of Ballet and asked Sammie if she would come teach a "Masters Class". So Natalie and I went with her to watch. I was so proud of her- she is still so strong, elegant, and graceful and was so skilled in how she was teaching the girls. It just seemed so natural for her. They ended up staying about 1/2 an hour extra to learn from Sammie. Shannon was so sweet and let Natalie participate in a tap class she was teaching. Natty may be getting the bug to dance again, except she wants to go to Ms. Shannon's school. If only it were a bit closer...!
sammie at the barre-


sorry for the poor lighting- her studio is beautiful, but it was dark outside and the inside lighting was not fun!

Anyway- that was our past couple of days! And it's Madison's birthday today, so I may actually do 2 posts in 1 day which means I'm good for another month.

So....

*we found out we're having a GIRL! 18.5 weeks to go....and counting :) When we told the kids, we had the ultrasound picture in an envelope telling the sex of the baby. So before we opened it, Natalie starts chanting, "It's gonna be a girl! Girls are going to win! It's going to be a girl!" etc., etc. And Dallin just sat there looking at her with a bewildered expression on his face, like, "hey...EXCUSE me..." So when we opened the envelope and they found out it was a girl, Natalie started cheering. I looked over at Dallin and his lip started sticking out and his eyes welled up with tears :*( I thought it was because he wasn't getting a brother, but he just didn't like to "lose". So I told him he got to be THE brother in the house and that he'll be in charge of protecting the girls and taking care of them. And I also mentioned that he wouldn't really have to share toys (as much) or clothes. I'm not sure which idea appealed to him more, but he was grinning and happy in about 20 seconds, so I hope all will be well.

*for 1 week straight we've been dealing with a stomach bug between Dallin and I. If I hated laundry before, I positively loathe it now!

*they say a picture is worth a thousand words....let's see if that holds true....
Any questions?

Ahhh....good times!

The Prophet said to plant a garden........

"so that's what we'll do...." sing with me now, Primary graduates....

A few years ago Mom and I were visiting the farm (my grandmother's home) with Natalie and Dallin, and a couple of nights we had "veggie nights" for dinner where we'd walk out to her gardens in the backyard, pick greenbeans and tomatoes and raspberries right from the bush, bring them in, wash them and eat them. First of all, it *was* delicious and healthy, but it was also rewarding and fun to be able to harvest something that Sammie had worked so hard to grow herself.

My grandma and grandpa had long rows of raspberry and blueberry bushes at their home in Indiana- and a fond memory I still have was being able to walk around in the yard for 10 minutes and come in with fresh berries to munch on.

A few months ago while visiting my parents mom was making a meal and simply asked me to walk out to her flower garden and bring in some fresh parsley, oregano and a few tomatoes.

When we lived in Utah, I remember thinking it was so cool that I could go out in Tim's parent's backyard to their garden and dig up carrots and potatoes for dinner that night!

Anyway-all these experiences (along with the prophet's counsel of course) have driven me to really WANT to have my own garden this year. A pretty one with lots of yummy veggies and hopefully a couple raspberry bushes... SO, I went to a gardening class at church last week and learned a TON, but a few things that I thought were EXTRA cool:

1) To avoid weeding and watering: once plants have come up and there has been a good rain (or you have watered sufficiently), lay 2-3 layers of newspaper on the soil in between the rows and plants; then top with 1-2 inches of grass clippings. The lady teaching the class said unless it's been 5 weeks with no rain, she doesn't water! And if it has gone that long, she takes a hose and just slips it under the newspaper to water the plants. When the grass clippings start to thin, just add more. (My mom says Sammie does this already...)

2) Certain plants inhibit the growth of other plants if they're planted next to each other.

3) When you decide how to plant your garden, draw a map of where you plant everything, so that next season, you can move things around. That reduces bug/soil problems.

Wish us luck with our garden!