Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Memorial Day weekend was glorious! We spent just about every possible moment of it outside in the yard. Heaven.

Aaron had built up extra hours at work and was able to take most of Friday off as well as having all of Monday off. I love when that works out.

Friday we mowed and trimmed lawns, pulled weeds, and planted flowers. Marigolds, to be more specific. We don't usually make it all the way up to Hooper Cemetery on Memorial Day, but we always plant Marigolds to honor and remember my dad. He used to buy flats and flats of them every year, and make me plant them in the yard. I can't look at a Marigold without thinking of him. So while Aaron and the boys were off at Home Depot, Adelia and Rue helped me plant a few Marigolds.

Our front beds are looking so nice! Actually, it was kind of amazing to see how nice the entire front of our house looks when all the yard chores get completed at the same time. Haha! Guess we'll have to try and have those stars align more often. I'm tickled pink with how well the Foxgloves and the Hydrangeas are doing this year. Every time I walk out the front door I want to snap a picture, because they are so full of blooms and pretty.

Most of the rest of the weekend we spent working on the chicken run. It's getting so, so, so close to being finished. The boys were such a huge help with it. They happily carried wood from the truck to the backyard, ran and fetched Aaron any tool he asked for, held nails, etc. I was so proud of them. It was like a glimpse into the future of when the kids will be grown up enough to actually, truly be helpful. If it's like this weekend was, it's going to be so awesome.

Monday night Aaron's parents and Aaron'd two brothers' families came over for a BBQ and a fire. The kids played with their cousins, the adults enjoyed chatting by the fire. We ate good food until we were stuffed. And then we managed to find room s'mores. It was a great end to about as perfect of a weekend as you're likely to get.

Goings On Around the Yard

A truck full of compost. That's what I told Aaron I wanted for Mother's Day. Before that could become a reality, we had to finish the wall around the front flower bed, and I spent more than a few days weeding. But yesterday the bed was ready, and Aaron delivered. Of course, his three helpers weren't far behind. All four of them grabbed shovels and started scooping dirt into my flower bed, right down to Ollie with his little hand trowel. They all worked intently at it until the job was done. I love these four men in my life. I'm grateful for them, and I'm thankful especially for Aaron for leading the way and showing our boys how to be good, honest, kind, hard-working men. I'm excited for Cal to come and join the "Boy Team". He couldn't ask for better examples.

And now that bed is ready for flowers! Yay. I have a few packages of gladiola seeds, and a few bulbs, all ready to go. Sometimes I wish it didn't take so long for things to grow. I'm having a hard time being patient, as I wait for the summer flowers to hurry up and bloom already. :) But slowly and surely, things are getting around to it.

The one and only pear on the pear tree. BUT, it's the first pear this tree has ever produced, so it's very exciting.

Tons of apples on the apple tree this year. We should get a good harvest. 

This is the "big" Linden tree out back. Those little balls will open up into sweet smelling yellow flowers in the summer. 

Both Foxglove bushes are doing really well this year. 

The Hydrangea bush hasn't grown much since I planted it two years ago, but it keeps flowering and has lots of buds.

Adelia and her weed bouquet...because I won't let her pick any of the 'real' flowers. But don't worry, she's got them (the weeds) in vases all over her bedroom. 

 Also, the chicks have outgrown their box in the garage. They kept jumping out and running all over, and I was always worried I was going to run them over whenever I pulled the Suburban in or out. So, they got evicted. I sectioned off a nice little separate space for them underneath the chicken coop, and Aaron set up the heat lamp for them. (Just for the next week or so, because the nights are supposed to be cold.) They are all set, and in my opinion, much happier to be outside.

Aaron trying to teach the chicks out to roost.

Rue loves the chickens. She says "chich-ens" and "bock, bock, bock" whenever she sees them. She likes to stand by the coop and watch them when we play outside.  

End of School Year Splash Pad Celebration

"School's out for summer! School's out for-ever!"

Okay, just kidding about the forever part, but I couldn't resist quoting a song. Adelia's Kindergarten class had a picnic  at Spanish Fork North Park as one last end of the year hurrah. I don't know any of the other moms or kids in her class, and Del didn't seem too interested in playing with her classmates, AND the splash pad was on. So, after they served cake, we wandered off by ourselves and turned the day into an end of school year celebration for our homeschool instead.

It was only 65 degrees today...not really ideal for water play, but the kids insisted. As a result they spent a lot of time hugging the cement to get warm. :) But they enjoyed themselves, and that's what's important. Del was my little dancing water fairy, and skipped and twirled happily about. Rue wasn't sure what to think. She'd slowly sneak up to a fountain, stick her arm in it, and then come dashing back to me as fast as her chubby legs could go, and give me a high five, like she had accomplished something amazing. :)

Spring Piano Recital

Lincoln and Ivan had their Spring Piano Recital today. They've been working so hard for the last month to get their songs down. Both earned a trophy for passing their theory exams with a 90% or higher. And both earned medals for reaching the goal they set for the number of minutes they wanted to practice in preparation for the recital. Nice work boys! 

