Funny Friday -- Isaac gets asked out.

Ok I know he is dang handsome for an 11 year-old. But I am seriously and quietly freaking out right now. Actually I am wavering between freaking out and laughing hysterically (all very silently mind you) Isaac got asked out today by a sixth grade girl. She just walked up to him and asked if he wanted to go out on a date. Uh what? Isaac says he didn't even know her but she clearly knew his name. He asked her name (forgot it already or so he says) and then told her he thought he was too young to date. Good for you kiddo.
Oh I am dying!

13 Pollywogs

Yep we got 13 of these guys getting fatter by the day. My kids are completely fascinated with the metamorphosis and I have to say it's hard not to get drawn in. But 13 tadpoles are cute swimming in a bowl of water. What happens when they turn into 13 frogs? My kids are insisting that we keep 2 but that leaves 10 more frogs. We already gave some to our neighbors. So if you see frogs jumping down the street this Fall, I am really, really sorry. Somehow they escaped or were shooed out the door.

P.S. I am writing a round up article on family DVDs. What are your family's favorites? And I don't care if we have never heard of them before. I especially want to know the non mainstream DVD favorites.

Write A Little -- A Sentimental Gardner

A few weeks ago Tom's Nana's irises started to bloom in my yard. Only some of them bloomed this year but I am happy they are surviving. Last Fall I wrote an essay on how I am a sentimental gardener. I thought I would share the portion that has to do with Nana's Irises today.

Every growing season as I turn my face to the blazing sun and plant my favorite plants, many of which are chosen for purely sentimental reasons, I am blissfully happy. Over the past two years I have had the opportunity to landscape my first yard that is all my own. Each summer as my husband hauls bricks for raised beds to my garden and my children dig their hands into the dirt, I teach and live the legacy of gardening. I call my dad and my sister for garden troubleshooting advice. I run my fingers over the lavender and remember my graduation trip to France with my father. I smile at the black-eyed- susan’s in front of an enormous boulder, remembering my mother who taught me the name of these cheerful flowers and is an amateur geologist. She is the reason I don’t mind the plethora of rocks in my yard. She knows about rocks. The three aspens near this spot are also for my mother, a reminder of a hike through a forest of aspens one autumn as a young girl. “This is my favorite tree,” she told me. It promptly became my favorite tree also.
I relish planting memories and heritage. My mother-in-law called me one day last fall and told me she had saved me a bag of iris bulbs from her 97-year-old mother’s garden. My husband’s grandma had been an avid gardener and painter before age took most of her sight and health. Her flower beds had always been envious things, overflowing with big bright blooms. So, of course, I was overjoyed at the offer to plant heirlooms of my favorite flower. I gathered this beautiful knobby dirt-encrusted gift into my gloved hands and set out with my 3-year-old daughter one crisp autumn afternoon to bury some heritage in my yard. I dug and my preschooler placed each bulb carefully. We covered them up and I told her about her Nana Ora. We spent an hour together planting them throughout the yard. A week later I had an unexpected visit from Nana Ora and my mother-in-law. I showed her the general area of her flowers new homes. She can’t see or hear very well so I am unsure of the success of my show and tell. I could, however, tell she mourned her garden. She recently had to move away from her home and all of her flowers, not just the irises, were dug up. “I can’t replace them if they don’t come up,” she told me, bittersweet at her loss. “It’s OK,” I told her. “I planted them near my other irises and I planted them in three different spots. Some of them will survive.” We all know Nana Ora’s days with us are numbered but I like to think her great-granddaughter planted a small portion of her legacy this year. I know that for many future springs we will “ooh” and “ahh” over Nana’s irises and we will remember her. They will become part of a daily walk through the yard where I touch and smell and smile at memories.

Do you have any gardening memories?

15 Years Later, We Are Still Friends

In the year 1992 I moved across the United States and moved in with an apartment full of strangers. This Tuesday I met up with three of my college roomates, those strangers that became my best friends. Some us had not seen each other in 15 years. I lived with this group of gals for two years and I loved them. Finally we all got together in Park City this week and it was as if 15 years evaporated and we were all best friends again. We laughed, we shared how we had changed thanks to Sarah's probing questions. We reminded each other of our crazy antics. They reminded me how clutzy I was when they retold the story of me falling head first into some ladies grocery cart while grocery shopping one day. I have to say I had completely blocked this memory.

