Long Weekend

Boy was that a long weekend. We had our sod delivered on Friday and had lots of family and neighbors show up to help. I appreciate their help so much. We finished the yard in about an hour and a half. When I open my blinds in the morning it catches me off guard for it to be green back there, it always brings a smile to my face. We were all beat after that and relaxed and visited for a while. I baked up some cookies and had a table of treats. We had lots of shy people so I had a lot of leftovers. I think if I really thought back on how many I ate I would be sick.

The next morning we woke up early and went to my nephews football game. He did a great job. Half way through my brother showed up with a truck and we weaseled him into taking a load of weeds to the dump for us. We had a huge pile that was taking over our garden. We pulled all the weeds from the backyard and piled them there. I still can't believe we let the weeds grow like that. Then we headed over and helped my sister move. I couldn't carry anything since I am expecting so I went over to her new place and organized her pantry. It was kind of fun because her pantry is huge. So I could put stuff anywhere, I didn't have to worry about space or squeezing things into places.

After the move we went over to my Grandma's for a family party. I was pretty sick at this point. I needed more water and my body was getting sick from all the work we did the last couple days. But the food was great and it was fun to visit. We only got to visit for a few minutes until we had to go over to the Relief Society Broadcast. I am glad I didn't fall asleep in my chair. The talks were wonderful but I was exhausted at that point. I went with my sisters and we were whispering and had someone tell us to be quiet. I think I embarrassed my sisters when I let out a loud "Shhh" when she was whispering to her friends. I guess I was just a little grumpy....

I was so looking forward to Sunday. We had nothing planned and had the afternoon to relax, that was until we all got hit with the stomach flu. I couldn't believe our luck. My husband and daughter were up all night throwing up. I think I got about an hour of sleep that night. My daughter was old enough to give me clues when she was ready to puke so it was not as messy as last time. We spent Monday sleeping and resting. Still today my daughter is sick. She has been laying on the couch sleeping and watching TV. I am starting to go stir crazy here. I want to go and pick up some pears to can this weekend. I am loaded with canned peaches but I don't have one jar of pears and that is the only thing that sounds good to me right now. I am hoping that this weekend is a little more relaxing. :)

Oh we got to eat a couple watermelons out of our garden. They were super sweet and delicious. We decided we want to grow a bunch of the sugar babies next year. We only got one of those to grow and that was our favorite. I have pictures of a bunch of the stuff I talked about but I feel too sick to get up to get my camera to load the pictures. I am hoping we all feel better tomorrow.

Landscaping Update

We are almost done with landscaping! Well we still have to lay the sod but we are doing one final smooth raking tonight and then calling it good. Our sod will be delivered tomorrow and by Saturday it will all be over. After the grass is put in we still have the flower beds back there to fix up but we are just going to lay down some landscaping cloth and plant them in the Spring. I think right now we just plan on planting berries in them. I want a blackberry patch and we could always use more raspberries.

I decided to change methods for training Tootsie, no more growling in public for me. I decided to try the spray bottle with water. It has worked like a dream so far. It usually only takes about one or two squirts a day followed by a mean "no bite" and she will stop. She always mauls my husband when he gets home from work. She forgets all the rules and goes crazy with excitement. Yesterday he bent down to pet her and she sat really still and never went after his hands. He was so amazed and couldn't believe how good she was being. He looked up and the dog and I were having a stare down and I had the water bottle in my hands. I don't want her to think that all rules go out the window when Dad gets home.

Our two year old and Tootsie fight like siblings. The other day we were out working in the yard and my daughter had the dog in a head lock and the dog was biting her and they were both rolling in the dirt, it was a pretty fair fight. I can't keep the two of them apart. One of them will get bored and then head over and harass the other one. Yesterday I couldn't break them up so they both got a squirt of water in the face.

