Catch-up Blog

Ok, so it's been forever, and I won't even try to catch up on life since August. Here are some pics and you can fill in the blanks:

We got a bountiful harvest from our new garden

Dylan and Riley find a praying mantis

We dress up for a Hurst Family Halloween Party

My mom, dad, Kim and I go to Portales for the first time in 28 years

Winter Solstice Party (Dylan, Riley, and Ben)

So there you have it. 6 months in 5 pictures.

Cruisin' Alaska

I just got back from cruising to Alaska with my mom, grandma Zentner, Lindsay, and Kim. Here we are on the ship's deck near Hubbard Glacier:

Here are some highlights...
We ate:

And ate:

And ate:


And drank:

And drank: :)

Took tons of pics (about 650 between us):

And saw some breathtaking sights:

It was a 7 day cruise, and we visited Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria British Columbia, and Seattle. Grandma Z behaved herself most of the time, we laughed until we cried on several occasions, and had an absolutely fabulous time. Love you guys! Thanks for a great trip!!

Haircut!

Well, he finally did it. After talking about it for months, Dylan finally got up the courage to cut his hair. Here's how he looked before:

He had about 15 inches cut off, and donated it to locks of love:

And here's how he looks now: (Drumroll.........)

Way to go Dylan! You look awesome!!

How Does Our Garden Grow, July Edition

Well, It's been a month and a half since we created our new garden space and planted a garden. We've been eating lettuce, peas, green onions and zucchini already, with lots more coming along beautifully. Here's how it looks today:

Good times...good times.

Just got back from a trip to sunny California. Here are a few highlights:

Day 1, DISNEYLAND!!!

Day 2: The Beach!!! We went to a little state beach area called Crystal Cove. Spent the whole day there. The first pic is of Dylan 2 days later. The poor boy...this is after sunscreening with SPF 50 twice during the day.

Day 3: Knotts Berry Farms. We took Morgan with us, while her family went to Sea World. Had a great time...lots of great roller coasters!

How Does Our Garden Grow

We spent all last weekend creating a new lawn and garden on the south side of the house. Here's how it looked before:

We're putting a lawn in on the top area where Riley's standing, and the garden went in where Lauren is. Here are a few pics of the work in progress:

Here are a few pics of what it looks like right now:

Next step is to plant the grass. We've already planted a few things in the garden!

Our "vintage" trailer

We bought a 1969 12 foot travel trailer a few weeks ago for $300. We prefer to call it "vintage" as opposed to "white trash", although I would say others may disagree. We have big plans to redo the inside, paint it, and use it for camping and music festivals. For now, I'm just embarrassed to have it parked in the driveway. Here are the "before" pics:

This is the sleeping area. It will eventually sleep 4. This whole portion has now been torn out so we can start over.

There are 2 broken windows. Probably the easiest of all of the repairs.

The Kitchen. Seriously.

Wish us luck, cause we're gonna need it!

Dylan NOT doing an angry mole rat impression

Dylan does a crazy good angry mole rat impression (don't ask--I have no idea). Here's me trying to get it on camera, and him being belligerent about it:

Happy New Year!

We went to Blanding to celebrate the new year and Big Worthy's birthday. Here are some pics from the great Pinata bash and a day of sledding with Grandma and Grandpa. BTW...Riley says his New Year's resolution is to become a goth. Why can't I have a normal child just once?