Front yard fun

Well...more work than fun right now but that will change soon. We haven't done anything to the front yard since we bought the house. But now that we're in destruction mode, we've made up our minds to make it a usable space.

Our front lawn wraps around the north side of our house to make a nice side yard and a good buffer between the neighbors. It had a nice looking line of hedges that we ignored for a long time. Because our backyard gets a lot of shade, we decided to take out the hedges and put in raised garden beds, seen here under construction.








The neighbors were so happy that we removed the bushes (which apparently are thorny and were overrunning their driveway) that they let us have the garden soil delivered and stored on their driveway while we finish up.

This is my bad: I forgot to take a before picture. So please enjoy this multi-colored rendition of hedgelines past.

Hudson now enjoys the hedge graveyard as his own personal fort. They are awaiting bulk pick-up/mulching day in the backyard.

Life, etc.

I recently had a request for a personal update on general happenings. In no particular order:

I won a homebrew contest on April 10. It was the 2nd annual Real Salt Lake Section 26 home opener brewing competition. I won with a California Common (that's the style of Anchor Steam, in case you aren't familiar with it) and must say it was delicious!! In my acceptance speech, I vowed to put it on my new mantel...and there it sits.




Yes. That's a 5 gallon keg with a handle on top. And even more hilarious...Mark and his buddies are the competition organizers so I spent that morning cleaning this bad boy. Doesn't it sparkle?We had a full house for the game. Both of my siblings and their love buddies joined us for post game fun.


On a more professional note, I am presenting at the AERA conference in Denver May 3 & 4. This falls right in the middle of finals week = rather stressful.

I come home just in time for summer break! Oh wait. That's right...I don't get a break. I have a 1 week stats class starting Saturday May 8. And that unfortunately is the day my dear sister is graduating! Congrats Hai Mo! Other summer plans involve working at Pearson and continuing grant work at the U. I am also headed to the Intelligent Tutoring Systems conference in June and hopefully an intelligent tutoring camp in July, both in Pittsburgh.

Otherwise, Mark is loving his work at the brewery. He now works in the cellar mostly cleaning tanks (he was formerly in the warehouse and distribution). Hudson is now 4.5 but still acts like a puppy.

In general, we stay incredibly busy. Enjoy the influx of greenery in my house. Cannot wait to these babies in the ground outside...I am out of window sills.