September 6, 2006


HOW WE SPENT OUR SUMMER

We are going to try to play a little bit of catch up with this entry. We have several photos to post, which are from around April of this year until now.

In April, we decided to go up to Grandma Oviatt's house to visit. We anticipated that this would be our last time there, so we decided to make a day of it. We took the video camera and taped all the property. We visited with family, played baseball in the back yard, relaxed and just had fun. Vaughn was about 8 months old at the time. He really enjoyed playing with Grandma.

Then at the end of May, I took Vaughn out to Iowa to see Lindsey graduate from high school. It was a great time with family. We were so proud of Lindsey!!!! Poopa took Vaughn several times while I rested or relaxed with Lindsey, Laura and Mom. One of the things Poopa would do is give Vaughn baths. He would take a bottle of bubbles and blow the bubbles into the bath
water. Vaughn was absolutely mesmerized!
I hadn't given Vaughn baths in a big tub before, I had only used our kitchen sink. So this was a great new experience for him. And since then, he has had his baths in the big boy tub!

Then came the fourth of July celebration. We went to downtown Provo to watch the parade come through. It was very hot! But Vaughn still really enjoyed himself. We dressed him up in a little sailor uniform, and he was the cutest! We held him up when the officers would walk by so that he could wave to them.
After the parade we went to Brian's sister Amy's house for games and food. Vaughn proceeded to ride his first "motorcycle" there. We think his hair was totally appropriate for the occasion.


CAN ANYONE SAY
HARLEY?!?!
By the way, we would like to point out that
most bikers don't choose to wear Winnie-the-Pooh jumpsuits. But who cares, right?






In July we headed down to California with Brian's family for a family reunion/vacation. We went all over the place! We spent a day at Newport Beach, which Vaughn absolutely loved. It was his first time at the ocean, and he had a blast. We only got still shots of our trip down to Mexcio though. It's funny, but neither Brian nor I had set foot outside of the United States, and Vaughn beat both of us to it! We were pushing him in the stroller as we crossed the border, so he was officially first in our family to leave the country.

I don't remember ever being so hot. It was steamy down there! We spent the day walking around Tiajuana, trying to dodge the kids that would swarm us to buy things from them. It was heartwrenching see those children forced to sell things to raise money for their families. Many times we would see a mother sitting under a tree watching her kids selling their wares to tourists. They would be there for hours. And many times the mother would have a very young baby in her arms. It really opened our eyes to how lucky we are.

We did finally find some souvenirs that we
thought we would enjoy. I bought a sombrero, which oddly enough fit Vaughn too! That kid has a huge noggin! We also found a cute poncho, Vaughn size of course. Vaughn loves wearing the sombrero now. If he sees it up in our closet he gets really excited and points at it and says "Uh Uh." If I don't get it and put it on his head right away he gets very upset and cries. Once he has the sombrero on, he'll just sit there smiling and waiting for me to lavish complements on him about how handsome he is. Once that conversation ends, he is his normal self again and goes off to play. We sure know who's boss!

On the way back from Tiajuana we stopped off to see the SanDiego Temple. WHAT A SIGHT!!! We were there at the perfect time of day. The sun was getting lower on the horizon, and the lighting was spectacular. This is absolutely my favorite temple. If I had known it existed when I got married, I would have gotten married there. Oh well. Besides, Manti is exotic, right?





I was very glad to be home after our California vacation. Vaughn
didn't feel very well in the heat, and wouldn't really eat very well. He lost a few pounds while we were there. But in few weeks after we got back before his birthday he gained it right back. Vaughn celebrated his first birthday on August 12th. We were so happy for him! We made him a Winnie-the-Pooh birthday cake. Brian drew the face on a clear piece of wax paper, and then I transferred it as best as I could to the top of the cake. Then I redrew it as best as I could and filled the face in with yellow frosting. IT WAS SO HARD!!! But it was worth it too. The stupid thing is I forgot to take a picture of Vaughn with it! We only have video of him.

For his birthday Vaughn got a card from Poopa and Momma Isis with Nemo balloons. He also got a swimming outfit from Amy and Brenden and kids.

Now to tell you about something that has been going on all summer. I planted a garden about the very end of May it seems this year. I replanted most of the plants about four or five times becuase we had a really bad case of bugs. There were tons of them, and lots of different kinds. I tried lots of different things to try to kill them, but nothing would work. Finally I listened to Poopa and called IFA, and they recommended a brand of something that knocked 'em dead! Our tomato plants, on the far right in this picture, never really got away from the cut worm in them. They eventually were able to grow, but they aren't really producing any tomatoes this year. We may get some towards the very end of fall, but I'm still not sure about that. But the plants that have done very well are all squash! Imagine that! Poopa keeps sending his condolences.

We have had tons of anaheim peppers, and various colors of green peppers. We have had a truck load of zucchini. I canned over 20 pints of zucchini relish, and then made about 10 loaves of zucchini bread. I have also picked 2 cantaloupe from the garden, although they weren't very big. We also have acorn squash, spaghetti squash, jalapeno peppers and watermelon.
Here is a picture of our smaller watermelon.

I already have made plans for next year's garden. We are going to expand the garden. We are also not going to plant ANY squash or zucchini! Well, we might plant one of each. It is just so amazing to watch a garden grow! I still can't believe that from just one little seed you can get so much produce! As Vaughn gets older it will be fun to have him join in the fun.

Well, it looks like this blog thing is going to be a success! We hope you all enjoy it!