September 2014

Baby shower was September 4. So I guess that should be included in this post. But me and my pregnant brain included it in August. Whatever. 

Partied it up in Henderson with this cute thing for her 4th birthday.

I flew back to Rexburg from Las Vegas by myself. A one hour plane ride for $38 sounded so much more pleasant than a 10+ hour car ride. This also left David free to stay in Panaca and hunt longer. He drove back on Saturday up the 93. The I-15 was closed off due to flooding that literally took the road away in Logandale, NV.  I would write more about that craziness, but it's getting late. Suffice it say, Panaca- little, old, little, little Panaca- became a boom town for a while as traffic was diverted up to and through it's Main Street. bumper to bumper for days. Days is not an exaggeration.

The week that I was home by my lonesome, I ate some really yummy food. And took pictures of it, because what else do you do when you're home alone? I would go out each night and pick a few things from the garden to add to my dinner plate. It was heavenly. And delicious.

Zucchini crust pizza. (Actually I think this one was back in August. Whatever. It was dang yummy)

Chicken with zucchini  and peppers saute.

Bread. Nom.

Cucumber, onion, pepper, and tomato salad. 

And then Wednesday night, the 10th, a nasty frost rolled through. The temperature dropped to 25 degrees that night. I knew a frost was coming through, so I went out late that evening and threw a "water blanket" down hoping that would be enough. Um no. Not for 25 degrees! I was 8 months pregnant and didn't want to lay down row covers by myself. I should have. My two rows of tomatoes with fat green and ripening tomatoes, my pumpkin patch, corn, peppers, everything- gone! It was very sad. But now I guess it's kind of a blessing because I would be spending a lot of time right now/ the past few weeks harvesting and preserving things from the garden instead of working on school stuff. And I definitely have more than enough school assignments to be working on and knocking out before baby comes. Blessings in disguise? I'm glad I enjoyed my garden this year while it lasted, I just wish I could have got more out of it and saved from it. Oh well. Se la vie.

School started September 15, and things have been crazy and nonstop busy ever since. 

David's classes: range management, ecology, biostatistics, doctrine and covenants

Giulia's classes: deciduous i.d., interioscaping, pest management, practicum (running the horticulture business for the semester)

A few nights before school started we checked our schedules again. We signed up for classes way back in May so we thought we should reacquaint ourselves with our classes. We had everything lined up perfectly and we didn't have class at the same time for when baby comes. But as we were reviewing everything I noticed that there was an hour in the mornings that overlapped. I asked David about it, and he said I was crazy because that class of his wasn't until 10:15. Turns out, the class he was signed up for... the teacher left. The school assigned a new teacher and a different class time and didn't care to let anybody know. Kind of frustrating. So we both have a class from 7:45-8:45. My class doesn't get out until 10. Luckily, it's a first block class and will be over on October 29. Hopefully we'll have David's mother here still to help us with the little one until then and get us through October. 

A few days into the semester I was informed that the evergreen i.d. class that runs the second block, which I was signed up for, has a week-long field trip to Arizona. I'm going to have a weeks old baby when that rolls around. I can't go on a week long field trip. Why is this information not posted on the course requirements/ course description when registering for classes!? Argh! 

I dropped that class and replaced it with interioscaping for the second block. The class was full but I went and talked to the teacher and he added me anyway. :) [I'm grateful I've taken the time the last year to get to know my professors and make sure they know who I am. This is done by: 1- I'm a good student. 2- I typically make 1-2 or more visits during their office hours to ask questions so they know me outside of class. Those of you new to the college game- take the time to know your professors] Unfortunately, this class is from 11:30-1:30 (...I think...) And David also has class from 11:30-12:30. So we'll need to find someone to watch our lil' man cub for us during that hour. Ugh! Not what we wanted and we worked so hard to avoid this. We just keep telling ourselves that everything will work out! It will all work out. 

This month we also took a childbirth education class. I'm so glad we did. I feel like both David and I are on the same page now about what will happen during labor and we are better prepared to be a great labor and birth team. We got this!

September has quickly moved into October. Baby will be here in no time. Parenthood here we come!

Internship!