This recital was special, because for the first time, Lincoln and Ivan performed a duet together. It was called Star of the County Down. I'll admit in the early stages of practicing it, I was worried it wasn't going to work out. But they pulled it together, got their timing down, and performed it wonderfully! I was so proud, because I know how much work they put into this song to get it right. :) Thanks to my friend Brenda for taking this picture. I was on the other side of the room and didn't have a good angle for a picture. 

Lincoln also performed a song called La Bamaba. And one he wrote himself entitled The Tide.

Ivan performed a song called Little Green Frog, and one he wrote himself entitled Speed Runner.

Moments

Here are some moments from our week that made me happy:

Ivan and his pal Bandito.

Ruby inherited her dad's hula hooping genes. 

The first lily of the year bloomed in our front flower bed.

Coming around the corner unexpectedly to see Ivan reading stories to Ollie.

I have the cutest "helpers"

Only some of the peas died when the farmer next door accidentally sprayed them with Round-up. He apologized, and I replanted, but I'm glad not all the plants died.

I got the front lawn mowed before the rain hit, AND took this beautiful picture. No filter.

After all the rain, the bean seeds I replanted are starting to sprout!

Spinach plants are doing awesome!

Family read aloud session in the backyard on a sunny afternoon.

Bean plants are growing!

Ivan and Rue snuggled up on the couch.

Ivan and Ollie playing catch.

Del pulling Ivan and Rue in the wagon.

Adelia, Ollie, and Rue pretending to be mountain lions. Adelia was the mom and Ollie and Rue her very obedient cubs.

Baby Name Obsession, Let's Crunch the Numbers!

I'm a bit fascinated by baby names. It's a quirky little niche tucked back inside my personality that I feed, and think about at my leisure. There's no real purpose in it, except that I enjoy it. There aren't very many people clambering to chat about it with me, either. Usually people only think of baby names when they've got a baby to name. But not me. I read baby name blogs even when I'm not pregnant. I keep a running list of interesting names in my journal. I like to follow the trends, just for the sake of knowing what they are. And I get giddy when the new social security lists come out each year ranking the most popular baby names in the country, and also by state.

The SS list for 2015 came out in early May, and my favorite name site (nameberry.com) has spent the last several weeks analyzing the rankings from different angles. And I am eating. it. up.  Shall we look at some numbers?

Aaron was born in 1983. That year, the name 'Aaron' was ranked #29 nationally, #30 in UT with 186 boys being given that name, and #19th in Oregon (where Aaron was born) with 259 boys being given that name. The name 'Aaron' is currently ranked #52 nationally (2015), which is down two spots from it's 2014 national ranking at #50. Right now in UT the name 'Aaron' is ranked #69 with 73 UT boys being given that name in 2015. That's up ten places from 2014 when it was ranked #79 and 66 boys were given that name.

My name is not as interesting number wise. I (Krystal) was born in 1986. That year, the name 'Krystal' (with the 'K' spelling) was ranked #61 nationally. In UT in 1986 it was ranked #64 with 44 girls being given that name. 'Krystal' has not been in the top 1000 names nationally since 2013. And it was not in the top 100 UT names for 2015 or 2014.

Lincoln was born in 2007. At that time, 'Lincoln' was ranked #224 nationally. It was not ranked in the top 100 in Arizona (where he was born), but interestingly, in UT it was ranked #54 with 106 boys being given that name that year. And it's only gone up from there. In 2015 the name 'Lincoln' ranked #66 nationally jumping up a whopping twenty-one places from #87 in 2014! But on the Utah list in both 2014 and 2015 'Lincoln' was the #5 name, with 207 and 216 boys being named that in those years. I guess Utahns love the name Lincoln for some reason. I can't blame them though, I love it too! But I do remember being really surprised at it's popularity when we moved here from AZ. Good thing we don't do public school, because if we did, he would definitely be "Lincoln S."

Ivan was born in 2009, and the name 'Ivan' was nationally ranked #136th that year. It hasn't changed position much, it's pretty steady. In 2014 it was nationally ranked #132 and it dropped six spots in 2015 to be currently ranked at #138. This middle range is what I consider to be the "sweet spot" of names; not too popular, not too out there, not too up and down, up and down in the trends. But solid and steady. So far, it has never been in the UT top 100 in Ivan's lifetime.

Adelia, born in 2010, has always had a very rare name, and I'm proud of it. She was named after my great grandmother Sarah Adelia Scott, who as far as I can tell from family history documents went by Delia, and even possibly Del, which our Adelia goes by. :) The name 'Adelia' hasn't been in the top 1000 nationally since 1928. The highest ranking it's ever had was #322 in 1883. It has never been in the UT top 100.

