How Does Your Garden Grow??

One summer when we were visiting Minnesota the kids were able to help harvest the crop from the garden at my parents house. They loved digging potatoes and picking beans.

Since that time they have wanted to have a garden, not just our salsa garden but a "real" garden.

In late May, Lance and the kids constructed planter boxes for the garden,

found the perfect spot for them on the side of our house, and

dug out the boxes to prepare them for planting.

They planted potatoes, green beans, pumpkins, carrots, and onions in the planter boxes. They also planted tomatoes and peppers in the salsa garden. This has been a great project for the kids and they have loved every minute of it. They are already planning what to plant next spring.

This is the garden in late June/early July.

We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year. Lance and Pat have canned salsa three times and we still have a bunch of tomatoes. I am thinking about using some of the tomatoes to make pasta/pizza sauce to freeze. Anyone have a good recipe? {i would prefer to freeze sauce rather than can it}

The kids are most excited about the pumpkins!

Our potatoes and carrots from the garden... they were so good. There is just something about eating food you have grown in your garden.

Do you garden?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I was going to do a video post but we went to the water park today...... so no video. I didn't have the energy to get all fancied up for a video. I do have a cute little assistant who is going to reveal the winners. Winners were drawn at random by the cute little assistant.

The winner of the savvycents wallet is:

The winner of the cookies/bars every month for a year is:

Congratulations winners! OCmom please email me your color choice and address so I can get your wallet shipped to you. Susan your first batch of cookies will be in the mail by mid September!

Outdoor Movie Night

I didn't create a bucket list for this summer {a must do for next summer}, but if I had one of the items on my list would have been the outdoor movie night held at a local park.

Every Friday night during the summer, the city sets up a large inflatable movie screen and shows a family friendly movie starting when the sun goes down.

People bring chairs or spread blankets out on the grass. You can bring in your own food and snacks but they also have some concession stands set up.

I have wanted to go to the outdoor movie night for a few years and we have never made it. I was so excited when it fit into our schedule to experience movie night.

We met our friends at the park {which is my favorite park} for a picnic dinner. The kids played on the equipment and in the splash park until movie time.

We had a great time and look forward to going again next summer!

Blog Anniversary {giveaway}

Three years ago today I started this little blog.

It is a place to journal about our family life, homeschooling, vacations, projects, and thoughts/ideas. Although I haven't been great about keeping up this summer I still know this is a great place to record our memories.

I know I have said it before but when I started this blog I never imagined creating friendships and connecting with other women all over the United States. I must say it has been a beautiful benefit of blogging. Something I am thankful for every day.

In honor of my blog anniversary, I am doing a little giveaway.

The first item is a savvy cents wallet. My friend Rachel turned me onto this wallet about a month ago. I LOVE it! It combines a regular wallet with the envelopes cash system. I no longer have to keep a wallet and my FPU envelopes system in my purse. I love how the envelopes section not only has room for cash but also for coupons, gift cards, etc... The wallet comes in three colors: red, pink, and black. The winner will get to choose the color of their choice.

** i am giving away this wallet at my own expense. i am not being compensated for giving a review of this wallet.

If you have read my blog for any time you know that I love to bake. The second giveaway is a cookie/bar of the month. The winner will receive a dozen cookies or bars made by me. Some months will be a tried and true recipe, like my chocolate chip cookies, and some months may be something new.

Leave me a comment, question, memory, whatever! I will draw for the winners on Wednesday August 25th!

The Markley's

Last year, my dear friend Sarah shared her story on her blog.

It struck a chord with men and women everywhere. It is an amazing and beautiful story of love, redemption, reconciliation, and forgiveness.

Sarah is sharing today about their experience with filming this video clip and trusting God with their story.

Sarah, I am glad you did. This is beautiful. I was brought to tears again by God's goodness in your story.

I hope you will take the time to watch.

Fire Camp and S'mores

At the start of every summer we always have high hopes of having a few camp fires in our neighbors awesome fire pit but we usually end up fitting in only one or two.

This year it took us until the very end of July to find a summer night to roast marshmallows and eat s'mores. Campfire nights are a highlight of summer for my kids. It is my kind of camping: fire, blankets, s'mores, and then sleep in a house with a bed and running water. Yes, perfect!

the kids ready for roasting marshmallows

it is often my sweet boy will crawl up in my lap and snuggle so i take advantage any time... and got pictures to prove it. i even snuck in a little smooch. he thinks he is getting to big to get kisses from him mama :o(

i am not sure how you do s'mores at your house but we are not a regular s'more type of family.... the hershey bar is a little too plain so we shake things up with reese's and twix. add a perfectly browned marshmallow and there is a little bit of deliciousness.

the roaring fire and some taste testers

mauryn explaining what we are doing that evening.... not a camp fire but a fire camp :o)

fire camp from Kristen Cheney on Vimeo.

Tree Climber

Landon likes to be sneaky. He likes to hide. He likes to climb.

This spring the tree in front of our house has grown tall enough over the last year that it is now Landon's favorite place to climb up and hide.

Can you see him??

There he is the little spy... and he sits up there so quietly

taking in the day, checking out the action from above.