Hodge Podge

 Okay, so we uploaded more pics of our summer happenings and you get a little of this, and a little of that.

Here is Grandma Russell when she came for her visit back in July.  You'll see some similar pics because we had posted pictures from her camera as well.

 We went to New River Beach Provincial Park and went swimming (played in the sand) all day.  You are a true Maritimer if you eat sand.  I say that because our foster toddler kept putting any sand he could get a hold of into his mouth.  Sorry no pics of him, we legally aren't allowed to post photos of him.  Just know he's a cutie.

 The water was cooler the deeper out you went, but that didn't stop the kids.

 Shhhhhh! We snuck up to the camp-ground area afterwards to shower and get rid of the sand that was in many places we didn't even know could get there.

 Bathroom renovations. So here is a pic of our bathroom, an ugly dark purple.

 We had to prime the walls.

 I wanted to paint it yellow and let me tell you it was BRIGHT!  Our kitchen is painted a really light yellow and I wanted to take it up a notch.  I've posted pics at the end of this blog entry for everyone to see the finished bathroom.

 2 or 3 days in July at night we had these creepy bugs (they had antenna and looked like a cross between a moth and mayflies).  They were attracted to the light from the inside of our house at night or the outside light we turn on.  We couldn't open the door to let the cats in or the creepy little things would fly in.  We had to run out the back door, grab the cat from the front (poor kitty's begging to get in) and then run back in through the back door.

  

 Our ward had a Pioneer Day planned at the end of July.  The Young Women in the ward were asked to do face painting on the primary children.  Colorado tried a practise run on Spencer.  Great job!

 Can't get enough ice-cream in all this humidity and heat.

 Jam, jam, jam, and more jam.  This year our local strawberry patches didn't have any strawberries to pick (unless we drove over 40 min to get some berries, which we didn't want to do).  We didn't want to pay an arm and a leg from the grocery stores either (for out of province berries).  The strawberries were destroyed by a worm that got into the roots.  So-o-o-o-o-o-o, we decided to wait for raspberries and make raspberry jam.  It's my favourite!  We made 17 jars.  My hubby is the best jam maker!  I wash the berries and get them ready for him and he makes up the jam.  I call it "Dad's Jam".  One year we ran out early and Isaac (who was little) asked if we could go to the store and buy more of "Dad's Jam".  Nothing beats home-made jam over store bought.  

 Here's our chain saw man of the house.  Jason bought a new chain saw to cut down any trees on our property for us to use as firewood.  It's a lot of hard work (getting the trees down from the side of the hill), but we are hoping to get enough this summer to use next winter (after it has seasoned).  It sure is a lot of work.  I now appreciate all the hard work my step-father went into cutting and bringing in wood for us in the winter.  My muscles were sore (as were Jason's) after a day of cutting, dragging and stacking.  Our muscle boys Isaac and Jarom were off in Ontario visiting family.  We plan to put them to work sometime this coming week.

 Colorado caught a garter snake and showed the younger boys.  Ewwwww!!  I am so not a bug, mouse, snake anything creepy person.

 Our miracle baby (that's Avery) was baptized on his birthday (July 28th).  Here's the whole family on his big day.

 Grandma and Grandpa Cambridge came for his big day and both gave talks at his baptism.  We planned to upload Grandma Cambridge's photos from her camera and forgot.

 The day of Avery's baptism (at 3:30 pm) was also the ward pioneer day/BBQ (at 5 pm).  After lots of yummy food, sack races, face painting, eating gummies on string, pond fishing, pie eating contest and tug of war everyone headed to the town pool.  The ward booked the town pool so our ward could have a swim in it.  What a fun day for everyone.  Especially Avery!

 Spencer wanted a "funny face" picture with Grandma so we took one.  

 Our garden.  Let me tell you how excited I am about our garden.  We decided to try square foot gardening this year.  If you are not a gardening person (of produce) then you can skip these shots.  The blue bowls with yeast in them are our slug bait.  We have lots of slugs everywhere.  We fill bowls with a tablespoon of yeast and water to almost full.  The happy little slugs are attracted to the yeast, go for swim and drowned.  They aren't smart enough to crawl out.  We empty them when there is a very horrid smell of deceased slugs.  We are so cruel aren't we.

 We have lots of pumpkins growing.  I'm already excited for Hallowe'en!

 Had our peas grow and we've eaten them, so I replanted some new ones.  Lots of zucchini and cherry tomatoes.

 Growing corn on the cob and watermelon.  We hope raccoons don't get at it when it is done growing. When I was a kid we grew popcorn and the raccoons got a it.  We only had a little bit left to pop.   

 Here is one of our watermelons.  I know it's really little, but I've never had so many grow before and we are hoping they grow big.  Hoping we don't get an early frost.

 A pumpkin on one of trellises.  Apparently you can grow them that way.

 The happy square foot gardener. 

 My finished bathroom.  It looks a little different in the natural light (it was getting dark when I took the picture).  It's bright (can't buy more paint - that would be a waste of money, so we are sticking with it).  I love my old fashioned sink with the back splash, just not the empty space below it.  The younger kids occasionally hang on it when I'm not looking, and one of these days it's going to fall off the wall on top of them.

 To tone it down a bit, I took the lighter yellow paint we used for the kitchen and rag painted over the brighter yellow.  I think it turned out great!  Jason says each year we can paint a room in the house (last year was the kitchen).  My step-father tells me in about 10 years when I go to re-paint the upstairs bathroom, it will be faded to the colour I want.  Yay!!!

  

 I'd love to buy new floor tiles, but that's not in the budget right now.

The tub used to be painted a dark burgundy on the bottom.  I painted it the light yellow colour we used for the kitchen.