April 14- June 14 I was in Downey, Idaho (south of Pocatello) completing my internship. I worked at Brady's Plant Ranch Monday-Saturday from 9am-6pm. I stayed with my sweet Uncle Klain and Aunt Elaine in Arimo. We couldn't find a job for David down there so we decided that he would stay in Rexburg and keep house, keep his campus job, maintain the yard, work on his online classes. I would come home Saturday night and head back down early Monday morning. I want to say it was a long 9 weeks. But it went by really fast. It definitely wasn't the happiest 9 weeks of my life- working in hot greenhouses, pregnant, away from my husband and my home. But it was a good 9 weeks of learning and gaining the experience I needed and wanted in the field of horticulture. 

The horticulture department requires a 400-hour internship. I wanted to complete my internship next spring after I had more of the horticulture classes completed. In December, Brady's came to the school and gave a presentation. I really liked what they do/how they do things so I interviewed with them just to introduce myself and talk about future possibilities of working with them (like a year out).

In January I really felt like I needed to complete my internship this spring. I really didn't want to. But I kept feeling like I really should. I knew the Brady's already had a BYU-I student lined up to intern with them for the spring and so I was scratching my head wondering what I could do and where I could complete my internship that was relatively close to home. I felt like I needed to contact the Brady's again. But they already had an intern lined up. But if I was going to do this I really wanted to get my hours in at Brady's. I was frustrated and confused. And not feeling well, ever. (Pregnant and didn't know!)

One day while working in the drafting design lab, I overhead the girl that was going to intern at Brady's say that it just wasn't going to work out, blah, blah, blah. I found my in. I contacted Brady's that night asking if they would be willing to take me and all my inexperience on. Seeing that they suddenly had an open spot, they said sure! Heavenly choirs singing! 

I still didn't know why I was doing this so soon, but I got it all set up. A few weeks later of still never feeling good, I peed on a stick and was shocked to see two pink lines (mid February). Beginning of March we went in for the doctor appointment and sure enough I was pregnant. Click, click, click- that's why I'd been feeling nasty all the time, that's why I felt like I should set up my internship for this spring instead of next, that's why I gathered my courage and asked Brady's to hire someone with no greenhouse experience. Don't you just love it when things work out? 

After getting the doctor's confirmation that there was a little person growing in my tummy, I told my mom....and then I called Karen Brady and told her the situation and if they would still be willing to hire me. She said yes and I was so relieved. She told me that when I contacted them about doing my internship this year instead of later she figured that I was pregnant and needed to get my internship done now. It's a lot easier to do that when a little person is inside of you instead of running outside of you- her words, not mine. We had a nice conversation about when we are listening the Lord will lead us down the road we wouldn't have chose for ourselves but the road we need to be on, even when we don't understand why. Could I have found better employers? I think not. 

I'm working on my final report right now and should be ready to submit it to my adviser soon. I'm so glad that I have my internship done and I can just focus on school, especially with little boy on the way. I will graduate before I die dangit! And having the internship part completed makes this goal much more attainable. :)

Brady's Plant Ranch is the largest greenhouse grower in southeast Idaho. They have 11 greenhouses. The growing houses open up in March as they get production started. When retail opens in April and the stock in the growing houses empty into retail, the ground in the growing houses is tilled and planted. The retail house shuts down at the end of June and Brady Market Days begin every Friday. They sell all the produce from the garden and growing houses- tomatoes, onions, peppers, corn, raspberries.... In the fall/winter they shut the houses down and let mother nature do her job of eliminating pests and diseases. They bring hogs in to winter in the greenhouses. The hogs snout and root and tear up and eat the plants/stalks. And then they house chickens to fertilize the soil. How cool of a cycle is that? They also have a floral shop as well as raise grass-fed/finished beef. You should stop in if you're passing by this summer! You can see the greenhouses from the interstate, to the east just north of exit 36 on the I-15.

