Blogging Slacker

I know it's been forever since I've posted anything. Life has been full and busy around here!

I've found a group of ladies who get together pretty much every morning to play either soccer or basketball. It's been a lot of fun, especially since I don't have to go running anymore, but it takes up my whole morning and leaves me feeling busy the rest of the day. I've also been playing stake "futsol" (indoor soccer) on Thursday nights, so I've been getting lots of exercise lately!

Evan has been playing soccer, too, and he absolutely loves it! He's the youngest kid on his team, but he's picking it up really fast and getting pretty good at it.



You can see in this picture how small he is compared to the other kids (he's the one out in front with the ball):


Ben had to go out of town last weekend for a seminar (the state of Utah requires him to have a certain amount of "continuing education" credits). While he was gone, we didn't have a car, so the boys and I played outside, made cookies, watched Pocahontas (because we had recently read the book), and made mini pizzas. The boys thought the whole weekend was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it, too.

The mini pizzas were their favorite part.






This past weekend, I had the chance to go up to Bear Lake and stay in a cabin with a bunch of fun girls. It was our book club retreat, and it was so much fun! Yummy food, book discussions, crafting, a movie, no kids. It was great!

Ben also got a chance to get out of the house this weekend and tour a bunch of homes with salt water fish tanks in them for the "2010 Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society Reef Tour". He had a good time looking at cool tanks and chatting with other fish tank hobbyists.

Life is good. Hopefully I'll be a better blogger, but I can't promise anything. Sunny skies and warm weather are always calling my name. :)

Fish tank

I had a few people ask about my fish tank, so I thought I would show off a few pictures. I'm not nearly as good at photography as Li, so you'll have to forgive me if the pictures aren't the best.

I started this tank in January. It's a 90 gallon mixed reef tank, which means that I keep a variety of different corals with a few fish and other things. The tank is plumbed to circulate the water to another tank kept below the display tank which holds approximately 25 gallons of water. This is where I keep most of my equipment so it doesn't clutter up the display tank.

The key to saltwater reef tank is quality of water and lighting. Fish and corals are very intolerant of big changes in water conditions, so keeping the tank at certain levels is crucial. Corals are also partly photosynthetic. They filter the water for food but also have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria (which gives them their color) which is photosynthetic and the corals consume their by-product. So in essence you are replicating the ocean and the sun. Getting the tank up and running correctly is the hardest part. Once it's there, anybody can keep a saltwater tank.

This is the tank before water was put in. The lighting is not as blue as the camera makes it appear. You can see the sump underneath the tank and some of the lighting.
Here is the tank when it was first set up.

Here's the tank now. You can see a lot more life going on. The purple spots on the back is corraline algae, which is a calcified algae. You can see snails along the wall as well. You can't tell but I have about 120 snails and crabs in my tank which help clean up un-eaten food, fish waste and nuisance algae.

Here's one of my clown fish and his anemone. The anemone recently split so now I have 2. It's called a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone because of the color and because the tentacles have areas that look like a bubble is trapped. It needs good light and eats small shrimp.

This is a Favia on the left and a fungia plate coral on the right. The one on the right will eat anything it's tentacles can catch.

More corals and some fish

The coral in the background is called a Frogspawn. The fish in the front is a pajama cardinal. I have 2, the one there is Big Bob and the one up and to his left is Tiny Tim. You can see most of my fish in this picture. They recognize me when I move up to the tank and they must've thought I was going to feed them.

Anyways. That's a few pictures of my new hobby. I could keep going but I can tell it's boring people already!

Spring!

It's finally here and I'm SO glad! It's been above 60 degrees here for the past few days in a row and I'm loving the warm weather and the sunshine. Now, in Logan, warm weather and sunshine don't necessarily mean spring is actually here, but I think all the growing things are a good sign, and they're all over the place. I have proof.

Buds on the trees...




...and lots and lots of flowers.








I'm happy to report that ALL of these growing things (and lots more!) are in MY yard. I'm loving working in the yard and watching things grow. The boys get excited, too. Every time we are in the front yard, Asher runs around saying "Look! Tulips! Tulips!" and points them all out to me.

The cute little old man next door is trying to teach me a thing or two about gardening. So far, he's shown me how to prune the roses and told me what I should pant now and what I should wait on. He's even told me that when he buys his tomato plants, he's getting an extra one for me. I love sweet little old people.

Happy spring! :)

How I know that Li is the one for me. Reason 2

That's my fish tank stand.

I decided to rebuild a stand in the middle of winter.
That's my living room.
I sanded and stained a large fish tank stand over a 2 week period in my living room.
Li didn't utter a peep.
They would grant sainthood for that in the Catholic church.

How I know that Li is the one for me. Reason 1

2 amazingly well-adjusted and wonderful boys.
None of which is my own doing.
Li has been an amazing mother and I don't know how she does it.

