What in the world has been going on?!?

To say that things have been busy would be the understatement of the century.  I am well aware it has been MONTHS since I have written but I haven’t forgot!  If I posted as much as I think about posting this would be filled with updates multiple times a day!  So, shall I begin with a brief summary of life as of late?

1.        I got married!  The wedding was the most fabulous and best day of my life.  Everything went perfect (in my eyes at least).  We were married in the small country church that we attend and had the reception in our backyard.  Which also happens to be in the middle of the pecan orchard.  We had a massive tent in which we sat 250 of our closest friends, a dance floor and food that was fit for a king.  It was very important to us to contribute and make the wedding something of our own.  We both feel we succeed in that.  We served rib-eyes that came from cattle I help produce, squash from our garden, potatoes that one of the groomsmen grew, rolls that some of the ladies from church made from scratch, different flavors of roasted pecans from the orchard, cake made from a wonderful friend and pecan pies made by my family and the ladies from our church and the area.  The food was to die for.  With me being from so far away I had expected that the turnout of my friends and family might be lacking due to the expenses and hassles of travel.  WOW am I a blessed gal!  We had friends and family from all areas of the country!  If I remember correct we had 10+ states represented at the wedding.  The outpouring of love from our friends and family was overwhelming.  We are loving married life and having fun joining our lives together!

2.       Big gardens produce LOTS of food.  We have been overrun with produce from our garden all summer and it is wonderful!  While the hubs and I were on our honeymoon my parents stayed out the house to look after all the animals, etc.  They stayed busy by putting up corn.  They put up (prepared and froze) almost 200 bags of corn.  The measured out each bag in different amounts so if we need 1 cup, 2 cups, etc. to cook with we can just grab it from the freezer!  The best part of it?  They wrote notes to us on almost all the bags.  Besides corn we had an extreme over abundance of squash/zucchini for a long time.  Then it moved into the pepper stage.  We are still harvesting peppers as a matter of fact.  We planted from seed directly into the garden and it turned out to work great.  Maybe even to great.  We eat peppers in everything now.  The one thing I want to have more of next year is onions.  I still had to buy a lot of onions so I would like to remedy that.

3.       Flowers worked!  I planted a row of different kinds of flowers in the garden and they grew and made me so happy!  We had a large variety of sunflowers, xenias and a few varieties of marigolds to help keep bugs away.  I am usually not a fan of marigolds but we had multiple varieties that were so joyous!  Some grew as tall as 3 feet and had blooms the size of baseballs!  They bloomed ALL summer and most of the fall and were one of my favorite things we had.  Another success I had was I got a few blue bonnets to come up!  It was kind of a joke planting them but it worked!   If I had done better in the weed control department it would have gone a lot better but now I know for next year!

4.       The chickens are laying!  We had a few chicken casualties but our numbers are still strong and they are really getting down to business laying eggs.  They started slow with just 3 or 4 eggs a day but production is in full swing and I am now getting at least a dozen and a half a day.  We are being overrun with eggs!  I can only make so many angel food cakes from scratch (which take a dozen egg whites) and the dogs are starting to run away when I bring out the eggs because they don’t want to eat anymore either. 

5.       Moving is a hassle.  Combining 2 houses is not easy.  This has probably been one of the biggest consumers of time.  I have moved in with the hubs into his new (2011) but established house with all my “treasures” and making it all go together is a task.  We are slowly making progress and everyday it gets better and better!

So really a list of 5 things is a pretty sorry excuse for why we have been busy but let me tell you it has been insane.  Combine the above with working 80+ hours, involvement in the community, taking on new work endeavors, traveling for various events/functions and trying to live life makes for a busy time!  I am confident that things are going to continue to settle and life will take more of a regular tone.  I can’t wait to post more about what we have been up to!