Mother's Day Sod

Yep, that's right. I got Mother's Day sod in my back yard. Walter and I worked Saturday and got all of the sod laid and it looks marvelous. I really want to go roll in it. Unfortunately, you can't walk on it for a couple days so I guess rolling is probably out too.
The back yard is coming along nicely. We have the border in and the patio done (the picture isn't the best of the patio but I will get another one later), the shed in put up and we have started on the fence around the pond. The white posts you see in the yard are for the fence.
The grass and back yard weren't the only great parts of Mother's Day. In fact, the whole day was lovely. Little Walter slept in until 8am, then Walter made me breakfast and then he and the boy gave me a beautiful new watch that I have been eyeing. After that we headed to church where my kid actually behaved during Sacrament meeting. That was almost magical.
After church we handed out the Mother's Day cakes that we sold as a fundraiser for Young Women's camp. We ended up selling almost 230 cakes. I couldn't believe how well it went. This past week I backed over 200 cakes and am now done with baking cake for, I don't know, the rest of my life. Little Walter was a great help with cleaning up the frosting beaters for me.


For dinner we headed to the Villanueva's and had a lovely meal with their family. There were lots of kids which kept little Walter quite busy.
Now it is Monday and my fun is over and I am back to the same old, same old.
I hope everyone else had a lovely Mother's Day.

A love of Books

Lately, Little Walter has been taking books to bed with him. Every night we read two books before bed. He then grabs a book or two as we are scooping him up and putting him into bed. He is a great sleeper so I don't complain about his weird desire to have things, like books, when he falls asleep.
Well today he took this weird quirk to new heights. I just took him in to put him down for his nap and found not one, not two, but 13 books, a bottle of lotion and a pair of dirty socks in his bed.
I had to draw the line somewhere so I gave him his stuffed dog and took the rest of the stuff out. I wish I had the batteries for my camera (they are in the diaper bag that we left at Mom & Dad Ray's) so that I could take a picture of his bed full of stuff.
I suppose I can't complain too much. At least he loves books.

R.I.P.

(Not actually Nemo Goldfish. Photo courtesy of Flickr.)

Rest in peace Nemo Goldfish. With us for a short time but, um...well, in our hearts forever? Okay, maybe not. However, the tank is a little less exciting without you.

Nemo Goldfish
12/07-4/23/08

Tagged

So Debbie "Dweebie" Austin tagged me a while back so I thought I would take care of that.

What were you doing 5 Years Ago?
1)April 2003. I was getting ready to graduate Cal State. Dating Walter.

What are 5 Things On Your To-do List Today:
1) Clean the front room AGAIN.
2) Finish the dishes.
3) Have dinner with the Walters and Kate
4) Get everything ready for the Missionary dinner (Mutual) tonight.
5) Attend Mutual

Name 5 Snacks That You Enjoy:
1) Cold cereal
2) Wheat Thins
3) Chocolate chip cookies
4) Strawberries
5) Bread

Name 3 Bad Habits You Have:
1) I hate folding laundry and put it off as long as possible.
2) Watching TV at night instead of heading to bed.
3) Not drinking enough water.

If you were a billionaire...
1)Pay off the truck and mortgage
2)or maybe sell the truck and house and move to Spain
3)Make sure mine & Walter's families have a comfy retirement
4)Set up a college fund for Little Walter
5)Buy lots of clothes and shoes

List 5 places You've Lived:
1) Napa, CA
2) Sherman Oaks, CA
3) Van Nuys, CA
4) SW Bakersfield
5) NE Bakersfield

List 5 Jobs That You've Had
1) Front desk/towel washer- Exertec Gym in Napa
2) Shift Leader- Golden Bagel Cafe in Napa
3) Intermural Volleyball Ref at CSUB
4) Payroll Tech at CSUB Extended University
5) Mom and Kate watcher

List 5 Things That People Don't Know About You:
1) I bit my fingernails until I was 24.
2) I eat more cold cereal than most people I know.
3) My family owns a pizza shop so we get free pizza everytime we go to Napa.
4) My minor in college was Criminal Justice. Profiling serial killers was my favorite class.
5) I love to grocery shop. It is relaxing to me.

Wow. That was harder than I thought. If there is anyone who hasn't done this and wants to...consider yourself tagged.

Watching Buboff

We have been a little busy lately so I actually have a few stories to share. On Thursday the 17th Walter and I went to see Wicked. It was wonderful. There was an understudy playing the part of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and she was AMAZING. There was something about her singing voice that was awe inspiring. Mom and Dad Ray got the tickets for me for my birthday and I am so grateful. Walter didn't even hate it. I was a little worried about that at first, but he was good about it. I think his favorite part of the whole night was dinner. We ate at a restaurant called La Paella. It was an authentic Spanish restaurant in L.A. We ate too much for our own good but it was delicious.

Click this link to hear Teal Wicks singing "Defying Gravity". http://youtube.com/watch?v=DOA-XmmfHEI

Walter has been doing a lot of work in the backyard and it is coming along quite nicely. He has had a lot of help lately so that has been really nice. He has had his Dad, Grandpa Crowley, Uncle Don, Bradon and cousins Kurt and Kyle. This weekend, while the Crowley side of the family was here in Bakersfield, the guys got the last of the yard cleaned out, the ground roto-tilled and smoothed and the yard looking all-together fabulous. The ground is so smooth now. I can't wait to get the grass in. Here are a few pictures of the crew working.

