March 2025 Happenings

March was another great month! In
addition to the stuff listed in this post, we also:

  • we went full Japanese and had a blast (here)
  • we went on a quick trip south to see Goblin Valley State Park (here)
  • we kept building the garden and startin’ those plants (here)

Besides these fun things, our March also included:

Mushroom Tour
We went on a fascinating personal tour of a local mushroom grower. We learned about the whole cultivation process:
 

and the different varieties they grow:

and even got to take home some mushroom ‘flushes’ to make food with ourselves. We got so much that Jac was able to make a number of yummy dishes, including:

  

Mom’s Birthday
March 12 was mom’s 80th birthday!!!  So we took her out to her favorite Mexican restaurant La Costa.
 
 
Look at this happy, fun lady!  Hope I’m as healthy and fun as she is when I am 80! 

 

Leprechaun Fun
Van had a some St. Patrick’s Day fun with a little leprechaun friend.  A door mysteriously appeared on a tree in his yard, and turns out it was a leprechaun who needed his help! After first creating this fantabulous front yard for his new little friend,

 
Van turned his attention to making this taj mahal of leprechaun traps, all with materials provided by his little leprechaun friend. The idea of the trap was to help the little leprechaun practice NOT getting stuck in the traps that other kids would be building. The leprechaun knew Van would be the perfect kid for this assignment and wow, he was right. Check out this amazing trap!

 
This kid DEFINITELY has Irish in his blood. He did an amazing job at this challenge. What an inventor he is!

 
Our First Anniversary!
March 26th was our ONE YEAR anniversary.  So exciting!!!!  The ‘theme’ for first anniversaries is paper, so I decided to surprise Jac with a paper-y scene when he arrived home from work.


 
My mom came over and helped me set it up.  It was fun!  Goofy but fun! 

 
(Next year’s theme is cotton. Hmmmm…. the ideas are already flowin’, lol).
 
Jac had a great idea!  For our anniversary each year, lets go out to eat somewhere fun and new and splurgy.  Perfect!  And since we are doing Japan this month, he decided on a local sushi place that he’s been wanting to go to: Nori!  

We sat at the bar so we could watch the sushi being made, and we ordered and ordered and ordered.  $120 later….we’d had our fun, splurgy dinner! 

Once back home, we opened our anniversary present. It’s a toy machine that spits out little balls filled with different date ideas. We’ll pick one each month and do that activity as our special date for the month. It’ll be fun… and help us have lots of new and different experiences. I can’t wait. 🙂

And we opened our paper-themed gift from mom. Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, printer paper…  She’s so funny!
Here’s to one year down, MANY to come. I love us!

Home Improvements
Jac continued to work on the garden, including building these cages to protect our little baby plants (from kitties and birds):

 

And adding a little deck in front of the sheds. I love it!

We also got ourselves a new toilet, one that promises to be able to flush without clogging. I seriously can wait for this bad boy to get installed. I’m DONE constantly unclogging our cheap toilet. Go us! Steppin’ up in the world!

We ate well all month long! 
One night we invited mom over for a fancy three-course dinner and even served it on my great grandmas beautiful fine china. It was ‘an experience!’ All three courses were absolutely beautiful and absolutely delicious:

 

 

 

Jac is such a master. What can’t he do. 

And…here’s more of Jac’s handiwork that I got to enjoy during the month:

 
 
And finally, the kitties were adorable as always: