What's In My Garden? Insect Addition

While we are still getting a good deal of tomatoes, I've come to realize that tomato season might be nearing its end over at the Morgan household. Mainly because these little suckers are eating my tomatoes!

One thing I've learned with having a vegetable garden, especially with growing tomatoes, is that you have to be aware of all the bugs that are near and around your veggies. Knowing which ones are good and bad will definitely help you keep your garden in good shape. The insect in question is a Tomato Hornworm, however I have reason to believe it's actually a Tobacco Hornworm because of the color horn. These worms are super easy to identify, if you can find them first, because of their colored horn on the back tail. Tobacco Hornworms have a red horn and Tomato Hornworms have a black horn. Both species can be found on tomato, pepper, eggplant, potato, and tobacco plants. I found mine on both my pepper and tomato plants. So, just because a hornworm is found on your tomato plant doesn't necessarily mean its a Tomato Hornworm. Anywho, these worms eat your tomatoes, are VERY hard to spot, and are EXTREMELY hard to peal off - it took Ray like 7 minutes just to peal it off - they don't give up with out a fight that's for sure. We used a spray that we picked up at Lowe's and for now we haven't seen that many "eaten" up tomatoes. I'm hoping that it is working.

Some More Advice if You Have Tomato/Tobacco Hornworm Problem

-Even though it's hard, peel off the worms!

-Use an insecticide that is designed to kill Hornworms! We used this one.

-Rotate your soil - larvae are laid in the soil not on the plant itself!

-Plant flowers that deter Hornworms, like Marigolds, around the base of your tomatoes.

-If you spot a worm with an eggsac on its back don't kill the worm! This is a parasite and will become a wasp. When the wasp hatches it feeds off of/kills the hornworm. Wasps are good for your garden!

-Look for black/dark brown spots (worm poop) on your plant! If you see some you probably have a worm nearby. 

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On a happier note, since Hornworms obviously don't like cucumbers, my cucumber plant is flourishing! We've already picked 3 cucumbers and there are 2 more on the way. We had one in a salad with a few tomatoes from our garden and it was so delicious. So fresh!

In my flower garden, all my wildflower seeds that I planted in the spring are fully mature now! One grew into a beautiful sunflower (which I ended up not taking a picture of...oh well), and the other two plants I'm still determining what the flowers could be. Today one of these flowers finally bloomed!

To the right you can see my sunflower. To the left my mystery flower.

I think it might be a Calendula. What do you think? What's been going on in your garden?

Mission Trip to Zambia

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” ~Philippians 1:21~

Nearly 10 years ago I surrendered my life to Jesus and asked Him to reign in my heart. From that moment on God has been and is still doing a mighty work in my life! I’m so thankful that God drew me into a relationship with Him. He is changing me and molding me into a new woman everyday. Shortly after being saved, I embarked on my first mission trip the summer of my eighth grade year to the inner city of San Diego, California. It was here, that I worked a Vacation Bible School at a women’s rescue mission for homeless children. After the week was over, I knew God was calling me to be a teacher. Since then, God has been doing amazing things! He provided a path for me to pursue my degree in teaching through the STEP UP program, has me working with students of various ages as a Part-time Instructor at Nevada State College and as a sub at Lake Mead Christian Academy, and leading a small group of junior high girls at Hope Baptist Church’s youth group, Vegas Refuge. I’m continuously amazed at how awesome God is and how wonderfully He works! God is so good! Lately, God has really shown me that He desires that people from every tribe, nation, language, and people to worship Him. My desire is that God would use my gifts and abilities and would allow me to lead people into His presence. Recently, God has given me the opportunity to go to Kabwe, Zambia to share Christ’s love at a teacher’s conference and children’s reading camp. Between the dates of July 29 and August 10, I will be working with fellow teachers to train and equip Zambian men and women to become teachers as well as teaching Zambian children how to read.  

The project will consist of twelve days in Kabwe, Zambia where a small group of us will be conducting mini conferences for children and youth during the Missions Conference that is held in Kabwe every year. We will also be housing a teacher’s conference where we will be training and equipping teachers who have a desire to raise up the nation of Zambia and spread the Gospel by educating children. We will also be conducting a reading camp for the children of a community school sponsored by our partnership with Operation Mobilization and the Bible Gospel Church in Africa. Others of us will also be hosting a sewing conference, hairdressing training, music workshops for children and youth, and providing dental work. I will be working with the teacher’s during the teaching conference and working with children during the reading camp for the children and youth. I am so excited about this project and to see what God is going to do in the lives of the adults and children we work with during this summer. I truly believe that the Lord desires to do a mighty work and He is inviting us to join Him in His work.

***Update***

My trip, instead of being 12 days long, will now be 16 days long! I was given the opportunity to go a few days earlier with two other fellow teachers to spend four days in Lusaka, Zambia observing teachers in schools. We also won't be doing a teacher's conference any longer, but rather focusing on our reading camp, children's conference, pastor conference, and sewing/hairdressing conferences. The second week, we will be conducting a reading camp at a village school in Kabwe. We will observe and assess students so that they will be placed in their respective leveled groups on August 2. August 3-4 will be the actual reading camp. We will be focusing on mastering knowledge and comprehension of letters, letter sounds, sight words, and simple sentences. We will leave the teacher's with lots of books for their library, teaching calendars, ABC flash cards, stickers, etc. While we are there, I will also be teaching teachers a brief overview on Adult Literacy.   

