Gardening, The Beach, & Attic Progress

Summer always seems to take forever to get here and then it races along and is gone before we know it. I thought I'd share some highlights from our summer so far.

Our Garden

Last year I planted our garden so late! I had spent most of the spring creating our new secret garden so by the time that was done and I could devote my time to the regular garden, it wasn't planted until the end of June. Even for Utah (which is known for late frosts) that is super late. This year since I had kids home from school and had extra help, we got it planted the third week of May. Normally the ideal time to plant is the second week of May for our area so not too bad!

Tilling in between rows and then hand weeding right around each plant has been the fastest way to get a clean looking garden. Once all the vegetable seeds have germinated and gotten established, I add Preen to keep weed seeds from growing.

 

I planted artichokes, beans, peppers, garlic, carrots, onions, peas, lettuce, three kinds of squash, cucumbers, white pumpkins, and tomatoes.

 

 

The plastic edging is new. I added it last year to help keep the edge from grass creeping in and making it look wonky. I was tired of edging it every year. I went with 8 inch deep edging but they have up to 12". I bought it from Gardener Supply.

The Attic So Far

The view from sitting on the love seat

This has by far been the slowest project ever. Between this year just being plain weird with lots of ups and downs, my ankle injury, and the HEAT, this project has been dragging along. We started by cleaning out the garage and removing the loose boards that were acting as the floor back in March. We hosed it out really well and got rid of the MANY hornets nests. We added stairs, a window, a floor, and water proofed the Swiss cheese roof. I added panels in between the roof trusses to hide all the black tar stuff and caulked along each one. I caulked any cracks in the tongue and groove boards on each end. So. Much. Caulking. I patched all the nail holes from hanging the panels and got it primed.  Whew! And that is where I am at as of today. I am hoping to get out there to paint today.

 

The view from the top of the stairs

The space is 17x21 feet but if you take away the area too low to sit or stand (and the stairway opening) it is about 10x18. A pretty decent size for a play area! The height tops out at 5 foot 8 inches. I can stand and my youngest two boys can but my husband and two oldest boys have to hunch over until they sit.

After I paint (a different color than originally planned!) we will be adding some cheap vinyl sheet flooring. I am using all furniture we already have since it is just a play room and because I may or may not have gone way over my original $500 budget :/

I am hoping to have the reveal up on the blog in a couple of weeks. The air conditioner came today so my working hours are not limited to early morning and evenings anymore. YAY!

The Beach

A year ago my siblings and I decided we were going to plan a trip. We had never gone on a vacation together! My mom had been to the Oregon coast before, but none of my siblings or their families had. I have a deep love for the Oregon coast and was so excited to share that with them. We booked an AirBnB house on a lake that was a short drive from the ocean. We started saving our pennies and anticipating the trip. Then all things started to fall apart with Covid and as the scheduled trip got closer we all started to get really worried. The rental company told us if we didn't come, we wouldn't get a refund. It was a lot of money but we also wanted to make sure and only go if things were okay for us to do so.

Last year when we booked everything we had picked the first week of June. I started watching all of the press conferences the Governor of Oregon had and watching the Health Department's website for the latest info. I even watched a county wide meeting with all the representatives from each coastal town. All 2 hours and 51 minutes of it. The overall consensus was that they not only wanted to open up the short term rentals and shops, but NEEDED to. The majority of their income comes from the tourism industry. So as of June 1st, short term rentals were open, shops were open, everything was open. Coincidentally, June 1st was the first day of our rental.

After having a family council, we decided to go ahead and go. We were going to be spending the majority of our time at the lake house with just a couple excursions to the beach. We packed coolers of food and cooked at the house.

Our house was located in Otis, Oregon. It was booked through Vrbo and the property management is Meredith Lodging - Property # 7523448ha

 

It was glorious. The lake house had kayaks and a large dock so my boys were either out paddling or on the dock fishing. We had a family talent show (variety show might be a better word) that was hilarious. The kids stayed up way too late playing in the game room and giggling.

 

 

We pretty much had the beach to ourselves. It was so relaxing and the air smelled amazing.

 

 

I am kind of sad we took this long to take a trip together. We are planning on doing it every couple of years.

 

Me with my mom, sisters, and brother

 

Family Update

Our school district has decided to go ahead and offer at school learning as well as give people the option to do at home learning. I am so excited to send my kids to school. They are so excited to go back to school. If for no other reason than their mental health, they need this. I never thought I would be buying masks as part of my back to school shopping, but here we are :)

My oldest son has decided to defer his college experience for a couple of years and serve a full time, 2 year mission for our church. He submitted his papers last week and now we wait to find out where he will be serving. It could be here in the states or anywhere in the world. He will leave sometime after November. Right now he is continuing to work and save to help pay for his mission. 100% of the cost is up to the family so we are hoping he can save at least half before he leaves. I am proud that he is choosing to serve and I know it will give him great life experiences and help him grow in the gospel.

Shane is still working from home and so we created a little work space in the office for him. We placed him so his computer screen faces the shelves. I was worried I would walk by without pants when he was on a conference call or something :0

 

I know this has been a year we will never forget will all the ups and lots of downs, but I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. I hope you have taken this time to do things you love, self reflect, get outside, and connect with others (even if only via Zoom).  I'll be back here very soon with several fun things to share!