Yardwork!

I remember as a kid meandering through my grandparents' garden, munching on raspberries and peas. There's nothing like plucking something straight out of the garden and plopping it in your mouth.

I also remember growing a garden at our house in North Logan. All I really remember getting out of it was some pumpkins, but I probably wouldn't have eaten anything that came out of it at that point (I was a monstrously picky eater until college).

But then we moved to Arizona right before I turned 12. And that was the end of my gardening experiences. Anything that will grow in Arizona will grow without much help (cactus, citrus trees, beautiful, poisonous flowers). But a standard garden? Not a chance.

After 13 years of having no experience with growing anything besides a pea plant for a Young Women (it never grew), I thought I wouldn't have much desire/talent. But it turns out that it's slightly addicting.

We started last summer with a tomato plant and a container of chives. We got lots of delicious tomatoes, and fresh chives (they're still going strong, one year later). So this year we decided to try a little more.

Since we're in a townhome with a tiny backyard, we can't have a legitimate garden. Instead, we do container gardening on our deck. So here's what we have growing this year:

Strawberries...


...and peas


Chives and dill weed
(and if you know anything about dill weed, you'll laugh at the size of my pot. Obviously I didn't do my research before I planted this one)


Spinach (behind) and green beans (we had issues with the first planting--it rained too much and the seeds all rotted besides this one. I just planted some more)


And one of our two glorious tomato plants. I'm so excited!

We also have a tiny little raspberry bush given to us by someone in the ward. I didn't get a picture, but at this point it's so tiny it won't be much to look at.

Besides gardening, we've spent our weekend doing yardwork. It's exhausting, but I really enjoy it. Here's what we were up to this weekend:

When we bought our house, the stairs up to the front door looked like this:

All the dirt under them had settled or eroded. You could see straight through to the other side. Not good.

Now our stairs look like this:We packed the space underneath the steps with rocks, pounded in a liner to keep said rocks in place, and then seeded all the dirt patches around the edges.

Jon's big project (besides the steps) was this:
See that lovely hose holder thing? It wasn't there before.
I'm so glad to finally have one. Maybe next year that bush will actually be able to grow since it won't be crushed by our hose...

And this was my big project:
I trimmed the stupid spiky bush on the left (it's beautiful, but nasty), and planted those mystery flowers. My neighbor was given a bunch of them and passed her extras on to me. We don't have any idea what they are. I know they're perennials (bulbs), and am fairly sure they're irises, but we probably won't find out until next year when they bloom. All I know is that they aren't daffodils. Thats the extent of my flower knowledge.

More mystery flowers around the tree (which I trimmed). I also mulched everything (with Seth's help). Seth's main jobs were to dig up what I already planted and to scatter grass seed where it wasn't actually needed. He was very proficient at both...

On an unrelated topic: is it possible to be addicted to running? It's the strangest thing--I loathe running, despite every attempt to convince myself to like it (I think this is partially because I have exercise-induced asthma and I start wheezing like an old horse). The whole time I'm doing it, I can't wait to be done.

But the past week I've been running several times with Seth in the jogging stroller. The run is about a mile and a third, and about half of it is uphill (ish). My time isn't impressive, but it's getting better. But I hate running.

So here's my question: why do I want to do it? Why am I looking forward to running tomorrow? I hate running, but I love how I feel after I'm done.

See, Kellie? All that running in Texarkana wasn't totally wasted on me...

One Week...

I have a new swimming suit.
So does Jon.

I have a new little black dress (my very first!).
Jon has the same suit he's been wearing since his mission.

We both have our brand new passports.

We have a giant bottle of SPF 45 sunscreen (and SPF 70 for my face).
We also have a giant bottle of aloe in case we miss some spots.

We have awesome friends to mooch off of: Warnick, our free vacation planner, and Joe & Amber, our free chauffeurs around Miami. We owe you guys big time.

I've been exercising every morning and eating healthy so that I can eat whatever I want and still fit into my little black dress.

In one week I leave for our cruise (Jon will follow later).

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited. The truth? Not yet. At the moment my primary emotion is anxiety.

No, I don't have a fear of boats or water. Nor do I have a fear of leaving my son for a week (although it does make me so sad). But I DO have a fear of flying alone with my son for 5 hours. We're stocking up on snacks, car DVDs from the library, and toys that light up without making too much noise. This will be the last time he can fly for free. As much as I don't want to pay for that extra seat, boy am I excited for him to have his own seat for the next flight. We'll need it.

