Bigger by the day

On Monday as I was heading into work I heard my phone ding so I picked it up to find a voice mail but no missed call...so I called my voice mail to see who it was, "hi this is ____ from Grays Harbor Hospital calling to remind you about your ultrasound tomorrow, June 11th".  Um what?  My ultrasound wasn't until Tuesday, at least thats what the lady at my doctors office put on the paper.  Alex dropped me off at work and I started trying to get a hold of my doctors office to get the number for the hospital.  It took me calling over and over again but I finally reached someone who gave me their number.  When I called up to the hospital, the lady verified that it was on Tuesday and asked if that would still work...um, sure, I'll be there.  I was so excited Monday night that I had a hard time sleeping.  Actually, to be honest, there was a lot of anxiety mixed into the excitement which is what really kept me awake. 

Tuesday morning we got up and went up to the hospital.  I checked in and got everything needed filled out.  Lucky for us, there wasn't a long wait because I was anxious...not to mention the full bladder they make you have.  So we go into the room and get situated and she starts the ultrasound.  I can see the top of baby's head and I couldn't help but smile.  She checked on everything and then went to looking at baby.  She got a couple pictures for us and then started measuring...12w 1d. Oh wow, apparently one of two things have happened...baby is either slightly bigger than he/she is supposed to be, OR I'm a week ahead, which doesn't hurt my feelings.  A couple different times, baby would start waving at us.  At another point, you could see baby wiggling their toes.  She gave us a whole bunch of pictures to take home with us which made me totally happy, especially since you can see baby's toes in one of them. 

 You can kind of see baby's toes on the picture below.

When we got home I scanned all of them into my computer and let Luke pick out the one he wanted to put in a picture frame that GGma gave him when he was born.  We were kind of shocked when he pointed to one and said "heartbeat, baby".  He recognized the heartbeat lines from on the ultrasound screen.  We printed it off and put it in his frame which he likes to carry around and tell everyone "baby, heartbeat". 

Luke also loves to listen to the recording of his first heartbeat that we have now that he's heard baby's.  We're excited to find out what this little one is in Late July or early August.  We're also excited to welcome him/her into our family in December. 

One week down, so many more to go...

Gardening is not something to do while pregnant...not because its harmful but because I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING.  Seriously, I know I have a bad memory but this is bad.  I have had to map out the garden square by square.  A few days ago we picked up some herb seeds to plant amongst the garden.  I went out yesterday afternoon to do just that and by the time I was done, realization hit me, I'd already planted pumpkin in the same (cinder block) holes that I just put chives...so I'm hoping that the two can get along, at least till I know what is what coming up out of there. 

We've had a few things like lettuce, spinach and a few other things coming up but tonight when I went out to water, I was shocked to find so much stuff. 

RIGHT BACK BED

The back half of this bed is onions.  None of these have come up yet but the front half has lots of beet sprouts that have popped up.  I love the bright green leaves with the dark reddish purple stems.

RIGHT MIDDLE BED

This is one of my favorite beds, not necessarily because of what is in it, but because it was the first one to start sprouting.  It made me happy to watch these tiny little plants pop out of the ground.  In this bed we have three squares of beets (we really like beets), two squares of spinach, one swiss chard, two lettuce, two kale, and two celery.  Everything but the celery has started sprouting. 

RIGHT FRONT BED

This bed has broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage in it.  I'm excited that all three plants have come up.  Around the perimeter we've also planted dill which is supposed to help with a cabbage beetle or something like that.

MIDDLE BED

 This is our middle bed and its a little bigger than the rest.  Since it was the last bed planted, nothing has come up quite yet but it contains two types of carrots, four types of tomatoes, artichoke, bell pepper, and butter nut squash.  In the back holes we planted some mammoth sunflower seeds.  Apparently I wasn't paying attention when we picked these out because they can get upwards of 12 feet tall, but they are supposed to produce lots of sunflower seeds.  The pop bottles up front are covering our strawberry plants since our fencing isn't quite done yet and I didn't want to invite the deer in.  They actually seem to be doing quite well under there.  Down each side is some basil and chives.  

