remember the sprouts post?

First of all, I got published again and I just received a copy of the issue in the mail along with my mini album return. I am so excited! It's the 3rd one featured and on page 14, it's my Alaska Vacation 3x3 inch accordian mini album. Besides the fact that I got published, this magazine is packed with so many great ideas! My favorites were made by Cathy Z and Rebecca Cooper. I'm excited to help Haeley make a mini album about what she did during her summer vacation. So keep an eye out for the Simple Scrapbooks special issue - Mini Albums in an Evening.

Cj really likes the water, AS LONG AS IT'S NOT IN HIS FACE! One more week of torture for him and I'M DONE! But we do have a good teacher and he does like to jump in. Maybe next year will be better.

Here's Hk doing the backstroke...

I actually planted 4 flowering plants that bloom in the summer months. Wow!


Okay, onto the sprouts...they are not tiny sprouts anymore. I guess maybe they are in the teenager stage. My carrots are growing really slow - hmm. Oh and once the brocolli begins to get ready for picking, how does one keep the bugs out of them? I just thought the brocolli plant was really kind of pretty looking. What can I say, I am having so much fun with the camera!

Check out the corn - wish I'd planted 2 more rows - oh well, there is always next year. Any good tips on keeping the earwigs out. Oh and does anyone know how to take corn all the way to seed? I know vine plants are next to impossible, is corn any easier - especially since the price is increasing all the time.

This is actually the baby pumpkin plants - they said I could grow 3 plants per mound. It's almost the same size as the giant pumpkin plants. Although the fruit will be completely different. We'll have baby pumpkins lining the sidewalk and probably all the way down the driveway this year. I planted more than I realized! When do you cut them from the vine? Or does the vine sort of shrivel up on its own?


We just put the stakes up and Haeley helped me put the twine on the stakes. I am excited to eat fresh slender green beans this year!


Having fun with the camera and lens flare and trying to keep my messy yard out of the photo. This is a pepper plant. My mom gave me 4 peat pots with something in them - 2 turned out to be pepper plants and 2 turned out to be cilantro!!! Except for garlic I have planted everything I need for a salsa garden! I LOVE fresh salsa!


Last night Neil came over and moved some of our dirt from our pile of topsoil to various parts of the yard with his tractor. He even took two loads up to my MIL's house. He even dug this great big hole in the office flower bed and dumped a huge load of our gravel in it. Then Tyler put the drains from the roof down into the hole. Now as long as something doesn't get lodged down in there causing it to get dug back out of the ground, we'll be okay! He wouldn't take any money but at least he took the Thank You card I made for him! Now we just have to finish leveling and then we'll be ready for grass around mid-August. We are going to call around about curbing for the garden areas but I think that is way out of our budget this year. It's been all about manual labor and help from family and friends. We couldn't have done it without all the help!

clematis, family home evening, swim lessons

I added two new plants to our landscape. If anyone has any tips on clematis, let me know. I know it will be a few years before they really take off. It's nice to be back to a point in my life where I think I will be around for that and can plan ahead a little more. I did buy two really cheap little trellis things and realized I should have bought one more plant and one more trellis. In fact I have 4 plants that I still need to buy (this year), but I have to save up. My neighbors J* and M* are pros when it come to gardening and he was telling us all that has gone into their yard. Amazing! And well, the cold winters really kill off a lot, so we'll see how it goes this winter.

Last night we had the best family home evening ever. We ate dinner with our neighbors and Tyler's brother's family, also neighbors, and then we went on a treasure hunt. We hopped on a few borrowed 4-wheelers and drove all over our neighborhood and through the fields. There was the gate, R* Point, the old stone house (built by a pioneer), an old grave site for a baby boy, and then home. Each place there was a lesson and a clue to the next place. R* Point was about avoiding pitfalls. The pioneer's stone house was about honoring our ancestors and who we are because of them. The grave was about eternal families and looking to the blessings of the temple - we could see the L* temple from that spot. The last was the second great commandment - Love thy neighbor as thyself. Everything was quotes from the Ensign magazine. It was really a lot of fun. And Aunt A* made her jello cake and I ate the topping off of it since I can't eat the rest. The kids however pigged out totally- especially CJ.



