Party at Becky's! Flower lovers only!

So one of the things mom and I do for the farm market is flower bouquets. Even though it isn't her biggest moneymaker, we continue to do it because it is so much more fun to put pretty flowers together than to dig potatoes. One morning while sales were slow we were talking about how we could really stand to take some sort of flower arranging class. Almost as if her flower emergency alarm went off , Jill (the owner of "Flowers on High") stopped by to buy the rest of our bells of Ireland. We asked if she offered any flower arranging classes, and as luck would have it she had just started teaching classes in people's homes. We gathered up some friends, set a date, and had us a flower arranging class at my house. Now, you may think this sounds sort of boring. Let me tell you...it was not! She brought PILES of flowers, was super fun, and we all went home with a vase full of a dozen roses complete with greenery and gorgeous basket bouquets. We got a bargain and had so much fun putting together our creations! The best part was seeing how different everyones arrangements turned out using the same stash of flowers. One thing I didn't think to take a photo of is my floor. I have NEVER seen so many leaves and petals covering one floor. :) I think we will have to try this again right before Thanksgiving or Christmas so we can all make our table centerpieces! Who's in?

Exciting news!!

I quit my job. Yay! Oh wait, I meant to say....

I quit my job!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is something I've wanted to do for years but there was always some reason to stay a bit longer. Wait for Jason's salary to move up a little. Pay off a bill. Whatever. But I've always wanted to be "just mom". Now I feel we are in a good place financially for me to take the plunge. Not to mention work has gotten more and more frustrating by the day lately. Some of you may ask "why?" After all, I have to admit I had it pretty good. I've been working for the bank for 10 years, and have managed to work from home for the past 8. But that's just it. I've managed. It hasn't been a breeze, believe me. Even though it is just 4 hours a day, it is really hard to fit 4 hours into a day where I am taking the kids to the park or spending the day at the pool. And with Jason traveling more lately, I feel stretched so thin sometimes that I go into panic mode. Now we can spend the day at the pool without me worrying about having to stay up until 1am putting in my hours, and I won't have to plop them in front of the tube while I sit on a conference call. I won't feel guilty sitting down and playing a game with Conrad during Rylan's nap instead of working. And that's reason enough for me!

With a little extra time on my hands I plan to spend more time with my photography. So I started a Farm Picks Blog to explain the story behind some of my "Farm Picks" photos. Check it out!!

Etsy...one cool website!

Have you heard about Etsy yet? For you guys it may not be that exciting, but for the girls it will be!! It is a huge website filled with wonderful handmade items, from jewelry to scrapbooking stuff. Awesome gift ideas and the coolest ways to browse I've ever seen (time machine anyone?) When I noticed people were selling their photos on there I decided to try my hand at it. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE photography. I recently started selling my photos from around the farm (called it "Farm Picks") at the farm market and so far there has been a lot of interest. I thought a little Farm Picks Etsy shop would be a nice way to supplement it!

True Love

Jason loves gooseberries. I'm not a huge fan. They are super sour, and extremely seedy. But, they do make for a pretty plant. Jason has 3 gooseberry bushes at my mom's house. Last year they had a little bit of fruit, but Rylan ate them all before they were even ripe. We were told "a bird ate them" even though we saw him over there grazing. This year they were loaded. I know Jason has fond memories of gooseberry jelly, so I (with mom's help) made a batch today. Now that is true love...what a time consuming process! It took me an hour to pick them, an hour to clean them, and then another hour to get everything ready and actually make it. However, I have to admit, it is darned good. Apparently anything is good if you add enough sugar!

Baseball

We gave baseball a try this year. Conrad enjoyed it, especially since the neighbor across the street (Connor) was on his team and his dad was the coach. He made some new friends and so did I while sitting on the side cheering. However, we have learned with baseball and basketball that Conrad isn't excessively competitive so this may be the end of his sporting career. I think he would be just as happy to have a friend over to play, and then we wouldn't have to stuff our dinner in our faces trying to get to practice on time!

Minnesota

Well I am over a month late on these photos (we went to MN in late May) but better late than never, right? We flew up to northern Minnesota before school was out so we could visit Jason's Grandpa Jim and Grandma Gladys. Jim has been battling cancer, and luckily was feeling better than he had been when we were there. We had such a nice visit, and also spent a lot of time with Jason's dad, his mom, and got a lot of sightseeing in as well. It is so gorgeous up there...I would consider moving someday if it weren't for the enormous mosquitoes and bone chilling winters.