Guess I'd better start thinking about packing, huh?

Naptime, please?

It's been a long week. Actually, mostly just a long weekend. I'm tired, Jon's tired of not seeing me, and Seth's actually pretty pleased that he spent all weekend with Daddy.

Big event #1 was our Girls' Camp Fundraiser. The girls in our ward offered to babysit ward members' children for 5 hours at the church on Friday (this included dinner for all the kids). Most of my week went into preparing for this (although my preparations had nothing on yours, Dawn!). Leaving 50+ kids in the hands of 12-18 year old girls is always a little terrifying, but things went incredibly well. I'm so proud of these girls!

Big event #2 was a cake decorating event. I volunteered to bring one cake for our Fundraiser bake sale, plus was commissioned to make a cake for a friend in the ward. So two cakes in two days. In the future, I will not do this to myself. I am absolutely not joking when I saw that Seth and I were in our pajamas until after 3pm that day. And we survived on peanuts, craisins, and dried pineapple chunks.

See? Pajamas. You're not getting a picture of me in mine.

And this is what my kitchen looks like after two cakes (notice especially the sink full of dishes and the counter next to the sink. Disgusting). You can see the bowl of peanuts, craisins and pineapple chunks in the foreground. That's pretty much all we ate until dinner.

Before I post the pictures of my cakes, I just want to say thank you for all the sweet comments on my lumpy cake. I am learning by experimentation, and it's a slow process.As you can see, this cake was Round Two of the lumpy cake fiasco. Here's what I learned this time:

1. Freeze the cake. Makes cutting that angle much easier.
2. Let the iced cake sit until the icing hardens. Then put on the fondant.
3. My fondant is too heavy. I need a better recipe.
4. I don't like using fondant on these topsy-turvy cakes. Fondant makes for rounded edges: I want sharp angles. From now on it's buttercream icing with fondant decorations.
5. My 8 inch pan is actually less than 8 inches. And my 7 inch pan is actually more than 7 inches. Thus the top layer that is almost exactly the same size as the top layer. Lesson learned.

I've got it all figured out for my next attempt.

I am not happy with my other cake. I didn't have enough time to figure out what I wanted to do, nor did I have enough time to do it. But at least Lightning McQueen looks good, right?Big Event #3 was Sunday. I found out on Saturday that I needed to attend Ward Council and BYC. Plus one of my Beehives was getting baptized after church. Which means I was at the church from 7:30 to 2:00 straight. I know that's nothing if you're in the bishopric, but it was a long day for me. Luckily Jon was able to take Seth home for lunch and a nap. No way he would have survived. Now I need a nap...

And now for some Seth updates, since that's the real reason for this blog (I should probably rename it "Seth...and a little Jonny and Megan").

If it weren't for his chubby cheeks, my baby wouldn't have any baby left in him. He's shooting up and thinning out (he grows like a Blood). He's also learned to say "no" and uses it frequently. "Seth, come lay down so I can change your diaper." "No." "Seth, time to go upstairs and read books." "No." "Seth, can you help Mommy clean up?" "No." It's loads of fun.

Other favorite words are 'helicopter' (he-cok-er), 'woodpecker' (woo-ca-ca), 'motorcycle' (mow-ca-ca) and 'big truck' (big cuck). That last one is always preceded by 'ooo.' As in, "Oooo, big cuck!" He also managed to figure out 'circle' (ker-coh) without instruction from his parents. No idea how.

Our personal favorite right now is 'fan.' Seth pronounces it 'man.' And it's usually doubled and preceded by 'ooo'. As in, "Oooo, man man." We have to say hi to the fans every morning.

Seth acquired his first Band-aid this weekend after getting an impressive skinned knee. I was at the fundraiser, otherwise I'd have photographic evidence. Now every time he sees the wound he says, 'Knee! Owie!'

He's turned into a lousy eater. Really lousy. I can't get him to eat anything. Just peanuts, pineapple chunks (they're so sugar-coated they might as well be candy) and apples. He used to love grapes and now he'll barely tolerate them, and only if they're sliced in half. Vegetables? Forget it. Pasta? Rice? Potatoes? Nothing. So now the question is, do I make him eat what's on his plate or feed him anything he'll eat to keep him from starving?

My favorite Sethism right now is his totally irrational fear of leaves. If there's a leaf within 5 feet of him, he freezes up. "Ooo, yeaf!" Sometimes we like to torture him by holding dried leaves near his face and watching him panic. Being a parent is awesome.

