>That’s how many seconds Jeff and I have been married, or in normal terms, 4 years! It’s gone by super fast, and come this September 27th, we’ll be a couple for 6 years. Time sure flies fast, and it’s amazing to think I’ve been with him my whole adult life -minus two days- and I can’t imagine life without him at this point.
Anyway, I know he won’t read this but I love you Jebbies!
>Well, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged about my garden.. or blogged period. So I figured I would write up a quick blog about the garden. You’ve probably seen my last post about the garden on May 30th. Well, we had nothing but rainstorms last month, and unfortunately got hit by hail on June 11th. Here’s some pictures from that.
Firstly, let me show you what the hail around my downspout off of my gutters looked like.
As you can tell (or you may not) the leaves on my plants got ripped to shreds. BTW, it’s Tomatoes, Squash, Bell Peppers and the Strawberry plant in that order. I had to prune the heck out of them, and in some cases, I had to leave the shredded leaves otherwise they wouldn’t be able to photosynthesize and grow.
And then, on top of everything else, my tomatoes ended up getting sunburned.
But at least one of my lemon boys grew a tomato!
As you can see, the tomatoes are doing very well, as well as the squash. However, I’m not too sure about the bell peppers, I was told they take a bit longer to grow than most other plants. And sadly, my Strawberry plant died. I’m not sure what killed it, but it never quite recovered after the hailstorm. Oh well, maybe next year in a different way.
Anyway, that’s the update on my garden! On other news, I finally updated my website after aproximately 13 months of not doing anything with it. Check it out!
And hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th. Don’t blow yourselves up okay?
>So, today started just like any other Monday, until 11:30 when Ruthie scratched my eye. That’s right, she didn’t poke or jab my eye but scratched it. And let me tell you the pain was horrible! I thought she scratched my cornea, but I wasn’t sure. Until I was able to stand light long enough to look at my eye, and over my iris and pupil there seemed to be a ripple in the reflection.. my eye essentially looked like there was a ‘chip’ in it so to speak, like a chipped round glass marble. I was able to convince Jeff to take me to the doctor, which was an adventure in itself.
At first I tried to get ahold of an MD eye doctor, but unfortunately they were booked until the end of the month. That wasn’t going to cut it, so I was able to get ahold of an OD at an eyeglasses place, but they flat out said they were unable to do anything for me. The receptionist was nice enough to call an MD, and they said they’d be able to squeeze me in. It’s kind of lame that they couldn’t see me when I called myself, but they were able to see me after the receptionist called.
So we get to the Doctor’s office, and Dr. R literally took a look at my eye and confirmed that in fact, I did have a corneal scratch, and that Ruthie got me; his exact words were “Wow, she got you really good.” He gave me two different eyedrops; one is an antibiotic, and the other one was eyedrops for pain. And to protect my cornea from even more damage, they put in a contact. And I have to say, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be! It feels a bit strange, but that’s probably being contributed from the fact that my eye’s got an injury.. I’m gonna have to think about doing the switch over to contacts, or at the very least part time.
I know I’m going to be alright now, but I can’t help but admit there was a feeling of panic. Being hearing impaired for the most part does not bother me. I’ve dealt with it my entire life, and I’ve adapted and I’ve accepted it as me being me. I don’t resent the fact that my hearing is not whole; in fact I think it’s shaped and molded me into the person that I am now. However, I can’t say it doesn’t leave me feeling vulerable, and in the time my eye was scratched and had to use a cold compress to help with the pain, and not being able to see as well as I normally do; well as well as I can see being nearsighted like I am, I have to admit to the underlying panic I felt not being able to see normally. I rely so much on my eyes and sense of smell, touch -not so much taste- and also my intuition to get around and about in life, and to have my eye temporarily out of commission, it really scared me.
I know I’m going to be fine now.. hopefully eye rest also known as sleeping will help out, and I just have to keep at it with my eye drops.
On other news, I’m happy to report my garden is really blooming and coming along nicely! We’ve been getting a lot of rain thanks to el niño, which is really helping out the growth. I can’t wait to partake the fruits of my labor. And of course, I’m going to share 🙂
>We’ve got a bit of a garden growing outside now. I’ve always had some interest in gardening, however it wasn’t something I was able to pursue until we got our house this year. We’ve got Tomatoes growing, some Spaghetti Squash and some Bell Peppers, and in a pot, I’ve got a Strawberry plant growing.
