it's been a while

i tell you, it's rough not having the internet at home. i usually have to post from the in-laws' house or coffee shops. i've not had much coffee lately and i forgot my computer at our weekly monday night date with brian's parents.

correction: to my horror, i discovered that the "i just can't help myself post had cut off part of my letter about brian and was missing part of one paragraph and all of one or two more at the end. that unfortunate problem is now fixed.

we've been busily preparing the house and yard for a visit from my parents. that's been about all we've been up to. i've included some pics. we love our yard.







this is a view of our really big red tulips and the baskets of strawberries i was planting. we now have five hanging strawberry baskets in the back yard which should add some quaint color as well as delicious snacks come summer time.







here brian is fixing our hanging flowerbeds. they came with the house but were built so that they would drain down the side of the house and rot out the siding. brian fixed them and soon we'll plant "supertunias" in them. they look like petunias but apparently they are something special. i guess they are disease resistant and low maintenance.





this is the inside of our suprise purple tulips. we didn't know they were there!








these are two of the strawberry baskets i did. they're right outside the kitchen window of our little house out back. happy dishwashing!







these are the walla walla sweet onions brian planted. they're really good, especially on the grill, but we don't know if we killed them or not.








last but not least, this is our carport. no one can drive a car to it because of the way the houses and the garden are, so it is more of a covered patio area. it's messy right now, because of all the gardening and garage sale stuff, but we plan to have it cleaned out by the time my parents come. it's really fun to hang out there on warm summer nights.


now that you've all seen how splendid it is at the van houten residence, you should all come visit!