Last night we had my Mother-in-Law's surprise 50th birthday party. There were a lot of people there to celebrate with us and I think, for once, the surprise was actually pulled off. The food was delicious and the decorations were marvelous if I say so myself. The only down side were the blisters I got from my new shoes. Oh well, it is the price you pay for cute shoes sometimes. I would but up some pictures from the party but I forgot to take the camera out of little Walter's backpack. Oops.

Lastly, the latest little boy happenings...He has been really enthralled with Rudolph (a.k.a. Buboff, Weewoff and my personal favorite, Momoff) and Frosty the Snowman videos. I guess he doesn't quite get the concept of "Christmas" videos yet. I enjoy a nice Frosty the Snowman video as well but I try to save them for the month of December. He also started saying "Cheese!" for the camera. I have been working on this for a while and he would never do it. That was until yesterday. I was outside taking pictures of the backyard and he sees me taking pictures and stands in front of me saying "Cheese!", "Cheese!". Unfortunately, he wasn't in view of the camera when he was saying it but at least he got the idea that camera=cheese! I few minutes later I did get him to repeat it so we got this picture.

He is just too cute for words. Oh, and the dog he is holding now goes EVERYWHERE with him. The poor thing is so dirty but he loves it.

Easter and Stuff

On April 20-22 we took a family vacation to San Francisco. We realized that we rarely do things like this (where we get to run away for a long weekend) so we thought we would give it a try. We had a really nice time. Our hotel was about 2 blocks from Ghiradelli Square and about ¼ mile from Pier 39. We tried to see all of the local sights, while still leaving time for naps.
I think Little Walter’s favorite part was the Aquarium of the Bay. We ended up going twice because it was such a nice activity for him. We also made a trip to Golden Gate park where he was able to play with the 15,000 other kids. I am exaggerating of course, but I couldn’t believe how many kids there were. Maybe it is because I am a big fan of personal space but it didn’t seem to bother anyone else. Oh well, the little guy had a great time.
After we left S.F. we headed to Napa to visit my family. We had a really good visit and a wonderful Easter. Little Walter had a great time looking for Easter eggs. He never ceases to amaze me. I was convinced that he wouldn’t look for the eggs but didn’t want to ruin it for everyone else. Well, how wrong was I? He was running all over the yard. Granted, the eggs weren’t exactly hidden, more like tossed on the lawn, but he still did well.
In house related news, we are working on the backyard. By we I mean Walter only at this point. We have all of the trees out that we plan to remove, we have put down the stuff to kill the grass and weeds, the sprinkler lines are in out back and we will get the ones on the side in this weekend. Walter will sod cut while I am at the Temple with the youth on Saturday. Then next week we will get the sod removed, put in a cement border, put up a fence around the pond and seed the yard. Once the grass is growing (at least 2-3 weeks) we will put plants in bordered area, put up a back fence, put in a shed out back. Then eventually get around to putting up a porch railing on the back porch, building planter boxes for a garden and adding swings to the climbey, slide thing.
Oh, and I want to send a big internet high-five to Thad and Britt on the future baby. I am so proud of myself for keeping the secret. I rock. Oh, and I guess you guys do too.

Spring Has Sprung

The weather lately has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL. In the Upper 70s the last few days. I love when the weather is like this because I can go outside and enjoy it without getting too hot. It also means that it is shorts weather. I have been wearing shorts lately but I will not be posting pictures of that because the glowing whiteness of my legs is a little frightening. Maybe I will have a few pictures involving myself in a few weeks if I can get a little tan.

I have been taking little Walter outside every day. He totally loves it. He is still going around the yard picking up any rocks he can find and throwing them in to the pond. Unfortunately, he sometimes throws rocks that he shouldn't throw (like the rocks that build the sides of the waterfall) but I fish them out and we are good again. He has also taken to throwing leaves, sticks, dirt and the occasional stuffed animal in the pond. That would be why his teddy bear is currently in the washing machine.













The other thing I love about spring is the flowers. I tend to have what you might call a black thumb. I can't make a plant grow but I can kill just about anything for you. Since we have had our house I have gone through hundreds of dollars worth of plants. I plant them, they grow for a while and then they take a nose-dive. So, I thought I might try bulbs this year. They seem a little heartier. I planted tulips and two other things. I can't remember what the other things are, but I planted them. I have been checking on them every day in hopes that they might actually grow. I had set a goal for myself that if 10% of the bulbs would come out of the ground I would feel like I succeeded. Well, today I reached my goal. 9 out of 86 bulbs have come up. Granted, they are only little pointy green things sticking about 1/2 inch out of the ground, but they at least came up a little bit. I can not tell you how excited I am. I included a couple of pictures of my bulbs(the first pic and the one below) and the last picture is of my blue potato bush flowers. We have had this bush since shortly after we moved into our house over three years ago. I have butchered this thing so many times. It only grows on the left side of the plant and some of the branches might look a little droopy, but it can still grow flowers.










Oh, and in case you doubt my plant growing abilities. Here is a picture of "The Great Tomato Harvest" of 2006. This is all I got before the plant died.