Last of all, this is one of those photos you show at your child's wedding or college graduation party. My visiting teachers were here this morning and CJ went down the hall. I realized it was too quiet so Haeley went down to check on him. He had put my swim suit on over his jammies and was wearing HKs flip flops on the wrong feet. I though they were both going to fall off the couch. One teaches him in Nursery class and knows his personality. He's getting more and more stubborn all the time. Luckily I got him to give me my swimsuit back in time to take him to his very first mom and tot swim lesson this morning.

3 things

Often I wonder if my kids are really picking up on what goes on at church. Coleton is finally starting to show signs that he is learning from church and from the things we do at home. He like to say dinner prayer now. It's so sweet. I say "please bless the food" he says 'foos" and then waits for me to help him with the next thing. So today at church during sacrament meeting during the last hymn of the meeting he picks up a hymnal and opens it - upside down - and starts to sing while getting pretty close to being in tune and singing every 4th or 5th word. It was darling. Tyler and I just smiled.

Second thing - remember this past week when we went swimming at a neighbor's house along with most of the neighbors. Now I knew that she invited us because Haeley asked her weekly at church once things thawed out here. And my kids stayed in the water to the last second. They wouldn't even let us help clean up, although we did what we could. So today we gave them a Thank You card that I had made. I love making them and it just took about 2 minutes to print and write a little note and seal it in the envelope. I handed it to her before church got started. She came up to me after church and said that in all the years they have had that pool and with the hundreds of people they've invited over, mine was the first Thank You card she ever received. Now I know we shouldn't and she doesn't do things expecting a thank you and she did receive verbal thank you's. But can you believe that? All the work she goes through each time and they've had that pool at least 2 or 3 decades. It made me realize just how important thank you CARDS really are. It touched her heart. I need to continue to show my gratitude to others because it can and does make a difference, even if just for the day.

Last of all, I just got my new visiting teaching assignment and I am excited. A huge burden has been lifted there and I really hope that I can get to know these sisters and enjoy being around them. I have a great group of women that I get to go visit including one who I've just gotten to know at church and really like.

Wow, a lot is happening around here and I haven't the brain power to record it all. I went swimming with my little family and I was nervous. Although I was a lifeguard and swim instructor for 7 years, I haven't been in a pool for 4 years and I don't think I've done a single lap in about 7 years. I remembered a lot easier than I thought I would. I did the crawl perfectly. Then I tried the butterfly - uhm, that explains the migraine I woke up with on Tuesday. Coleton enjoyed being in the water but didn't get the idea that he wouldn't float on his own. We kept him in his boat most of the time. He LOVED the water as long as his ears didn't get wet. We might have to get some silicone plugs for him next year.

We went to the nursery last night and bought some plants. We found that we can get trees for a reasonable price so when they rip out our front walk this next week, we'll have him dig 5 or 6 spots for trees. I really wanted to get them in the ground before this winter so that their roots will get established and also so next summer they will really be able to grow. Every year counts and I really want a few trees around this place. We bought a few plants for around the house and got 5 into the ground last night. Remember those Day Lily's my MIL let me rip out of her yard. Well, I found some at the nursery that are red instead of yellow and I can't wait to mix them in. I asked about a vine that would grow tall on the side of the house and not hurt the stucco. Duh! Clematis! And it flowers all summer long with the most gorgeous flowers! My MIL has one and it took hers 2 years to really get going but she already has to buy another trellis for one of them this year. It's quite tall and beautiful! So I bought a purple one Jackmanii (the tallest and most vigorous grower) and a pink one for near our back porch. We had the car so we'll have to go back and get a trellis or two. I bought a few plants for the spot near the front by the garage that gets very little sun. Tyler has strep throat. He's been out for 2 days. I haven't been able to scrapbook. Sleepy brain. So today I worked on an old scrapbook that I designed digitally while looking at my friend's paper album (she was so nice to let me borrow it! thanks again Krysta!) all while I was going through chemo. It's extra simple and not entirely my style (oh, I love symmetry) but I like it. I finished 9 pages then and it's just been sitting - FOR 2 YEARS! I finished the rest today. I love it even more now that it's finished! Here it is:

thankful...

