Summer!!!

Since moving to Arizona, people have made such a big deal that we are originally from Washington and how hot it must be to us. It is true that it is very hot here, but we have enjoyed being here so much that it is worth it. The girls and I have mostly acclimated to it, but Brady really dislikes the heat when it gets over 100. We have been so busy lately! We have been swimming in Brady's brother's pool in Mesa, swimming in our little plastic pool on the driveway when we don't go anywhere, and doing work in the garden and front yard. Brady and his brother Spencer, are putting sprinklers and grass in our backyard in two weeks and I am so excited to have something besides dirt! The girl's ballet recital in next weekend and we have family coming in for that. Then they start Art camp next week and I will have 4 hours a week for a month to catch up on all the housework and scrapbooking I want to get done. Hooray! We will be traveling quite a bit this summer, so we look forward to escaping the heat a little bit. But we are very excited for summer to be under way!

Keeping My Head Above Water

Things seem to get busy in phases; I will have next to nothing to do for a while and then, BAM! I get hit all at once. Things have been non-stop since Feb. I am really looking forward to June, it is my month off! I won't be babysitting, I won't have any responsibilities for the summer yet and I am looking forward to buying the girls a little plastic pool and myself a lawn chair and kicking it outside before it gets into the 110-120's. Come July and August it will be traveling and back to school. I need my schedule and for some reason I can't get on one right now and it is killing me! I am nervous for my Pre-School Musical Theatre on Tuesday because I haven't done one in almost a year. I am excited though, I just hope that people actually show up! I feel like I am struggling to keep my head above water and there is really no reason for it to feel like that. Hopefully, I will get to feeling better soon, I have had a migraine for the last two days. Yuck!

I look like Abby!

Cat with her pigtails.

Pauly Perrette with her pigtails.

Catherine needed her hair done the other day and Brady offered to do it. He did two pigtails and Cat came running up to me and said, "I look like Abby!' I thought she was talking about her cousin and just blew her off a little bit. "NO" "Like dark-haired Abby", she said. I had no idea what she was talking about until it dawned on me she was talking about Abby from NCIS played by Pauly Perrette who usually has pigtails. She was so happy we decided to take a picture! Do you see the resemblance?

Our First Strawberry

The gorgeous bounty

Wait for it....

Delicious!

Pictures of Curtains!

Over-all effect

Looking up

Close up of the fabric and trim

A little perspective on how big these really are. They make our huge entertainment center look like a little ant

The dining room curtains

The decorative wall. The color is off a little from the flash, but it looked worse without it.

A close up of the dining room fabric, which I personally think is really beautiful. It took me about a week to get these all knocked out. The living room ones took the longest just because it took forever to get the fabric laid out and straight so that I could cut it; sewing it only took about an hour per curtain once it was cut. I had to sew creatively because the store in Phoenix had 30 yards and I had to order 10 yards from Tucson, so I had to piece them together so that I could get the most long pieces without seams. It was a little tricky, but I figured it out and I love them!

Easter 09

Sarah cracking herself up with her bedhead and goofy antics.

Cat and Sarah in their Easter aprons from Grammy and Grampy.

The all-famous chocolate Easter bunny.

Sarah in all of her Easter cuteness!

Striking a pose!

A picture of myself I was willing to put up.

The girls and I in our Easter attire.

Catherine and I

Sarah dying her Easter eggs

Catherine dying eggs

The finished product. Aren't they just so colorful to look at?

Our family picture

Cat in her Easter dress

Sarah hunting eggs in the living room

Cat hunting eggs. We had a great time dying eggs, hunting them and looking pretty on Easter.

Family Reunion

We had a really good time during the 09 Frownfelter Family Reunion. It was the first time in 5 years that all of us have been together as a family. The kids all had a good time playing together and so did all of us adults.

We had a blast at Turf Paradise horse racing track! The kids all loved seeing the horses and the guys really got into picking out the winning horses.

Cat and Grampy; doesn't she look adorable in her derby hat?!

Sarah wearing Auntie Staci's bug glasses.

