Ian...

Ian's visit has come and gone, it went by quickly while at the same time it ticked by rather slowly.
I love Ian and I wish could be more of a dad to him, but the circumstances make it a bit of a challenge.
During his time here, we went to the Utah Art's Festival, where the above photograph was made, with a film camera of all things! He's 14 now. We did a few things with my family and Mirinda's as well.
We also got a Wii, which Ian and I, and Mirinda too, played a lot. Ian beat me at a lot of the games, but that's OK. We worked outside in the yard more than Ian would care to, but it was a good family thing.
Where ever you are Ian, I am always thinking about you, I love you and so do a lot of other people here in Utah.
It will be almost another year until we see him again.
Brian

Mid Summer Garden Update

Our garden is growing! Its not like we could eat out of our yard, but we are doing so much better then last year

Check out the corn in the back box! We should have tassels soon! The lettuce is looking good and I think we need a salad soon. We have a small handful of beans, with more on the way. We are even still getting a few peas. The zucchini and Summer squash are starting to flower, so we should be eating those soon. Our blue potato is starting to flower, but the others are still growing as much as the bugs will let them. We also have the beginnings of tomatoes.

The carrots, especially the purple variety doesn't seem to want to grow so much.

We are also making great progress on the flag corner project. The first half is more or less done and the strawberrys and wildflowers are growing.

We are finaly ready to start putting the second half together. We have removed all the weeds and tilled in some "Church Mix" This is puffed shell with compost mixed in. It is supposed to be great for our clay soil. It is called Church Mix becouse this is what the plants on the top of the LDS church conference center are growing in.

I plan to put in two more path sections, some more wildflowers, strawberrys and some desert stuff like banana yucca and red hot poker.

Yes our park stirps look horrible, we know. That is a project for another year.

Chickens again

Yesterday I went to a chicken meeting to talk about allowing chickens in the West Valley City. We talked about no roosters, how to make anti chicken people comfortable and how to deal with the city's large minority population that let the chickens roam the neighborhood and butcher them on the lawn. It is far from a done deal, but I am thinking this is going to happen. Stay tuned for updates.

Here is some chicken fun while we wait. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0zwf3aOGs

Does anyone know how to save U-tube videos or post them on the blog? Anyway, check out the latest ad campaign from our church. We cant donate to the fund to help get it on the air, but we can share it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyo8uK7G8Y

Ians here- I need a nap!

Ian arrived Wednesday morning and we have been having sooo much fun!

Thursday Brian and Ian had some father son bonding at Cabelas. Brian finally found some waders (fishing stuff) that were of a quality and price that he could accept. Ian got a Power Popper ball gun.

Friday we all spent the day in the sun at the arts festival. We had a great time. My favorite was the guy from Kansas that made relay cool metal cactus. They were relay amazing, and from Kansas! Brian loved to just experience all the art. Ian's favorite was the yard art metal sculptures. We had hoped to stay longer, but the heat and $2.00 water wore us out. Here we are tired and happy resting up to leave.

Saturday: If you are not aware I Want Chickens! Since we first visited our friends Michael and Susan's home and meet Goldie, their first chicken, I have wanted chickens. Unfortunately they are Currently illegal in West Valley City. That is (hopefully) soon to change. The city is considering changing the laws and I am (tee hee) counting my chickens before they hatch and planning for the new pets next spring. No, I am not crazy, how many of your pets and loving, friendly, mow your lawn, eat the bugs our of your yard, fertilize the yard and make food?

So on Saturday we went to the Tour De Coop, a tour of some of Salt Lake City's back yard chicken coops. Salt Lake City allows chickens (no roosters, but who wants one of those? Now that is crazy) I had a great time, Brian caught the vision, and Ian was very well behaved! Here is one of the little ladies we met.



We are busy planning our future chicken coop and here are some of the coops we saw.

We also got to celebrate Amon's birthday. It was a great 7 year old party and Ian had a lot of fun and Brian and I had as much as our worn out selves could handle.

I was so grateful for a Sunday. I needed a day to rest.

We are hoping to see the Schiele's some time soon, although we don't yet have plans for several weeks. I think Brian is trying to set up a fishing day for Saturday.

In case I am too worn out to write next week- We are going to a chocolate factory on Monday, Sugar house park on Friday, Sunday we have a wedding extravaganza , and and and......

THANKS FOR VOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just thought I'd let you know, that the results are in from the "People's Choice" voting I posted about a few weeks ago.
And while I didn't the most votes, I DID get enough to make the top 20 list!

http://www.artistswanted.org/exposure/

I am the seventh name down, I don't know if that means anything or not, but from what I understand, there were about 2951 portfolios.
I am not sure what happens next, but the BIG prize is still in up for grabs!
Brian

Wheee

I want a bike! A pink cruzer. I found the perfect one on sale at K-mart a few weeks ago and now that I have the money they are sold out. Sold out, back ordered, have to wait who knows how long, all gone.

When I first saw it we were selling our old room air conditioner it seemed like the perfect way to spend some money- and save some with gas prices. I can do quick trips to the store on a bike. Not real shopping, but ran out of milk, need bread, craving cottage cheese trips.

I there are several family's that have been taking daily bike trips around the neighborhood. It looks like they are having so much fun! I want to go too.

I have an old bike I bought from Merilee that is not in working order. We could fix it up, but I was never really comfortable on it. And besides, it is not a new pink bike.

I found one I might like as much at another store. We will go look at it soon and see if it meets Brian's expert bike opinion. Stay tuned