LEFT BACK BED

 LEFT MIDDLE BED

LEFT FRONT BED

Each of these beds have one corn per square.  I was worried about them being too close but apparently many people have had success with Square Foot Gardening and corn.  Around each corn is four green bean or four pea plants.  They will use the corn as a trellis. There is also one cucumber (regular or pickle) in each square.  These will wind around the base of the corn and help with predator prevention (racoons don't like the spiny vines) and they also help to crowd out the weeds.  Being that by the end of summer I will be over half way through my pregnancy, I see this as beneficial.  

Last but not least, Luke's Garden...

Up until tonight, there hasn't been anything.  I was rather shocked when I started watering and there was three different sprouts in his garden.  Sadly I don't know what they are because he was taking random seeds from me as I planted in the other beds.  His garden is our mystery garden and probably will be until things get much much bigger.  

Along with growing plants, we also have a growing baby.  I'm very excited for this week.  Tomorrow is my last day of work with WSU until next October.  I have mixed feelings about this because I've fallen in love with teaching the kids and it makes it even harder when you're walking through the store and all of a sudden a child yells out "HI MRS. JOHNSON".  I am excited to get a break before next falls packed schedule.  It will also give me time to start organizing and working on our property.  

This week is also our first ultrasound.  We wanted to put it off till week 12 rather than going in at 8 weeks along for medical reasons.  They got us in towards the end of this week so I'll be about 11.5 weeks along and baby should be big enough.  Baby is between 1.5 and 2 inches long right now and I'm so excited to see him/her.  I wish we could find out the gender but we can't find that out till late July/early August.  My morning sickness has subsided for the most part but I am dealing with some horrid heartburn now.  Most nights I have a hard time getting to sleep and I often wake up earlier and earlier.  I will post pictures this next week from the ultrasound if we get them. 

Red Neck Garden

Here in Westport, we have an over abundance of deer.  Because of this, we've been having to find a way to build a fence without breaking the bank. A few months back I'd seen a post about using pallets for all sorts of things.  It was crazy the things they used them for, building full sheds, chicken coops, and even picket-like fences.

Hers looked all nice and pretty but we've been taking what we can get for right now because we've been approaching June quickly and that is when everyone starts planting around here.  Our fence is a mish-mash of pallets, all different shapes and sizes but we' have found a few really nice ones and as we find more, we will replace the older ones.  Here is a picture of our garden all fenced in with pallets.

I know that its not very tall but we're working on the top part now that the bottom is done.  

On Saturday I planed what I could in two of the beds after laying out the grid. I used sticks and twine.  On wooden raised beds, most people will staple or use nails to hold the string but using concrete blocks makes that harder. Our back right hand bed has onions and beats.  The middle bed has beets, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale, Lettuce, and Celery.  

Today I went out and finished up that side and planted the front bed which contains Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage. 

After doing the first three beds I ran out of sticks.  I was desperate to get our corn in the ground so I came up with a new idea...using sand dollars to make my grid.  

 

While there weren't any strings, it gave me a nice, unique grid that I was able to plant in.  I planted corn, green beens, cucumbers in the back bed.  The front bed has corn, sweet peas, and pickling cukes, and the middle is half and half.  

We also finished planting in Luke's garden.  He has squash and pumpkin in the front bed, peas and pickling cukes in front of the trellis and carrots, celery, and zucchini behind the trellis.  He was excited to help daddy water his bed afterwords.  I will say that it is going to be interesting to see what pops up since he has taken other seeds from me too.  

 
Our last bed is a little larger than the rest but still uses the SFG concept.  I ran out of sand dollars though so I didn't get it planted.  If the weather permits we may go to the beach tomorrow to look for more sand dollars to use in that bed and to replace the other beds that have the twine.

 We're hoping to have a fruitful year and be able to preserve many of our own fruits and vegetables.  It will be nice to have lots of fresh produce. 

Buns in the Oven

I've been dying to get this out so...WE'RE EXPECTING.  Its been quite the journey I have to say.  I've been more sick/tired/sore this time around, although I have been able to avoid the whole vomiting thing THANK GOODNESS!  