Our swing set came and is just sitting in our garage waiting to be set up. I can't wait to set it up so our daughter has something to play with outside. I am hoping keeping her occupied will help her and the dog get along better....we will see how long it lasts. :)

Spaghetti Sauce

So my tomatoes in my garden are in full swing. I need to get the canner out and also make up some sauce. I think this year I want to try to bottle my own sauce with my pressure canner. A couple months ago I came across this sauce recipe on the internet and decided to try it because of the name. Its called Jo Mamma Sauce. It makes a nice thick sauce (I'm not a huge fan of the runny kind). But I let it simmer for a couple hours and it turns out great!

1 lb of ground beef (original recipe calls for 2 lbs Italian sausage)

1 small onion, chopped

3 – 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 (28 ounce) diced tomatoes

2 (6 ounce) tomato paste

2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce

2 cups water (for a long period of simmering for flavors to meld. If you don't want to simmer it as long, add less).

3 teaspoons basil

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (If I am feeding it to my daughter I put in less, after simmering it can be kind of spicy)

¼ teaspoon fresh corse ground black pepper

¼ cup red wine (I just use chicken stock and it turns out great)

1 lb of pasta

Instructions: Brown meat, add onion and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until onions are softened.

Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and water.

Add basil, parlsey, brown sugar, salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. If you are adding wine add after sauce comes to a boil but if you are using chicken stock you can add it before.

Simmer sauce for at least an hour. A longer simmer makes a better sauce, just remember not to let it burn.

Landscaping....:-S

Well I have been landscaping our backyard for the last week or so. I feel just like the dirt I am shoveling. I wish we would have started on it before I got this big and pregnant. I just want to get out there and work like I used to be able to. I hate being pregnant and not being able to lift things and work hard. I love the baby afterwards of course but I want my body back. I know everyone feels this way at this point but I feel like I have been pregnant forever. My first order of business when this baby is born is to lay down on my stomach and sleep. I hate sleeping on my sides....that is if I get to sleep when they come. :)

We are trying to finish the backyard this month but I am not sure we will be able to fit it in. The new puppy goes to the bathroom out there so I want to get some grass put in before it gets muddy and wet.

If we can get it together in the next two nights then we plan on renting a trencher on Saturday. Then we will put the sprinklers in this next week and level everything out. If it all works out we would like to have our sod delivered on the 23rd. I can't wait to have it done and everything be green instead of all the dirt out there. We bought a swing set that is being shipped right now so the race is on to put the yard in so it will be ready for us to set up the new toy. Then after the lawn is in we just need some shade trees and we are set. I love sitting outside in the fall and can't wait for next year when we have a nice yard to enjoy. :)

Garden

When we planted our garden late this spring we didn't think that anything would grow. Boy were we wrong. So far everything we planted grew and we have lots of produce to share. My freezer is stuffed with shredded zucchini and we have at least two or three yellow squash ready to eat each day. Our tomatoes are just taking off so I will have lots of canning to do this Fall. Even our peanut plants are looking good.

I haven't bought anything to compost in yet so we were just taking out our scraps to the garden and throwing some dirt on top. So we were kind of lazy with it but it turned out great. I guess we threw some cantaloupe seeds in there once because we had a healthy plant grow with two cantaloupes that will be ready soon. We also had a random sugar baby melon that grew from scraps.

My husbands watermelons are looking great, I think we have 4 of them growing now. They are getting big.

We still have lots of corn to harvest. We pulled up our onions last night and we are drying them out to store. I think tomorrow is our potato harvest. I wish I had a root cellar to store them in. We pulled up one plant and it filled up a grocery sack. I think we have over 20 plants so we should have lots to share. I love gardening!

Teaching Tootsie

So our wild puppy has ended up being a little crazier than I would like. I have a baby gate up in the kitchen until she is potty trained. Anytime you step over that gate you are walking into a battle zone. She charges and goes right for the feet. She has a huge nipping problem (I know all puppies do but she is constantly biting). It was cute at first but she has drawn blood several times and it needed to stop. We have tried everything to get her to stop. I hate hitting but some people suggested giving her a whack if she bites. I tried it and it only worked half of the time. I read last night online that you should growl at the puppy like the Mom would and it should make them stop. I tried it a couple times this morning but my throat was so dry it came out as this weird whiny noise. She did stop once and looked at me a little confused, I wonder what that noise meant in her language....

