last week...

so last week was kinda busy... dustin, austin & dad worked in the backyard all day friday [and a good chunk of thursday too]. they rototilled the crap out of it... they got the waterline and the sprinkler system in. apparently we have a quite a bit more we need to do before we can put the actual sod in, but its getting there!

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saturday... there was a giant regional ysa activity [nicole was in charge... so i got to help out a lot.] it turned out great... and it was a whole ton of fun, but im not gonna lie... it was a long day. and then!! that night kelsey got  home from byu! she and a friend drove in from provo. it sure is great to have her back!!

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also... the cacti are all blooming right now. its quite the sight. its a unique beauty, but i sure love it! :)

a present for me....

so im in the middle of cleaning my room right now... for the last 9 months my clothes have been in kelsey's room [her closet is wa-hay bigger than mine]. but she's moving home on saturday... so i need to get her room all ready for her! haha... so im cleaning blah blah blah... and i happen to see a little walmart bag with a little white container in it just chilling on my cedar chest... and i knew what it was! :) my dad had gotten me a container of earth worms for my garden! haha... is that not the greatest little surprise present ever?! i know... it is! wow... i really have the best dad! :)

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also... a little garden update [i havent done one of these in awhile...] my jojoba are growing strong... they are just doing great!

and these are my tiny baby oak trees. i sure do love them. hahaha... they just make me smile whenever i
see them! :)

chipping away...

last friday, the pool dudes came to chip out the old plaster and tile... and i missed all of the excitement :( and apparently the day before, austin and his friend, zac, spent hours down in the pool skating and doing "awesome" stunts. my mom gave me the memory card with all the pictures and videos on it and there were seriously 50 or more videos of them riding anything with wheels [including skateboards, dollies, and a shop vac] and trying to crash. some of them were seriously funny!

here are our little crash dummies. [ps... ever seen hot rod? hahaha.... they were trying to be rod- mustache and all. "all great men have mustaches! ...yeah but real men actually grow them... you know i have a hormone disorder!" bahaha!]

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this is a little clip of the guys chipping. im almost okay with not being here for it all... it looked like a pretty dirty day.

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and here is our pool now...

close up...

and the trailer full of plaster chippings...

and now we wait for the cool deck guy to come in and build the lagoon. its still a couple weeks away. but hopefully in the meantime we can get our waterlines in for the sprinkler system. our yard is coming together slowly but surely! :)

just real quick...

nicole and i got back from country thunder today... after being there since wednesday. it was killer fun... and i'm a bit pooped. we only took one or two pictures of us, so once i get that from her i'll do a little post about it, but wow was it fun! so anyway. here's a quick little post, then i'm off to bed!  :)

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i got home and was watering some plants when i saw this neat little thing....

we must have some harvester ants or something, but i saw this and was reminded of the british artist andy goldsworthy. i was first introduced to his art in my photography class at byu. its absolutely beautiful stuff... he works with things found in nature... hardly anything man-made or permanent. anyway... his stuff its totally worth checking out. it really is pretty brilliant. [click here if your interested.]

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also... mom and i [and soon, kelsey too] have started a little quilting project. some women in my family's ward have put together this quilting group... and mom and i are doing it too. we are starting on an "easy" quilt, which is a good thing since neither of us have really ever quilted before. hopefully it will end up looking something like this...

but this is my fabric...

and this is mom's....

pretty cute, eh? im really excited about it all! i get to go to a little lesson on how to use my sewing machine tomorrow morning, woot woot!... and then we really start quilting! i think it will be a super fun new project... anyway, wish us luck!! :)

drained.

so... the pool dudes came over monday morning to start draining our pool. and it wasnt done until tuesday night. i wasnt here the last time that mom & dad drained the pool... and i have to admit- it is pretty fascinating! there is a whole lot o' water in that pool. and i know we have a pretty big and pretty deep pool... but it seriously looks humongous without water... and its totally trippy to be in our waterless pool. oh... by the way... it echoes! haha!!

they drained the little pool first and tried a new cleaning product or something something on the tile... its remarkable how much better it looks. but im so much more excited for our new tile!! :)

so. here goes the pool....

prett nasty, eh?

welp. the end. 

pretty cool, right?

i heart my garden...

ps... this is a rock that we found will prepping the soil & getting everything ready. i think its a sign of happy things to come... i had to put it in the garden! :)

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alright. so... its official! i have a garden. like a real, legit, planted garden! it looks rather scanty at the moment.... but the good news is there is plenty of room for these little baby plants to grow! hopefully it will be enough for them... i hear zucchini and summer squash get really big!

before...

now!! :)

these are my little pumpkin plants...

green beans....

sunflowers....

