Yard Work Part 2

This is not the promised pictures of the front yard. We haven't reached that part yet! It has taken longer than we thought to finish up things in the back yard. Yesterday we were out there from 8:30 until 5:00. Well at least Steven was. I had to come in around 3:00 to get the girls clean and dinner started because we were baby sitting for friends at 5:00. So we got the garden tilled, and the back corner cleared out. Here are some pictures.

Here is the best before I could find. You'll have to just concentrate on the top right corner for the before picture part.

Here is the corner now. We are planning on putting the bench back eventually when we decide just what to do with all the space.

This is a shot of all the rocks we found in the corner. It was crazy how many there were. I think they were collected on purpose, but then they got covered over by all the growth back there.

Finally here is a shot of the garden after getting tilled. I can't wait to plant things next year.

Out of Retirement

In my closet there is a pair of shoes that have been very lonely lately. I think they have something like NIKE on the side! They are very nice shoes and while they feel very comfortable when I wear them, I haven't had then on my feet for a long time. Really this is not such a surprise, the bigger news is that they ever made it on my feet in the first place. For a while now I have heard them whisper every now and then when I open the closet. It has been getting louder as I have a pair of pants that are lonely too! They deserve to be worn, but there they sit, collecting dust as I continue to ignore the shoes, and my waist ignores the pants. So today the shoes came out of retirement. I will not mention how long they were on, or how fast they got to go, but they did go. In the end, they made it farther than I thought possible so perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem. Now the trick is to keep the shoes out of retirement, the treats on permanent vacation, and eventually the pants will join the shoes. If you don't hear back, well I might have some great shoes for you!

What We've Been Up To

I realize the frequency of my posts has been seriously lacking this year. So here is the reason....are you ready for this? Two words yard work. I know crazy. First of all we do so much of it in our "spare" time that there has been little time to do other things, and second of all that's really what we have been up to. I keep telling myself if we do all this work this year it won't be so much next year. I know it's not good to lie, but please for now just let me believe this little white one because I may not make it otherwise! When we moved in, we didn't really understand just how large our yard is. At first glance it doesn't seem that big, but once you start having to weed every square inch, well almost, then it grows exponentially. Previous to us living in the house it was lived in by a widow who was not able to do a lot. She kept it up as much as she could, but for a few years it's been getting more and more wild, then this last year the house was empty. So we are making up for a lot of years of work that just didn't get done. Anyway, to the fun part, before and after pictures. I have to warn you though, we haven't got to the planting part of the plan yet, so you may not be too impressed! I just thought you all might like to know why I dropped off the face of the blogging world. Note: This is just the back yard, there is one more thing to do in the front then I'll post before and after.

This last Saturday we spent the better part of the day and really got a lot of things cleared out. Today Steve got up early and took this load of green waste to the city green waste place! hopefully we are getting to the end of it for this year.

They're Off

Today is the first day of school and I am officially alone. How do I feel about this? I do not know yet. We'll give it a few days to process, maybe a few years and then I'll let you know. The girls were excited and couldn't wait to get going. With their back packs full of school supplies I sent them off. Here are a few pictures.

Juliana and Kathryn

Happy 24th

Today was a first in our hose. Steven ran his first Marathon. He ran the Deseret News marathon this morning. He did an amazing job. He ran it in 3 hours and 20 minutes! He was only 10 minutes shy of qualifying for the Boston Marathon! I am so proud of him, and really glad that he is still walking! Here are a few pics.

Another one "bites" the dust

Really I should way two more bit the dust. Today the girls each lost a tooth. This is number two for Kathryn and the first for Juliana. They have been just hanging on for several days, so I decided that is was finally time to get them out. They are excited and were very brave. Here are some pictures.

Juliana

Kathryn

Our House

Here are some pictures of our new place. I know it's taken me a while so I hope you didn't give up hope.  The pictures start on the top floor and go down. Enjoy.

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

For about two years, the girls have wanted Rapunzel hair. So we let it grow and grow. Recently they have been complaining about snags when I brush their hair. I just told them if they wanted to cut their hair then there would be a lot less knots, and snaggles. Each time I mentioned this, I got a chorus of no. Until a week or so ago, and they said, "Okay." Much to my surprise, and happiness. They have, or I should say had, beautiful hair, but I am not good at doing hair. When you have long straight hair, and no talent for doing cool braids, it just hangs there most of the time in the way. So we found some one to cut it and this morning the scissors came out. Here are the befores and afters. It was actually long enough to donate to Locks of Love, and the girls were excited to do it. We sent the package off this afternoon.

Kathryn and Juliana

I Am Me

A question. Why is it that some days who you are seems pretty good and acceptable, then other days who you are is not enough? Why the up and down? Is it really necessary? Is it inevitable? I am certain that I am not alone in my vacillation of self-love. Today is a loving day. I ran into a neighbor this morning who was just about to start a run. She trains for marathons. A lot of days I would think I should train for such a thing and get down on myself for not having any motivation to do so. I hate running really. Never have loved it, and I doubt I ever will. Today I wished her well and was glad for her, and happy for me that I wasn't training for a grueling all day event. (All day if you are me because that's how long it would take me to complete a marathon.) So I am wondering how to repeat these self-love days more often. I get a lot more accomplished and my family reaps lots of rewards when "momma is happy." Any advise? Is it just a matter a mucking through and enjoying the good ones? So I hope you are having a self-love day today and if you aren't you could write or call because I would love to hear from you.

A moment of stardom

Today I became a star, or at least as close to one as I am ever going to get. Thousands of people heard my voice over the waves of the radio. Last Wednesday, the radio show Car Talk called our house and I described a problem I was having with our car. It all started a few weeks ago when I decided to get on Car Talk. Steven doubted it would happen, but I gave it a try and voila it worked. I called them and left a message, they e-mailed, and said when they would be calling. Then after the call they e-mailed to say that I may or may not be on  the show. Yesterday I received another e-mail congratulating me that I would, in fact, be on the show. I was caller number seven. It was fun, and really not that hard. So the lesson here is to just give something a try even if you don't think you have a chance. If you didn't catch the show and would like to, you can go to their website and download a free pod-cast, but not until after 2:00 pm eastern time today.

Update

So we did get a house, not the house referred to in the post below but a house. It's in a great location and we are very excited. It's just down the street from where we live now, so the move won't be so bad. Stay tuned for pictures and exciting adventures of inspections, and signing our life away to a bank!

Being a Grownup

I know, I have been a grownup for a while now, or so people say. I have children, a budget, I volunteer at the school. Today marks a new passage into adulthood for us. We are officially making an offer on a house!!!! It's a long shot, and by long I mean pretty long. But it's still a huge deal, at least for us. I remembered this morning and gave out a cheer. Steve was not so excited, I think it feels like a really huge commitment and he's not sure he's been able to  see everything out there. He has a little OCD when it comes to shopping for a big purchase. He likes to see and review all options. With house buying, it doesn't work that way, because there is always something new on the market, well at least in the market as it stands now. Well there it is. We are getting all grown up. Yikes!

Hats

The girls have been begging me to be able to "stitch" something. For Christmas they got a couple of projects that they could "sew" together. They loved it. The activities consisted of pre-punched felt shapes, yarn and a plastic needle. So I have been trying to think of a different type of project that would create something useful and not just another thing to pick up off the floor. I remembered I had a hat loom. So when we were at a craft store the other day, I let them pick out some yarn. This weekend they each got to make a hat. They were so excited, and I was very impressed with how well they did. Here's some pictures of the final project.

Kathryn

Juliana