Garage Sale

So our neighbor Debbi from across the street has been cleaning out her garage and going to have a garage sale. We asked if we could get in on the action. So last Saturday was the garage sale. We sold old camping stuff, pictures, old VHS tapes, our vacuum and our friend Jason's Forerunner. Yes we sold a car at a garage sale. Jason and his wife Amanda moved to Maryland and ask if we would sale the SUV for them. It has been sitting in our driveway for about three week now. There were a lot of people at the garage sale so we just stuck a piece of paper that said for sale on the window and waited. It was gone by that night. Other than the car we made about $80.00, which I used to buy a new vacuum. That night after the garage sale was the street block party. Everyone was supposed to bring their own meat to BBQ and either a side dish or a dessert. We just held it on our front lawn. It was great to get to know everyone better and the food was fabulous. As you can see the month of July has been busy for Michael and me.

Michael's parents stayed for a couple of days after the party. Michael and his parents attended one of Thomas lacrosse games; I had to go to staff meeting that night. The next day Michael had to work so his parents and I along with Jennifer and her family attended the Aquarium. My favorite part is always playing with the sting rays; of course they don’t have stingers. Then Michael's mom Judi and I went and got pedicures. She had never had a pedicure before but loved it. She also helped me put together invitations for a block party that our street was having. Thankfully Judi is creative. She has such great ideas when it comes to making cards. I think they turned out great.

Ethan's Birthday

After Michael and I got back from St. George his family came to visit us. Michael's brother in-law, Randall, parents live in Salt Lake County so Jennifer, Randall, Spencer, Connor, and Ethan came up north. After spending a week in St. George they were going to be spending the next week in Salt Lake. So Michael's parents decided to come too and stay with us. Since everyone was going to be in town Thomas planned a birthday part for Ethan and Parker. Parker is the son of Thomas's finance Sara. We had a blast as you can see from the picture. We went to the Kangaroo Zoo. It has a ton of those big blow-up slides. Michael volunteered to make the cakes. Parker loves Mickey Mouse and Ethan loves dinosaurs. The blue frosting did turn our tongues blue though.

McNeilis clan

Saint George

Michael and I went to Saint George the last of June trough the first part of July. Why you ask we choose to visit the hottest place in Utah in July, family. Michael's sister Jennifer and her family were visiting from Arizona. It was great. We read, played games, talked and just relaxed. Michael's parents build a new house and this was the first time that we were able to see it finished. It is awesome. I will I had pictures but I relaxed a little too much and forgot to take pictures.

Russon Family Campout

The annual Russon family campout this year was at Cherry Hill. For those who are not familiar with Cherry Hill it is not true camping but a good time was had by all. Cherry Hill is a campground/water park. This was a special family campout because Carrie, Matt and Roxie were able to come this year. They live in California. Most of the family arrived on Friday afternoon. After tents were set up dinner was started. We had Navaho tacos, which were delicious. Greg and Annettte were in charge of the food this year and they did a great job. We spent most of the evening catching up with everyone. The next day, Saturday, was started with a great breakfast by Kay-hop. This is what we call breakfast when my Dad cooks. It consists of pancakes, hash browns, eggs, sausage, and bacon. We then spent the whole day swimming. Sorry that I don't have a whole lot of pictures of us swimming. It was hard to take pictures and swim at the same time but I am sure that my family’s blog will have a lot more pictures. Everyone had a great time swimming. There were a few sunburned shoulders but not many. Saturday night we had lasagna. I did not know you could cook lasagna while camping. It was fun and relaxing as you can see.

The Garden

Last year we were so busy with trying to get rid of the crab grass in the lawn that we never had time to plant a garden. Last spring we pulled dirt from the garden to fill in holes we created in the lawn when we removed the crab grass. The garden\hole sat all last year and collected what ever Michael tossed in there. Michael would throw old potatoes or egg shells in there trying to create a compost. But not a whole lot ever decomposed. As you can still see old egg shells.
So Friday Michael and I bought 14 square cubic feet of Steer manure. It smelt great. We tilled the garden/hole and filled it with the manure and planted a garden. If everything survives and grows we should have some tomatoes, pepper, squash, zucchini, beans, spinach, cucumbers, and cantaloupe. I am excited that there is no longer a hole in the back yard. I have also included a picture of the cherry tree that is currently in full bloom.

Well it has been a crazy couple of weeks. We had a visit from the Menzie family the weekend of the 12th. Michael and I always love it when the Menzies(Mark, Tallie, Luke, and Hank) come for a visit. They were in town for a wedding. Michael and I babysat while Tallie and Mark went to the wedding. We took the boys swimming(in-door of course) and had a blast. Hank did not like the water much. Michael tried to teach Luke how to swim but he was just too excited to be at the pool. Sunday we made yummy pizza and went to the park. Hank found a new love, the slide. He just could not get enough. Monday we spent the morning at costco and then when Hank went down for a nap Michael and I took Luke, who is 4, to Horton Hears a Who. He love it. Luke is a very energetic boy and got a little too involved in the movie and yell out "NO HORTON NO!" Michael, I, and the whole audience cracked up laughing. When we got back we planted flowers that Tallie bought for me. It was great to catch up with Mark and Tallie too. I think Tallie and I stayed up every night till 1am talking. It was a great weekend. I wish I could include pictures but I have a problem with remembering to take pictures. I will try and be better.

After the Menzies left on Monday Michael and I had to work Tuesday and Wednesday. By Thursday I was feeling run down. Michael has been dealing with allergies all week and so I thought it was just allergies. But it kept getting worse. I was supposed to work this last weekend but had to call in sick both Saturday and Sunday. I had a cold that ended up a sinus infection. And I still have it. I am always amazed at how much guck your body can produce out your nose. So I apologize to any of the Menzie family who are sick because of me. We love you guys and hope you are well.

Well, I guess I will include some pictures of the daffodils in the snow since it snowed this morning. I guess spring is going to be a little bit longer. I woke up this morning about 8:30 and it had rained during the night but was currently not raining. Around 9:00 it was full blown snowing. Not the little flakes but the big ones and in 20min the ground was covered. For those of us who have lived in Utah if you don't like the weather just wait a hour. Right now it is 1:05pm and the snow is melted and the sun is shining. It might turn out to be a good day or it could snow again in a hour who knows.

Spring

Spring is finally here, I think. I have been wanting to post pictures of my daffodils that I got from Tallie when Michael and I visited the Menzie clan last June. I planted them in October and forgot about them until they started to come up a couple of weeks ago. I was planning on posting pictures of them last week but last Sunday they were covered in 2 inches of snow. I was going to include pictures of the snow but I was a wimp and did not want to go out in the cold, so enjoy them in better weather.