Green, green grass . . .

WHAT A MONTH!! It was wonderful and busy. Besides our trip to Seaside and a Spokane weekend (more about that later), we were kept busy with life - -

Such as

Cub Scouts (again, I am a Den leader), and Marcus' baseball games and practices (he has had so much fun playing his very first ever season- - and we have seen so much improvement over the course of the season!) . . . .


Cynthia's gymnastics, volunteering at her kindergarten class, the Mother's Day program . . .

Cynthia and a few of her friends from school:


And of course, enjoying my VERY busy little 2 1/2 year old. I reall mean it, I have been really enjoying this stage with Lillian in many ways. Granted, the power struggles and her little messy experiments all over the house aren't fun. . . and she is super demanding, but she is talking and communicating so much and is so darn cute! Below is a picture of her and her best friend Caroline, with the old doll house from Jon's grandma's house (Cyndi- if you read this, my girls love the doll house stuff!).


The BIGGEST thing we have been working on this month is OUR YARD!!! Wow, it was a TON of back-breaking labor for both Jon and me. Luckily I am feeling soooo much better with the pregnancy, so was able to help. I posted a bit about this earlier - - but now we are mostly finished with the major projects of the sprinkler system, leveling the yard and laying sod!! Phew, I have never raked so much dirt and rocks in my life to fill in the sprinkler ditches, and prepare the ground for the new grass. We spent pretty much every moment we could on it- late into the nights sometimes. IT WAS WORTH IT!! Things look soooo great, and I am so excited to have GRASS in our backyard!! Thanks to the men from our ward who helped come lay the sod.

Prepped back yard - - all the dirt is raked out and ready for grass:


The 4500 square feet of sod arrived on May 14th- and we spend the day laying it - - luckily we had some men from the ward help in the evening!





We had a bunch of sod left over so decided to do all of the front yard too - - (the hardest part was tearing out the existing grass - - but worth it!). You can see the difference between the old and the new in this picture. The drawback was we had to wait until Monday (the 18th) after our trip to Spokane to finish the front yard, and the rolled up sod got a bit yellow over the weekend. Now that a week has gone by, it has greened right up and blends great. It looks gorgeous- it is so nice to have a crab grass and weed free lawn . . . that waters itself!


Look at that GREEN GREEN GRASS!!




I do need some advice from anyone who has laid sod - - we are experiencing some brown, dead looking spots in a few areas. I think they are getting plenty of water (we have been watering the trouble spots extra), and some of them, but not all, are greening back up over time. What else can I do? Most of the grass looks AWESOME, but part of me stresses over the brown areas . . . It looked so perfect the first day . . . I think I just need to be patient, and wait for it to take root - - that is what Jon keeps telling me. But, any extra advice is great.

Last but not least - - we opened our pool this weekend! The weather has turned nice and warm, and after doing a lot of cleaning, getting the chemicals just right, and putting a solar heat blanket on - - we have our sparkling pool to swim in! We love to share our pool and have friends over, so PLEASE give us a call anytime from now until the fall to come use the pool. If I don't call you back- we are probably out of town. Pictures to follow!

Seaside

We took a few days to relax with a little trip to the Oregon Coast- Seaside! We stayed at the Worldmark there - - as always, a wonderfully comfortable 2 bedroom condo- and right on the beach and the famous turnaround. We had tons of fun, even in the cold and wet weather, swimming in their outdoor super heated pool which is open year round. It was so warm- it was so fun!

View from our balcony:

Jon made a wonderful breakfast! Because our condo has a full kitchen, we didn't have to eat out and ate some wonderful meals in our room. The best was my home made clam chowder (a tradition for the oregon coast!), and grilling on our balcony.



The town of Seaside has all kinds of fun things to do - - besides the beach, there are many gift shops, arcades, candy shops (we had fun getting chocolate covered twinkies, fudge and the famous salt water taffy!), and even a carousel. Before leaving town we also had to share an elephant ear- a Monson family tradition!





The aquarium at Seaside:



Cannon Beach:



Cheese! On our way home we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory and had fun watching the cheese being processed, packaged, and of course the samples and ice cream!

Cynthia actually loved the cheese samples more than the ice cream. Tillamook medium chedder . . . mmmmmmm.



Tillamook Ice cream is the best!

Grown up, kid at heart, lincoln logs, tinker toys, and Tonka trucks . . .

What do grown up little boys like to play with?? Things to build, put together, dig in, and machinery to operate . . . There is nothing to help Jon's mood more than getting out into the sunshine and having fun plowing and leveling the backyard with a Bobcat, building and setting up a sprinkler system (tinker toys and lincoln logs!). Though it is a lot of work, I am grateful Jon enjoys these very productive projects!

We are using our decent sized tax return this year to fix up our back yard. We are putting in a sprinkler system in both the front and back yards, and grass in the back. This is the MAIN set of projects, but we also have a few side ones such as the new in-ground trampoline, gutters, and a few landscaping details. It is a lot of work, but will be totally worth it! Jon took some time off to work on some of the projects, and it has definitely been a great thing for his mood. Currently we have left to finish the sprinkler system, lay sod, and some other landscaping detials, along with the gutters. It is definitely an ongoing process, but I am so excited to have a nice backyard!! Thanks to Jon for his hard work!

We started with two cement patios in the back, done by a contractor (while I was gone for spring break). Here is the framework:


Next Jon rented a Bobcat for the weekend to level and till the yard. Just look at that huge grin - - what kid at heard doesn't just love to operate something like this!



Here is part of the leveled yard- you can see the finished cement patio by the house (with all the stuff on it)


Since we were digging up the yard anyway, we decided to dig a huge hole to set our new trampline down in - - to make it a little safer and easier for kids to get on and off of it. He built wooden sides for the hole and it turned out great! Now even Lillian can get on an off the trampoline without help! Eventually there will be grass surrounding it . . .




Working on the sprinkler system - - Jon had fun enhancing the sprinkler box to be deeper and really secure - - see the lincoln logs?? Well- in reality the wood is leftover landscaping timbers from a couple of horrible planter boxes we took out of the backyard.

Marcus' Baptism

April 25 2009





I am so proud of my newly Baptized son! It was a wonderful experience to watch Jon Baptize him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. With both sets of grandparents, Marcus' uncle and many friends there to witness this special occasion, I think Marcus felt how important and special he is. He listened with rapt attention to Grandma Wilson, and Grandpa Monson, as they each respectively gave talks on Baptism, and the Holy Ghost. I could just see his young mind soaking it in and his desire to do the right thing. Since that day, I have seen an defined effort for him to make good choices. I am so grateful for all the Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us, and I know with all my heart it is true. I hope and pray I can teach each of my children to love and follow Him! What a joyful experience Marcus' baptism and confirmation was! I am grateful to both sets of grandparents, and my brother Brian for coming- we had a wonderful weekend!

Marcus and Brian on our new trampoline . . . (if you are wondering why it is so short- it is set down several feet into the ground - - I will post more about that later)