lasagna gardening, cottage cheese, necklace pendant, camping, read-a-thon, and Father's Day

The first week of summer vacation included a little yard work...lasagna gardening is where you make layers to make good soil and not planting things that would go in lasagna.

You don't have to dig up the plants underneath, though we did. The first layer is wet newspapers or cardboard, they you layer different organic matter. We didn't follow the official layering I found in a book, but I feel it'll be close enough--newspaper, grass clippings, old compost, manure, then when Glen mowed, he added some more grass clippings. We'll have to add more compost and/or manure. Don't know yet what we'll plant there next summer, though.

newspaper layer that is wet down

grass clipping layer, also wet down

compost topped off with old manure

Making cheese was one item on last summer's to-do list that never got done. Tuesday I tried my hand at making cottage cheese. In the end, it turned out and we really liked it, but it would have been easier if I had learned from a living person or a tutorial instead of reading how to do it in a book. I don't see myself doing this often, but it was fun to give it a try. This week I want to try making cream cheese.

heating the milk to 150º and holding it for 30 minutes to pasteurize it

the final product

I loved the family tree necklaces I had seen on pinterest. I gave it a try...I like them, but they are a bit big, so I need to try and make smaller ones. You just bend and twist wire and add the birthstones of your family members.

The Young Women in our ward kind of had a last minute Book of Mormon read-a-thon where we gathered at Kara's house and took turns reading out loud from the Book of Mormon-- and snacking-- while the men and teenage boys were at a special campout. Glen had some responsibilities there taking care of some guests and as a result got to go fly fishing with them. I hope to get a photo of him with his fish from Alan (who was also there)...

Anyway, the girls did stop to get a little rest during the night and Hannah and I came home for a while. They started up again early the next morning and Hannah and I joined them again after a little bit. We finally had to end in the early afternoon when we were just a little over 3/4 of the way through. Hannah finished reading the Book of Mormon at 12:30 that night. I plan on finishing up this week. It was really wonderful.

I think it's Cheyenne, then Maddie, Adia, Amber, Ashley, and Kelly

Hannah marking her scriptures while Becky reads when Christ visits the Americas

One of my projects over the last few weeks was for my dad for Father's Day--transferring our old 8 mm home movies onto a DVD. It was not smooth sailing, but I was able to burn some DVDs and get them in the mail in time for them to arrive yesterday so my dad could open them today. The quality wasn't the best and I hope to do a little editing some day, but for now, it's good enough.

my set up for the filming

So, the first week of summer was great. This next week has some good things lined up, as well.