Today I was thinking that simplifying life isn’t necessarily doing less.

Simplifying Life is to:

Stop worrying about the 100 odd things I can’t really change or deal with right now.

Stop complicating tasks I have, over analyzing, and pushing too hard.

Living each moment instead for pushing forward to the next one.

Eliminating the junk that clutters up everywhere, in my time, house and mind.

Going slower, with a watchful eye for the good.

Plan properly, with flexibility in routines and task.

Take one thing at a time and enjoy it.

We biked five miles today. It reminded me of my first date with Joe. We biked up Logan Canyon to second dam and had lunch. I remember talking and talking together. Today, we rode up Hobble Creek canyon, and made it about 2.5 miles from our home. The trail was snowy after that, and I didn’t want to ride on the road. Peter came along, of course, and enjoyed himself. He even tried to steer by putting his hands on my handlebars. I love being out and doing things with my family, even though I still feel a little cold from it.

I’ve had fun the last few days. Pete and I went on a walk with neighbor friends and played at the park. Peter would even go down the slide all by himself. The three kids were so fun to watch run around with huge smiles on. My mom and I went out to lunch and let Peter play at the mall playground. He also furthered his relationship with the escalator. At first he would cry when on it. But that didn’t last long and he was okay with it. Then he didn’t quite get on right and fell down a few steps, scraping his head. This did not damage him too much though, and he was still fine with the escalator. It started to fascinate him, and finally he would go on it just for fun.

We picked up Joe from school one day, and found a cool park in Orem. They had ducks. I remember living by the “duck park” growing up, and loved feeding the ducks. Peter wasn’t really interested…petting dogs was  a lot more fun. That night we also got 88 cent crunch wraps at Taco Bell. Eating out wasn’t in the budget, but we spent $5 for a good sized meal for all of us. I can’t always cook that cheap…and then I didn’t have to clean up either.

Peter is adorable. He says uh-oh all the time, whenever something is slightly wrong. Other common word are hot (with a very definite “t” on the end), ball, up, elmo, and mama/dada. He continues to pick up new words all the time but has yet to get most of the constants down. (Button is baba; actually lots of things are baba.) He loves being outside and cries when he comes in. But I like being outside too. Here is a picture of him at lunch today, eating cottage cheese. (The use of a spoon is still a little bit of a foreign concept, although he did eat half a bowl of oatmeal using one.)

Another day has come and gone and I am happy.

I worked hard today, and played even harder.

The day wasn’t perfect. But it wasn’t depressing or lonely either.

The highlight was planting tomato seeds with a four year old friend. Peter even planted one.

I received the most amazing heirloom seed catalog in the mail with the most unique varieties of vegetables I’ve ever seen. Vegetables are not boring.

I worked on transforming popular songs to play on my accordion. I realized the other day I would play more if I liked what I played. Too much accordion music sounds like a reincarnation of Lawrence Welk. I’m finding many recent songs I actually like go well on an accordion too.

And did I mention gardening season is coming up? So excited…

Hello. I have not written in a while. Our family went snowshoeing yesterday. I was happy about another big snowstorm, since it is still winter. It meant we were able to go snowshoeing one last time. Although I think I overdid it a little, and I’m still a little tired. Early this week we were able to visit a lot of family. That was tons of fun. I miss all the friends and family we had around while we were up in Logan, but they are still fun to go visit.

Here are some random pictures. They include the curtains I finally finished, the seed starter mentioned below, a hike from a week ago, and some pictures of Peter that show why I could use a new camera. He is looking a lot older now. 

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I’m getting excited for the gardening season, which is coming up quick. We made our own seed starter, and I’ve got the leeks started and will plant more out this week. The leeks just started to show a little crack of green. I love to get in the dirt and garden: it will be fun to have a place to grow veggies this year! I’m excited for the projects I’ve got lined up as well. So far they include my parent veggies garden construction, my grandparents vegetable garden, and condo maintenance and community garden. I’m sure more will come my way as well. But first I’ve got three-ish orchards to prune.

Utah was way ahead of the trend. People here have been growing vegetable gardens for longer than they have been growing flowers. Actually, the whole flower garden hasn’t caught on that much. Most landscapes are lawn, a few lollipop shrubs, and the vegetable plot in a forgotten corner. Seeing a garden filled with flowers (petunias don’t count, and neither do professional landscapes that all look the same) is a rare and pleasant experience.

So, people around here grow their vegetables so much so that when I say “garden” people automatically assume I am talking about growing vegetables. It annoys me. A garden is much more than vegetables! It can include grass, flowers, trees, shrubs and whatever other plant you feel like. (Although I do have to admit that lawn and lollipop shrubs don’t count as a garden.) I wish people would start looking at their landscapes and actually see potential for beauty. A landscape can be a rough canvas for a myriad of colors and textures. Most landscape around here could use a lot less mowing and changing that term “garden” to include flowers.