Summer Gardening and Fun!

This past week and weekend have been all about the yard. We planted flowers last weekend and I finished up the garden yesterday. I planted my pumpkins, melons,and peppers. The garden is coming along pretty good but the boys were sure unhappy to spend a couple of hours weeding yesterday. We have cucumbers, corn, potatoes and beans all up and the tomatoes are doing their thing. John fertilized for me again yesterday. I told him I was going to copy everything my dad did to his yard and he fertilized again on Monday so I am a few days behind him. Here are some shots of all our hard work!!!



Then yesterday afternoon, the neighbor broke out the new slip and slide. JJ was all about that and spent some time cooling off. Here are some shots with the famous Parker and Michael and their family.

JJ's Preschool Graduation

Today was JJ's preschool graduation. He has been very excited for this day because he can't wait for Kindergarten (let's hope we are still saying that when Kindergarten actually starts.) It was a very fun program. Here is a picture of him with his good friend and next door neighbor Parker Ahlberg.

This was his preschool teachers' last year of teaching but you can tell you she is most EXCELLENT!!! These cute little graduation robes are great but the hats with the elastic are a little bothersome as you can tell from the pictures below.


Here is a picture of JJ with his teacher, Ms. Tonya!!

And here are some pictures with Mom and Dad.



And then here are some cheesey shots of JJ throughout the program.


And then here is a clip of him coming out out to be seated for the Graduation.

And finally a few clips of some of the songs they sang during the program. What a FUN day!!!

Garden Snake--"JJ Conquers Bug and Critter Fear With Garden Gloves"

JJ loves his gardening gloves because it has opened the world of bugs and critters to him. He has always hated anything bug or critter related but since he got his "garden gloves" they protect him (kinda like the force with Luke Skywalker). Yesterday, my neighbor was planting her potatoes and came across 2 (yes 2) different garden snakes. Any of you that know me, know that this just puts me through the roof. I absolutely DETEST snakes but JJ wanted to hold him and handle the stupid thing, I was so amazed by this that I almost forgot my fear of this stupid reptile. Here is a litte clip of him handling this "cute little thing."--NOT!!!!!



Last night while I was bathing JJ and getting him ready for bed he said, "Mom, it's OK that your afraid of snakes cuz Indiana Jones is too." That made me smile because that man definately understands my fear and resentment of snakes. One last photo of my BIG TOUGH JJ!! (The sun was directly in his eyes and I couldn't get a shot with his eyes open.)

Trevor's Social Leadership Ball

Trevor's school has a program called Social Leadership. Over the course the year they have 5 different activities they attend where they learn to dance and display proper etiquette when eating and basic social skills. Last night was the culmination of all they have learned and they had a formal dinner and dance night. They rented a reception room in THE DISTRICT movie theaters and spent the night showing off their skills. One of the big events of the night is to have the parent of the opposite sex come and dance with the student. So here is Trevor and I "cutting up the carpet". John wasn't able to attend because it was the high school prom so our neighbor handled two cameras and didn't do a half bad job. Take a look.



Trev was a little frustrated with my dancing skills and kept telling me that I didn't know how to dance. He wanted to know how dad and I danced and I told him that we just move in small, slow circles and it works for us. I think that disgusted him. He seemed to have a great time. Justin let him borrow one of his shirts and dad lended Trev a tie so he was one HOT Trev Trev!! Here is Trev and I, don't you just think the keys hanging off my arm make the picture??

"THE GARDEN IS TILLED ALREADY TO PLANT"

I was able to get John to plow the garden for me last weekend. This was a MAJOR accomplishment because he puts up a wall of resistance every year when garden time comes. I'm sure it had something to do with my constant nagging, but hey it worked and now its done. And he sure loves the corn and tomatoes in July and August,(but he would never admit that out loud.) Take a gander.

The End Result


I took a picture of the nice green grass so my dad can be proud and our shed that we put in last fall.

The Grass and The Shed


Then here is a raspberry start that I planted a couple of days ago. My very generous neighbor gave me 12 starts. Hopefully, I can have a little bit of Grandma Smith's charm with rapsberry plants.

Raspberry Start

MORP--The Girls Choice Dance

Justin hates for me to post about him, but this is like my little journal so he will just have to deal with it. The theme for the dance was a SPORTS theme. His date decided not to pick a team and had them go as golfers. He spent the afternoon bowling (a crazy Utah tradition of having a day date before the dance), and then came home and got ready for his date. I think the girls were pretty money savey. They had dinner at one of the girls' houses and then went to the dance. The group he went with is a good group and as far as I can tell he had fun. He said that she is definately "friend" material. It's weird having a son and husband talk about girls and rank them on the scale from 1 to 10. So here is a few pictures of the date.

Karrisa and Justin

The Group

John's Big Surprise--"WICKED" tickets

Let me just begin by saying when we were in New York almost 5 years ago, we tried to get tickets to this show, and it was sold out. I have been wanting to see this show for at least 5 years. Well two years ago John was in Chicago for a conference and went and saw this show without me, (I probably would have done the same thing if it were me,) but needless to say I was very SAD!!! Well without my knowledge, John was able to get 2 tickets for Wicked that was showing here in Salt Lake City. His assistant Principal is a season ticket holder and was able to buy tickets last year. It was going to be a huge surprise but one one of the cute little ladies that works at the school asked me one day if I was so excited for Wicked. I had no idea what she was talking about, and John had to tell me then. It was still a great surprise. I want to see it again. I play the CD all the time. So any men out there, if you ever get the chance to take your sweetie to this--DO IT!!! My dream girls get-away weekend would to be to fly to New York on Jet Blue, see WICKED, and then shop for a day and then fly home. I know it's not reasonable but hey, a girl can dream!!!

The Wicked Program