Community gardening on Manzanita

Ps- Above is "Patrick Star" from Spongebob. I would have added it at the end, but since I still can't get the photos to move, this is impossible. Rylan insisted that I include this.
I am so lucky. A woman who owns the farm next to Bainbridge Island farms has opened a community garden in her enormous unused pasture. So far 12 families have staked out their plots and we were so happy to be allowed to join in. We already know three of the families, so it works out so nicely. Here's what we discovered yesterday.
Said gardens are exactly 1 mile from our home. That's NOTHING! It was an awesome walk with hubby and the kids yesterday. We left at 10am and returned at 3.
Some photos of what the walk looks like from my house to the farm. I know.....I have to pinch myself sometimes.
After raking and raking, here is my handsome man pictured above.
The photo below is now one of my favorites. Rylan is in the background near the sand box (circle).
Rylan had so much fun getting to stomp around where ever he liked.
The next awesome surprise was that just down from the farm, is a secluded beach that I had never known about. Not only is it a beach, it is a GREAT beach!! The tide was out, it was sunny, sandy and wonderful. Starfish had washed ashore, sand dollars were everywhere and the kids were filled with wonder. I cannot believe that I missed out on this place for so many years. Honestly though, there are so many places like this all over the Island.
Rylan going down to the beach via these beautiful old stairs.
Mae's first time holding a starfish. She didn't want to let him go.
Watching a hermit crab try to make it back to the water.
Mae's feet.

Mae loves flowers.

So that was yesterday, today, I woke up bright and early again and headed straight for the garden. Nonny, N, L and H met us there for lunch and Les , K and D met us as well. It was a beautiful day. Brennan stayed home today and between L and Brennan, they dug up a whole row. L is so knowledgable about gardening. H and Rylan had fun raking their own rows. Nonny ended up taking the girls home with her. Mae would not stay with me.
I cannot believe how much we have accomplished in two days.
That's all for now.

Post number 1- Rachel's baby shower

One of my oldest and dearest friends had her baby shower tonight. Rach and I have been close friends for 20 years (we figured out today). Same goes for several of my high school friends that were in attendance tonight. The above photo is of one of my best friends, Vi. Vi, Rach and I are like sisters. They were there for me when my mom died and were close with my family. We have been through thick and thin and it was just like old times when we were all together tonight. There were about 40 guests and when Rach was opening presents, it felt as though just the three of us were in a room alone. We were giggling and teasing, cracking jokes, reminiscing and laughing about old times. Vi just lives in Suquamish and Rach is in Kingston and yet, we never find the time to be together.
Morgan and Karen above live on the Island as well with little kiddos. We have plans to hang out more, but between church, school and sports, I don't know if we will.
Beautiful Rachel above. Her family is like my family. When I got the news that my mom had taken a turn for the worse, I was at Rachels.
Rachel has always been amazing with kids. Just look at the above photo. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this and I couldn't help but start crying when I saw her tonight. My little sisters and my own children have always adored Rach. She came to see me in Utah after I had Myron.
The above photo is of Karen, Rach, me and Vi. Below is Emily, Rachels little sister.

Grandma Foff.
I love you Rach.

This video is for you Em. Rachel's brother Dans, little guy Calvin and all his little cousins/friends chasing him.

Post number 2- Tball

On to Post number 2. I watched Rylans tball game today. I had forgotten how hilarious, cute, sweet tball can be. Rylan is quite a hitter but even better at 3rd base where he can sit down during the game and pick flowers. Here are some photos of the day and a video .

Post number 3- Temple trip

I wish that I had taken some photos of the temple while we were there, but as luck would have it, I left it in the truck. Nonny and I raced to the ferry with minutes to spare. We were lucky that the ferry was late and we had made it. It was last minute and we were rushing to find a ride and get all the kiddos situated. Somehow it all came together and we were able to spend some much needed quality time with each other. After the temple, we decided to walk around downtown Seattle. We grabbed some clam and chips from Ivars and headed down to sit on the dock and eat. Nonny being small and nimble opted for us to climb up the below concrete wall and sit and eat there. She jumped right up. I on the otherhand, had to walk over to the stairs, climb onto the guard rail and then onto the top. In a SKIRT no less! I can only imagine what someone would think if they tried to follow our conversation. We talk about everything all at once. I talk over her, she talks over me, we cut each other off and start new conversations. We had so much to get in that we hadn't had much time to talk about before. In the end, I am just so thankful for our trip. It strengthened our friendship, hearts and spirits.

