Starting the Garden: Updated

Aaron and I decided that it was high time that we started working on our garden. In Utah, you need to start your garden in February BUT you can't plant anything outside until after Mother's Day. We find it hard to pick out when to start having our kitchen table taken over by plants. We finally decided that today was as good a day as any to have our table taken over for at least two months.

We also have been talking about how we are going to make this garden our best garden ever! We heard that eggshells and bananas are really great for plants and so we started by making a nasty slurry.
Doesn't that look gross? But we are hoping that it will help give our tiny seedlings a boost.
We planted Tomatoes, Pole Beans, Sunflowers, and Onions. We still have to plant Zucchini but we figured that those will be the biggest in two months and so we are going to have to put those seeds into something bigger.
I got some yellow clothes pins (that I painted for the Blue and Gold but we didn't use them) and wrote down what each planter set was full of.
And hopefully we will have Blueberries this year along with our Raspberries and Grapes.

Is there anything else that you think we should plant? I'm hoping that this will be enough for us this year. I'm excited because our garden will go great with the Paleo diet. We are going to work pretty hard to make this garden great.

Updated Wednesday the 25th:
Today while I was home sick, I went ahead and planted Zucchini, Oregano, and Parsley!

I think that our little garden is going to be pretty impressive.

Lego Llama

There is a boy in the preschool who is an amazing artist. I love seeing the way his mind works as he is drawing a picture. The other day he drew a picture of his mom sitting on a half moon. It was pretty cool.

Anyway, we try to set out a "center" activity that he can get creative with. I was going to put out white boards but they were in another classroom being used. I was going to put out crayons but the white paper was gone. Finally I settled on Legos. At least with Legos, he could build something creative.

Well, someone was building a horse using the one piece we have for a horse. But this boy wanted to build a horse! He came to me to ask for the horse piece and I told him, "If you want to build a horse, than you are going to have to do it without that piece.

And indeed he did.

I came back to see how he was getting along and he had that little guy! I asked him, "Is this the horse?" And he said, "No. Llama!" And that is exactly what it looks like.

He finally got the horse piece that he wanted (the red arch that are used for legs) and so he built a "mama llama!"

Blue and Gold Banquet- Birthday Party

We had our Blue and Gold on Wednesday. The Blue and Gold Banquet is a celebration of the "birth" of scouting. Our pack decided to do a "Birthday Party" themed Banquet with party games and cake, of course!

Aaron and I were in charge of the bean bag toss at the Blue and Gold Banquet. The scout closet had one but it was...ummm...not on theme.
We decided to spray paint it blue. We thought that that would be the fastest way since it was raining the whole week leading up to the banquet. Then I painted yellow "suns" around the holes. Aaron put the badges of all of the ranks on for us.

I think it turned out looking pretty good.
We also had "Pin the Rank on the Scout". That was pretty cute and the kids seemed to love the games. We ate breakfast food for dinner. I love breakfast for dinner so it was a pretty good night.

The boys decorated cakes and we had a cake walk! Every family went home with a yummy cake. The kids walked around the big circle to some awesome music. I think that they got a kick out of it.

Especially when they would find out which cake they got. These kids were so excited that they started eating the frosting off of all the plastic pieces on their new cake.
This cub scout dragon was created by the same boys who made our gingerbread house in October. They are such creative kids.

All in all, I think that this was a pretty good Blue and Gold Banquet.

February House Guests

Aaron got here Friday night and was followed quickly by Clarise and Geoff. I was so excited to see them! I hadn't gotten to hang out with Andy in awhile since he has been so busy. We all sat and talked and enjoyed each others company until Aaron and Clarise had to go to sleep. The rest of us wanted to run to get some Mexican food. So we ran down to Rancheritos. I don't think that we went to sleep until 2 in the morning.

The next day we all took our time waking up. It was Saturday after all. Luckily Clarise was ready with crepes for all of us! They were delicious and another reason to love her. Sitting around the kitchen table all together eating...it was a good moment.

We sat around for awhile surfing the internet, talking, and generally being friends. We decided after awhile that it was time to find food. Olive Garden has bottomless soup and salad for lunch and so that helped us decide! While we were sitting at Olive Garden, I was staring at Clarise's wonderful new hair and I started to really miss having short hair. Look how lovely she is! Wouldn't you love that hair.