During the reading camp, others from our team will be conducting sewing and hairdressing conferences as well. August 5-7 we will be having a pastor's conference coupled with a children's conference. The children's conference will be similar to a VBS (Vacation Bible School). 
I'm so excited for this trip! I've been wanting to go on another mission trip for awhile now and especially one over seas. This will be my first time away from home for this long, away from friends, family, all my comforts and things that I'm used to. I am truly leaving my "self" at home. This part is scary, but I am leaving it all up to God. He is ultimately The One who is working through me and making the mission amazing. I am just His vessel, being used by Him. This truth comforts me. While I'm on this trip please pray for our team and the hearts of the adults, youth, and children that we will be working with, teaching, and sharing life with that seeds will be planted and lives will be changed for eternity. 

"And He was saying to them all, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?" 

~Luke 9:23-25~

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

~Ephesians 2:10~

Antique"ing" day at Boulder City!

Last Monday, July 11, my sister and I decided to check out some thrift shops and antique stores in Boulder City. There was one main thrift shop I really wanted to check out, Experienced Merchandise, but was surprised to find a lot more thrift"ing" and antique"ing" than I was expecting. Sarah and I started at a place called Back in Time Antiques where I picked up a cute, small, teal serving tray for only $5. We then headed across the street to Antique Depot. I ended up picking up a set of salt & pepper shakers and a kitchen towel also teal of course! We had such a great time and didn't even make it to Experienced Merchandise. We had to make it back into Vegas by 2 to start off our Harry Potter marathon - the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was on Friday at 12AM for those of you who didn't already know. I definitely want to head back to Boulder City sometime soon and check out the other thrift/antique shoppes - there were at least five more that we spotted. Here are some pictures of our adventure and some of my "finds."

My finds

*Tray $5

*S&P Shakers $10

*Napkin $3

Have you done any thrift"ing" or antique"ing" lately? What did you find?

Have a happy Sunday!

Friday Rewind! Summer Edition...

Wow, it has definitely been awhile since I've been on the blogging scene. This summer has been so crazy, busy, and full of fun things, which I will definitely share with you in just a minute! I am going to try and blog more often, but this summer is only going to get crazier as I have more trips coming up - so I can't make too many promises. :)  Once mid-August roles around all the busyness should die down some, so my blogging should be back up to speed. So, here's what I've been up to this summer...

• Spent a week in Crestline, CA at Thousand Pines Christian Camp for our youth group Vegas Refuge's annual summer camp! This was my first time ever going to summer camp at all. It was so much fun with ziplines, paintballing, crafts, games, theme nights, and lots of dancing! We had a guest speaker Afshin Ziafat who spent the week talking about what it truly means to be a follower of Christ and how we can lead others to Him. It was truly amazing!
• Enjoyed an amazing evening at my good friend's wedding at the Griffin Mansion in Las Vegas!

• Been keeping busy with getting ready for my trip to Zambia, Africa at the end of this month. Last week, we planned our reading camp and we got so much accomplished! I will also be heading up a mini adult literacy conference while there, and I am almost finished with that. {Expect a Zambia Mission Trip post in the near future with all the details!}
• Did some garage sale "ing"

{I got all these scrapbooking supplies for free!}

{$2.00}

• Finished my volunteer training at the WRMCSN and began shadowing last month. 
• Growing lots of tomatoes!

• Spent some time staining our table for the backyard patio and it's almost finished!
• Spent some time crafting...

• I fell in love with these nail colors #37 Wet Cement & #07 Cherry Smash Crackle Overcoat by Sally Hansen.

• Love my Newspaper Nails!
• Started following Love From Mallory videolog! Love it!
• Started officially using Shape Collage, Picasa, and Photobucket! 
• I'm now officially on Google+ and BlogLovin'!
• Can't wait to get started on this Family Rules project! 
• Added this book to my Goodreads bookshelf!

How has everyone been this fine Friday and what have you been up to?

Newspaper Nails!

I recently started following Love from Mallory's videolog a few weeks ago. And, oh my goodness she is super cute and has so many fun tutorials and fashion info! I found a tutorial called Newspaper Nails and I figured I would go ahead and give it a shot! Here's the videolog tutorial below and beneath that are my newspaper nails!

What You'll Need

*Nail polish & Top Coat

*Newspaper

*Scissors

*Rubbing Alcohol

*Small container

Here are the steps!

1. Paint your nails a light grey/lavender. I chose #37 Wet Cement by Sally Hansen.

2. Let nails dry. 

3. Cut up your newspaper into small squares (large enough to cover your entire nail) - you will need 10 squares!

4. Pour rubbing alcohol into a small container. 

5. Place newspaper squares into container so that is fully saturated. Place wet square onto nail and hold/press for 15 seconds. Repeat for each nail.

6. Seal with a top coat and...Voila! Awesome nails in minutes!

{It's kinda hard to see, so I enlarged it for you}

I hope you enjoyed this! Anything unique you've done with your nails recently?

Nelson, NV Photo Shoot!

On May 7, 2011 my husband and I got anniversary photos taken in Nelson, NV by the lovely Ciara Rose! Here are some of my favorite photos from the shoot!

Hope you've enjoyed them all! 

BlogLovin

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