Gardening at the Keller's Home

I forgot to mention that I got my hair cut! :) Here's me & Naomi outside enjoying the sun.Well, it's that time of year again. Here's the man who makes it all happen. Out raking the yard, getting rid of trash & leaves. I don't know, but it must be the long winters we endure that get us so excited about gardening & beautifying our little piece of land/heaven.

Travis filled our green house with tomatoe plants (no, they don't grow like weeds here. We haven't had a successful harvest of tomatoes yet), cucumbers, string beans, & cabbage, I think.


This is a "before" pic of the hanging baskets of petunias. At the end of the summer I'll post another pic, and you'll see how much they grow! They'll be hanging all over the place.

My flower boxes, my present from last year from Travis!! Grampa Walt & I went shopping Saturday and picked out yellow marigolds, daisies, purple & yellow violas & purple "wave" petunias. I'll also post an after photo of these.

Travis planted these tulips last fall for me :). They are looking beautiful!

Here's the rows all started. This is only a third of the garden, though. These seedling are being watered by drip hose. There's lettus, swiss schard, spinach, kale, beets, radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, peas, potatoes (a lot!!), and eventually cabbage, broccoli & cauliflower.

I went outside to find Tracker like this... asleep!! So cute! I love it when kids fall asleep in odd places, especially unintentionally. :)

Here's more kissing of Naomi from brothers. So cute. They love to come in the room in the morning & cuddle with her.

And the Tustin/Naomi picture I promised. So cute.

Enjoy the summer!

Mom and Dad's visit.

We mad chocolate cake for Dad's birthday. We were out of candles, so Jacob decided to use matches instead. We had to sing at warp speed to finish before the first of the matches that were lit burned down to the cake.

Father and Son camp out was while they were here. Doesn't this look appetizing? It's the skin and head of the pig that was barbecued. Mmmmmm....

We lost our camera recently, so all the pictures we took while Mom and Dad were here are lost too. So sad! Looks like we lost our camera the same day Dad lost his watch. All the pictures here are from Dad's camera on his phone.

The kids were excited to have Gramma and Grampa come to their gymnastics and Taekwondo classes. Breaking boards is Joseph's favorite thing to do. After class his teacher brought him out into the hall to demonstrate for all of us. He has a really nice and patient teacher.

We sure miss you Gramma and Grampa! It was so nice to see you guys again. Can't wait for another visit. The kids have decided that wherever we move we have to stop by your house on the way. Don't think it's going to happen though...sorry! You do happen to live down in an out of the way corner of the country.

Summer time BBQ in Alaska

So the other day we had a bbq. Travis came home from Deep Creek to save my sanity. Getting back to reality has been a bit of an eye opener. And it's making me crazy. So Travis came home for me. :) And he made a fantastic meal!!

Here's the hapy boys helping outside.
Here's the chef, about to spread on some marinade.

That right there is a lobster tail. Travis and his fancy eating!! He couldn't pass up buying them just to say he ate them. I guess there's a meal on most restaurant menus called "surf & turf." They usually include steak & some sort of fish, and they're usually expensive. So he does it "Travis-style" and buys the meat & cooks it himself. And he does a pretty good job. :) We also bbqed some corn on the cob (2 for $1!!! That's stinking good here), and salmon, and hot dogs for the boys. And there's the steaks, mmm. The lobster tails, to me, were a mix between steak and shrimp in texture. Very good, but I'd do fine with just shrimp. Fun experience. Travis would just do it for the nastalgia of eating a "$50 meal" at home for less. :)

Here's some pix of the boys & Naomi. Tracker doing tummy time with her.

Trayton's always gotta a hold of her. I pass her off to him to grab something. He seems to do good for longer times (5min). It's nice to pass her off to her brother!!

I'm suprised I don't have any of Naomi & Tustin. Tustin LOVES his little sister & treats her with such love. When she cries, he'll run over, caress her face & say "it's okay Naomi, I"m right here." I'll take some with him next time she's awake and post it here. :)

Oh, and congrats to Travis' little sister Alice!! She just participated in her Idaho State Track meet on Friday/Saturday. She got 2nd in the medley & 1600 (mile- and she would have gotten first if she hadn't had to run a lap to get her jersey immediately before the race) and 2 firsts!! In the 3200 & 800. You go girl!!

So Long Gramma Nancy

It was absolutely amazing & wonderful to have Mom here. I could not have made it w/out her, truly. Travis was gone almost 24/7 that first week after the birth. Once again, I am indebted to my beautiful mother, with no ability to ever fully pay her for all she's done my whole life. She kept my house clean & took care of the boys while I was laid up in bed the first couple days after. When Naomi needed to nurse, I was able to sit and relax & bond w/my little girl. I believe that first week is crucial to creating a strong mother/daughter bond, and I was able to put full focus towards that because Mom was there for me. I felt 100% secure & at peace with my Mother taking care of what mattered most to me at that time. We also buckled down on the boys in enforcing family rules & obedience! Mom is relentless, I tell you. I feel much better about my boy's behavior & my ability to carry out consequences. :) Life is back to normal, and I miss my Mommy!! Back to a dirty house, though I try. Oh, and dinner making. Blah!!

To my beautiful Mom, I love you, and I am thanking the Lord for all you've done for me, and taught me in my life, and all that's yet to come. Happy Mother's Day. XOXOXO

I finally made it back to the birthing center with my camera, so I could take some pix of the room where Naomi was born. This is the tub where I would have birthed, if we'd done it in water. Naomi & I were able to take an herbal bath together just hours afterward, though. So that made up for the no-water birth.
I love this facility, it's beautiful.

Here's the toilet where Naomi was born over. And these are the 2 assistant girls who actually were there, catching. Caitlin & Annika. They were awesome, and performed like stars!

Here's upstairs with Andrea the midwife. She made it just minutes after I pushed out the placenta.

And here's a sweet one of Trayton & Naomi. He's just adoring her. :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. To all my sister's too, you're wonderful examples to me of mothers.

Lake Tholocco with Grandmother

Grandmother White came to stay for five days after baby John was born. The kids were so happy to have her here and so was I! We mostly sat around talking, doing laundry, and making diapers. We spent Saturday at the lake walking around and looking for fish at the dock. There is also this really neat looking playground there that the kids like to go to. The "spider" playground. It does kind of look like a spider web. The slide has to be the dumbest design for a slide I've ever seen. It's one of those lawsuits waiting to happen kind of design.