What we've been up to

FYI: This is a considerably boring, long post with no pictures you can just skim. I'm sorry. I just thought I'd better throw something up here. 

1. We have become farmers. At least we're trying to. We plowed a ginormous garden plot in our backyard back in March and have roughly half of it planted. We have rows of broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, onions, spinach, lettuce, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, cantaloupe, watermelon, and strawberries thus far. We also planted 8 fruit trees the beginning of March, 5 of which are thriving and the other 3 look dead. Sad. Jo keeps telling me she's so excited for "skinny pears" (because they have skin on them as opposed to canned pears) to grown in our backyard. I keep reminding her she'll be ten before she eats one:). Too bad they take so darn long to grow. I've started calling Jo "Skinny Jo" because she has skin too. She thinks this is one of the funniest things I've ever said. Things I've learned through planting: I FREAKING love gardening! It has honestly become one of my most favorite hobbies. I love weeding and planting and watching those first little plants peak up through the ground. We're still at the beginning of the season so we'll see if I'm more tired come September, but thus far I have really enjoyed working in that garden. I've also learned if we can pull this off with these little churchlynns... we can do just about anything! Ha. Isn't that true in trying to do anything with preschoolers around? Atticus is wonderful and enjoys working beside his dad. Jo gets "bored" easily but can entertain herself doing other things. Maggie is Maggie. And unless you've seen her in the last 3 weeks you probably can't imagine what I mean. she's terrifying and it's her world and we try as hard as we can to stay out of her way. There are moments where I honestly avoid eye contact. She can be very sweet. But, oh, what a terrible little mistress as well.

2. We went to visit my two sisters, Jen and Chris, and their families in Arizona for spring break the beginning of April. I was quite scared for the 12 hour drive. But the kids did marvelously well, all things considered. The only time I spilled tears and spoke the words "I hate this moment" was 5 hours into the trip when I found myself covered in Tic's throw up- as was he- trying to contain the contents which had been in his stomach in a happy meal box. It didn't work very well. Turns out Atticus gets carsick. We had a great time visiting with the Batemans and Bains. Lots of day trips to parks and up the canyon and to Tombstone. Lots of cousin time for our kids and lots of games for us adults. We truly had a wonderful vacation!  It was SO much fun.

3. I'm still cooking this baby and just found out this week we're due to have another girl come September! We're thinking of naming her Elizabeth Jane-Marie or Abigail Marie. I think Scout might be stinking cute too- to go along with Atticus's name. We'll see. I am 20 weeks and am currently a comfortable, relatively emotionally stable pregnant woman.

4. I don't know what else to record here. We're happy. I feel like we've got a fairly simple life right now. Ryan is finishing his second year at the Jr. High here as an English teacher and track coah and I'm at home with the three kids. Most evenings we're working out in the garden together, while the kids run around and explore. Jo is excited to start kindergarten in the fall. Atticus has been potty trained 3 times and is still in diapers and usually still in that tiger costume. Maggie is- well- she's in charge. She's cute and sometimes sweet but she's also scary. I'm so grateful for these three kiddos. I just never imagined my life being this good. I'm so grateful for this family of mine. We're also really looking forward to some serious time at Bear Lake this summer with Ryan's side, a fun reunion with mine, and a lot more garden time. That is all for now!