We'll miss you.

Grandma Davis passed away on Tuesday, April 6th and we will miss her so much.

She has made me feel loved from the moment I met her,
and I know she holds a very special place in Ben's heart.

Easter/Birthday Weekend

We had a crazy busy weekend! Asher's birthday was on Saturday and when I asked him what he wanted to do, he said "Watch a movie and eat pizza with pepperonis on it." So, that's what we did. We watched Astro Boy, ordered pizza, opened a few presents, and just hung out as a family.

Evan was SO excited to pick out a present for Asher this year. He picked a transformer that turns into a forklift. Asher loves it, but I think Evan has played with it more than Asher has. ;)


He also got an Iron Man figurine (which he asked for)...


...a firetruck (which he also asked for)...


...and some roller skates.


I was a little worried he wouldn't be excited about the skates because I don't think he's ever seen anyone roller skate before, but he wanted to open them right up and try them out! He calls them "ice skaters". :)




He also got the helmet for his birthday and insisted that the reflectors (which go on the back) were actually goggles. Silly boy. :)


When we were putting the boys to bed, Asher said he had a good birthday, so I guess it was all a success.

Sunday was the really crazy day. We planned Asher's birthday party on Sunday, not remembering that it was Easter! Needless to say, Sunday was full of excitement.

We woke up in the morning to find that the Easter bunny had come. The boys had fun hunting for the plastic Easter eggs with jelly beans in them that the Easter bunny had hidden.




They also had fun with these little footballs that came in their Easter baskets.


We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon watching conference and getting ready for the party. Around 4:30, my parents and siblings arrived to wish Asher a happy birthday. We had fun hanging out and watching Asher open his presents from Grandma and Grandpa.


After enjoying a yummy Easter dinner, it was time for the party! It's always fun to have everyone over... the adults sit and chat while the kids run around and play. We did the usual "blow out the candles and open presents" thing, too.




I'd never had strawberry cake before, but that's what Asher chose, so I made it. It was so yummy! Maybe even better than chocolate.

Maybe. :)




(Asher decided on a basketball theme and I was grateful because these cupcakes were WAY easier than that darn pirate ship cake! LOL)

By the time the party was over on Sunday, I was ready to crash into bed! It was such a fun day, though, and Asher had a blast.

A few of my favorite tidbits from conference

I loved conference this weekend! Despite the fact that I was crazy busy with birthday and Easter stuff, I actually got to watch 3 of the 4 sessions, and I thought the talks were all wonderful. Here are a few of my favorite bits:

Pretty much ALL of Julie B. Beck's talk! Hers was probably my favorite of the whole conference:
*No woman has time to do all the worthy things she wants to do in a day. (That made me feel better! LOL) Personal revelation will help us prioritize.
*When we have done our best, we will still experience disappointments, but we will not be disappointed in ourselves.

Hope, happiness and joy are not a product of circumstance, but of faith in the Lord. ~Wilford W. Anderson

Never let an earthly circumstance disable you spiritually. ~Donald L. Hallstrom

How we disagree is a measure of who we are and how we follow the Savior.... It is ok to disagree, but not to be disagreeable. ~Quentin L. Cook

To understand the meaning of death, we must appreciate the purpose of life. ~Pres. Thomas S. Monson

A distraction doesn't have to be evil to be effective. ~Bradley D. Foster

Many blessings are missed because worldly judgment was used in a spiritual situation. ~Gregory Schwitzer

My baby is three

Right about this time in the afternoon, three years ago, Ben was taking me to the hospital to add baby #2 to our family. Asher was so different from Evan from the very beginning, starting with the easy labor and delivery. By 6:30pm, I was holding this handsome little guy in my arms:


We all loved him right from the start. Even Evan, who was a little bit unsure about the new addition, liked to hold him and give him kisses.


I used to call Asher my "angel baby" because he was just. so. good. This little guy was always happy to just sit back, relax, and watch the world go by. He'd sit in his swing watching what was going on in the house, or in the boppy on the couch looking out the window for hours until he fell asleep.



He's always had a really mellow personality. He didn't crawl until about 9 months and he was content with crawling until about 14 months, when he finally started to walk.



Asher has always been happy, smiley, and giggly. He has so much personality and I love the way all of his emotions can be read clearly in his eyes. He's my little snuggle bug, too. He LOVES to hug and kiss and snuggle.


I'm amazed all the time at how smart Asher is. We were sitting in the hall listening to Evan's kindergarten evaluation and Asher was answering a lot of the questions correctly. He knows most of his letters and what sounds a lot of them make.



Asher loves playing outside, fire trucks, riding his bike, music, pretending to play the drums, books, and helping mommy do chores. (Every time he says he wants to do fun things, I say, "Like What?" and he says, "Like vacuuming, doing the dishes, laundry....") He's a special little part of our family and we love him to pieces!

Happy birthday, Bug!