If I had a nickle...

...for every time I heard "I'm a do it!" in a day, I'm pretty sure I'd be a millionaire. I could probably also say the same thing for "I love you mom" or "thank you mom" so I guess I shouldn't complain.

They're finished!

And by they I mean Doug and our yard (and get ready for a long post with a lot of pictures - sorry - but this one is for Doug's parents).

We had a fabulous day yesterday with Doug graduating! The girls did a fabulous job with the 3 hour program (there were 1,000 graduates) but Lilly did get a little bored about halfway through.We are so proud of Doug and his accomplishments. 5 years ago (when we were engaged) I remember going to lunch with Doug and he told me that he wanted to switch majors. He was currently a graphic design major and he wanted to switch to accounting. I remember he told me it was going to be another 5 years and hearing that made me not so sure about the whole change. I was in my senior year and was expecting to be done with school in a much shorter time than 5 more years. Needless to say we (he) made it and we're so proud of him! He graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Master's of Accountancy. He truly blows my mind and I'm so proud of him!

Doug and the girls getting ready to head out to the 'ole Marriott Center for the Marriott School Convocation exercises.

The Happy Family at the end of the ceremony!

Doug with his surrogate parents - Sis. Wilkins, my mom wanted you to know she
stood up for you when they asked all parents of the graduates to stand. The happy grad with diploma in hand - no more teachers, no more books...

Doug with his friend Taylor after the ceremonies - he had already turned
in his robes but Taylor was nice enough to share.

And now on to the other great accomplishment we've experienced this week. We have a backyard! (Almost, we're short about 20 square feet - oops). Here's a little montage to portray the work in progress.

Here's what the yard looked like when we first moved in. It really wasn't too bad
but by the end of the summer it was completely full of dead weeds that were about 2 feet tall.Here's what it was like in the winter - I included this one just for fun.

Here's what it looked like halfway through the tilling process.

Here's what it looked like during the spreading the 11 yards (about 1 dump truck) of top soil.More of the dirt mounds.

Here's what it looked like after a huge hailstorm we had last week and drum roll please...

Here's what it looks like today! Hooray for sod - and wonderful family members who help you lay it!

Isn't it funny what a difference only 3,000 square feet of sod makes?

We seriously could not be happier with how it turned out and now we're just keeping our fingers crossed that it will grow! Thanks again to Dad and JD (and Jeffy) for helping us! We definitely could not have done it without you! Thanks for the lawnmower too mom and dad - you're the best! Once it gets good and settled we'll have to have a yard warming party or something - assuming that it doesn't die. We'll keep you posted!

Million Dollar Cookies

So aparrently this is the cookie that took the cake and the $1,000,000 this year from the Pillsbury contest. We made some today and I must admit they are pretty tasty. Not quite sure if they're worth that much but they were pretty tasty. Of course my husband couldn't get enough - who can resist double peanut butter. Enjoy!

We're gittin' 'er done

Today we went to the Museum of Peoples and Cultures at BYU with cousins! It was so fun! We did a digging tour and got to do some digging ourselves. All the kids dug for arrowheads and then got to make a necklace. It was fun and all the kids had a great time digging! We greatly missed Kimber and her crew. It was crazy to see so many of the grandkids in one place at one time! Doug's sister pointed out that there are 15 grandkids and 14 of them are 5 and under! His parents also have not seen/met 6 of them! Wowsa! Their necklaces turned out great too! Here's Sophia showing you how hers turned out. After that we went to the park to feed the ducks and eat lunch. Sophia had such a great time feeding the ducks. She's usually afraid of them but this time she couldn't get enough. There were many moments when we thought she was going to jump right in and join them!

Here's a few other random pics of what the girls have been up to lately. The other night while I was at spinning class I came home to this adorable scene on the couch. My favorite part of the picture is the cheesy pasta remains on Sophia's face.Here's one of Lilly with LOM (Little Orange Monster). My brother Stuart gave this to me a few years ago. He got it from one of his students when he was teaching English in Japan. One of his students gave it to him on the last day of class. Isn't this something all of us gave our teachers? Anyway, we have a picture of Sophia with LOM as a baby so we felt like it was Lilly's turn.
Now to what we're really gettin' done. We spent the afternoon digging up our yard to prepare for laying sod next week! It didn't take as long as I thought it would but it was still a project. Lilly was a big helper. I also included one of Dougie the Tillman hard at work.
Here's what the yard looked like half-way through the tilling process. I totally forgot to take a before picture so this will have to suffice. We're getting 11 yards of top soil tomorrow and will spend the day spreading it and leveling it out. It's so fun to be so close to having a real yard! It's definitely a lot of work but definitely worth it!
Here's some bonus pics for my sister Liza. Here's what the mini Janes were dressed in last Sunday. Thanks again for all the clothes! I think my kids would go naked without them! Yikes! Everyone is always asking me where I shop for my girls and where I get their cute clothes. It's so fun to tell them they're all hand me downs! Thanks again sista!