I was looking at our schedule and stressing out a bit over the lack of photo shoots, until this week that is. It seems Heavenly Father was giving us a break during the time we needed to work on our sprinkler system. The whole yard thing has been a little overwhelming but with all the help from family and tips from a neighbor, it's been a task worth conquering after all.

I have another page getting published - this time the Nov/Dec Issue of Simple Scrapbooks Magazine. I just received the call and I am so excited! They want to know all kinds of things about me and what inspired the page. I made every last bit of it, the paper, embellishments, illustrations, and took all of the photos. It's 100% digital - okay so 99% of my stuff is...what can I say?

I also have a birthday invitation and party favors being published in one of the fall issues of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine - look for Coleton's sweet face.

Also, be on the watch as I have a page with our family photo in it, the one on my purse, being published in the September Issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine along with a free digital download, a first for me.

I met with a Bride on Tuesday to pick photos for her custom photo guestbook. Tyler photographed a bride on Wednesday. I photographed a baby last night and the photos are gorgeous and Tyler photographed a baby tonight and the photos are amazing! And tomorrow Tyler gets to photograph a family. In the morning though we are helping an older neighbor who needs some yard work done. I'm excited to teach my children (especially Haeley) more about kind acts of service.

There is a call for winter cover pages for a scrapbooking magazine and I am so excited. It was just the motivation that I needed to get these 5 favorite winter photos that I love, scrapbooked. I looked for ideas online, a jumping off point sort of thing and I found it! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I wanted to make the pages for my family, but if they get published, then I will also be able to get the three copies of the 2008 family scrapbook that I want to have printed in January - I know thinking ahead, but I HAVE to! Besides, I got the idea that I needed for the month marker pages in those scrapbooks as well! YES! Anyway, I better go to bed or I will be singing the Sleepy Monster tune in the morning instead of being happy to be awake.

it's officially summer around here

We went camping on Friday and that means that it is officially summer around here! Haeley really wanted to go. We took time off from working on the sprinkler system to have some FUN with the kids. After shopping, I needed new sunglasses and jeans and eye liner, we loaded up the Jeep and headed up into the mountains. We didn't have to go very far. We camped by R* Creek and enjoyed a secluded spot not far off the beaten path. We walked down to the creek and the kids had a blast watching the dandelions float down into the creek. Then we played frisbee.



And I got a few photos of the kids.





I am really grateful for a husband who takes the time to be with his children, and not just be next to them, but to interact with them. I've seen the joy that this has brought into his life and into the lives of my children. That, in and of itself, brings me joy. He is also a great husband. We work great together as a team. We are far from perfect but very in love and we are learning together.



Today was stake conference. Well, last night was the 18 and older session and today we went as a family. I took a few notes when I went last night. Tyler watched the kids and his brother and their kids came as well. I received many answers to my prayers last night. I went with a prayer in my heart that I would be able to know what to do next to help me to be a better mother. I learned just what I needed to hear right now. I wrote down my impressions as well, the little thoughts of things I could do. Really, there is so much to do, and I decided that I will keep a journal, loose leaf, that I can write down those impressions and then when I do something that pertains to those, then I will write down what I did and what occurred. I felt a little overwhelmed, but felt that by doing these things, I will be prepared when the more difficult problems come around and I will be able to keep track of my progress as a mother and a daughter of God. I learned from listening to another's experiences, my neighbor's actually, more about my own experience with severe illness.

