Summer Update

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer or winter, hi Mel hi Nat..  This is what the Hearth has been up to for the last month or so...

We 6th Birthday'd.

 Read this.  And babysat that, a bunch.  Squish.

Sister Road Tripped!  Baby brother graduated from UCLA...include a parent or two and leave the husbands home with the babies!!!  PARTY!!!

Went to any fest there was.

 Ate this.  Twice.  It's maybe the only kale I have ever enjoyed.

 IKEA'd and got this.

Built it with this.  And yes, it is a machete...with a magnet attached.  Don't worry, I didn't go crazy with blood lust and slash The Mister's achilles.

 Tried red palm oil for cooking.  It worked fine, a touch spendy though.  We'll see.

7 AM Swim Team'd four days a week.  Mama's tired.

Salsa Garden'd.  If you don't know what a salsa garden is, well, it's a garden where all you grow are tomatoes and peppers.  To be honest, I'm not growing it to make salsa, I just eat more tomatoes and peppers than anything else.

Rasberry'd.  The rule in my house is, whoever spots the ripe raspberry first, gets to eat it.  This unfortunately also includes chickens and dogs.

4th of July'd in Park City.  Tried to get a good pre-fireworks photo.  Ummmmm....could she BE any wigglier?  Or decide to eat a Gummy Bear mid-shoot.  sigh.

Luckily the Older one was easier to photograph...AFTER I made her laugh because she was too busy worrying about how loud the fireworks were going to be.

Hopefully you're having an equally fun and adventurous summer yourselves!

Thanks for reading!

Heather

I say Herb you say Erb

I really do say Herb with an H.

A-Because Martha Stewart says it like that and if anybody knows what they're talking about, it's her.

B-I do it facetiously because I know it is how the lads and lassies from Pride and Prejudice would say it.  I also say Sh-edule instead of sck-edule.  And pri (like pit) vacy instead of pri (like pie) vacy.

C-I don't really like the sound of this sentence though: Let me give you AN Herb.  But, at the same time, I don't like the sound of this sentence: Let me give you A Herb.

D-I guess that means if I ever need to tell somebody I'm giving them....a plant that makes food taste good, I'll have to say: I'm giving you an erb.

If you're thinking this post is about herbs, it is.  Sort of.  It's mostly about Mother's Day though.

Mother's Day this year started on Saturday because The Mister was going out of town on actual Mother's Day.

Mother's Day for me means gardening stuff.  In Utah you are admonished to NEVER EVER NEVER plant your veggies and fragile flowers before Mother's Day.

Everyone chose a special plant for me.  My Youngest, a yellow tomato.  The Mister, a Peanut plant and My Oldest, French Lavender.   It's fun because each one is uniquely them.  My Youngest loves tomatoes, the Mister is just fun and kind of weird and My Oldest loves anything French.  I am actually very excited about the peanut and plan on documenting it's existence here at the Hearth.

These are also what we got.  There's several tomatoes and peppers and herbs and tomatoes and a Brussels Sprout and an egg plant and...heck, I am not even sure what's all there.  I'm just happy it's gardening time. But as you notice none of these are in the ground yet.  Even though Mother's Day has passed...it's was still in the 30's last night.  So they have to bunk in the garage for a couple of days.  Today or tomorrow these'll get planted.

I drove The Mister to the airport at 7 am yesterday.  He does get a big fail for leaving me to my own defenses on this day that celebrates me sleeping in, eating bonbons in bed and not having to do the dishes a single time ALL DAY.

The one good thing about getting up this early on my day, though, was getting to a nice-ish restaurant for breakfast before the masses showed up.  It was actually our second choice as the first was already packed and had a line of people waiting in the rain.  Uhhhh, yeah, no matter how tasty your pancakes are, no way I am waiting in the cold rain for them.

The bad thing about getting up this early is....I cannot take a good photo for anything.

The Mister gave the girls a pile of money so they could pay for my breakfast and they thought they were pretty cool telling the waitress to give THEM the check.

After breakfast it was time for my girls to give me more gifts.  My Youngest made this cute ladybug garden rock (which she has since claimed as her own and refuses to let me put it in the garden) and this gorgeous unicorn for me.

As well as this.  What is it, you may ask?

It's an I-Spy piece of fabric she found/created.  She was so excited to point out all the mystery blotches and have me figure out what they were.

My Oldest wrote out this card listing the reasons in English why she loves me.  I love what kids come up with.  My favorite is that I tuck her in her cosy bed.  :)

And then this one en Francais.  Pour ma mere...For my Mother...ummmmm....fleurs.....something flowers.  Ummm....mon coeur...my heart....that's it.

And finally, a word I never thought I'd say.  Birkenstocks.  I mean, I remember in the late 80's when my Mom had the tragic double-strapped, classic style.  Hippy, not sexy.  But these ones....hippy sexy, maybe?

Happy Mother's Day (a day late) to all the mom's out there!

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Sunday, the day of rest...for Me

Just guess how much fun it is to fix a busted up fence.

If you're eight years old...LOTS!

