My peas are peeking through the dirt! It is so exciting to plant things and have them come up and watch them grow.
I just wish our weather would warm up a bit so that I could plant more stuff. We have dropped down to 22˚ f the last two nights. Nothing but peas can survive that. Our growing season is all of two- two and a half months here.
This is a list of what we are planting this year. Anybody else doing anything different?
Corn (first and foremost my favorite thing to come out of a garden!)
We filled sandbags for family night last night. It was a good experience, but I do have to say my back hurts today. Those sandbags are HEAVY! Our snow pack levels are at 165% of normal in Utah. My husband says he has never seen as much snow up Fairview Canyon as there is now and it is still there. He says there is still 8 to 10 FEET up on top.
When the snow comes down (if it ever stops raining) we are going to see some serious water. That is why we were sandbagging last night. 'The best defense is a good offense.'- Jack Dempsey, prizefighter. We ended up doing about 200 bags, in the rain. I was proud of my kids, they worked hard.
It really only took us 2 hoursand some of that was spent eating cake and ice cream for my brother-in-law's birthday. (What a guy to sandbag for his birthday - of course, it was his house we were barricading :)
Doesn't that look nice? Hope it works and hope its enough... The family that sandbags together, stays together!
Our holiday went on for two days this year and we had lots of fun despite the snow and cold. In keeping with tradition, we headed up to the Gordon farm on Saturday. We had a BBQ and then the customary candy/egg hunt was held in the old orchard and much sugar was discovered and consumed.
Grandma also made a treasure hunt and the kids enjoyed that too. Here are some of the scavengers on the trail with Grandpa.
The cache was discovered in the hay barn (quarter-filled eggs). It was a fun day!
Sunday, after church, my out-of-town sister and my in-town sister and our families got together out at my grandpa's old farm and had ANOTHER hunt (my kids really needed more candy- not). Here's the group before they began.
This is the 'after hunt' photo with the happy, spoiled children from my home.
This is a fun photo of me (middle) with my sisters. I just love them!
Since there was mud the boys needed to do some donuts in the rhino (this is D driving cousin A). Then we went back to my house for dinner. It was another FUN day! I love traditions, family and getting together!
We really love to dye easter eggs. We are artsy enough that each egg becomes a minor masterpiece. Last night at Family Night was no exception.
S wins the prize for most dropped eggs. She just couldn't hold on to them last night. We laughed and laughed when she, then, spilled the pink dye cup. She was really on one. Big C made lots of plaid eggs. Princess P did lots of fun doodle eggs and Little C created quite a few pieces of purple perfection.
A made a very creepy eyeball egg and D wins the prize for most logos (no surprise there).
Here is one of the cartons. The kids each got to do about 5 eggs a piece, but that still wasn't enough. They were really in creative mode last night.
Here's my lovely tiger striped one- so 80's. My kids were already talking about rolling them down the hills Saturday. And so Easter Traditions begin...
My brother-in-law just finished his half pipe and my son, D, couldn't be more thrilled. He was over at their house Saturday afternoon having the time of his life, getting a good sunburn and enjoying a BBQ. Here are some photos my sister-in-law posted on Facebook...
Here is the group they had over on Saturday. He's the one on the far left.
Here he is dropping in. He's a lot more daring than I would be! You couldn't pay me to do that. I think we just discovered the new cool place to be in E town.
I know a girl with a good camera and and a good eye. She takes photos for friends, so I decided to take advantage of her like a good friend. I love the results! Thank you Sandra! You rock!
I have seen rolled fabric flowers all over everything lately and I LOVE them. I decided to try to make some, so I googled some tutorials (click for link) and found lots of different ways to do them.
I think I am going to buy some pieces of fabric today and make some in the exact colors I want. They are fun and fast and best of all- NO SEWING. I can sew, but it is so much more immediate to just hot glue.
My high school boys have joined the tennis team for the spring. I think they have had a good time even though they say they don't win many matches. It gives them something to do so they don't come home and sit around on the internet or the Wii, so I am a fan. The weather we've had this spring could be a bit more conducive to tennis play, but that's what we get for living in Utah...
Snow College has a small gallery space for students to have a solo art show. This week, S has a show going. It is entitled 'What Pace Do You Walk and Why Do You Walk It.' I went to the opening today from noon to 1 pm and was very surprised and proud. She wouldn't let me help her at all, so I had no idea what she was doing. I was impressed at the individuality and creativeness of the show.
Here we are by two of the four ink drawings that are part of the show.
She also had these mannequins that you can give tattoos to with Sharpie (I drew an 'I Heart Mom' on the arm of one) to express yourself. She has ALWAYS loved drawing on herself. That is an attractive photo of me, no? No.
Here is one of the drawings entitled 'Infected By the Wasps.' Go see the show. It is in the Humanities Building just behind the main art gallery.
A post on my cousin's blog made me realize that my family has some funny quirks. These are things we do that seem perfectly normal to us, but might be viewed as strange by others. I realize every family has these quirks, it's what makes us unique. Some families more than others. I have a few that I am not too embarrassed to share with you (others will remain hidden until we die).
We drink water right from the tap. We are careful not to put our mouth on it and I have given instructions on how to do it correctly. You might be wondering why I allow this and how it got started. I actually learned it from Big C's family. It saves having to wash a glass. I got into the habit and have done it ever since. How can I punish my children for doing something they see me do all the time? Disgusting or not, it is a regular occurance in our home.
We hug each other after every family prayer. This is a great quirk in my opinion. Our kids are getting a positive, physical expression of love at least twice a day. I LOVE this quirk. I am not sure how it started, I guess it is just left over from when the kids were little, but they know, even now, that they do not walk away from the circle until the parents are squeezed.
We do not wear shoes in the house. I know a lot of families have this rule, but it creates an issue that I do not enjoy- a pile of shoes by every door. How do you deal with this at your house? I still haven't figured it out and would love any feedback you are willing to share.
The last quirk I will share takes place at Christmas time. You may have noticed from previous blog posts that we do not celebrate this holiday in our own home. I know this is strange to many of you (it is to me), but it is a tradition my husband grew up with. We go up to my in-law's barn and Santa comes there. I still struggle with this quirk. I grew up having Christmases in my home, with only my family and really miss the intimacy of those times. My children, however, are horrified by the thought of not going up to the barn with all the cousins, and Christmas is definitely for children, so they always win.
The year of the hippies. Everything I found about this year had to to with hippies in some form (anti-war rallies, Woodstock, tie dyed shirts, etc...). I tried to focus on other stuff too, though. Here is a brief run-down of Pop Culture for the year:
I love John Denver (was raised listening to him) and he was popular then, so I had to include him.
I loved The Brady Bunch too, so I had to include it as well. This is the year it went on the air.
As everyone knows, this was also the year that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. (Yes, I actually believe they did it).
This is the year True Grit was made! Love that movie! Love John Wayne!!
David O. McKay was the prophet at this time. Had to include that.
And this was the year they made Johnny Lingo too (Mahanna, you ugly)!
