What We've Been Up To

So the past week has felt really busy...

On Saturday, we had a birthday/farewell party for Valerie. She's doing an internship in Southern Utah all summer, so we won't see her much. I spent the morning shopping, cleaning the house/yard, etc. We had a nice night, though, with a lot of great food and the fire pit going full blast. I probably ate an entire bag of marshmallows myself!

On Sunday, Al worked all day. Mother's Day is big in the restaurant industry. I got up and made sweet potatoes and a flourless chocolate cake with vanilla and raspberry sauces. It's amazing. Between cleaning up from the party and all the cooking, I ran the dishwasher four times. It was nice spending time at mom and dad's though. Grandma and Grandpa came. Dad made a great dinner! The flourless chocolate cake was a hit...but how could it not be? We debated over whether or not Dave really liked the pudding cake or if he was just trying to kiss up to the family (I liked it, too!). Jeff and Ashley brought Boom Blox back and we played that on the Wii and had a lot of fun!

School is coming to an end and I'm working on Summer School stuff. I'm reading a lot of curriuculum books because we're supposed to incorporate a novel into the course. I figure I'll work up Reading-strategy-based independent study programs for three or four and then the students get a choice. That's taking a while. However, I get so worked up with school stuff that I have to take a break, so I've been playing Harvest Moon DS Cute during my lunch breaks.

The yard is absolutely nuts. Al finally got the sprinkler system working the way he wants it to. There's a couple of adjustments that might help us save even more money on water. Right now, about 3/4 of our half acre is watered by an irrigation canal that runs on the edge of our property, so it's free! He's also installed a misting hose on the back porch. Our strawberry plants are starting to get little flowers on them, and I'm going to be planting my bell pepper seedlings tomorrow.

This Thursday and Friday, we're having friends over, and on Saturday, Jeff and Ashley are coming over with Daisy, so it should be good times this weekend! Al is off Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so let the games begin!