We also celebrated Auntie Suzi's Birthday while everyone was together.

The 4 of us girls.

Me realizing in my haste to get the cake cooled and glazed that I hadn't put any ganache in the middle and that the cake was just falling apart. Go me...

Fabric, Fabric and more Fabric!

Isn't it amazing how the more you try to accomplish tasks and get things cleaned up and in order, the more messy and unorganized they have to become first? This week in preparation for my family reunion, we have cleaned out the garage and the toy room. We bought shelves for the garage and also a new fridge/freezer for all of my produce and farm fresh goodies. Our nursery was doing a toy drive so that was an easy fix to march our donations over to a friend's house. Two rooms down, all of the rest to do. I did finish the 5 curtains that I had left to sew. Between all 5 I sewed roughly 32 1/2 yards or 97 1/2 ft. of fabric this week, plus trim. I feel a sense of accomplishment over that one. Now, I just have to get the rest of the house done this weekend. Those were the big ones, but the little dusting, vacuuming and laundry seem so much bigger and more daunting to me. Brady has been a little under the weather, so the curtains did not get hung today, but hopefully tomorrow and I will post pictures. I am so excited to see my family!

The Garden

The first box I planted out of 6 in our garden

The dirty work

Some of the herbs and some flowers went on the patio in planters

Here is the basil; it is just starting to really come up

These are the peas, I love how fast they have grown

This is spinach and it was also one of the first to sprout which is a miracle because I planted them a little late in the season and didn't think they would make it

Here is my little bean sprout. It is pushing itself up through the dirt as I write. It is such a phenomenal feeling to work so hard each day and see no progress and then to see a little shoot or sprout and have such feelings of joy and accomplishment! I grew up having a garden and taking it for granted that it always grew and turned out. My Dad is an expert gardener and has always kept us eating peas, corn, carrot, cukes (cucumbers), radishes, tomatoes and so many other fruits and vegetables straight from the garden. My Mom would always yell from the kitchen that we needed to wash them, and my Dad would answer that a little dirt never hurt anyone and it was minerals. I used to sit on the back porch and eat a sun kissed tomato with salt. We would pick our raspberries right off of the vine. I watched as my Dad transplanted a black berry bush from my Grandparents house and nurtured it for at least 10 years until it is now growing plenty of juicy, lush berries. We have had a whole separate garden just for potatoes and grown wacky rhubarb, dark delicious beets, tangy cantaloupe and once a white pumpkin that glowed in the dark. We always just had a garden. My Mom would can things and we would eat them year round. I didn't realize how much I missed all of that until we were advised by our Stake Presidency to follow the teachings of the Prophet and plant a garden now. There is a cute primary song that says:

The Prophet says to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do,

For God has given rich, brown soil, the rain and sunshine too.

And if we plant the seeds just right, and tend them carefully,

Before we know, good things will grow, to feed our family.

I am so happy that we received the revelation to plant a garden so that I could honor the memories that I have and also to make memories with my children as they watch our garden grow and learn to follow the teachings of the Prophet. I love going out every morning in the sunshine and watering the tiny little green sprouts. I hope that they all grow! Even if I lose some, I am learning something new that I can pass on to my kids and hopefully it will mean as much to them as it has to me.

Little Boo has left the building

Sarah has finally given up her little boo (pacifier). With Catherine we bribed her with a Snow White Barbie and a toy horse. Sarah was much harder. We tried candy, treats, balloons, a new toy, 2 new toys, any toy at Walmart...well, she took us at our word and picked the biggest toy she could find that she thought would make it worth it. We made her wait a week while she adjusted to not having one before she got her reward. Each night when she was sad and crying Brady would take her out to the garage to look at her car box. After her week was up, Brady put the car together and left it in the garage while she was sleeping. When she woke up she got to go out and get in. She was sooooo excited and she only threatened to take it back to Walmart twice. She is still having a rough time adjusting and is not sleeping as well, but she is no longer asking for it and talks about being a big girl. When she is particularly sad, she goes out and drives her car around. I am thankful for how quickly and painlessly the whole thing went!