sprouts

last year, when I bought this plant I got 3 buds - this year we have plenty and it's beautiful. I spent $30 on plants last year so that I'd have something okay to look at as I sat and ate breakfast and looked out my kitchen window. The rest of the plants in the yard are starts from my mother in law's. In fact, she just ripped them out of the ground when we were getting the yard ready for her youngest's wedding. I asked if it was okay to try to get them to grow at my house. She was just going to throw them away. I got a bunch more this year and by next year, they'll be doing great. I found out you have to transplant them when it is cold and wet which we had a lot of this spring. They are all doing great and my front rocks around the driveway will look so much better come next spring. Needless to say, my yard is 95% dirt still so this photo of the few plants we have growing, really make is look great!



this is one of those rescued pieces from the over grow stuff at my MIL's house.


We actually got the garden planted. It is 15x35 feet. I think I planted way too many tomatoes but I want to learn to can this year, salsa and other such stuff. The funny thing is that we ran out of glue for the sprinkler system one night and still had 3 hours of good light left. Our neighbor let us borrow his tiller and Tyler worked for 2 hours on our solid hard ground. My mom gave me most of the seeds. I bought the tomato plants - the ones she gave me died because I planted them about 1 week too early. Sad! I think one might make it though. Anyway, I also bought the pumpkins seeds, corn seeds, and the onion starts. I spent just a few dollars on veggie seeds thanks to my mom's help. Most everything has sprouted, now we just have to see if we can keep it growing!

corn sprouts


pumpkin sprouts


bean sprouts:


Coleton sprout!


the one who brought it all together, my sweet husband.

people, people, people

can we all just be a little less judgmental? Today Coleton was laying on the floor of the bleachers and kept fussing and crying. I did what I could to help him calm down, but I still struggle with my energy level and my blood sugar is whacky since the chemo days and today it was low. Besides that, I've given all of my energy the past 2 weeks to the sprinkler system installation and I am exhausted. This mom kept giving me 'the look' and I was ready to pop off and tell her that she can judge me after she has gone through what I have gone through, but I didn't have the energy. Sheesh, swim lessons are only half an hour and he wasn't hurting himself or anyone else. He was just laying there fussing and I tried to hold him and tried to get him interested in his toys and I tried to feed him a snack. Can you all do me a favor today? When someone is doing something obnoxious, will you just please look away, say a little prayer in your heart for them, and send good vibes their way INSTEAD of giving them 'the look' and passing judgment. Whether this is for a complete stranger or a family member, you just never know what is going on for sure and maybe all they need is a kind thought, a bit of concern, and a lot less judgment.

By the way, we installed wire last night so we are almost done with the sprinkler system!!!

things in common

I met another mom today at swim lessons. Today is the first day of Session #2 - Level 3. We started talking because Coleton was being fussy after being up with allergies most of the night. Anyway, she has 3 kids - an older daughter and then boy/girl twins in the class next to Haeley. Her husband is from H*, my husband is from H*. They live in Prov, we used to live there a little over a year ago. She is from Tooele. I graduated from Dugway and used to drive to Tooele, the closest town with fast food, for real grocery shopping, walmart, and church dances. At the end we exchanged names finally. Her first name is my middle name. We'll at least get to be friends for the next two weeks. Session #3 and #4, we are going to go to a later time but still in the morning. The kids want to stay up late and I want us all to sleep in. Today I wanted to tell the teacher that he can let go of Haeley and let her swim by herself across the pool, but I think he'll figure it out in the next day or so. If not, then I'll let him know. Nothing like a bossy mother staring down at you from the bleachers upstairs. Years ago I taught swim lessons and out at Dugway, the parents had to leave completely while we were teaching, except on the last day. Anyway, I better get this house clean (beds made, dishes done, bathrooms done, still to go - counter tops, laundry) and get the sprinkler heads put together and in piles for which ever zone they'll go to. I promise to take photos of our yard - 3 zones completely done, pipe, drains, heads, and all. 3 out of 16 - not bad. I mean considering that we just have to put on a few drains and only have funny pipe and heads to install on the rest.

dirt, dirt, and more dirt...

