Mommy's Little Helper

Andrew and I have been working very hard on our yard this spring. I want to plant strawberries in the front yard, and Andrew is removing some of the bushes from the back yard. Over spring break we spent a day in the back yard, as you will remember from an earlier post, and this week we've put in a few more hours. While Andrew's parents were here we got a start on clearing the rocks out of the soon-to-be strawberry bed, but there was a lot of work to be done. Today, with some help from both Andrew and Lily, I got the rocks cleared out of the bed! Hooray! And I'm not exaggerating about Lily's help!!!

This was actually the first rock in the bucket of the day! Lily just picked it up and decided to put it into the bucket without any prompting! She put about 10 rocks in before she got board. And you can see that eventually she started tasting things, and got a little messy. But a little dirt doesn't hurt.

Isn't she cute, muddy face and all? She has been so anxious to be outside the past few days. Yesterday she crawled to the door and started crying and patting the door. "I want out!" was communicated very well, we thought. Today, again, she crawled to the door. I was outside already, but she was taking a nap when I went out, so she didn't know that. Andrew brought her outside to say "hi" to me, and when he took her in she threw a fit. So outside with mommy she came! And she had a ball... for about the first 2 hours! Then she needed a nap. So Andrew, who had been hacking up bushes in the back, took her in and put her to bed, because he was in need of a friend with a truck to finish up the really big bush, and I was "almost done". (...30 or 45 minutes later...) This is the unfinished bush. Two down, one to go.

We are going to replace this bush with either a rose bush or a raspberry or blackberry bush. I can't decide! I love berries, but the roses would be SO pretty. Any input would be appreciated. The wheelbarrow in the picture is a permanent fixture. It's broken down and antiqueish, and oh so cute! Besides, we'd practically have to dig it out if we wanted to remove it. But we don't, so it's all good. I can plant something in the planter in the wheelbarrow, but I don't know what yet. We have 2 of these planters, the other is not in any special place in the yard, but I could try to make it cute. Also, Andrew and I are talking about buying a few window-type-boxes to plant tomatoes and maybe some sugar peas in. I've never been so excited about yard work in my whole life!!! It has been so fun though! and It feels good. Just to see the box empty of rocks, still sitting without any plants in it is rewarding. I can hardly wait until our first strawberries ripen!!!

My Wonderful Man

Try not to fall out of your chair, yes, this is Amanda posting for probably the first time this year! I just wanted to publicly praise my wonderful husband for being the best candidate for Husband of the Year! Working hard in medical school and keeping his GPA high, Andrew still found time to do 2 loads of laundry on Wednesday as I went to Young Womens and then to a pregnant friends house to make sure she wasn't (was, actually) in labor, and help her to get the house ready for the realtor who was coming in the morning before she (and I) went to the hospital. (I was on call for the hospital that night so since my friend was going in, I was needed on the floor). He also did a load of dishes and the next morning he took Lily to the babysitter and picked her up and put her down for a nap so I could sleep a little longer. He also recently bought me a beautiful boquet of spring flowers, and promises to buy me strawberry plants to plant in our front yard when the weather warms up. (We were going to plant them 2 weekends ago, but it snowed, then last weekend the garden expert at Home Depot suggested we wait another week and see what the weather is going to be like. Guess what! Snow is in the forecast again this weekend. Oh well). Anyway, back to my point, Andrew works so hard everyday to provide for the comfort and future of our family. He spoils me every chance he gets, and is so cute playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek with Lily! Their favorite game is for Lily to chase him (both of them on hands and knees) around a table or chair with a blanket or pillow over it so she can't see him through the object, she just follows him. And every now and then he will get far enough ahead of her and grab her foot from behind. She squeals with delight, and they both laugh for a moment before she turns around and starts chasing him again! He also makes funny faces at her as he plays peek-a-boo around a pillow or blanket, and she laughs so hard and throws her little body as she kicks her feet and throws her hands in the air. He is always there when I get a little too frustrated with her clinginess, to take her away and give me a little break. He cooks dinner as often as I do, and makes my lunch for work more often than I do. He comes home for lunch with me every day except on rare occasions when he has a lunch meeting for his society. He takes care of our finances, pays the bills, keeps up our blog, teaches a primary class, finds time to go to the gym, and he even listens to me at night when I want to talk to him and he really just wants to go to sleep. All this and he's a worthy priesthood holder in our church! He is so good to Lily and me and I just wanted to say a very big THANK YOU!!!
I love you so much Andrew! You are my superhero, my help meet, my (not so secret) lover, my inspiration, my confidant, and my best friend. I am so grateful we have eternity together because life just isn't long enough.