My grandparents

On Friday I got the chance to visit with my grandparents and go out to lunch with them to celebrate my grandma's birthday. I've been blessed with a really awesome family, and a whole lot of it is due to these two. Some of my favorite memories from when I was a kid are the times we would go to my grandparents' house in Brea. Along the back fence they had the most awesome row of boysenberry bushes. I'm planting some boysenberries in my backyard this weekend! Now that I'm older, it's fun to visit with them and hear stories about when they were young. Plus, now I can get really great gardening tips from my grandpa!

How does your garden grow? So far, not so good....

Friday and Saturday I replanted my garden for the third time. We put up a temporary fence to keep Laska out of the garden area, but it took some trial-and-error before we were able to make it puppy-proof. I decided to forgo the seeds for the squash and zucchini, and used seedlings instead. I also added cucumbers, spaghetti squash, oregano, rosemary and cilantro to the garden. Next I'm planting some grapes, boysenberries and blackberries along the fence. Yum! If you're nice, I might share some veggies this fall. And depending on how those squash plants produce, you might find a bag full of squash on your porch whether you're nice or not!

How does your garden grow?

A month or two ago, Chris built me a beautiful raised garden bed for our side yard so I could plant some vegetables. I've been wanting to give it a try ever since we bought the house. This last weekend I decided that I had procrastinated long enough, and we finally started our garden. First we had to buy 30 cu ft of soil and compost to fill it. That may not sound like a lot, but when you're carrying the packages one-by-one to the backyard, it's a lot! And I did help carry them!....a little...have I mentioned Chris is really strong? :)

By the time we had all the dirt in the backyard and were ready to get started, it was dark. So we kept on working using flashlights and the light from the living room window. And now I have a beautiful garden that I'm going to try my very best to keep alive. I planted 3 different types of tomatoes, red and green peppers, summer squash, zucchini, carrots, basil, sage, and parsley. Here's my garden so far!

And so, it begins...

Christopher Galen Strautman, son of Ralph and Marjorie Strautman.
Elizabeth Ashley Strautman, daughter of Glenn and Doreen Forbush.
Married March 3rd, 2007 in the Redlands California Temple.

This is our blog. Enjoy!