This morning Haeley had her final day of swim lessons for Level 2. She even got a nice Swim America Award of Advancement. I think she'll do well in level 3, which starts next week. Not sure on level 4 - it is pretty advanced for a 6 year in her first year of swim lessons. She has a really good kick and confidence in the water which really makes me happy. She really enjoys the water and it makes her happy.

As far as our yard goes, I think things are coming along and I feel like I can finally say that I think we are over half way done with the sprinkler system. We've been working our fannies off and we're tired but we are starting to see it all coming together. Today I realized that we have two zones that need to be completed - weird things like digging under the front steps and stuff - as well as two smaller zones that need to be started. That means that we have 12 zones totally completely piped. I marked where all the heads need to be cut in on 11 zones this afternoon while the kids watched a movie. They were helping me at first but spent the whole time complaining. I know, the dirt is starting to get to me too. It's a lot of work, but kiddos, we have to work now in order to be able to enjoy our yard later. Besides, doing it ourselves means saving thousands of dollars. That means we'll be able to put in grass this year. Now it is nap time and I am going to relax and enjoy some time by myself for a few moments.

weather - do you see what I see?

If you squint really hard maybe you can see what came half way down the mountain side this morning. We are experiencing an unusually cold spring. Everyone said wait until June 1st to put your garden in. I waited until the 9th. We've had lots of rain the past few days which my garden is grateful for. But it will probably be grateful for the sunny weather at the end of the week too. I'll be grateful that it will allow Tyler to get the sprinkler system done - which you can see a little part of in the bottom of the photo. I, however, am enjoying the cooler weather as much as I can. Although it is June I had to turn the heat on this morning and warm us up a degree or two. The house was 64 degrees this morning.

Haeley loves swimming lessons. Aunt A* is there with her kids at the same time too and she said it sounds like Haeley is taking after her mom. She pushes off the wall and the teacher swims next to her all the way across the pool. He helps her turn around and she swims back. She doesn't like the side stroke - neither did I. I can't tell you how much I'd love to jump in and swim laps for an hour. It was such great therapy - both physically and mentally. I used to teach water aerobics at that pool oh let me see, about 12 years ago. Yikes, time flies! Have a great day and I hope that you enjoy your day and find all of the good in it.

there's a lot goin' on...

to start things out, my family arrived on Tuesday night for dinner and a movie. We grilled steak and shrimp and asparagus and had strawberries, oranges, apples, and bananas with fruit dip. (If you marinate petite sirloin in Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing for 24 hours it is as tender and yummy as any expensive steak you can buy). My mom brought the fruit and I made the fruit dip - 2 packages philadelphia cream cheese and one LARGE jar of marshmallow cream - tastes best cold. Then they watched Pirates 3 in our theater room. My mom had been waiting all this time because they missed it in the theater and couldn't bare to watch it on their tiny tv. My mom wanted the room to rumble and it did - thankfully that room is under the garage and the rest of the house stays quiet. My sister and I sat and talked while she gave her baby a bottle and Haeley and Coleton and their two cousins played down in the toy room. Our toys are suddenly more interesting when someone else likes them. Early the next morning after the rain backed down to a drizzle the Guys including my husband, my dad, my sister's husband, my husband's brother, and my husband's dad got to work in the mud. My sis and her husband just put in their sprinkler system last Saturday so it was fresh in their mind and they drove 2.5 hours each way to help us with ours. I wish I had taken more photos but I was busy cooking and washing dishes. I ran the dishwasher 7 times in 2.5 days and we even ate lunches on paper plates.


