Between sessions of Genereral Conference, Joe and I took a drive and picnic up Logan canyon. I think everyone should visit Logan right around conference time–the leaves are absolutely beautiful.

It seems fall is always easy to miss. One week, I am hating the heat, I’m really busy the next, and by then I’ve missed the peak of fall colors and its about to snow. This year I don’t want to miss it. We went up Providence canyon last Sunday and this Saturday. It’s amazing to see how quickly the leaves turn red. I’m not up for much hiking, but we did get the hammocks out and relaxed in the nice weather.

Fall also means freezing temperatures. My garden has already been nipped by frost–I don’t expect it to last after this week. But much to my pleasure, I picked a watermelon, cantaloupe, and winter squash this week. I will be grateful to stop trying to stuff even more zucchini in my fridge. The constant flow of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and lettuce will be missed. I’ve also grow quite fond of ratatouille, and that will probably stop with the garden.

So, upon seeing a cute picture of my sister-in-law’s little girl in her cute nursery, I decided that the storage room that is turning into the nursery must be transformed into something a little cuter and not so full of storage. I rearranged it one night, and today I decided to put decorations on the wall.

After visiting two craft stores, I finally decided what I was going to do. And it didn’t quite work out like I had imagined, but I’m pleased with the results. I realized while doing this that I am not a crafty person. I’d much rather being in a garden, or writing, reading, etc. But I still take on the occasional craft and end up with something way less wonderful than my original vision or what someone else can do. Oh well.

Here’s a picture of my project today:

Today I found myself once again doing what might be the worst job I have ever had. For one of my jobs, I am a lab assistant for a proffesor who studies organic agriculture. One of the crops she is studying is, of all the wonderful things to be working with, onions. Usually I am really lucky and get stuck with the strawberries.  But not this week. This week I have the lovely task of processing onion sample. This means that I sort through very large onions, get the leaf count, leaf area, and then cut them all up and put them in the drying oven. In a few more weeks I put them through a grinder.

So–what makes this so bad. First, it takes a long time. Second, the onions are very large. They do not sell them this big in the grocery store. And of course, the very worst thing is the lovely smell. Here’s a little botany–onions have a lot of sulfur compounds, and when they are cut up, they release sulfuric acid that irritates eyes. Not a lot I can do about it. Luckily, there are good old latex gloves that prevent my hands from smelling like onions for weeks.

I was sitting working on my onions and thinking about how awful it was, but realized I didn’t mind it. It felt a little strange. Lately I’ve actually had a hard time enjoying myself, but found myself in the best of moods when I was done. Partly I think it was because it went quickly.  I’m one quarter of the way done so far. It’s going a little faster than I anticipated.  I was also listening to good music, and no one was around so I could occasionally sing and dance to it. Very fun. I also like not being supervised and working by myself. It allows me to do tasks my way, and not worry about details too much. One last thing, its nice to stay busy and get done what needs to be done. Being lazy never brings that satisfied happiness, although it feels good at the time. Even staying busy with not so fun tasks is better than doing nothing.

Without school, I’ve been able to spend more time in the kitchen. I really do like to cook. Lately, it’s been fun with the increase of produce from the garden. It’s forced me to try new things including roasted beets, cooked greens, ratatouille, eggplant, and zucchini soup. It’s been fun. And this recipe is absolutely delicious, so I am sharing it:

Zucchini Soup II

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 cups diced zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Liz and Baby

This is a week ago, when Joe and I went hiking. I am still in great shape–although our hikes haven’t definitely decreased in length and intensity.

Congrats to my sister Emily and Matt for their recent wedding. The wedding turned out very nice, and my sister was gorgeous.

So my garden plot is doing quite well, but for all the education I have I think I could do a lot better. Some things you just have to do and experiment with to really learn. This year we planted tomatoes, pepper, eggplant, lettuce, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, and squash. I am hoping that we do not get an early frost so I can get some of my melons. The tomatoes have just barely started to get a good crop, so I will be making salsa soon. Planting stuff at a community garden is a lot of fun, because you can compare with all the other gardeners. And my plot is not the best, but very far from the worst too.