And now a few pictures of my time at Brady's Plant Ranch:

Stocked, watered, dead-headed, maintained retail:

1- Floral arrangement for Ashley's birthday! I was able to do a few other cut flower arrangements as well. I'm so glad I took the floral design class! 2-Kitten in a tomato tree. 3 & 4- Custom plantings (two of many)

Top- planted hanging basket recipes- about 3,000! Bottom left- lots of pruning, pinching, dead-heading. Bottom right- filling lots of trays, pots, buckets, and baskets with soil. I went through the soil bin, which holds about a 1/2 ton of soil, about 4 times in my first two weeks alone. I can shovel some dirt seriously fast now.

Seeded and transplanted lots of things. Here is one set that I kind of kept track of. I seeded these tomatoes. Top- seeded trays in the germination chamber. Bottom left- I didn't kill them! Bottom right- transplanted into 1202 packs. 

When I'm done with my report maybe I'll put it up here with better pictures, more details of how I spent my time. But then again, maybe not. We'll see. This at least gives you a taste. :)

April 2014

Tore the whole dash out of the jeep....again. Ugh. But David got things fixed.

Conference Sunday made donuts. So delicious!

Soaked up some sun while studying.  (The yard is much more green now)

Joe and Felicia and kids came up at the end of the semester to visit and then took David home with them to play while I started my internship. He didn't have to work that week so the timing was perfect. 

We've had these red leather boots in the closet for years. James' PJ outfit was begging for them to be pulled out. Can that red-head get any cuter???

I finished my first week of my internship and headed down to Salt Lake to meet up with David and family for Easter weekend. 

Dying eggs.

And sweet Chelsie started the process of bringing my hair back to blonde.

While there we finally announced the news about our growing lil' gummy bear. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up with everyone in one spot and getting to see the big reaction. Plus we concocted a fun way to spill the beans that worked well with the easter season.There's a video somewhere, but all you can hear is Nessie screaming. haha. 

We gave Amelia a puzzle (of a cute yellow chick) with a note on the back that said there's another egg to find with a big surprise inside. We got everyone outside and David hid the egg (which looked like a cute yellow chick). When everyone came back in it was a mad house. I've never seen an apartment torn apart so fast. Sorry, Felicia. Finally the egg was found! Nessie opened it and ignored the black and white picture (she said she thought it was a map or something to another egg) and began reading the back which said: "We're EGGspecting this chick to hatch in October!" She stumbled over the EGGspecting part and then it clicked before she could finish reading and she was screaming and jumping and down. It was pretty great. 

We also sent the same message in an egg with some candy via snail mail to our grandparents and all my siblings to be opened Easter weekend. It was fun getting all their sweet messages of surprise and excitement as the weekend rolled out. And it was nice to be around family without David reminding me to, "Suck it in!"

Cute boys sending me some love during my first week of my internship.

 

I should also mention that David made it through his second chemistry class! These classes are repeated more often than not, but mister D got through them both in one try. Oh happy day! 

March 2014

Final project for my floral design class:

Celebrated my birthday with friends at Snake Bite. So yummy! We told them at dinner that there was a bun in the oven. At this point we had only told my mother and my future employers for my internship. So it was an exciting night. We see Brandon and Janet a lot and David, okay me too, was struggling to keep our little secret a secret for much longer. (photo taken outside restaurant. Downtown IF has random very large...art? pieces. Like skateboards, bikes, and other items that I can't remember right now...)

Came home from dinner to this beautifully arranged fruit pizza from David and Reed's Dairy ice cream from the Peacock's. Yum!

Went on a field trip with my horticulture propagation class to USU and drove by Pedro's house in Preston, ID on the way back. We got to meet with professors at USU and talk about their research, etc. We also stopped at the ISU extension site in Aberdeen to see the research work being done there. Lots of cool stuff and the only picture I took was of Pedro's house. ha! I was worried about this field trip all semester because I had been nauseous and tired and nauseous the last three months. But by the end of March, right in time for this trip, I was finally feeling ok again. It was a much appreciated blessing to not have to worry about being sick and still trying to be perky and act not pregnant alllll day with my peers and professor. I also got to see Ashley and Azalia when we stopped for lunch. It was great!

Finished my shirt for my clothing construction class.

 When I measured myself for this shirt, it was going to fit perfectly. By the time I finished it I was three months pregnant and it was a little snug. Needless to say, I've only worn it once.

Finally got serious about putting some pictures and decor up.

