Fixing up: Flowers, Firepits, and Flagstone

Last Fall I developed three new flower beds, transplanting day lilies, columbine, yarrow, marigold maximus, Russian sage, and zebra grass.  I also planted about 100 bulbs in those areas east and south of the garage and along the east fence line. They are beautiful this spring, and almost everything lived through the winter, even the plants I bought in October from Four Corners Nursery. I got them for 75% off: peonies, herbs, succulents, and clemantis.

 Last year Anthony cleaned out the Choke cherry trees, so that section looks better too.  The pansies did beautifully as well, blooming in the late fall and again this spring.  I need to remember to do that in the future! The evergreens I had buried didn't root, (as seen next to garage) so I pulled those out this week and transplanted forsythia there.   Steve had trimmed back the lilacs severely so it was easier to side the garage, but they are leafing out well, and we'll have beautiful bushes by next year again.

 I moved several heavy cement dividers to edge the south bed, and then Steve helped me haul rock from the reservoir to line the other two beds.
Our next project was deciding how to develop and design the area south of our new patio, with an area for a fire pit and horse shoes. (Deciding is no small task for us!)

First Steve trimmed back the Rose of Sharon, and built a new set of stairs, and then put in a raised planter where he hopes to raise some tomatoes on trellises. This also entailed downsizing the original terraced planter beds he built some years ago, and attaching a new side wall and removing the irrigation pipes.  We planted our early crops there this year: radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale, and some herbs.

Steve leveled the ground, which sloped quite a bit, and then we used a hose to outline the edge, though I think this hose is watering strawberries!

 I was able to find a pallet of flagstone (via Blanding's 24/7 FB garage sale) out at Bert Jackson's, so that became the backbone for our pathway across the top of the garden.  I finally convinced Steve to use gravel around it, though that wasn't his preference.  It was a major breakthrough when he ordered a whole truckload of gravel and had it delivered to our barnyard.  That was a great birthday present.  I was so excited when it came, I could hardly sleep that night, anticipating all the fun of putting it in.

We bought bricks from Tri-Hurst for .62 cents each.  Steve leveled the walk way, and put the edging down, meandering it across the top of the new strawberry and raspberry patch.  Once he had the edging in, I put down the heavy gauge plastic, and we placed the flagstone.  Then we began hauling gravel.  This shows phase #1.

When we took the old green pickup out to Jacksons to get the rocks, we got it all loaded, and then it wouldn't start, so Brother Pincock was kind enough to tow us home, and there the green mean machine sat for two weeks, until we learned our lesson, and then one day it started up just fine, and Steve moved it back into the barn yard!

We were thankful again for the riding lawmower/tractor the kids got Steve when he retired, as he used it and a little dump trailer to haul the heavy rocks, as well as the gravel to our work site.

Next we tackled the fire pit.  We moved in the benches to help us decide the right distance for placement.  We got long joined bricks for the framework around the metal pit.  (We also keep one in it when not in use, so it doesn't blow away!  Hope we don't ever have a tornado, and end up with a brick in our window!)  This section took longer to do, as we had to experiment with laying the flagstone in some sort of a pattern, with the larger pieces by the benches.  These pieces were dang heavy and it took both of us to lift and  position them

I don't know how many loads of gravel we shoveled, but we had 4 cubic yards of gravel delivered, and only have about a wheelbarrow load left.  That was our weight lifting exercise for a week!

 Dad bought over 125 bricks and used all but four on the edging. 
This is how the first two-thirds looked when we got the first big section done.  I really love it, especially when I think about how trashy that corner has looked for three decades.

The last part entailed wrapping around the apple tree, and the long walk way to the chicken coop.  I'm glad we did that too, as it looks much more finished and clean.  I think we can better irrigate the apple tree too, as we've never gotten a good crop off of it.  We put porous netting under the gravel there instead of the heavy gauge plastic.  (We did get a much better crop this fall because of the increased water.)


 
 Another decorative garage sale find with a little water fountain.





 One of our neighbor's cats posed by the lilacs, which have been so beautiful this spring. 






Love our flowering crab apple. How can a person be crabby with that in their yard?

Double Tulips!

CEU/USU Award

We were told about a month before the CEU gradutation which was the end of April, that the student council had selected us to receive the student service award, for our years of helping CEU students over the past 15 or so years.  So we showed up to graduation, sat with Merry Shumway on the front row, and after their introduction, we went up to receive, it and everyone looked around not knowing what to do.  Evidently no one ordered what ever the award was supposed to be.  But we did get our photo taken, so here's the anit-climatic event.  Merry received an award for service to education.

Best Birthday Present Ever

Two of our daughter-in-laws (Amy and Bev) pulled together one of the best birthday presents ever, when they went in cahoots with Steve and absconded with my e-mail addresses, asking friends to write a memory they had with me. 

