Gold Diggers & Gardeners

The house next door to me is vacant... My lovely old neighbor, Bill, died a couple years ago. He built the house in 1938 and lived there until he died. He was cool. I have one of his eclectic oil paintings hanging in my living room. When he died his kids sold the house. The guy that bought it is super cool too. His name is Gary and he's a plumber. He's renovating the house and then he's going to rent it out or move into it if he can convince his wife to leave their yuppie Sandy neighborhood. In the meantime, it sits vacant. I don't mind... I'd rather have no neighbors than crazy neighbors and the risk for crazy renting neighbors is pretty high. Every now and again I see people coming to the house to do work on it. The concrete people have been there a lot lately. But more than anyone (Gary included) I see these guys with their metal detectors and shovels. Gary has given them permission to dig around but it always makes me laugh to see them over there. What do they think they're going to find??? Gold?!?! Absolutely not... In fact, they are not going to find anything with any value unless it's spare change. But still, with each week that comes and goes so do the gold diggers. Makes my day every time too. Can't help but laugh when I see it. LOVE the butt shot!

Another thing that makes me happy is working in my mess of a yard. I've been meaning to get it all beautified for the past 4 years but there is just so much to do. I don't think the previous owners did anything with the yard. Ever. Lots and Lots of work. But that's ok. It really does help me feel a little less crazy and I get a huge amount of satisfaction out of completing even a small part of something in my yard. I will say it again... This is the year I am finally going to have my yard together. I know what you're thinking... "Yeah Right!" I kinda am too but really I am determined to accomplish the impossible task. My first big project is to build garden boxes. I'm convinced my vegetable garden will turn out better this year if everything is planted in a box. We'll see. I keep trying new things and each year my garden seems to improve some so I'm hoping this new idea will be another improvement and not a set back. I started the planning it out and putting it on graph paper yesterday. Today I started doing the physical labor part of it. These are my before photos... I will be sure to share photos of the finished project.

This corner is where most of the boxes will be. I'm going to put 7 in along that side of the yard.

This is the sandbox, flagstone patio and fire pit that I put in last year... This area will connect to the garden area. Then, the other side of the yard will be grass.

I'm sure you all still have no cluse what I'm talking about. It's hard to describe but it will be AMAZING when I'm done with it. I'm so excited!

4 Seasons

I LOVE winter. I love the holidays, the snow, and the time spent inside close to the fire and everyone I love. BUT, by the time late February comes along every year I'm ready for it to be over and to have all of the fun of Spring. Really, I LOVE all of the seasons. And that's exactly why I love living in SLC. We get all 4 seasons. I lived in Las Vegas for a year and a half and there's really only 2 seasons there. Christmas was SO depressing without snow. The first christmas I was there I didn't want to have Christmas at all. LAME. So, I really have learned from experience about just how much I love all 4 seasons. By the time I get sick of one season, the next one is close to starting. So, now I'm getting tired of winter but I'm starting to get small glimpses of Spring and it's making me happy.

I've been watching my yard closely for a few weeks to see any small sign of Spring. I have discovered new life coming into my plants and flowers sprouting out of the ground. I also had a good visit with David, my garden gnome. His name is David because I was having a hard time coming up with a name for him. My friend Jessica (also a gnome lover) suggested the name David. Since that's also my dad's name I thought it would be perfect. So, David keeps watch over my yard and he is also happy to see that spring is coming.

Daylilies

Crocus

David with my Tulips

Max is also ready for Spring. He is going crazy to get outside and play. Last week we went to the park by our house and spent over an hour there. Max especially loved going down the slides and then climbing back up. He's funny.

Eagle Scout

Sunday was Kyle's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. It was so great to see him there and all that he has accomplished. I could not be more proud. He has turned out to be such a great man. Weird to say that he is man... he really is now but a part of me will always see him as a kid. He will be 19 in 3 weeks. Then it won't be long before he leaves to go on a mission. It will be strange having him gone. Our family just won't be the same without him around. He has a way of making everything more fun for everyone. But I am so grateful for the direction that he has chosen to take in his life and I support him 100%. It has been such a great privilege to be a part of his life and I consider myself the luckiest step mom there ever was. All 4 of my step kids have been amazing and I'm so grateful for all of them.

This is not a sprint... it's a marathon. Home improvement marathon.

Our home improvements are still coming along. Not as quickly as I would like them to but we are making progress. We are basically finishing our entire basement. It started out with new carpet and then we decided to patch the drywall in a few places so that also means that we will be repainting. Then, on a whim, Thayne decided that we should put new flooring in the bathroom. And, he has been updating all of the electrical too. *SIGH* Someday, all of our projects will be finished and there will be nothing left but to enjoy our house and the upgrades that we have so desperately needed. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Max loves to help with everything.

As if our home improvement projects weren't enough to keep me busy, I've also been busy with my own projects. My MIL, Kim was in town for a couple weeks and while she was here she spent some time teaching me to crochet. I've wanted to learn for as long as I can remember so I've been really excited about this new talent of mine. I'm still just doing basic stuff but I'm catching on quickly and have a lot of project ideas in mind. This is my first official crochet project to be completed. I've been wanting one of these crocheted headbands for a long time but I'm too cheap to spend $15 on one. But since my motto is "I don't buy it if I can make it for less" and now I know how to make them, I made it my first project. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I was a little worried since I was making it up as I went but I couldn't be happier with how well it turned out. Thanks, Kim! You saved me $15 AND made me a very happy person!

Thayne and I also have a new niece... Chloe. She is adorable. Since I don't have a girl of my own to make cute little dresses and things for I had to jump at the opportunity to make Chloe an outfit. It turned out so cute and I am making more for my friends who have girls.

The dress is cute but the booties are my favorite.

She is so tiny and sweet. It really makes me want a little girl pretty bad.

Even though I'm starting to want a little girl pretty badly... I absolutley adore Max. He is the joy of my life and I love everything he does (even if its something he shouldn't do). When he looks at me with his cute little face I just melt. He has me wrapped around his little finger and I'm happy to be there.

Max figured out that he could climb to the top bunk with the ladder. We thought it was cute and let him do it for awhile but we got sick of having to help him get down every 2 minutes so we finally took the ladder away. Do you think that stopped him??? Of course it didn't. He climbed right up the side without any problems at all. The boy has a great future of climbing ahead of him!

We were at Aunt Jamie's house and he loved playing her piano. He sat there pounding on the keys for a good 15 minutes or so.

This boy loves water. It made his life have meaning when he discovered that he could climb into the sink and drink straight from the faucet.

I try not to give him candy too often but he is a candy freak. Sometimes I have to give in... He is just so cute with candy all over his face. This time it was licorice.