Spring Break 2012

My kids had spring break from April 2-6.  A whole week off!  I was so excited and so were they.  We had lots of fun activities planned and I even took Tues-Thurs. off.  I tried to get the whole week, but Monday and Friday were already full.  So I settled for 3 days.  It was still so much fun.  On Monday we just hung out.  It is my busiest work day so the kids enjoyed playing outside with all of their friends.  On Tuesday, we went to Get Air and Big Scoops Creamery.  I forgot my camera all week, so I don't have pictures...oh I was so mad at myself.  On Wednesday we went to the Clinton park and went ice blocking and played at the park with some friends of ours.  Then we went to Artic Circle for shakes and ice cream cones.  Then it sparked an idea.  On Wednesdays Blake has a Dave Ramsey class he is taking so I took the kids to Burger King that night for dinner.  It was heaven...they played and I read my book. 

On Thursday, the kids wanted to stay home and play with friends.  I was SO fine with that so I cleaned.  Every year before Easter I do a neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  I use up all of my candy left over from Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines Day.  The kids love it and it really helps me too!  This year, Kaymin and her friend, Lexi stuffed and hid the eggs.  It was so much fun.  I just sat back and watched.

That night was Blake's family's Easter party.

 On Friday, we hung out with my mom and sister.  We went to the DI and then to Lagorri's for lunch.  I haven't been there for years.  It tasted oh...so good!  Then we came home and decorated Easter eggs.  The fun part is that we colored our very own brown chicken eggs.  The colors turned out so cool looking.  I let each kids color one dozen eggs.  That night it was my nephew's b-day party at Fat Cats. 

On Saturday, it was the first soccer game of the season.  But we had to miss it because my niece, Olivia was baptized.  Afterwards we went out to eat at TGI Fridays. 

Then it was onto my side of the family Easter party.  I even brough the "candy ball" game also made with leftover candy.  It looks like the only pics I took then were of the game and the kid's feeding Grandpa's horse.  So far our kids were so spoiled, the Easter Bunny doesn't even need to come.

A Busy Two Weeks

We have gotten a lot done around here the past two weeks.  I went and got 2 truck loads of compost and one of bark.  Our yard looks great and Blake tilled our garden to get ready for planting.  The compost I got was from Weber County Compost Facility.  My friend, whose husband is the Director of Agriculture for the state of Utah, said he swears by this stuff.  So I am taking a chance.  It is beautiful stuff, however, it contains bio-waste (human poop) as well as bark.  This stuff isn't nearly as strong smelling (meaning chemical smell...not the other), than the stuff that was all bio-waste I put on two years ago.  Last Saturday I planted peas, lettuce, and spinach.  Blake stared a new sprinkling system for our garden and finished it yesterday.  It looks SO good.  It should work so much better for our garden.  Our garden used to get watered when we watered our lawn.  Even though I only water every 1-2 days, it was too much water for tomatoes and corn.  This should work a lot better and I am so excited to see the outcome.
Another thing that has happened is our dog, Skipper, keeps getting out.  Several times a day he would get out of his kennel.  Now normally he roams all fall-winter, when my garden is no longer growing, but this year he has been caged up.  I let him out for a few days, only to find him in our chicken coop letting the chickens out.  I got really tired of getting a dog and 5 chickens in their cages several times a day.  I couldn't figure out how my dog was getting out.  I finally figured it out.  He has peed so many times on the bottom bar in one spot that it has totally rusted through.  He was lifting up the bar with his nose and crawling under it.  So for days, I wired the kennel together thinking that would help, but he kept getting out and then would get the chickens out.  I thought I finally figured it out, but I was wrong when I came home on Friday to find him out as well as my garbage all over my backyard.  However, he didn't get the chickens out.  So I finally took chicken wire and wired the inside of his kennel and bought more parts and he hasn't been out since yesterday.  So far it has been 24 hours and he hasn't figured a way to get out.  That is a record for the last two weeks.
Another thing we did while Blake was off, was replace our garage door that leads outside.  The trim was completely rotted on the bottom from the elements.  In fact you could put your hand through to our garage. We never use that door, because our truck it parked there and blocks it.  So Blake and my dad put in a new door.  However, there was still holes on each side.  Blake had to go back to work so the holes sat.  All I could think about was mice getting into my garage.  I could easily put my hand through so nothing would be stopping those nasty things from getting in there.  Oh how I HATE mice!  For Christmas my parents gave us a nail gun.  That is what I wanted.  So I got out the handy dandy nail gun and took a trip to Lowe's to buy supplies.  I was so proud of myself.  I but a 2x4 to fill in the gaps and then put a piece of 2x2 on the outside to cover it there and put the trim back on the door in the inside.  I did a pretty good job if I say so myself. 

Blake is Off

Blake was suppose to be off this week of work.  He is using a week of his vacation which shocks me to death since he usually just loses it at the end of the year.  However, he has worked at least a half of a day every day.  It has been such a bummer.  We have been able to get quite a few things done, although I would have liked to get A LOT done.  Oh well, maybe another time.  One thing that we really wanted to get done was a new watering system for our garden.  Right now our garden is hooked up to our sprinkler system so we are changing that so we can water once a week or whenever we need to.  We also dug up our dead pear tree and went and got another one to plant.  We have planted it yet since we needed to put down the fungicide for a week to 10 days.  So we will get that planted next Saturday.  Tomorrow, the kids are out of school so we are going to do something fun.  That is, when Blake gets home from work at noon on his day off.  Oh well, I am just grateful he has a job and that he has been able to be home as much as he has.

Time to Say Good-bye

My grandma made this blanket for me when I was about 12 or so to put on my bunk bed.  My sister had one like it but different colors.  I have kept that blanket and used it during the winter on one of the kid's beds since we had Kaymin.  However, the time has come to throw it out.  It has holes in it and it is so thin and thread bare.  I had to take a picture so I remembered what it looked like.

Warm Weather

It has really been warming up lately and I have spring fever...BAD!  I got home from Bountiful Baskets on Saturday and when I pulled in the cul-de-sac, my kids coming running over to ask if we can go to the park.  So I went in grabbed some crackers and drinks and headed to the park.  It was a beautiful day and everyone else must have thought so too.  It was busy, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Basketball

Deilen finished up his 2nd year of basketball on February 25th.  He is really good when he wants to play.  We joke about how we can tell within the first 5 minutes if Deilen is going to really play or if he is going to be too busy eating his shirt, rolling on the ground, or putting his hands in his pockets.  He really is a great player and we love to watch him play.  So far basketball is his favorite sport.  He really loves playing,

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day I always cook a fancy dinner.  This year I made prime rib.  It was delicious.  I had never had prime rib before.  Blake and I went to the Timbermine for our anniversary and I decided to get it there (I love steak and ALWAYS get steak).  It was so yummy that I brought it home for the kids to try.  It was decided then, I would make prime rib.  I should have priced it before I made such a promise.  I went to Sam's Club where I bought a chub (I believe that is what they called it) of it for $7.50/pound versus $9.50/pound if I bought one prepackaged.  The bigger one was 16 pounds so it would give us at least 3 meals worth.  But the cost....a whooping $120.  I bit the bullet and bought it.  The wonderful butchers there told me where to find a "to die for" recipe.  The prime rib had to dry age.  That is where 10 days before you eat you wrap paper towels around it to soak up all of the juice and put it in the fridge for 10 days while continuing to change the paper towels.  Once you bake it, all of the juices coming flowing back.  Well, I am here to say that it really does happen.  It was so yummy.  My parents even came since they heard what I was fixing.  We had sparkling cider, dove chocolates, and cake pops.  It was a very yummy Valentine's day.