Wow. I finally did it. I finally got up the courage to start my own blog. Those of my friends and family that read this (assuming i tell anyone), i hope this will give you a snap shot into my life from the mundane to the really important events that i wish to share. Most importantly, you will be able to catch glimpses of Morgan (and Riley as i wrote this prior to her birth) as she grows and makes her own way in this crazy world of ours.
The summer has flown by which is pretty typical unless of course it is smokey or cold. It seemed summer started pretty early this year. When we celebrated Morgan's belated 2nd birthday (around May 1st), the snow had all melted and the day was warm and sunny. I remember Jeff starting the mosquito magnet early to keep the little buggers at bay for the celebration. Morga
n enjoyed playing with her little friends: Logan, William, and few other youngsters too small to roam with the big kids. They ran all over the lawn pretending to mow the still brown lawn, pushing/pulling the wagon, or trying out the swings/slides. Grandma cooked a wonderful Filipino feast that was enjoyed by all. Morgan also received her first bike or trike rather. It is a red Schwinn roadster which turns out is too big for her. We later purchased a small red radio flyer trike for her to use until she grows into the big roadster.
The summer has flown by which is pretty typical unless of course it is smokey or cold. It seemed summer started pretty early this year. When we celebrated Morgan's belated 2nd birthday (around May 1st), the snow had all melted and the day was warm and sunny. I remember Jeff starting the mosquito magnet early to keep the little buggers at bay for the celebration. Morgan enjoyed playing with her little friends: Logan, William, and few other youngsters too small to roam with the big kids. They ran all over the lawn pretending to mow the still brown lawn, pushing/pulling the wagon, or trying out the swings/slides. Grandma cooked a wonderful Filipino feast that was enjoyed by all. Morgan also received her first bike or trike rather. It is a red Schwinn roadster which turns out is too big for her. We later purchased a small red radio flyer trike for her to use until she grows into the big roadster.The other guests were: Andrew, Patricia, their twin boys Elias and Joaquin, and Andrews sister (her name escapes me at the moment). We first met Andrew when we were looking for a dog sitter. I met Logan's parents, Johnny and Kelly, shortly after i started working for my previous employer Mike. I was Johnny's replacement. I know William's family, his parents, Ben and Kim, and his little sister, Julia, through work at the refinery. Ben and i work together in the lab. I also used to work with Mike and Sarah. Sarah was my trainer when i first started at FHR. They have a cute little one year old boy, Alex. Lastly, I met Bobbi and her adorable 1 year old son, Arthur, thru Sarah during a play date on Eielson AFB.
As some of you may know, we lost a couple dogs in the past year. We lost our dear Bones first and in January, my sweet Dante. I am still trying to get past his untimely departure. I loved both dogs but there was something special about Dante. I miss them both greatly.
With the dogs gone, we had a couple of unused kennels. We don't plan to have nearly as many dogs as we have had in the past so we decided to sell off a couple of the fence panels/gates and reclaim our yard back from those unruly animals. Jeff had always wanted a garden so we turned part of the area into a large 6' x 10' garden plot and the rest back to grass. We planted tomatoes, pickles, eggplant, dill, cilantro, beans, peas, lettuce, pumpkins, various peppers, carrots, and potatoes.
This is the first year we planted most of our garden outside rather than in our green house. The peas, lettuce, dill, and cilantro did very well. The beans, squash, eqqplant, and pickles did not produce much, if anything at all. We did get a few bell peppers, banana peppers, and jalapenos. We are just now harvesting the tomatoes which it turns out we did not loose in the first frost of the season back in mid-August. The carrots are a little scrawny but we have some. Yeah! Only time will tell, if we get any potatoes this year. Overall, i think it was a successful growing season for us.
Morgan discovered red raspberries this summer. We would go out daily so she could eat the berries right off the bushes in our back own backyard. We would even look for them on our monthly hike near Ester Dome. She wanted to eat more berries last week but the raspberry bushes are gone so we tried the low lying cranberries, instead. They grow in our yard and i have been eyeing them for sometime. What a shame, she did not like them. They were a bit sour. I will try to pick them later and do some more baking (maybe scones, yum).
