Luv

I had big plans for Valentines day. It was going to start with special breakfast for my three favorite boys. Heart shaped pancakes, strawberry syrup, strawberry smoothies, the works. Followed up with a heart shaped lunch, and of course a love note. And a valentine themed dinner. The plan was to decorate after the kids went to bed the night before and get up early the next morning and surprise them. Then Sunday, I got the flu. There would be nothing special for Valentines day. For once I was going to get the mother of the year award, but no, I'm not that great. I instead went to bed hoping the kids could get themselves ready for school the next morning.

Monday morning however, I woke up to two kids who were WAY more excited than they would have been if I had made them breakfast. They made me breakfast! Heart shaped pancakes with strawberry syrup and orange juice. As Alan said, "I didn't actually cook any of it, but I planned the WHOLE thing" And to top it off I got love notes too.

Do I keep it or not?

Dec 4

Feb 20

Greatest accomplishment this year

Before:

After:

See the difference? Yes the grass has gone downhill a little. That isn't an accomplishment to be proud of. I'm talking about retaining wall. There is a 7 foot gap in the top picture. I fixed that yesterday. I have a close up picture so you could see how good it looks but blogger won't let me post it. So you'll have to admire from afar.

- John

Joy

Almost three years ago President Monson announced that a new temple would be built in Phoenix.  We were thrilled.  We sill are.  It's taking a long time getting started but it's looking like it will get going soon.  You can learn more about this temple and see pictures and plans here. 

A few weeks ago we got to go hiking near where the temple is going to be built.  I snapped this shot with the temple lot in the background.  I'm looking forward to taking many more pictures in the future to note the temple progress.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things-Backyard Edition

Though my backyard has a long way to go it's given me a few things to smile about these last few months.

 

My first ripe tomato. 

I think I finally figured out tomatoes in Arizona.  Pots.  It's too hot in the summer so you need to grow in the winter in the pot.  During our freezing nights I can just pull them inside and I don't need to get upset that even though I covered them they die anyway. 

Beautiful leaves!

We don't get a lot of color in the fall here in Arizona, but I was thrilled this year when my Ash trees turned a beautiful bright yellow.  What makes trees change color?  Last year they did not turn color but fell to the ground green.  Oh I hope that it will turn color next year.  You can almost see my next favorite thing in the photo here but it is covered by the beautiful leaves.

 

We have grass!

Here it is better.  We finally have some grass in our house.  No we sill haven't finished the clean up, but getting it in was such a big job that we are just glad that it's done.  Clearing away rock and prepping the ground that has laid dormant for decades was a lot of work, but it's nice to have a little more green in the back yard.

 

Ripe Lemons! 

You might remember our disastrous crop from last year.  We've enjoyed quite a bit of fresh squeezed lemonade this year.  We have tons of oranges on the tree but they aren't quite ripe yet so we are still hoping for them.

Jedi Training

A few months ago John and I decided that the kids were old enough to watch the origional Star Wars movies.  That, combined with the new addition the the lego Star Wars game to our household was enough to ensure that Hyrum wanted a Star Wars Party for his birthday.

A quick search of the Internet brought up numerous party ideas, including pin the light saber on the Jedi and Star Wars bingo.  I love six year olds.  They get so excited over the simplest things.

I think my favorite was the asteroid hunt.  We wrapped candies up in tin foil balls and hid them around the back yard.  The kids collected them like Easter eggs.  Really, why should you have an Easter egg hunt only once a year.

Last  of all was light saber training where Darth Vader showed up.

OK.  So the costume wasn't the best.  But the kids thought it was cool.

The kids seemed to forget about the light sabers though and decided it would be best to tackle Darth.

 

Happy Birthday Hyrum!  I hope you had fun on your special day!