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oh my gosh! i almost forgot! remember that one time that i planted little acorns? yeah well its official.... i have 3 little sprouts! i had almost given up hope! its been a few months... but i suppose these things take time. hahah... anyway. it seriously makes me happy! im gonna have an oak tree someday... that i freaking grew from a seed! is that not the most fantastic thing ever?! i know... it is! :)

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so yeah... anyway- dustin came over saturday morning to help in the backyard [we sure love him and we are so grateful that he keeps coming over to help us!] we got my little garden area done first... then he and dad started working on the water line. then all of us [me mom dad dustin adrian hayley & austin] took a trip to lowe's to get pipe and other water line related stuff... it was quite the adventure... let me tell you! and can i just tell you how much we love lowe's? its seriously fantastic... everybody is super nice and super helpful, just in case you were wondering. haha.... anyway. it was another successful saturday for us. and yes... i spent it in my overalls. hahah....

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also. goodbye to larry.... he has definitely passed his prime.

i sure enjoyed our time together. he will never be forgotten.

utah... and easter $

so im apparently a terrible blogger now. haha sorry.... anyway. last thursday, nicole and i [along with a friend we picked up in thatcher] drove to provo for conference and easter weekend. im not gonna lie... it was a long pooping day, but it was well worth it! nicole and i spent the night in the dorms with kelsey and her roomie tiffany [and can i just say how stinking funny kelsey's friends are?! they even made a rap about nicole and i! ba ha ha!].

friday... kelsey had class, so nicole and i just kinda hung out and then after kelseys class was done we went to paula's office and chatted with her for a bit. we got to eat lunch in the cannon, go shopping with danielle and then got pizza delivered to the dorms! it was cool! zac flew in a few hours later, then we all spent the night at paula's house [thanks again paula & kevin! we sure do love you!]

the next morning, we drove to salt lake city for conference. we had gotten tickets for the saturday morning session [and erik, our cousin, and his fiance were able to make it too!] it was killer sweet time. but it was so pooping windy and cold. i wish i could say that i miss provo, but the weather just doesnt quite do it for me. ive absolutely loved wearing flip flops all winter long here in arizona! oh and also... kelsey wore the wrong shoes.... and we parked farther away than we were planning on... about a third of the way to the conference center kelsey said her feet were killing her and her ankles were about to break, so me and nicole and kelsey rotated shoes and then periodically would switch again. this happened back to the parking garage too afterwards... killer uncomfortable, but stinking funny! we saw our family from queen creek at temple square [they were up in utah for conference too]. we also met up with a friend from tucson [and his friends... who, by the way, didnt think we were as funny as we think we are. lol. one of them sang in the mo tab. we gave him a ride back to his car, and we kept trying to inconspicuously get pictures of his music folder thing. needless to say, it didnt work. ba ha ha!] and went to chipotle for lunch. after that we went to the provo temple for a bit. then we said goodbye to paula and headed down to jason & laurel's.

sunday... the easter bunny found us [even under 6 inches of fresh snow! bleck.] we had a delicious breakfast, watched the last 2 sessions of conference and had an amazing easter dinner. erik and his fiance, caralee, were there too. it sure was fun! and it is so crazy to me how big isabel is getting! we played in the snow and hung out with everybody the rest of the day. [thanks again, jason & laurel, for everything! we love you guys so much!]

we woke up in the middle of the night [quite literally, hehe...] to get packed up and head back to arizona. we packed up some of kelsey's stuff to take home too. it was a quick but very fun trip! i loved every moment of it! and just think.... 15 days until kelsey is done with school and back home for the summer! woot woot!

ps... the pictures are compliments of the zac. high five and thank you to him!! :)