Hard Work

So, we've been dividing our time between working outside and downstairs this summer. So, two months ago, I put this picture up.

This is the front of our house. I had just planted a bunch of stuff and it was starting to get warm enough for things to grow.

This pictures is from today...

It was raining when I was trying to take this picture, so it's from a weird angle, but look how cool it looks!! I'm so excited about the dahlias that are growing there. I'm hoping our big dahlia garden will work this good next year!

So, what do you see that is different from the two pictures. The plants are a lot bigger. That's for sure. Surprisingly, the lawn looks fairly similar. For those of you who don't live in Washington, lawns don't get watered in the summer. Usually it rains enough to keep the lawns green. But if it doesn't ... yellow lawns. I can't quite let my lawn go completely yellow, but I've only watered it once. This is from the "Plant Lady" as Ryan calls me. Don't mow your lawns too short and water them deeply occasionally, not a little all the time. Anyway, back to the pictures.

Have you noticed it?? The flag is missing. Huh. Funny story! So, last week, Brent and I were leaving and Brent says, "Did you bring the flag in?" I looked over and sure enough, the flag was gone. Then I remembered something that happened earlier in the day. There was this teenager riding his skateboard down the street. (I hate that anyway - we live on a hill - how is he suppose to stop?) He stops in front of our house on the street and is sitting on his skateboard. I thought he was resting in the shade or something because it was a warm day. I went into another room. Just after that I heard a weird noise, but when I looked, I didn't notice anything. Until the flag was gone! Yep, that's right...I'm pretty sure that kid took our flag! Isn't that horrible??

Next time we have a flag, we're going to have to use a screw to keep it in there. I can't wait for school to be back in. :)

Here's a pretty picture of the dahlia that is blooming. Enjoy!

Ashley's Critic Corner

Hello all and welcome to the first very biased Critic's Corner. We have been watching a lot of movies lately and I feel a need to share what I have thought about them. **Warning: the opinions expressed here are only mine. If you have different opinions, please express them.**

As with most people in the world, we went and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this past weekend. I really liked it! It was very fast passed and exciting. I do think that the magic they do in the movies is a little different from the magic in the books. When has it ever said that you could turn into smoke? That's all I'm going to say just in case there are a few people who haven't seen this movies.

We recently signed up for Netflix. This is perfect for us. We love watching movies, but if we don't see a movie the first weekend it's out in the theaters, we rarely go. We are also quite bad at going to the movie store, so this is awesome! I have also realized that you have to look at the Harry Potter books as one thing and the Harry Potter movies as another. You can't keep comparing them. You'll just be saddened.

Last night we watched Man of the Year with Robin Williams. I didn't know what to expect, but I liked it. It's a political satire that really makes you think. I have been trying to get more into politics lately. It's quite hard for me. I was raised around a Grandpa who would FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL any time you started talking about politics. So, I just stopped talking about politics because I don't like to fight. A few years ago, we started making it a point to vote in every election. This has been helped by the fact that the county we're in mails out the ballots. Again, not much work to do what we need to do. Anyway, I would recommend this movie. It's kind of funny, but mostly thought provoking! Here's a funny joke from it - Tina Fay from Saturday Night Live said, "I threw my underwear at Brittany Spears once ... I really thought she needed them." Hee hee. (On a side note, don't you just love Tina Fay? (I'm not sure I'm spelling her name right). She's hilarious!)

The other night we went over to watch a movie on Court and Brad's big tv. It was Ghost Rider. I feel I need to give a little background on this. I really enjoy action movies. I also have really enjoyed the movies they have made from comic books. X-Men was awesome! The other 2 have slowly gone downhill, but the first one was awesome! I liked the first Spiderman quite a little bit as well. So, here was another movie from comic books. I'm not a huge Nicholas Cage fan, but maybe I could overlook that. Well, no, I couldn't. It was a HORRIBLE movie. Very confusing and boring. I would not recommend it.

This is the first installment of Ashley's Critic Corner. Like I said, we are catching up on our movies through Netflix, so stay tuned! :)

We're Still Alive

Hello out there in computer land. I just wanted to let you all know that we are still alive and kicking. Life has been a little crazy lately, so we haven't done much too interesting.

Summer is crazy, isn't it? And YW's camp is only a month and a few days away. I might not make it.

See ya!