Plans

This winter has been pathetic for sure.
We have only had snow twice, which makes me sad. I love the snow. It was one of the things I was looking forward to when we moved to Utah.

I am working on planning my garden for this spring. We are going to plant peas,lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and zucchini. I may plant sugar pumpkins, i have not decided. We plan on expanding out the garden to produce more for us. Going to the grocery store is painful with a large family. I would rather grown and can my own food, thank you very much.
I am going to look into building a green house so i can start my own plants and extend the growing season here. I love to garden, so this will be beneficial to us.

We spent the weekend tearing out and replacing the flooring in the main bathroom. I noticed this smell (only one of the six boys could smell it besides me). The flange was rusted away for the toilet. We replaced part of the sub floor (thank goodness it was 3/4" plywood), replaced the linoleum and purchased a new toilet. The boys had told us afterwords they noticed at times it was leaking between the tank and the pedestal. We still have to caulk and replace the trim. I am happy with how it turned out.

We spent one weekend cleaning out the back yard. The boys did an amazing job, worked very well as a team. We have most of the leaves cleaned up. My goal is to get the rest cleaned up this week, as the weather will be mild.

Sunday

Life here has been plugging along. Hubby is still working on his classes for his Masters. I'm working and budgeting in items we needs for the house.

Here was my birthday present.

This is the wall with the cabinets removed.

Cabinets being installed 

I got them stained and sealed, My son put on the handles. I am looking forward to replacing the bottom ones next. I am still trying to decide on granite or Quartz.

 

Projects

Cut down a couple trees yesterday

These are from last week, the colors are amazing this year

The tree above in the middle is the one we took down. It was growing around a sprinkler head.

Sunrise

Cool clouds

Front yard

The boys and I have been working here and there on the front yard. 

I planted some flowers today.mits starting to come together.

These lilies are under my blue spruce

The tree above,Jason and I thought it had died. When it was beginning to bud, we had a hard freeze then snow. It looked sick. Jason cut back the grass, I spread Epsom salts around. The tree has made a come back! I am hoping it grows and spreads out. Our hope is that it will grow and provide shade in front of the house.

Jason worked on the bathroom. He hung the sheetrock and taped it. He will do the muddling next weekend. One step closer to being complete.

Bathroom progress

Thomas and Jason got the window changed, put up the cement board for the shower stall.

It's so nice!

This will be the shower stall

 

This is the base. Jason will pour in the mortar tomorrow

The sink will go there

Tomorrow is one day closer to it being finished!

Bathroom remodel

Our bathroom downstairs was gross. I could never get the shower stall "clean", it leaked like a sieve. The floor had numerous water stain. The glass shower doors leaked.

Hubby tore it down to the studs. 

We are finally getting around to putting it back together.

Hubby put down the mortar that the tub liner will sit on top of. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon it will be set, so we can move on to the next step.

crazy weather

Here it is, the middle of  May, and the weather forecast is for "frozen mix"
We burned my garden area this weekend, hubby and son #3 used the neighbors rotatiller to mix it.
I was going to plant this weekend, glad i did not. I had to move my chicks back into the hen house. I know they have feathers, but I'm not too sure the little box i have is warm enough for them.
I do have to laugh, we live in what is considered a high plains desert. We have our secondary water (its canal water, its is what is used for watering lawns, agricultural uses) on, but have not actually turned on the sprinklers, or the AC for that matter. Several of my neighbors have been using their water religiously on their lawns. Late this morning the clouds opened up and it poured. There was so much water it was standing in places. We do plan on taking out areas of grass, and using rocks and gravel instead. I would rather use the water for my trees and garden instead of the grass.

I am hoping this weekend to plant my garden. I am planning on putting in tomatoes, jalapenos, zucchini, onions, and carrots. I want to do lettuce, but I think I will put this in containers and place it on the north side of the house, so it gets mostly shade. I was going to plant potatoes, but the doctor I work with is friends with a farmer in Idaho. I got 50 pounds of potatoes last year for $12 a bag. I canned most of them. They have been great to use in dinners. Pressure cooking them is the way to go. I dont have to worry about mice getting into them!