Our First Trip to the Zoo

This past week I have been teaching Jefferson all about animals, mostly the wild variety. We got a ton of books at the library (so many so that they told me I was at the limit) and sat down every day and read. Most interesting is that Jefferson is so much more willing to listen when the books are non-fiction. He really is his father's son. He was very good at identifying almost all the animals that we found at the zoo. He did call the prairie dogs rats, but in all honestly they are pretty rat like. We had never taken him before because we thought it would be a waste. We didn't think he would pay attention or even realize what was so cool about the animals. But know he is old enough and interested enough that we made the trip. My mom was kind enough to come along and join the festivities and we had a great time. Jefferson loved it so much that we couldn't keep him in the stroller. Even while it was moving he would slither out and run. He is such an energetic child, but it was great to see.

Anything with feathers is a bird to Jeffers, except an owl that is. I really wanted him to spread his feathers, but he was alone so he had no reason. One of these days I'll capture it.

Jefferson's favorites were by far the elephants, giraffes, and unfortunately the snakes. It took us a while to get him away from the elephants. They had a baby that just turned one and he had a great time watching him play with his ball. We had to stop by again on our way out of the zoo.

Jefferson is deep concentration trying to figure out what the elephants were going to do next. I love these pictures. It's like I can almost see what he is going to be like when he is an adult.


Our attempt at a family pic, but obviously the elephants were much more interesting.

I really don't like osteriches. They freak me out. And I swear this one was staring right at me with angry eyes. It definitly wanted to eat me.

The giraffes were great. This one really liked to lick the pole and Jefferson's response to this was, "Taste good?" Classic!

Another cool looking bird.


A moe-ney (Jefferson's word).

Jason absolutely measures up. He is the greatest.
It was such a fun day, unfortunately Jefferson won't stop talking about the snakes and he is really mad at me for returning the library book about them. Hopefully he'll grow out of it before he starts bringing them home.

Oddity of the Day!

My tomato is giving your tomato the finger. Take that!

Bounties of our Garden!!

I can't believe that summer is almost over. It's gone by really fast. I have gone from, "what if nothing in our garden grows?" to "Holy cow, why did we plant so much?" But I am grateful for the lessons we are learning, for the ability to be self sufficient to a degree, and for the yummy healthy food we are eating. When we went to Texas things were progressing nicely and when we got back a week later it was like our garden had taken growth hormones. It was crazy. Especially the zuchinni. But I love it so I was okay with that. Jason, on the other hand, wanted to put them back in the ground as fertilizer (he is not a fan of vegetables).

We planted about 20 tomato plants of various color and variety and I am in love. The little orange guys are so delicious I could eat them like candy. The darker one in the right corner is one of my heirloom tomatoes and it's called Black Crim and it is heavenly. I just have tomato sandwiches for lunch with these guys. I am bottling a lot of them due to our over abundance and it will be nice to eat them in the winter and know where they came from.


Do you like my siamese straight neck? I almost cried when I cut it in half to eat because I thought it was so cool.

My very first Green Zebra heirloom tomato. I was so excited for these babies. Had one on homemade wheat bread for lunch and it was fabulous. Slightly tangy, but also fruity. Can't wait for more.

Jason picked our first ears of corn last night and he was a little giddy. The corn has been his baby. It's one vegetable that he will gladly eat. It was really good too. We have a few different varieties so I am looking forward to eating them.
Jason was also excited that he got to pick our first two pumpkins. They are the sugar variety so they aren't as big and don't take as long to ripen. You make pumpkin pie out of this kind. They are so good. We do have a lot coming on though, so don't be surprised if you hear your doorbell ring and you find pumpkins instead of people.

We have picked all of our peas, green beans, and radishes. We are still picking masses of tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, and straightneck. Some cucumbers, pumpkins, and corn. And we are still waiting for the canteloupe, honey dew, potatoes, and watermelon to ripen. With all of this bounty I am just really thankful to the Lord for all that He created for us. Food is not just for survival, but to enjoy. And He has made it really enjoyable for us. The cool thing about Brigham is that almost everyone has a garden and they all grown different things. So last night Jason took squash, tomatoes, and peppers to the Bishops house and we traded for fresh heads of garlic, jalapenos, and a good amount of his early peaches (so fabulous). I can't wait until ours are ripe. People are so willing to trade and give away produce and help one another out. It's quite common in Relief Society to have someone raise their hand and say, "I have a lot of so and so, does anyone know who needs some?" Love it!!