It’s kind of large and wild; and I knew it was pruned before, but they didn’t prune it back enough! I kind of like it though all wild looking the way it is. And yes, I know the lawn needs to be mowed, something Jeff will be doing tomorrow.
>Today’s blog isn’t about our family so much as a whole, but a focus on Jeff’s life.
Growing up, Jeff participated in the Scouts program, and his Scout leader was a guy named Mike “Bucky” Buckmiller; who he’s stated “After my parents, Mike’s probably the most influential adult in my life.”. Jeff’s shared a few different stories about him and their scout trip adventures, particularly when they killed a snake and Mike skinned and prepared it for eating, and encouraged the scouts to eat it, however Jeff skipped out on this. He also was influential with Jeff’s friends, particularly Brett Wilson who’s now a pilot. For one Scout trip, he took the boys flying; which lead Brett to discover his joy of flying, and Mike encouraged Brett to follow his dream, which he has obviously. Mike also encouraged them to get into HAM radios, and while Jeff’s liscense expired sometime ago, he’s still got a fascination with it, and eventually plans on renewing his license again.
He’s also meant alot to the family as a whole, since his career was in Dentistry. He’s apparently done a fantastic job in keeping the Hayford Clan’s Chompers in good shape, and I know that the family will miss his ministrations.
Sadly though, Mike got lung cancer, and after a long battle, he passed away this passed Tuesday. I didn’t know him at all, since I only met him twice, but I know that Jeff is upset about his death, and he’s probably going to be crying at the funeral on Saturday, which shows how much he means to Jeff. Jeff is not an emotional guy at all. He didn’t cry when we got married, he didn’t cry when the girls were born, and he’s held back tears at the funerals we’ve gone to over the past years that we’ve been together.
Anyway, here’s his obituary:
“Michael Bruce Buckmiller Faith and Service Mike, 53, was born June 12, 1955, in Provo, Utah, to John David and Jane Farley Buckmiller. He was a joy to his parents and a great friend to many, including his brothers. He had an abiding testimony of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the infinite power of His Atonement. He greatly valued his family relationships and even remembered fondly his days of weeding his grand-mother’s gladiolus patch, despite it being a punishment. He honorably served amongst the people in the Tonga mission. His mission was a positive, life changing experience and he continued to serve the Tongan people through his occupation, maintaining his Tongan language fluency. Mike attended the University of Utah, majoring in Biology. He was a member of the Honor Societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from the University of Pacific Dental School and set up his practice serving the people of Salt Lake City. He received a community service award in special recognition for his dental work service to adults with disabilities. Mike married his eternal sweetheart, Jocelyn Goff, on June 21, 1980 in the Salt Lake Temple. Their loving relationship was an example to all of how caring, true, and sweet love can be. Mike was an experienced outdoorsmen. From the time he was a small boy, he loved being out in nature, in particular the Uinta Mountains and the red rocks of Southern Utah. He served as a scoutmaster for over 15 years and received the Scout Master Award of Merit. He was also honored to receive the Silver Beaver Award for distinguished service to youth. Mike knew not only how to work hard and serve others, but also knew how to enjoy life and spend time recreating with his family. He loved waterskiing, fishing, hunting, scuba diving, and visiting the beach. He was a talented photographer and loved researching family history and learning about LDS pioneers. Mike maintained his pilot’s license and enjoyed sharing his plane and love of flying with others. He also shared his love for music through singing and felt that music truly was a song of praise unto the Lord.He passed from this world on April 28, 2009 surrounded by his family members, in his home, following a brave and hope-filled battled with cancer. Mike is survived by his wife, Jocelyn, and their children Nicolle Jones (Ben), Emily, and Evan, and grandchild Michael Jones. He will be greatly missed by his father, Jack, stepmother, Carol, brothers, John, Dave, Jim, and Dan, as well as many other family members and friends. He was preceded in death by his mother. The family expresses deep gratitude for the many acts of kindness and compassion expressed through the service of many. A viewing will be held at Larkin Sunset Lawn (2350 East 1300 South), on Friday, May 1st from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, May 2, at 12:00 noon at the Canyon Rim 2nd Ward Chapel (3100 East 3000 South) with a viewing prior to the funeral from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. Interment will follow at the Holladay Memorial Park Cemetery. Contributions can be made to the LDS Missionary Fund or Perpetual Education Fund. “
You can also follow this link to view his obituary on The Salt Lake Tribune website. I wish Jeff had some pictures of him, but he doesn’t.