    It was a most wonderful surprise, and evoked both tears and laughter as I read it.  I have truly been blessed with so many wonderful friends over the years, and then when you add to that mix, the eternal, constant love of family, and relatives, it made for a wonderful book to read, and re-read. 

Thank you to everyone who participated.  There were over 80 letters, and I loved everyone of them.
 Here are some of the grandkid's letters and drawings.

And some of the letters from special friends.

Anthony Passes the Bar and Nails first job!

   Though it seems somewhat backward in chronology, Anthony successfully passed the law bar exam in Utah, on his first try even before he officially graduated from Law School.
   We found out April 14 and celebrated via phone.  What a terrific accomplishment, and how great it was to have that pressure lifted from his shoulders.  We are so proud of him, and thankful for his good wife, who shooed him off to SLC for 6 weeks to take a prepatory class for the exam.  Her Uncle Parke donated his condo to the cause, and after that it was just study, study, study.
    Anthony only took one real break when he flew to Mesa when we went down to help Ashley clean out their home, prior to moving back to Mountain Home..

Once Anthony knew he passed the bar, he recontacted the Duschene County Attorney's office and let them know he was now "legal" as a lawyer, hoping there might be an opening there.  Because he had worked there his first summer as an intern, he had prior experience and connections with them.  They told him there was a slight chance they might be able to get the County Commissioners to let them hire another attorney.  Fortunately, the commission met to review the 2012 budget the following Monday, and they were able to present a proposal to hire Anthony on tract for the rest of the year.  It was approved on April 23, and he now has a job! A double blessing this month for them and everyone who has been praying for them.

We take the "I Do" Challenge

Steve and I were one out of four couples honored by USU during National Marriage Week.  This group was honored for taking the USU Marriage Challenge, and  completing  five activities during the month of March. 

Steve and Janet Wilcox, USU Extension Agent Lou Mueller, Megan and Bill Sivert, Patty and Bruce Lyman (not pictured—Lee and Krista Chadwick)

Some of the things we've done since January include talking more together each day.  I made a conscious effort to get to bed by 11, so we can have prayers together.  I'm a night owl at heart, but having prayers together both night and morning helps everything go better.  We also share more of the house work and cooking chores together as we both usually have lots of extra "other" projects to do.  This has really helped out.  Steve has been more willing change things, and go along with plans, even when he doesn't always agree.  We've learned how to compromise more.  He has been thoughtful and generous remembering special occassions and also more generous towards others, which makes me happy.

I make more of an effort to tell my husband how thankful I am for how hard he works and helps me around the house. I've learned to put the remote on pause, when he comes in and has things to tell me!

St. Patricks Day trip to SLC area

C

B

D

Which fabric sample do you think Amy liked the best?  Which one did we actually use to cover her chairs?  I didn't get photos of the finished products.  I'll have to get the girls to snap some shots for me.  (Answers at the end.)

Finally winter took a break and we were able to travel north

A

to see all our families in Provo, Kaysville, West Valley and Tooele. It was fun visiting them all and trying to help them a bit, and playing with the grandkids. We enjoyed helping with some upholstery projects for Pam and Amy's kitchen areas. In all we recovered 14 chairs. It went a lot faster with Steve helping, as well as the kids who did some of the washing for us. 

Peyton and Hunter were all ready for St. Patricks day, with a full wardrobe  of green!  We also put shamrocks on our fingernails and painted them.  Peyton also did Laurie's nails when she got there. 

 We had a fun St. Paddy's day get together on Saturday at Autumn's, and had a green scavenger hunt, and created some special things for Hunter and Hinckley's birthdays.  Autumn found some really cute patterns that worked really well.  The Elmo cupcakes and fruit plate were for Hinckley, and the lego cake for Hunter.  


Grandpa did the cooking, since Theron was in Bishops' training a good part of the day.  It was chilly most of the day, but the kids still took time to jump on the trampoline, and do the scavenger hunt.

Michael does one of his tricky trampoline moves.

Chris, Andrew, Nathan's families all came over.







 

Hunter's fancy Birthday Lego cake.

 

Grandma and Grandpa Jeppson also came down from Logan,
and Trisha and Sam Jeppson celebrated with us as well.




(D is the one Amy liked best ( but was still $22 a yard on sale!) ; B is what she got, as the price was half as much, and A was the one, I told her the kids would like best!)

Here is what they looked like.

 

Here is a shot of the chairs Steve and I recovered for Pam on the same trip. 

 Then Chris put on a new lamanite table top, which matches their counter.  It looks great.

 

What keeps us out of trouble

This is pretty bad. It's mid-March and this is my first blog of 2012.   We continue to be very busy with Young Singles activities.  We help furnish food for a monthly break-the-fast dinner, plus invite the YSA to our home one Sunday a month for dinner, plus host a game night monthly.  Just keeping them contacted and encouraged, plus shuttling them to the North Chapel (where we are now holding Sunday meetings) keeps us thinking of others instead of ourselves.