And last, but not least, Seth has learned the age-old art of pushing a chair over to the counter so he can get to the Easter candy. Needless to say, the candy has found a new home.
Lets end with some video evidence of new vocabulary words and a fair example of leaf-phobia:

And I've been saving the best for last:

I walked into the fundraiser on Friday and immediately looked for Debbie. The first thing she said to me?

"I'm adopting my daughter."

We both cried. It was absolutely a miracle. Thank you all for your prayers (that comes from Debbie, too).

Heart and Soul

Here are Seth and Angelina performing their much-acclaimed duet, "Heart and Soul":

I'm not entirely sure who was Heart and who was Soul, but, boy, were they enthusiastic about it.

You may remember Angelina from this post. Her mom, Debbie, is one of my best friends. She's also my boss (she's Young Women President, I'm 2nd Counselor).

(I totally stole these pictures off your Facebook, Debbie)

But the truth is that, legally, Debbie is not Angelina's mother. Sure, Debbie was the one who brought Angel home from the hospital. The one who rocked her while she screamed through withdrawals from the drugs her mother took while pregnant. The one who listened for her first word and celebrated her first steps.

Every day for almost two years now, Debbie has done everything a mother could do for this little girl while her biological parents couldn't even be bothered to come visit their daughter. And every day for two years, Debbie's family has been praying to adopt Angelina.

It's been heartbreaking to watch. They've struggled through inept social workers who didn't get paperwork done on time. They've crossed their fingers that the parents would just sign off for the adoption instead of forcing them to go through the whole procedure (no such luck). And, last November, they had to watch another foster family in our ward adopt and be sealed in the temple to the little girl who came into their home one month before Angelina came to Debbie's. Although they were absolutely happy for them, it was frustrating to see their dreams come true for someone else while they stood by, unable to do anything but wait and pray.

Just when things were starting to look up, they were shocked by some bad news: Angelina's biological dad had decided to fight for her. This is a man who never took the initiative to come see his daughter. It was only when he was in jail, with nothing to do but reflect on his past mistakes, that he decided he wanted Angelina.

So now they have to fight against a system that favors keeping children with their biological parents, regardless of the fact that this child has known nothing but life with Debbie. Just trying to understand what it would be like if someone announced to me that Seth would be taken away makes me sick to my stomach. And angry. Can you imagine the trauma--being ripped away from your home and everything you've ever known and being thrown into an environment that's totally alien? It breaks my heart to think about it.

This Friday is the big day. The day that they meet with Angelina's biological father and several social workers for mediation. They are praying that he will realize that she belongs with them--that he will decide to do what is best for Angelina. But it's out of their hands.

Please keep Debbie, Angelina and their family in your thoughts and prayers this week. Angelina is already their daughter in spirit and Debbie has no doubt that one day she will be theirs legally. She just doesn't know how long the fight will take.

I'm so excited for the day when we get to watch Angelina be sealed to her family for Time and All Eternity. Please remember them this week.

Dear Mom,

Here are the Easter pictures you've been begging for. Sorry it took so long to get them up. You may place the blame on Young Women and LOST.

We did Easter baskets on Saturday so that Sunday we could focus more clearly on Christ. I was excited to put the baskets out this year because Seth is finally old enough to actually care about getting presents.

All the baskets waiting for us on Saturday morning.
Jon's is on the left, mine in the middle (it's the same one I used as a kid) and Seth's is on the right.
I'm sure Jon felt very loved when he saw what appears to be an empty basket waiting for him....

It's pretty clear who's the most spoiled person living in this house.

Yes, the eyes are closed, but it was the only picture I could get of him before he attacked everything. Once again, do we see a theme here? Firetruck basket, a car, and Lightning McQueen pajamas? The obsession is stronger than ever (although it has recently expanded into buses, helicopters, and motorcycles. Also, I'm starting to think he's obsessed with the woodpecker behind our house because he thinks it's some kind of car (he has only heard it, never seen it)...

"Oh my gosh! They let me have one of these? Last year they snatched it out of my hands before I could get more than tiny taste!"

I was super excited for him to have his first Easter egg hunt. Jon "hid" 9 eggs in the front yard (it was supposed to be 10 but I forgot to give him the last one) while I distracted Seth with his new car from the Easter Bunny.
He was a little confused as to what he was supposed to be doing, but he figured it out quickly and was actually pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing.
There was a moment of distraction when he found the egg with the matchbox car inside and starting hyperventilating. "Car! Car? CAR!!" Amazingly, Jon was able to convince him to put it in the basket and continue the hunt.

