I really love ..........

. . . what christal wrote yesterday, and, when i'm done *garden reporting,* i want to add some of what she posted ......

i'm so excited .... kate and matt and the gang are coming this weekend to drop off caleb for a vacy with gramma

i know we will have sooo much fun .... fishing, bike riding, swimming, gardening, deciding to have ice cream for breakfast (LOL) -- ya'll know the rules: ice cream for breakfast at gramma's --

or any other little thing we like .....

our garden is so wonderful ... it brings me great peace and calm when i work in it ... it is truly a blessing ... sadly, though, i have over watered and some of the zucchinis are not happy:


when i posted this on gardenweb.com, the response was that the zucchinis could be over watered or the plants could be over producing, but b/c we have had good fruit previously, all should be ok ... so, i have not watered this week (it's killing me b/c it's hot and they look hot, too ... LOL) ... i am checking the plants daily for any *aberrations* ... this is what they look like now:


i'm really feeling much better after my *experience* on monday: i had the bx at 2, and, after being in a recovery room for a while, i was transferred to the *step-down* recovery unit ... i could order anything i wanted for david and my dinner, so we feasted courtesy of virginia mason hospital -- deluxe hamburger w/cheese and bacon; steak fries, salad w/ranch dressing; lemon meringue pie AND angle food cake with strawberries and topping .... WOW!!! ... then we left to drive home with a stop at derek's (david's son) home ... however, i was so sore i could not face the 2.5 hr drive home, so we stayed the night with derek and beth ... i have been sitting and *behaving* myself (hard to believe, i know) for the past couple of days and have recovered completely ...

now, on to some of the things christal posted -- this is what she says:

*I love profound things that jump out of a book and make me evaluate how I think and do things. I am so thankful for the ride of life, the ups, the downs; all of it shapes us into who we are.*

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"In our lives we hear a lot about the future and what we should do with it. Those that tell you the the future is up to you are dishonest. The future is not always up to you. But the cynics who would tell us that the future is not up to you are also lying.

What then is the truth?

The truth is that your heart will be broken. People you love will die. Dreams you have will not work out the way you intended. People are capable of cruelty that will wound you deeply. At the end of you life your body will be old and out of control. This is if you are lucky. There are those to whom this happens when they are young, which is one of the saddest things that can happen. You will be scared. In the world in which we live, people will murder and degrade and hurt other people in ways that are incomprehensible. You will wake up in the middle of the night and feel a weight on your chest and in your soul that you don't know if you can shake.

So what makes life worth living?

There is so much that makes life worth living. The gospel is true. Jesus Christ died for us and HE and our Father in Heaven love us more than we can imagine. You will hear babies laugh. You will love people, and they will love you. One night, you will wake up and hear the quiet and you will feel peace. People are capable of kindness and goodness and they will show it to you, and you will show it to them. You will learn things. Dreams that you have had will come true. Not all of them but some of them. You will have moments of joy at just being alive that will fill your soul. You will have to decide if these things outweigh the others. But you cannot be lazy. You cannot expect good to happen to you and think that you do not have to contribute.

Pres. Hinckley once quoted Jenkins Lloyd Jones saying:

' Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise......

'Life is like an old time rail journey -- delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

'The trick is to THANK the Lord for letting you have the ride'

Pay attention to those around you. Do not take your association with others lightly without thinking about what effect you might cause. Don't let this cripple you, let it empower you and make you think. You can't do things only for other people, you also can't do things only for yourself. It will ruin you either way.

Your life is going to be wonderful if you embrace wonder, and
worthwhile if you embrace things that are of worth."

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christal, your blog is so awesome ... i learn so much from you .... thank you so much for who you are and what a wonderful influence you are on your family and all with whom you come in contact!

i am thankful for and love and appreciate my family: my husband, my daughters and son and their spouses, and my very darling, very precious, very cutie grandchildren .... i'm thankful for the trials in my life, for they have made me strong and more sure of who i am -- a daughter of god ... i'm thankful for being a member of the lord's church ... and, most important,

i'm thankful for my testimony and for how much i know heavenly father loves me.

CONGRATULATIONS
MOLLY AND MIKE AND TEVIA
i'm way too excited!

Movin' right along .....

another day, another garden day

.... uh, really, that was yesterday ...

i didn't get a chance to take pics yesterday ... it was *alaska fish fertilizer day* ... and, boy, oh, boy does it smell like a fish farm out there .... the flies love it; they were buzzing around my legs all afternoon ... so i took pics this afternoon after church .....

i fertilized the entire garden yesterday because i will be *out of commission* for a few days ... no lifting or carrying for me .... however, i do have a plan:

SEW SEW SEW
yea, you read right ....

SEW SEW SEW

TRULY RULEY .....

darling clothes for maya and emma and baby jazmyn .... i can't be on my feet, so i'm stuck inside it's a wonderful OPPORTUNITY to stay indoors, with *the blaster* blowing, and sew my buns off ...

crisis in the garden ....

it's been pretty hot -- 90s and 100s -- and the garden needs a lot of water ... yesterday one broccoli plant was leaning and i could see they all needed to be showered ... all was well until the wind kicked up -- by *kicked up,* i'm meaning LOTS OF WIND .... i had the tiny non-rotating sprinkler on and it blew lots of water at the very tall corn (it's taller than me ... yes, i know, that's not a stretch -- pardon the pun) ... as it did that, it weighed the corn down and the first five or so stalks in the three rows tipped over.

this is the rascal of a very thirsty broccoli, this morning, that started all the ruckus in the garden:

this is what happened to the corn rows -- david added some soil to the bottoms of the first two rows, but we have not gotten to the rest yet:

don't get yer hopes up ....

i can't believe it's taken me almost four months to post ... i'm such a slacker ... just ask david ... LOL ...

i posted pics of my awesome garden at picasa ... just click on the link to see 'em ... the garden takes a ton of time and energy ... the heat has been both wonderful (melts these ol bones) and terrible (waaay too hot to work outside in said garden in the daytime -- 93 today) ... what you see of the straw is now almost obscured from all the plant growth ... the squash garden in the far back is huge and i had to clean out some weeds last night and lay down some straw so the watermelons and cantaloupes would not go roaming into the far reaches and deposit their bounty there for the bunnies ... the tomatoes are taking over the middle garden, and the corn is at my shoulder height ... oh, yea, the potatoes (which i have never grown before) have now blossomed ... AMAZING, if you ask me .....

here is a shot of the garden from saturday:

you would think, though, with all this hot weather, i would be inside this too cold home (the blaster* is terrible, if you ask me, and no one does) sewing my buns off, however that's not the case ... i *think* about sewing, but thoughts don't make the project ... i'm *repenting* and am going to do better ...

*the swamp cooler -- and sometimes it feels as if we ARE living in a swamp, too!