Springtime in the Arctic North

Yes, you read the title correctly. It is officially Spring here in Edmonton. I guess what that really means is snowy weather while the sun shines a little more. I'm hoping that one day, maybe soon, it will really be spring for real. (??????)

What does spring mean to you? To me it means planting a garden, seeing beautiful tulips blooming alongside bright peonies and pansies. I also think of digging and fertilizing the soil to plant a vegetable garden. With all of this in mind, I've decided to plant my own veg and plant gardens from scratch. YIKES!

Currently, Max and I are attempting to grow tomatoes and strawberries from seeds. Very tricky. If anyone has any tips, I'm keen on hearing- or reading- them.

I'm also planting hydrangeas, peonies and gladiolus from bulbs. I also have sweet peas that I'm growing from seeds. Again, any hints would be marvelous! Nat, I'm relying on you here! I've looked in several gardening books and haven't seen if I can expect blossoms this year, or when to plant them. I should say I have read a lot of conflicting advice regarding both of these questions.

I know this isn't the most thrilling post, but I need some help kind of quick. May long weekend is coming up soon-- HELP!!!

Our Super Fun Weekend

We are so lucky to be blessed with weekends. The kids begin to forget who Dustin is by Friday, so Saturday and Sunday are our catch up days. This weekend was especially awesome because it's Sammy's first birthday AND general conference. Unfortunately we didn't get to watch any of the Saturday sessions due to birthday party prep, but were so happy to have friends and family over to play. We started out coloring treat bags, to collect all of our sweet things! Then we set all the kids on their own scavenger hunt- Tyler's was so hard, I couldn't even figure out where the clues were. Dustin is so clever. With each clue was a little chocolate egg so the littlest kids were pretty excited about that. After everyone found their clues we had the kids line up to take turns at smashing the Easter egg pinata we had made with a potato masher. Justin was in charge of finding a stick to hit the pinata so we ended up with the masher... Our handy dandy treat bags were put to good use, that's for sure! The kids picked up all the candy and we set off for cupcakes and fruit. We all had a lot of fun and definitely enjoyed each others' company. The kids had fun playing and eating their brains out. mmmmm brains....

Sammy loved his cupcake for about 2 minutes and then wanted down out of his chair to play. We opened gifts, or the 3 toddlers opened the gifts while Sam chased after stray paper, then sent everyone home. We had so much fun catching up with everyone and eating. Aren't parties so awesome?

Today is Sam's actual birthday. It's funny that is falls on conference weekend again. I was thinking that I'll have to plan better in the future, so we don't miss any of the sessions with party preparation! Anyway, we've had a blast just hanging out at home all of us together today. Max likes putting up stickers on our General Authorities chart, and eating treats while we "listen" to conference. He's such a sweet kid.

We're looking forward to seeing my parents this weekend coming up for Kellsey's baptism. It is a light at the end of the tunnel that is brightening up a lonely week. Dustin has exams so it is back to single-parenthood for me. I only have to make it a little while longer until Summer. Oh the joys of joint-parenthood!