Flowers update!

A- These flowers (wish I knew the name) grow like weeds and snow doesn't phase them. They are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...and pretty. :)

B- Apparently Lilies don't rebloom until the next year. Sad. Day. They were definitely my favorite. They do however, have pretty little bush looking things in place of the flower. That's a plus I guess.

C- Can't remember what these are (big sign of my rookiness...I just picked flowers that were pretty. I didn't look at the names...or even save the little tabs telling you the names...I also didn't look to see how long their "bloom" period is, see exhibit B.)

I am excited to see everything continue to grow though!!

Gardening: Things I've learned thus far.

*Note from the author: For some, these gardening posts may be extremely boring (and sometimes long), and I want to apologize in advance. This year we are trying the "garden" thing for the first time ever so 1) I'm super excited and 2) It'd be nice to look back on this next year and see what worked and didn't work for us. I'll try to include lots of pictures and keep things interesting, bear with me (or go back to working) :)*

Glad to see that you stuck around!!

Biggest thing I've learned--gardening is not just planting seeds, and eating delicious veggies a few days later.

So far it's meant learning, tilling, raking, worrying, pulling, preparing, shopping, asking, planting, hoping, watering, checking, bugs, spiders, weeds, dirt, mud, wishing, and so much more.

It's been a great process though. I actually enjoy coming home from work and "working" in my garden.

To kick off the gardening season and get our garden area ready this year, we rented a tiller from Home Depot. Sixty bucks for four hours. Not bad. My Uncle did my grandparents garden, and then he brought the tiller over so Trav could do ours. It was cute/funny watching him get the hang of the tiller. It was even cuter/funnier when he was finished and the first thing he said was "Man. That thing is a man-hater. It will definitely make your arms feel like jell-o!" (as he was flinging them about aimlessly).

Once the garden was all tilled, we waited. We heard through grapevine that it's best to till, and then plant a week or so later so you know where weeds/dandilion patches are going to be popping up.

During the "wait" I thought it'd be best to prepare myself for gardening so I read and took notes from tons of articles online. I thought out exactly what I wanted to plant, envisioned where exactly I wanted everything to go in the garden, wrote down all of the stuff (shovels, hoe's, rakes, etc...) I needed to buy, and felt pretty good about things.

The *day* after I did most of my research, I was driving home from work and I got a call from my Grandpa. He basically said come and pick me up. We are going to go shopping, and plant your garden today. (I think it was a Wednesday.) Even though I had read and taken notes and prepared myself, I was worried. It's one thing to read these things, and write stuff down and have a pretty picture in your head...but it's definitely another to put the plan into action and actually have little baby plants in the ground, depending on you (and some other nature type stuff) to help them grow.

Grandpa was a trooper! We went all over, hunting for "good plants". First stop was Lowe's. Then Wal-Mart. Then back to Lowe's. Then to Western Gardener. Then back to Wal-Mart. Grandpa picked out some plants for his garden, and I picked out all of ours, except for Asparagus. Apparently that takes 2-3 *years* before it produces, so I crossed that off of the wish list. I bought 1 Cherry Tomato plant, 1 Cucumber plant, 2 Lemon Cucumber plants, and 9 Bell Pepper plants. (That was the smallest pack they had, so Grandpa took 5, and we planted 4). Grandma had bought me a couple Tomato plants about 3 weeks ago, so I've been babying those and preparing them for planting, too! I also bought some Radish and Onion seeds, and just planted them last night!

Next year I'd like to start around March or April-ish and start everything from seed. I don't want to have to buy plants at all. So, there's goal number 1 for next year.

Before we could plant anything, I had to rake to "get all of the soil flat". That part sucked. It was difficult because after we tilled (which un-flattens the soil a lot!) it rained, and then was sunny, and then rained...so there was about 1-2 inches of hard-er soil above the nice stuff. Finally, Trav came over and finished the raking so Grandpa and I could get to planting!

Grandpa started digging holes while I mixed up some Miracle-Gro.

