Yardation Beautification Sensation

Hi! It's just me, Dorothy, here in Kansas. This spring weather is insane. From hail to wind to rain to sun, it's always an interesting place around these parts. "There's no place like home."

Along with spring weather (however loco it may be), we have moved from "indoor" projects to "outdoor" ones. We have been working on "yard beautification" for Monday Night FHE (and any other night we can fit in too) these past few weeks. Enjoy a before and after of the front of our house.

Before....

After...
Focusing on "yard beautification" has been a great experience for me. I have already learned many useful and helpful things. One, where did my muscles go???? I can't use a shovel for more than about 15 minutes without having to take a breather. Moral of the story: If you don't work the muscles, then they go bye-bye.
Two: I think if I HAD to choose a different profession, it would be landscape architecture. I have loved attempting to plan out our yard and it would be nice to know more about planning and creating a landscape. Moral of the story: there isn't one.
Three, all I need to put is Moral of the Story: Any house related project takes a lot longer than you think!
Last but not least, I have married well!!!!! This is the first time Mark and I have done manual labor yard work together. Mark is a git-r-dun kind of guy. But I didn't know he would be such a great yard worker!!! I was so impressed with his work ethic! He worked ALL day one Saturday digging out the grass so we could put in the dirt. I came home from a meeting and started helping him. It was about 8 at night, I thought we would probably be done for the night but he really wanted to keep working to finish. So we stayed out until probably ten or so finishing up tearing out the grass. Now mind you, this was a tough job. I tried doing it for about 5 minutes and told him I could help him but couldn't do the job myself. He had a very sore back the next few days but got the project finished! I was slightly surprised but completely impressed with my husband's ability to do manual labor and stick with it. Moral of the story: Sometimes you think you are married to someone absolutely great, but as you keep getting to know him, you realize he's magnificent, amazing, and Mr. Incredible.

P.S. We are also planting a little vegetable garden in the back, but I'm not telling anyone just in case nothing grows. shhhh! :)

Grammy

Our sweet Grammy Tew passed away recently and we made the trip to Utah to support her funeral. We were happy to be there because she holds such a precious spot in our hearts. Mark grew up with her around his whole life and I have found that she was such an easy person to love right from the beginning. I feel extremely blessed to have met her and developed a relationship with her before she passed away."The Boys" and parents

It was also nice to be able to spend time with family while we were there. We found time for croquet, badminton and volleyball. We of course fit in some board game time too! Cash Flow, Ticket to Ride, and Acquire were the favorites this time.







This is a picture of Mark with the branch that he broke off trying to save the dragon kite that was stuck in the tree. What a hero!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

eAsTeR wEeKeNd was just plain wonderful for us!!! We made a quick trip out to Utah for Mark's mission reunion. It was so neat to meet his mission Pres. and his wife. Were also able to see Mark's parents in SLC for a few hours. We had a good visit and went to Wheeler Historic Farm together.We enjoyed conference and also the Easter festivities in G-town. We were the last to find our basket, I probably would have asked for more clues, but luckily I married a good seeker. He did not give up and found our spoil!!! My favorite parts of our basket were the chips and cheese dip and the bubbles. Thanks, Mrs. E. Bunny! Greg ended up finding the most money in the money eggs this year--he took home $35. Lucky duck. I don't have a pic but he pinned the money on his shirt and took a victory lap around the house. Adding a new tradition to the usual, the men participated in an egg drop contest. Who can get their egg to not crack??? Check out these faces of concentration as they construct their "egg envelopes" using tape, cotton balls, paper, tp, etc...

Mark took 1st place in the egg drop using the "diaper" approach.
We also did an EaStEr BoNnEt parade in the house. We made bonnets out of paper plates and marched around to the Easter Bonnet song. My mom is really good at making things fun and doing traditions every year. Thanks for the fun weekend!!!

It's heaven to be 27.

