Project Flower Bed

Before and After

This week's project: flower bed

Our yard has been looking pretty pathetic. We have lots of plans with no money so things have to get done slowly. Our yard is literally dirt, rocks and WEEDS EVERYWHERE! We needed to make our flower bed more than just dirt. So we planted marigolds and petunias which grow great in this area. We also planted a couple bushes on the side of the house and I planted some dahlia bulbs that I got for 50% off. I'll be super happy if those grow! 

 These Irises were already here. They make me happy.

This lovely globe willow replaced the "booby trees." There will be grass around it eventually.

This is what Carter does while we do yard work. 

That's his new favorite face to make. He scrunches up his nose and cheesy grins. I have no idea where he got it from. He is such a goober! Let me tell you. He stands up all the time now (holding onto stuff of course) and every time I walk with him he thinks it's hilarious. He also gets into EVERYTHING! He is very curious and brilliant. He knows how to eject a CD from the playstation and get it in his mouth before we even know what's going on. We also have a remote for our ceiling light/fan. He knows which button to push to turn on and off the light and does it all the time. At grandma's house, there's a school house she has for the kids to play with. To open it Carter knows that he has to lift the top first then the bottom. He doesn't get that technical thinking from me! He also follows me around the house and when it's bath time and he can hear the faucet he crawls in the bathroom with a big grin on his face. I just love the heck out of him!

In a couple weeks Don got invited by his friend to do a Warrior race. If you haven't heard of it, it's a 3 mile obstacle course. He'll get to jump over fire, climb up ropes, army crawl through mud...etc. He hasn't even started training yet. I will definitely be there to laugh and take pictures.

Easter Festivities

Happy Easter, everyone!

This year on Saturday Don's family went to Cluff Ranch where his mom grew up. It's a really cool place with ponds, wildlife and lots of trees. We had hamburgers, played catch, and did an egg hunt. Don's family has a fun tradition. They have a gold egg with $20 and a silver egg with $10 and they're the hardest ones to find. Don and I hid them this year...we buried them in different places and the kids still found them! Also, all their hard boiled eggs have amounts of money (like 5, 25, 50 cents) on them and they go to grandpa afterward and get their change. I just got candy growing up! These kids don't know how lucky they are.

Sunday we gave Carter his easter basket with two toys in it: a dump truck and a flower waterer toy. I was really excited when I bought them. He'll have lots of fun this summer helping Don and I with the yard. I can't wait until he walks! He's a pain to lug around now days especially since he's so mobile and weighs 22 lbs.

During Sacrament meeting I felt Carter's gums and I found a tooth poking through! Church was a great reminder of the true meaning of Easter. I'm grateful for my Savior and all he did for me.

Happy Teether

After church we had a delicious ham dinner at my brother in laws house on the lawn. I prefer Easter dinner over Thanksgiving.

Also, if anyone like me struggles making perfect boiled eggs that peel perfectly, I found some great tips!

1. Use old eggs. Don't wait until the last minute to buy eggs. Older eggs peel easier when boiled.
2. Start with cold water and gradually bring to a boil: this will help them from cracking
3. Salt or put a tsp of vinegar in the water: also helps with cracking
4. Bring to boil. Turn burner down low or off (depending on burner) and let simmer for 1 minute. Take off burner and let simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Spring a Ding

"Look what I did today all by myself!" Carter's first time pulling himself up to a stand. He really wanted that soda cup.

It's barely spring and we have been having a blast basking in the warm weather. Today, Carter pulled himself up to a stand for the first time. He was trying so hard to reach for the soda on his knees. He was grunting and I thought it was funny so I pulled out the camera. Then he pulled himself right up! I am impressed by him everyday. And no more army crawl. He big boy crawls now.

Classy is my middle name.

Besides adoring our child, Don and I have been working on our yard. I even drew out a landscaping plan.   Our trees and flowers are blooming. We had some "boobie" trees in our front yard (as Don liked to call them.) They really did look like boobs. They started blooming and our allergies were going crazy and bees were all over those suckers so we decided to rip them out. Don was all excited to borrow the tractor, he even let me use it a little. Now we have a cute, little dinky globe willow tree planted. I wish trees didn't take so long to grow. Our next job is to scrape all the gravel from the backyard so we can plant grass. It's going to be quite a project because we tried scraping a little section last weekend and that gravel goes pretty deep so we'll probably have to get a layer of dirt and put it on top to level everything out. More dirt = more tractors = more fun!

We also had a little snow this spring right before my mom and sister came to visit.

See? I'm not lying.

Carter loved it.

My mom and aunt Becky with their grandkids 

After the snow, my mom, two brothers, sister and nephew came to visit! It warmed up real quick when they came. Along with my cousins, we played at the park, fed the ducks, ate yummy food, watched Elmo, and talked lots which is what every vacation should be like.

My mom is a baby whisperer

My cousin Rachel took some maternity pictures of my sister so we got a couple sister pictures too.

Two stinky cousins in the bath

My favorite picture of spring break. They are so stinking cute. Look at those eyeballs! They must be related.