Flowers, For Me?

Justin has spent the last two days working with Ryan, (Friday there was no school, and then Saturday)  They even traveled over to Mud Lake to look at cows.  He has come home just as dirty as Ryan.  I used 6 Q-tips to clean out his ears!  Anyway he saw some pretty lilacs growing at Aunt Jen’s house and told dad he should pick some.  I am glad they did, they are so pretty and smell great! 

Thanks Jenna, who didn’t know she donated them to my windowsill!

The Electrician has been around lately helping Ryan get pumps and pivots going.  He has a fantastic great dane that goes everywhere with him.  Emma LOVES dogs, so when he came up to see me I told him I had to take pictures for her.  He wouldn’t stand up for the pictures but he is huge!

Claire was so excited when she saw that we “finally got cows in our pasture.’’  I went to look because I was surprised too, but it wasn’t cows, it was Odie the dog!

Claire wouldn’t get near him!

The electrician (Brent) loves gardening, and brought me all of these different herbs.  Chocolate mint, orange mint, thyme, and lemon thyme.  (The lemon smells SO lemony!  All of them are so fragrant, I cant wait for summer breezes bringing me whiffs of yummy herbs!)

THEN, Sara brought this flat from Aunt Leslie’s green house in Logan.  It had cilantro, tomatoes, bell peppers, and more herbs!

What a treat!

WATER!

The water finally came down the ditch at the first of the month.  It is a welcomed site!  Everything is so dry from all of the wind and lack of rain this spring.  Ryan has been starting systems all over the country.  It’s been nice to have him close to home.  I think this is my favorite time of year for sure!

I think it is interesting how the grass is yellow and dying but the weeds are thriving EVERYWHERE!

The strawberries are up and looking good.

This kid is my sidekick, I don’t dare let him out of my site with all of the water running.  I hope he stays away from the ditches.

Everything is so much greener with only one watering, it’s great!

Nothing Runs Like A Deere!

The grass is growing faster than I want it too, well not really, I am ready for summer and green grass!  Ryan put ME in charge of changing the oil (a year ago Dad did it for me when they were here when Rett was born).  I got an oil filter and changed the oil all by myself.  It really was not a big deal.  I read the owners manual and found out I need to do a lot more maintenance on my green machine if I want it to run forever.  ANYWAY, it started up on the first try, when does that EVER happen…. NEVER!  But it did this time, I went to mow with my big helper and the blade wouldn’t go.  I knew it was all going to well.  Luckily Ryan pulled in the yard at this very time and fixed it right up for me.  (Now that is even more rare then the lawnmower starting on the first try!!) We got the lawn mostly all mowed during Rett’s nap.  I have to leave the rest for Ash and Justin to help me on, they have been begging to mow!  OH, the best part, we found two lost Easter eggs!  How funny!

Garden Party

We hosted a Relief Society Garden Party last night.  It was a lot of work to get ready for, but I was glad to have all of the work done in my yard.  Ryan weed wacked for 4 hours for me the other night.  We got lots of work done that probably wouldn’t have happened other wise, so I was glad to play host!

Everything turned out great, I always have that last minute feeling of panic on parties, but once it got started everything was there and everything turned out fine!

We had yummy wraps ( I got a recipe from Kristen) and fruit with the chocolate fountain (another thing from Kristen).  Then we also had icey water and lemonade.  It was all really good and Sara came to help me get it all put together.  I was telling her we need to keep track of all of the parties we have put on together, I guess I kind of am keeping track….

There were just over 20 people, which was just right, I planned on 20. 

It was really low key, we just ate and had a short lesson and then watched the slide show of everyone's yards that I put together.  I think it was a hit!

We had a great evening, the weather was perfect and all of the hard work was worth it!

The SANDBOX!!