Happy Happy Birthday, Mark Dear!
Happy days will come to you all year.
If I had one wish then it would be
a Happy Happy Birthday to you from me! We are lucky to celebrate our birthdays five days apart! We love celebrating them together because it sort of feels like we both get double celebrations, double yummy breakfasts, double treats, and double going out to eat. For Mark's day, we began with sleeping in since he had the day off. I love sleeping in. I made german pancakes and omelets for breakfast. mmmmm. I couldn't wait any longer, so I had Mark open some of his gifts right after breakfast. (I wonder who enjoys Mark's birthday more...him or I??? Probably me :) He opened up some shirt clips for french cuffs and a "mission letter" journal that I compiled for him. We spent most of the day in Topeka picking up some furniture and having birthday lunch at Red Robin, one of our favorites due to the endless delicious french fries. Mark also bought a nice indoor basketball and some grilling tools while we were out and about.
We came home to set up our new stuff (pictures coming soon) and Mark finished opening his gifts (Cinderella Man DVD and best of Steven R. Covey books on CD. exciting? yes). We made a little trip to Baskin Robins for our birthday treat of the hour. We are birthday clubbin' foos, which is another plus of having birthdays within a week of each other. We BOTH get to enjoy free ice creams at the same time! Mark finished off his day by blowing out ALL 27 candles on his brownie with german chocolate frosting cake. Happy Birthday!

Shout Out

Here's a shout out to my adorable hubby:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Click Here

Pampered Princess Party

This year for my Birthday Celebration, Mark treated me like a pampered princess! Well, he treats me like a pampered princess most days, but this day I was particularly pampered. I have such a good husband. He made my choice of delicious crepes with fresh strawberries and whip cream for breakfast. Mark is a great cook! We enjoyed church and then I came home to yummy gnocchi with marinara sauce and garlic bread. We had some fun unexpected visitors who came caroling birthday tidings to our door. Thank you Poulsens for the good company and the delicious cookies! Too bad I didn't take a picture, what was I thinking? One great thing about this day is no doing the dishes for me! yay! Mark showered me with many other gifts besides "no dishes day" including some mixing bowls that I've been wanting, a nice pair of kitchen shears, and furniture! What great gifts!
Making sure to celebrate all week long, we went shopping and out to eat at Texas Roadhouse on Saturday and bought a bed and a computer desk among other things. He didn't want to wrap both items, so he gave me the receipt to represent them :) Hopefully we will be getting the items within the week. We also enjoyed cheesecake with candles and everything.
It was wonderful being a pampered princess this year!
Thank you, Mark!

Why Not?

One of my hobbies is celebrating holidays that aren't really holidays. If there's a reason to celebrate, I ask, why not? Pi day (3-14) happened to be yesterday and we had some delicious coconut cream pie with our friends, the McCrakens. It was my first attempt at homemade pie crust. I would say it turned out pretty darn good. How could it not turn out good with 2 and a half sticks of butter in the recipe? Mark about puked when he saw how much butter I was using, but you only live once, ha ha! We also used real whip cream, yeah. real. That stuff is so good, I think I could eat a whole bowl of it by itself. I would say pi day is probably kind of a nerdy holiday, but if it gives you a chance to eat delectable home made pie, be a nerd for a day! Happy Pi Day to all you nerd alerts out there! Next year, I think I will try and make a pie that looks like this sweetness....
We also celebrated National Pancake Day when I was in Utah in February. I learned about this little hidden treasure of a holiday last year when we lived in Texar. IHOP gives out free pancakes, which we participated in last year. There wasn't an IHOP for miles around (get on that G-town! build an IHOP so that the citizens can enjoy National Pancake Day), this year we made our own. Since Benj will be leaving to Peru soon (tear drop), I conjured up a llama pancake. Yes, you read correctly, a llama; dedicated to Benji, Peru, and Cuzco, one of my favorite llamas who stars on the hit movie The Emperor's New Groove.

Llama Chef, Lacey AKA Paige Davis (new nick-name made up by the sibs)Elder Cole himself with the Cuzco look-alike.
Good luck Benji!!!!! Gonna miss ya!