Flower Bed

I finally put in the retaining wall in my flower bed that I have been wanting to do for five years. Keith and John helped me with a few things, but for the most part, I did the work. Here is the before picture (including the blocks that my neighbor so generously helped me unload from my truck).


And here is the after picture. I still need to level out the dirt some more, then I can plant the flowers!

I haven't decided exactly what kind of flowers I am putting in, but I am starting to look. Hopefully, that won't take too long! Stay tuned for the next picture.

Garden

I planted our garden last night with the help of Keith, John and Reagan. Keith took charge of the planting the last two years, so he said I was in charge this year. I did some of the planting with Riley on my hip, but I think it went well. It's really quite exciting. We'll see if anything grows. :) It is only our third year to have a garden. We have reduced the variety of vegetables that we plant down to corn, butternut squash, zucchini and carrots. We bought some soaker hoses for the garden this year, so we will see how that goes. We also bought drip lines for the planter beds. As long as there is a dry day next week, I am hoping to take a day off of work and start working on my flower bed. We have quite a few blossoms on our apple tree and peach tree this year. Maybe we will get some edible fruit this year.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was really good! On Saturday evening we attended my brother's 40th birthday party then stayed over night with my parents. It was nice to spend some time with my mother on Mother's Day and I know she enjoyed seeing the grandkids. I apparently picked the right ward to attend on Mother's Day too since I got a big Hershey's almond bar. We all shared it on the way home from church (I appreciated the help eating it since I really didn't need all of those calories). Later in the day we returned home, then went over the Keith's parents' house to spend some time with his mom. Keith's brother and family were there as well. We had a nice time!

My kids did a few things for me on Mother's Day. John made a "cake" with the game Upwards. It had a big purple "M" on it and a candle made from the letters. He brought it to me singing "Happy Mother's Day." It was sweet that he put so much effort into it. Then Reagan made a candle with the letters and put it on the Upwards box and brought it to me. Later, Reagan sang "Happy Mother's Day" to me while strumming on the guitar. I got it on video too. It was great! I tried to milk Mother's Day for all it was worth. I got John to sing the closing song in church with me. I love singing with him! He also gave me a poem with his hand print that he had made at school. It was wrapped with decorated wrapping paper that he made himself. The best part of Mother's Day, though, was just being with my kids! I love them tons and love being a mother!

Swimming

We went swimming at the university last night. Riley loved it this time! We put him in his floaty and he had fun splashing the water with his hands. Then he decided that he didn't want to be in it anymore and tried to climb out of it. He did a pretty good job of it, so I took him out. He liked to lay on my arm and doggie paddle and even tried floating on his back a few times. He did great! Reagan was all over the place floating on two noodles. She didn't even want us to touch her. We just had to keep a close eye on her, but she is a great little swimmer! John had fun as well. He will be taking swimming lessons again this summer. He takes them at a local high school. They have an indoor pool, so you don't have to worry about sunburns or bad weather, which could include snow the way the weather has been this year. It is snowing right now!

Success!

Well I successfully completed my first 5k! It felt great! I ran with nine other people that I knew, including Keith and John, so it was fun to be able to support each other. For four of us, it was our first 5k. John came in before me, but I informed him that it wouldn't happen next time. :) I don't know my exact time, but it was somewhere around 43 minutes. It would have been better if I hadn't stopped to use the restroom along the way, but it also would have been worse if my friend hadn't come back to run with me after she finished. She kept me motivated to keep running until the finish. I really appreciated it! Overall, I was pleased with how I did. I am excited for the next one!

Tea Party

Right before I left to attend the Tea Party on April 15th, I was on a local news website and found a video from last year's Tea Party. I am in it for a short time as I walk past the camera that was filming people holding up their signs. Keith did end up going with me this year, but checked the local newspaper online as soon as he got up the next morning to see if his picture was in it. It turns out that we were in the pictures, but they were taken from a distance and you can only see the back of us. I guess he's safe. ;) My favorite signs were "I got tired of yelling at my TV, so I came here" and "An angry mom is worse than an angry mob" held by a mom who was there with her kids.

Tax Day

Well today is tax day. That means I will be attending another Tea Party. I tried to get Keith to attend with me, but he is afraid he will end up with his picture in the paper. Since he works at "the heart of the Devil", he doesn't want to stir up any controversy at work. I think it would be cool to have my picture in the paper. We'll see what I can do. :)

I finally mailed in our taxes yesterday. I stayed home from work until I got them done. We are getting a pretty good refund back. I took a day off of work in February to work on them, but just never was able to get them finished after that until yesterday. We have decided to buy a laptop with our refund. I am really excited. Hopefully that means that I can blog more often? Let's hope so!