We got the sand in for the sandbox! All the kids were too busy playing to look up for a picture apparently! I kept waiting for Ryan to go and dig up some "Idaho" sand, which there really is no such thing come to find out. I called up a sand and gravel company and they sell it real cheap so we ran down and picked up a load. We were happy! The kids really like it. The only problem with it is it is right next to the fence, which is HOT! The kids have learned about hot fences and so has Bella! Poor dog!

Slip n Slide!

We rented the PTO's bouncy slide a couple days ago. As if swimming lessons wasn't enough, there was a big group of friends at the park playing on the other slide and I made the mistake of driving by and not stopping. I had guys waiting for lunch and it was already 2:00 in the afternoon. Justin would not give it up about the slide so I called Jolene and asked if we could use it. Thankfully she said yes! The weather didn't stay warm very long though, Justin and Jaci were diehards though and just kept going down, down, down. No one else was as tough.
This was a "staged" picture, and the water was already turned off, the only time Ash went down!
They had a great time. We were hopeing to have Kache, Ryder, and Dallie too, but they had car troubles and didn't make it to our house until 1:00 in the morning. Maybe on the way back home they can play?! Fun cousins, fun summer days!

Claire's favorite accessory lately!

I had just mowed the lawn so there was grass EVERYWHERE, next time I wont do that!

This kid is SO FUN! He is at a really fun age!

My little buddy, he would rather hang around with me more than my own Buddy!

What a kid!

Saturday Is A Special Day

Here are just a few scenes from our Saturday, it finally felt a little like spring! I also got an early mothers day present, a new lawn mower!! It is awesome! Now if IT could just make the inside of my house look as good.......
The best shot, my farmer husband out my back door! I love to be able to "see" him all day long!

MY FLAG

The flag pole is up! and so is the flag! YEAH! Bill Coffey gave us the best early Christmas present! We just love our Bill Coffey and Grandma Violet, they take good care of us! Bill just had surgery but still got it done, cant keep that man down! I am so excited, It turned out PERFECT!! Now I just have to remember to take it down at night, one more thing to do......

Flag Pole, Phase 1

Our very best neighbor Grandpa Bill Coffey is building me a flag pole. He came this morning to install the base of it. It is going to be 40 feet tall! Wowsers, I am really excited! (I am pretty sure I am going to need a bigger flag!) He pounded and pounded with a really heavy sledge hammer and got it in really deep and good so hopefully it will hold up the pole that he is making! This man is amazing, he is 88 years old!! He is one tough grandpa!! And we LOVE him! I cant wait to FINALLY have a flag pole. We are really making some BIG additions to the yard this summer. Cant wait for the new grass to start growing too......I guess I better get it planted first!!

More work on the playground

Ryan got the old house hauled away (well his guys did most of the work, OK all of the work). Now Ryan has been doing a little dirt work, he had to cave in the old cistern (a way to store water back in the olden days) and now he is filling it in and trying to get it all leveled out. I think the kids would be happy with it left the way it is! Justin is LOVING the really big sandbox, just about every time he and Ryan go out to work he asks when he is going to build his sandbox, so he thinks this is just great! We are making good progress, I just hope we can get it done before too much harvesting gets started. We have been loving having Ryan around!

Harvesting the Garden

Justin and I went out to pick some of our garden: Looks like Salsa for lunch! Yummy!

Cleaning up.....

It has to get worse before it can get better....right? Ryan got started into some MAJOR demolition today on the old homestead, I really am excited, just nervous about getting this mess out of my yard as soon as possible! It is a HUGE pile of rubbish now....but soon to be the Telford childrens' playground of dreams....we hope!

Watering

I love to water, I am really loving my green, green grass, it is so nice and soft now since we have had so much rain. I often find myself just sitting on the steps watching the sprinklers tick around, I don't know why it fascinates me, but it just does. I guess I am truly a farm girl at heart. I normally watch the sprinklers alone but this day I went out and found all four of my kids sitting on the steps watching the sprinklers:These are a few of my favorite things about summer!