Spring is in the Air

This is a blossom on our apple tree. It sure looks like spring around here.

More pic's of Ethan and Lois

I looked out the window...

...and what did I see, popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Spring is here and the trees and flowers are blooming and things are starting to green up a little, and today, with being off work, it was a good day to get outside and get a few things done.  Logan is still in Raleigh with the rest of the crowd, and Adrian is job hunting today in Winston, so Chip and I tackled a day of work around the house and in the yard.  I continued the process of getting the leaves and other derbis out from around the house and clearing out the flower/vegetable beds, then went to the chicken pens and shoveled out chicken manure and took it up to the house to put in the plant beds to give the soil a boost.  I cleaned out the dirt from all my pots and added it to the plant beds, then added some new dirt to the pots and planted Kristen's leftover vegetable seeds she gave me, along with some flower seeds I got from work this week.  Next I hauled off the leaves and stuff and cleaned up a little around and there's still more to do, but it looks pretty good and I'm excited to get a start on some veggies to grow around the house.  Hopefully, we'll have a garden, too, but I like the idea of having some plants right outside the door.  I saved some flower seeds from my flowers last year and so I put out some of them, too.  I hope everything comes up!  After the yard work, Chip and I were pretty dirty and had to come in and get cleaned up, then I had to mop the floors from all the dirt we'd tracked in.  It had rained a little and so with the dirt and the rain, we sort of made a mess going in and out of the house.  So, after getting cleaned up inside, we got a bite to eat and contined with laundry and the other house chores.  It's been a busy day and I'm glad to have those things underway.  Now I'm ready for some of that fresh produce already!  :)

Ethan and Lois

We took the opportunity to make some engagement pictures for Ethan and Lois.  They look very happy together!

Ethan and Lois

Ethan and Lois

Ethan and Lois

Family Pictures

We had a good time making family pictures at Lake Benson Park!

Kristen, Ethan, Adam, Logan

The Jarrell Family

The Jarrell Family

The Barnett Family

Kristen, Ethan, Adam, Logan

Springtime 09

We've had fun at Kristen and Cory's house blowing gigantic bubbles in their back yard, celebrating Adrian's birthday, watching conference, enjoying the sunshine and playing outside together, watching basketball, eating good food, and just being together.

Snow Day 09

Here was our snow day for the season, complete with a snowball fight between Adam and Logan. It was fun to have some snow, but now it's March, with temperatures today in the 70's, and I'm ready for spring!

A Proud Moment....

Like father, like son... It was a proud moment today, I had to open the windows in the middle of a cold winter day because Logan stoked the woodstove to perfection - just like his Dad!  :)

A Funny Thing Happened....

I was thinking about this today and wanted to write about it, because it's funny and brings back good holiday memories.  Over the Christmas/New Year's holidays we were all gathered at Kristen's house one night, and Ethan and Adam volunteered to make us smoothies.  Ethan is particularly famous for his smoothies and we all love for him to make them for us.  Ethan and Adam worked together and made all of us these wonderful  fruit smoothies.  We all had a good evening and everyone was up late playing games and visiting.  Even Adrian, who is sometimes getting pretty sleepy and ready for bed around 9pm, was up at 1am saying, "Let's watch a movie!"  Finally, Ethan and Adam let it slip that the reason everyone was still up partying at 1 in the morning was that they had spiked our fruit smoothies with energy drinks!  Haha!  We couldn't believe they had done that!  :)  They said they wanted us to have an evening where we all were up together instead of someone in the group falling asleep.  We all had a good laugh about it!  I think many of us were still up at around 2am or so!  A fun night!  :)

What boys think of to do....

There's nothing like a bonfire on a cold Friday night, a yard full of teenage boys, food, lots of energy, and an old microwave to create a fun and exciting evening!  Need I say more?!

Pioneer Woman

Okay, so maybe not a full-fledged pioneer woman, but I did feel a little like it this afternoon as Logan and I hauled firewood from the land behind our house.  It really wasn't bad, in fact, it was pretty okay and it brought back memories of when I used to help my Dad when he'd go cut firewood.  I used to help him load and then stack the firewood.  Logan worked hard and split the bigger wood and did most of the hauling.  I did take a couple of loads and one interesting thing I discovered was how fast a loaded wheelbarrow of firewood wants to go when you start down a steep hill!  :)

It's been quite a day altogether!  Up at about 5:15am, out the door by 6:30, off to the gym on campus then to work by 7:30am, and a full day at work - busy, busy, busy - then back to the gym, and off to pick up Logan, meet a friend to pick up notes he let her borrow, home and the myriad of chores - firewood, eggs (actually Logan gathered them and I washed them), laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning up Chip's accidents (he was close to the puppy pad), supper (Adrian's working late, so just toasted cheese sandwhiches for Logan), and probably a few other things I can't remember...oh, and Logan and I trying to get the fire going...it had gone out and we tag-teamed trying to build it up again.  So, all in all, a good day's work!  Guess I'd better finish this up, so I can go get another load of clothes out of the dryer!  :)

Family Photo Op

Grammy, Papa, and Merry Grace

Kristen, Ethan, Adam, and Logan

The sib's again....

All of us

Bringing in the New Year

We all gathered at Kristen's and Cory's house on New Year's Eve and did our traditional writing on the tablecloth, writing in journals, and reading our predictions from last year and writing new ones for the year ahead. We played games, watched a movie, ate good food, laughed, toasted sparking grape juice, and brought in the new year together!


We had a dance party in Kristen and Cory's family room, with lots of music and dancing!

Here's Kristen and sweet baby Paige.

Merry Grace is a sweetheart!

Elise, Ian, Merry Grace, and Paige, - our wonderful grandchildren!

Family Picture Christmas 2008

Ethan, Lois
Kristen, Cory, Elise, Ian, Merry Grace, Paige
Grandma Delia
Sherita, Adrian
Logan, Adam

Christmas 2008

The guys have had a lot of fun playing ping-pong in the basement. It's been quite a competition.

We gathered around the table for some online games. We also had fun playing family feud and wathching movies.

Our Christmas tree.

Merry Grace having a little bedtime snack before going off to sleep so "Ho, ho, ho a-come to my house!"

Our Christmas Eve family gathering. Adrian read the Christmas story from the scriptures and then we all shared the Christmas service we'd done for each other during the year.

We enjoyed singing Christmas songs, reading from the scriptures, and sharing with each other. Adrian and Logan sang "Away in a Manger" (as they did at the Branch Christmas Party) and it was beautiful.

Christmas morning breakfast. We had country ham biscuits and a delicious enchilada breakfast casserole that Lois made.

Getting ready to open presents on Christmas morning.

Our one-of-a-kind Christmas stockings made by Grandma J.

Kristen and sweet little baby Paige on Christmas morning.

Ethan's other gingerbread house.

Christmas Dinner 2008