Harvest Time

So earlier this year I wrote about our garden expansion. When I wrote and posted pictures then little did I know the bountiful harvest that we would start pulling from this little bit of land.

We had a garden full of squashes, berries, carrots, beets, parsnips, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pumpkins, cucumbers, and more items I just can't remember right now. We have been blessed with a great harvest, our one pumpkin vine alone produced about eight pumpkins.  It has been a fabulous garden and we've enjoyed much of the produce. 

This is a picture of part of the garden after we had pulled about half of what was growing.in those boxes, yup we are well blessed.

One item that we tried this year was cabbage. We are not big cabbage eaters and the only reason we tried it was Eve was given one at school as part of a project, so we planted it to see. We don't have the best track record with cabbages. Laine was given a cabbage a couple of years ago for a school project and we killed it in a week. I wasn't expecting much of Eve's but it surprised me.

 Having never grown cabbage successfully we weren't quite sure when to pull it so finally in August we decided to take that baby out...we might have waited too long.

Half of the cabbage looked great, the other half was molding. Eve was still proud of what she had grown and we decided that if nothing else, those leaves make some awesome hats.

With all the harvest it has meant that my weekdays are spent canning all the produce we can't eat. So far I have canned pickles, watermelon jelly, jalapeno jelly, raspberry zucchini jelly, peach zucchini jelly, tomato sauce, and tomato soup.   Still on the menu beets, more sauce oh and a few more batches of frozen parsnips and carrots.  I feel like a pioneer woman here. 

So the garden this year was a success, we love the produce and the added space. Already we have plans for next year, items to plant, new spots for growing, and more canning ahead. 

Raising them right

Last spring Christian and I went to our first Comic Con event here in Salt Lake and then decided that we should take the kids this fall. Knowing how many people that were going to be there over the three days I went back and forth on this decision but September came and we were headed to the Salt Palace for the second Salt Lake Comic Con. 

First thing, I know many people complained about the lines to get tickets that first day. We were not one of them. It took us twenty minutes to find parking but we were able to walk right in, thanks preregistration.  I really liked being there on Thursday, inside lines were short and we were able to see everything we wanted to with minimal wait!

Our first stop was the free picture we got inside the Tardis. The kids thought that was a hoot. 

Matty spent most of the convention on on of our shoulders. So much better than bringing his stroller, we moved quicker and easier. It was also really cute.

 The kids were most excited to meet some of their favorite authors, They got to meet and talk to Brandon Mull (Fablehaven books), Jessica Day George (Tuesdays at the Tower), Shannon Hale (Princess Academy), Richard Paul Evans (Michael Vey) and Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz Verses the Evil Librarians and countless others). They had fun learning about what it takes to write a book and some spoilers for upcoming books.

 We spent time over at the Kid Con area where Matty was very upset to find out that he could not open this Tardis, it really was almost the end of the world for him.

 The kids also did some super hero training, Matty took this very seriously and when aske what we wanted to be when he grows up he said, "the Doctor" notice not a doctor but The Doctor.

I laughed Saturday after we took this picture, we walked right up with no line. Saturday at 10 am the line was at least ten groups deep. Yay for Thursday at the con! 

We did finally find the big Tardis with the doors that opened so Matty was happy! 

There were also some weeping angels near by, we weren't too afraid though because we had - ice cream!

 My kids didn't want a lot of pictures with the cosplay people but Eve race across the floor to get pictures with this Anna and Elsa. She was super excited, I wonder if we can skip them at Disneyland next year...

The next day we were totally awesome parents and pulled our kids out a whole half an hour early from school and headed down to the con. We got to meet and speak with John Barrowman (Doctor Who) and even got to skip most the line because we had a small child (thanks Matt!) and then we went and talked with Paul McGann (Doctor Who). 

We also got to meet Eve Myles who is incredibly sweet and kind. She talked to us for a bit and even commented about Matty's tooth gap. She was just pleasant and completely awesome. 

Only two of my kids wanted a picture with the big snakes. They were super brave and I was surprised that they could even stand hold two giant snakes. 

Eve may not have stood for a picture with snakes but she was happy to stand with Gollum, 

Our last day there we spent most the time in panels as the floor was just crazy but our kids had a great time. Matty had such a good time that he doesn't want me to cut off his admission bracelet.  

Thanks Salt Lake Comic Con, we will be back!