At Church I am the YW 2nd Counselor. This year I went to Girls Camp. We did a bunch of "team" activities, including the "trust" catch. Somehow the girls talked the leaders into letting them catch us! So we stood on a picnic table and fell backwards. My expression shows my great anticipation of what is to come!

I really enjoy participating with the YW. I currently have 17 Beehives in my class! It was a good couple of years for girl babies in '94 - '95, but there are no new girls coming in until October of next year, and by that time I lose 11 of my girls to Mia Maids.

More on the yard work

Here's some pictures of the night we put the sod down. We had a lot of help from neighbors and friends. In the picture above left, the sod is just starting to be put in along the back retaining wall. In the picture above right, the sod has been put next to the garden area retaining wall. Also, you can see how nicely the grape vine has been growing in this summer. Lastly, to the right here is a view of getting the finishing touches put down.

I don't have new pictures yet with the bark down because I have been waiting for the hot summer weather to cool down and I plan to do some fall planting... I guess that time is about now?!? I want to do the "finished" pictures when the additional plants have been put in. So stay tuned... If I don't get around to it, I'll get some pictures taken with the bark down and the fence finished.

Back Yard work

Here is a before picture from the deck. It is a nice shot of the weeds and the "double fence" we had going on. Before we moved in, I guess the previous owner didn't want to do the whole vinyl fence, so only the neighbor's yard was completed, and they kept the old chain link fence.

This is the side yard. It looks a litle worse than it really was because there is some extra junk there that was only there temporarily. You can see how it slopes away from the house in a basically unusable fashion.

Here is the beginning of the work in progress pictures. On the side, a retaining wall is being built to provide a garden area, and a walk way by it. Also, some terracing walls are done further back to give some other flat planting areas. The shed is going to go in the back corner that can be seen on the top right corner of the picture.

More to come later...

Dance Recital

Brynna's dance studio did a production based on the book, "On the day that you were born" One of the student's father and his friend composed original music for the production. Brynna's group portrayed several different types of animals. Brynna was a salmon. In the picture, her friend Kelsie was a turtle. Her class also included some deer and some butterflies. I've been impressed with the costuming that they've had the last two years. It's hard to imagine what the costume will look like when you hear "salmon" (or Mosquito - which is what she was last year), but they do a great job.

Going backwards in time

Since I seem to be having trouble offering updates going forward (I haven't loaded up new pictures), I figured, maybe it would be good to go back in time...

As some of you may know, Dirk turned 40 this year. I planned a surprise birthday party for him, and he was SURPRISED! Thanks to those who sent me notes and letters to give him on that day. I am still in process of getting those all put into a scrapbook for him. If I missed you in my frenzy and you still want to contribute, send me an e-mail.

Here's the people who were there in time to yell, "SURPRISE!"