Projects

I am not so much a project-doer. Ok, that's not true. I take on a lot of projects, but I finish very few of them. This is not something I am proud of. Obviously, I need to work on my follow through, but usually the projects I don't finish are things in the sewing / crafting category. They aren't things that are essential to our everyday life, so when I get bored of them or too overwhelmed with other things they get shoved in our guest bedroom and forgotten about until I get the urge to reorganize. I have a whole guest bedroom full of unfinished crafting / sewing projects. It makes me feel pretty inadequate when stacked against every one of my sisters-in-law who are all crafty (yes, even you, Diana, with your recent foray into crocheting) and finish their projects. Not only do they finish their projects, they turn out really nice. If I actually finish a craft project it's likely to be something I use for one holiday or something and the next time I pull it out I realize how not cute it turned out. Chalk up another craft project that was a waste of time and money. I might as well just pay a visit to Home Goods next time around. I have just starting declaring myself a non-project person.

Enter working on our backyard (also known as the large dirt pile). Our backyard is a major work-in-progress, as in a year and a half in the making so far (and we aren't done). Brett did a masterful job on our patio, and we stacked up a good-sized cinderblock enclosure some time ago, filled it with some dirt and started a garden. The next spring we planted trees, which was a huge ordeal with the cement, I mean dirt, we had to dig through for holes. Then, it got hot so we didn't want to work outside because we live in Southern Arizona, people. Then, it was football season and our weekends consisted of watching...college football. Then, it was the holidays and we were gone for another 6 weeks. Now, it's beautiful weather and there are no excuses. It's time to actually finish a project! We've been working on the backyard for the last few weeks, and guess what, folks, I have found it's a project I don't mind doing or finishing. In fact, I'd spend all day out there if I could figure out how to install the irrigation myself (which is the next thing on our list) and I didn't need to feed my children, do dishes and laundry, run kids to preschool, etc.

First, we moved our garden. It was large and took up space that we might want to fill in with some sort of grass / turf when we feel like making the investment. This was no small task, especially shoveling the dirt from the old garden to the new. Good thing we didn't have to move it far. The kids had a blast playing on the dirt pile and I really didn't mind taking an hour or so a day to let them while I shoveled.


And, after a week of shoveling and faces full of dirt, here is our new, moved garden (good thing we dry stacked the first time). I am loving it, and I love the space it opened up for us. Chase runs over there everyday. I think he appreciates the extra space.


We had extra cinderblock and decided to build a little sandbox in the other corner of the yard. We had one of those small plastic ones, but it was too small and close to the patio. Half of the sand kept ending up on the patio. We hope this new, improved sandbox will alleviate the traveling sand problem. The kids are loving it. Adie can spend a loooong time in there :)
Here is just a bonus picture of our first almond blossom! It was taken a few days ago and more have started to bud. It's going to be so beautiful in the next few weeks. I also have seen a few very small buds forming on our asian pear tree. Yay for spring! Now, let's just hope all our citrus survived the especially frosty nights we've had this year.

I planted our garden a few days ago. Next on our list in finishing the backyard irrigation so I don't have to water our plants and trees by hand, yay! Then, we'll get some rock to fill in all the rest of the dirt areas. Finally, we'll stain the cinderblock a more pleasing color. Then, the backyard will feel complete. Finally! In the not-so-distant future we hope to add some grass substance (we're leaning toward the fake stuff) over where the garden used to be and adding a few shrubs and some potted plants here and there. I look forward to it all. It's so fun for me to be outside working on the yard.

Four

Adie turned four just over a week ago. Hello! How did she grow up so fast? I swear it wasn't long ago I was typing away at my desk at Novell, having very little clue my water broke and that's why I was feeling so many contractions when I was only 37 weeks along. That little girl sneaked up on us a few weeks earlier than we'd expected but what a fun adventure she's taken us on since. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I stole a little idea from a friend down here, thanks Kali. In her family, every four years each child could have a big, drop-off the kids kind of party. All the other years, you have something low-key - cake and ice cream with nearby family and friends. Since I'm just not the big elaborate birthday party type mom (sorry, my children) I really loved this idea. I can handle a big shindig every four years for each child. Well, this year, the first big shindig arrived.

Fortuitously, a couple of months before Adie's big day a groupon for a Build-a-Bear party sprang up. Since the coupon was to be used right around the time of Adie's birthday, I snatched one of those puppies right up. Then, I went about coercing introducing Adie to the idea of doing a party at Build-a-Bear. She didn't even know what the store was, but I talked a good talk and she was easily persuaded (which is good, since I already had the groupon). We also made a teddy bear cake and had a picnic at the park after Build-a-Bear. Everything went so smoothly. The kids were all so well-behaved. I am told they love the bears they made. The groupon made it all extremely affordable, especially when each child went home with their own Build-a-Bear. Even without the groupon though, it really is not that pricey if you don't invite a really large group or allow them to soup up their bears too much, (but sure, you can make it big-time expensive and elaborate if that's your preference). For the 3 - 5 year old age range in attendance, what we did was perfect. In a nutshell, I'd highly recommend a Build-a-Bear party. Adie had a blast. The hardest part was narrowing down the list of people to invite. I have a hard time with that. I want to include everyone and I knew for this it needed to be a smaller group for her age. Anyway, that was all way too much detail for the average reader, but just trying to record it all for posterity.

Adie received all sorts of fun things from her friends, her grandparents and we got her a play kitchen with some food, pots and pans, etc., which she (and Chase) love and play with constantly. It's about time she got one. She might have been one of the only three to four-year-old girl we know without one. Anyway, four has been good to Adie so far. We were happy to have a fun celebration for her.