Another tidbit about today is that Keith and I kissed for the first time 18 yrs. ago. Also, he proposed (for the second time) 17 yrs. ago.

A lot has happened since I last posted. I will try to update this blog soon, but I am out of time for now.

5K Run?

One of my goals for awhile has been to run a 5K. I have always been on the sidelines cheering someone else on, usually Keith, but wished that I could do what they do. It's inspirational to watch. I have never been much of a runner. I guess it just doesn't come natural to me. Now that I am not busy having kids and am able to train for it, I have decided to try my first 5K this year. I have no idea how far I can run because I work out on the elliptical. I am anxious for a little warmer weather so I can get outside and see what I can do. My workouts haven't been as regular as I would like. As much as I enjoy watching Glenn Beck while I work out, he still doesn't seem to be motivation enough for me to get up early after I have been up with one or two kids during the night. It's amazing what a full nights sleep can do for a person! :) Fortunately, they do sleep through the night more often than not (I think).

One morning in early January when I was working out, John came into the room and asked me how much weight I had lost since I started working out last year. I told him I didn't know, but would weigh myself to find out. Well I had actually gained two pounds. I guess that is not surprising given all the food that I ate over the holidays. I know I ate way too much. I am happy to say though that I have since lost the two pounds. Now I am back trying to lose that last five pounds that I wanted to lose in the first place. I did finally give in and buy a new pair of jeans, so I now have two that fit. Yay!!! :)

Wish me luck in my 5K endeavors!

January

January went by fairly quickly for me this year. That was nice since it has seemed to drag on for a long time other years. Time seems to be going by faster the older I get. I haven't really gotten tired of winter yet. I am still appreciating the beautiful valley covered in snow. I am glad that it is getting lighter at the end of the day though. We were able to get out a few times during the month to enjoy the winter wonderland. On the 16th we took the horse-drawn wagon ride to see the elk up the canyon. When Reagan saw an elk with antlers, she said, "A reindeer!" Keith's parents went with us and we enjoyed hot chocolate in their camper in the parking lot afterward. Then on the 23rd we built a snowman while Riley was napping. The kids had been dying to build a snowman. We finally got some new snow and some free time to do it. The top few inches of snow were okay, but the the snow under it wasn't very good. We managed okay though. We really need to invest in a snowman kit so our snowmen can look a little better. We are always scrambling last minute to figure out what we're going to use for his face and arms. John was gung ho to build a whole family of snowmen like he has done before, but we were good with just one this year.

John's first Pinewood Derby was on the 14th. He was pretty excited and had a fun time. His car did okay. We should be better prepared for next year now that we have done it once. On the 28th I went square dancing with John at the elementary school. It was a lot of fun! After dancing we had root beer floats, which was John's favorite part, and we had our picture taken together. I hope they do it next year at the new elementary school. Keith is hoping he will have a chance to go square dancing with Reagan when she is in school.

For FHE on the 25th we went swimming at the pool on campus. The kids love it and we hadn't been for awhile. We remembered the floating device for Riley this time. He wasn't too happy about the whole thing. He was looking pretty somber. Reagan swam around on two noodles the whole time. She kept wanting to get rid of one because she thinks she can swim. We assured her that she needed two. We really had to keep our eye on her because she was all over the place. She had a really good time. John took his goggles and used the flippers at the pool. He had fun swimming underwater and seeing everything from that point of view.

We attended our nephew's baptism on the 31st. While we were at the church, Riley's diaper leaked on his pants. I only had a spare shirt for him in the diaper bag and Reagan's pajamas. Therefore, he got to wear Reagan's pink cupcake pajama pants with his red shirt the rest of the time. He looked pretty funny. I guess I need to be better at stocking the diaper bag. Speaking of diapers, Reagan is potty trained! Yay!!! She has done really well. She still wears a diaper at night because she doesn't always wake up dry, but she is making progress.

Well that is the update for January now that it is half way through February. Hopefully I will get February posted before too long. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Ouch!!!

Keith hit his forehead on the corner of the TV last night. He hit pretty hard and got a pretty bad gash. I took him to the Dr. They glued it shut rather than stitching it. I hope it heals well. He is taking it easy today as his head is still hurting.

Unfortunately this wasn't the first time this year that our family has gone to the Dr. for a gash on the head. In late June Keith fell while ice skating with John and had to have stitches above his right eye. Then in September Reagan fell off the piano bench at my parent's house hitting her head on the corner of the cedar chest. This resulted in seven staples in her head. Poor thing! :( I'm just waiting for Riley's first stitches. He is such a climber and dare devil that it is bound to happen. The other day he climbed up on his rocking horse and climbed into the pack-n-play. Well, actually he fell into the pack-n-play landing on his head. He laid there for a second and then started laughing. We are in so much trouble!