I asked Clarise if she would hate me for copying her hair cut and she said no. We decided to drop the boys off at home after lunch and head to the salon to get it done. When we dropped the guys off, I grabbed my purse. Geoff said, "Where are you going?" "Ummm...to get my hair cut." "YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO DO THAT?!" Yeah, I'm pretty hardcore like that. Hair grows back.

It was great being with Clarise at the salon. I felt like I was back at BYU with my favorite room mate getting my hair did. It took awhile so I'm pretty sure Clarise got bored. When my hair was done, I was so excited! It was the hair that I wanted my Senior year of high school! I could finally faux hawk it!

The pointy style is going to take some time for Aaron to get used to but so far he likes it. When we got home, Clarise and I took some pictures of our matching hair. Not a whole lot of them turned out since it was the middle of the night in our green painted room.

After pictures, the boys all wanted to go and see a movie at the dollar theater. We picked The Muppet Movie. It was the only one that we could agree on. It was HILARIOUS!!!!!! We were laughing so loud in the theatre. Seriously, I was scared that we were going to get kicked out or at least talked sternly to by some other patrons. It was as funny as a Muppet movie always is. We were all in a very good mood when we left the theatre and I really want to get that movie. GO SEE IT!

We headed to Winco afterwards to make sure that we had enough food in the house for the rest of the weekend. We had fun at the Winco since it was like a scavenger hunt most of the time. I had no idea where to find anything and so that's what I was feeling it was like.

When we finally got home that night, Aaron and I quickly planned our lesson for Primary the next day and we went to bed.

At 4 am, I woke up scream/crying in pain. I was passing a kidney stone and it was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I was praying and begging for it to stop for about 15 horrible minutes. I couldn't catch my breath and poor Aaron could only rub my back and ask if he could do anything to help. I had him run and get me some pain killers so that I could go back to sleep. It worked but I could still feel the pain throbbing and moving through me.

When I woke up, Aaron asked if I could come to church. I was still in pain but I helped him get things ready for our lesson. The poor man had to take care of all of the boys in our class by himself. But I'm sure that Aaron did a great job.

I had to wait for other people to wake up in the house before I started moving around. Or, I had to wait for people to come out of their rooms. We took Sunday morning almost as slow as Saturday which was good for me. I wasn't really wasn't feeling up to doing much.

When Aaron got home we had Andy's amazing enchiladas. They really hit the spot and we started playing some board games. We played Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. Good times.

It was a beautiful day and we didn't want to stay inside all day.

While Andy went to take a nap, Geoff, Clarise and I took Pippen and Bambi to the park to run around. They loved it. Or at least Clarise and Geoffrey did.

It felt good to be out enjoying the weather. Geoff threw ice chunks for Pippen to chase and eat. Clarise and Geoff wrestled in the snow a little bit. Fun was had by all.

After that we went home and eventually watched Midnight in Paris. It was a pretty good movie.

This post is going on forever!! Okay, Monday, we played games, ate some good food and everyone went home. The end.

I love having my friends spend the weekend with us!! They are the best and they make my life so great. But it is always nice at the end of a weekend, to just have my husband snuggling me to sleep.

Our Special Valentine's Day

Aaron and I usually don't do a whole lot for Valentine's Day. It is kind of a tradition. Our first Valentine's Day, we had only been dating each other for about a month and not exclusively. But Aaron asked me on a date for Valentine's Day anyway and I told him that it wasn't allowed to be romantic since we hadn't known each other that long.

He cooked me dinner and we watched Ghost Rider. Kind of romantic but super low maintenance.

Our Valentine's Day since then have been about the same.

But not this one!! For Christmas, Aaron and I made each other presents and a present that I made him was a year of planned dates. Or rather, dates that were mapped out and he just had to follow the recipe.
Valentine's Day said, "Plan a dessert. Find a poem to read. Dress nice. I'll handle dinner."

And so I hurried home from school and work to start on cooking our dinner. I made Chicken and Rice casserole so...super sexy. But I got the kitchen looking nice. Place mats, napkins, and coasters, I got as a wedding present. I let the candles sticks finish up so that I could get new ones to put in.

