Viola! We Have a Garden!

The last few months we have been working hard on turning a weed patch in the corner of our yard into a garden.  Here is what we had to work with!  

I spent a few weeks spraying and trying to kill all the weeds and grass.  It was hard when the weather was still cool to get everything to die.  After that we evened out all the ground and got it ready for the weed blocker tarps.   

Here's a view with the weed blocker down.  We decided to just do half the area for the garden and the other half has a small fire pit and we are still making plans for the other section.

Our awesome neighbor let us borrow his truck to get mulch.  I was shocked how much we needed.  

Here's my awesome husband shoveling it all out by hand.  

We were lucky enough to have some rock donated to us from some neighbors that were re-landscaping a section of their yard and didn't need it any more.  It saved us a good chunk of money and looked great  around the edge of the mulch.  Our awesome neighbors came to help shovel it out.  

Looking good!!!

Now it was time to build our grow boxes.  Liam even wanted to help daddy!  We used Cedar Wood from home depot and I love it.  In case you ever build grow boxes make sure you get the right wood.  We almost got treated wood thinking that it would be best because it wont deteriorate but I guess it can leak poison into the ground and your crops!  scary!  So we paid more and got the Cedar wood and hopefully poison free!

One of the finished products.  Jas made two 4x4's and one 4x8.  Then we used railroad ties for the edges.  It was great because Home depot pre cut all the wood for us for free.  All we had to do was assemble them.  

We filled them with top soil, and mulch then it was time for planting!  I was so excited!

This is just a few of the things we planted.  All together we had a few types of zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, spinach, lettuce, beans, and onion.  

Planted and ready to Grow!

 A couple weeks later we have beautiful sprouting vegetables!  

Milli's Birth Story

So like I said in the previous post, Milli is the foster Chihuahua we have been hosting at our home.  When I got her they knew she was pregnant but not from who, how long, how many puppies, or anything helpful.  I even paid to take her to a vet to try and get some more info but dogs are a lot harder than people apparently because they couldn't tell me much either.  So after having her almost two weeks the night finally came.

I had a whelping bed set up for her in a separate room and at two in the morning I heard the worst yelping I have ever heard from a dog. I ran in and she ran over to me and I heard a second set of crying.  The puppy was already half way out on my leg.  Poor Milli was in so much pain but the puppy was alert and moving around like crazy.

You can probably tell at this point Milli decided to go natural...haha but seriously if I could have given her an epidural I probably would of!  It was terrifying!  Over the next hour she did amazing doing everything she was supposed to.  She cut the chord and ate the placenta.  Dogs are supposed to do this because its incredibly nutritious, it helps with the contractions, and the milk come in.  The next puppy was even more painful than the first.  It also wasn't moving at first and I was freaking out.  After some rubbing with a towel and licks from Mom it started doing a lot better.

Milli wasn't cutting the chord though and seemed to be in even more pain!  I felt terrible and was panicking after 30 min.  I thought the coming placenta was what was causing so much pain so I tried to move the puppy closer to her and thought I saw the placenta but quickly realized it was the third puppy still in the sac.  Milli's crying woke up the entire house and I was literally shaking.  When the puppy came out Milli and I were both working on getting off the sac and this puppy also needed some rubbing to get it going.  After 15 minutes all the puppies were nursing and Milli seemed to be calmer.  I was crossing my fingers that was the last of it but had no way of knowing for sure.  I'm so glad it was and Milli did great again cutting the chords and getting her pups all cleaned up.

So when I was sure we were all done I checked for sexes and the first pup born was jet black like its momma and was a boy.  The next two look identical to me and they are the same size so I am not even sure which one is the runt.  They are both chestnut colored with black masks and one is a boy and one is a girl. It was a great experience but I won't be looking to do it again any time soon.  Also we have loved having Milli.  She is truly the sweetest dog I have ever met and all she wants is to be loved, petted, and rubbed.  She will even roll over for Liam to get some of his harder pets.  She has also been a great momma to her pups and they are all healthy and happy!

