Garden Boxes + Shantel's Stubbornness

Last summer we started a Garden Box project in the back yard, partially because we wanted more garden space. Partially because the grass on our upper area had been taken over completely with fescue grass and we wanted to tear the whole thing out. It took us all summer, but we got the grass torn out, the dirt leveled, the boxes installed (with drainage system from roof gutter), and rock/gravel placed.  I knew that if I wanted to have them ready to plant a garden in them this summer I needed to order dirt even though we weren't really prepared. 

I called, ordered 5 cubic yards of dirt, and then told David. He was a little surprised because he's really busy with work right now and was a little worried because he wasn't going to have much time to help over the next couple of weeks. (Including one travel-trip where he would be gone.) But I was determined and I worked hard to move load after load of dirt (before we started our homeschool, after we were done with homeschool, while the kids were eating lunch and while the kids were playing outside, ect... Whatever group of minutes that I had, I worked on it. (Note: I listened to the audiobook of Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, which is a non-fiction book about the start of heavy perscription pain killers and abuse and the family that benefitted from the pain and addiction of people across america. Although it was incredibly long, it was both fascinating and awful.) 

I got started loading dirt into the garden boxes and I realized that if I wanted to add a trellis into my garden boxes, I needed to add it before I put the dirt in. Thus started the second stage of Shantel's stubborness. I called my dad to talk through how I could get a 4'x16' pig-panel home from the local Tractor Supply company to use for my trellis. (I had looked at dozens of trellises online and nothing was both in my price range and what I was looking for. I had determined that this fencing panel would be the best thing.) We talked through how to attach it to the top of my van and even watched several youtube videos about how to bring a fence panel home with a minivan. But it all seemed like a lot of work. When I asked, "But do you think I could fit it in my van - the answer was a hesitant NO. But me, knowing my van as well as I do, I thought it was possible. I convinced David to just TRY (determined that it would fit, out of force of will). We snuck out that very night after bedtime (leaving Lydia in charge) and ran over to Tractor Supply. We spent a good amount of time analyzing the panel, David unbeliving, and me insisting that it would fit. Finally, we asked if we could take one to our car and just try to fit it before purchasing it. A worker helped us unlock the panels and helped carry it over to our car. With an impressive amount of bending, it SLID RIGHT IN. There were less than 2 inches to spare. I was so excited I was hopping up and down with joy! We bought the panel, marco poloed my dad on the way home, and celebrated by letting the kids come and see. It looks like a dog cage or something, but it's my trellis! Yay. This is the thing about me being stubborn. Sometimes it's a problem and the thing that I want just dosn't work out and causes me a significant amount of extra effort and frustration. BUT SOMETIMES, that stubborness pays off and is the only way that situation would have worked out. This is one of those times that my stubbornness paid off! 

Finally the dirt was all in the boxes, and we were ready to plant our garden. We took the kids to the store and let them each pick something to plant. We ended up with pumpkins (Lydia), carrots (Austin), Honeydew (Caleb), Watermelon (Lucy), plus tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, strawberries, and blueberries. A real garden this year! I am so so happy about it.  

(Look at that tiny pile of dirt. I was SO happy when I moved the very last load of dirt!) 

May Wrap Up

Here are a few other favorite pictures from this month. 

A cute picture of Lydia and Shantel. 

Amy and Kevin both came over to celebrate Lydia's birthday. 

Shantel and Austin got to go to an Activity Day's activity together. 

Mothers Day

For Christmas Shantel gave me a popcorn taste off challenge kit and we decided to do it all together as a family on Mothers Day. We had such a great time, first of all because we love popcorn and also because it was so fun to do it together and try to pick the one with the best logo, taste, texture etc. We also expended it and did a lemon-lime soda taste off. I had recently seen a commercial for "Starry" and thought the commercial was not great and could not imagine why anyone would try to make another lemon lime soda when Sprite has got it clearly covered. However, Sprite is owned by Coke and Starry is owned by Pepsi, so they were just trying to get into the market. I told Shantel I could not imagine why anyone would ever buy Starry. She surprised me by buying Starry and making us do a test off. 

