The Library.....our favorite place to go

Mick loves to read. We go to the library about 4 times a week because he reads through the books so fast. He currently loves the Hank The Cowdog chapter book series and anything in the non-fiction section of the kids books. He has read about animals, bugs, sealife, September 11 2001, dinosaurs, bomber jets during WWII, space, Adolf Hitler, volcanoes, earthquakes, our nervous systems, etc. Pretty much any subject you can think of, Mick has read about it. He can tell you what lava is called before it comes up above ground (magma), that it was the Nazis that Hitler commanded, that roly poly bugs are not really bugs at all but a crusteacean, that barnacles have both female and male reproductive organs since they don't move around to mate and can impregnate themselves, that purple pinscher hermit crabs are actually playful pets and like to be held and that they are omnivores. I tell ya, I have learned so much this summer from him. Not to mention received a pretty good backache from lugging all those books back and forth from the library.

When we first got our library cards 3 years ago, they told us that the limit you can check-out is 50 items per family. I remember thinking, wow, we will never need to worry about going over the limit.

Which brings me to yesterday. I went to checkout and was told we had 52 items. I felt a little embarrassed. Anyway, the lady gave us a limit of 75 that they give to families that do home schooling.

I am proud of him and hope that his love of learning will take him far in his life. I am also happy with the fact that although he spends time a lot of time reading, he is still active and plays outdoors and with friends a lot. Mick, you are awesome, don't forget it!

Victoria Learning So Much

Tori learned how to ride her bike sans training wheels last week. Adam pretty much helped her over the curb and driveway and off she went. She was wobbly but she didn't need anyone to hold onto her. She can go so much faster and it's so much easier for her now. We are enjoying going on long bike rides every day. Today we are riding to the shave ice shack. Yum!!

Here is a quick shot of Mick standing on his bike. He is getting so much braver these days.

Tori was enrolled in a community ballet class this summer. It wasn't her favorite thing to do. I am glad we tried a 3 week class before we signed her up with a dance studio or something. I think she would like a faster type dance. Ballet just seemed so slow to her compared to gymnastics.

Chef Mickerbocker

Mick has been learning to cook this summer. I taught him how to make pancakes last week. If anyone notices that the Hall family is getting plumper these days, it's because he makes us each about 10 pancakes each morning. They are tasty, but I don't know how much longer we can keep eating like that. Maybe I better think of something low calorie for him to cook........

Growing, Growing, Growing...

I realized I have not posted any pictures of the whole garden. I am big fan of it and here it is:


Here is a cucumber:

Here is our first baby cuc:
Our baby tomato:

Strawberrys, Radishes, and Carrots:

Carrots:
The Corn Patch:

Zuccichini:
Watermellon:

My strawberry. I went took this picture this morning and this afternoon I went out to eat it and it was gone!!! Cursed Birds.

Here is my super sidekick. He is a great worker. I am so proud of him. He is always willing to help me with any jobs I have, whether it is shoveling snow or planting or working on a business.

Garden on the Mind

I went running with my brother Jarod yesterday and he asked me how the garden was. I asked if he had seen the blog. He just started laughing and nodded his head. We were in Vernal for a couple of days and I was more worried about finding someone to water the garden than I was about finding someone to feed the dog. Big thanks to Jeremy Nelson for taking care of both for me, my zucchini grew a bunch under his care for the weekend.

We were in Vernal for my sister Erin's High School Graduation. It was great to see her graduate. She also was awarded a full tuition scholarship to Snow College. I am going to go check out Ephraim with her tomorrow. (Just in case anyone is wondering, according to USU, Ephraim has more seed stores than any other city in the state. I can't wait to check some of them out and see if I find some sort of new plant I need to hurry and get in the ground.) The graduation service started with some comedy, they forgot to bring the US Flag. They had everyone say the Pledge of Allegiance. For the first half of the Pledge the whole crowd was looking around for a flag but there was none to be found, just a lonely empty flagpole. The kids that spoke were pretty good and the weather was great.

Congratulations Erin!!

Mom and Dad figured since we were all there handy, they may as well have us rebuild their deck. Jarod, the architect, did a great job of running the crew and getting it all together. My nephews were great to wrestle down and pick on. It looks like I only have about 5 years until either one of them will out weigh me. They are only 5 and 2 right now but they are BIG BOYS! Both of them are pushing 50 pounds and are solid.

Julie came in tonight as I was getting these pics loaded and asked if I realized I took more pictures of the garden lately than I did the kids! I told her I didn't realize it, but it made sense, the plants hold still longer!

Another week has gone by and the garden is still growing. I am quite excited to watch the plants as they develop. It is amazing to me.

Here are the beets:

Here is Mick's Big Max pumpkin:

Here is an over view of the corn, cucumbers (on the left), and tomatoes (on the right):

Here is one of the cucumbers:

These are our tomatoes:

Here is the corn patch (I think I am going to tear out half of it an replant it so we have corn for a few weeks this fall rather than all at once):

Here is what one of our boxes looks like. We have 2 4' X 4' boxes and 1 4' X 8" box.

Carrots, Radishes, and Strawberries:

Watermelon:

Zucchini:

Tori's little pumpkins:

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we went to the service at Provo's cemetery then we went hiking to Stewart Falls. It was a fun hike. The kids were awesome hikers. Mick really was a trooper. It was amazing how many people were up there.

Tori was riding on my shoulders and carrying a stick. She let the stick hit a tree as we went by and it jabbed into the side of my neck and her leg. This picture was before our only injury of the day.

We were about halfway back to the truck by this point when the boy was beginning to wear down a little. Luckily he decided to sit down in a spot that didn't have any Stinging Nettle.

It was a great day. It so wonderful we are free to go out in some beautiful country without any worries of danger.

THANK YOU VETS and SERVICE PEOPLE!!

The Carrots Sprouted!!

Here are our carrots that decided to come out duing the night last night!!! Everything we planted has now sprouted.

This is Tori's little pumpkin plant at 7 pm last night:

Here it is at 11 am this morning:

We have some strawberries that aren't looking so good this morning. Anybody know how often to water them? I they might be getting to much to drink.