garden...

the best thing in the world is walking out to the garden and it has all of the sudden exploded into green leafy goodness. everything is growing just as it should.... it makes me smile. 

first day planted....

today!

winner! :)

tino...

so my baby brother is a senior this year right? he graduates in just a few weeks. and he just turned 18... btdubs, happy birthday little bro!

and he took a girl to prom. 

i feel so old. 

anyway... i might have helped him with his invite. i thought it was pretty freaking adorable. this note was attached to a necklace inside the conch shell. can you see what it says? i hope so... cause i don't feel like retyping it. lol.

prom night. 

what a stud austin turned out to be... don't you love his vest? i do.

easter 2012...

easter was a fun day... we hid 50+ eggs for hayley multiple times. she loved it.... then hayley left and austin hid those same 50+ eggs for me... i didn't enjoy it as much as hayley did. lol. 

ps... i love this first picture. lol...

our sunflower cake...

conference...

guess who went to conference this year? this kid! it was awesome. we had plans to stay longer, but i got a new, full-time job (that i love) but that definitely threw a little wrench in our plans. we left thursday (after work) and drove half-way to page. we spent the night there then did the second half of the trip after breakfast on friday. it really is a much easier drive that way... 6 hours at a time is quite a bit more bearable than 12 hours. lol. after we got to provo, our little traveling group split up to do different stuff... i went to the byu campus and met up with kels who was busy working in the rmyl. we walked back to her apartment together and then went down to our cousin's house. we had pizza and watched a movie with jason and laurel and their adorable daughters. i love being able to see and hang out with them! they are so funny!

the trees outside kelsey's apartment... they are so dang pretty, but stink so dang bad!

the next day was beautiful... it was in the 70s with the sun shining. we went the saturday morning session of general conference, had lunch, then went to the new city creek center (a big new mall) right across from temple square. it was really neat... but there were so many freaking people walking around. and danielle got to come hang out with us all day too... it was fantastic! i really wish we could have stayed longer... just so i could have hung out even more with the people i love!

our group: mike, nikki, mason, hank, danielle & kelsey

and yes. that is correct... we were there puh-lenty early. haha...

a storm blew in that night and it was cold and snowy sunday morning. i have never been to an april conference where it hasn't snowed. i wasn't really surprised... just cold. i did get to wear my leather jacket... that will definitely be the last time for that till winter. haha. we left to come home right after attending the morning session.  it definitely was a fast trip... one with very little sleep and lots of driving, but it was worth it.

btdubs... we had wicked good seats both sessions. winner.

the drive home: yep. that's snow everywhere. and apparently i slept through the worst of it... it's probably a good thing. driving through snow stresses me out something fierce.

apparently i was too busy to take any more pictures than that. sorry. lol.

garden work...

so. today was a crazy productive day. i woke up early and planted my seedlings (zinnias & marigolds) and then planted some seeds (sunflowers & daisies) in the bed around the grass. i fertilized the roses and weeded all over the place. i'm excited for everything to grow! 

i also got the garden planted. this year i'm trying my hand at a salsa garden. i planted tomatoes and peppers and jalapeños. but i did plant zucchini and summer squash too. i just love zucchini bread too much not to plant them. ooh...i also got my basil and cilantro planted. funny story. i found these red tins at goodwill and had an idea. i painted them and voila! they are now my herb containers. pretty cute right? (ps... i'm looking for a third herb... what should i plant? i'm leaning towards another cilantro... since i am planning on making lots of salsa this summer. ideas?)

anyway. remember that one time that i told you how much chowder loves mud and water? [see here.] yeah. he also has an interest in newly planted plants... last year he dug up my jojoba plants. i knew i needed to do something about that this year... so dad built me this super neat fence from some scrap wood and then i white washed it.  it's seriously adorable. and it is now proudly safe-guarding my new plants. winner! i sure love my dad for letting me have a garden... and then helping me with it. he sure is cool.

dad mowed the grass today for the first time this year. it's already looking greener. anyway. it doesn't look like we did a whole lot today, but we did. and i did get sunburned today... first time of the year! it was totally worth it though... this is gonna be a great year. much greener than normal (in our backyard at least). haha....

 this morning....

this afternoon.... do you see the difference? i swear it's there!

and don't you worry. i'll post more as everything starts to grow and we work more :)

spider web...

okay. so i found this spider web... and i seriously couldn't get over how freaking cool it is. it may be an excessive amount of pictures for one dew covered spider web. but w. it's neat.

spring.

so. i was there at the at the sink doing dishes tonight. i look up and i see this little guy...

y'all know what that means right?

yup. it's springtime.

holla!

it's gonna be a good year. i can just feel it! :)