Surprise Visit

Tom, aka Poppop came for an unexpected visit for a few hours Sunday night. He had a flight to the west coast with a layover in SLC, and missed his connection due to a weather delay. So we saw him from 10:15 Sunday night until 6:15 Monday morning. Ty must have known he was coming and took an early evening nap and was still awake when Tom arrived. I think we all had a nice, but too short visit!

The three TBJ's


Ty was feeling the time of day


Oh but wait, you're my Poppop!!


Bucky's new glasses, the lasting present of grad school.


Cute picture that I put in out of order. :)



Ty loves the accessories


Finally realizing there is something new on his Dad's face, and now the glasses constantly have baby fingerprints on them.


Ty was tearing up the pantry this morning (see the plastic bags), but then got distracted by washer!





This past weekend a friend and I went down to the Salt Lake farmer's market. I have heard lots of stories on how great it is, and can't believe I didn't visit it last year. It is HUGE. By far the biggest market I have ever been to and all the veggie vendors weren't even out yet. We had a great time, and spent time shopping and letting the kids play in the shady park. It was hot, but the shade was very comfortable. I bought some fresh beets and peas for Ty as he hasn't tried those foods yet. We toured around the city a bit, had a great lunch and got back in time for a steamy afternoon in Ogden.

Ty and Gretchen (sorry about the picture quality)


Nap time


I have been on a hunt for fun wooden toys, and was just about to put an order in for a few sites that sell them over the weekend. Happily I found a vendor who makes them locally at the market! I was sooooo excited and bought Ty a sailboat, race car, tractor, and brontosaurus. His selection was impressive and I plan to buy new ones every time we go down there. We've been trying to get as much plastic out of the house as possible, and baby toys are the first step. Woohoo!


He sold rocking horses, snowmobiles, motorcycles, and anything else as a special order.


Just one of three tables stacked with toys.


The toys were well loved, and stayed tucked away during Ty's nap.


At home with his loot.


Hmmm, the book seems to be more interesting for now.


For my final "fun thing to mention", this is what I woke up to this morning. A HUGE box of produce! We are part of a home delivery service, where a dairy farm delivers a zillion different options to your front step once a week. All high quality and most of it is locally grown. Our milk man delivers in the wee hours of the morning, so every Tuesday morning I get to go out and see what is in my cooler. For the most part I know what I've ordered except for my organic produce box. You get surprised with whatever they have chosen to give you for that week. Some weeks the produce seems lacking in quantity, but this week there was tons! I thought it deserved a picture. :) Four peppers, three cucumbers, lettuce, 4 nectarines, 8 apricots and grapes! We've transitioned our home cooking to all organic/hormone free and this has really been a help. Plus it keeps recipes creative to use all the different produce coming in every week. In just a few weeks our CSA (community sponsored agric.) is starting its weekly shares. Same concept, but better. You get a bag full of produce from a local organic farm from whatever is in season. Only a week and a half before that starts! We paid for it months ago, and then you get to sit around and wait until July 4th.




My tomatoes (that are huge!), onions and basil. We're experimenting with gardening this year. An experiment because neither of us has ever successfully grown vegetables and also because we have limited room and sunlight (we have lots of beautiful mature trees). We've both planted things in tight quarters and tried to plant in areas with limited full sun to see what will grow well. The plan is to grow most of our produce needs next summer if we can figure what will grown well where. Wish us luck!


Peppers and lettuce are on the left.


Squash and watermelon.


Corn and herbs (although the herbs haven't come up in the planters yet. I'm getting a bit worried).


My compost (that is filling up quickly from produce boxes!)