How Does Your Garden Grow?

If you have been reading this blog for a while (and bless you because I have been anything but consistent), then you might remember my posts from last summer and fall about my garden. If you haven't read them, then you can find them here and here.

Now, let me bring you up to date on this lovely garden of mine...  Early in the spring, when I was still pregnant with Mason, Ben and I were in Wal-Mart buying groceries when I decided that I wanted a box of fruit roll-ups. Strawberry flavor.  Keep in mind that I haven't bought a box of fruit roll-ups ever and I probably hadn't eaten one since grade school, but I wanted a fruit roll-up. So, we buy them and I have one out of the box and unwrapped before we are even in the car.  (Not as good as I remembered. Still have about 8 left from the box of 10.)  So, Ben is like, "I can't believe you bought that box of fruit roll-ups. Those things are expensive." "They aren't that expensive." I counter back, defending my purchase.
Then the conversation continues like this:

B: "They have to be at least 3 dollars."
K: "No, I looked before I picked them up, they were only 2 dollars."
B: "No, they have to be more than that. Let's make a bet."

I have to add here that Ben is all about making bets.  He claims that he will not make a bet unless he knows he won't lose.  Ben is also all about saving money. I could write 15 blog posts about Ben and his money saving. This is the reason he is questioning my frivolous fruit roll-up purchase in the first place.

K: "Ok, what do you wanna bet?"
B: "I bet that those are more than $2.50 and ....."

I honestly cannot remember what I was going to have to do if I lost, but that isn't important anyway since I won.

K: "Fine. I bet that they are 2.00 or less (remember, I looked at the price before I bought them but he didn't believe me because I am so frivolous, obviously, and just throwing money into the wind) and if I win then you have to prepare, plant, and cultivate the garden to my specifications ALL SUMMER."
B: "It's a bet."

So, we get home, pull out the blessed Wal-Mart receipt and low and behold, those babies were $1.99!!!
Muwahahahaha!!!!!

So, feast your eyes on this year's garden:

See how cultivated it is?  Isn't it lush?  See all of the lovely, defined rows of plants?  Not a tree weed in sight! Oh, and the produce!!  Don't even get me started.  You are all going to be so jealous. Allow me to show you these pictures (can't capture it in just one) of our bountiful first crop of tomatoes:

Aren't they so beautiful and round? Don't they remind you of prize winning tomatoes or the ones you see at the farmer's market?  I know. We can't all produce this kind of quality fruit.  Some have it, some don't. And, I guess we just have it. Don't worry, there was more where these came from! Unfortunately I was unable to photograph the three tomatoes that grew together to form one tiny tomato with three bottoms. You will just have to imagine it.

I think we are also producing jalapeno peppers... if I could just locate the plant.

Ok, so needless to say, that is not exactly to my specifications.  However, remember my post about Ben traveling to montevallo every day for all those months? Well, when is he going to have time to care for a garden? So, I haven't been that hard on him.

It wasn't until my friend, Ashley, who was in town yesterday visiting from Florida while her hubby took the Bar  here in town, looked out my window and said, "Oh. Is that your garden? It kind of reminds me of a rain forrest." that I realized it was a pretty good laugh.  So, at her suggestion, I decided to fill you in on the latest garden events.  I hope I did not cause you to covet.  Just holler at me in the comment section if you want to sign up for my community crop share program. Thanks.

When I went to photograph the "garden" yesterday, I happened across this little beauty on my butterfly bush and I just wanted to share these photos since you don't get to see pretty butterflies like this very often.

The Power of Positive Thinking

First of all, thanks to all of you who thought of me this past week as I went back to work.  Your comments, notes, and text messages were very encouraging and I definitely felt your prayers coming my way!

