Camden's "Ma-Mower"

Planting the Garden

Wahoo! Spring! (At least we hope it's permanent this time! No more snow this month, please.) Time for what has become one of my most favorite annual Feist-family traditions -- planting the garden together.

We worked really hard on the drip irrigation system and placed special black fabric that prevents weeds from growing between the rows (great stuff!). The walls of water around the tomatoes and peppers act like little greenhouses until the plants are bigger. Although Trent had, I had never seen those before, but they're really cool. Altogether, it's a pretty sweet setup.

This year Camden was a lot more "helpful."

He traipsed around, walking on the seeds, scooping up stuff with his bucket and shovel, eating dirt, and singing to himself all the while. He is quite a character.

As you can see, I set up a little play area for him, but he really wanted to be with us instead.

Last year at planting time Cam was just learning to sit up, so it was a little bit of a different arrangement!

Check out my little strawberry patch! It will be fun to watch them develop over the years. I was really psyched to find out strawberries are perennials! I've already had a handful of berries this year, and they were soooo sweet. Mmm... Here's to lots of fresh strawberry shortcake in years to come!

Camden exploring the wood pile. He was pretty excited about the wagon, too.

Trent watering some of our raspberry bushes. Isn't the lilac pretty? I love springtime.

This year we'll have potatoes, cucumbers, corn, peas, green beans, carrots, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, squash, pumpkins and lots of berries. Yummm... And thank heaven for our vacuum sealer and chest freezer!

The Life and Times

So many amazing things have happened in the past couple of weeks! Slowly but surely, I'll try and post it all. Happy times...

White-water Canoeing!

During our last day in VA, Trent and Joseph decided to go on a canoe trip down the James River, not far from my parents' place. The river was extremely high due to lots of rain, and they had a great trip.

The rest of us opted for a nice, calm walk in the park. Look at the cute Granmy and the babe, ready to go!

Trent asked me to wait on the bank down the river a bit to take a picture of them going over one of the big rapids. I wasn't so excited about that, but I did it because I love him. :)

Here they come.

Whooooooaaaah!

Whew! They made it.

Maymont

After the wedding, we had a couple low-key days with the fam in VA. (So nice!) One of the days, Poppa took us to goof around at some beautiful gardens at a place called Maymont. We had a blast.

The boys setting off on their adventure.

Checking out the koi at the Japanese garden.

Cam loves hanging out with "Uncle Party," who, to our utter delight, will be coming to stay with us for 8 weeks this summer during an internship.

Feeding a goat at the "children's farm."

Running around holding something he'd found on the ground ... as usual. He is such a typical little boy sometimes!

Handsome dudes.

J&K's Reception

Jared and Katie "receiving." Heh. They were such good sports. I dunno if Trent and I would've come back for a reception the next day!

Mima and Sammy.

The bride swiping a cream puff! Hah! I love it!

The groom cutting into the groom's cake.

Katie's momma slicing the bride's cake. I thought it was so pretty and classic-looking (just like the bride).


Poppa and Cam getting some air.




Taking a moment.

Cam & Cam enjoying a post-reception wheelbarrow ride compliments of Katie's daddy-o!

What a cute cleanup crew!

J-rock & kt's Wedding!

Wahoo! They're hitched! And what a beautiful couple, eh?

Here are some fun (mostly candid) moments from the big day:

Granmy soaking up some love from my adorable nephew, Samuel.

Poor, hungry Jared.

The girls.

The momma and the baby.

Katie's (and now Jared's) nephew, also Cam! (Cameron, though.) The babies were definitely a hit. They're all so blasted cute!

I love this shot of Nora and Samuel.

All my sibs -- a good-looking crew, if I may say so.

Those crazy Harrisons. Yes ... Katie will blend in nicely.

Hmmm...

So sweet.

Valle Sealing Day

After many, many years of prayers and hard work, my mom's parents were finally sealed in the Washington, D.C., temple.

Congregating in front of the temple to wait for the happy couple.

Tomorrow is their big day!

Awww...

Que guapo!

Camden hanging out with a portion of his fan club.

Together forever.

An eternal family.

Eternal optimist

This morning, as Trent was on his way out the door, we were commenting on the enormous flakes of snow falling on our freshly-aerated yard (What season is it again?), and Trent said, "Well, at least the lawn's getting watered." I love that man.

Made with love

My resident handyman built me custom, hand-made night-stands for my birthday. So beautiful! And tons more storage space, which I'm super excited about.

Out with the old.


In with the new...


















...to match my bed (my wedding present) and my armoire (an anniversary present), which he also built. Needless to say, it's kind of hard to out-do this guy for holidays.


(Look at that detail!)

It's so fun to have a full matching bedroom set that was made with so much love. Thank you, hunny! :) :) :)