Our Crazy Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Weekend we were planning on having some of Jason's family come and visit.  This is a huge deal for me because company totally stresses me out, but we all live so far a part so it was great getting to spend time together.  It was a weekend of definite craziness but a lot of great memories.  At one point we had 13 people plus 7 dogs here and my house seemed tiny all of a sudden.  To understand how crazy the weekend was let me build you a timeline.

THURSDAY NIGHT:  I decided to pack on as much stress as possible before all the company arrived and decided to host card club at my house.  I sincerely thought it would be quick and not many people would be able to make it because of the upcoming holiday weekend.  Ha. Ten woman showed up and during the 9 months I have been in card club there has been maybe 2 kids that came with their moms.   Well this time we had 9 kids running in and out of the house and my husband became the instant baby sitter.  Did I mention he is pretty amazing? Well he is!  So by the time that was over we both looked like deer in the headlights and were ready for a wonderful relaxing weekend...

(The Plot thickens and very eery music starts playing while your thinking, What's going to happen next?)

A few hours later the first brother arrives with his girlfriend Lindsey who is very, very, very, car sick..or so we thought.  Lindsey has just become our first 24 hr flu victim...

zzzZzzzZzzz

OWWW! FRIDAY MORING 2 AM:  We are awaken by a loud shrieking howl!  (I should explain that I have been fostering a pregnant Chihuahua that I call Milli. Did I mention my husbands amazing? Well he is!)  I jump out of bed and run to the room Milli's in.  She is crying and runs up to me in terrible pain.  I try to calm her and all of a sudden hear a second set of crying.  I look below her and there is a puppy half way out coming onto my leg!  (I am saving the rest of this story for a seperate blog post so long story short of the next 3 hours 3 puppies were born and I felt like I had been hit by a bus..train..something large and I was definitely ready for a nice relaxing weekend.

In the morning is when we discovered Lindsey definitely had more than just car sickness but she was starting to do better and we got ready for the next family to arrive.  That afternoon we welcomed the second brother Brad his wife Meagan, and their three kids Faith, Kelton, and Kaison.  The rest of the afternoon went fine, we bar-b-que'd, talked, the girls went to the store and got ready for the next day.

That night we slept as well as you can sleep with 4 kids under the age of 5 in the house, plus 5 dogs, 3 of which are just barely a day old.

SATURDAY:  We had grand plans to go have a pic nic at Tony's Grove up the canyon.  Obviously Jas and I haven't lived here long enough because if you look at the tops of the mountains there is still a little snow.  So when we turned up the road and saw where we were headed it was obvious this was going to be a chilly pic nic.  Almost everyone was in shorts, the kids were in flip flops, and we had two sweaters total.  When we pulled up to the lake and saw ice chunks our sweet niece asked us if we had ever been to Palm Springs?  Lol no but I wish I was there now!  Meanwhile in the other car my dog Mozzie had thrown up all over Tylers girlfriend Lindsey...he gets very car sick.  I felt so bad and Im sure she is just thrilled to be spending the weekend with this crazy bunch!

Tony's Grove was still pretty and we still did our pic nic but just shorter than we expected.

When we got back the third brother arrived Jeremy with his wife Jenn, son Cole, and two more dogs!  More bar-B-Q, playing cousins, and the tally has officially arrived to 8 adults, 5 kids, 7 dogs! (ahhh)

That night we have our second flu victim, Tyler.  Everyone felt a little doomed at that point.

SUNDAY:  I wake up and became the third flu victim.  It was terrible and Jason had to completely take the reins getting everyone to church, cooking dinner, and keeping everything going!  Did I mention he's amazing?  Well he is!  I don't have much to say about Sunday because I barely left my bedroom but it seemed to go well.  Sunday night we had our fourth and fifth flu victims, Brad and his youngest son Kaison.  They were up all night and exhausted in the morning.

MONDAY:  Monday was Brads birthday!  Ha poor guy, Happy Birthday, enjoy the flu?  We had a big breakfast and then mostly everyone packed up and left.  By Monday night Jas and I were wiped out!  Did I mention he's amazing?  You know he is!

I feel like we are still recuperating as you can see it took me a few days to even blog about it.  It really was a great weekend, there is nothing better than family.  We are grateful for everyone making such long drives to come see each other and spend time together.  We are blessed!