Grandma Peeler Has a Farm, E-I-E-I-O

My aunt and uncle took a trip up to see my family in South Carolina last week and were kind enough to let Collin and I tag along. Since my parents live out in the country we had quite an adventure...

My family live in a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom trailer but with 5 adults, 3 teenagers, 2 children and one toddler in the house it pretty much meant you slept wherever you could.

Above: Tori and my cousin Angie curl up under the dining room table for a nap because the boys were playing video games on their beds (the Living room couches)

Below: My youngest brother Logan wakes up after a long night of partying but only makes it to the Family room before he passes out again on the floor.

My mom has three gardens and kept us busy from about sunup to sundown everyday watering and harvesting her vegetables. So on those rare occasions of "downtime" we took full advantage of them.

Above: Collin helps Aunt Patti choose the best Avon products.

Below: Collin found a mini lantern just his size and couldn't get enough of it. He toted that thing all over the place. Oh yeah, did I mention he's walking now!?!

Collin also discovered watermelon and Cantaloupe this trip. He ate and ate and ate until we thought he was going to explode. He sure did have several wet diapers that day, but he was one happy baby...I mean Toddler.

And of course we had to try out my parents new ice cream churn. All of our mouths were watering for the 1 1/2 that it churned. After being out in the sun in over 100 degree weather this treat was definitely well anticipated. And I'm sure it would have been delicious if we would have remembered to add the sugar :)

However, just like "all work and no play make Jack a dull boy" all play and no work, means we don't get to eat all the yummy food so,...back to work! It's potato plowing time!

My moms neighbors Billy and Theresa brought their tractor up and plowed the field for us. After it was plowed we walked behind the tractor picking up the upturned potatoes.

Above: My uncle Dan looks for stray taters. I think he's really taking to the country life since he isn't wearing shoes.

It was hot and sweaty work but a lot of fun!

Where's the baby?
Below from left to right: Aunt Tori, Collin and cousin Angie.

Once we harvested mom's veggies from her garden it was time to can.

Below: mixing the vegetables for canned soup!

Sauerkraut!

So many cucumbers! What should we do with them?

We skinned em', scooped out the center and then chopped them up to make...

Cinnamon Cucumber rings,

And pickles.

We were closely watched by our three supervisors Collin, Billy, and Sam.


After we canned everything it was time to... yep, you guessed it. Get back to the garden. It's watering time!

This is only one of my mom's three gardens.
I put my shoes beside the head of cabbage to show how big the head is!

Sam even came to help. Sam is 3 and is pretty much the neighborhood child. Such a cutie. And yes, those are his boxers. At least he was wearing shoes that day! :)

And of course Collin continues to supervise from his favorite spot.

Sniper Dan checking out his new gun and scope.

A better view of the back porch my dad and brothers built.

And a sneak peak at the storage barn aka "Man Cave" if the boys get their way. They've run water and internet out to it so you can't tell me they don't have plans.

Collin found chalk and seemed to know exactly what to do with it. I think I'm gonna have to keep my pens out of reach when we get home.

Collin loved hanging out with "uncle Billy" especially when he took him outside to see the chickens.

He also loves golf cart rides. Pretty much if it's outside, Collin LOVES it. He would watch and as soon as it looked like someone was headed to the door he would reach for them and start whining until they took pity on him and took him with them.

It was VERY hard to keep him inside but our two secret weapons were...

being entertained by Austin and Logan and,
playing with Peaches!
I think Peaches enjoyed it just as much because when Collin was around it pretty much meant free food :)
(Michael will die when he sees this picture ;)

We've been working on sharing but I'm not sure Uncle Dan is too happy to be the recipient.

Nor will he be to happy with the fact that we caught hum snuggling with Sponge Bob :)

I came home with a few more pounds than I had when I left. I had worked so hard I couldn't figure out why until I started looking back at all the pictures I took. I think we ate as much as we worked!

And speaking of eating, can you say "pizza party"!?

And ice cream cake to celebrate my cousin Austin's 11th birthday!

I think I enjoyed this birthday present just as much as Austin. Now if I can just convince Michael that a Wii is a necessity and not a want...

And talk about spoiled rotten. While we were there Aunt Tori bought Collin a ball pool and a bouncing turtle that plays music. It's a good thing he's cute or we might not be able to stand the stench ;)

And Grandma and Grandpa Peeler bought Collin his first pair of shoes!

But I regress, back to work!
This time to weed the peanuts! My they were tasty when they were boiled.

