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.