It didn't take him long to find all the eggs, considering our yard is the size of a small bathroom. We'll have to get more creative as he gets older...

Time to investigate the loot:

"What the...Craisins?! Where's the candy?!"

"Oh good. Here it is. I'd better shove as much of it as I can into my mouth before Mom takes it away."

How many malted milk ball eggs can Seth fit in those cheeks? Well, at least three. Then I decided he was done.

Easter was very low key here. Seth did amazingly well during Conference. There were only a few talks that we missed because he was jumping on us. I was very impressed.

We invited a few people over for Easter dinner, but it ended up just being me, Jon, Seth and the giant ham I bought. It was actually pretty nice to just be together as a family (and not have the stress of having the house presentable for guests. Conference weekend doesn't do good things for our living conditions).

In other news, it's been ridiculously hot here. I'm not exaggerating when I say that our temperatures have been rivaling temperatures back home in Tucson. 80+ degrees, and possibly even a 90 degree day yesterday. I don't mind, except that Seth hasn't been sleeping very well. We finally turned on the AC, much to Jon's dismay.

But Seth is loving it during the day. Every morning I let him out on our deck where he splashes in his water table from Grandma Cathy. He's in heaven. He also loves running around our cul-de-sac and watching the cars go past on Route 7 (Dawn told me only non-natives call it "The 7" so I'm trying to acclimate). And yes, both he and I get a good coat of 70 SPF sunscreen every day.

And, just for fun, here's Seth helping Jon as he attempts to fix our light:

Turns out it's unfixable (and just plain ugly) so I bought a new one today. After a great deal of Mormon cussing (Seth was napping, I swear) I was finally able to get it up. Stupid cheap Wal-Mart design...

Judge Me, Dear Reader...

Actually, not me, per say, but judge this cake:

Please participate in a short survey about your feelings upon seeing this cake:

a.) That is one sweet looking cake and I would totally pay money for it

b.) The decorations are great, the cake itself looks a bit...saggy

c.) Dear Megan, were you drunk when you tried to level this cake?

d.) Go ahead and submit that sucker to Cake Wrecks. Seriously.

I appreciate your participation.

Here's the saga of this cake:

When we were living in Iowa, I worked across the river in a bakery in Illinois. I was hired as a cake decorator, even though I had absolutely no experience. They were desperate, and I had (during high school, at least) a pretty solid background in art. Turns out that I actually have a real talent for cake decorating. So I'm grateful I had the chance to take on that job, even if the hours were pretty rough and often involved me being on my feet for 8 hours a day.

(One of the cakes I made at the bakery)

Anyway...I've been able to continue to decorate cakes on my own, which is a blast. It's really the only truly creative thing I still do (who has time to watercolor, paint, or draw anymore?). I pretty much just did it for my family and a few close friends, but now the secret's out and I've had a few people pay me to make cakes for them. Cake decorating is definitely not a profitable business, but I like having a chance to do something fun every once in a while. I love having the chance to come up with ideas--since I left the bakery, I have never copied a single cake from anyone else. All my cakes have been 100% my ideas.

(The first cake I made at home, for an elder in our ward)

(The first cake I was paid to make, for Joyce's daughter, Natalie)

Not too long ago, I made a racetrack cake for my friend Amy's son, Ry. This weekend was her daughter's 10th birthday and she asked me to do another cake for her. Of course, I was excited about it, but it also made me nervous.

(She brought little cars to put on the track, but I snapped this before she got here)

At the bakery, 95% of the cakes we decorated were simple sheet cakes. Occasionally we'd get a shaped cake (a football, a giant '1', etc.). But any really complicated cakes (wedding cakes, tiered cakes, fondant cakes) were done by the owner. I watched her make these cakes every week, so I had a good idea of how to do it. I just had never actually done it myself.

So when Amy asked for a two-tier fondant cake, I was excited to try my skills. But the really scary part was that she asked for a crooked, or Mad Hatter cake, like the one below.