As I mentally prepared myself to go back to work, I tried to think positively about it and not dread it.  I knew that dreading the day would only make things harder and make the situation worse.  Honestly, that mindset helped a lot.  I was able to remain upbeat and the week went really well.  I am not attributing the success of the week just to my positive thinking; I know that God played a huge part in the way things played out and I really had a sense of peace about everything.  However, I am constantly reminding myself of the power of our minds and how I can use my mind to make things better.

Living with an eternal optimist really encourages my drive for positive thinking.  Before you start thinking I am all optimistic and stuff, I have to tell you that Ben's positivity sometimes drives me crazy.  I'm all "can't you just let me whine about this for one minute?!" :) Forcing me to look at the positive side of things and put things in perspective is one way that Ben helps make me a better person and for that I am thankful.

When I get down or become negative, I am reminded of this verse in Philippians 4:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.(verse 8)


That verse is preceded by "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  In my Bible I have written, "Dwell on your blessings while God works out your problems.  


Yesterday, my mom sent me this article which I found very motivating.  It is about thinking big, thinking outside the box, and acknowledging the power of your mind.  The main points that spoke to me in this article are: 


1. Invest time strengthening your strengths.


2. Spend your life on your passion. "This is what you were created to do."(Do you know what your passion is?)


3. Deposit your energies into the creation of products and services that will add value to the lives of others.


4. Choose to see abundance, be abundance, and live abundance, but never at the expense of others.


If you have time, it is worth the read!

And for you moms out there, I stumbled across this website, last night while reading an article on PW's blog about the effects of school on creative children (yeah, I guess you could say it's a little early for that). Anyway, that website (coolmompicks) has a really great recommended reading list that you might want to check out.  I think I will be reading a lot of those books in the future.

And I leave you with this:

My little man is three months old today!! Can you tell that he was DONE with this photo shoot?  I was taking pictures of him this morning ( I will post the Three Month post once I get them edited) and we were doing some shots in vintage outfits.  First I put him in a Feltman Bros outfit that belonged to my brother, Matt, that was complete with matching shoes.  Then, I remembered the p.j.s pictured above which is what Ben and both of his brothers wore home from the hospital when they were born.  I had intended to take Mason's pictures in those a while back (like, when they would fit him) but forgot about it.  When Mason came home from the hospital he was only 6 pounds 3 oz so the outfit would've swallowed him whole at the time (since his daddy was a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz when he was born). Anyway, this morning the p.j.'s barely snapped (I didn't even attempt to snap the top one) and Mason was not having it! Needless to say, I have pictures of him in his daddy's outfit, but they all look like the one above. That picture is a bit deceiving because Mason was an absolute angel during the whole event until I tried to put those on him! You will see when I post the others later on.

Have a great day!

Ben's Job

So, every week day and many weekends for the past 20 months, my husband traveled an hour and 15 minutes one way to Montevallo, AL to manage and oversee the construction of the Alabama National Cemetery.  What started out as a "once a week" visit to the cemetery for meetings quickly turned into an every day trip, sometimes turning into overnight trips.  To say I handled it poorly at times might be an understatement.  Ben would sometimes leave as early as 5am and not return until 9pm or later.  He never knew when he would be able to leave the job and could only give an estimated time at which he may be able to be home for dinner.  Drove. Me. Nuts.  

Ben is the type of person who, when he does something, he does it right and he does it to the best of his ability.  As the project manager of this phase of the cemetery, he wanted everything to be perfect to the extent that he would get out in the field and do some of the work himself in order to keep things going, keep people happy, and make things happen.  This is one of the things I love the most about him and at the same time, drives me crazy.  However, at the age of 25, Ben has an 11 million dollar (plus) job under his belt which is a huge accomplishment.  Not only did he get the job done, but his company received the highest ratings that can be given by the VA and those records will be stored in Washington. I am extremely proud of him.  

A separate company created a book about the cemetery which includes pictures of the cemetery and some of the buildings that Ben was in charge of. When Ben left C and C Contractors (the company Ben worked for when building the cemetery) two weeks ago, the owner of the company presented Ben with a copy of the book.