I was outside working in the yard and I heard my daughter call for me because the puppy had a hold of her leg. I ran over and got down right in the dogs face, while baring my teeth I let out a huge growl. The dog yelped and ran away. I thought my problems were solved until I heard "what the heck is wrong with that lady?" I looked over and a bunch of kids were watching the puppy through the fence and now just stood there staring at me. I had no clue what to do so I crawl behind a bush and waited for them to leave. There was no way to recover from that situation, I was on all fours, out in the dirt, growling at a dog. This might just be one of the most awkward moments of my life. But maybe it was worth it. Hours later my puppy is not biting and we can walk safely in our kitchen, I just can't ever show my face in public again. :)

Labor Day Weekend

We had a pretty good Labor Day weekend. It has been wonderful to have my husband home to help potty train the new puppy Tootsie. He takes her out to go potty every hour so we don't have all the accidents in the house anymore. I asked my husband to build a little fence in the backyard. So tomorrow when he heads back to work I can just open the door and let the dog out. I am hoping tomorrow goes well.

Saturday we went to watch my nephew play football. He did an awesome job. Tootsie enjoyed laying in the shade and playing with the little kids.

We got to enjoy some corn from our garden last night. This might be the

tiniest corn I have ever seen but it tasted wonderful. We still have loads of corn left to pick and enjoy. If you

eat three or four ears of our corn then its like eating a regular piece of corn. :)

Monday morning we woke up early and headed out for a hike with my sister and her family. We had two toddlers on the hike and they did awesome. I couldn't believe how long they walked up the trail. It was pretty steep and they were almost jogging at times. They were both good sports even though they stumbled a lot. I couldn't believe how awesome Tootsie did. If we took her off the leash then she would run right by us. We had to stop every once in a while for her to smell things but she came every time we called for her. She is shaping out to be a pretty good dog. Here are some pictures from the hike...

After we made it to the waterfall we headed back and found a nice place for a picnic lunch. The girls had fun chasing each other around on the grass. I think its more entertaining to watch toddlers run around and play and discover things than watching TV.

Tootsie

Well after 5 years of excuses I finally ran out of them and my husband got the dog he wanted. He found a Brittany Spaniel half off on KSL so he couldn't pass it up. I have always told him that one day when we get a house he can get his dog. He lasted just a couple months in the house before the topic came up again (I was hoping he would forget). I love dogs, don't get me wrong. But I am the one that gets to be home with the poor creature whining at my feet all day (and licking and biting them), it poops or pees every 30 minutes or so on my kitchen floor and last night I never went to sleep...ever. That dog has quite the pair of lungs. Good grief, it cried all night long. I know all dogs go though this stage but when I saw the clock and it was 5 am and I hadn't fallen asleep yet I felt like throwing the dang thing outside.

She is super sweet and I am excited to have her as part of our family (once she is trained and used to the house rules). I felt bad for her last night because she was taken from her Mom that day and was shut in someone's laundry room in the dark. She had 7 siblings so she was never alone. It made me think of the first night I was away from home. My parents dropped me off at my new apartment and helped me get set up. I was excited all day until it came time for me to go to sleep. I remember how lost and lonely I felt that first night. I even looked out the window and could see the mountain my parents live by. I stared at it for a while and thought of how safe and comforting it was over there and how alone and vulnerable it was where I was staying. I didn't sleep that night either. The next night I went right to sleep and was fine and excited again but for just that night I remember feeling completely alone.

My daughter was eating dinner when my husband brought Tootsie in for the first time. We thought she was going to fall off her chair, she was so exited. Three hours later my daughter was still screaming and jumping around. I have never seen her so excited about something.

I thought it would be fun to stage a little photo shot of the two.... I should have known better than to try to get a good shot of a two year old and a new puppy.