Ladybug Bonanza

Tonight we released 2,000 ladybugs in our yard. They are really good bugs for trees, plants and gardens. They eat aphids, and other bugs...We have not noticed any problems yet, but thought it would be good to have them around anyway.

Liam really enjoyed the little critters.

Garden 2009

We had a community garden for a couple of years when we lived at the townhouse. We had about 3 rows for our plants, which produced more food than you would think. One of the years Mike even made some amazing tomato sauce!! We shared food with the other participants, but found that some took better care of their area than others. Also it got a little frustrating when some would take certain items from your garden before you had a chance to pick it! For the most part it was a good experience, but we are so glad we have our own land now to plant our very own garden!! Mike spent the better part of his 3 day weekend a couple weeks ago getting our garden area ready to plant.

First Mike fixed up my dad's rototiller which is close to 30 years old. It was the same tiller that my dad used in our garden in New Hampshire when I was a kid. He put 22 cubic feet of organic peat moss, and 23 cubic feet of 100% organic sterilized nutri-mulch. Then he tilled it all in, and planted heirloom veggies, and other sorts of veggies...we are pretty excited to have a garden of delicious food this year!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Today Liam and I met cousin Madison, and her mom at Thanksgiving Point. We started at the petting zoo, but it was a mad house because it looked like several field trips were there, and lots of other families, so we decided to go to the gardens. It was my first time there, and I was just blown away at how beautiful the place was. We live in a desert, so this was a little oasis. It felt like we were not in Utah anymore.

View of the building from below.

Columns in the garden

Pretty trees and garden arch

Tulips

Secret Garden

Secret garden fountain

Garden stairs

Garden fountain

Largest Man Made water fall in North America

Trees and falls

Liam in the garden

More falls

More falls

Gorgeous purple tree above falls

Noah's ark in Discovery Park

Liam's Sign

Young Sagittarius

A fire sign with tremendous zeal for life, your little Sagittarius will radiate with delight to be alive. Represented by the centaur that has four feet firmly planted on the ground and the aim of a superior archer, these personalities know what they want and won't stop until they get it! Theirs is a vivacious and fun-loving sign.

There is a quality about Sagittarians that seems to discard troubles "like water off a duck's back." This sign can have a handful of lessons before and during the teenage years that chart the course for the rest of life's journey. Sagittarians are very quick at studying and they will not misfire twice in the same way. These "misfires" - be they troubles with friends or challenges at school - sink deep into the Sagittarian consciousness. Your young one may need some help gaining perspective after these perceived failures but once that's over, there is no looking back!

There is an outstanding amount of energy in this sign! Sagittarians may stand out from the rest of their peers because of their high energy. Look for athletic ability, passion for hobbies and keen intelligence. If you have other children, this may be the one whom you depend on to be the "easy" or "responsible" one. However, just when you think you can rely on your young Sagittarius to act one way, they will turn and shoot their arrow in a completely unsuspected direction - and hit the bull's eye!

The best way to support your Sagittarians is to explain clearly where you stand in your own life. Knowing where you are and how you feel about things will give them the balance they need to shoot their own arrows with a steady hand in the direction they wish to go.

Cutest Cuties Contest

I entered Liam's picture in this local contest a few months ago. Ok, I know we are biased because we are his parents...but this picture of him is so much cuter than some of these winners. I'll grant the girls are cute here, but he is def. cuter than the boys!!

Liam Goes to the Aquarium

We have a membership to the aquarium too, but we haven't been back there since our first visit last November. We tried going a few weeks ago, but it was really busy because it was a holiday, so we decided to go another time. We FINALLY went this morning, although we went before Liam's morning nap, so he was a bit tired, and not really interested, but we had a great time anyway. They also have added a new exhibit from South America, they had an Anaconda snake, piranhas, frogs, turtles, an electric eel, alligators, spiders and other fish from the Amazon...it was really COOL!

Liam looking at salamander.

He perked up to splash in the sting ray tank!

Little Nemo

Red and white starfish

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Liam Goes to the Petting Zoo

Thanksgiving Point is about 5 minutes from our house, so we decided to get a membership. We took Liam over there this evening and there were like 2 other families there, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves!! It was so nice...

Mom and Liam in the tulip garden.

Liam running in the garden...

Liam patting the horse.

Liam on the pony ride! He absolutely LOVES this part : )

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Fun Outside

Liam just LOVES to be outside, and we are really glad now that we got the yard put in last fall.

Playing Soccer

Enjoying outside!

Loving the grass!

Mowing the lawn.

Inspecting the apple tree

Chasing bubbles...

Checking out the apple tree again

Sequoia and Liam playing with the dead spot

First ever pics of Liam and Wilhelmina

Liam pushing Mina away

Liam checking out the little dog

Liam and Gretchen love each other!!