Busy Busy

Been too busy to blog it seems like lately, which actually translates to there are exciting things to blog about. First of all, I finally finished Kaylinn's room. It is very bright pink, but I think I like it. It is a very girly room and now has the distinction of being the only room in the house that I have decorated. Hopefully more will be to follow, but right now I have switched gears to the outside of my house.

I am not a great gardener, and I get tired of it very easily, but I am really trying to be more motivated. I want a garden I can be proud of so this year I will jump in again and try (as I do every spring). Last year was a particularly bad year. I was very neglectful of it. I have started stronger than most years and it helps that its been very popular among my friends this year (indeed the news reports that it is popular for all Americans this year). I have taken 2 garden classes this year, I have been reading books and magazines like crazy. I have been writing and taking notes, making a plan for my garden on paper. Then I have been out there more than usual this year, although the real test is to come when gardening season has been going for a while. It has been spring here. All the flowers are beginning to come out and the trees are beginning to blossom. It has been flipping back and forth between winter and spring. We have been having beautiful warm days, followed by days of snowing. I have been trying to be outside whenever possible and working. The kids have also been spending every possible minute outside. Kaylinn has decided that her activity of choice is riding scooters and trikes and such. She just constantly wants to be doing that. She's still a little awkward, but if she keeps doing it as often as she is, she will have to get better. Logan got his first sunburn of the season this week being outside and playing.

So the first thing that needed to be done was to amend my garden. My amending material of choice is horse manure. There is a fairly large horse farm just a couple of miles from my house. They rotate their manure, so you are actually getting last years poop. That is a good thing because it isn't as hot (compost literally gets hot from a chemical reaction and then can burn your plants) and also it gives seeds a chance to die so that you won't be planting weeds in the garden along with your manure. The best part is that it is free. The stable hand will charge you $5 to load it into your truck or trailer. That is about as cheep as amendment will come. My mom and I both needed loads. This year we are actually doing a plot of land that my parents own with a HUGE garden. (she just planted 4-75' rows of sugar snap peas. So we needed multiple loads for that. Then I took a load to a friend (she took Kaylinn for a long time that afternoon, so I felt good about having "paid" her for that). Six trailers full of manure and none of our menfolk could take time off work so we decided to do it ourselves. Anyhow, we did 6 loads of manure that took us about 6 hours. I felt so sore and dirty by the time we finished. I named us the manure mamas. We laughed and had such a good time all day. Plus the weather was beautiful, which always makes things more pleasant. I am so glad that I get along so well with my mom. It is awesome to be her friend!

Yesterday Mike and I dropped the kids off at his parent's house and then spent pretty much the entire day going to the Draper Temple Dedication. We actually went to the temple. We had to arrive about 2 hours early and spent quite a while waiting for our session to start. President Monson gave the dedicatory prayer and President Eyring was conducting and spoke and also Elder Christofferson was there and spoke too. We got to watch it via monitor in a sealing room. Just getting to sit in the sealing room for a good 2 hours was an amazing experience. The sun was shining through the windows, making the room sparkle. It was amazing.

We came home and Mike rototilled the garden and lashed me some poles for peas to climb up (yeah for boy scouting!) I got some seeds into the ground. I have also started some seeds inside (first time) and they are doing marvelous (okay yes I have been talking to my plants). I'm pretty excited about it.

Then our church was canceled today. Apparently they did that for everyone who is in the temple district. Instead, today, they offered 2 sessons of the temple dedication that were broadcast to our stake center. Mom took the kids to church at her ward (because they couldn't just skip church today she said) and since her church is 8:30 am this year they actually took the kids last night. Mike and I enjoyed a nice night alone and then met everyone for sacrament meeting today.

Mike seems to be pretty busy lately with work and church and school and helping me rototil. (Right now he's busy watching college basketball--hehe).

My Little Ballerina

I figured that since I had given Logan the spotlight with basketball that Kaylinn deserved some blog time as well. Today at her ballet class I went equipped with my camera. I know she's my kid and so I'm supposed to brag and everything, but she sure is the cutest thing! She begged and begged for ballet lessons as we were coming up to her 3rd birthday. Honestly I was a little nervous about the whole thing. I figured she would be so young and maybe not be able to keep up and figure it out so it would just be a waste of time. But it's pretty hard to say no to Kaylinn and she was really persistent. So 1 day before her 3rd birthday we went to the local rec center and signed her up. I asked the teacher if she thought she would be okay and the teacher reassured me that she would do just fine at this age. So we were off. She's not always on task, (although I'm not sure how much of that to blame on age and how much to blame on personality) but she sure loves it.
Yes this is a picture of her today posing for me instead of following her teacher like she was supposed to--the stinker!
She is about a head shorter than pretty much all the other dancers. She is just a petite girl. All the mom's are always telling me how cute she is and wondering if she is really old enough for the class. Right now they are working on their recital dance for the recital in June. The theme is dancing around the world and her class is doing Ireland. They have these fun green dresses. I watched them go through their whole routine today to some beautiful Irish music. It brought a smile to my face to see all those 3, 4, and 5 year olds struggle with the choreography. I loved it. One of my favorite things is that she always comes home with new ballet terms and in that sugary-sweet little voice she lists off all the French ballet terms. "Today we did bourret." "Mom, do you want to see my jette?" These are for sure the moments that you want to savor and enjoy. This is what makes being a mom such an incredible experience and so worth all the sacrifices.