Since my family is small and my sister has 3 kids, Haeley and Coleton got to play with their baby cousin all by themselves and they loved it. Coleton loved her soft hair but he didn't like it when she grabbed his clothes. Haeley played patty cake with her feet. It was sweet to see them interact with her so well. L* does this cute thing where she reaches out with straight arms and grabs your cheeks with the flat of her hands. It is so cute and they gave her the cutest nickname because of it.


After taking their photo with the baby, I switched to the wide angle and Coleton was wondering why I got so close to him with the lens. The kids piled onto my tummy and tried to find my eye through the lens. I was laughing so hard I could barely breath.


And then last night after my sister's family left for home, we had the full time missionaries over for dinner. It was the first time since we've lived in Utah that we've had them over. Growing up in Alaska and Alabama we had them over quite often because my dad was usually the Ward mission leader. After they left we went out in the back yard and started working on the sprinkler system some more. Haeley was throwing a fit about her loose tooth but wouldn't pull it out. We knew at this point it wouldn't be long. While Tyler and I were in the middle of gluing some pipe together she starts yelling about her tooth which she had finally pulled out all by herself. Everything stopped so we could get photos of this special little moment in time. She made it the entire year of kindergarten with all her teeth and one week to the day later she lost her first tooth. She's growing up so fast now! I know, braces are right around the corner. Thankfully we are stashing money away for things like braces because it's very likely that she will need them.

Swim Lessons

This is Haeley's first summer doing swim lessons. She has no fear of water and as long as she keeps paying attention to the teacher, has confidence in her teacher, and keeps practicing, things will go well for her with swimming. I took these yesterday morning. The teacher used the noodle behind her back to teach her to keep her tummy up and her legs straight at the same time. Today she was able to swim half the width of the pool and back on her tummy and her back unassisted. Her teacher swam right next to her. That was just kicking and not using her arms. I am sure it will take some time to get the timing right for arms and legs at the same time. Then there is that whole turn the head to breath thing. But I am so pleased with her progress in only 4 days. The teacher told me today to put her in the next level for the next set of lessons. I was glad because I wanted to get signed up in time. We still have 4 more for this set. The last 5 minutes of the lesson they tie the noodles around the kids and let them have free time. They get to kick and move all over the pool. The whole time we sit in the bleachers upstairs and Coleton eats his sandwich and watches his sister. He is surprisingly quiet the whole time.

last day of school

this is a momentous day. It's haeley's last day of kindergarten and tomorrow is her first day of summer break ever. If the rest of school goes this fast she'll be graduating in 3 weeks. where did the school year go? wow! she is already reading chapter books! I am so glad she goes to a school where they teach phonics (all 71 of them).

Another momentous thing happened yesterday. Haeley and I did hand stands in the basement. she did great. I on the other hand need my arm strength back. How I wish I could start lap swimming again. Maybe when Coleton goes to school - preschool - but we are still a long ways away from that since he is just barely 2. Anyway, Haeley and Coleton and I got a good laugh about it all.

Anyway, congrats little girl. I love you and I am grateful for your desire to learn.

memorial day family time

I am working on a family album this year. So I had better keep up with the new stuff and catch up on the old stuff (January - April). I am keeping it kind of simple. It's so much fun preserving these memories and it is so nice to be able to sit and relax while still getting something valuable done at the same time.

oh, have you seen the movie p.s. i love you? if not bring a box of tissues. I cried through the entire movie. I am not one for tear jerkers but I loved the romance in the movie. I am so glad I didn't see that one in theaters because I would have made a fool of myself bawling. anyway, the kid's movie is almost done so I had better turn this computer off!

trapped in my office...

There is often fought a battle between doing things with my kids and doing things for my kids. Last week I went with Haeley's kindergarten class to the local pool to learn about water safety. I loaded CJ into the stroller and walked from the elementary school to the high school with her entire class. It really was fun and the kids were well behaved. No, they didn't get to go in, just a hand or a foot. One of the lifeguards demonstrated different strokes for them. The other talked about safety.