My first ever veggie plant is this cute little Cherry Tomato plant. :)

By the time we got all of the plants planted, it was just starting to get dark, so we called it a night. I'm *so* glad I had my Grandpa there to help me out!! Even after all the research I did, I still would have done things way differently.

After the plants were in the ground, it POURED. They got a little beat up, just after the first day. I was worried because I know they go through a "shock" phase at first. That's all they needed was for it to pour on them!

The next day the sun came out, but only for awhile...it poured once again, so I called Grandpa to make sure they were going to be okay. He laughed and said they would be fine.

Meanwhile, all the rain helped weeds to magically appear.

I certainly hope...

my veggies...

grow as fast and healthy...

As these weeds!!

Here's the part where I really start to learn uncommon, garden stuff. Like um, what to do when it freeking snows at the end of May and you are scared because your little veggie plant babies are covered in snow!!!

I made two different calls, and was told to do two different things to cover them. I ended up deciding to go to Western Gardener and bought some stakes and a "frost-preventing-plant-protecting cloth"

It was kinda fun putting the stakes around the plants and laying the cloth. It was nice to know that I was protecting my little veggie babies.

Well, I'm sure that's enough reading for anyone so I'll stop here!

TBC with many more gardening adventures...Definitely!

Letter to the weather creator: Part 2.

Photo taken just now. Looking outside my desk window:

Dear Weather Creator,

That was quick. It was nice doing business with you. Don't ever do that again.

Thanks!

Another letter. This time to the weather creator.

Dear weather creator,

Are you freaking kidding me?? Let me remind you of today's date. May 24th, 2010. Got that? MAY 24th. Next week will be June. I'm only a little frustrated but I do understand you may just be confused. That's why I'm here...I wanted to write and remind you that *IT SHOULD NOT SNOW THE LAST FEW WEEKS IN MAY* or really, in May at all.

See these?

Yeah. Unacceptable. Please make it stop.

If you need other reminders, I could send you a picture of my flowers. They won't look like flowers. Just big snow balls. If that's not enough...I'm sure a picture of my very first garden, with all of my plants covered in snow might pull at the heart strings a little. Let me know.

Most importantly though, I have a camping trip coming up this weekend. I *better* not have to cancel.

For today only, I'll say goodbye to the sunglasses and hello to my winter coat. That's *only* for today though, and I'm not happy about it. Tomorrow will be bright and sunny. Do we have ourselves a deal?

Weekend Recap: Random Bits.

Sad that the weekend is over. Definitely looking forward to next weekend! (First camping trip of the year)...if the weather permits. I'm crossing, crossing, crossing, crossing, crossing, crossing my fingers that the weather warms up a little bit! I'd go camping in the rain and wind, but Trav's not a fan...so hopefully the weather starts to improve so we can go!

Friday I came home from work, finished laundry (documenting that because it's the first time in a long time that I've had absolutely no laundry...and it won't last long), raked the garden a little, and watered my little plants :) (I know I haven't posted pictures yet, but I still need to plant a few things so I'm waiting...but, it's coming together!! Wait until my first vegetable grows. You'll see more pictures of a tomato (or cucumber) (or bell pepper) than you ever hoped to see. Promise. We had some friends over, played poker, and hung out. Super fun.

Saturday Trav went out with his Dad for his birthday. (Which is today) Kassi was over visiting, and I'd just bought Guitar Hero 5 so I decided to stay home. Made myself a delicious salad, sat down to take my first bite and got a call from my Grandpa.

"Hey there pal. What are ya doin?"

"Eating a salad, and hangin out with Kass."

"Well dinner will be on the table in a few minutes."

"Oh, well...I'm eating a...okay, be there in a few."

"Well you'll have to come pretty quick. It's pert-near ready."

Click..

He's a man of few words, and never says bye. When he's done, he just hangs up. It's adorable. haha.

So, I put my delicious salad away and went over for dinner. Ended up staying the night, since Trav was out anyway. It was nice to hang out with the Grandparents. Sometimes things get busy and we don't get to see them as often as we'd like.

