Our New Summer Home...

Today we spent the day at our new summer home... what do you think? Of course we have opened it up to the public for tours and such...

Today was beautiful!

And we spent it outside! (And we took Rory to swim lessons.)

Here are a few photos...

Seedlings Update

Lots more are popping through the dirt!

This morning's progress:

Radishes:


Lettuce:

Zucchini and Squash:

Radishes!

YEY! They are looking great! Here they are today, I think I see a few lettuce heads poking up too.



Today I finished the buildups, planted potatoes, some leftover carrots from last year, and started filling the ditch in the front yard... boy am I sore!

What in the world!?

Today I spent the morning moving dirt, compost, and stuff around getting one of my build-ups ready to plant potatoes in. We are going to have a frost tonight, so I am going to do it tomorrow after the frost clears...

But while I was turning the compost, I found something... a worm. Big deal right?

This worm is 12 inches long and as fat as my THUMB!!!! We ended up finding 4 of them total in the compost pile (along with a bunch of little ones). It is so big, Rory is calling it a snake!

Seedlings are up!

The seeds sprouted already! Well, some of them anyway... before the boys went to bed last night Rory yelled for me to come to the dining room. I came running, assuming something was wrong. He was so excited! I love it!

Without further delay, here are the radish plants that took 24hours to germinate!

My baby is a model....

Sonya Stone submitted some photos for the Association for Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology & Health's newest brochure. You can read more at her blog. How cool is that? Here are the photos she took of us when he was 5 days old.



Canyon is also on the home page for the Asheville Area Birth Network... AND he has an interview for a photoshoot with another local company this month! He is one popular little kid!

Every mom thinks their baby is cute, but it is a nice stroke to my ego to realize people aren't just being nice when they say it! I actually have cute babies!

Waiting for the last frost...

We are starting our garden this year inside, in hopes that we have more luck than we did last year.

Carl and our neighbor, Dab, cut some logs and laid them our for me to make garden build-ups. I have 4 right now (4ft by 6ft), and will be making one more for strawberries next week. I have to sift the dirt (LOTS of rock) and get the build-ups ready for plants.

In the meantime, while it is raining, I started our plants today. If all goes well, we should have quite the assortment of foods. I'm really excited about it and am doing a good bit of edible landscaping to go with it. Today I planted 150 seeds or so, while the boys helped me.


We have about 100 strawberry plants, 35 in front of the house in the flower garden (which obviously is now edible landscaping) and the rest I need to dig up, and make a build-up box for in the back of the yard. I got very lucky with berries. I was walking the yard and found them in the yard! Not wild berries, but cultivated ones! I'm hoping by next year, I have enough for jelly or jam! I am also going to plant all of our squash and zucchini along the back and side of the house. This will save room in the gardens for other plants.

I am really excited about teaching the boys about sustainable living and the value of raising your own food. So far, they are having fun helping me move dirt, and planting the seeds today.
I'm also hoping to have enough to trade some other local moms for their veggies and eggs.

I'm hoping to post photos as soon as things start progressing!

6 years have passed...

6 years?! How in the world have six years passed since that day?

Even as I sit here typing this and remembering, I break into tears and have to explain to my 5 year old what happened and why I'm sad...

Carl came up to Ohio to visit me that day. We joined a big group of friends and went kayaking on the Slippery Rock. It was a great day. Sun shining, birds chirping, warm... unusually beautiful for so early in the season...

As we took off the river, Carl's phone rang... which was weird given the lack of cell reception you get in the gorge there... we tried calling back, it was the hospital... but we didn't know anyone who was there, and we kept dropping the call. After calling our family, to make sure it wasn't any of them, I told Carl to call Jason and Jeff, that if something was wrong, they would have called us from there... we tried Jason, we tried Jeff... no answer. We dismissed the call as a wrong number and headed out to dinner with our friends.

This little irking feeling kept coming over me, and I kept having Carl call Jason's cell phone. We never did get an answer... but about 10 minutes later we got the phone call that changed everything.

A friend of ours, who didn't know our connection to Jeff, called us and told us there was a fatality at Splat. Ironically it had happened at the same time we got the call from the hospital... I was in the middle of eating and Carl was talking to him, I looked up at Carl, smiling... and then saw his face. I still remember the feeling when he told me. I remember having to tell the other 12 people we were eating with... I remember trying to call my professors at the University, trying to explain through my tears, that I wouldn't be there that week, that I was going to assist in a body recovery and to support my friends in our loss.

Carl and I drove back to my house, grabbed what we needed, and drove home. Driving up to our house, we passed the house Jen and Jeff were living in, we passed the house 2 doors down from us that was Jeff's, and we parked at our house... the house we only had because of Jeff.

It wasn't true, there was no way he died. I was convinced he was just stuck somewhere, injured, but safe. That we would find him in the morning. I held to that hope for almost an entire week...

The next morning we got up early, packed food for everyone who was on the Rock, and headed in. Carl boated in, I ran the trail. I actually beat Carl there.

The next 2 weeks were a blur for me. I spent them in tears, still praying that he wasn't dead. I was in complete denial. The only things that are clear to me are the unusually beautiful 2 weeks of weather, the support and love from everyone that came out, and the cross Jeff S. planted at splat.

Exactly 2 weeks after the accident we went to his memorial. We were singing Amazing Grace, and through my tears, I saw Jason take a phone call. It was the call alerting him that tomorrow was the day Jeff would be found.

My life has changed so much since the accident. My oldest son was born exactly 9 months after that fateful day. I have such mixed feelings this time of year when I look at him. Jeff changed our lives in every way possible.

Jeff's death scared me. It is the reason I have given up kayaking as much as I had been, I scarcely get out, and I haven't been an anything over class III since then. I think that has been a mistake. After reading Julie's post, I realize... Jeff wouldn't want that. We need to keep his memory alive, and to live life the same way he did.

I am going kayaking today.

To those on the Rock, I wish we could be there, and in some way, we are.

Jen, I love you hon. I miss you too. Please come to visit us soon.

Jeffrey Allen Mayfield, I love you. I miss you. I thank you for the gift of my son.

Easter Sunday, Easter Funday!

We had a great day! Today we got up, checked out the Easter Goodies that the Bunny left, headed to church, and then to Finn's party! Here are some photos from the day:

First Egg Hunt...

Canyon had his first Easter Egg hunt! I didn't get many photos (too busy trying to keep an eye on all 3 kiddos) but here is one shot! I hope to get a few tomorrow!

Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs...

Yup, lots-o-eggs here at the Gittings House.

The boys dyed eggs, and had a blast! Even Canyon got in on the action... which is why we are short a few eggs now ;)

On display for the first time...

Canyon's teeth!

Not the best shots, but I got them!!!!

Yesterday's Snow

April Showers? Really? Is this what they mean?