remember the sprouts post?

First of all, I got published again and I just received a copy of the issue in the mail along with my mini album return. I am so excited! It's the 3rd one featured and on page 14, it's my Alaska Vacation 3x3 inch accordian mini album. Besides the fact that I got published, this magazine is packed with so many great ideas! My favorites were made by Cathy Z and Rebecca Cooper. I'm excited to help Haeley make a mini album about what she did during her summer vacation. So keep an eye out for the Simple Scrapbooks special issue - Mini Albums in an Evening.

Cj really likes the water, AS LONG AS IT'S NOT IN HIS FACE! One more week of torture for him and I'M DONE! But we do have a good teacher and he does like to jump in. Maybe next year will be better.

Here's Hk doing the backstroke...

I actually planted 4 flowering plants that bloom in the summer months. Wow!


Okay, onto the sprouts...they are not tiny sprouts anymore. I guess maybe they are in the teenager stage. My carrots are growing really slow - hmm. Oh and once the brocolli begins to get ready for picking, how does one keep the bugs out of them? I just thought the brocolli plant was really kind of pretty looking. What can I say, I am having so much fun with the camera!

Check out the corn - wish I'd planted 2 more rows - oh well, there is always next year. Any good tips on keeping the earwigs out. Oh and does anyone know how to take corn all the way to seed? I know vine plants are next to impossible, is corn any easier - especially since the price is increasing all the time.

This is actually the baby pumpkin plants - they said I could grow 3 plants per mound. It's almost the same size as the giant pumpkin plants. Although the fruit will be completely different. We'll have baby pumpkins lining the sidewalk and probably all the way down the driveway this year. I planted more than I realized! When do you cut them from the vine? Or does the vine sort of shrivel up on its own?


We just put the stakes up and Haeley helped me put the twine on the stakes. I am excited to eat fresh slender green beans this year!


Having fun with the camera and lens flare and trying to keep my messy yard out of the photo. This is a pepper plant. My mom gave me 4 peat pots with something in them - 2 turned out to be pepper plants and 2 turned out to be cilantro!!! Except for garlic I have planted everything I need for a salsa garden! I LOVE fresh salsa!


Last night Neil came over and moved some of our dirt from our pile of topsoil to various parts of the yard with his tractor. He even took two loads up to my MIL's house. He even dug this great big hole in the office flower bed and dumped a huge load of our gravel in it. Then Tyler put the drains from the roof down into the hole. Now as long as something doesn't get lodged down in there causing it to get dug back out of the ground, we'll be okay! He wouldn't take any money but at least he took the Thank You card I made for him! Now we just have to finish leveling and then we'll be ready for grass around mid-August. We are going to call around about curbing for the garden areas but I think that is way out of our budget this year. It's been all about manual labor and help from family and friends. We couldn't have done it without all the help!