We had a great few days with our Pratt cousins near Heber City at the Heber Valley Camp.  It is a beautiful campsite owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Many Young Women groups come here each summer and they also open it up to families.  This place is HUGE!  In fact, there are 106 full time senior missionaries who run the facilities.  (Not many missions allow you to wear jeans ALL the time and play in the woods.  Too cool!)  Anyhow, here is a slide show of some of the fun we had together.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Using Smilebox is an easier way for me to post my videos. I hope it works for most of you.

(This one has several videos and it may take a while to download and actually play.  But, it is worth the wait, especially if your name is “Grandpa” or “Grandma”.  And, on my computer I had to toggle the buttons a bit to get it to work just right.  Sorry!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Today’s post is dedicated to

The Pratt Farm.

We have been busy, busy, this summer and wanted to catch y’all up.  First, let’s step into

The Garden.

Here is what our garden looked like a month ago.  (I’ve been meaning to do this post for quite some time!)

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This is our first watermelon.  It is about the size of a racket ball.  So cute!

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Here is most of our garden.  Rows and rows of yummy vegetables just bursting from the ground!  Squash, cantaloupe, tomatoes, corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, potatoes, and strawberries….

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Here’s Calvin working on some weeding.  (I think.)

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And, my hunk of a husband at the chicken coop.  I just love this picture for some reason.  Farmer John….

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And, here is what our garden looks like a month later.  The corn is higher and look at that squash plant!  It’s huge!

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Now look at our watermelons!  (I put my sexy leg in the picture so that you could see how big they are.  Ha!)

Now, lest you think that this Garden of Eden is just growing here by itself, let me tell you something different.  I, yes me Lisa, am out in this garden every morning as the sun comes up for about 45 minutes.  It has been a great learning experience for me and I am growing in body and spirit because of it.  It is peaceful and I enjoy working hard.  The morning glory weeds are prolific and it is only with daily maintenance that I can keep them away from my precious plants.  However, my garden is a bit too big for just one person to maintain, so I have left about half of it go to “pot”.  And, I am ok with that.  A girl can only do so much and I am not nearly as stressed about it as I used to be.  Working “the land” is great and I highly recommend it to anyone.  (Now, I’ll get down off my soap box!)

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And, corn that as high as an elephant’s a cow’s eye…

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Our tomatoes aren’t doing too great.  I think I planted them too close together, plus I haven’t found time to get them off the ground.  Maybe next year I’ll do better.  We are getting a few tomatoes here and there, though, even with my neglect. (They are on the “pot” side…)

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But, check out this squash!  It is called a banana squash, I think.  It is huge!!!  Does anyone like squash around here?  I have like five of these!

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Now, into the house for some more pictures.  First, here in our little town the flies are thick.  I took this picture of a fly I swatted that slid down the cupboard door and hung there by its guts.  GROSS!  Every day John and I are on fly patrol and we are getting to be sharp shooters, if I do say so myself….  Even Calvin is getting good.

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And, we need to update you on the chicks.

Introducing…….

Circus Chick!

(The boys were having a bit too much fun.)

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It has been a bit cold at night due to some storms, so we haven’t been able to put our new chicks outside.  They outgrew the plastic bin we had them in and so our neighbor let us borrow their large dog kennel.  We moved it downstairs into our cellar. Not only will it fit down there, we don’t have to smell them as much.

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Aren’t they getting big!  Some of them are turning into quite pretty birds.  They are in that little awkward stage were they still have some fuzz and some feathers.  Very strange, indeed.  We solved a very messy water problem by putting a “rabbit bottle” in their cage.  The chicks peck at the ball and they get a drink of clean water.  No more poopy water that I have to change ten times a day.  It is a blessed thing.  I need to get some more for my bigger chickens outside.  It works GREAT!

Look at all the variety!  What fun!

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And, here is one last picture of “Peeps”.  I’m not sure if I have introduced her before.  One morning when I was working out in my garden a lady stopped by in her big black truck and asked me if we wanted a chicken.  I only had two at the time and gladly accepted.  Just a random stranger (named Michelle) who works nearby.  We are on a prominent corner and our boys are always outside, so we draw a bit of attention.  Free chicken?  YES!!

