Memorial Day

We've been working on our projects in my yard and before I started planting I wanted to get a centerpiece for my flower garden but we couldn't decide what it should be. We considered a bird bath, a dwarf ornamental tree, and a few other things. We finally settled on an idea on Memorial day and we planted a flagpole. Well, we transplanted it actually; some friends were taking one out of their yard so we got my hubby's jeep, pulled it out of their yard cement and all, and moved it to my flower bed. I think it is the perfect centerpiece for my flower garden and my front yard. Now I just need to get a flag the right size for it and get my flowers planted!

Vacation

My hubby and I went on a little vacation with my parents this week. We went to Colorado to take a historic train ride. This old steam engine goes from Durango to Silverton and back through some really beautiful scenery. We rode on the "Silver Vista" train car that has open sides and a glass domed top so that you have a great view in every direction. For part of the trip, you could reach out of one side of the train car and touch the rock face and on the other side you were looking down a steep cliff at the Animas river waaayyyy below.







This vacation included a lot of driving because we took the scenic route all the way there but it was well worth it. The snow is melting and there were numerous waterfalls coming down the sides of the mountains. We made lots of stops along the way to take pictures and admire the beauty. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone old enough to appreciate scenery and not ask "are we there yet?"because this is the kind of trip where the fun is in the travel not in the destination.

Remembering

Eenie Meenie Maggie Mo
"Maggie"
Nov. 5, 2002 - May 21, 2009

My son's beloved companion for the last 6 1/2 years died last night. We buried her under a mulberry tree in our forest next to her daughter, our beloved Lilly . My son woke up on Christmas morning 2002 to find Maggie sleeping next to him. She has been his devoted friend ever since then, sleeping not on the foot of his bed, but burrowing her way under the covers and snuggling with him. She brought much happiness into our lives. She was a good mommy who didn't mind us holding her pups from the minute they were born, and we enjoyed raising a couple of litters of mini-schnauzers pups with her. She loved to "GO" for walks on the mountain, camping trips, rides in the car, or anywhere her boy was going. She was friends with the cat and the rabbit, and even tolerated the antics of our new puppy. She spent her afternoons watching out the front window for her boy to come home from school and take her for a walk. There will always be an empty place in our window without her at her post.

Summer semester

This summer I am taking one online class. I am planning to graduate next spring, and with 32 credits remaining I thought it would be good if I took a class this summer to help relieve some of the class load for next year so I am taking psych 5100, history and systems. .
I have enjoyed the little break I had between the end of spring semester and the start of my summer class. After 8 months of classes, reading, writing and exams, I have been enjoying working in my yard.

Last weekend, we cut down 4 trees in our backyard. They were Chinese Elms which are pretty much junk trees that try to populate the area around themselves with more Chinese Elms and also send out suckers around the base of their trunks. We still have 3 or 4 more that we intend to remove. We have some Sycamores and Maples that we will be planting to replacing the elms.
This picture is a doe that has visited our backyard a couple of times this week to munch on the branches we stacked in the back of our yard.


We also planted our garden on Saturday. It doesn't look like much right now, but hopefully later this summer it will be full of corn, peas, beans, tomatoes, beets, carrots, squash, etc.


This is the project that I am starting next, or at least the "before" picture. It is going to be a flower garden in my front yard. I think I have my work cut out for me. Fortunately I have a teenage son who loves working outside with me and is excited to make some improvements to our yard. I'll post more pictures as the project progresses.

My Dancer

Is this a really cool picture or what?!
This is my 11 year old daughter at a dance competition about two weeks ago. I had been trying to zoom in and get a picture of just her instead of the entire group and as luck would have it, this is what I ended up with.
She dances with Vadels in Tremonton, and they won the sweepstakes trophy for overall best dance studio at this competition. They were awesome that day, and I know they worked hard for it. These girls have put in many, many extra hours practicing over the last couple of months getting ready for the competitions they competed in this year.

I made it!

Can you hear me sigh with relief?
I took my last final exam of the semester yesterday morning.
This week I had 4 exams and one paper due. That was pretty much all I did this week. When I pulled in my driveway yesterday afternoon, it hit me...relief.
I can't wait to mow my lawn, and clean my house really good, and paint my living room, and maybe be caught up on laundry for a minute, and plant a garden, and read a book (one that's not a text book) and a hundred other things I have planned for the summer.
Over the course of spring semester I figured that I took 12 quizzes, 14 exams, wrote 4 papers, and spent more than 150 hours sitting in classes taking notes, and now I'm ready for a break.