My Mom always said, if at first you don't sucseed try try again!

OK so I spent a good 45 min last night downloading pix and then blogging them all - and it didn't save! UGH So here is attempt #2!

I am obsessed with my yard and garden this year (the inside of the house will tell the true tale) and thankfully Chris (my oldest son) has been my right hand farmer hand! LOL So here is the latest and greatest tales of the yard makeover, flowers and garden!!

So here you see Chris, telling me not to take his pix while working out back he hee! Over his head you will see behind the fence the neighbors freaking AWESOME holly hock flowers! They are beautiful! We awe and oogle over his yard, peaking and sneaking through the fence - peering over, poking our noses through the cracks. He is quite the gardener - however - he is older and somewhat 'weathered' as in his skin is like tanned leather and he has a habit of working out back half naked!!!!! The family joke is "Mom, your boyfriend is working out back" and the first person to look is CHRISTOPHER! LOL He keeps us inspired to say the least!






Here is a veiw around the tree of the 'whole' garden, the tree is great, gives an appropriate amount of shade out back and over the garden but is always dropping lil' leaves in everything! LOL
There is also my crazy punkin' patch - they are going CrAzY out there - hope we have a huge harvest! The zucchini and squash are going nuts too - flowering and getting ready to grow! There is a lil' pea pod - they are coming on slow but I hope they are hearty!!!





My transplanted raspberries are actually GROWING berries! So weird, just transplanted this spring!? I am lovin it! They are so awesome!! Hope to gather just enough to make at least ONE small batch of jam!


Here it is: THE WHOLE GARDEN! It's really rather small but a huge feat for Chris and I with what little knowledge we have! I am quite impressed!


So, up on the deck we have goodies growing too -- Chris got me the topsy turvey tomato plant for Mothers day - we put Beefsteak Tomato in there and they are blooming up all over! Also we planted 4 pots on the deck, 2 green peppers and 2 roma tomato plants that are all thriving too! Gonna be burried in tomato goodies soon! I see fresh salsa and I can't wait!



also by the deck is the rose bushes Kami left when the moved out - they bloom all summer and through the fall clear to my birthday the end of Sept - they are so pretty - who doesn't love roses???



I have been choosing small areas at a time to 'makeover' out back - one are seems like things just won't grow well in so I had planned to fill it with riverock and other goodies - Dani's boyfriend Den had family friends giving away some landscape slate and we lucked out (this is just one of three loads of it) so I am going to do some landscaping with the slate and I am SO excited! More photos to come!!


Last but not least, the front yard - thankfully it's pretty self sufficient! I LOVE the orange lily's that are poking up and the yellow cosmos we planted just popped up all over! The baby pink rose bush out front is about done, the petals are falling off fast but the light and bright pink blossoms are pretty and then I have my pots out by the front steps with TONS of petunias - pink, purple, white ane RED - I have never had such BRIGHT RED petunias! Lastly, the lil' purple flowers that Den got me for Mother's day - no idea WhAt? it is but it keeps reblooming and I ove the color purple so I am tickled with it!









There ya have it! Garden and garden and flowers! I am LOVING it and not ready for fall to come at all this year! I want a super long summer with tons of veggies to harvest and colors to bloom!

balancing my time

so I have been what *I* call a bad blogger so much going on, summer time is so busy
kids going, summer activities, work, house, yard
all that stuff that just keeps you going 101 mph with too much to do
and never seems like enough time to do it

OR IS THERE?
the kids have had fun, Dani started a job and
went to Oregon for a week to
visit Ed's sister and fam... Tiff spent 2 weeks in Boise
with Ed's other sister and fam ... Chris has been looking
for work and FINALLY found a great job at Smiths' Food
learning to become a butcher! Awesome! Lil' Micheal runs
and runs, bikes and toys and all that - Ed and I have just
been working - we did get a weekend campout a few weeks ago
with my work for Farmers but overall not a big fun summer
for Ed and I... but the time seems to slip away?

I feel like I cannot catch up on the house and laundry no
matter what. I feel like I struggle to squish in workout times.
I have gained so much weight and I feel like poo about myself. I know
I can do better than this - I KNOW I CAN!Just a lot of frustration but the reality is time management on
my part. The yardwork has been priority (for me) and Chris and I
are growing an awesome lil' garden which seems to take up time too.
There are always excuses. Always something. My friend Blake says:
"Excuses are like a-holes, we all have them and they are all full of shit"

He is right. I am the queen of excuses, especially with time management.

I make lists and to do lists and time planners. I give the kids lists.
I plan out my days off hour by hour. Never get it all done. I told Ed the
other day I dissapoint myself by NOT crossing off my lists. I may fill the
days too full or set too high expectations? I don't know but I am NOT fufulling
my personal expectations.

