Birthday Boy!

 This year J turned the big 3-8! We celebrated with chocolate cake and English toffee ice cream. The day before his birthday, J bought a propane torch kit with which to annihilate the weeds in our yard. Best. Birthday. Present. Ever. Here he is unwrapping the second and third best birthday presents ever:

 The kids wrapped it.

 Can you tell?

 Strawberries and blackberries from our garden and hard candy.

 Because every boy needs a lunch box.

The day before J's birthday was a whirlwind day. I was in and out all day -- taking kids to piano class, running errands, picking kids up again, taking boys to buy jammers (the tight swim bottoms for boys, which at first embarrassed them and then became awesome because Olympic swimmers wear them), going to lunch with an awesome friend, driving up to IKEA for a few things, going to dinner and a concert with a couple more awesome friends -- and didn't get to spend much time with J. The day of his birthday was the Brigham City Temple dedication, which made it so we were home by 11:30AM. The rest of the day was spent relaxing with our favorite furry white guy. I love him so much. Yes I do!

The Haps

Here is a rundown of what has been happening lately...

We put a great and spacious play set in our backyard. It is a pirate ship, club house, picnic spot, and all around big hit.

J has been working on our garden. It is beautiful in its organization, layout, and function. He is a mad genius perfectionist gardener.

The school year ended. Programs, Pioneer trek, and dance festivals. I walked into the house one morning after a run to my boys having a shirtless dance party in the front room to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" thanks to not only Scera Park Elementary but also Cherry Hill Elementary. Now H walks around singing, "I'm only gonna break break break break break your heart," S "Pop it, lock it, polka dot it...," and O "I wanna celebrate and live my life..."

School is out. My boys are all home with me for the summer. Bliss and boredom. Fun and fighting. The usual. But all day now.

We met my parents in Moab for a weekend. Toasty fun. Chuck wagon, Arches National Park, hotel pool, Hummer ride.

I ran the Wasatch Back for the 3rd year in a row. I am addicted to this painful, sleep-deprived, exhausting kind of fun.

I will post on these events one by one. Stay tuned...

The Neglectful Gardener, a Pastoral Novel, by E

'Twas early Spring when the young lad and his fair mother were out in the garden. The boy had in his eager hand a packet of seeds. With optimism shining in both their eyes, mother and son carefully selected a choice spot for, what they hoped would become, a bed for their dinner greens. With tender care throughout the summer months that followed, the seeds, sown in a row were weeded and watered. Bright eyes searched the ground for any sign of verdant life. And then, to their surprise and delight, one day appeared the lettuce. "Dear Husbandman," inquired the Lady, "wouldst thou like to partake of the fresh green lettuce in our garden for thy evening repast?" "No, good woman," came the reply, "Not tonight." And so the months wore on, leaving the garden to fend for itself as a trip to the desert and then a trip to the shore took the faithful gardeners away from their home. And when they returned from their journeyings, alas! A slothful spirit had overtaken all of the household. Weeds began to creep into the bed of greens and the lettuce went unpicked...

This is what happens to lettuce if you don't pick it:

Fascinating. I'm wondering if the lettuce seeds are in the top knobby things. Maybe next year we will plant a whole flowerbed full of lettuce trees.

I'm not much of a gardener, although one day I'd like to be. The big garden in our backyard has been a challenge since we moved in, but faithfully, we planted peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn. We kept up on the weeding pretty well until we left for Gallup in July. When we returned, we repented of our sloth and cleared the weeds out again until we left for California in August. When we got home, it was a hopeless cause. The soil in our back garden has no nutrients, so we've fertilized and thrown all our kitchen scraps out there in an effort to feed the soil. I'm not sure it's working, but we are growing random tomato plants all over. It's pretty funny.

As for flowers, well, I'm not too big on flowers. They look nice, but I'd rather use the flower beds for something functional -- like lettuce trees or broccoli
,

zucchini, or pumpkins. I had great plans for peas climbing up the porch railing, but the snails squelched that idea. The problem with planting things in the front flowerbed is that we're not out there too much in the summer and plants get neglected. Lettuce tree, anyone?

Another Pleasant Valley Saturday

Our last Saturday in May was spent

burning yet more old wood

and planting corn.

When the kids saw this picture

they wanted to know how I could take the picture and be in it at the same time, so I showed them