This is how our garden grows

In April, Stan built us a small garden area in our backyard. We were so excited to start planting seeds. Everything we planted sprouted.

This is a smaller garden that we've had for years. Actually, I would consider this"Stan's Garden". Stan grows tomatoes and bell peppers in the smaller garden. Stan loves bell peppers and tomatoes...I hate them! We've had these same bell pepper plants for 3 years and they just continue to produce and produce. We have a drawer full of bell peppers and tomatoes in our refrigerator right now, and Stan gets them all to himself!!



You may wonder what this is. It's a peach tree. A dwarf peach tree to be exact. The tallest it will get is 6 feet tall. It grows full size peaches.

Looks more like a bush right now, but this is our 2nd peach tree.

The plants in our new garden continue to grow.

Our first harvest was sugar snap peas, spinach and cilantro. The peas were especially yummy, and I love having cilantro on hand to make homemade salsa!


The plants in the back are Sunflowers.

Dallin loves to go outside with Dad to harvest the vegetables.

Dallin acting silly for the camera. Our Sunflowers keep getting taller and taller.

What's wrong with this picture? The Sunflowers finally bloom and decide that they like looking at our neighbors yard rather than our yard! I guess Sunflowers prefer to face the morning sun. Our neighbor thanked us for planting Sunflowers for them. :) We'll have to plant them on the opposite side of the yard next year. These Sunflowers are so amazing. The actual flower is big, thick and extremely heavy! A couple of them started bending over because even though the stalks are thick, they couldn't support the flower anymore. We ended up just cutting the sunflower off of the far left one.

The neighbors view of our Sunflowers. I'm a little jealous!

"Believing is Seeing"

It's NOT "Seeing is Believing"...

It's "Believing is Seeing".

I heard someone once say this and it really stuck with me. I have found this to be so true in my own life. When it comes to God and eternal truths, people tend to say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But I’ve learned throughout my life that this is not how it works. This is not how God works. It is when we make the choice to have faith and believe that we begin to “see”.




“…faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” (Ether 12:6-Book of Mormon)



"But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. For because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true.” (Ether 4:11)



“For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.” (Ether 12:12)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Father's Day Breakfast

What an amazing man I married!! My 3 kids are so blessed to have a father like him! He is simply the best!

Happy Father's Day to three of the most amazing men I know-my Dad, my Father in Law, and my Husband. How blessed I am to be surrounded by such great men and Fathers. I love them with all of my heart.

Camp Shadow Pines-Girls Camp 2009

This year, I had the awesome experience of going to Girls Camp. About 150 Young Women (ages 12-17) from church attended this year. It was so much fun being there with Cassie.

I served on the Stake Staff as a YCL leader. We have been planning and preparing for camp since January. This was my first year going to girls camp as a leader. I have to tell you that I was scared to death about it all. But I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to grow and learn through it all. I was simply amazed to see the amount of work that goes into preparing girls camp. Wow! So many people who unselfishly give of their time to prepare an amazing experience for the Young Women. I felt honored to be a part of it all.


I have to say that Camp Shadow Pines is definitely the way to go. Camp was never this good when I went as a youth (many, many, years ago). There's no roughin' it at Camp Shadow Pines, which was definitely fine by me!! The "cabins" that the girls stayed in were more like dorms, and the Stake Staff Cabins were even better-equipped with a kitchen, living area, bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. I can handle this kind of "camping"!!



The theme of camp was "Treasure Island-An Eternal Adventure". All of the activities were geared towards this theme. The girls were taught to look for Eternal Treasures rather than Worldy Treasures.

Cassie (in yellow to right) doing a little line dancing.

Some of the girls from our ward singing a song as they wait for lunch. We didn't have to cook a single meal during our stay. The Shadow Pines staff cooked breakfast lunch and dinner for us each day. Now that's my kind of camping!!


Some of the YCL's leading the girls in some girls camp songs. We had 30 YCL's this year.

Cassie with her friend Katie.

One of the activities on the hike-putting on "The Whole Armor of God".

I was in charge of knife certification for the 2nd year girls.

