Gardening

So, this year is my trial run for my garden, since I've never had a garden before and don't really know much about growing veggies and such. So far I've learned:
1. Plants grow a lot bigger than I thought they would (especially squash)
2. Birds like to eat my plants. A lot.
3. Cucumbers don't come from watermelon plants
4. Plants like water. A lot.
5. Don't plant a squash plant against the back wall with no way to reach it without stepping on all the other plants.
6. Frogs like my garden.

I noticed this guy today hiding among the leaves. His name is Herbie.

So, I planted cucumbers back a long while ago, like maybe in the fall. Or maybe February or so (in Arizona planting season is early since we have a two week long winter). The birds ate all the seedlings once they got to a couple of inches. So I tried again. And it happened again. So I tried watermelon. They kept growing. There were 3 or 4 plants that seemed pretty sturdy. So I thinned them to two, like the package said. And a while later I commented to Jacob about how I thought it was wierd that the two watermelon plants had different kinds of leaves. Then a week or two ago I noticed how the leaves looked like the squash leaves a little, only smaller. So today I found this lovely cucumber growing on my "watermelon" plant that was apparently a cucumber plant. Surprise!

Also, note the really big squash. Mmmmm.

And here's one of Rachel's latest favorites-being in our back yard (on the swing, in the grass, or eating dirt, she likes it all).

Cindy Lou Who from Whoville

Memories...

Two different friends posted this on their blog the same day. Thought we'd give it a whirl...
Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you!

Rachel the Menace

Rachel is using her new-found freedom that comes with crawling and pulling up to wreak havoc in our house, like any good baby does. She's been having so much fun with the DVDs that we got a new entertainment center today. With doors.

Thank you, Craigslist.

She's also into the Ensign--reading you can really sink your teeth into.

I've now moved the stack of magazines, except for 2 that have become Rachel's magazines for her to brutalize/play with.

Lawnmower excitement

With all the rain lately from monsoon season our lawn has gotten nice and green and fluffy. And up to this point all we have owned to take care of it is a weed whacker. Our lawn is small doesn't really grow except in monsoon season, so that was good enough, but last time I cut it I decided it was the last time I was cutting it with a weed whacker. So the lawn has been growing and got pretty fluffy (though nothing like the jungle it would probably be anywhere besides Arizona after not cutting it for as long as it's been). Monday I was watching a friend's 1-year-old while she was at the doctor and we went outside for a little while. The other girl loved pulling all the grass up. Rachel liked pulling at it if she wasn't sitting on it, but when she was sitting on it she just tried to keep her legs from touching the pokey grass.


So today we got our newly ordered reel lawnmower from Amazon in the mail. Rachel was so excited. Not so much about the lawnmower, but about the box that was the perfect height for her to use to stand up and bang on. (Her hair had this funny mohawk thing going from her nap, but you can only see a little of it here.)

I got the lawnmower put together and Jacob did the trial run when he got home from work. Mostly it worked great, except for one really fluffy area where the grass was so long he had to go over it many times. But now our back yard looks lovely. And I don't have to use a weed whacker. :)

Bbbbbbbbbbthtttttt

This was Rachel tonight after dinner with one of her favorite toys: a bowl.

Georgia

Over the 4th of July weekend we got to go visit my brother and sister-in-law in Georgia, along with my parents. It was a lot of fun to see Justin and Marie since we haven't seen them since they moved early last year and they hadn't met Rachel yet. Rachel liked hanging out with them.



We also got to go visit a few cool places. We went to this huge house called the Hay House. It was built in pre-Civil War times and is enormous. They had a tour of the house and it was pretty cool. I'm glad we have air conditioning these days because it got pretty stinkin' hot in the upper levels of the house.

We also went to an old POW camp from the civil war where they kept Union prisoners of war. It was called Camp Sumter, and is now Andersonville National Historic Site. Unfortunately Marie had to work so she didn't get to go.

Rachel was so good the whole trip. On the flight both ways she was just so happy and hardly cried at all except for when she was tired and falling asleep for a couple of minutes. Even with all the driving we did she did great, though I think she started to dislike her car seat a little bit by the end. Here's a picture of her taking a short little nap while Romney, Justin's and Marie's cat, watched over her (before he realized Rachel was something to be feared as she chased after him excitedly).

We got back yesterday night late and today Rachel started army crawling. Justin and Marie just missed it. Guess they'll have to come visit out here. :)

George

I've been meaning to make a toy for Rachel that involves ribbons and paper (pillow tags paper that doesn't rip) since that's pretty much her favorite thing to play with on all her toys: the tags. Then I saw these sock dolls on someone's blog, so I found a video explaining how to make them and kind of adapted it to what I wanted to do. Here's the result. His name is George. (Wendi, tell Shannon she inspired us-not for the doll's looks, just its name.)

Rachel enjoyed poking George's eyes.

The "hair" kept tickling her face when she tried to taste it. She also loves his little bow tie.