Busy springtime...

It has been pretty windy lately, so...

to keep my gazebo in good shape, I took off the tarp. 

It took 5 minutes. 

And saved having to mend tears, or even replace it. 

***

Then, last week a friend reminded me that April was the month that wood mulch and compost were free at the Cedar Falls yard waste location, and it was the end of the month!

So we each got our Honda Odyssey ready.  Backseat folded down.

Protective tarp laid.  I even had some large cardboard pieces that I put down to protect the tarp from tearing.  Then I gathered up every container I could think of (that I could still hoist!).

We made 3 trips for wood mulch and compost.  Some went to Sharon's house to finish out the plan we'd had for putting in no-maintenance hostas under her front trees where the grass was sparse (and it looks beautiful--using hostas from our yards that needed to be thinned).

I couldn't believe how dark brown and rich the compost was,  They have another free month in October, and we're going to borrow a pickup truck and get enough for the vegetable garden!

***

In Idaho, irises bloom in June, even into early July.

Here in Iowa this year, they began blooming the last week of April!

The spring has been so lovely!  All my flowers look healthy and vibrant.

And speaking of vibrant...(girls)...

 Elizabeth was asked to take the picture of the girls at the Beehive Conference held last Saturday.  It is an annual stake activity of workshops (and lunch) for the Beehive girls--to give them a taste of what to look forward to when they turn 14 and get to go to the youth activities.   Elley has been working on a school project with photography, and a professional in the ward has been mentoring her and has lent her a really nice camera for the duration.  The pro was originally asked, but since it is her profession she passed this opportunity to Elley.  E. wasn't very comfortable with it--she hasn't taken pictures of groups; she has experimented mostly with nighttime flash.

But she did her best.

Then the memory card was taken to Walgreens to get prints for the girls,

and... the pictures weren't on it.

So we (I'm really beginning to wish that Elley was 16 and could drive herself!!) went back to the church and Elley used the camera she was most familiar with, took the pictures, got the prints and got them back before the end of the activity.

All's well that ends well, right?