Sisters

Siena and Lily "A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life." Author: Isadora James

Cute Cookies

A friend told me about this cute way to make thumbprint cookies for Valentine's Day. You just roll two balls of dough, then squish them with your thumb diagonally to make them into a heart shape. They turned out so cute. OK well they would have been so cute if I presented them properly. I was just trying to snap a picture before they were all eaten. I think I will make them this way everytime. It is so much better than just a thumbprint. The kids and I had fun trying this out.

Back in the Saddle Again

For Valentines' Day we surprised Siena with horseback riding lessons. She's been wanting to start taking lessons again since her teacher moved almost two years ago, but it has been too expensive to justify. Luckily, we found another teacher that is affordable at an arena/stable a few miles from our house. Siena is very excited to be back in the saddle again.

LEMONS GALORE

Our tree ran out of lemons and I started having dreams about our neighbor's lemons just sitting there untouched on their trees. So we went over, met our neighbors, and asked if we could strip their trees. In exchange for the lemons I made them a lemon icebox pie. We took about 8 grocery bags of lemons off their trees. One of the trees was a grapefruit tree with a lemon branch grafted on so the lemons are the size of grapefruit. You can get about a cup and a half of juice out of one lemon. We are going to juice them, freeze the juice, and have lemonade all summer long. I just have to empty out my freezer of everything else.

Squarefoot Gardening

So for the last five years or more I have been planning to start a garden. Every year I talk to my dad to get suggestions on how to start one, but in the end I wait too long and then it is too hot to do anything. Siena also decided she would like to start a garden to work on her 10-hour YW project for "Faith" so with that added emphasis, this year I started early. Towards the end of January I called my mom from Home Depot to ask yet again for suggestions from her and Dad. Mom happened to have an extra Squarefoot Gardening book and went to the PO to send it to me that day. (How nice is that!) So the last couple of weeks I have been at hardware stores about every other day figuring out how to make a garden.
I've decided that starting a garden in the suburbs of the desert isn't the best idea because you have to buy everything. I didn't just want to dig a hole in the ground because I actually want my vegetables to grow. So I'm making a raised garden. First, Siena and I cleared all our rocks away.

Then since I couldn't find any free wood as the book suggested, I bought Douglas fir instead of Redwood or Cedar because of the cost and yet I still had to spend about $28 on wood. Next, I had to buy dirt, of all things. What is up with buying dirt? Oh yea, I live in the desert! So I spent over $100 buying compost, peat moss, and vermiculite. Most of the people that worked in the garden centers didn't even know what vermiculite was. So I guess it wasn't just dirt, but special earth ingredients to make my vegetables grow. I've figured out that gardening doesn't save any money, it just helps you know where your food comes from.

In the meantime, I built the boxes, then the kids and I painted them to make them especially pretty. That was a lot of fun, actually.

Now I've just got to get Paul to help me figure out how to install the irrigation drip. We had the line run years ago when we put in our yard. See, we actually have been planning on doing this for years and years. I'm going to try to get him to help me today. I'll keep you posted on how it continues.

First Talks

Siena gave her first sacrament meeting talk a few weeks ago. She did such a great job. We were very proud of her. Spencer gave his first primary talk today. Here is a video of it. I don't know why he was playing with my hair. He did it much better in Primary.

Here's more of less what he said, "My name is Spencer Krey. This a picture of my family. Here's me, Lily, Siena, my dad and my mom. I also have a brother named Andrew. He died when he was a baby. He lives with Heavenly Father and Jesus in Heaven. One day we will all be together again because we are an eternal family. God loves us and wants us to be happy. That is why he gave us families. I am thankful for my family. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I asked Siena for a copy of her talk so that I could type it up. She said she thinks she ate it after it was over. She must have been pretty nervous. Her talk was on pondering the scriptures. I sent her to go look for it and she found it. She had only eaten the edges. Here it is:

"Good morning Brothers and Sisters. I'm Siena Krey and I have been asked to speak about pondering the scriptures. I'm actually glad I was asked to talk about it because it is something I, myself, would like to work on. My parents most of all have helped me to be able to ponder the scriptures by telling me what words meant or what verses were about so that I could picture it better. During family home evening, try to think about the lesson and the scriptures you read instead of thinking about who you have to call or what you're going to wear because later on in your life it will help you to be a better person. In 2 Nephi 4:15 it says, "And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven on the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth them and writeth them for the learning and profit of my children." I love the scriptures and I feel that we are so lucky to have the chance to read them and ponder them. If we do not listen to what the prophets and Heavenly Father are trying to tell us; if we don't ponder the scriptures, how do we know what to do? It's like an open book test, all you have to do is follow through with what the scriptures are asking of us and we can already do so much better. I know that if you think about the words of the scriptures you'll find something there and you can gain your testimony. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Andrew's birthday

Eleven years ago, our son Andrew was born. Each year we write birthday/love notes to him on helium balloons and then release them to soar into the heavens to wish him a Happy Birthday. We also make him a chocolate cake and sing to him. It has been very cathartic for our family and a good way for his younger siblings to know who he is. It is a happy way to celebrate his short life.