We laughed, we realized that we were now all mothers but that in many ways we were still the same people who had been inseperable for two years of our lives.

I cannot even believe how much fun I had. I picked up my roomate Kim earlier in the morning and she sat and chatted with me in the Honda dealership for an hour an a half while we waited for my car to be serviced. I remembered why she had been such a central part of my life. She is funny, practical and energetic and still so Kim. We met the rest of our little circle in Park City at Baja Cantina. We entered that place at 12:30 and finally decided to leave 2 1/2 hours later. We could not believe how nice our server had been as she let us talk our hearts out long after she cleared our table.

We moved on to getting a pedicure, found by the technilogically savvy Kelly who was able to use her fancy phone to find us a nail place in Park City. We moved our conversations to these 4 chairs.

After another hour of conversation we left feeling a little pampered and we drove through a downpour to Kelly's Mom's house in Heber where we were all promised cookie dough for dessert. If you readers could only understand the role cookie dough played in our lives you would understand the significance of this offer. Plus, we just were not done catching up on each other's lives and we needed a dry and comfortable place to finish talking. Kim had a plane to catch back to Arizona that night and I had a four hour trip home later but we used up every spare moment learning the trials and the victories that had shaped each other's lives. Clairvoyant Kim had told her husband she would not be taking the 7:30 flight home because that would just not be enough time to share all the things we needed to share. She got a later flight. Ok she is not clairvoyant but she did know I was going to marry Tom long before I had any such intentions.

When we finally had to leave I had a hard time tearing myself away. We promised we would plan another getaway that was overnight next year and I am all ready to start planning it. I really hope we never let 15 years get away from us again. Because I realize how much I missed these women in my life. They are strong, funny, warm women and I want them to be a part of my life again.

Talented Thursday -- Encouraging the Artist

My little Becca loves to draw, constantly. I encouraged her to enter this online art contest for kids 12 and under. She needs votes to win and even if she doesn't win this month she gets another chance next month. And I know its a little wierd to ask everyone to vote but I know she will feel so encouraged if she sees lots of votes for her picture, which unfortunately you can barely see on the website. I just want to encourage her to keep drawing and painting, even if it means a never ending pile of papers most of them with her signature birds.

Go vote here: Rebecca's art entry
Scroll down to where it says Spring Picnic.

Thank you Thank you

It's A Party -- Talented Thursday

Once a year (OK sometimes twice) I like to host a party showcasing and selling products by some seriously talented women. In addition, I like to throw in a pampered chef party, because, frankly I am addicted to Pampered Chef, and the gal presenting is trying to get going as a Pampered Chef consultant.

Next Tuesday I am hosting my annual party

Here are the examples of the talented ladies selling their wares.

Annie Nixon -- Pampered Chef consultant. We are having a coldstone icecream party and I am excited to see the Pampered Chef ice cream party version.

Trinity Knell -- Recently started a personalized boutique based out of her home. She is selling the cutest custom designed aprons for girls, women and men. They can all be embroidered. She is also taking custom embroidery orders for the ridiculously low price of $5. Check out a picture of some of her aprons here.

Rebekha Hughes -- Poppet Jewelry for girls and their mums (She's Australian so we let her use the word "mum.") She will also have some other darling girls accessories at the party. Visit her Poppet site for an idea of her girl jewelry line. She also makes custom orders.

So if your craving some girl time, ice cream, jewelry or a cute apron come play with us

Tuesday, June 9th

3:30 to 5:30 at my house.

Death of A Goldfish

Our eight year old goldfish was found belly up this morning. I thought my kids were going to have a hard time with this death. The wierd part is I am the one that was kind of upset. I had to have Tom get rid of it. Silly, I know but after you take care of something for 8 years you kind of grow attached even if it is just a goldfish, cleverly named Goldie. Goldie has been somewhat of a miracle pet in our home outsurviving every fish or hermit crab we have ever had and fortunately the poor turtle is still alive after a year. I remember when Isaac brought that itty bitty goldfish home from the Halloween carnival a week after Rebecca was born. He was proud of that fish.