Wedding Day!

My brother Jeff and his family.

Ashley & Tristan June 16, 2012

First, I have to say I have a hard time with the fact that I am attending my niece's wedding.  It could be because it makes me feel old or that I don't want them to grow up.  My niece Ashley was married June 16, 2012 in the Logan Temple.  She is one of the oldest of my niece and nephews.  It does thrill me to see the person (woman) she has become; she is going to do great things with her life!  It was a beautiful day and I am thrilled as her aunt to have been able to celebrate the day with her.

A few more pictures outside the temple and then at my other nieces house as we were "hanging out" before the wedding luncheon.  The pictures from the reception and luncheon are on the other memory card (oops) so I will post a few of those later.

Tyson kept saying he was the"ladies man" - well to his cousins at least!

Handsome nephew Ben who just loves Ashley.

Ashley and Ben - they have one of the sweetest relationships I have ever seen.

My nephew Connor - so stinking cute.

Spencer pretending to fall in the fountain.

Bellar and five of her cousins (Skippy my new great nephew is also here but not pictured) excited for his arrival!

The Fab 5.  All of my siblings had a baby within a year of each other - here they are age 10.

Liv, Lindsey, Emily

Becka, Jamy, Aunt Maryann

My ever fun-loving brother-in-law Mike

Yard Update

Any house related project we work on my super hero powers don't work or simply I under estimate the amount of time, energy, effort, money etc. etc. it takes to complete the task.

The yard (although not done) is oh so close (but that only count in horseshoes and hand grenades right?) Grass is planted and I do say we have little shoots of grass emerging....who knew one could be so excited over grass.

I have really enjoyed researching perennials, annuals, shade vs. full sun plants etc. in planting our flower beds.  I did not know I would enjoy playing in the dirt so much.  I have really fallen in love with all the variations of flowers.  We have decided to extend the flagstone path through the fence and continue it down the side lawn of the back yard.   You think the front yard needed  a make over our back yard at this point needs to be condemned :)  In the back, finally we have a garden planted and a soaker water system.  After countless trips to the store (I think Neil could live at Home Depot) for sprinkler parts the sprinkler system is finally up and running. Apparently being a novice gardener, my husband is laughing at all the squash, zucchini, and tomato plants I put in the garden.  He said I obviously didn't understand how much one plant can produce. Lets refer back to the word NOVICE here.

I love the curve in the flagstone path.  LOOK grass is coming in!

Only regret - leave more planting space in front of path.

My Columbine Flowers - LOVE LOVE LOVE

Hosta is struggling - too much direct sunlight I think. :(

Flowers starting to come in-----augghhh....love it.

My sister found this flamingo at a yard sale and said she would be offended if we didn't put in out front yard.  I think my sister's humor is hilarious.

Next up on the yard, strip the paint off the front porch steps, paint the front door (I really despise the green we have now) and replace light fixtures on the front of the house.

Party Rock!

Party Rockers in the House Tonight!  The girls dance recital for the 2011-2012 year.  I must say Bellar was most excited although she thought she was competing in a competition against the other "teams"  She had been to three competitions of her sister throughout the year and was excited to compete in her own.  Well, there was no convincing her otherwise so in the end we told her her team won first place....she was thrilled!

Liv didn't want to participate in pictures

Goofin' Around

Punch Jump!

Getting ready for toe touchers

There's the attitude - love it!

Liv's supportive friends

Party Rock Number

What a fun night we had with the girls.  We gave the girls an arrangement of flowers and the Kidz Bop 21 CD because of course it had the song PARTY ROCK on it.  The gift simply said, "Olivia and Isabel you rock."  Love mom and dad!

Completion!

It is always a bitter sweet day when a school year comes to a close.  I have to admit I am relieved that I will no longer have to fight Bellar EVERY morning to get ready for school.  I love the idea of not having to fight Liv to get her glasses on before she leaves the house.  Yet, it leaves me wondering....what am I going to do with them ALL summer.

We started our summer by coming home from school with a sign on the front door "Welcome 2 Summer."  Then we took the kids to see the movie Mirror Mirror.

August 22, 2011 First day of Kindergarten

June 1, 2012 Last day of kindergarten

Bellar with Schatzie celebrating NO more school.

Liv's first day of 4th Grade - 8/22/2011

Last day of 4th grade - kid LOVES to pose!

On to 5th Grade!

Liv & Bellar first day of school 8/22/2011

It has been a fun year to see my kids grow and learn.  Olivia has excelled in her dancing and piano.  She has also become quite an avid reader to which I am impressed.  My Isabel has learned her phone number, counting, reading, address and much more.  Getting to school for her has been a struggle but once she gets there she does ok.  She is extremely quiet at school (polar opposite of home).

Piano Recital

When we moved to our new home we needed to find a piano teacher for Liv.  Lucky for us, we found Neil's cousin Stephanie only lived .88 miles from our house (thanks to mapquest) and she has been a wonderful teacher for Olivia this year.   She played Hakuna Matata (spelling could be wrong here) for one of her piano pieces.  We are so proud of her accomplishments this year!

Spring Recital April 2012

Liv playing at Layton City Library - Spring Recital April 2012

Liv with teacher Stephanie

Another Project? Why yes!

When we bought our home a year ago we knew the front yard was not going to meet our families needs.  For one the rose bushes that divided the small yard was not conducive for the kids to be able to run through the yard.  Second, we weren't in love with the large amount of flagstone.  So being the master of destruction, I set out to demolish the front yard.

Front yard when we bought the house with the small pond that didn't work.

Rose bushes in the middle of the front yard

My nephew Tyson helping dig up the rose bushes to give to my niece.

Strong roots is all I can say.

The house with the rose bushes removed.

 So lets move forward to spring of 2012.  Time to remove the brick wall supporting the flower bed, rip out all the sandstone, and pour a sidewalk to the front door.

Flower bed wall coming down

Neighbors got in the demolition process

Kids always love a good dirt pile

Brick debris mess

Beginning to remove flagstone - man some of this was HEAVY!

Getting ready to make form for sidewalk

What a mess.

Kids were great to help load debris in the truck

New sidewalk going in

Scooping concrete - again HEAVY.

Neil rocked the sidewalk.  This was his first time doing concrete and he ROCKED it.  We also found that we were having drainage problems in the corner by the steps.  Neil dug, trenched, planned, dug and dug some more for a new drainage system.  This was an extra step in the yard makeover I wasn't planning on but in the long run will prove beneficial.  Oops forgot to get pictures of the trench :(  I am so grateful I have such a handy and hard working husband.

This is the current status of the front yard.  Now to get that heavy clay managed.  I cannot believe the amount of clay in the soil.  We hauled in two cubic yards of topsoil, 2 cubic yards of gravel, and for the rest of the plans - line flower bed with flagstone path, plant grass, put in plants etc.  There is so much more work to be done1/2 a cubic yard of sand thus far.  Needless to say, I am sick of scooping and using the shovel. So we plug along and hopefully the rain will not continue to halt work.  I think the TV show on HGTV Curb Appeal should come and finish our yard.

More pictures and another post as more progress is made....hopefully we will be able to plant grass seed this week.  The flagstone path is complete and I love the way it turned out.  I will try to get pictures updated soon.