Now we'll go from my rarest-named child to my most wildly-popular-named child. :) Oliver. Ollie was born in 2013 when the name 'Oliver' was ranked 52nd nationally and #14 in UT. It was popular at the time, but we chose the name in spite of that because the meaning of the name was absolutely perfect. And it's popularity has sky-rocketed from there. Currently 'Oliver' is the number 1 name in England, New Zealand, and Australia. In 2015 it jumped up from the #32 spot into the #19 spot. And honestly, I was really surprised it didn't break the top ten. It will. In UT in 2015 it is the #2 name with 280 boys being given it. We don't go anywhere in public without running into another little Oliver. But like I said, we knew it was popular from the get-go, and we loved it anyway; and still to this day, I would not change it. Oliver/Ollie fits our little guy 110%.

Ruby's name is interesting in the same way that Lincoln's name is interesting, and that is because of the huge difference in the national popularity ranking versus the state popularity ranking. Rue was born in 2014. That year the name 'Ruby' was nationally ranked #90, but in UT it was ranked #6! Wow! I would love to know what about the names Ruby and Lincoln appeals to Utahns that doesn't appeal as much to the rest of the country. 'Ruby' only moved up seven spots nationally to be ranked at #83 in 2015. And in UT she dropped quite a bit down to #20 with 121 girls being given that name in 2015. Globally 'Ruby' is #10 in Australia, #14 in New Zealand, #15 in England, and #22 in Ireland. So I predict it keeps climbing in the USA too, but I'm even more interested to see what it does in Utah over the next few years.

And last but not least, our new little guy coming in 2016. Calvin Tanner is still at the top of the list by a very long shot. (Like, it's the only name on the list at the moment.) I can't find anything I like nearly as well. And Cal is just one of those charming names that has me smitten all over. Obviously, when the SS list came out, I kept my eye on that name too. It's looking like 'Calvin' is fairly similar to 'Ivan'. It's holding nice and steady onto that naming "sweet spot". One thing I do find interesting is that 'Ivan' is more popular nationally than 'Calvin', but 'Calvin' is more popular in UT. In 2015 'Calvin' was nationally ranked at #171, up just eleven places from 2014's ranking of #182. In Utah, in 2014 it ranked #70 and in #2015 dropped down to #78 with 68 boys being named 'Calvin' in the state of UT last year. Also worth noting, if you look at just the name 'Cal' by itself, it hasn't ranked in the top 1000 nationally since 1963 when it ranked #921. And the highest ranking it's ever had was in 1880 when it ranked #393

Well, there you have it. A small glimpse into my thoughts on the fascinating world of baby names. Wasn't that fun? Do you like name statistics and trends? Do you follow your favorite names through the years to see how they go up and down in popularity? Have you ever looked up your favorite names by state and compared them to the national ranking? What interesting things have you noticed? Or maybe at this point your thinking I'm just about the biggest weirdo ever. That's ok too. :P

Kindergarten Program

Adelia's Spring Kindergarten program and graduation was tonight. Their theme was seasons. They sang songs and recited poems having to do with seasons. Del did a good job, especially with all the hand actions. 

Adelia has really enjoyed Kindergarten this year. And Aaron and I are happy we made the decision to put her in. But I am also looking forward to having her home with us next year. 

Before and In the Middle: The Little Boys' Room Makeover

The "nursery" has always been a hodgepodge. The changing table Aaron built when Lincoln was a baby, the crib given to us by a friend after I had Ivan, the tissue paper pom-poms from Adelia's baby shower that I hung in the corner, the monkey decor we got when we were pregnant with Ollie that was our half-hearted attempt to give the room some cohesiveness, and most recently Ruby's blankets and toys and clothes; all the things have been loved and well used by us.

But I am excited to say that this room began a transformation process this weekend! It is no longer just going to be the room where the youngest child temporarily sleeps until another child is born, but will officially be the "Little Boys' Room".

Our traditional anniversary feet picture. 

Although our 10 year anniversary was last weekend, Aaron and I got to celebrate this weekend. Aaron's mom and dad took all our kids from Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. Glorious!! We decided to use that time painting. (We did take a break from painting to go out and have a nice dinner at Iggy's Sports Grill with Kelly and Esther. We always enjoy our double dates with them.)

Doing creative projects with Aaron is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. I love working side by side with this guy, just talking and laughing and doing.

I found the idea for how I wanted the paint to look off of Pinterest. But I'm not going to post the Pinterest picture. I just want you to be impressed with our finished results, instead of comparing our finished room to the Pinterest picture. Although Aaron and I are pretty freakin' amazing, we aren't professional interior decorators, and we aren't buying new furniture. (Well, maybe some new curtains...) So the little boys' room might not look like it hopped right off the pages of Better Homes and Gardens, but that doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that now this room is going to have a personality. We were going for a happy, calm feeling, and I think we are succeeding so far.

Right now we're in the middle of the project. We finished painting all the walls, trim, and doors. Now we are adding the birch trees. Aaron's done three of them, he'll do about five more. Then we'll paint leaves on the trees and a few birds. Then we'll start on painting some of the furniture and building the bunk bed. I know it's a little early to be "nesting", but I'd rather tackle this project while I can still bend over. :)