 

I continue to maintain a facebook account for our YSA group, with about 40 kids on it.  We've been working both with the SJC dorms as well as the 5th ward, so there are really a lot of kids that age.  Just a few weeks ago, however, Sallie and Jim Hughes were called to serve at the dorms, so that has helped a lot to reduce the leg work.  We are working with them however, to host game night and dinners, at least until next year starts.  We have too many kids we don't want lost in the changeover.

Steve is still working at the temple every Tuesday, and that's when I do a lot of my visits and fellowshipping, as well as getting flyers designed for upcoming events.  We have tried hard to invite our less active (both physically and spiritually)  neighbors out to participate in various activities at our home, as well as the ward, and lunches at the Sr. Center. 

We've had several neighborhood parties during the winter: pinochole, game night, Chinese New Year Party, and others which we hope is as fun for them as it is for us.  We've also tried to always invite someone when we feed the missionaries, and have enjoyed getting better acquainted with them, and it helps the missionaries too.  We've invited the Lobatos, Larry Dennison, Ricky's family,  

In January--we hosted a "history lunch" and invited many of our friends who have been working on family histories.  Those coming were Gayle Shumway, Patsy Shumway, Silvia and Brian, Beverly Vowell, Kay Jones,  Nancy Kimmerle. Each told of strategies, and publishers they have used in their history projects.  It was very helpful and interesting.  Afterwords we had a soup and salad lunch.

Tuesday Evening is when we do the Addiction Recovery Class.  The numbers have been pretty good all winter, between 8-12 coming, but it seems that once warm weather comes, the numbers go down a bit.  Once a month we also attend a community family support group whose goal is to help families who struggle because of addictions of loved ones.
Just recently I made copies of a modified version of our teaching manual, which was designed to be used as a 12 week Sunday School manual.  It's called "Overcoming Hurts, Habits, and Hangups."
I'm hoping that might be used to help others as well. Everyone could benefit from the 12 step program, as we all have Hurts, Habits, and Hangups that prevent us from being all we could be -- especially in the context of change and becoming more like Christ.

Spoiled on Valentines

These are the beautiful flowers Steve surprised me with for Valentines day.  The sexy apron is from Andrew and Amy's family. 

Mesa House cleaning, and visiting trip

Surprise Party for Anthony and Ashley in Mesa



Anthony's #1 study partner in law school!


  Anthony has really done all in his power to prepare to pass the bar exam, as has his wife. 

Anthony ensconced himself in Parke's SLC condo hideaway, finishing up the last of the law prep classes.   He flew down for the weekend, when we were in Phoenix, so we got to see do some things with them and Quent's family.   We worked for about two days cleaning the house and Steve did all the windows. We made good steady progress each day. 

  We stayed at the Reidheads, where Ashley and the kids were staying, and then went over to their house and helped wash and clean for two days. 

Karen and Steve compare notes

 Anthony's family was really happy to see him.

Friday night when Anthony flew down, we checked back at the house after going out for pizza, and Karen had orchestrated a surprise good-bye party for them.  It turned out really fun, and we got to meet some of their Mesa friends.

 

 





 We did sneak in a few quick shopping breaks, but for the most part worked straight through both days.  On the way to school each morning, Sam would read us a chapter from the Book of Mormon.  He's become quite the reader!

Karen kept us well fed, entertained in the evening, and provided us with a comfy bed.  Anthony and Ashley and family stayed in the guest house. The next two nights we stayed at Quent and Bev's.

Time for Wii competitions at the Wilcoxes
 

  Jens is really getting cute and paying attention to things

Saturday we had a B-b-que lunch at Quentin's with both families, and then that night we went to the Organ Pizza Stop which was pretty fun to listen to and watch. It was really packed.

Pizza at the Organ Stop 

 



One of the extravagant organ performances we saw

Other Family News



Ashley is planning to head up this way on the 15th with the rest of their belongings.  We hope to celebrate Rob's birthday while they are stop overnight in Blanding.

 

Nathan and Tammy took us on a Skype tour of their basement completion project.  All the sheet rock is up, which is no small matter considering all the rooms, nooks, closets, and hideaways involved.  It should be finished by the end of the month as well.

 

Autumn and Theron's ward was expanded last week, with the addition of 60 new families, so Autumn's not sure if she'll see Theron much this month, as they are trying to visit everyone.  Rob made a trip to Mesquite last week, to play golf with John Young, Damon Orr, on a officers' golf tournament.  They took 1st place.  Chris and Pam are as busy as ever, and even though they are dealing with some issues right now, they seem positive about the outcome. 

Andrew is liking his new job for Workman's Comp, even though his BMI isn't where the organization wants it to be, he is exercising hard daily, and has lost about 25 lbs.  He now is an official Private Investigator!  I have been super busy.  I just finished Quentin's birthday book project, and am ready to start a new one.   Saw War Horse last week.  It was wonderful.  The fight scenes may be too intense for younger children, as it shows the fox hole fighting of WWI...but the story is very life affirming.