I love when my husband asks me out on a date. ♥ I get so excited. Spending time with him is one of my favorite things and it's always really fun to find something we both enjoy doing. Husband and I dream of gardening. We love it and although we live in a 900 square foot condo with a small balcony for a yard, our garden seems to be getting along wonderfully for us. Tommy is taking me to a garden party at our favorite local nursery tonight. I'm sure we will let our gardening imaginations run wild while we're there, but there isn't much more room on our balcony for all of our gardening daydreams to come true. We have done a pretty thorough job of packing in the plants. 

In our small space we are currently growing:

Green Onions

Garlic

Romaine Lettuce

Lemons

Radishes

Swiss Chard

Green Beans

Baby Spinach

Kale

Spotted Lettuce

Blackberries

Strawberries

Peaches

Blueberries

Rosemary

Basil

Daisies

Jasmine

Wildflowers

Ginger Flowers

If you think your space is too small to garden, reconsider. We've been able to fit all of these with square foot gardening beds and pots. Our balcony doesn't get a great deal of sun, which is obviously essential for gardening, so we've tried to stick with winter plants (mainly lettuces) that can survive with out all-day sunshine. 

No matter your space size, geographical location, amount of time, or other circumstances, I encourage you to garden. It's such a pleasure to sink your fingertips into the earth. It's even more of a pleasure to eat what you have planted, cared for, grown, and harvested with your own two hands. I believe there is something both humble and Godly in cultivating the earth. I guess gardens are humble recreations of His artistic masterpiece. Mine and my sweetheart's sure is small, but I think it's lovely and suits us fine.

Now, go get a foam cup and a bean seed and get sprouting! 

“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”

- Abraham Lincoln

If you don't believe me, believe Abe. He's honest.

Another trip to Carlsbad?

Yes, please!

My sister, Kira, wanted to take a little road trip, Carlsbad included! We've been enjoying the beach and all of North County's Beauty for about a week and a half. Soon we'll be in Mesa to visit our sister, Connie, and her family. It's been nice to finally spend some time with Kira.

We don't play volleyball. But we play volleyball.

Of course In-N-Out is enjoyed.

Mom, Dad and Landon came to visit! It was really nice to have them here. On Pioneer Day we went to the Mormon Battalion Center in Old Town and Jeff, Lisa and Marc came along. That was really cool. They just remodeled the whole place and it's really nice, fun and interesting. It was very interactive. They had pictures that talked and told the stories. It was kind Disneyland-ish. They had an outside area where you could pan for gold and play the fiddle. Landon and I partook in that. After that we ate some Mexican food in Old Town and went to an old fashion candy shop. On Monday Landon and I went to the beach. It was really overcast, but we laid out and played with the sand a bit. Then we decided to give the cold water a try. It was cold. We had a lot of fun getting in and and playing in the waves though. The waves were breaking right on the beach so it was really easy to get taken out by them even in knee deep water. We body surfed in the shallow water for a while. We got a little bruised from that but we had a ton of fun laughing our heads off. Can't wait until they come again!

Looks like we would have made a great addition to the Mormon Battalion!

Well, I haven't recorded anything since Thanksgiving basically. So, here I am posting way too many pictures. Here is what I have done... (in backwards order)

Went to Carlsbad

Went to Provo

Tried to Snowboard

Went to Salt Lake City

Went to Mexico

Tried Blue Bell Ice Cream

Relaxed in Texas

Worked in Texas

Turned 22 and had a really fun Birthday party

Spent Christmas in Logandale

Wished everybody Merry Christmas

Tried to make some jewelry

Spent Thanksgiving in St. George with my family

I got STUNG!
by a STINGRAY! (one of these suckers!)

Ouch? Yes! It hurt. Here is the story...
I went to buccaneer (south Oceanside) beach to go boogie with some peeps (Zac, Adam, Will, Heather) from the ward. This was on Thursday July 30th. We ran out with our boards and had some fun in the water. I caught some white wash for a bit and then we went out a little farther to actually try and catch some waves. I haven't done that for a LONG time and it was tiring! Heather (cousin) and I got tired pretty fast so we decided to head in for a while. I rode some waves in and started walking up to the beach. As I was walking up to the beach I stepped on what felt like an arm. "Ew", was my first thought. "Did I just step on an arm? A small slippery arm? A child? Drowned? Ew." Keep in mind all of those thoughts went through my head in a nano-second. Instantly after I stepped on the slippery arm, something stabbed me in the front of my ankle. "OW! What the heck was that?! Maybe when I stepped on whatever it was, it flipped up and hit me... No way! That was WAY to forceful of a poke to be accidental.. Oh, I can't walk.. I'm limping." I call out to Heather to take my board for me as I keep walking up the beach. She takes it, notices I'm limping and tells me that I'm bleeding. I look down to confirm. Bleeding, yes, but I'm more concerned that it's getting harder to walk. I felt like my ankle was swelling. The feeling of venom. Painful swelling. I got to the beach and leaned on the rocks. Heather went and told the lifeguard and came back to help me to him. I told him what happened and he tells me that I've been stung by a stingray. Told me they hurt pretty bad. Started asking me all sorts of questions.. Where are you from? Are you allergic to bees? Do you have any allergies? How do you feel? I'm answering as best I can. Starting to feel light headed. I tell him. He has me sit down and wraps my ankle. Feel like I might throw up. I tell him. He says it's okay. Feeling REALLY light headed. My head is getting really heavy. I can barely hold it up. He continues to ask me questions. At this point he is just trying to keep me conscious. Taking my pulse. Still asking questions. I can see the feet of the people I came with surrounding me. I feel dumb and a little worried that I look ugly. He continues to be a dove while we wait for other lifeguards to show up. When they get there I start to feel better. The light-headedness slowly goes away and the heavy head as well. My ankle is still in pain though. They put a hot pack on it. That helped SO much. Dulled the pain. They tell me I need to go home immediately and get my ankle in nearly scalding hot water. So Zac (friend) drives up onto the beach with his Cherokee (I know he felt cool) and carries me to his car. They took to to his Gma's house and carried me to the tub.. Tears were streaming down my face by this time. The hot water pack was luke. We sat there for a while, but everybody still wanted to swim, so we went to Marc's condo. They swam and I sat in the hot tub. That's my stingray adventure! It hurt for the next few days and I got more than enough attention from those guys the rest of the weekend. The wound just looked like a nail hole. I don't know if it will scar. Next time I go to the beach I'll be sure to do the stingray shuffle!!! Good thing I'm not afraid of things in the ocean.. at least I wasn't before! I might be a little timid for a while. Here are some pictures of the adventure...

Heather, Gimp, Adam

Laughing it off. (Probably trying not to cry :)


Photos courtesy of Zac's waterproof camera.
(I'm glad he didn't get any of me when I was sitting down with the lifeguard. According to Will I was "green".)

FHE @ Ponto Beach
Snapped this pic while playing bocce ball at family home evening. What a beautiful day and wonderful world!



Photo courtesy of my ghetto phone camera

Carlsbad
Here are a couple pictures I took while in Carlsbad. This is south of the jetty.