The cemetery was completed the week that Mason was born.  One of these days I hope to take photos of it myself and see the final product. Ben worked tirelessly to make sure that they met their deadline so he would get to be home with our new baby with no worries.  After Mason was born, it became more obvious that Ben needed a job closer to home with no traveling involved.  (aka I was an emotional wreck) So, we prayed a lot about it (and had been for a while) and a perfect opportunity presented itself... a company literally right down the street from our neighborhood.  I couldn't be more thrilled! What an answered prayer!!  Ben was sad to leave the people at C and C but they were very understanding about his desire to spend more time closer to home.

I have to say that God has gone above and beyond in the way He has taken care of our family and our job situations since Ben and I got married.  Things didn't always go as we would have planned, but we have been able to see the good things that have come from each situation and see that God's timing is perfect.  Now Ben and I have the opportunity to be home more and be closer to home and to spend lots of quality time with our little man and each other.  We are so thankful and consider ourselves so blessed!

We are loving the experience of our most important job yet, being parents.

Here is Ben with Mason in my hospital bed the  2nd night we were in the hospital.  I couldn't get around very well because of the C-section and I am certain that Ben changed more diapers than I did and got up almost every time I did during the night.  I was the feeder but Ben was the master swaddler. 

Independence Day Pictures

Ben and I were blessed with some time off for the holiday and we got to make the trip up to Florence for the weekend.  So, we loaded up the little man and the doggies and headed North on Saturday morning.  On Saturday night, Mason got to go to his very first shrimp boil. I wish I had gotten some pictures of that but I tend to get stressed out when I take him in public places or outdoors, afraid that he is getting too hot or uncomfortable or worried about him being passed around a lot.  Thus, I am too distracted to take pictures. The food was amazing and there was a TON of it!  They did it Low Country Boil style where they dumped bucket after bucket of shrimp, crawfish, corn, potatoes, and onions into a huge homemade trough.  It was amazing! 

We spent all of Sunday and Monday hanging out at my parent's house playing in the pool, eating, and just relaxing.  Mom made chocolate covered oreo balls (holy moly), pasta salad, a cheese ball, and lots of other goodies that we snacked on all day.  The 4th was complete with grilled steaks marinated in Dale's sauce, my favorite!! 

Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend....

I tried to relax on the float while Ben tried to make me miserable.

Sweet Pea and Daddy hanging out by the pool

Not So Sure About This Chilly Water  

Big Feet, Little Feet

My Daddy and His Boys

Berkley and Pete Having Fun 

The 4th Wouldn't Be Complete Without Fireworks. It Helps to Have Neighbors Who Own Fireworks Stands!

Notice Anything Odd About This One? I Was Practicing Photographing Fireworks and My Sister Thought She'd Add Her Special Touch 

The Neighbor's Could've Shot These Fireworks After a Baseball Game or Something. They Were Huge!

Mason and His Great Grandmother

Mason Sound Asleep in Nana's Arms

Local Celebrity Gets a Bath

Mason Loves Bath Time

So Relaxing

Poodles Like to Relax Too
(my wide angle lens distorted him a bit)

Disclaimer: This is a normal picture of my sister, unlike the one that follows.....

We Had Fun Taking Pictures Off the Diving Board

It Provided Lots of Laughs... then again, my sister usually does.

My Brother Makes It Look Easy

Love the Elbow Dimple

While we were in Florence, Mason started smiling and cooing a lot! It is amazing how fast babies change and learn new things.  I was getting my feelings hurt because he kept smiling at the ceiling fan but wouldn't smile at me. (I know, he is just a baby.) Now, he is all about smiling at me and everyone else and talking to us too! I love it!! He also wants to sit up or stand all the time and keeps trying to pull himself up into the sitting position.  It is so funny because he strains his head forward like he is trying to get up.  I start back to work next week but more on that later... it is ok to go ahead and start praying for me though. :)