Poulsbo

We were bored, had a couple of hours to kill, so we hit the Marine Science Center, Sluys doughnuts, book store and JJ's fish house for lunch. Enough said. :)

Car wreck on Sunrise

I arrived at this accident scene seconds after it happened. I had just left Rylan with Nonny and was heading out to visit teach. I didn't even think about it and jumped out of the van to run over to make sure the person in the car was okay. Normally I am a panicked person about blood, accidents etc, but for some reason, I was calm and collected. I left Mae in the car when I ran (it wasn't far) and a fellow Islander with a child Mae's age, grabbed her and took her to her house just a few doors down from the accident, so that I could help. I crawled down to the passenger side of the car and sat with the 70 year old woman until the paramedics/firefighters etc. arrived.
She just wanted me to hold her hand. The photo above shows where I was sitting. Right where the firefighters are. . I had left Nonny's twice and gone back because I had forgotten something. Either that, or I narrowly avoided an accident. I guess it's how you want to look at it. She was meeting her daughter and had gone right through a stop sign. Not being familiar with the Island, she thought she could go right through.I feel that I was really supposed to be there for this woman. A large bus smacked right into her. It could have been much worse. She was airlifted to Harborview and I haven't heard, but I am sure she is fine. I made sure she kept as still as possible. The sad news is that she was up here visiting the family of Kyle Melby, a little boy that just passed away two weeks ago.
Never a boring day huh?

Our first beautiful, hot and sunny day

What a day it was. It started with our first trip to the beach this year (to play). I took Mae and Ry and packed a lunch. Last year, Mae was crawling and I was so excited to see her reaction to the ocean on foot. I was able to capture it on our camcorder, but too late on my camera.
Here's how it went. I was sitting up from the water, in the sand and Mae took off as soon as her eyes met the water. I expected her to wade in slowly and do the typical jumping around because of the frigid temperature. Nope.....she kept walking straight ahead until she was up to her waist. On the camcorder, you see this and then me dropping the camera and running to her as fast as I can. All you can see is my feet and a view of the water with me in the background. It is pretty funny to watch. I had envisioned the kids playing in the sand while I read my book. I should have known, Mae would break this habit. Instead, after countless times running to take her out of the water, we retreated to the playground. Afterwards, we stopped by Nonnys to see Nora and Hiram for a little bit. Later that day, Brennan had a game against the Dodgers, another team that is very good. It was an intense game. I was the announcer and it was hard to keep my enthusiasm for OUR team in check. The last two innings, and in the end were tied. So far, we are number one in the league because we have only tied once and the Dodgers have tied twice. That night reminded me why it is that I love baseball. You never know how it is going to turn out. Brennan pitched 3 innings and was excellent.
Here are some photos and a video from yesterday.

Beautiful Sabbath Sunday

It was Myrons first time passing sacrament today and Shane was able to join him.
What a special moment to see Myron and Nathan with their father in such a reverent act.
We had an amazing lesson in Sunday school that left me spiritually uplifted for the rest of the day.
For dinner this evening, we went to a good friends home and had dinner with them and another family from our ward. It was fun to spend time outdoors on such a lovely afternoon and share good food and stories. I feel truly blessed.
I popped in to Rylans primary class today to listen to his teacher's lesson. She is amazing and just happens to have been my Young Womens leader when I was a youth. She taught the kids about how feeling the spirit is like having a bubble around you and how fragile that is. With one unkind word, or thought, that bubble can be popped. I cannot wait to use this analogy tomorrow night during FHE.

Youth temple trip

Today our youth went to the Seattle temple to perform baptisms. It was a very special day and I was happy to help out and witness Myron and Nathan performing this sacred ordinance.
It was also fun to get to know a few men in the ward better. Brad picked us up and we had a fun conversation about facebook, we rode with Brother Williams to the temple and talked about sharks (apparently Carter has the same fascination that we do), and on the way home SURVIVED Nathan's Seattle savvy drive to the ferry. Sorry Nathan R, but I have to tell on you about the red light. That was so awesome though! We made the ferry after all didn't we. It was fun to say the least.




Ps- A funny story. My job was to hand towels to the kids as they came out of the font. The kids waiting were able to watch through a glass window. Myron kept trying to get a message to me by trying to manipulate his hands into letters. I was trying to be reverent and still decode his message. Did he have to go Pee? (P), was he sick? (s) W, I wasn't sure on. Afterwards as we were eating dinner, I finally asked, "Myron, what was so important? What were you trying to tell me" and his reply was " I was telling you my locker number". It was too funny. Here I was thinking it was something important and trying to decode this important message that was just a random number. I love you Myron.