May Day

We had our May Day dance again this year at the Clark County Fairgrounds. Since May 1st was Saturday we actually had it April 30th. It was well attended as usual. Since I'm the called for our 3rd grade square dance I couldn't really take pictures during the actual performance so I took these pictures our last rehearsal. It was a beautiful day and the children did very well.

Here is a shot of some of the kids in my class doing their square dance.

This was the 4th grade doing their dance, "Staying Alive". They love to do this dance.

Since many of my children I taught last year did this dance, I took some close up shots of many of them.

Bar-be-que Time

I decided if I was going to have Matt and Jared work so hard we ought to feed them. Even though I should have been outside helping more, I figured they would appreciate some food to keep them going. Saturday morning I made a pancake breakfast and fed Matt and Duane. Jared didn't want any. However, last night we had a bar-be-que and invited Matt's family over along with Matt and Jared. Shawna, my principal was here visiting Heidi, so they came and we also fed some clients who were here also. At the end of the evening, Shawna, Heidi and I sat outside for quite a while visiting and just enjoying the beautiful temperature and the company. It was so pleasant. I told them that I work so hard in my yard to make it beautiful so I can enjoy it but then I hardly have time to do that. It was so nice last night I decided that I needed to try harder to stop and smell the roses once in a while. I need to take advantage of my beautiful yard.

Matt and Jackie's kids are so cute. They have 3 darling children.

I told them we may have to adopt them as our grandchildren and they could come over and play. They thought that would be OK. I wouldn't mind either. They are adorable and such sweet kids.

Matt and Duane having a much needed break. Thanks Matt!

Phase 2 of Saturday's Project

Our root pulling adventure took a lot more time than any of us expected therefore we got a late start doing the rest. Setting the planter also took some time getting everything leveled and we ended up needing 16 more bricks, but it is basically finished.

It will be filled with good dirt and then I'll be able to have a beautiful place for flowers with lots of color. There will be some permanent shrubs and flowers but I'll also be able to plant seasonal flowers as well.

This will be the setting for the dry river bed, a waterfall, and our bridge. I don't know if you can see it, but the ground has been dug lower to make the river bed.

The corner by the driveway will have several shrubs and a sego palm tree. The bigger shade tree in the box is called an African Sumac. It actually has 4 trunks. There is a tree like this by the front door of the Vegas Temple. That tree has 3 trunks. This particular kind of tree has the roots that grow into a ball below the tree. The roots are very minimal. Thank Heavens for that. I love all the color. It should be beautiful when it's finished. I can't wait to see it tomorrow when I get home from school.

Phase 1 of Saturday's Work

I'm sure by now you've seen Friday's root pulling adventure. Saturday morning brought lots more root pulling. We ended up having to hire a man with an even bigger tractor to come and pull up the roots. Wow! As you can tell it was a major feat.

Here is part of the stump from one of the trees. This isn't even all of it by any means.

We dug until we came very near the power line that feeds our house. We reached the tape that was just by it. The roots had grown all around the line. I'm glad those stumps are gone! We ended up dumping 5 trailer loads of roots and dirt.

We got the worst of the roots out and then just started covering over the holes and other roots. The roots that are sticking out of the dirt are just going to be clipped off at ground level. Tomorrow the ground will receive some pre-emergent to kill any weeds or grass that might want to continue to grow. The next step will be plastic and then the drippers and plants and finally the rock.

To Give and to Receive

Well today is Mother's Day. I would like to honor my beautiful Mother! Here is a woman who has given her whole life to her family. My mother is a giver. She has given to me my entire life but not only me, to everyone else as well. She is a shining example of what a mother should be. She's the most unselfish person I know. She's happy and positive and lives the gospel. My mother also has more friends than one could imagine. She barely has room on her mantle for all the birthday card she receives on her birthday. Why, you might ask. Because she is loving and giving to everyone. Whenever I go anywhere, where people know her they always inquire as to how my mother is. She's beautiful, kind, generous, righteous, unselfish, and a peacemaker. There are hundreds of adjectives I could use to describe her but let's just say she's been my beautiful mother and a wonderful example for me to pattern my life after. All of her children and grandchildren love her very much.

My mother has given and because of her, I've tried to be a good mother too. I can't say what kind of a mother I've been, but let's say I was the recipient of flowers, cards, and letters for Mother's Day. My children and husband are good to me and I want them to know how much I love them. I have a wonderful family. Thanks to all of you for your kind words and gestures. It means a lot.

You are the greatest gift I could ever have. I love you all!

Our Yard Project

Glen did a great job scalping the yard and not hitting any sprinklers.

We knew that we had roots, but we were all shocked at the massive amount!

Here's the pretty part. It will be beautiful when it's all done. I can't wait to see it complete.

I guess I'd better get to bed. I think we have a long day ahead tomorrow. Goodnight:)

Our Next Big Project

Since you read a while back that we had to pull out our beautiful shade trees in our front yard, you've probably wondered when we were going to get the yard fixed up. Well now is the time. We had people wondering why our front yard looks so bad. We quite watering the front yard months ago because we knew that we were going to dig it up and didn't want to pay the water bill. People who have walked by said they wondered because we didn't usually let our yard go like this. I wanted to get right home from school today to take the before pictures, but when I got home a lot of the yard had already been torn up. Glen Lewis was kind enough to come over and tear into our yard.

We knew that the roots were going to be bad, but who would have guessed they were this bad. Holy cow! It's unbelievable! It's going to be a lot more work getting the roots up than we thought.

Our neighbors behind us said we could dump our dirt in their empty lot. Well I guess we've got a lot of roots to get rid of. We'll be getting rid of them tomorrow.

We had 11 ton of decorative rock and 3 ton of river rock delivered this evening. That's a lot of spreading.