Our Balcony Garden

In March Josh bought seeds and supplies so he could start a "greenhouse" in our spare bedroom. He set up a heat lamp above the dresser we keep in there and then potted seeds for flowers, tomatoes and herbs. He also bought a couple strawberry plants for me. We had had fresh strawberries when I was a little girl and I thought it would be fun to have them.

After our greenhouse was set up, Josh diligently watered and fed the seeds until green shoots started to appear. The plants grew quickly after that and it was exciting to see the difference from one day to the next. After we got back from Disneyland, Josh re-potted the plants and put them out on the balcony. A couple weeks later we had our first strawberry. It was small and tart but soo good! Josh was such a gentleman and let me enjoy the whole thing. He's so sweet!


Our herbs died while we were on vacation, but Josh replanted the seeds and now they're doing just fine.


He also strung twine around the posts of the patio, so the tomatoes would have something to grow up on. We planted some jelly bean and grape tomatoes and I was given a regular tomato plant for mother's day from our ward. All of the tomatoes are huge now, but have no flowers on them.

Officer Woodland

On April 30th, my wonderful husband graduated from the police academy. He started back in September at the police academy at SLCC, and continued to work part time as he attended classes in the evenings and on Saturdays. While we were dating, he would come over after class and many times fell asleep in my lap. :) Then the first four months of our marriage, we only saw each other in the mornings and late evenings, as he continued to pour his whole heart and soul into his studies. His face lit up each evening as he told me what he had learned and I even got to attend one class, which was to help the spouses not to worry too much about our officers when they took to the field.

The night of graduation, Josh looked so good in his uniform! The ceremony started out by each cadet pledging to the honor code of the police officer. It was so neat as it talked about how they would protect the community and keep themselves of the highest conduct. There were several speakers and then awards were given. Josh won the fastest shooter, which we knew he would, as it was a contest he had won earlier in the semester.

But the surprise of the evening was when he won the second award, the highest academic performance. He had no idea and neither did we. As soon as his name was called, the crowd erupted in cheers; no where louder than where his mom and I were sitting. We both started crying and I thought I would burst with how proud I was!

After the ceremony, a class picture was taken, which I've put at the end of this blog. With this economy, only a few cadets have been hired, and Josh is still looking. We've been praying and keeping our fingers crossed that he's able to be with a department in the valley. I know wherever he goes, he will be an amazing officer! He's been chomping at the bit ever since he graduated to get out and make a difference.

The other night, we decided we needed a place to put all of his police memorabilia, so we made a "police wall" in our front room. We bought a shelf to display his hat and awards and hung up the class picture and his certification. As you can all tell, I'm very proud of my husband and I hope you won't mind if I brag about him every so often. :)

Thank you to everyone who came to the graduation and supported Josh! His mom and brothers came as well as his aunt and my family. And a big thank you to the Bishop and Deb who contributed to the cheering section; it was great to see you! Now you all need to come over to our apartment so I can show off our "police wall".

Planes and Krispies

Yesterday we went to the air show at Hill Air Force Base. Josh grew up on the base and he's gone to every show since he was a little boy. It took us about an hour to drive to Clearfield and another twenty minutes to find a parking spot. A ton of people were there and once we got on base several military guards directed us to one of the lots.

Before we could get in, we had to go through security. The line to do that was so long.

After 20 minutes we finally reached the front where more military guards greeted us. They went through everything we had carried in as well as what was in our pockets and we had to go through a metal detector. I felt like I was at an airport, but at least they didn't make us take our shoes off.

The show started at 11 with a truly spectacular site. Sky divers jumped from high above and the last one held an American flag. As he slowly circled to the ground, the national anthem was sung. It was really neat!

Once inside, there were several airplanes that you could look at and learn about. Josh took several pictures and was just like a little boy. His face lit up as he explained each one to me and I think he was more excited about this than he was about Disneyland!

As we continued through the grounds, several tents were set up. Some for souvenirs, others for food, and of course there was information about each branch of the military. We walked around for a couple of hours learning about different types of aviation and watching as the air show continued. My favorite were the biplanes. These brave pilots circled and dipped and performed spectacular feats.

Josh's mom and brothers, Michael and Nathan, met us after this and we had fun looking at the monster truck and ethanol motorcycle that were displayed.

After this, the headliner performed. The Thunderbirds are the elite pilots of the Air Force. Their job is to entertain and we had a blast watching them. There were 6 pilots who flew F-16's and played the best music of the day. These military men are amazing and their skill with jets is incredible! I have absolutely no desire to do what they do, but I had fun watching!

Now for the "krispie" part of this blog. Today we thought it would be good to make rice krispie treats. We had a full bag of marshmallows that were just begging to be used and even though we didn't have any rice krispies, we had decided to use rice chex. I looked up the recipe on the internet and after melting the butter and marshmallows we added the chex. You know what? Chex and melted marshmallows do not mix!

We decided to spread it in a dish anyway and let it cool. The whole thing congealed into a huge brick that came out in one piece.
We cut it up anyway and tried our masterpiece. It was actually really good and half of the pan is already gone.