Something Wrong With This Picture...

I could not resist taking these pictures thismorning. I took a look at out 2 dogs and realized there was just something wrong with this picture. Mugs sleeps in her own bed on the floor but had jumped up on our bed just before Bob got up. She had wormed he way under the covers when Bob got up and fell back to sleep with her head propped up on Bob's pillow.

Then of course, there's Pixie, who sleeps in our bed every night either inbetween our legs or all the way down at the foot of our bed by my feet under the covers. If these 2 weren't so darn cute, this would be rather pathetic! I think that they think that they are more human than dog.

FHE @ the Park

Ok, It's Spring Break and we can't afford to go anywhere, so we decided last minute to go check out the Gilbert Reserve behind the Gilbert Library. I had never been there before, but had heard about it. We packed a picnic and off we went. This place was huge...trails and ponds and birdseverywhere. We just stayed up at the front because of time. We will have to do this again when we have a bit more time. I made Chicken & Quinoa salad sandwiches and we had carrot sticks and homemade lemonade. We had been squeezing lemons off our tree all day (We still bave bags of lemons to go. We had oodles of lemons this year!) so making the lemonade quickly was a snap and thank goodness for my bottled chicken. It is so nice to have on hand for last minute meals! Everyone loved the sandwiches. they were a hit. Summer snarfed 3 of them! Of course, I just had to get a picture of each of them stuffing their faces.

Bob and Tanner had fun throwing the football around.

The girls had fun watching the ducks.

There were ducks everywhere! We even came across a momma with 10 babies. They were so cute!
Of course Summer went on a search for turtles. She loves turtles. She found a couple. She just thought this picture was too cool because it showed her reflection of her actually taking the picture.Even though it was a last minute thing, we had fun and will do it again

McKenzi is a TEENAGER!

Well it's official. My baby has entered into the realm of the teenager on March 6th. I tell ya, having 2 grandbabies, your own baby a teenager now, and finding a few gray hairs all in the same year can tend to put the whole "age thing" into perspective. This was McKenzi all dolled up in her new shirt and a tiera ready for school. Her birthday actually fell on a Friday this year so she wanted to have a sleep-over. We usually let them have big "friends" parties only only for certain birthdays. This happened to be an "off" year, but since her birthday actually fell on a Friday we let her have a few friends over for a low key party.

She didn't want to have a big cake, she wanted to have homemade oreos. So I made a whole bunch of them. They were so easy to make. All they were made of was a cake mix, butter, and an egg. The filling was cream cheese and powdered sugar. Sooo easy, sooo yummy! They were a hit. By the end of the night they had consumed the entire plate full!

They had fun doing homemade egg white and lemon juice facials. While the goop was drying on their faces, they all sat around and gabbed and ate junkfood.

Then they all gave themselves pedicures.

After all of that and a bout of "ding-dong-ditching" in the neighborhood, they finally wore themselves out!

The next morning they got up and had pancakes for breakfast. Then they all did each other's hair and makeup...since this happens to be the "all-inportant" age of finally being able to wear makeup. What teenager doesn't like getting dolled up and experimenting with makeup.

A couple days later Cali and Jeremiah came over to give McKenzi a birthday present. Cali had learned how to knit just a couple of months ago and made McKenzi a purse. It turned out so amazingly cute!

In Full Bloom...

Ok, here it is finally...my jasmine in full bloom. This is where "smell-o-vision" would come in really handy! These are right outside my kitchen window. The smell is incredible. I only get about 2-3 weeks of the rather intoxicating smell. I wish it would last a whole lot longer. The smell of very fragrant flowers in the spring time always puts me in a good mood.

Spring has Sprung!

In the spring time there is no place I would rather be than outside tinkering in my garden smelling all the flowers in bloom and planting my garden.

I planted a few Hyacinth bulbs in my front flower bed 3 1/2 years ago just because I love the smell of Hyacinth, but I wasn't sure they would live beyond 1 season because it is so hot here in the summer and I have never had any luck digging up bulbs and saving them for the next season. So I left them alone in the ground and they have come back 2 years in a row and I think they are multipying. The smell is incredible!

I'm not sure what this purple flower is, but they are in full bloom and are really pretty.

These Freesia I planted last year and I did the same as the Hyacinth...just left them alone and they jsut popped back up. They definitely multiplied because I think when i was digging and planting other things I must have moved some of the "baby" bulbs because they came up in 3 other places. I didn't realize they could really grow here, but they have.

My Lady Banks roses are in full bloom and they smell wonderfull too. These grow like a weed. I have to trim these a few times a year, but it's all worth it.

My little Anna Apple tree is even in bloom now. It has taken a few years, but we actually get apples off of it now.

This is what I wait for all year...my Pink Jasmine. They only bloom this time of the year in February or March. It is loaded with buds. When they open in about a week or so, the smell is rather intoxicating! I have this right outside my bay window in my kitchen on purpose. i could sit at my kitchen table all day just to smell these. It only lasts for a couple of weeks, but it is well worth the wait. I will post another picture when they open up and are in full bloom. I can't wait 'til all my roses do their next wave of blooms in about a month or so.

Display your hard work!

I got this wonderful idea from Marie Stevens in my ward. We had a progressive dinner at Christmas time and her house was one of the stops. Across the top of all her kitchen cabinets were all her canned goods. They looked so pretty sitting up there. I had all of my canned goods that I had just recently canned just sitting in boxes on my bedroom floor for a couple of months because I had no more room in my pantry. I finally got them up on my cabinets. They look so much better there. My youngest sister did the same thing in her kitchen too. Great idea!

They're getting BIG!

The chickens are getting really big now. Pixie used to go right into the coupe and play with the chickens. Now they are just about bigger than her and they peck at her tail and toes so she is a bit scared of them now.