This week, it's been about doing things for the kids. I finally got iMovie to do what I needed to do to make a slideshow for the kindergarten graduation this week. I made the sleeves for the DVDs and the teacher brought over a 50 pack of DVDs - the slide show is only 250 mb but the 600 photos are what took up all the room. I also had to decide which photos not to include in the slideshow because at 3 seconds each it would have been about 30 minutes but I succeeded and got it down to 11 minutes! I have been burning DVDs all day. And guess what, the last one just finished. I did get some folders organized on my computer and I made a two-page LO spread for Haeley's birthday. Well, I better go cook dinner!

Crazy day!

Landscaping

This is what our backyard originally looked like. Once we got the 200 truck loads of clay removed from the west side, they moved the topsoil from this backyard pile so that it was all over the yard. We stared at this all winter from our kitchen.


We put in a driveway last year and my MIL gave me some starts from her yard. I bought a few from a garden center because I didn't want to stare at plain old rocks and dirt from my dining table for years. We have one last pile of topsoil. I think we'll try and sell it to get a little more to put toward our yard. We have one little spot out front in a planter bed that I want to add rocks and some of that topsoil to, but that will not take very much soil.

Here you can see things once they moved the topsoil. It was a great thing we had all of that topsoil! You can also see all of the clay on the end - a 10 foot cliff of clay. We've stared at that for over a year not quite knowing what to do about it.


This was taken yesterday morning as the bulldozer got to work.


I love professionals! I showed them the landscape plan we had drawn up and made one suggestion and they created magic in my backyard!


Even this side looks so much better. I felt like I saw the flowers instead of the ugly dirt piles behind the rocks. These guys did in one day what would have taken us 30 years with a shovel!


We are getting it trenched next week. My flox have bloomed and my creepy crawlies are getting ready too. 5 of 6 lilies look like they'll make it and all of my front creepy crawlies except I'll have to move one. I can hardly wait to plant my veggies - that means we have to get sprinkler in by June 2nd or so. AHHHHHH!

Dance Revue

Haeley had her dance Revue last night and it was so much fun! Grandma and Grandpa Patterson were there. Grandma and Grandpa Vanderbeek were there. This was Haeley's 3rd revue and next year she will be performing in the big revue - this one is for the preschool and kindergarten girls. I am excited for her and nervous all at the same time. They had 4 numbers performed by the older girls last night to give the parents a good idea what their little ones will eventually be able to do. It was stunning. Those girls really work hard and what a fun way to keep your body strong! My Dad said he didn't realize how seriously they take their dancing here. He said he really enjoyed watching and his cheeks were sore from smiling so long. I enjoyed it too. My mom said she is going to go through her boxes of photos and find my dance photos. That'll be interesting...

All those little girls in their adorable costumes - cousin A* was in a blue Cinderella costume and it was gorgeous. She really looks up to Haeley and wanted to be an indian though. I loved both costumes - wish we could have had all of them for each girl. I loved the theme this year and since Haeley was in the Kindergarten class, she was in the Peter Pan ballet. There were Pans, Crocodiles, Pirates, Lost Boys, and Indians. Then later she danced as a cowgirl (tap dance) and then to It's a Small World (jazz dance) - but the new hip hop version. Anyway, tons of fun and Haeley smiled so big in each performance. She was never scared and she really got into the music.

Our SECOND yard!

