I'm supposed to be more mature at this age.

So I have a funny VERY immature story for you. It's actually not about this photo...which is another story (yes, immature). Okay it's short so I'll share it first. Isn't it a cute picture of M. Fooled you. Just like we fooled everyone at the museum. Slyly we got a shot of the red hat club in the background. Lot's of giggles going on at the museum.

The real reason for this post, I am sharing an email I sent to my friend J who lives in Germany:

I am sure that I will get fired from my calling shortly...except that our Bishop laughs at immature things sometimes.
Here it goes:
The lesson was on Reverence, which makes this even more immature.
First off one sister (whose remainder of name shall remain anonymous so as not to be made fun of...because I'm not that immature :)...) spoke of how she felt people shouldn't chew gum in sacrament meeting.
I have to agree because gum gets really gross when you chew it with bread. I usually don't chew until after the sacrament for that very reason, but occassionally I have forgotten and had to put it in my cheek.

While she was making this comment I realized I had gum in my mouth and she was sitting next to me...and well, I'm sure she was realizing my immaturity at this point. I chewed slowly and quietly so as not to disturb too badly. But I was caught in the act by one of the "ladies" new in from Young Women...in that she is 19. Luckily she found this rather funny.

SO the comments continue and I notice a few other people chewing gum and I relax a little and probably chewed with my mouth open because another sister,  (whose name I can't spell because you would fall over laughing knowing what was to come next) had several comments about being reverent in church including not chewing gum at church. Well this was it...I couldn't handle it any more. Sister C looked at me and smiled. I stuck my gum through my teeth to show her my dilema to which she folded over in laughter. The two ladies sitting on my one side said "quick swallow it". And hopefully the one sitting on the other side of me didn't notice...because immaturity was leaking from my every pore. By the way Sister C was sitting on the front row...so hopefully no one else noticed my gum show and tell. SO there was a little irreverence while we gathered ourselves back together and I wondered where I was when they announced the new commandment about not chewing gum at church.
This same sister  had a few things to say about opened toed shoes at church one week. I was sitting in the back at the time and I chuckled a little too loudly as I watched all the ladies heads go down as they tried to non chalantly look and see if they had worn open toed shoes that day. Sister H was exuberant in exclaiming that she was sure glad she hadn't worn hers that day.




Have a great German Day!

They probably don't chew gum over there since body oders are a good thing in Europe :)

PS. I chew purely for aesthetic reasons...I look so cute chewing gum! :)

And to all of you reading this...I really am immature, but I understand the other womens maturity...I just don't relate well :)

The little mouse and the big red strawberry

We've had some pretty good success with our garden this year. There are a few reasons that I would attribute this to:
1. I bought everything as plants...no seeds started here...I guess that's cheating a bit.

2. We water everyday. What can I say...it's not against the law in our city yet...so I am going to live it up.

3. I way over planted! Who in the world is going to eat all the tomatoes from 12 tomato plants, even if they are different types. (Those that didn't plant gardens may be bribed into liking us :)...)

So just for my own record, we planted 12 tomato plants (4 on the side of the house...one was pulled as a weed by the wee one), 2 pumpkin plants (one was planted outside the regular garden), 4 pepper plants, a couple of cucumber plants, 4 crookneck squashes (what was I thinking!), a couple of watermelons (one died), and a canteloupe.

We thought we had lost the cucumber and cantaloupe plants...but lo and behold we are out there last night and they are certainly producing.
We have had one ripe tomato.
The pumpkins are thoroughly thriving and we've got at least 10 with 3 of them headed to their "Big Max" stage.
The crookneck squash are producing far too many of themselves...I will go for zuchini next year.
The cucumbers are keepers.
And the cantaloupe. Those things are huge. We weighed the largest one today...at least 10 lbs!
The watermelons are so cute. You should grow them just to look at them when they are baby watermelons and look like real watermelons already. So Cute!
We also have some strawberry's working on their 3rd year. There is nothing. noth. ing. like a fresh homegrown strawberry. SO SWEET!
Which brings me to the reason for posting gardenish today.
I went out to record this beautiful garden today. I especially wanted a picture of the huge watermelon.
As I bent down to get just the right angle, out of the corner of my eye I saw something move underneath one of the pumpkin plants.
What?
A little mouse!
Not in my garden.
How in the world?
At least it isn't the coons that have been wandering through the nearby neighborhood.
But still...a mouse.
I hope it eats spiders or it is not welcome in my yard!
I no longer am comfortable searching freely for my beautiful strawberries.
I know mice and I know they don't like to share their strawberries.
Especially with bears.
Maybe I can work out a deal with it!

Fish

A few weeks ago R went to Alaska fishing.
We now have 100lbs of fish in our freezer.
Mainly Halibut.
I will post the recipes we like best once we try a few more.

In other fish news:
One of our pet fished died.
This fish was amazing.
While I don't remember it's name, it had characteristics that made it unforgettable.
This fish was dropped while it's tank was being cleaned.
It's owner quickly scooped it up despite it's gooeyness, and saved it's life.
It was never the same though.

The poor guy lost his equalibrium or something.
He was constantly found floating on his side at the top of the tank.
This would normally indicate death of a fish.
But after a quick tap on the tank this little miracle fish would start swimming around again.
Life at the top of the fish tank continued for at least 4 months.
Then one day we found him at the bottom of the fish tank.
We tried tapping the tank.
Nothing.
His day had come.
I think his name may have been beauty or princess or something like that.
I think his name should have been trooper.

Sometimes it's not so bad...

So a while back I got some new clippers.
I decided to cut the boys hair and then put them away in their great little container.
Only I left the container out on the bar.
And H found it and decided to try it out... on herself.
And she was really good at.
The cut was nice and even...almost to the scalp.
We have since given her two trims to help out with the unevenness.

This trim was fun, and we got some good pics from it.
So maybe her first cut wasn't all that bad.

Have you found your Mr. Darcy?

In Jane Austen news:

Author Shannon Hale (Known for incredible books such as Princess Academy...if you haven't read it you should, if you are in at least 5th grade) has just released a new book called Austenland. The main character is in search of her own Mr. Darcy. This looks like such a fun read! It is $20 though, and being cheap as I am, I will hold out for a coupon. Then maybe I can pass it around...unless it is really good...and then you'll have to go get your own copies. :)

Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway is about Jane Austen pre fame. It is a movie coming out August 10th. I hope it's as wonderful as I imagine it to be. It's rated PG, a rerating from PG-13 and rated PG for brief nudity and partial language. I'm wondering when brief nudity made it's way into PG rated movies?

Good Shoe Deals Online

Heard about these great deals today:

Sketchers 50% off plus free shipping on their site with a promo code that pops up on the top of their site.

Stride Rite brand youth and toddler sizes on sale at Amazon for as little as $11 somethin'

For more deals and direct links go to www.abc4.com followed by a click on the left bar (good things utah) and another click in the middle of that screen on "the sensible shopper"

Mom, I'm tellin' you sumpin'

H wants to know everything lately.
This is especially the case when she is in the car.
If there is anything that seems to have gone awry ie. a speedy fast car flies by and we comment and on it's driving, she says, " What happened?"
If the anwers is unsatifactory she says "Mom, I'm tellin' you sumpin', What happened?"
It makes me smile every time.