The popcorn results were quite clear, Act II Extra Butter was the winning popcorn, which should come as no surprise since that is what we buy, but it really is the best. The lemon lime soda taste off was less conclusive. I could not tell the difference in a blind taste test. However, Shantel claimed she could and that Starry was clearly the best, but she might have just been trying to poke fun at me a bit. Needless to say, I'm sticking with Sprite and 7 up and won't be buying any more Starry. 

Last fall we got desperate and ripped out a large chunk of grass that had been infested with a fescue type grass and we also bought planter boxes. Finally in May we ordered dirt for the garden boxes and extra for the spot that we need to put in new grass. It was a lot of work to haul the dirt back and into the boxes. I was really busy with work, so Shantel stepped and did most of it all on her own and got the boxes all filled and she was awesome. 

We were even able to start planting and got Strawberry plants in (among other things), yay!

Egg prices had skyrocketed for the past year, and for 5 dozen it was often, $16-18 or even as high as $22 for 5 dozen. We had definitely been cutting back on our egg consumption. When I was in Sam's club the other day, I looked and they had finally dropped back down to about $10 for 5 dozen and it was so awesome that I had to take this picture and send it to Shantel. We can finally eat eggs for breakfast again!

Haircuts for the kids, which means they get a haircutting show to watch while they do it. 

We've changed up the way we do family economy for the summer and we'll see how it goes. Instead of each child getting up to their age in dollars each week (depending on if they do their family economy each day), we are doing a new system where they finish a "bucket" of things each day with the expectation that everyone does their bucket (which includes similar tasks and chores as we had in the past. However, we take the money we were paying and now we pay it once a month to the entire family. Then the kids can decide how they want to spend it (for example, on a trip to the provo rec center for the family or a Little Caesars pizza and movie night. Or they might choose to get some individual money so they can buy something specific for themselves. We'll see how it works this summer. 

Kids having fun. 

Lastly, I could not leave this picture out. This is what it looks like when you have a 4 year old who constantly needs you. Shantel or I (I can't remember which), snapped this photo of Lucy sticking her hand under the door while once of us used the bathroom. She could not even give us 2 minutes break to use the bathroom without desperately needing us. As I think about, that's okay and I love it. I'm grateful that we have our kids and that they love us and we love them and I hope that Lucy will always want to come and be with us. 

Branding at the Walker Angus Ranch 2023

We were excited to all be able to attend branding this year (last year, only Lydia and I came). We spent the day before hanging out in Morgan and playing with Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy, Pippi. We also celebrated Grandpa Walker's 60th birthday (we gave him a chocolate moose so he would get something on his actual birthday and saved some bigger group gifts for a family party later that week.) 

As we pulled into Morgan, Lydia turned to me and said "Morgan is my very favorite place in the whole entire world." She corrected and said "actually the summer range is my very favorite place, but Morgan is my second favorite place in the whole world." I thought that was sweet. 

I wonder if she feels the same way that I feel when I drive up to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house in Lyman. An overwhelming sense of being somewhere that I am loved, cared for, and connected to. We may not ever choose to live in a small town, but I love this place dearly. It holds such a tender spot in my heart and I'm grateful that it is part of my family history and legacy. 

Lydia is really embracing the role of cowgirl lately and she makes the greatest little ranchhand. 

We helped by helping and helped by watching. (My Grandma Walker always said "watching is helping".) Some of us were more helpful than others, ha. But we were all there and we were grateful to partipate however we could - from playing on the haystack to pushing cows to giving vaccines. 













Branding can be dirty business. Go Melissa! 

We ended with a yummy warm lunch at Marti and Kims house and I am SO glad that I was able to get a group picture of the whole family. What a beautiful legacy of the Walker Angus Ranch.