If you're slightly older than eight and are actually responsible for the fixing of the fence...a lot less.

Like this, Dad?

No, hold it like this and you have to use the claw-y bit.  (He may or may not have called the claw-y bit, the claw-y bit.)

Put your back into it, kid.

Fixing fences is so much fun, huh, Daddy?

So much.  Less talk, more work.

Glad to see you wore appropriate footwear for hammering and nails and stuff. 

Thanks, Daddy!  I love to help.  And I love you, SO MUCH!

Aha!  I got you, you dirty...so and so.

(As a side note, this cute little thing has asked me many times to explain to her what swears are so she can not say them.  snicker.  I told her not to worry about it and if she ever says something that's a bad word, I'll be sure to let her know so she can avoid it in the future.)

Don't worry Daddy, I can knock this whole fence down BY MYSELF!  Just watch.

Uhhh, give me the hammer back.

This is the best day EVER!  When I grow up I want to be somebody who digs ditches for a living.

That's my girl.  I really teach my kids to reach for the stars.

If you're wondering what I am doing all this time?  Don't you worry your pretty little head a bit.  I was probably doing the most important work of all.

Here's a cool beverage for you, darling.  Stay hydrated out here, working in the hot sun while I enjoy my stories in the air conditioned house.

And I observed the work that was going on.  

And I offered, what I like to call "support". 

Are you suurrre you're supposed to take that bit down. 

Ummm....why's the fence looking so wonky?

Did you ask our neighbors, who I am sure are experts, if they're doing what you're doing.

Ummm, Heather?

Yes, snookums?

I have a most important job for you.  And I mean, THE most important job of the day.

Oh goody! Anything for you, dear.

Coke run.

My final thoughts on the day...

Well, the good news is, thanks to all this hard work, our neighbors big, mean dog will probably no longer be able to get half in my yard, scare my children and chickens half to death and try and romance Ginger.

Good work Husband and Daughter.  Good work.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Blast you internet!!!

Do you ever get mad at the internet for existing?  For introducing us to these amazing people that we will probably NEVER GET TO MEET IN PERSON?  If not for the internet, I would be perfectly happy with my existence as is.  Cool, you know?

But, no.  I have to go and make these friends that I cherish and only hope that someday I'll actually get to have dinner across from them and enjoy a lady craft day together.

Karen from The Feral Turtle is one of these friends.  She has a tutorial on how to make your own pysankies...hope that's the plural... which are Ukrainian Easter Eggs and they are gorgeous and I am desperate to make them.  Of course, I have no supplies to make a pysanky and so want to go to her house and have a lady craft day together making them.  With her supplying the supplies and refreshments.  I'll bring the eggs.

This cool spider is something she sent me the other day.  I had done a post on a few of my beaded Christmas spiders, and crafty thing that she is went and figured out how to make them and has made them non-stop since.  Isn't the skull bead kind of rad?

No only that, but she also sent a homemade shampoo bar.  I had never heard of shampoo bars, but The Mister insists that I have to learn how to make them so my hair will always smell as heavenly as it has been since I started using it.

Karen is kind of like the woman I long to be.  Living in the country, making homemade soap, shampoo and wine and wielding power tools like a vixen.

My spider, who is named Bridezilla, has been hanging with me as I work on my latest project.

Go check her out, she's just crazy good...at EVERYTHING!

Thanks for reading.

Heather

Winter Adventuring

The Great Salt Lake, which is often derided as being a nasty, smelly, inhospitable piece of work can also have snippets of beauty, if you look closely and go on a winter adventure with the family.

In late January/Early February the wetlands become a sanctuary for Bald Eagles.  So, gather up the crew, put on some warm clothes and boots and don't forget your binoculars. Winter adventuring can be lots of fun.  We saw several eagles in the distance and only one close up, it flew straight over us and it's wing span was HUGE! 

Tucked in, nice and cozy.

 We see you!!

Oh, hello there.  If you look closely, I know, my camera skills leave much to be desired, you can see this little fella's bright feathers.

Nice, drab feathers to keep the predators away.

Binoculars up!

Or...periscopes.  Whatever.

Happy wintering.

Heather

Thank you, Summer Raspberries

Winter.  January.  Blah.  Sorry to be such a downer, but I can't wait for February.  January is the month that seems to drag and be the smoggiest and yuckiest and coldiest...coldest.  Luckily I have a trick or two up my sleeves to make it through unscathed.  It's like I'm being chased by lions or something. :)

Exhibit A:

An ordinary, January breakfast.

Exhibit B:

A January breakfast that kills!  Oh yes.  Thank you, flat of raspberries I bought last August and turned into freezer jam.  A little taste of sun-ripened berries always makes the gloom and doom of January feel just a little better.

The smiles don't lie.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Thank the chickens

They always want food and water and clean bedding. I walked out to do my chicken chores as dawn was breaking and beheld the wonder that is a frosty, winter morn.

January.  The end of winter feels so far away.  We're tired of scraping and slipping and sliding...but then you witness some winter magic, and it doesn't feel quite so bad.

Thanks for reading!

Heather