Oh Happy Day!

For two years, our yard has been dirt. And not so much plain dirt, but clay, since our soil where we live is crap. Finally, this year we have finally been able to put in our yard. Last fall and for the past few weekends, my family has been working really hard with us to finish the sprinkler system. It was finished on the 18th, which means this last Saturday we were finally able to make it look like someone lives in our house.

Here's Brad and my neighbor Amy (who is almost as excited for our grass as we are) getting the soil ready to lay the sod.



Patrick was a real workhorse Saturday, planting trees and lugging a lot of sod.



We had a few neighbors come help, and Lane and Everett to lay the sod. They finished up the last few pieces just as the pouring rain started.



I'll have to take some good pictures, now that the whole thing is done, but it was raining way too hard the rest of the weekend to get good shots. We still have to plant one more tree in the back, spread the seed back there, and put in the flower bed, but then our yard will be all done; ready for a summer of BBQ and fun. We've got a Little Tykes swing set for Lottie to play on and everything. I can hardly wait to be able to fully enjoy the perks of home ownership that include our own place to play outside!

Today I am grateful for...

My sister. I stole this title from her, because she has been posting on her blog every day about something she is grateful for. It's really nice to think about all these random things - movie quotes, new laptops (jealous), family, etc. It was a goal of hers to post one thing every day this month. And I love it. So check out her blog if you want something refreshing - funny - insightful - each day during April. I find myself really looking forward to it each day.

A few things

Last night I auditioned for Seussical the Musical. This was big for me. It has been a while since I auditioned for anything. I was thinking it was three years ago, but as I pulled my old theatre resume off the computer, I realized my last show was four years ago. And I haven't sung in public since that time.

Luckily my good friend Candice worked really hard with me on an audition song. Singing is not my strong point in musical theatre. I'm an actress who can sing, not the other way around. So I get nervous during the singing portion of auditions. Especially since I was auditioning for people I know. The musical director is a wonderful woman named Tammy. My only contact with her has come outside of the theatre, so singing for her was new. And the director is my sister. I've been dreading singing to be judged by these two talented women. They can be quite intimidating.

Well, as generally happens with me and singing auditions, I hit some pretty bad notes. Surprisingly though, I thought my sister would make me more nervous, but it actually calmed me to look at her! Candice too was in the audience, and between looking at the two of them and seeing their support, I was able to get back on track. And I felt good about my reading of "The Sneetches."

So, we'll see what happens. I'm not hoping for a lead; I know I don't have the vocal strength for one in this show. But, it will be good to get back to the theatre and have some "me" time. I've got to get that in before the next baby's born.

Which brings us to part 2 of this post. Lots of people know, but for those who don't, I'm pregnant! It was quite unexpected, (really, those little pills only work if you don't forget them for three weeks) but we are so excited! Baby #2 (currently named Cain & Abel by Steph) is due to enter the world on or about Septmber 27th. Yes, that puts Lottie at only 16 months - two not in nursery. But, since I'm not getting any younger, we're in a two week countdown to 30, it's not a bad thing to get our family into the world quickly.

Unfortunately, that's why I'm writing this post at 3:00 am on my phone... Pregnancy insomnia. I wake up for hours at a time during the night, unable to get back to sleep. I laid here for over an hour tonight before I decided to just do something. So, that means a blog update (since they're way too few in number). Next time I'll post from the home computer so I can include updated pictures of Lottie. They're getting even cuter now that she actually smiles for the camera sometimes.