Bucket List Pickles

So in Seminary many years ago I was told to make a bucket list of things I wanted to accomplish before I died. The obvious ones were on there; like get married and become a mom. There was some responsible ones like own a car, and a home. There was also some silly ones like pet a star fish and make homemade pickles.
I am pleased to announce that I have finally marked that pickle making business off my list. it kind of makes for a fun story so I thought I would share.
Our ward here has a garden, Michael and I spent a afternoon in May planting the garden with some other ward members. It was really fun actually Michael tilled the ground and I watched Brock and then I helped plant and Michael watched Brock. Lets just say that garden is growing like crazy. The guy who is kind of in-charge of the garden has been gardening here for over 30 years and he said that he has never seen a garden produce so much. Anyways he was talking to Michael about how there needs to people picking the crop all the time because that will help it produce more. He told the guy that I have always wanted to make pickles.
He told Michael that his wife was going out of town and they had a bunch of perfect pickle sized cucumbers in his own garden that he didn't want to go to waste but that we would also need to grab some more from the church garden as well. Michael told them we would love to do it. So he shows up not only with the cucumbers but with a caner, jars, and the recipe. I told him then it was on my bucket list to make pickles and he laughed and said that Michael had told him I wanted to make some but not that it was on my bucket list. He said he just felt like we were doing him a favor using them before they went bad.
of course Brock had to test out everything to make sure it was good, including every cucumber. We had cucumbers in his toy box, under the couch, spread out all over the floor, and under the table.

I spy a cucumber do you?

He also tested out the canner.

I even got him to walk to a cucumber

We made a trip to Walmart to get some stuff we would need. and found out we don't know much about canning. Sure both of our parents canned all the time but I guess we didn't really pay attention. And it was a different caner then what they had. So we also had to do some research.

I got everything ready to can a couple days later everything was set out and ready so as soon as Brock went to sleep that night we could do it. It went so fast and we ended up having so much fun. We used fresh dill from our garden outside as a bonus! It took no time at all and as it was in the canning bath we watched a movie and occasionally checked on it. When it was ready we took it out and listened to it pop pop pop til every one of them was sealed! We ended up with 7 quarts.

A week later we finally dug into our pickles, between the fresh dill and the dill seed they pack a powerful punch. Brock and I loved them. Brock cried when Michael wouldn't give him another.

4th of July

We went over to a friends house (Michael, Sam, and Paul's) for a little BBQ and the kids played in a little pool and water table. We had a great night enjoying food and company. Sam took some awesome pictures of Brock and Paul playing and I wanted to show them to you.

 apparently he wasn't happy about something

 boys getting in trouble

 he was shocked when Paul's kitty came up to him

 friends!

 Cole Family

Richardson Family

Thanks Sam for the pictures!

12 months (1 year!)

Stats: weight:
height:
head:

He wears 18 month cloths and a 4 in diapers. Also a 4 in shoes (if we can ever get them on him.)

He has 4 teeth now one came in on the 6th of June and the 4th came in on the 9th of June. They are big teeth too!

He says Yay, Ball, and he will woof like a dog!

He still goes to anyone and he checks everything out with them (not really gently either)

He is a water baby. He loves water and could care less if it gets on his face.

play group at Shelby Farms (he loved it)

This month I feel like I can really tell that he is a patient child. He has been around a lot of older kids and he gets toys taken away from him or gets hit and he doesn't mind at all. He just kind of looks at them and moves on. We went to a splash park with friends and he was checking out one of the sprinklers and it turned on and got him right in the face. All the moms including me gasped and I ran over to him expecting him to scream like any kid would, he just caught his breath then wanted to get down and play. No tears or crying! It just caught him off guard.

at the splash pad

He cruises everywhere. He will walk along the wall down the hallway. He takes a few steps in between each thing he holds on to.

He took about 5 steps on the 21st of June with out any guidance from us (I guess he was finally ready to start). He still prefers crawling because he knows he is super fast!

He can stand for about 20-30 seconds at a time.

He points to you with a big smile on his face to say Hi.

He is getting better at telling us what he wants. We are still trying to figure out his jabbers but he will let out one big fuss if its not what he wants and will get excited if it is.

He waves bye to his Dad. He will try and stop his dad from leaving by trying to take his shoes or grab his belt. He knows when we are leaving and will get sad. However he doesn't cry or freak out once you leave.

He has his favorite blanket and we recently found out he wont sleep without it.

He is doing great on his medication and has been a completely different baby then he was in April and May!

He likes little toys that he can hold in his hands when we are in the car.

We have been working on him using a spoon, I think hes getting the hang of it. It sure makes eating messy!

He likes to carry things in his mouth. He doesn't really chew on things very much but he will hold it there!

Its not new or anything but I got some more pictures of him getting into things!

Because he is getting into everything and nothing is safe we decided to rearrange our living room and get a computer desk (he loves cords) Brock had lots of fun with Dad building a computer desk.

you'll have to ask Michael how good of a helper he was

His Birthday Picture (I took the idea off of Pinterest but I don't know who first came up with it but I would like to give them credit and say Thanks for the Awesome Idea)

Brock's Birthday Day!

Present time! We Skyped with family while Brock opened gifts, this little bug was spoiled for his first birthday. We thought he would tear up the wrapping paper but he actually watched Michael take some paper off then tried to put the paper back on. 

Checking out lots of presents 

 Who would guess a one year old would love socks?! He carried them around for about 5 minutes.
Thanks Aunt Amy!

A fun puzzle book from the Booth Family. He kept talking to it and and singing to it. So cute.

 Little board books from Grandpa Olsen, He especially loved the case he would open it and feel all the books pull some out then he would shut it and smile.

 After the wrapping paper was off and the present were out is when he started to play with the wrapping paper and of course the toys spreading it from one end to the other!

After Presents we ate some Breakfast. We had puff up pancakes, yogurt, and raspberries.

 So happy its his birthday!

The Birthday boy! 

This little boy is lucky enough for his dad to be home for every birthday ever! Eating lunch with dad.

 His first birthday cake!

 He liked the candle and wanted to grab it so Michael blew it out quick!

 He loved the feel of the frosting.

 I am sad I missed this shot but you can tell he was very excited to destroy a cake.

 The only bite he took, he had way too much fun destroying it. We gave him some frosting earlier to get him interested. And then he was done and crawled away. They whole thing lasted maybe 5-7 mins but he managed to get frosting everywhere and then grass stuck to it after he decided he was done.

He's pretty happy about it though. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUTE BOY!!! We love you! 

Thank you for the gifts and for helping make his birthday extra special.