The tortoise and the hare

I decided I wanted to plant a garden. Good idea right? Right. I weeded, I planned (a little), and I planted. Some things I planted weren't what I thought they were. I.E. I have a zinnia flower in the middle of my tomatoes, and a squash plant instead of a pumpkin. Oh well.
The summer started out great. The weeds were growing slow and I was wicked fast pulling them up. "No sweat," I thought to myself. I can keep this up.
Fast forward a few months: Besides the fact that snails have taken over the spinach and the lettuce- we have bigger problems. The weeds and I have reversed roles. Now the weeds are wicked fast and I am slow at pulling them up. After a conversation with another mother in my ward, in which I mentioned that the weeds were winning the race this summer, she said that her goal was five minutes a day in her garden. FIVE MINUTES. I could do that... I think. It seems less daunting than thinking, "I'm going to go outside in the hot sun and try to pull up the stubborn weeds that out number me a thousand to one." Lo and behold- five minutes a day has proven to be FANTASTIC. Partially because I can't keep track of five minutes and usually weed for closer to ten. It also helps that my garden is little. Maybe slow and steady does win the race... maybe.

One down, two to go.

(Two as in trimesters, not as in twins.)
I know, I know, I know. Not everyone loves ultrasound pictures as much as I do.
Tough.

We won't know for sure what gender baby 2 is for another month. But King and I both think its a girl. Why?
1) I'm not NEARLY as sick as I was with Mason. With him it was more like the embryonic plague (see here), this time around, not so bad.
(I said nearly- I'm still using morning sickness and hormones as my crutch to explain my lack of motivation, lack of energy, lack of cleaning, lack of posting, lack of alertness, lack of ... me)
2) I have a hunch.
3) ...I just think so. We'll bank on intuition... and see if it fails me.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

Hmm, have I used that title before.
Montana, was in a word- great.
There's nothing like great, GREAT food (and lots of it), family, good company, a nice (cold) lake, boat rides, and, for the boy, rocks and water.
Mason loved the water. LOVED it. He would run down to the rocky beach and sit right in the water and after trying to taste all the rocks, would throw them in the water by the handful.
King spent time in the sauna, and then jumped in the lake. I spent time reading and relaxing.
All in all, great fun.
Time to do some laundry.

Birthday

If all goes according to plan (which, what are the chances of that) King's birthday promises to be an exciting one.

Visiting the Ducks

We're not sure what face King is pulling here...We had a picnic with Grandma G, Grandpa B and L about a week ago.

The highlight? The ducks, of course.Runner up? The slimy mud.
I think it was just a tactic to get into the water.

One Project Down

Sorry Spence, we still haven't taken pictures of your shelves again. King still needs to finish painting the moulding on the last few shelves... THEN we will.

Meanwhile, here's the OTHER project we've been doing. We're smart- we contracted this one out to my cousin so I didn't have to do A THING- otherwise... it would still be ongoing like the other 1700 I have in progress.
Before.... the dark and dreary black corner of gloom.
We'll skip the during pictures.

And after!! With a window, a desk, a nice cover, some bookshelves, and lighter (blue) paint. Vwala! A real office space that is usable! Thank you to my dad for the window, and to my talented cousin for the rest. (King and I get the credit for the paint!)

Elders

Sending out young missionaries is an interesting concept. The world must think we're nuts. We take 19 year old boys (and 21 year old girls), ensure their worthiness, teach them the Gospel their whole lives, and send them throughout the world to share the good news- all at their own expense of time and money. And .... they go!!! They leave behind girls, school, hobbies, worldly music and personal interests. Even more amazing, they're better for it. Not only do they bless others, but God blesses them. So although it may sound a bit confusing to the general population, I'm glad we have missionaries. Some people out there are finding the truth they never knew about- and they're greatful for missionaries too!! I'm even more glad that my brother is going to Ecuador to serve his mission. Dropping him off at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) was a bit rough. Two years looking forward seems like such a long time- but he will do just fine. We love you J. Welcome to the Elder club.

Part two.... finally.

My favorite sites in DC (King or Mason may disagree...)
1. Mount Vernon and these wonderful people!! One week with no work!! Yeah!!! I love spending time with these two boys.2. It's not quite a "site"- but it was hilarious to see him experience sun glasses for the first time. We'd tried them out before, but he'd always yanked them off before he looked through them.


3. Museums in general- but this was my very favorite exhibit. Look closely. It's clever.
I wish I would have thought of it myself.
4. This sign in Old Town. Old Town itself was great- but the sign beats all. For those of you who don't know, the parking lots outside of metro stations are called kiss and rides... get it?

Pictures of DC

We had a GREAT week in DC. I'm promising pictures, but not necessary a full commentary. I'm not sure I can ever get the commentary quite right without something turning blue and linking to who knows what! I'll give it a go. If I stop... you'll just have to guess by the pictures what we did. Here's the only shot I got of the family who was nice enough to host us... not the greatest picture, as none of them are looking at the camera, but they are wonderful. Mason thought it was fantastic having three brothers for a week. In fact, he can now say, "baby!" due to the fact that they have an adorable four month old. He continuously followed the older boys around (especially the 4 yr old). It was hilarious!

On the rainiest day we visited the Smithsonians. They have some neat museums! Mason was lucky enough to hang out in his stroller most of the time - he's a bit too curious and touchy to be let loose in places like that.Some moments were better than others... we'll spare the picture of him crying.

What I really want to know is, how come the National Zoo is free, yet the Hogle Zoo isn't? Well, free might be a relative term. $20 parking.
(King is amazing at making friends and managed to get us two free parking passes. Go Team!)
He looked just like a man on a lazy boy with chips all over his stomach. I guess bamboo is good.
Of course, we went to see the monuments!
The ducks were this kid's favorite. They were out in the middle of the reflecting pool, and swam right over by us... and then jumped out. He loved it!

More later... I need sleep.

DC

... is very wet.
We've managed to time most things just right so its dry when we're inside, and pouring when we're out. I've wished we had cameras on several of these occasions. (ok, we had it, but didn't want to pull it out in the rain.) For example, we made, a nice wet processsion in the rain to Church on Sunday complete with: two strollers, four adults and two kids (with only two umbrellas), and a VERY wet four year old who managed to find EVERY puddle. Wet.
Despite the rain, we're having a great time! I'll post pictures when we get home... and dry out.