My Birthday

My birthday was on the 29th and Andy was out of town. The house was still a bit of a mess from Caleb's party but I decided to go shopping and start my garden instead of cleaning the house. It was my birthday, Andy wasn't home and I felt like I could do whatever I wanted. We took a duplicate birthday present back to Toys R Us and they gave us cash back. You know I thought about just keeping it. Then I thought, no this is Caleb's birthday gift--I can't keep it. So we walked around the store looking at things. I think we've done this once or twice before but haven't really bought things that he's picked out so he just merrily looked at everything and played with displays. He had a grand time and near the end we found a really neat CAT backhoe digger and a plastic bat and ball in exchange for a bubble blowing dog. He was so thrilled with the bat and ball he wouldn't let go of it for the guy to scan it. He usually understands the concept of buying something (we,ve bought things he really likes like candy and he had no trouble buying it), but he wasn't about to let the bat and ball out of his tight grip. We went to two other stores after that and at Target he kept askingto go back to the bubble store.

Home Depot was the last stop and we bought a shovel--well two shovels, some seeds and a tomato plant. The second shovel was because I saw a miny one of the one I bought for me that was about two feet tall and exactly like my five foot one. I thought Caleb would love it.

After lunch we went up to the new house--oh yes, we bought a house--and started digging up the sod. I only got about 4x5 feet done because Annika didn't like sitting in her carseat. We also met the kids that live on the other side. We bought a condo--only there are only two so it's more like a duplex. We share the yard with a very nice woman and her two kids ages 6 and 4. They are thrilled at making a garden. Since then I've only dug out maybe a 5x12 foot area and have planted a bit of lettuce and a few pepper seeds but I really need some more time to get it looking good and plant it in an organized manner. I'm terrible with plants as much as I'd like to be good with them and will be happy if we harvest even a very small amount from this garden. How could I have been raised growing a large garden every year of my life and feel so clueless as to how to get some vegetable to grow in my back yard? Water is my big question and my parents always took care of that. I can weed really well since that is what I did a lot. Whether or not the garden turns out it was a wonderful way to spend my birthday. Our house is up in the foothills and the view is beautiful. The weather was nice and it was so pretty outside and felt so good to work outside. I'm really very excited to do yard work and hope i can work something out with Annika.

Caleb had a wonderful time playing in the dirt. He was so excited. The backhoe we bought was perfect for digging in the dirt. At one point when Annika was sleeping in her carseat and I was digging Caleb said, "I happy." You have no idea how that melted my heart to hear.

I had a primary presidency meeting that night and afterwards they took me (and the kids) out for ice-cream. Caleb loved it. Kate brought her kids and Caleb loves them and so he was with these big kids and eating ice-cream. I really enjoyed my birthday but I think Caleb liked it even more.