Here is the cake-making process. Adie and Chase were enthralled with watching the cakes bake. I think they watched them bake for about 10 minutes. Who knew what kind of entertainment an oven light can offer? Adie also helped me make the frosting and frost the cake while sporting her pj's and tutu. Classic! I think the cake turned out pretty cute. Yes, I didn't frost the sides. That got me into trouble last year, so I didn't even bother this time around. I think it still looks good and Adie was satisfied, so I am happy.

Adie's birthday morning consisted of hanging out in pj's, opening some gifts, loving her new kitchen. (Yes, the thing should have been assembled, but mom and dad were just too pooped the night before to tackle it). Chase was still sporting his mullet at the time (which has since been taken care of) and trying to steal Adie's candy.

All the Build-a-Bear excitement is captured here, even me shaking my thing, doing the hokey pokey with the kids. Isn't it an adorable little group of kiddos?

Finally, a picnic and cake at the park. I think playing on the playground together was really just as fun as Build-a-Bear.

Thanks to everyone who made Adie's day special, and thank you, Adie, for being an adorable light in our lives. We love you!

Random thoughts

Time again for another brain dump.

- Jimmer Fredette is an amazing player. Flat out awesome. He's on of those guys you're really glad plays for your team and not the other team. My guess is BYU gets a favorable seeding this year. While I don't believe basketball is as corrupt as football in college, I think that the tournament organizers want as many people to watch as possible. Jimmer's getting so much buzz and no one can watch him aside from ESPN highlights that I think people will want to watch him. BYU makes it to the 3rd round at least based upon their best seeding in 30 years.

- I really believe that boys and girls are naturally drawn towards certain things. Chase has developed a tendency to grunt at all things transportation. If he hears an airplane or train or big truck while we're in the house he stops and points at where the noise is coming from. He accompanies that with a grunt. We also discovered yesterday that he likes watching Thomas the Train for the same reason (as much as he watches TV anyway).

- Adie likes "spicy chicken", which describes pretty much anything at all resembling orange chicken from panda express. Any asian food with chicken can be described as "spicy chicken" and she'll eat it and claim it's great.

Feeling the Love

30 years ago today Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. Now, I would say Reagan was the last decent president our country had, but he certainly is far from my favorite, so that's not my reason for posting this clip. This day, 30 years ago, also happened to be the day I came into this world. While my parents were welcoming their first child into their family, my grandma was participating, as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, in the president's inauguration, singing one of my favorite hymns of all time, which brought the president to tears. It's a touching moment and what better way to celebrate my birthday than to use a video clip that encompasses my beloved grandma who we lost this year, music (the Mormon Tab Choir of all things) and politics. Loved ones, music, politics / philosophy - pretty much all my favorite things in the whole world rolled into one little video clip. Happy birthday to me!

And, I am very happy to report it was a good day indeed. Brett did the dishes for me first thing in the morning, and besides Chase throwing Adie's beloved green shirt in the toilet, the kids behaved rather well. My cold is subsiding. A friend brought me freshly baked bread and a recipe book she made. Another friend brought us dinner and a cake. Brett brought home fresh flowers, gerber daises (my faves) in lots of bright colors and I received many phone calls, emails and texts throughout the day with well wishes. Thank you to everyone who made the day happy and special. I am very blessed with way too many blessings to count and those blessings often come in the form of so many wonderful people in my life. I love you all!

Beware the Cold!

Last night, I experienced the worst cold I have ever had. Well, I have had it for a few days and I thought I was over the worst of it because I have had a few not-so-stellar nights, but this night took the cake by a mile. Normally, when I get colds they run me down a little and it might take me an extra few minutes to fall asleep due to coughing or switchage (a term coined by my friend referring to how one nostril gets blocked and then you switch sides you are sleeping on and the one side clears and the other side becomes blocked). After trying to sleep for 3 hours, which was, mind you, after taking a sleeping aid (which is usually a rare occurrence for me and I have multiple reasons for doing so now), I broke down like a little baby. I just started crying in bed. My eyes were stinging from the fatigue since I'd only gotten about 5 hours of sleep the previous night and I could barely breathe from the post-nasal drip I was experiencing (I know you all love the detail). It's interesting because last evening my friend and I were talking about her daughter being up all hours of the night since she has, I would assume, the same thing I do. She said her daughter was very dramatic about the whole thing, and now, I can honestly say, I was probably just as dramatic and totally can empathize. It was complete misery. I had no idea a little cold could get me down like that. Luckily, I did finally get to sleep and only woke a few times and was able to go back to sleep in fairly short order. However, this is a cold not soon to be forgotten. I don't wish it upon any of you.

College bowl pick'em

I'm sure this is surprising to most of you, but I rarely do well when asked to fill out a bracket for March madness. Some how my mother-in-law, who rarely watches any college basketball and has doesn't know anything about most of the teams, often picks at least as well if not better than me. (No hard feelings Judy). This year Sabrina's brother invited us to participate in ESPN's college bowl mania. At the last second Sabrina talked me into joining their group and I filled out my bracket. Well, unsurprisingly both Sabrina's mom and grandma did quite well at the beginning. Much to my surprise, however, I was doing well also. In fact, I kept doing well. So well in fact, that I not only won our group, but ended up in the 99.5 percentile at number 1660 out of 323,081. I normally don't feel inclined to brag about my luck. Since I'm usually awful at doing these things, I thought I'd just take a moment and let you know that if you fill out enough of these things, soon or later you too can have a lucky day and pick well.

Mullet Man

Over Christmas break my brother dubbed Chase "mullet man", probably for good reason. The kid needs a haircut. However, if we give him one, we won't be able to capture pictures like these. I think I'll kind of miss it when it's gone.

Well, probably not that much.