Let me see, this is the second house we have had built and that means our second yard to put in. We had a landscaper draw up plans for us - addressing problems like drifting snow in the winter, bad drainage near our back rocks, and stuff like that. The guy called today and he is going to grade our dirt on Monday! Yes! He did our last yard and he did a fabulous job. Then we are going to have a trencher come out and them it's sprinkler time. There is a place here that makes your plans for free and then you just buy the parts. We figure it will save us thousands by putting the pipes together ourselves. We have many people who have volunteered to help us. We will do hydro-seed instead of sod this time. I just can hardly wait for the dirt to get covered up! I am always vacuuming the hardwood which is in every major walkway in our main level. Needless to say, all we had last year was 6 perennials that I bought and my MIL gave me some starts from her garden - she has flowering plants that crawl over the boulders and we have BOULDERS! The ones I started in June last year did fabulous - the ones from the fall well, only one survived the winter. So this year, she gave me 6 more of what I call creepy crawlies and she gave me two day lilies. The lilies were rather large and 5 years old, so I got 11 plants total out of the two. Now if I can keep them all alive! We have tulips that we planted last year in one little spot as a Family Home Evening lesson - you grow what you sow sort of thing. Other than the free ones from my MIL, nothing else will get planted this year because this whole grading and sprinkler and hydro seed thing is just about impossible to pull off. I am just so excited to get the dirt under control! My sister is in the same process - actually worse - they have to dig up their bad yard and start over.

HK & CJ @ Tepanyaki

We took a couple of photos of our children when we took my mom out to dinner on Saturday. They were so well behaved and I know that made all the difference for my mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday we drove down to see my niece baptized and confirmed. Her father, who is a member of the bishopric and a high priest, baptized her. In our church we wait until children are 8 (the age of accountability) to be baptized. It was a special experience. B is the oldest grandchild and so all of her cousins look up to her. I asked Haeley after how she felt and we talked about the good and peaceful feelings that were present at that time.

Then we drove up to meet my mom at Tepanyaki Grill - yum! - for dinner. She kept going on and on about what a special treat it was. The food there is delicious! And the kids were on their best behavior. Coleton even tried chopsticks. He wasn't really thrilled when they lit the whole grill on fire - but it was quick and he survived! He kept an eye out for our chef the rest of the evening. After we went over to my mom's house and she gave me 4 tomato plants and some seeds. We are getting excited to plant around June 1st.

We drove home but stopped to get shakes at a fast food drive up and guess who was in line in front of us - Grandpa and Grandma Vanderbeek. We'd gone separate ways at 5pm that day and about 60 miles south of where we were. Small world!

The kids went right to bed and slept in this morning until 8:30am! Yahoo! We got ready for church and at church they gave each of the mothers a special book (I haven't opened mine yet). I taught Relief Society today - lesson 9 in the manual - tough one! I got a lot of comments and I think the sisters taught themselves the lesson. I struggled in preparing for this one and worked on it for hours and hours but I just gave it to the Lord today and He really took care of the rest. Our neighbor, John, is in the ICU with kidney failure, so if you do not mind, please keep him and his family in your prayers for the next few days. He needs all the prayers he can get right now. He made it through the night and so we are very grateful for that!

Jackson Hole - quiet season

This time of year is the quiet season in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's a great little tourist town with plenty of outdoorsy things to do. The rates are great and the eating establishments are just opening back up this time of the year. There are a lot of cyclist out, but not a whole lot of traffic otherwise. It was a quiet and peaceful weekend up there. We splurged and stayed at the Snake River Lodge in Teton Village instead of the Elk Antler Inn just north of Jackson. We even had the hot tubs and swimming pool to ourselves two nights in a row! We saw elk, bison, coyotes, osprey, 4 beaver, and two hilarious dogs (see photo below). We went snow shoeing on the edge of Jenny Lake with the Grand Teton mountains as our background. We laughed and held hands. Everything was still so frozen up there. We haven't been on a trip together without other family members being with us since our honeymoon. We've been to Alaska, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Arizona, and a few other places, but always with family. Now we are planning something we can do with our kids this summer - maybe a hike to a cave or something fun we haven't done before with our 2 little ones. Now if we can just get our grass in, we might be able to enjoy camping in the backyard once or twice this year like Haeley has been begging to do! Kids are so simple sometimes, it's great!





Freedom, Wyoming - population 100 and two big dogs sitting in the middle of the road between the church and the garage - wish they turned out in focus but I don't know much about Tyler's camera!