Signs of Life part 2

Well the garden isn't the only thing that is sprouting around here. We have been taking pictures of my belly as it has been growing and I have wanted to put them on here for a while.

March 11th
March 29th (probably the last time I could zip up my jeans)

April 15th

April 20th

I put this put this picture on the blog because I love my belly button (yeah I know weird) It is half innie and half semi-outie. Even at this early time it started to spread out and flatten.

Also April 20th

April 20th too.

April 26th

May 13th (not the most flattering pic)

May 19th

(Note the belly button is almost flat and the outie part is starting to really be an outie.

May 19th

37 inches around. I wish I had been measuring the whole time, but I think I started out at about 28 or 29 inches.

Today we went to the doctor and they did a little informal ultrasound for us. We had to switch insurance and as a result, doctors. Our doctor is Quin's boss's wife. She was so great. I hate going to the lady doctor and thought I had that all taken care of when I went to my previous doctor. The records haven't transferred yet so we had to do the lady exam all over again. I wasn't too keen about that in the first place and then having your husband's boss's wife do the exam was another cause of discomfort. It makes for an interesting office Christmas party. But like I said, she was so great and when she did the ultrasound she took like a million pictures. She kept saying "oh, that is so cute" while hitting the print button.

Some great shots of the little feetsies.

The top one is of the arms. They are crossed up by the head.
We're not really sure what the bottom one is.

In one picture the baby was sucking it's thumb, it was so cute! You could see its little fingers and the thumb up by the mouth moving.

The cute little body.

What do you think? Boy or Girl?

Signs of Life

Woohoo! The heat (triple digits during the day) plus lots of water seems to be working. We planted the garden last Thursday night and today is Tuesday (5 days exactly) and we have sprouts. The corn, the zucchini, and one tiny little spinach plant have all sprouted. There wasn't anything poking through last night either. After I mowed the lawn we checked on the garden and got our hopes up, but it was just stray grass clippings. But today the corn is an inch tall, and the zucchini has definitely pushed through the dirt. The spinach looks very delicate still. Now I hope the heat and sun doesn't kill the little sprouts.

The zucchini is also about an inch and a half tall.

The planting method is to put 4 corn plants in one box. Here you can see 2-3 plants in each location, which will need to be thinned down to 1 per spot.

Quin's Garden

For quite awhile now, we have been wanting to put in a garden. We have debated on where to put it, which trees/shrubs will need to be ripped out, how big will it need to be, etc. Well when Natalie went up to Women's Conference her dad introduced her to "Square Foot Gardening". Square Foot Gardening was developed by a Civil Engineer as a means to condense the traditional garden by 80%. The condensed gardens can then be planted in urban areas with little space and used in developing countries where resources are limited. Since I do not want to dig up my back yard I decided to give this gardening technique a try.

First I scouted out a lovely spot next to the fence where earlier Natalie removed a stump by herself with only a shovel. Then it was off to Lowe's for the box and dirt materials. After a FEW phone calls later to Garth (Natalie's dad) on where to find everything and how much and of what, we were off. We slowly put it all together (in the dark after dinner) over a few days. So far it has been quite fun and very easy.

Here are our results thus far:

We used 2 x 8's for the box.

Here's Natalie teaching the baby how to use a rake. You have to instill a strong work ethic in your child labor force while they are still young and can't revolt. (Note the dark grainy pictures. Once again we built it in the dark and the camera was left in Utah, so we had to use the cell phone.)

We used old cardboard boxes for a weed barrier.

The ingredients for Mel's Mix (1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite), or the dirt for the garden.

The vermiculite and peat moss are very dusty when they are dry so I got to wear this fashionable dusk mask (I think it brings out my eyes).

The finished "dirt" is very loose and easy to work. It stays moist all day and drains extremely well at the same time.

A five gallon bucket and tarp are all that is needed to mix everything together.

We used 1 1/8-in lattice for the grid.

We planted a few starts and seeded the rest. The biggest threat to our garden now is the snails and the 100°+ heat.

The hardest thing about the whole process was deciding what to plant and where to plant it. So I made a sketch of the garden.

The cost of the "dirt" is a bit scary ($142.87 with all the parts and pieces--Yikes). The creator of Square Foot Gardening says you don't ever have to replace it though. It just keeps producing year after year.

*note from Nat: In case the socks and sandals didn't tip you off, Quin made a graph and a table to inform you of his engineer/nerd factor.

Women's Conference 2009

Well I just got back from Women's Conference at BYU last night. A few of my friends and I drove up last Wednesday and went to Women's Conference on Thursday. I went with my mom again this year and we spent Thursday morning tying a blanket stitch around fleece baby blankets and listening to some awesome speakers. Afterword we had some lunch and walked through the museum of art on campus. We saw some really great pieces. There was also a modern art exhibit. I took this from the BYU website.

Yes, that is a stack of chairs. When my mom and I walked in there we thought we had walked into a place where they were storing chairs. It wasn't until later that I saw a plaque describing the medium. There were other "pieces of art" with similarly questionable origins. I don't like modern art. Even after studying art in college I can appreciate other forms of art that I don't like but cannot appreciate modern art. I think it is a waste of time and money and that modern artists sit there and say "I wonder how crazy I can get and still have people think I am serious."

Anyway off that soap box, that evening my mom and I spent a few hours tying fleece blankets and assembling newborn kits. It was such a great way to spend a few hours. I loved it and think that it was my favorite part of the conference. That night was a wonderful concert with performances by some wonderful musicians.

I didn't as usual take any pictures but that wouldn't have mattered because the one thing I left in Utah was the camera.

The next morning my mom and I were too exhausted to go to the conference. She was coming down with something and I was pretty tired because of Stitch. My mom slept most of the day on the couch and I hung out with Amanda and played with Evelyn.

I spent the next few days with my family and seeing some friends. My dad is recovering nicely and should be able to go back to work soon. Quin's parents even drove down from Idaho Falls (an almost 3 hour drive) and stayed a couple of hours. It was so good to see them! I love going up but hate to be without Quin! I miss Utah and all of our friends and family. So as soon as we are done with whatever we are supposed to do here in Bakersfield, hopefully we can head back up there!