My new favorite ice cream

I have recently remembered our wonderful ice cream maker. It goes into hibernation in the winter so I had forgotten about it. Just this last week we created mint ice cream! I made just the basic vanilla- cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla and added a good amount of crushed candycanes. I crushed them in the blender so that they weren't crunchy in the ice cream. So refreshing!!!
The ice cream is showcased in my special little bowls given by my wonderful friend Lynnea. I am convinced it tasted better being eaten out of these:)

Vegas Summer Sunsets!

A beautiful sunset on the eve of July 8th. Taken from our front yard.

Central Coast California

A few pictures from our trip to California. Our first real vacation with the girls. Their first time visiting California and a ocean.

A red door.

We have spent the better part of 2009 painting our house. Now we have a red door. Clare especially loves it!


Here is the door with primer on it. It was a white door before.

Harvest time!

We were able to eat 2 of these tasty cobs. Only two that we have harvested are worthy of cooking sadly. But, they were juicy and very good. Much better than the colorless corn bought from Albertsons which were eaten simultaneously.


Here are the corn. As you can see, some of them didnt turn out right. We are not sure why, maybe from lack of pollination. We have some hard working bee's, but possible not enough. Maybe we picked them too early.


Clare is pruning our tomatoes. It turns out we should do this every 10 days or so. We have now done it once in 4 months. But there are LOTS of little green tomatoes.


This is our strange Sunflower. When it was smaller we just thought maybe it was a different kind of Sunflower from the others, but it turns out it is just deformed. Possible from seed, possible from disease, we are not sure. As you can see the Sunflower behind it is doing just fine and should be blooming in the next week or so, its leaves large and green. While the Sunflower in front has leaves that are stunted and curl up. I dont think it has a bud either. (Sorry for the sideways picture)


This Sunflower bloomed the day after this picture. Its huge.

Graduation

I never thought of graduation from the 9th grade to be a huge accomplishment. For our foster daughter, Ajaha, it is. The last day of school she told me in the car on the way home of how happy she was with her completion and with her 3.2 grade average. I told her of course, "Yes, you did a good job, especially in a difficult year, yada yada." Then she said, "I'm the first in my family to graduate the 9th grade." Then I went, "What?!" She said none of her older three siblings had gone as far as her in education. And she began to say how she wanted to be the first one to be different in her family, to break a chain. Well, this gave us whole new perspective on her accomplishment!!! Then we realized, we better get her a card and gift since it is so special. So, now along with her we can announce that she finished and she finished well. Hooray! We pray that she will truely be the first one in her family to be completely different.

A bitter-sweet day.

Here are a few photos of a way too short visit with little Stephanie, or as she goes now by, Sophia.

It was a bitter sweet day. We anticipated her arrival ever since we heard her aunt was coming out. Then the day came and we were so excited. It was a short 45 minutes and it took alot to hold the tears back. We loved her as our own from when she was 3 weeks old, until she was 8 months. Even when faced with the hardest time of our lives, she was still there to bring joy.

We do feel now that we can move on. It was helpful to see her for that reason. With that said I hope we always have some sort of good influence into her life. What else can I say except we love her.

*note: Sadly these are the only 2 pictures we have of the visit, none with Clare in them.*

From the desert to....

The Biggerstaff Garden


Mint and Rhubarb. Mint is doing very well. It is the only plant not from seed. The Rhubarb is also doing well especially considering it usually prefers mild climates. Rhubarb cannot be harvested the first year.


The Largest of the tiny tomatoes we have. I believe there are 7 or 8 Tomatoes plants in all. Some cherry, others the normal ones. The tomatoes are becoming the most impressive plant of the Biggerstaff Garden.


A sad Sunflower. He was the first to bloom, and our lovely little birds destroyed him before we fully were able to enjoy it. How do I build a "scare crow"?


Our CORN! And they said corn will not grow in Las Vegas. Well, we proved "them" wrong. Our corn is only shoulder length at its tallest, but its looking good. The corn husks themselves are coming along. We are not sure when to harvest. Maybe some suggestions from our Iowa friends. ;)


This is our struggling pumpkin. He had a neighbor pumpkin, but he didn't make it. I have this sinking feeling in my gut this guy wont make it either, but hope is on our side.


The full Biggerstaff Garden view in all its humble glory. Sunflower, Tomatoes, Corn, Rhubarb, Mint, Pumpkins, Asparagus, Shallots, and Dillweed. We started them all from seed in January. No worry about freezing in the Southwest.


We did not plant these, they came with the neglected yard. The cactus has doubled in size since we moved in a year and half ago. Its now about 7 feet tall. We even had blooms this spring. Also, next to the cactus is a struggling Grape vine. My hope is with a few years of love, it will pull through.


Not from the Garden, but still from seed. This is our wild flower garden with a wild flower mix, plus Sweet Pea, Morning Glory, Viola's, Nastursium, etc.

Finaly! A camera which is digital!

drum roll please!

Announcing our little AynJel as student of the month at her school, Hollingsworth Elementary!!!!

We are so proud of her. She has come such a long way and is already looking
ready for first grade, even after missing three months of school this year!