Reality is, no matter how BUSY I am I can't seem to get my ducks
in a row. There is a good 12-14 hours a day to complete all I need
to do - I luckily only work part time so 6 hours a day - yet I cannot
manage to squish everything in that I want and need to do. I have taken
my day off (Wed each week) the past two weeks to go play at Rigby Lake
with our friends. Weekends are full of go go going and work work working
to catch up on everything so I don't get much "fun" and I also feel
like Micheal gets the bump all week so I enjoy taking him to the lake to play!

So, I am home sick today (tummy is yuck!!) and I am re-evaluating what I
do with my time. I need to 'schedule' myself so much better. I need to
balance family time and work and home and chores and personal and health and
relationships and my marriage and my friends and my BLOG and my hobbies and all the things
I "want" to do.

Reality is, 12-14 hours a day I SHOULD be able to do it all?

Shouldn't I?

More Yard Stuff....

So who knew I loved the yard so much? Gardening and mowing and playing in the sun - what a fun thing! I am finally seeing progress out back so I had to take adv of the sunshine and get some shots....

This is some FUNKY bush out on the back fence line - there are actually two of them and the flowers are pink and yellow as they open. Really cool looking!


Then we have TWO trellis' on the side of the yard along the fence that have wild rose bushes growing up them - love the little baby yellow roses the most!




I still have a HUGE area of backyard to work on -- but it will get there....


and here are our pumpking/watermelon patch in the tires and a start of the groundcover I put in weeks ago that is FINALLY starting to green up!


MY GARDEN! So woebegone as it is, I love the little area to death! LOTS of TLC put in that dirt!! Better yeild me some yummies!


Micheal and I have been building this little corner rock garden where there is ivy curling around - it's pretty cute!


And this is the MAMMOTH Topsy Turvey tomato plant Chris got me for Mothers' Day - we put a beef steak tomato plant in there - it's gonna be HUGE!!!!!


then we have a few fun pots of yummies - we put in two roma tomato plants and two green pepper plants (funny bc my 16 cups of seedings finally sprouted) and they are being 'babied' up on the deck ... speaking of the deck



...I had to get one last photo of the deck 'as is' because this week it's getting a makeover! Chris is going to fix it up a bit, secure some boards and get it re-finished! Hooray! Nothing like a BIG facelift for the backyard to perk EVERYTHING up!

Work Work Working in the backyard

So here in the front yard I have these amazing beautiful colorful and well groomed flowers all over. The yard is green and fresh and crisp! The flowers are blooming, I have pots of petunias perking up all over!


...and then we go to the backyard. *sigh* I have spent every weekend for over a month working in the back. It is SO MUCH WORK! Thankfully Chris and Micheal have been helping. The grass is greening up for me, the beds are clearing out and cleaning up. Some flowers are blooming and I am digging through everything and getting it in order. A little each weekend and then some on my days off. I will admit, the INSIDE of the house is neglected now! LOL
So, I worked through this side bed, it is sort of a modpodge of things, there are a couple of rasp plants in there, I dont' know why? but they are so I left them. I transplanted some bishops weed (ground cover) and hope they will take and spread. We also started a little decorative rock garden in one end too.

Then there are the rasp starts Chris got from his friends grandparents that we transplanted - I think most are taking, but a couple died. MAYBE we'll get berries off them this summer??

On one side of the deck there are some amazing (overgrown) roses - yellow-purple- pink that bloomed late last fall - I cleaned out that bed (it was full of crazy stuff, toys, socks, spoons, and other misc things) and added a few petunias too.

HERE is our amazing veggie garden spot. Before:

Micheal mixing manure to spread:

and after:

That garden spot was WEEKS of work! HUGE help from Chris and Micheal!!

Then we got a couple of Roma tomato plants last weekend that Chris planted in pots for me so we can 'protect' them from the weather on the deck. We also have a HUGE beef steak tomato plant in a "topsy turvey" planter on the deck too! LOVE it!!!



So, I have a ton more to work on out there but slow and sure it is coming along. I am getting happier by the week! This weekend we have BIG plans and then next weekend we'll have a BBQ and share all our pretties!!!!!
!!!
Whew! Tired just talking about it!!!

Idaho Falls Shootout Soccer Tourney May 2011

SOCCER! Go team Odessey U18 Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beat those Rapids! :O)









This was the last game of the tourney, we played our toughest team *again* and the ref was a ninny-head! It was a rough tough hard game and our girls played thier hearts out. Dani is #9 and had an amazing season!