Swimming and Sprinklers

With my brother graduating my sister and her two girls spent some time up at my mom's house. Whenever they come up it's fun to go down there and let the girls play. With the weather warming up they played a lot in the water. They got a huge kick out of the sprinkler! It was really funny to watch them.

Also, once again, you get to see more pictures of Kayleigh in my mom's pool. She's really starting to pose for pictures and I just love her cheesy grin! We hope you are enjoying these springy/summery days like we are.

We also made a fire on Friday night where we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and they were yummy. Kayleigh has quickly fallen in love with marshmallows, but like that surprises any of us! She's coming from a family where the girls got marshmallow creme in their stockings for Christmas, it's just so good!

Graduation

On Friday my little brother, Nathan, graduated from the STEPS program. It's the school districts program for handicapped kids ages 18-22 (post-high school). If I'm wrong on that my mom will correct me. He was awarded his high school diploma (go Davis Darts) and got to have a little bio read about him. The graduation was held at the Davis County Fair Grounds. I wasn't a huge fan of this location. We were just sitting on folding chairs and it was hot.

I was really glad to be there to see him graduate, what an accomplishment for him. He has had a pretty good experience the last 4 years in STEPS. He's had the opportunity to work at Ben Franklin Crafts, Pepperbelly's, Smith's Marketplace, and a few other places.

One thing everyone at STEPS quickly learned about Nathan was his love of fries, root beer and pizza. Those are his staple foods! Congratulations, Nathan! I am proud of you. I hope you get used to your new day program you get to go to and make new friends quickly.

Call us crazy

We painted our pantry door black! It's a pretty bold color and wow, it sure stands out. I like it, though. I want to get some vinyl lettering in a cream color to put on it. Any ideas for a good word?

The paint we used has a small shine to it. The rest of the paint in our house has no shine so it kind of looks funny. I guess that just means we'll have to keep painting! I thought Michael did great for his first paint job without supervision from his dad or my dad. This has gotten me extra excited to do more. We'll see...

Oh, and yes, we know, Michael's shirt is too small. I threw it away after this paint job. I'm sure he'll be thrilled I posted that picture.

Memorial Day Weekend

On Sunday, after having dinner, my parents took us around to 3 cemeteries in the Salt Lake Valley to see graves of relatives. Mostly we saw grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents. Sometimes I get sad when I think that both of my grandpa's have passed on, and I'm still pretty young too.

When we got to the first cemetery where my dad's dad is buried, I told Kayleigh that we don't step on headstones. We only walk on the grass around them. I remember when I was little and my mom told us that, now I'm in her shoes, time flies. Kayleigh listened very well and tried to walk around or jump over the headstones. She did great considering it took most of the evening to drive all around. At the last cemetery it was raining, but Kayleigh had fun playing with the umbrella.

My mom's dad is a veteran and I'm always proud to see a flag by his headstone on Memorial Day Weekend. I am grateful for the free country I live in and the freedoms I enjoy. Thanks to all the men and women who fight and sometimes give their lives in my behalf.

Garden

On Tuesday we got our garden in, finally. I feel like it took forever to get all the weeds out, till and plant. We are doing the same things as last year: corn, tomatoes and peppers. With the corn we are going to plant 4 rows total but each a week apart so that we don't have a ton of corn all at once. I remember that last year we couldn't eat it all fast enough before it was overdone. So hopefully we won't have that problem again.

Kayleigh had a lot of fun helping us plant. I got her her own little watering can and she thinks that is awesome! I can't refill it fast enough. We got her on our video camera as she helped drop the corn seeds in, it was cute. She's growing up so fast I can't believe it. She's been a trooper the past few nights as we've worked outside until dark.

I never thought I would say this...

but I actually enjoyed working in the yard on Saturday! Now, you have to realize how I grew up when it comes to yard work. We worked in the garden a lot! We also got trained early in how to mow the lawn. When I was a kid and even a teenager I pretty much hated working in the yard! My mom would always say that someday I'd have my own garden and I'd enjoy it. I thought she was crazy! And now here I am to say that it's true, Mom, you were right! (My mom used to always say it's different when it's your own yard, I agree with that, too.)

Last Saturday we worked like crazy to get our front flower beds in. Why does it always take like double the time you think it will take to do a project? Oh well, at least it's done. I think Michael and I went to a total of 5 stores on Saturday to get everything we needed. I learned that it's not smart to go to J & J Nursery on a Saturday. I think I waited for 5 minutes just to get a parking spot!

Kayleigh was a really good helper with our planting. She enjoyed breaking in her new garden tools my parents gave her for her birthday (including some cute garden gloves), taking a nap, and watching Mickey on her portable DVD player.

Now that everything is planted, I really hope everything lives. You spend all that money on plants and I don't want to lose them. We'll see how they do this year. I'm also excited to plant bulbs this fall and have tulips next spring.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Today is Monday and that means 25 cent ice cream cones at Just Desserts. I love it! Kayleigh and I have walked up there 2 weeks in a row now. Well, I push her and she rides. It's a pretty good walk I think. Last week we had caramel and this week it was orange. It's just soft serve but it's so fun to have something to do that's super cheap and of course, Kayleigh loves the ice cream, too.

The bad and ugly from last week

Last Tuesday Michael rear-ended someone. Yes, it sucks! The only good thing is that the lady he hit was really nice about it and she said she didn't see any damage to her car and she's getting rid of it anyway so no need to claim it or call the cops. She didn't get his name or insurance info or anything.

Now, I wish I could say the same for our car, that it didn't do anything. It involves the light, fender and bumper and will be about 1500 dollars to fix. Since the car will be in the shop for 5 days we thought it just makes sense to have them fix the other fender (Michael ruined that at his work backing out about a year ago) that is dented also. So by this Friday Michael will have a whole new car!

I'm really glad it wasn't worse and that he's not hurt. I told him if he's going to rear-end people, she's the type to rear-end. Anyway, it's always something isn't it?