Aaron got an outfit and went downstairs to change. I got ready upstairs. Doing my hair and make up. Getting on a pretty dress. Finishing my presents for Aaron. When all the candles were lit and dinner was ready, I called Aaron back upstairs. He was dressed all nice and had flowers and chocolates for me with the sweetest card!

We had a wonderful dinner and I gave Aaron the cards from me and another card from the dogs (I tried to get them to sign it but they had a total spaz out when I put their feet in ink.) I had made him a book to write love letters in. That way we can write them back and forth and keep them in a book to some day give to our kids with our journals. And this funny book! It is pretty hilarious.

Aaron pulled out some cheesecake for dessert and read me a super sweet poem while I ate. He is the best. It was a wonderfully romantic night and dinner and I'm so glad that we finally had a really romantic Valentine's Day.

And the rest of the night is none of your business.

Valentine's Day at Preschool

I was so excited for Valentine's Day at the preschool!! Remember when you were in elementary school and you would go around putting all the cards into everyone's bags? Yeah, that is what I was excited about! I would get to go around and put Valentines in everyone's bag!

My co-worker Andrea is an amazing and crafty and I knew that she would make awesome Valentine's for the kids and so I wanted to do something awesome too. At first I bought store bought cards with Laffy Taffy. LAME! The kids wouldn't even be able to read the jokes! So I decided to search Pinterest for an interesting idea. This was the combination of a couple of cute ideas.

Butterfly candy holders!!! Yeah!!! I got to use up some scrapbook paper that I've had for 3+ years and the stickers that I bought AND the candy! I hope the kids liked them because I had a really fun time making them. I stayed up late into the night watching Downton Abbey while working on them (I'm going to be so sad on Sunday when the late episode airs and I have to wait a year for more).

Since it was also February 13th yesterday, I got my co-worker something for "Gal"entines Day since we both LOVE Parks and Recreation.

I made her a jar of Brown Sugar Scrub! It is the best smelling sugar scrub that I've made BY FAR.

This is the only picture that I got of the sugar scrub so...ENJOY!

And that was my day before Valentine's Day at the preschool.

Early Birds

I'm hopeful that Spring might be on its way!! We have some birds that are getting ready to set up house in the eves of our home! They really do love it up there!
It snowed this morning but by the afternoon it was all melted. I'm hoping that this pattern continues until spring.

Extra Stuff that Doesn't Deserve a Blog Post

I haven't taken pictures of the things that we have been up to and so I feel like we haven't done anything in the last little while but we have. Since this is my online journal, I should probably be a better record keeper.

Aaron and I keep pretty busy during the day and so at night we crash and get nothing done. It makes our Saturdays pretty crazy since we are running around trying to get our house clean. But I guess in our own way we are making it work.

We are so ready for winter to be over so that we can start doing outside stuff with our scouts. We want to take them on hikes and go to the Nature Center. We want to make catapults and we can't wait for Day Camp all the way in June! But we have been working with the scouts on First Aid stuff and also talking with them about being good citizens.

I'm also excited for winter to end so that I can start working on making our garden AMAZING this year! Seriously, I want this to be our best year ever! Since I'm still trying to work on my Paleo diet, it would be great to have some fresh veggies to eat coming from our garden instead of buying them at a store.

I sold my Canon Rebel XS! I've also been trying to sell the point and shoot cameras that we have. We're planning on getting another point and shoot camera that should be ready for all of our adventures! My deal with Aaron was that if I sold all of our other cameras, I could put some of the money to buying this new one. My Rebel has been my most treasured possession for the last two years and it was really weird today when I packed it up and handed it over to FedEx. It has been such a wonderful camera and I'm going to miss it.

Aaron and I are still trying to start growing our family. Its been two years since I found out about the PCOS this month. I'm so grateful to all of the people who have been fasting and praying for Aaron and I! Anyway, I've been meeting with a new doctor and she has me on some new medication which we were hoping would help me. It did something but that something wasn't good enough. We are going to have to try next month. Since at this point I'm diagnosed as "infertile" we have to pay for everything out of pocket. I know that the money is going to be worth it in the long run. I know that when we are able to have a baby, it is going to be a wonderful miracle that our friends and family were part of. I can't express how grateful I am to all of those who have helped us through kinds words and prayers. We are so blessed!