My Boy

Hayes is my little pal.  He chats with me about EVERYTHING.  Tonight when he was helping me try to get Chase to sleep, Chase started tooting to avoid going to sleep (one of his mainstay diversions, which he can call upon anytime, anyplace... no joke!).  Hayes said, "Don't make me say the G word," which really made me wonder, because Hayes is the cussing police, especially when it come to the G word, but then he said, "Chase, you are Gis-dusting" I thought he had said it wrong, but then I realized he was just being funny.  He had us laughing as he pretended to figure out the real word, "gisdusting?  gisdusting?  gisdusting?" Funny boy.  Chase still wouldn't go to sleep. :(

The gisdusting boy himself: pretending to smash a "bullet" ant while avoiding the camera...surprised?...I think not!

Bougainvillea

I was down in the valley earlier this summer and saw a bougainvillea plant on sale for five dollars.   I love bv, so I thought why not, I'll just plant it and call it an annual when it dies in the winter.  Since the first of our summer was kind of cool, it didn't do much.  Either that or I planted it in too shady of a spot.  But it's finally starting to bloom again, and now I'm considering doing the "prune and mulch" thing so that it will be back again next year.  But then I ask myself, "Is it really worth all that trouble for a five dollar plant?  Shouldn't I just buy a new one next year?" 

Low Carb Love: Fish Tacos in Lettuce Tortillas

I decided to do a low carb recipe blog mostly to keep track of my low carb recipes so that I don't have to search for them every year when Spence decides to do Atkins. I also wanted to share some of the good recipes I've made up, found, or modified. Low carb cooking is an art...it takes creativity to keep the poor dieter satisfied and not feeling deprived. If I didn't love Spence, I wouldn't do it...it's a lot of work. But I enjoy being able to "create" in the kitchen and actually enjoy the challenge. Hopefully I won't burn out before I get all the recipes up. Check it out if you want.
Low Carb Love: Fish Tacos in Lettuce Tortillas

Faith of a Sunflower Seed

Back in April, Hayes came home from primary with a Styrofoam cup that he had planted sunflower seeds in.  He had learned in primary that faith is like a seed that can start as something small, and with care and work, can grow to be something big and beautiful.  He faithfully watered his seeds and was surprised that within a week, he had three little seedlings coming up strong.  One of them was held closed by the seed.  When it didn't come off, we tenderly removed it.  The leaf had a little scar, but was no worse for the wear.

 

With more water and sunshine, I took these pictures (top and bottom) after the first true leaves appeared.  We wanted to transplant them out into the flower bed, but it was still getting too cold at night, so we kept them inside for protection.  When it finally warmed up, we took the foot tall plants out to the flower garden.  They were so tall and skinny that we were worried they wouldn't do well. They were so safe in our kitchen window. They didn't grow for a few days while adjusting to their new environment, but soon enough, they were thriving in their new found freedom and fresh air. 

  

Hayes kept his eye on the plants over the next few months.  One time he came in distraught and told me that the plants were gone, that they must have died.  So we went out and discovered that they were not gone, just hidden by the larger plants that had been in the flower bed all season.  He was relieved. Their stems were getting thicker and stronger and could stand up to the gusts of wind.  A few weeks ago, we found buds at the top of the plants, they were close to flowering. 

And this week they emerged.  Bright and yellow, adding beauty and and color to the garden.  They had grown taller than the plants around them and wouldn't be lost in the crowd anymore. 

Hayes has the beautiful buddings of a testimony.  He has since he was a little boy.  He has always asked questions about heaven and Jesus and the life after this.  He doesn't view death as a bad thing and always wants to know if he'll have all of his deceased pets in heaven.  His prayers are full of faith.  He speaks to his Father in Heaven like a boy speaking with his father.  If I ever need a prayer said, I ask Hayes because he always gets answers to his prayers; probably more answers in his short 9 years than I have gotten in my 34 years. 

I hope that as he grows and experiences little scars that his testimony will continue to grow.  I hope that I will be able to send him out to the outside world, confident that his tall, skinny testimony can hold up to the pressures of the world.  I hope that he will emerge a strong, confident man, with that glow that comes from living a good life and having faith in the Lord.  I hope I can do the things now to help him begin on the path to a strong testimony that can weather the storms of life and be stronger because of them. I hope that his testimony and special spirit can add to the beauty of the world around him. I look at the picture of his innocent, little face next to those emerging plants, and I have all the hope in the world. (And a little fear too)(But that's what Mom's do...right?)

A Sunday Afternoon

Hayes disappeared after church on Sunday.  It was time to go do chores and we couldn't find him anywhere.  We even checked the beds in case he had fallen asleep somewhere.  No luck.  We yelled in front and back of the house, and still no Hayes. So we got in the truck and started honking.  We took a couple of passes around the driveway and as we were pulling away from the house we spotted a little dot that seemed to be moving in a field south of our house.  As the dot became bigger, we realized it was Hayes running towards us with his bbgun.  He must have gotten bored and gone out for a hunt.  His bbgun isn't very accurate and he has yet to kill anything, which really disappoints him.  He looked so dang cute running towards us that I had to get a picture.  Too bad most of the ones in which he is running are mostly of the hood of the truck...I better work on my photography skills. :)  It was cute because you could tell he was trying to hold the gun in a very "safe" position while he ran...I guess those gun safety lectures didn't fall on deaf ears after all.

Once again, I can't help but post pictures of the AZ sky.  This was much more amazing in person, but my camera couldn't capture the rays shining out from the sun.

Spence has always had allergies.  His most famous one was poultry.  Fortunately he grew out of that one while he was on his mission.  But he still hangs on to allergies to cats and grasses.  The barn was particularly dusty this day, so he and Hayes donned their dust masks.  I thought it was pretty funny.

The sunset was gorgeous like all of the evenings since it decided to get hot around here.

Chase refused to take the [insert the name of any object here...they all end up in Chase's mouth] out of his mouth for a picture, so this is the best I could get.  He did give me a big smile though...teasing me of course.

By the time we got up top to feed the studs, it was too dark for pictures.  One of these days I'll have Spence stop and let me take a picture of my most favorite view ever; looking down into the Salado valley from on top of the ridge...I never get sick of it.