Our garden about a month ago

School has started, and for the first time I am not going. Instead, I get to send my dear husband to school and can have the joy of packing lunches and talking about his day when he gets home. I suppose school will be more like this for a lot of life–just sending other people off.

I’m still working, but work is a little slow. Everything I have to do is pretty boring, and some things I am allowing to slip by (like weeds) due to the fact that physical labor is not something I can do a lot of. It’s hard to keep going when I know I am going to leave. I still have much to get done–including one project that is scarily pushing up towards my due date. Come on little strawberries–grow a little faster so I do not go into labor while you still need attention!

Baby is moving and growing. I feel more pregnant everyday. The most awesome thing about every day is feeling little baby kick around (he is currently making my belly look like a wiggling bowl of jello). I do not so much appreciate heartburn, backaches, and tiredness. I only have two-ish months left. That’s not a lot at all! 

I recently finished a book called To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Loveby Marsha Sinetar. It talks a lot about our vocations, and how we should make our work something we enjoy and fill fulfilled in. I love the practical approach to it–it didn’t say quit your job to immediately become an artist but that you can work toward things and take calculated risks. She talked about how we have a lifetime to do things in, and its really never too late. The book made me think about my own vocation, and what I wanted in life. I’ve changed from a student, to horticulture assistant, and soon to mommy. I hope to continue to keep and expand my knowledge of gardening and plants, and at a future date work in different areas of horticulture. But right now in my career, I want to mostly be a mom. The rest can wait a while. I would highly recommend the book to anyone.

My family took a fun vacation to Yellowstone this last week. I discovered that walking around all day and sitting in car aren’t as easy when I am 30 week pregnant (there’s only 10 weeks left!). It was tons of fun though. First time for Joe–he had no idea what to expect, but enjoyed it. We stayed in a cabin, and I really enjoyed being able to go home and sleep in a bed. Camping is fun, but I currently prefer sleep.

We did see a black bear, and she had two little cubs. That was awesome–but I think I really prefer wildflowers, waterfalls and such. They are just a lot more common than bears, and hence a lot less exciting.

We have moved. Both apartments are a mess, but all our stuff minus a few cleaning supplies are in the 100 east apartment, not the old 600 east apartment. The Internet is working in the new place, we have slept several night in our new bed, and cooked in the new kitchen. My family also came over to celebrate my sister and mines birthday (I am 21 now). The new apartment is large. Compared to a two room/studio I came from, this is huge. Two bedrooms, a kitchen and living room. That is two more full rooms then I am used to. Plus there is even a balcony.

I am tired. Although I must say the new bed is wonderful. We have been sleeping on an ancient, sinking double bed. It has been horrible. Now we have a new, firm queen. All we need to figure out is how to keep the room cool at night. I would think it would be easier now that we actually have air conditioning (just plug in units), but I have burned up the last couple nights. The old place was so easy. There were two windows (total) and we would put the fan in one to suck in air from the other. Now it is more complicated.

Back to being tired. I worked outside today, and rode my bike around, and did a little lab work. Little baby is not allowing me to work as much as I would like. So I am trying to cut back a little, but at the same time I want to get things done. I will learn to cut back so I am not dead tired after work . In the meantime I am grateful for naps, and husbands who willingly give back massages. Oh–I also have a tub now.

Here’s some pictures of the new place. I have yet to decorate completely, or clean. But writing blog posts and taking pictures is much easier. Cleaning can wait.

*Side note–blog has come up as a spelling error. That is very strange.

After we signed the contract I started noticing things wrong with the apartment. Nothing bad. There are hornets in our storage shed, but they seem pretty docile. There are no upper cabinets in the kitchen, but I have discovered that having a lot of drawers is better anyway. The ceiling fan stopped working. As we were sitting on the couch, I noticed it was slowing down for no reason. It hasn’t spun since. I am still in love with the apartment though–which is good because I am living here for the next year.