Came home this morning, gave Trav his presents (Some clothes and Fight Night) I think Fight Night was a mistake. He. Has. Not. Stopped. Playing.
He also plays with his jaw dropped. Makes me fall in love with him all over again.
He *barely* let me fight someone under his "career" but I talked him into it and I won. Thank God.

After brushing my teeth this morning, my neighbors came and knocked on the door. Apparently when I had my water on, water was coming UP in their sink!! After taking out all of the possible pipes and cleaning them out the problem was still there so we called the landlord (thought about how lucky we were to not own this place and have the problem in our hands..although it will be that way soon enough) He came a few hours later. Two hours later, and three trips to Lowe's (poor guy) the problem was fixed!

About 30 minutes before the landlord came over, Trav and I were in our backyard and noticed it started to smell like a fire. Then we could hear crackling and then came the smoke!! It was right on the other side of our neighbors fence so I ran over to their house to let 'em know. We went into their backyard to see what the deal was and there were two little kids (like 7 or 8) on the other side building a little fire pit and burning stuff!! A few minutes later a fire truck, ambulance, and two cops showed up! Hopefully the kids got a scare. That could have been bad.

Trav wanted enchiladas for his birthday dinner, so I made a pasta salad, Spanish rice, and of course, enchiladas! It was a yummy dinner!! They take forfreakingever but they always turn out soo good!!

We played a little guitar hero, some more boxing, ate some cake and ice cream, and now it's time get some sleep!! Today has been busy, busy!! Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

The job with no requirements necessary.

Today my lunch at Wendy's was 5 dollars and 61 cents.

After deciding that I didn't necessarily want or need 4 *more* pennies to add to my collection, I pull up to the window and say "Oh, I have a penny!"

The young girl at the window looked at me like I'd just informed here that I was there to rob the place. She was terrified. After a few seconds, she mumbles "Well, I already have it here. I already counted it out." (Looking to the register, trusting every cent it tells her to give back as my change.)

I gave her a few seconds to maybe process that 4 pennies plus the one I was going to give her would equal 5 pennies a.k.a. a nickel.

Didn't work.

"That's okay, I'll just give you this penny, then you can put all of the pennies back in the drawer, and give me a nickel."

(Insert long moments of silence here.)

"OH, okay, so...your change would be 30 cents then, right?"

Sigh. "Yes, that's fine. Thanks!"

WHAT ON EARTH WOULD THESE CHILDREN DO IF THE CASH REGISTERS WERE DOWN AND THEY HAD TO MANUALLY COUNT OUT CHANGE?!

That would be a scary, scary day.

New Word. Pruh-View.

I made up a new word today at work. Feel free to use it at any time.

Preview- pru·view /ˈpruhˌvyu/

Pronounced [pruh-vyoo]

-noun

1. to view or show beforehand or in advance.

Notes: To be used in place of pre-view when one intends on sounding sophisticated.

Is it Friday yet??

One week- No posts- No bueno.

I haven't had a chance to post yet this week and probably won't get one, so I'll do a quick update. Nothing super exciting going on right now..I do have some pictures from fishing last week that I'd like to get up here soon!! Maybe I'll shoot for those next week! We discovereed a little fishing pond within a couple miles of our new place and have definitely got our money's worth for our fishing license's so far this year!

The beginning of this week, my Grandparents ordered supplies to redo their roof so Trav went and helped with that a little bit.

Last night we were both tired so Trav suggested going and renting a movie and just kinda hanging out, so that's what we did! Here's the downfall though,

Travis

picked out the movie.

Travis

decided he wanted to get The Fourth Kind. (Super scary!!)

and the best part...

Travis

fell asleep during the movie, and left me to watch it by myself!

Thanks Babe :)

* I must give him a little credit though, he did wake up every time I nudged him and told him he just *had* to watch the next part with me because I was going to wet my pants. What a sweet man. Also, if you have not seen that movie, SEE IT!! Definitely the scariest movie I've seen in a minute!