Peeps is a Barred Rock chicken and she has a really pretty chirp.  She is getting quite large now and lives outside with our other “teenager” or pullet chickens.  I’ll get more pics soon.  Chickens are so fun.

Well, I guess that is all for now.  Have a great week!

–Farmer Lisa

Well, it is not often that I make such an error in the kitchen.  I thought I would let you know that I, indeed, am human….  Ha!

So, I’m making waffles this morning and I go to make this recipe for “buttermilk syrup” that I have that we just love.  However, I’m out of buttermilk.  (Shocking for me!)  Well, I got this yummy recipe from my friend, Liz, and on the same page there is a recipe for “Apple Cider Syrup”.  I decided to try it.  I halved the recipe because it called for quite a bit of apple cider vinegar and I wasn’t sure it would taste that great.

Well, it was edible, but very tart.  John and I ate it and we thought, well, different strokes for different people.  The boys hated it.  As I was eating it I got to thinking about the recipe in my head.  I thought, what if I made a mistake…?  Sure enough, in my mind I had read “apple cider vinegar”, but the recipe actually said, just “apple cider”.  I started laughing and I am still chuckling over my gross error.  I bet it would taste a LOT better with sweet yummy apple cider!!

Too funny!  Have a great week!

This week was the County Fair! The boys are in 4-H and they entered a bunch of stuff. Grandma Pratt is really good about working on projects with them throughout the year and now we have “pay day”! And, they really do get paid!

Here are some of Ca’ls items that I tagged.

And here are some of Ivan’s.

(The picture didn’t turn out that great, but it is a race car that Ivan made out of “Edible Floam”.)

I don’t have a picture of them, but Calvin won a purple ribbon for his Ginger Cookies.  Here is what the options are:

3rd place–white ribbon–$1.00

2nd place–red ribbon–$1.50

1st place–blue ribbon–$2.00

Best of Show–purple ribbon–$3.00 (and goes to state)

The competition was fierce, but the cookies were fabulous.  It’s my Aunt Jamar’s recipe.  (She is currently on a mission in Germany.)  Calvin was very excited to get a purple ribbon!

Calvin also competed in the talent competition.  He sang “You’re a Grand Ol’ Flag” and “God Bless America”.  Yes, a solo.  In front of 60+ people.  He did a fantastic job and he sang out loud and clear.  It was beautiful.  He has a great singing voice.  He won a trophy.

It was a great fair week.  The best part for the boys was earning money for their projects.  They also bought some African Dwarf Frogs which live in water like a goldfish.  So, we now have some new pets in the family.  I’m sure there will pictures soon, knowing my budding photographers.

We had an early morning flag raising at the Laney’s home.  I took a picture of the flag and there happened to be a bird flying by.  I thought that was patriotic.  I doubt it was a bald eagle, but Calvin has spotted a golden eagle in the area.

Calvin was the one to raise the flag to the top of the pole.  That’s my boy!

Not the most flattering picture of John and I, but we are both scouters now!  John works with the 11 year old scouts and I am with the wolves (8yrs) now.  Very fun!

We start young around here at the Pratt Home School!

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Cherry Picking with Papa and the boys

Who took my cherries away?!!???!!  (notice the snotty nose)

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All in White.  So sweet.

Papa’s girl.  Hugs for Papa.

So much for the clean glass at the church!

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Patriotic Avy.  All Smiles.

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Into Mischief!

(She got into the baby powder.)

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Rainbow Trout

We went swimming with my cousins, and Cousin Dan said Avy looked like a “rainbow trout” in her shiny, sparkly swimming suit.

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Mama’s Little Helper

Avy LOVES to help with the dishes.

I just got done with “Great Expectations” by Dickens and I really enjoyed it. I am trying to read more classic novels to build my brain.  I sure hope it works.  Ha!

I have just started “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. So far it is a little hard to wrap my brain around, but I’m enjoying it. Would anyone like to read it with me?

Lisa

Cousin Eric wanted to see more pictures of our little chicks.  So, I made another ’smilebox’. (I’m sorry if the text is too small to read. I don’t want to pay any money to make it full screen.)  Oh, and I put a couple more videos in the second smilebox.  Enjoy, Eric and others who have a minute…

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox photobook