The Skits are one of the highlights of camp.

The Priesthood staff was hilarious at Girls Camp. Their skit was the hit of the night.

Bro. Ray getting into his dance moves.

How fun it was to see the Stake Presidency join in on the silliness of camp. They really had us laughing!

The girls from our ward did a great job on their skit.

The Stake Staff skit-seriously we made fools out of ourselves but had fun doing it.:) We laughed the whole way through it.

I'm sure that most of you have heard The Rat Story, but if not you'll have to check out Loree's or Sarah's blog to read the very entertaining account. This is a story that will be talked and laughed about for years!!! I wish I was there to see the chaos of a bunch of screaming ladies jumping on couches, tables, and countertops after discovering a huge rat! I was in the YCL cabin at the time, and when we heard all the screaming coming from the walkie talkies, we just assumed that the stake staff was having some crazy party. :) Luckily, the big and buff and manly men from the Priesthood staff heard their cries and came to save the day.

Needless to say, the rat didn't make it that night. Here is the chalk outline and blood drops on the floor to prove it. Poor thing. He had no idea what was coming.

Well, the guys thought they would give the ladies a hard time, and at lunch time the following day they recreated the rat story for all to see. So hilarious!!

These are the 3 amazing ladies that made it all happen. Melissa (in the middle) was our Camp Director. Stori (left) and Sarah (right) were her assistants. Great job ladies!!

YCL leaders-These are the ladies that I worked most with and whom I really grew to love. I'm so thrilled to have such amazing new friends. (myself, Karla, Erica, Angie, and Stori)

Here's a picture of all the Stake Staff. It was such a privilege to work with so many fabulous ladies. What a great time it was!

End of School Year Events

May was filled with Concerts, Award Ceremonies and Graduations.

Concerts:

Parker performing in his last 4th grade Orchestra Concert

Parker with Grandma and Grandpa Roberts after the concert.

Cassie with her cousin Landon (who played in the band) after her last 7th grade Orchestra Concert. She once again had the priviledge of being the Concert Master. The Concert was dedicated to one of Cassie's classmates who unexpectedly passed away a couple of weeks before the concert.

Joy School Graduation:

The "Joy School Boys" (Hite, Caden, Stephen, and Dallin)

When I told Dallin that he only had 1 more week of Joy School, he was devastated. He went into his room and kept saying, "This is terrible! This is terrible! This is a hate thing!!" He has really LOVED Joy School this year. He had so much fun going to Joy School with 3 of his cousins.

Mom and Dallin

The Joy School Graduates and their teachers (Moms and Aunts)

Throwing the caps in the air to make it official!!



End of Year Awards:

I just had to include this picture. Parker walks home with his cousins Grant & Tristan everyday. One day after school I noticed that all three of them were wearing their Top Dog T-shirts. I just had to snap a picture.



Parker was a little disappointed this year because his teacher didn't call saying that he would be receiving an award. Because I didn't receive any notice of any awards, I didn't attend the end of year assembly. Well, after school Parker walked in with 3 certificates. I couldn't believe it! He received the Scholastic Achievement award, the Orchestra award, and a Student Council participation certificate. I was SO proud of him. However, I was so disappointed that his class teacher and orchestra teacher didn't inform me like they usually do. I was sad that I missed it.

Parker has been participating in the school Running club. They give out awards as they hit certain milestones. First he received 2 ribbons, then a medal, and finally he received a trophy for coming in 2nd for the most miles run this year. Yeah Parker!!

Cassie received some awards at her end of year awards ceremony. She received a certificate for having a 3.5 or higher GPA. She was SO close to receiving the 4.0 GPA award. She only had one B the whole entire year! I am so proud of her hard work in school. She works hard for her grades. She also received the Orchestra award for 7th grade. We are so happy that she has done so well in Orchestra. In Orchestra class she received a "Stuck on 1st" award because she was 1st chair all year long. At the end of the year, she tried out for the advanced Orchestra and made it! So next year she'll be in an Orchestra class of mostly 9th graders.

And now onto Summer!!