(This is probably the best crooked cake I've ever seen)

I had never seen anyone make one, so I found some instructions online. I also made my own fondant, since pre-made fondant is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. I thought everything was going pretty well until I tried to put the fondant on. Suddenly my nice, crooked cake was just kind of...lumpy. In retrospect, I should have left the iced cake to harden overnight, plus rolled the fondant out thinner, but I didn't.
I was NOT pleased with how it turned out. I spent a lot of time on the decorations (which I am pretty stinking proud of) to make up for the stupid, misshapen cake. I was embarrassed to give it to Amy, and I didn't want her to pay me. But she insisted that it was beautiful and paid me anyway (thanks, Amy, for the self-esteem boost!). Plus, I got to be there when Emma saw her cake, and she was THRILLED. I guess that's what really matters.

So that's the story of my weekend. I just wish I had another excuse to try the crooked cake again, now that I KNOW how to make it right. Oh, and if any of you want to attempt this, don't use the instructions on cakecentral.com. That's what I used, and my cake was too rounded. I think the sharp angles are much better.

The lumpy cake, in all it's glory

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

Three videos of our Monster Man.

First (my personal favorite) is what happens when you hand your toddler your camera because he wants to watch the movies of himself. I apologize for any motion sickness.

Seth's Eye View

The second is dedicated to Aunt Marah, who bought Seth his ride-on car for his first birthday. We wanted to show her how far he's progressed from the days when all he wanted to do was watch the wheels spin.

Seth Rides

And finally, Seth's new favorite activity: yelling at Mom from the top of the stairs. We do this several times a day now.

Seth Lectures

Can it be Spring Yet?

My son is currently running in and out of our house, thrilled to have a new place to explore.

The daffodils we dug up in the woods and planted in our yard last year (not entirely sure it's legal) are making their appearance.(I know it's fuzzy. I was in my pajamas when I took it so I was trying get back inside before the neighbors saw)

And remember this from a few weeks ago?

This is all that's left:

It's a beautiful thing. Soon we'll start planting our little container garden on our deck and trying to figure out how to keep Seth out of it.

I had all these great plans for these sunny days. We were going to go to the park. To go running. To go explore somewhere outdoors. Anything to get out of the house.

Instead, we're sitting in the house with a half-empty box of tissues next to us. It's just not fair.

I Need a Break

It's been one of those weeks.

One of those Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday Church meeting weeks.

One of those weeks where I'm vaguely stressed out all the time. (Anyone else feel like trying to get 20+ Young Women to find family names for our temple trip?)

One of those weeks where I think I might have taken on too many piano students. Yet I still feel guilty when I have to turn people away.

One of those weeks where I haven't left the house since Sunday (with the exception of Tuesday night, which had me at the church again).

And it's been one of those weeks where I'm pathetically feeling sorry for myself because Jon will be gone all next week. I hate playing 'single mom.'

Know what sounds good about now?

A vacation.

Turns out I have some good news for myself:

We're going on a CRUISE in May.

I'm so excited. We've been talking about it for a long time. We have some good reasons for going. Our 5 year anniversary is this year, so that's a good reason to go. Also, our birthdays are both in May. Another good reason to go.

But here's the real reason we're going: Seth is old enough to be left at Grandma's house for a week, and there's not another one on the way. If you think I would mix morning sickness with a cruise, you're nuts. Oh, and Seth's still in the 'under 2 fly free' category until July.

Basically it's just excellent timing all around.

I admit, I feel slightly guilty about going. After all, we already went on a cruise for our honeymoon. And with all the flights, it's kind of pricey. But I've been saving my piano money. I'm still using my 20 year old, broken Sunbeam mixer because I didn't want to spend my money on a KitchenAid. Yet.

And I'm really feeling guilty about leaving Seth for a week. Number of nights I've been apart from him since he was born: zero. But the funny thing is that I'm not worried about leaving him--this kid has never had a day of stranger anxiety. He'll be in heaven in sunny Arizona, chasing dogs and cats to his little heart's content. But I still feel guilty.

But I shouldn't. Because this is probably the last chance we'll have to do something like this for a LONG time. As in 'not until the kids are grown and out of the house' kind of long time. So I'm not going to feel guilty.

Many thanks to Warnick, our official vacation planner, who talked us out of a Baja cruise. Also to Joe & Amber who have volunteered to be our taxi service around Miami (I swear we're getting the flights figured out soon). And THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my parents for being willing to put up with a week of an almost-two-year-old running around their house.

How many more weeks until May?

Oh, and my son is adorable. In case you've forgotten.

For My Grandparents

I promised some Seth videos soon, so here they are!

First, Seth being a dork. I am not exaggerating about this car obsession. And I apologize if you get motion-sickness from watching this. Blame Seth.

Second, the animal noises. He has some new ones now, but he won't cooperate for another video.