Our garden is looking like it will be a success again this year.  The edible plants are the only ones I can keep up with outside, and even there, it's hit or miss.  I was SO disappointed to wait, wait, and wait some more for my red raspberry plants to come up, only to realize they must have all died.  So, perhaps my opening sentence was a misnomer.  I kept telling Ryan that red raspberries must come up a little later than golden raspberries, because we saw them coming up.  I planted Raspberries precisely because you can't kill them.  And yet..................... I had to tell myself 10 times, "Jenn, it's ok, it was a learning experience", every times I would start thinking about how far I drove to get them, etc. 

On to happier topics.  The rest of our edible plants seem to have survived me.  Last night, we had my new favorite vegetable, beets.  Last year, I made chocolate cake with beets, and was amazed at their versatility.  Who knew, definitely not my kids.  They had not an inkling that buried within every bite of chocolate were juicy red beets.  So, I have been planting lots of beets in succession, so that I won't run out.  

Thanks to Bethany's instructions, we have been enjoying many, many salads with a simple salad dressing of salt, pepper, olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  Tonight, I made a 4th of July salad with blueberries, strawberries, feta, candied nuts, and mint leaves.  Everyone ate the salad because they were trying to discover my secret ingredient (mint).  

Our sweet peas as of a few weeks ago, now they are flowering and above the green posts.  We have enjoyed snacking on them, though I learned that Ryan doesn't like raw sweet peas.  We usually make an Asian beef and snow peas stir-fry that we all love.

Roasted beets and beet greens.  YUM!

We have all, every last one of us, enjoyed boxes of spinach for the last several months.  I feel rather like a radical acknowledging this, but I started putting spinach in fruit smoothies, took out the yogurt, and added ground flax seed.  Everyone loves the breakfast smoothies, and I am not exaggerating.  The great thing about spinach in smoothies is that it is tasteless.     My children love to drink it because the taste the yummy fruit, and we add a variety of fruits, depending on what we have:  frozen grapes, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, mango, pineapple, and so forth.  

We are excited for our harvest this summer.

What do two front teeth mean and baptism have in common?

Madeline!

We've known for awhile that both would happen, yet it seemed as the days went by that neither would happen.  She was without her front teeth for so long that when I had conferences with her 2nd grade teacher, he jokingly told Madeline that it would be good for her to work on growing her front teeth.  I told her to be patient, that "these things take time", and there was no way she would go to college without her front teeth growing in.

We've also known for awhile that her first big tradition was coming.  We spent some time (not as much as we wanted or as we planned), talking to her about baptism, the why and what of it.  We spent a lot of time thinking about exactly what it was about baptism that we wanted Madeline to learn.  It happens so often, and yet it is a wonderful symbol. 

 It seemed like her baptism would always be a year away, and that by the time it happened I would figure out exactly what I wanted her to know, succinctly and without blemish.  And yet, while some things have been clarified, the baptism came and went, and I still wonder if I taught her enough.  Also, now that she's 8, and her front teeth are growing in, I spend time thinking about the fact that she has only 10 years left at home, and all the things I need to teach her in that time, all the fun times I want to have with her, all the conversations that we will hopefully share. 

The baptism was wonderful, the water was warm, she was only dunked once, she played "I am a Child of God" beautifully.  Max did get his head stuck in the crevice of a chair, and it did take 6 people to get him out, but it was right after Madeline was baptized, I was helping her change, and Ryan was changing.  We didn't even know until afterwards.  

The real blessing of her baptism for me, of the reflection beforehand and the feelings afterwards, was the realization of how precious this time is that I have with my children, and how the teachings and ordinances that can be so commonplace in our church are what unit us as a family.  I told Ryan as we drove home that I have gotten past the point of seeing my children as hard work and sacrifice, and I now see the time that I have with them, and the relationships that I have with them as one of the greatest blessings in my life.  While I love to do some things without my children, there is nothing that I enjoy doing more than being with them.

Two noteworthy photos

I saw these after I had posted about our camping trip, and wanted to share.  I thoroughly enjoy my children when they are three.  I am entranced with the way in which they put words together.  I love to watch their imagination as they explore everything.  And I am in awe of the pure joy they are able to experience as they use their bodies to do new things.  I happened to glance over while Max and Matthew were finished with the stick play and saw them just resting.

Matthew and Max lounging around after a massive stick gun battle.  

Ella meditating.  For some reason, kids are not bored by just sitting on a beach.  I'm grateful for that.