More Gardening

Jared spent our spring break working in Northern California.  We thought about going with him, but since it was a pretty intense training session, we stayed here.  We planned short day-trip type activites, and overall enjoyed our break!  I had each of the kids write down some things they wanted to do, and I told them that MY break would be sleeping in every morning.  :)  So, we went to Jump on it (has a bunch of trampolines and a foam pit), watched the movie Rango, spent a day at the zoo, and another day at the Children's Museum.  We also spent some time watching Phineas and Ferb (cartoon, and if you haven't watched it, imagine a show about Calvin and Hobbes where they never get caught when they exercise their imaginations).  I did get to sleep in until 7 every day.  Some days it was 8!

Jared got back Thursday night, and we have some pipes to put into the ground:

 As you can see, he's getting help with the trench-digging.  I'm excited to get these all filled back in, because our dogs have found several interesting ways to use the trenches in their escape plans.  That is why they are spending today in their kitchen kennel. 

We've also got some seeds started, and hopefully they'll do well enough for us to plant them in our (not yet existing) garden plot in June.  Walker actually put the dirt into the egg cartons, and labeled them neatly for me. 

Gratitude List:
* Lots of new music from itunes.  I am spoiled by variety!
* Nice weather for sprinkler-installing.
* A hard-working husband and kids who think helping him is fun.
* Plenty of good food.
* A working washer and dryer, and dishwasher.
* Cookies!
* I ordered a shirt from shirt.woot.com.  I smile every time I wear it.
* Spring is sort of here!
* Jared is home for a bit.
* My lilac bush is putting out buds.
* I am so blessed.
* God is good.

Springtime in the Rockies

Yes, it is officially spring.  No, it is not safe to plant things.  Average last frost date here is June 8- mountains, remember?  But yeah, we're planning a garden anyway.  Jared spent most of last week digging trenches in our yard

with the help of his children.  Some of their help was actually helpful!  Anyway, our entire yard looks like it was attacked by large moles.  He'll be finishing this up next week, and hopefully it will be warm enough to glue together the PVC pipes that make up the sprinkling system.  I just hope the trenches don't collapse in the meantime.  On the brighter side, hauling all the sprinkler pipe was much easier in his newly repaired truck!  I'll have to get a picture sometime- it is really a beast of a truck ;).

Morgen tried out for The Sound of Music.  She made it to the second call-back, but wasn't chosen for a part.  However, we did discover a possible birthday present (acting class), and she enjoyed the tryouts. 

I made cards this week.  It's been awhile, with unpacking and knitting to take up my free time.  But, I had an itch to make cards, and decided to brave the cold basement.  Maybe I'll be scrapping again by the summer?  We'll see...  In the meantime, I still have my knitting.  And yes, I'm making socks again.  Well, one at a time socks:

I'm not quite to the heel yet, but I am making progress!

Jared and I went on a date Saturday.  It is still cold in the evenings, but warm enough for us to walk together, which I love.  We decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream, and walked over to a local restaurant which serves gelato and ice cream, as well as the best pizza EVER.  Anyway, we enjoyed our treat, and visited, and when we walked out the door, we saw snow!  Yep.  It was snowing.  We still took the long way home.  After all, we wanted a walk and a little snow won't freeze us.  I like this snow, though.  It is fluffy and beautiful and it doesn't stick to the pavement.  So we get a beautiful powdered-sugar look on the houses and ground, but a nice clear road and no need to shovel anything.  And I can tell that it adds to the snowpack in the mountains, which means plenty of water for summer irrigation.  I truly love where we live.

Gratitude List:
* Long walks with my sweetheart.
* Ice cream in waffle cones
* We are within walking distance of TWO ice cream parlors.  Three if you count the ice cream counter in the local grocery store.
* Spring break for my kids begins tomorrow.  I am sleeping in 'till at least 8am!
* I love the mountains. 
* The ice is melting off the rivers and nearby lakes.
* My neighbors are great.
* Warm weather in the afternoons, so the kids can play outside.
* We (almost) have a sprinkling system!
* My husband is a very handy man.
* Cars that run well, a nice warm sturdy house, lots of food, and healthy kids.
* Walker has discovered comic opera.  Thank you, Anna Russell!!
* Everyone was at church on time today (not my fault, but I don't mind taking credit anyway)!
* I am blessed.  God is good.