We found out when I was almost five weeks along.  I got that tiny baby bump much, much faster this time.  To most it would just look like I'd put on a little weight but I knew that wasn't the case. 

5 Weeks

We told Luke right after we found out and he was super excited, well at least for about two weeks. He had just found a love for drawing stick people and even more specifically, our stick 'family' (like the one below). The Sunday after we'd told him we were sitting in Relief Society Meeting since my young woman wasn't there for class and he said "draw daddy", then "draw mommy", then "draw Wookie", and last but not least, "BABY".  I covered his mouth and prayed no one heard just yet. 

 He loves seeing babies when we're out and about so it really didn't surprise us. 

We finally got in to see my doctor a week ago. I was really excited to hear the heartbeat but that didn't happen.  In fact, a lot of things were different from going to a midwife.  Most of the doctors in the area have moved back to larger hospitals and the closest midwife is an hour and a half away so our choices was rather limited.  Luckily the doctor that I did find seems to be very willing to listen which I'm grateful for.  We did discuss how Luke was breach, and how I had given birth to him like that.  He said because of that, as I got closer to the end we would do a few extra ultrasounds just to make sure baby was facing the right way and if not, we would flip him/her before we got to the point of labor this time.  

We also talked about the ultrasound.  He said we could schedule it up for the next week (this week) but I declined and asked to wait till I was 12 weeks along.  I know its still not 100% fact but there has been research done on ultrasounds before 12 weeks being one of the the causes of autism.  To me, it makes sense as their bodies and cells are growing and changing at such a rapid rate.  Why send those high frequency sound waves into my body and possibly cause problems that aren't needed if they can be avoided... The ultrasound will be the week after my birthday and I'm excited to see our child.  We still won't know if its a boy or girl till later this summer. 

Oh, and we're Due Dec 29th, 2013

Our Garden Project

We've always liked the idea of having a garden with fresh food.  Back in 2010 we attempted but between being pregnant, having a weed that took over, the bad soil and early rain we lost everything...except our overly exuberant zucchini plant.  This time around we're doing things a bit differently.

First, we chose to do raised garden beds.  We actually had this planned out and had purchased the blocks a while back to do the garden but they never got put in because we were working on finding a new home.  I had our garden all designed for this year.

Our first big project was ripping down the old rotting shed.  Before we could do any of that we had to clean all of the junk that was in it.  That was about two and a half weeks ago.  While I went to work the next Monday Alex and Luke took a load to the dump and got rid of a LOT of junk.  We spent a couple more days breaking up and burning the wood after Alex broke down the shed. The following week was beautiful and warm.  I headed for work on Monday morning and when I got back that afternoon, this is what I found...

 

Alex had ripped out part of the old fence and had started putting in the new fence posts for the garden.  We went inside so they could eat lunch now that Luke was done with his nap.  After lunch we all came back out and got right back to work.  We go the rest of the posts into the ground and then Alex grabbed our mini tiller and went over the whole area.  Where the shed was, there was sand that was easy to move around but everywhere else it was a good three inches of gravel before hitting any type of soil/sand.  While we're not planting directly into the ground, it was very uneven so it helped to fill in the holes and level out the high points.  

 

Luke really liked playing in the sandy area.  We couldn't keep him out of it so I finally gave him my knee pad and he plopped his butt down to watch daddy make the thing go "vwoom vwoom wownd and wownd" with the tiller. 

 By the end of the day we had about half the bricks laid out in the pattern we wanted. We planned on laying out the rest of the bricks the next day. 

The next morning when we got up we started making plans for the day before I headed off to teach.  Alex called the city of Westport to get information on the compost that they sell.  $15/cubic yard is a really good deal.  When he called we found out they were out and would be for another 4 to 6 weeks.  For the next couple hours we spent calling around to every place that we could looking for someone else who sold compost.  Everyone else wanted $25/cubic yard or more, plus the drive to go get it.  I had to take off for work so Alex kept looking.  Our cost to fill the beds had gone from $45 to $75.  I ended up revamping everything when we I got home from work and we came up with another layout that would take less soil...6, 3' x 4' beds.  We got 1.5 cubic yards and it was the perfect amount.  

