Carter's sport

Carter started soccer this week. He is on a NYS (national youth sports team) for 3 year olds. There are about 10 kids on the team & half of them are from our ward. Of course of the 5 from our ward Carter is the only boy:). It is coached by the parents with one as the head coach. He is a guy from our ward. The kids all did a really good job & I was not disappointed, it was very cute & there was plenty to laugh at. My favorite was when Carter scored a goal (bottom right picture) he brought the ball all the way down the field uncontested (no one seems to want to take it from anyone) kicked it a little wide of the goal, ran over picked it up, positioned it right in front of the goal & kicked it in. We are still working on the no hands rule:).

I looked out the window & what did see

GRASS!!! And lots of it. After a few days of hard work (by the landscapers) we have a great new yard. A couple of neighbors have already stopped by to say how nice it looks (and that it's about time:). I love grass, especially here in the desert.

I will label the pics clockwise form top left. The top left is the side of the house in the backyard where the trashcans go. I know that is not really exciting but the flagstones & paved pad for the trashcans to sit on is:). The next picrture is the paved path continuing beyond the gate all the way to the front porch for nice smooth trash can taking out. Then there is the strip to onee side of the drive way with the purple tree, grass & bushes. Then a picture of what we see when we open the door. The big bottom right picutre is pretty much the after of the before shot I posted last time. We have a cute little planter area around the base of the tree that I can plant seasonal flowers in, and the last picture is the grass in the backyard. It was so wonderful to walk down the staris the other day & see green out the back windows!!!!! Everything looks so much nicer and feels better. Now we just need to stay off of it while it takes root then we will be good to go!!!

What this yard needs is lots of work & lots of money

When we moved into our house this is what the front yard looked like. Christian & his Dad then took out the weeds & some of the other dead plants. We have had a few hits from neighbors about our need to work on our yard & have been known as the people with the dead yard by some of Jillian's friends in the ward.

Originally Christian was planning to redo the yard himself, but we have very particular homeowners requirements so it would need to be done more quickly than a couple of Saturdays would allow. Plus Christian realized how much work it would be so we decided to start checking with landscapers. We have a crew of 4 guys wout working on it now & they have been for the last 2 days. Christian is so happy he didn't try to do it by himself.

They took out all of the old stuff because it was all dead & not coming back. They are redoing the wall, the boarder around the tree & putting all new trees & plants in. Then they are putting in grass!!! Yeah, that is my favorite part. We will finally have grass out front & out back so I can send the kids out to play without eveyone coming in covered in dirt. The other thing I really like is a paved pathway from out backyard to the front porch. It just goes along the side of the house so we can pull our trash cans to the street more easily, We have had to fight to get them out over tons of rocks shich was a pain!

They should be done tomorrow & I can't wait to post pictures of our new yard!!

Already a good student

Jillian brought home a certificate today from school with an attached Claim Jumpers certificate. It said it was for having a great first week of Kindergarten. Jill was very excited about it and asked if we could go eat there. I told her sometime but when Daddy heard about it he said we could go tonight (I think the lack of dinner at home may have been a motivator). Jill was very excited and asked if she was getting a free meal for all of us, I said no, just one for her to share with Carter. At the restaurant she said "I am so happy I get my very own kids meal to share with Carter." They had a kids pizza with ham & pineapple. They really enjoyed it and loved the $3 make your own Sundae for dessert.

I had to take Carter to the bathroom in a public restroom for the first time so thank goodness it was clean!!!! He touched everything, took his bottoms off and tossed them on the floor, and started opening the door before his Mother was decent (Jill does it to me all the time so I am kind of used to it but still hate it!!!). What a pain!! All that and he didn't even go. Still, better safe than sorry. He & I arrived back at the table to find our food waiting but I was immediately informed that now Jill needed to go. I was so annoyed because I was hungry!!!!!! I did finally get to eat.

2nd Day Blues!

I thought these were so adorable & sad I had to post them. They melt my heart! This was day 2 of school when the horrible reality of what being in Kindergarten actually meant sunk in. I just took them cause I thought she looked cute in her little pleated skirt but I love the story they tell too.