Above: Is my mom, Sam, me and my Aunt Patti. Don't my mom and Aunt look like twins? Almost ;)

My dad had several conference calls he had to do while we were there and Collin liked to "help" with his work. It was all good until Collin cut the computer off on grandpa...oops Did I mention it's a good thing he's cute?

We were able to attend Church with my family while we were there and I was able to see a lot of people I knew, but Collin was not very good. My brother Bryce was just a little to happy about taking Collin out during Sacrament meeting.

And I almost forgot about the South Carolina Peach Festival!
It was Collin's first parade and I think he liked it.

Collin says he now wants to upgrade his push car for a cooler model like this one.

When I was a teenager some distant relatives of ours owned the Peeler dairy. It was cool to be able to go to the store and purchase milk with my last name on it. They've since sold the dairy but the Peeler Cow is still running strong.

Collin's first sucker. Once he had finished he looked at the stick, threw it to the ground and then reached for another.

We definitely worked hard but we had so much fun. We can't wait to go back to the "Peeler Farm" especially when mom gets that lamb or goat she wants to help her mow the grass :)

And Collin did great on the 9 hr. drive! He pretty much slept all the way there and back. I was so proud of him!

The End!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Shades? (check)
Cool hat? (check)
Nice set of wheels? (check)
I think we're ready to get this party started!

Check out the cool "toe-biter" that chased Michael and Collin out of the water after it latched onto Michael's swim shorts :)

Waiting for the fireworks to start.

Collin wasn't too sure about the loud bangs at first...

We LOVE our country and are SO thankful for all the men and women who risk so much for our freedom and for their families who give up so much so they can serve.

Geek Alert!

I LOVE goodreads! Mainly because I LOVE books! Goodreads is a website designed for you to view and give book reviews. You can create your own profile OR just type in the title of a book to check out it's review. If you love to read you should totally check it out. You don't have to join to see the reviews. Click here. You know you want to!

Anyways, goodreads has this book challenge going on so I entered it. My goal is to read 70 books by the end of the year. I wanted to shoot for 100 but I quickly realized in order to do that I would have to read 20 books a month! I could do it, but my husband would HATE me, my baby would starve, and my house would be condemned. So, since I still want my husband, my baby, and my house at the end of the year, I think I'll just shoot for 70. But NEXT YEAR I'm totally going for 100!

Mega Post for some Mega Fun!

Hold onto your seats, this is going to be one loooooong post that will probably jump everywhere!

I know it's late but...

Happy Father's Day!

This was Michael's first Father's Day so Collin got him a pin that said, "Behind Every Great Dad is a Great Kid." We made him wear it the whole day :)

We had Grandma and Grandpa Boyd over for dinner and then afterwards we tried out Collin's early birthday present.
Michael and I got him a push car and he loves it! We take a walk in it every day!

Collin cruisin' in his CHICK MAGNET.

Collin and I are convinced that our Daddy is the best!
And here are ten reason's to prove it!

Collin:
1. He makes the coolest sounds and faces when he feeds me.
2. He lets me do stuff mom would NEVER let me do!
3. He wrestles and swings me upside down.
4. He lets me bang on his piano and play on his guitar.
5. He plays with me and saves me from mom.

Casey:
1. He changes diapers.
2. He takes Collin as soon as he gets home from work and plays with him
3. He takes Collin to class on Sunday so I can enjoy Relief Society.
4. He gets up with Collin in the morning so I can sleep in.
5. Did I mention he changes diapers?

We LOVE our Daddy!

Little Helper???
Collin also decided to "help" me in my garden. His idea of helping was to pull the leaves off my plants and eat the dirt.
He was NOT happy when we had to come back inside.

Grandma and Grandpa Boyd bought Collin a walker and he has finally figured out how to use it. Now he uses it a little too well. When I'm not looking he likes to walk right into me.

Lil old man with a walker or race car driver?
Collin loves it when I pull the cushions off the couch and make a pillow mountain for him to climb on.
Once he gets to the top he likes to chill and watch his movie.

Now that Collin is One we are trying to get him to eat more food and less formula.
He doesn't know it yet, but he only has two days left of having the bottle. Once his formula runs out it's bye bye bottle and hello sippy cups and milk.
I have a feeling we're in for a rough ride. I've stocked up on chocolate syrup and M&M's.
(The chocolate syrup is for Collin, the M&M's are for me. I'm gonna need all the help I can get!)

Don't mess with me, I eat squash for breakfast!


Look Out World I'm 1!

We did a jungle/monkey theme for Collin's first birthday.

The yellow balloon's hanging from the green streamers are suppose to be banana's and make you feel like you're sitting under a banana tree, but I think the general consensus was that they looked more like lemons... But monkey's eat banana's NOT lemons so just use your imagination.