When we got done, it just looked so empty in the middle so we made the decision to add a little more.  We already had part of the bricks and we went and grabbed a few more from home depot.  We already had a bunch of landscaping bricks from the old house so we designed a garden just for Luke...mainly so he would stay out of ours.   Here is the final layout.

 

We have our 7 beds to work with and Luke had his two tier circles where he will grow his own little garden and will learn about how things grow and how to take care of it.  I know he's only two but planting easy fruits/veggies are a great way to teach kids about being responsible for things.  

We are waiting to hear back from a local company about getting pallets to use as part of our fencing and the rest will be made with twine to keep a more natural look and hopefully keep the deer, racoons, and any other critter who chooses to nibble on our produce out.  Two of the big black buckets now have rhubarb in them and the other two (not pictured) will grow lettuce in for the deer to nibble on.  

 

 I will work to keep everyone up to date on how things are going.  

Bulk Taco Seasoning

Do you like tacos but dislike all the 'other' stuff listed in the ingredients list?  We do and being that we've been trying to eat healthier, less processed foods I was determined to find something other than the individual packets or containers that always were a little to potent for our taste. 

One day while perusing pinterest I came upon some of these homemade recipes for taco seasoning.  We liked that there wasn't all the junk but we didn't quite like the flavor so we adjusted some things and we want to share our recipe with you today...

Taco Seasoning 

1T Onion Powder
2t  Chili Powder
1t  Salt
1t  Garlic Powder
1t  Corn Starch
1t  Ground Cumin
1t  Paprika


 This makes about one serving worth (1lb of lean ground beef or meat of choice). If you'd like to make a larger batch, I've done that math for you below.  I also suggest if you're going to make it in a large batch, using some type of mixer or your arms will get tired trying to get it all to mix together well.

Taco Seasoning - Large Batch

3/4c Onion Powder
1/2c Chili Powder
1/4c  Salt, Garlic Powder, Corn Starch, Ground Cumin, Paprika

Standing for Truth and Righteousness

As I sit here, I ponder how to say this as to not hurt people’s feelings or upset anyone but in all honesty, I know there will be someone out there who is going to be downright upset with me and that’s just the way it’s going to be.

Yesterday there was many saying that same sex marriage should be legalized.  There were also many members of the church who I saw supporting this and saying that they support it because we all have the right to choose.  They’re right, we all have the choice to live our lives as we want but as a member of the church and a young women’s leader, I have something to say about that.  We teach our young women to “Stand for Truth and Righteousness” and yet by saying we support gay marriage because we have the right to choose our way of life, we are directly going against our Heavenly Father.  Yes people have the right to choose but we need to be standing for what is right in the eyes of our Father in Heaven, not the way of the world.  

Black is black and white is white, there is no gray and that is something I have come to know.  People argue that there is gray but the problem with that is, when you add black to the white you have removed the purity of the white.  There is no purity in gray. 

            
 At one point and time I was part of a group on facebook, LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, and Transgender).  When I first became a part of this group it was because I knew that we should love EVERYONE regardless of race, gender, or even their sexual orientation.  One of God’s commandments is to Love One Another and that is what the group was about, being kind and loving everyone for who they were.  There was a day that took a turn and I could no longer, in good faith, be a part of that group.  I could not stand in front of my church leaders while interviewing for a temple recommend and answer the following question with honesty and integrity as long as I was still a part of this group…

“Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?”

Does this mean I can’t be friends with those who don’t believe or live the teachings of our Heavenly Father?  No, it just means that I do not support or encourage the actions. In the Bible there are many verses which speak against same sex marriage.  God hasn’t changed the scriptures, nor have his principles changed, therefore mine will not either. 

To all of my friends, I will always love you.  You are each individual and uniquely created by our Father in Heaven, I don’t care what your race, religion, sexual orientations, etc. YOU are a child of God, we all are.  I’m sorry to any who feel offended or upset over what I have to say but I have spent many hours mulling this over and praying about it.  I know that Heavenly Father has wanted me to share my testimony on this topic because no matter how many times I push it aside and sit back to watch, he always puts it right back in front of me.