Three syllables

He doesn't eat it (well, he tries but it doesn't get very far. It's all them nubbies,) but he can tell you what it is.

What a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Today was a nice day for a ride in your horse-drawn buggy. It was also a nice day for....

Yardwork!!!

We got our landscaping in!! Yea!! Hoooray!! Yipee!!
You know, we get by with a little help from our friends. Allen and Todd provided the "truckage" necessary for hauling all the goods: 2 scoops of dirt, 1 scoop of mulch, 8 bushes, monkey grass (variegated liriope), a crepe myrtle and a silver maple tree.

From bottom to top: Dwarf Buford Holly Ilex cornuta 'Burfordii Nana', Nandina-Fire Power, and Lochinch Butterfly Bush Buddleia davidii 'Lochinch'.

Carl and I have been working, working, working on getting the area prepped. We removed the grass (and replanted some of it in the back yard), lined with newspaper (it's eco-friendly and FREE) set edging, loaded and unloaded dirt in a wheel barrow. Then the MEN came in and rigged the drainage from the gutters and moved more dirt and dug holes and planted plants and laid mulch and much much more. Allen was the aesthetic master. Even though I had a plan made up, he helped it become perfect making sure everything was in exactly the right place.

Variegated Monkey Grass, aka Liriope. I like the purple flowers.

This is a Crepe Myrtle Catawba. It's going to have almost purple flowers blooming on it. I kept seeing these everywhere around here and LOVED them. I HAD to have one in my own yard.

We've got a bit of a drainage problem between us and the neighbor. We put in some Arctic Blue Willow Salix purpurea 'Nana' to help soak up some of that water.

The side of the house where the willow bushes are.

Last but not least, OUR TREE!!!! It's a Silver Maple Acer saccharinum. It's over 9 feet tall and was $32!! Can you believe that? We had budgeted for $150 on a tree for the back. We were able to use the savings for the butterfly and willow bushes.
Thanks to Dave and Todd for digging the hole and giving our tree a place to grow grow grow!

The total bill was just over $400.00. And yes, this was budgeted for. Even though the charges went on the Credit Card, we have the cash to pay for it. Ahh, landscaping debt-free. I'm so happy to have this done. We still have some azaleas to put in, but I think Carl and I can handle that on our own. I would have liked to get my hands a little more dirty, but I had motherly duties to attend to. Oh! I almost forgot! I want to thank Cousin Tyrza for playing with Brady while I was out working. She has definitely earned a "video game playdate" at our house. Thanks, Cuz! And thanks again to the men that made it possible. Without your gracious service we COULD have done it, but it would have taken a long time and we would have been VERY VERY sore.

Special To Me

I did NOT interperet this song. I won't take credit for having that talent. I did however learn the sign and sing. THAT I will take credit for.

Visiting Teaching

One of the sisters I visit is an 79-year-old widow. She's got a lot of land and some horses. Well, during the ice storm we had our elders cleared her driveway and some other debris in her yard. We've been visiting her for like 6 months now. A few months ago my companion asked if the sister wanted to go to church. She hasn't been since I don't know when. She said she'd like to go, but she doesn't like to go alone and doesn't drive very well. I offered to give her a ride since her place is on the way. We've been picking her up mostly every Sunday.

The past Sunday she told us she's wanting to prepare to go the Temple, to do her OWN work. I didn't know she hadn't been! The last time she went was in Salt Lake City to be sealed to her living parents and siblings. Her husband's work has been done as far as possible. When she does go, she'll be able to be sealed to him.

I didn't even imagine that us visiting her and making it possible for her to go to church could bring that about! I'm am so honored to be a part of it. I didn't really think visiting teaching was very important before. I'd heard stories, but never had my own testimony of it. I can see now what it can do for people. I'm sure she's waited many many years to be sealed to her husband.

So I guess when I think "This is a pointless gabbing hour. I'm wasting my time." like I have been guilty of doing before, I can remember that it has made a change in the life of someone I know. I makes me feel happy.

Here I go-

I'm on a bike!

We got Brady a bike seat a while ago. Since we didn't have helmets we had some boundaries of where we could ride. Thursday I finally went and got us some helmets.










Now we can go ride all around town. I took Brady out on a 4 mile ride yesterday. Today we did the route as a family. I looooooooove it!

Garden, take Two

Since last years garden didn't do so well, we did a little extra preparation this year. We found that you can't just till fertilizer into the ground, plant things, and then expect them to grow as you could in Utah. The dirt here is CLAY.

So this year we built a box for our garden. Bro. Charles in our Branch gave us the wood and arranged for the dirt to be delivered. Carl and I built the three square boxes ALL BY OUR SELVES!! After lining the bottom with newspaper (organic weed block. I'm so green...) we filled it with imported dirt from I don't know where. Pres. LaVetter (a.k.a. Uncle Dave) very much assisted us with the filling of the box.

We planted seeds a few weeks ago. They have already started to grow! Today we weeded the little weeds out and I thinned the green beans and cucumbers. I hope they survived. They look all sad and wilty. We have EIGHT tomato plants, also from Bro. Charles. We really only wanted 2 or 3.

Brady was happy to help Daddy in the garden this morning. He was using the hammer for uh......making sure the box was sturdy? Even Symion got in on the action.

What a good little bunch of helpers!

RANDOM!

I saw this on facebook for a quiz. I think it's funny.