>This is actually our first year of doing Easter with the whole works. Last year, the girls got baskets, but that was about it, considering we had just moved into the apartment easter weekend, so we were too busy to do anything else. But this year in addition to getting baskets, we colored eggs; well just me and Zoe did, Jeff was busy fixing something at the time so he didn’t participate.
>For what you ask?
RUTHIE IS NOW WALKING! She turned 14 months old yesterday, and decided today that walking was cool, so she started walking around.
She’s still not doing it full time, but she’s finally walking around by herself. Eventually she’ll get the hang of it and start walking full time.
This is fantastic, because I was starting to get worried. She’s a bit behind with certain things when I compare her to Zoe’s development, but I have to realize the girls are two seperate beings, and that they are VERY different than each other. I suppose on the flip side, she’s done firsts earlier than Zoe did, particularly with saying Mama.
Anyway, I’m EXCITED! Now all she has to do is reach 20 pounds so we can put her in a forward facing carseat. I was lucky enough to be given a gift card by a friend to Babies R Us, and with what I was able to purchace a nicer carseat for Ruthie a few months ago. Mucho loves to my friends R&T H!!!
>6×6 Blog
Rules:
1. Go to your pictures on your computer
2. Go to your sixth folder
3. Go to your sixth picture
4. Post it
5. Blog about it
>Well, it’s been a week now since we’ve been in our new house and can I say I LOVE being a home owner? We moved last Saturday, and while we still have a TON of stuff to move and clean at the apartment, it’s been great! We didn’t get help for moving until 1:00pm, but my BIL Devin (he’s married to Jeff’s sister Melissa) did us a massively huge favor and dropped off his dolly so we could use it to move our appliances in and out of the house, and then Andy, Tim and Luke -he also brought his wife and stepkids- showed up (in that order and they are Jeff’s brothers) helped us take the heavy stuff out to the moving truck and then moved the stuff into the house. It’s so amazing that moving stuff out of the truck is WAY faster than putting stuff in!
We still aren’t quite completely moved in aside from the obvious fact that we don’t everything that we own here, but we’re planning to make a trip -or two- to the apartment this week to clear it out and clean it up. What’s awesome is that I was very worried about having to go out and buy a garden hose and lawn mower and other essentials for yardkeeping, but we lucked out and the previous owner left that stuff… and BONUS for me is that there’s even extra base cabinets outside in the shed! FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC because on of the larger minor expenses I was expecting to have to pay out was a desk and storage space for my crafting stuff in my crafting room, and I was planning on spending about $300 or so doing that; instead all I have to do now is borrow a stud finder, get a length of countertop from IKEA for $80 bucks and some 2×2 and drill some holes and I’ll have a workspace to run the entire length of one wall! We went to IKEA this weekend to buy some stuff, but we’re planning to make a second trip after the apartment is completely cleaned out and whatnot to go and get a dining room table and the countertop along with laundry baskets and other random stuff, since none of it would fit in our car especially because I need a 9 foot countertop!
I will post pictures of our home, but I need to wash the couch covers and just really organize and put shelves up and everything. I gotta say, it’s quite interesting being a home owner, and it’s taken a few days, but it’s become a home and not a weird random house.
>Well, we sign the closing papers for our house in FIVE days, and then we move next Saturday! I’m super excited, but also kind of nervous and anxious. Last Monday, we got our interest rate locked in at 5.25%, so now we know how much our mortgage payments will be, which is great because we’ll be able to plan our budget out and whatnot. The appraisal was also this past week and our house was given a value of $175,000! Our agent was surprised it got appraised for that, and actually said to me “I’m shocked to be quite honest, I didn’t think it was going to appraise for that much.” Well then! And I’ve got some more pictures too, since the appraiser took pictures, and we got them in the appraisal report.
Everything has been taken care of except for internet coverage. We’re not sure yet if we’re gonna contiune to use our current provider or if we’re going to go with another provider and see if we can get a better deal for internet. The electricity is due to go into our name on next Friday or Saturday, and the gas will be switched to our name on Monday. When I had called the gas company to transfer coverage, the lady on the phone informed me that the current owner had called in to have it shut off completely, which is actually BAD because the weather can dip down low and then there’s the risk of bursting pipes or whatever. Besides, having it switched over is going to be $8, but if it were turned off and then turned back on, it would be $15. I’m all about saving money, even if it is just $7!
It’s so close! I’m EXCITED!