Found these on my thumb drive and figured I'd put them on here just for me. But you might think they're cool too. This was one of two final design projects for my landscape design class last semester. (My design won! eee!) We were given a plan view of the house and property with dimensions, a sleuth of problems with the property (the most cumbersome being the large rise in elevation), and a list of what the client wanted- which was a lot for a tiny amount of space, no backyard. We had to draw and color everything on paper as well as create a 3-D model on the computer. I have video of the model where you can "walk through" the yard essentially, but the format isn't compatible to anything except the design program- so it won't play on my computer, or anyone's computer for that matter that doesn't have VizTerra. But these pictures are fun to look at.

October!

Woooeee mama! We are busy! David is still surviving his many tough classes. Giulia is still having fun in her classes. Oh and we also clock in to work every weekday. Weekends we've stayed busy with projects. And somehow we've managed to go to the fitness center together almost every night. We have a few more mid-terms to finish this week = we are halfway through our first semester at BYU - Idaho!!! In short, October has been on hyperspeed. We would be alright if it went a little faster the next few days- we are heading out for our hunt on Thursday afternoon! No Halloween parties for us. We'll be having our own party finding and setting up camp on Halloween. Then Friday and Saturday- it is on! 

Now for pictures. From our fancy camera flip phones:

HORT 311 chainsaw use and maintenance. Yes, I started and used one. Yes, I took one apart and cleaned it. Yes, I sharpened the chain. And yes, I put it back together. Yeehaw!

 HORT 230: working on a circular design. Don't look too close at it, it's a work in progress. But I do like the patio that cascades down to the firepit with a sitting wall.

Got the command center up. Chalk board on top. Plexiglass/markerboard in the middle. Tin sheet/magnet board on bottom. We still need to put the framing trim up. 

Finally found some curtains for the kitchen! I wanted something with a strong red accent. But everything with red was either all red, or really weird patterns and colors, or expensive. So I found this tablecloth with a floral print that I liked, cut it in half, hemmed the cut, and ran a seam across the top to pull the curtain rod through. Also pictured- new light fixture in the kitchen. Much better than the golden nipple that was there before. :)

 The apple orchard on campus! Love this place.

 

Smoothie gone wrong. When I tried to twist the pitcher off the power base, the pitcher twisted out of the part that keeps the pitcher connected to the base. Follow me? So, everything quickly dropped out of the bottom.

And you can't let a good smoothie go to waste!

Finally got something up to cover the open staircase window/opening.

HORT 311: stump grinder

HORT 311: Timber!!! We watched our instructor cut down a dead tree in the gardens.

And then we practiced making felling notches with a chainsaw. These are my notches.

 Spray painted our wood side tables white.

We had the cutest little visitor the first weekend of October!!! It was so lovely to see you Ashely and Zaley! Thank you. :) The morning that this picture was taken, there were several tractors/diggers/etc in the yard ripping and tilling everything. It was fun to put Azalia up to the window to watch the tractors and then the workers outside would see her cute self in the window and would smile and wave big at her. cute!

The very end of September we bought fancy flip phones. And we don't really miss our smart phones except for the awesome gps/navigation. Now we actually have to look up and know where we're going before we get on the road.
 

For Giulia's Arboriculture/HORT 311 class, we had to do a group project. Essentially, we could do whatever we wanted. We made a tutorial on how to properly prune a tree.
Here is the crab-apple tree in our yard that we used as our subject.
Before pruning:
 
  After pruning! It looks like a tree!!! Can you tell which way the wind blows most often?
Our original plan was to take the whole thing out, but when the guys in my group saw the tree they said, "No! Keep it! It has potential, it just needs a trim." So, the tree survived the chopping block.

And we also planted an apple tree in the front boulevard. When I have the video all edited and narrated maybe I'll put it up here. But it's not due until December...so.....

We got a package all the way from Delaware!

Inside were 4 Apple-cider doughnuts!?!?!! 

 yum!

Sighted in the rifle. 

Giulia's arm was a little sore afterwards. 

Now, back to studying for tests and quizes and completing design projects and getting ready to leave for our hunt! Hopefully when we check in next, we'll have a picture with a deer or two.