Monday, April 29, 2013

Spring Springing!

It's finally getting warm and we are working hard in the yard and (mostly) enjoying it! 

This year Steve and his dad worked together to build some garden boxes and we're excited to try out container gardening.  We have 2 big boxes, one of which is completely devoted to strawberries and the other to various veggies (you can tell where our priorities lie!).  I've never seen our girls get tired of berries, but if these boxes really start producing we may even have some left over to freeze or jam!  But that will probably be wishful thinking - any berries within their reach are considered fair game for any and every snack.

 So far we've planted carrots (never had much success with these, so we'll see if they like boxes better than our regular garden), peppers, shallots, onions, a celery, a few garlic bulbs, and some spinach.  And the main garden has zucchini (only one plant!), cucumbers, and eggplant with potatoes and tomatoes to come.  Oh, and mint, don't forget the mint - summer mojito season is coming!

So far the girls are wonderful planting and gardening helpers, so we'll see how long their interest lasts.

And, of course, spring means testing out the sprinklers, means putting on bathing suits, means you might as well stay outside in your bathing suits and enjoy playing with the hose on the trampoline for the first time this year.  I guess that's a fair reward for a hard day's gardening!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Sasha's Birthday Party

by Sasha

I had my party at Hee Haw's. They had slides and bunnies and ducks and chicks and pigs and baby goats that I like to pick up and the cows that eat my clothes.
I made the coconut and the bow out of jellybeans and coconut.  I made the whiskers that are Pocky Sticks and the eyes that are chocolate chips and I made the nose that is one jellybean.  And the frosting is white and pink.  And the jellybeans are so yummy.  My dog likes the jellybeans when they fall when I drop them at my house when it's my birthday.
I like everybody to sing Happy Birthday to me.  It's so much fun to eat it while you're saying Happy Birthday and I like it when I blow out the candles.
I got a dog for my American Doll!
Trinity, thanks for the pony and I really like it.  It's doing great, I just lost the comb and the jaw thing. It's so fun to play with with my friends.
Thank you Ivan for the snake!  I like to sleep with the snake at night and he keeps me safe.  I play with him sometimes.
This one is my favorite!  I like the baby bunnies.  They are so cute and I like holding them.  They feel fuzzy and cuddly.  When we tap them on the head they go "brrrr"
I like the big bunnies.  They're so cute and they have red eyes but I don't know why.  That's weird, huh?  They're so cute, the big bunnies, and I like petting them.
Mommy is holding a duckie and I like it.  She's being so careful to hold it.  The duckies are so cute and they have a little beak
I like holding the duckies.  They're so furry.  When they're in the pond they go nip in the water to get the plants to eat them.
I like having rides with my friends WanYing, Cleo, and me.  I have the piggy, Cleo has the rooster, WanYing has the cow.  It's so fun to ride in it.
I like the baby goats, they're so cute.  I like petting them and picking them up.  When they baaaa I put them down
I like petting the cow that's laying.  She's so cute and Cleo is petting it with me.  She is fun to play with.
I like holding the goats.  They're so cute and nice!  I like to pet them in my arms
I had a wonderful birthday!  I like eating everything.  I like to play with my friends.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

PowMow Staycation

Still making up for a little lots time - here are photos from our fantastic January long weekend at Powder Mountain.  Enjoy!

Utah has its difficulties and oddities.  We're the first to admit it.  But boy does Utah have a lot of amazing things to offer as well!  Like snow.  Lots of snow.  Glorious snow.  Snow our whole family enjoys.  Utah, we love you!

In late January we went up to Powder Mountain (about 2 hours north of where we live) for a fab little Utah staycation.  It was great!  Great mountain, great snow, great family time. 

Going up
Mommy-Sam self portrait
Mommy going down - go go tele girl!
We did have one little incident where the mountain closed because of lightening and we were stuck at a lift.  PowMow is a reverse mountain where the lodges are at the top, so since we were mid-mountain at a lift, we had to wait for them to snowcat us out! Not how we planned to sped an hour or two, but don't worry, we had scotch and gummy worms to sustain us.
Hooray, help is here!
Mommy totally lucked out and got to ride in the front of the snowcat.  Finally, the respect I deserve!
The girls spent every morning in Powder Kids and had a wonderful time becoming skiiers
That's my powder girl!
And powder girl number 2!
I think that the kids' favorite part of the whole vacation was sledding outside of our condo. They had so much fun!
Ben was so sweet, letting WanYing cling to his neck in terror/ecstasy 
We did have a few issues...
But nothing stops these sledding kids!

On our last day we took a snowcat ride to some fresh pow - we had a blast!
My fam in our natural environment - snow!
Love spoiling these boys with such gorgeous snow!
Sheer joy!
An amazing end to a fantastic family weekend - this may need to become a habit!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Recipe for a Great Birthday

Sasha has a very simple recipe for a great 6th birthday. She just needs...
Start with donuts.  Always start with donuts.
Douse with liberal quantities of presents
Sprinkle on the excitement
Stir in little sass for her brothers who think that a Hello Kitty DVD collection is a horrible idea
Add a happy birthday phone call from Buddy
Divide the birthday festivities evenly between a girl and her birthday-sharing Grammy
And serve with tea!

Happy Birthday to beautiful Sasha and her equally-lovely Grammy!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Sam's Birthday

This post may be two months late, but in February or in April our 12-year-old is still one good-looking kid!

I definitely can't dwell on the 12 too long, though - how the heck did my little baby get to be 12?!?

Regardless of my incredulity at his giantness, I am awfully grateful to have such a smart, funny, kind kiddo.  Sam brings light and spice into our family and the world and I am so proud that he's my kid!

Party prep:  SNES, PS1, Wii-U, and 2 XBox 360s are all ready to go!
Not-so-patiently waiting for guests to arrive
And they're here!  Commence video game binging (this is what 6th graders consider a party)
Two whole rooms of video game madness
I love it that Sam is old enough to plan his own parties and menu.  And I doubly love it that his idea of the ideal party is video games in the basement, pizza and Doritos upstairs, and maybe some cake if Mom gets around to making it.  What a fantastic age!
When you get the fast-light candles, it turns out that kids insist on lighting their own.  I can't blame them.
Happy birthday to Sam!

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