Monkey Cupcakes!

Momma and great grandma gave Collin a pep talk to try and get him excited about digging into his cupcake...

You want me to do what!?...I don't think so...

Cousins Michael and Tiffany

The whole gang came to party!

Collin LOVED all his gifts

Great Aunt Patti, Uncle Dan, Angie, and Austin gave Collin a bouncy worm that he can't get enough of!

He got a new sippy cup Thomas phone from Great Grandma Brown.

His very own remote control from Great Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Richard, Laura and Buddy. And of course we can't forget Penny (Collin's favorite hound dog :)

Maybe now dad can have his remote back...

Aunt Amy, Uncle Ken, Michael and Tiffany gave Collin some cool clothes and that cool Thomas flashlight below.

Collin was one spoiled and slightly overwhelmed toddler. Good Grief! We have a toddler now!

Collin says a big thank you to all his wonderful family for coming to his party and spoiling him rotten!

Goin' Courtin' - Date #6

Go Dancing!

If you can get a sitter and know of a great place to go dancing then you should definitely do it!
But for us homebodies, aka too poor and/or embarrassed to be seen in public dancing,
(that last one is totally me!)
then a nice dance date at home is totally possible. You just need three things...

1. an instructional dance video (rented from the library or found online)
2. a romantic DVD that has a dance theme, and
3. a husband who doesn't mind participating in cheesy dates (even if you don't have this kind of husband I find dessert is a VERY good motivator :)

I rented the movie Strictly Ballroom from the library so we decided to learn to ballroom dance! We watched a couple of instructional videos online and then danced for about 15 minutes. Most of that time was spent laughing and bumping into each other but we had a lot of fun. I guess I probably shouldn't speak for my husband, but there was no eye rolling so I'm gonna take that as a good sign.

After we finished dancing we sat down and watched the movie. Not a spectacular date but at least it was different than just the Friday night movie at home :)

Fresh is Best!

I am a plants worse nightmare. I don't even have to touch them. They just see me coming and shrivel up and die! So I NEVER ever planned on doing a garden. But I finally got so fed up with the poor quality of produce at the store and the high price that I decided to give it a shot. And I'm so glad I did! I've really enjoyed gardening and am surprised at how well it's done. I love being able to just walk outside when I need something and picking it right from my backyard. (free of cost I might add)

I would have to say that the beans are what I'm most excited about. We have gotten 2 bowls full and the plant is still producing. I bought a bag of "organic" beans at the store just to compare them with the beans from my garden and my beans looked and tasted better. Makes me wonder about the whole "organic" claim...

Unfortunately I was only able to get two squash and two zucchini before the plant died but the ones we did get where sooooo good.

We got about 4 cucumbers this size and then that plant died too :(
But it's a start. Hopefully next year it will do better.

Now we're just waiting on our tomatoes. We already have 4 little green ones on the plant. Lets cross our fingers that I don't kill them too :)

Goin' Courtin' - Date #5

Picnic in the Park

When Michael and I were dating he surprised me after class one day and said he was taking me to lunch. Imagine my surprise, when instead of pulling into a restaurant we pulled into an office building. He told me we would be having a picnic and would be eating the "Martha Stewart" lunch he had prepared. (This turned out to be chicken wraps he had made and peaches!) He spread our blanket on the grass by a pond and we began to eat our romantic lunch. After we ate we played the "I Like" game, where each person takes turns saying one thing they like about the other person. It was the perfect date! So, almost 4 years later I decided to recreate it. Except this time we'd have a little tag along, a 2 1/2 ft. ball of energy named Collin :) I made the same lunch and put it in our picnic basket and then told Michael to get in the car because Collin and I were taking him on a picnic. We drove to the park and set up, but unfortunately this date was anything but romantic. Between the weird lady who sat down 5 ft. away from us and watched us the whole time, the kids throwing bark on the playground and the 2 1/2 ft. ball of energy trying to talk over us, it was kinda hard to gaze adoringly into each others eyes. (Do people even do that after they get married? Every time I see Michael looking at me I think it's because I have something in my teeth or something on my face!)
Anyways, believe it or not we did get to reminisce briefly on that date many years ago, but just as we were getting to the good part I looked down and realized why it had gotten so quiet. Collin had gotten into our cookies! He had one in his mouth and was going for another one. The kid doesn't even have teeth yet.
So, even though our picnic wasn't very romantic it sure was entertaining and I can't stop chuckling about it now.

Disclaimer: For a romantic picnic find a more secluded spot than a public park and, if you bring your own ball of energy along, they WILL steal your cookies!

Just so they can be like dad:)