My Garden

I just finished making a big garden box for our family so we can have our first family garden. I'm really excited about it. I got 8 of the red timbers from the self help store here on base for free. They also let me "rent" for free a circular saw to take home and use. I got boards from the wood pile (dump) here on base for the bottom and drilled a bunch of holes in them for drainage. We have to have a bottom on our box because the landscape here is under warranty so we aren't allowed to plant anything directly into the ground for at least a year and after that we have to draw up plans and get approval for anything we want to do. In the end I did end up spending about $66 on extra timbers and screws, so it wasn't free, but I still think we did pretty well. Now all I have to do is convince someone with a pickup to help me load up a bunch of dirt :)

Spring Break!

We had a busy and fun spring break. First, the kids and I went up to my mom and dad's house and celebrated my dad's 72nd birthday. We also went hiking at goose lake and went out to see the sandhill cranes. It's funny how perceptions change when you get older. There are cliffs at goose lake that we used to jump off some times for fun. I remember them being huge, at least 30 feet tall. Well, when we went to them last week they looked really small. I think I was in the right place, but they looked closer to 10 feet tall. I'll just keep telling my self that they were taller so I feel braver.

After we got back, on Saturday, the whole family went out to the Hagerman fossil beds. The visitor's center was neat, but really small. Then we went on a hike that follows the oregon trail where some fossils have been found. It was a 3 mile hike, so Justin ended up taking the boys the whole way, and the little kids and I just went a little ways and then drove the car to the end and met them at the end of the trail.

As you can see the hike was pretty desolate. The weather was perfect for hiking though. Not too hot, not too cold, and not too windy, which is really the amazing thing for out here. If you look very carefully you can see 3 black specs hiking up the hill on across the way. I took this picture from the end of the trail as we were hiking ou to meet them. When we met Justin and the boys Joey came running up to me saying that John had broken his leg. Justin was carrying him to make the story believable, but of course he didn't really, they were just trying to trick me.


What a bunch of fakers! Here's some pictures of the little kids waiting for Joey and John.




They were so funny because every ten feet or so Nathan would plop down in the dirt and start breaking up dirt clots and it took forever to convince him to get back up and start walking. It made me think of all those poor pioneer mothers trying to prod their toddlers on the right trail.

After the hike we went to miracle hot springs and had a picnic and soaked up some warm water. It was GREAT! The water was perfect and of course it didn't matter that it was 50 degrees out side. In fact if anything it may have been just a bit too warm outside to really enjoy the warm water. THey had a little swing in the pool and these really cool domes you could rent for camping. It looked kind of fun so we might have to try that some time. All in all it was a great day.