Aidan's Baptism

For baptisms, we go to Warm Springs, which has been nicknamed Eden in the HoA. We were a small group, Cary and myself and our kids, Greg and Lois, mom and dad, and Kenneth. I managed to not get mom and Kenneth in any of the photos.

It turned out to be a really nice warm day, so the umbrellas were needed for shade, while in other parts of the valley they were needed for rain. ☺

I was really glad I didn't bother dressing up the others. 

The next morning we did the confirmation and then Aidan got to take communion, which is the part they are always really excited about.

Science Fair 2016

In third grade, the kids start doing science projects, and I have to admit I've been dreading this. Thankfully, this year Aidan was very motivated and knew what he wanted to do in January, and Cary jumped on board and they had the cannon built in February, so it was pretty painless for me. ;) I helped him with the organizing his board, and what not, but we tried to make him do most of it. (Which was a serious test of patience for both Cary and me, but it got done.) ☺

 Aidan with Cary's help built and air cannon and here is Aidan showing how it works for the other kids and judges. 

These two were done so they found a toy pile while we waited for the judges results

Aidan's project received 1st place for the 3rd grade group.

He came to show us his ribbon and told us, "Mom, when they called my name, I was so happy I almost cried tears of joy!"

We're super proud of all the accomplishments and strides Aidan has made this year. The transition to 3rd grade has not been easy for him (and us!) so I'm glad to see some of his hard work paying off.

The Yard Progress - south side yard

This is boring for most of you, but I'm so glad to have these pictures to see the progress we've made! I was feeling depressed about the yard progress and finding all these photos made me feel better. ☺

 Spring 2014

We removed this fence thingy that I had installed 10 years prior. ;)  It was looking rough.

One of my regrets is that I didn't put this arbor that my grandpa built in a "safe" spot, because I went to go find it recently to reuse it, and I think it got thrown away.  :( 

(Cary is rolling his eyes at me somewhere right now)

 Still in spring 2014 we took out all the hedge and some other bushes.

 Summer 2014 -I know most of you think I'm crazy that I didn't just stop here...but grass is BORING (and a pain to mow every week). ☺

November 2014 - The big Elm tree had to come out, and the yard got ripped up in the process, and  then John Hansen poured a new sidewalk next to our yard.

A big mess!

Spring 2015 - the rock wall had to be rebuilt and moved. The old rock wall was where the cement pad is. I like the look of the rock wall, but the maintenance is so annoying!  I don't want to fit doing something else in the budget at this point, so rock wall it is.

The rest of the yard looked like crap, but I had some pretty roses. 

 Summer 2015 - I had flags marking where rose bushes were in hopes that Cary wouldn't weed wack them. It didn't always work. ;) 

At some point during the summer, we (Cary) positioned some broken cement pads for my pathway, and then Kiah and Miguel were taking out all these bushes from my grandpa's old yard, so I took them and transplanted them here. 

 Fall 2015

The soil back here is depressing. It's pure clay, and so hard to deal with so I decided, bushes and trees, no flowers back here (for the time being) and weed barriers and mulch! So I've been transplanting all the roses and flowers away from this area over to the side area.

In this corner I transplanted a Forsythia, (also from grandpa's yard) and I transplanted a mock orange that was on the other side of the yard that was to close to the plum tree (and suffering majorly from chlorosis). In the bottom of the picture are some of my rose bushes.

The rose bushes were plagued with issues this summer because we didn't have a winter last year. The aphids and dust mites were really bad, but for some reason I insist on keeping them and buying more! ;) 

Spring 2016 - Obviously, everything is still dormant. I took these pictures after Cary and I transplanted the last two Mugo pines a few weeks ago. 

I've ended up with about 15 rose bushes out here, so we'll see if all of them survived the winter. I've slowly been working on getting everything mulched when the weather allows, but I had a minor operation last week and I'm supposed to be taking it easy so I'm bummed to not be out working!

I ordered a bunch (9?)of trees from Arbor Day Foundation and planted them in December, so we'll see what comes up. 

We transplanted grandpa's Peonies to my yard, and Peonies do not like to transplanted so I was pretty skeptical that they would make it, so I've been so excited to see this! I had also transplanted one that mom had in a different part of this yard, and it was buried too deep so it wasn't flowering and it's coming up too.