I moved into my house 4 1/2 years ago. While the house was in decent shape, the yard was atrocious. The sprinkler system was complete crap and there wasn't any kind of landscaping in at all. The first year I focused on the front yard. I seeded the lawn, side yard and park strips. I planted four trees, iris, day lillies, daisies, tulips and chrysanthemums. All of these survived and are still doing very well.
Year two was spent weeding and trying to help the plants in front survive. The morning glory in Riverton is just awful. It is a never ending battle trying to get rid of them. I also began trying to figure out how I could landscape the back and somehow get the West side of my house cooler. With the help of my family we put in a good sized deck and some sod that my dad's friend gave me.
Year three was the year of the sprinkler system. I had attempted to hire a friend's brother who owns a landscaping business to come install the system, but he ended up flaking out. Knowing that I had tried, my dad felt bad and started to work on it himself in late Summer. I hired someone to come in and design the system and we began the long tedious process that is installation. Since we could only work on the project on Saturday's it took several months to complete. Travis trenched the entire yard, my dad, mom and I laid all of the pipe, and my dad did all of the electrical work. By the time we had gotten that far, it was winter and time to quit. While working on the system, Travis had cut down my front fence so he could trench the yard easier. Nala also decided that she wanted to see what was going on next door and decided to take a look. For those of you that don't know, Nala is Michael's Great Dane and they live next door. Having a 200lbs dog trying to peak over put a lot of stress on the poorly built fence and it eventually toppled. So we decided it was time to put in a new fence in March. We ended up going with a tan vinyl fence (no maintenance products is all I do).
Year four involved finishing the sprinkler system during the spring. We also laid about 600 sq ft of sod that year as well. I spent so much time out of town last year I really didn't get to do much on the yard. Between Girls Camp, Snowbird and my 3 Chicago trips, the summer was gone.
Year Five so far has been a really busy year. I laid 2000 sq ft of sod. I planted a salsa garden and a peach tree and by the end of the summer will have raspberry bushes, a compost area and my southwest corner will finally be cleared of the sticker weeds and huge clumps of cement (thank you Michael).
I am so excited to finish these projects. I have not had a garden since I moved and I have truly missed making homemade salsa. It is such a stress reliever for me. While I was studying for my CPA exam I would listen to Mr Joe Ben Hoyle on CD and blanch, dice and bottle salsa for hours. I think it greatly contributed to my passing the exam that November. I am also excited for all of the peppers. I always have more peppers than I can possible use for the salsa and I am going to try drying them and then making spices out of them. I love to cook with pepper spices all year round. My favorites are cayenne and habenaro!!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sod, Flowers and Veggies
Movies, Movies and more Movies
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Friends Lost
It is always hard to realize a friendship needs to end. I had dinner tonight with a couple of people from graduate school. For a time I considered one of these people my best friend. We were practically inseparable for a while. As our lives got busier we still got together at least once or twice a month. In the last year I have seen this person only three times and each of these times were strained. I have several friends that I only see or talk to a couple of times a year, but there isn't any ackwardness between us. I guess it is true of the saying about friends. Some are for a lifetime, some are for a season while others still are just for the moment. Each has a place in your heart and served a need for you at that time. So to this friend goodbye and best of luck in your life. I wish only the best and that all your hopes and dreams may be fulfilled.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Salt Lake Classic Century
Holy Cow!! I rode the SL Classic Century today. I only rode 76 of the 100 miles, but it was 9 miles more than I had planned on. It was hard, but satisfying. I have a feeling I am going to not be able to move tomorrow. I rode with Christopher and Laura and kept up with them for the most part. They were riding a bit slower because I was with them. I kept telling them that it was okay to go on without me. They are hard core riders. This is the first year they have ridden road bikes, but they go mountain biking all the time. Last weekend they were down in Moab with their road bikes and easily rode 150 miles over the weekend. I appreciated their concern and it did push me harder so they didn't have to ride so slow. On the way back, Christopher had to get to work so they finally took off without me. He called me with about 5 miles to go, apparently they had finished slower than anticipated and were doubling back to check on me and let me know that I wasn't that far behind them. That made me feel even better because it felt like everyone was passing me and I was 
the last one to make it back.While I was riding, my allergies were killing me. My nose was running so bad I had to stop every 5-10 miles just to blow my nose. Each time I stopped concerned people would make sure I was okay and give me encouragement to keep going. I was so grateful for those words of encouragement it made me realize that not all roadies are jerks like most of the ones that were on the big teams. I even had one guy give me spinning tips, which helped out a lot. I also want to thank the REI tech that helped tune my bike so my chain would stop slipping between gears. He was so nice and took the time to educate me on what the chain should look like and how it should be aligned.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and my Grandma. This time of year is great that we get to honor all our mother's.
This is also a time that I think about my Grandma Matson. It will be 12 years this August that she left us, but I still miss her so much. She was such a strong woman and a great grandma. I used to sit at her counter while she was canning some kind of fruit or vegetable from their garden and just talk to her about everything. Since my mom had to work it was nice to be able to walk across the street after school or every day in the summer and see her. I used to think it was weird that most kids didn't know their grandma as much as I did. She would tell me stories all the time about her sisters and brother and her life growing up in Payson. I knew that Aunt Lauralee was a great speller and would drive all of them nuts trying to memorize her spelling words each week. Having her tell me all these stories is probably why I know so much about her family. This time is also such a great reminder of her because of the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. This is the first year in the last five that I have not volunteered for the race. I was always happy for the survivors that attended the race and enjoyed helping with the event. But it was always difficult for me to listen to them, because she didn't survive and her battle was so short. It was less than a year from the time she was diagnosed and the time she passed away.
I hope that all of my friends have a wonderful day and realize that there is nothing greater in this life than being a mom and I love that so many of my friends are and that they allow me to be part of their lives and see the blessing as well as the trials of being a mom.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Brand New Day
So, I have decided I am going to finally start this thing. I have been contemplating it for several months and I am just going to take the plunge.