Tonight we're going to an orchestra concert where we're excited to see my little brother and cousin play in the orchestra!

Tomorrow I'm going to Idaho for the weekend!! So excited to go down there and hangout for a weekend! It feels like it's been forever! Plus Presley's turning one so it will be fun to get everything set up for her party, and take lots of pictures!!

Next weekend we're *hoping* to go camping. It all depends on the weather. So, here's to hoping that the end of May brings fantastic weather!! ( I know, that shouldn't even be a request, but apparently in Utah Spring is the new Winter.)

Attn: Truck Drivers with steeze.

Yes truck drivers, I'm talking to you:

If this is your truck, I want you to know that you are the coolest truck driver, in the world.

I also wanted to apologize for obsessing, staring, and taking pictures at the stoplight yesterday.

And, while I'm at it...

Dear car behind me yesterday, at said light,

I'm sorry I didn't go as soon as it turned green. I understand I should have gone as soon as you honked, but see...I was in the process of obsessingstaringandtakingpictures of the coolest truck driver, in the world.

I hope you both understand.

Love always,

Facebook--make my decisions, I don't feel like it today.

Ok. I've been able to contain myself until now. Seriously, what is so special about facebook?? Yes, I'll admit that I have a facebook, and I login *almost* daily, simply to catch up on friends/families status.

HOW FREEKING ANNOYING IS IT THOUGH, when you login to look at someone's "updates" and you are FLOODED with "So and so has a new crop and they are so nice because they are going to share it with you, click here to accept!!" or "So and so thinks you should take this quiz. Just how many Movies do you REALLY know??" or "So and so has spent all day in the kitchen making you these wonderful *fake* banana creme pie's. Won't you please click here and make their day of hard work in the kitchen worth it?"

COME ON now...

As I said before. I've been able to contain myself. I simply skip over the lame app stuff and search only for updates, but today when I received this e mail:

"So and so liked ****** photography on Facebook and suggested you like it too!"

I rolled my eyes. Opened blogger frustratedly and this is the result.

Also,

Dear Facebook,

I'll keep this short and sweet because I'm assuming you have some carmel apples to tend to.

Thanks for the suggestion and all...but um, if I was interested in finding "photography" profiles on your site, which I may be...I will take it upon myself to look for them.

ThanksBye.

Trip to The Living Planet Aquarium with Keenan

Yesterday Trav and I took our nephew to the Living Planet Aquarium to see "Me-mo" (Nemo).
Before our adventure, Keenan showed me a few of the many faces he is able to make.

Going to the aquarium, I thought, would be the perfect opportunity to get some cool pictures of fish, and Keenan, and Trav, and anything else I saw!

I was wrong.

Apparently taking a 2 year old to the aquarium doesn't equal good pictures. Some of them turned out really good, some turned out blurry, but will have to work, and some of them Trav took while I was holding Keenan. He wasn't a fan of the stroller and definitely wasn't a fan of walking!! We still had a good time though! It was so cute to see him get so excited over the "fi-SHEEEZ"

He kept saying "Wowww" and "Whoooahh" and "Cooool" it was absolutely adorable!!

Keenan only looked at the Jellyfish for about 2 seconds so Trav held him while I got a few pictures. I could sit and watch Jellyfish for days! I love 'em! They had lights that would change colors so it looked like the Jellyfish were changing colors. --I might have thought they were the coolest Jellyfish ever because they "changed colors" but I won't admit to anything.

Once we found the tank with Me-Mo, Keenan was in heaven!! He was so amazed to be so close to Nemo!! He sat there and just watched him for a good 5 minutes, which is a looooooong time for a two year old!

Unfortunately the water to touch the Sting Ray's was so deep that Keenan would have to jump completely in to touch one. He was however, perfectly content with touching the water after watching Trav touch a Sting Ray.

On the way home we played "Where's Keenan?" If you can't tell, he loves that game. We played it at least 53 times.

These stages took place in about 10 minutes. He was exhausted!!