We drove over to my parent’s house for a fun, long, and relaxing weekend. We got to see lots of family, Jude LOVED playing with his little cousins. Andrew even got to take in a Mariners vs. Giants game (he wasn’t rooting for the home team:) with my dad. The boys are great little travelers and we are so thankful we got to have a weekend away.
Life feels full and busy, but in a good way. Besides being totally blessed to be Jude and Owen’s Mama I’m trying to squeeze in a lot of learning, growing, and doing in my spare time.
The list includes:

*Tending our growing garden. Now sprouting- beans, radishes, lettuce, and zucchini. Andrew just finished making and setting up a compost system out back- more on that to come.

*Reading and soaking in a book called ‘Living for what Really Matters‘ by Stacy and Paula Rinehart. The subtitle is ‘Long terms values in a short term world’. This book has been so good for me- challenging me to look at how I raise my children, spend money, make decisions, etc. in light of eternity. Am I living for only the here and now, or am I looking to what matters in the long run, in eternity? How does this affect my every day life as well as my long term plans?

*Also reading ‘The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food‘ which is packed full of freezing, canning, and dehydrating advice for veggies and fruit. Great resource, I’ll be using it to help me ‘gather the harvest’ this summer and fall to use in winter and spring. I’m trying to move towards even more seasonal eating and also eating from our stocked pantry and freezer in the winter and spring to make the most of our grocery budget, health, and time.

*Trying my hand at making yogurt. I just realized after owning my food dehydrator for about 4 years that I can also make yogurt in it. It’s much cheaper and so easy to make at home so I’m trying my first batch today and plan on sweetening it with a little maple syrup and some peach sauce from last year’s peach harvest.

I am cherishing this baby season with Little O and trying to think of creative, fun things to do with Judo, who seems to soak in and say new long words every day, always wants to be out and about, and loves to make art and of course play cars and trains. Yesterday we were weeding the yard and he came over to me with a bit of grass in his hand and said, ‘look at the delicate spider!’ Too cute. Andrew and I are looking forward to a more relaxed summer schedule and more time together as a family, especially on long summer evenings. We are also very excited about Andrew’s upcoming trip back to The Philip Hayden Foundation Orphanage in China this August. Read more about the trip on his blog!!!