Thursday, April 30, 2009

Birthday Girl

So, I have to admit that I am intensely in love with my wife. She is really everything that I ever could have wished for in my life. One of the best compliments on our relationship I have gotten was from my older brother Mike, he said,"If Dad and I were to be in a room of the most amazing women we could find, Maggie would have been the one we picked for you." I am so very happy to be married to her and hope that I can help her feel the same way. It is her birthday on May 1st and there are a couple of things she wants, one of which she has to unwrap later so I can't tell you what it is yet, and the other is a blog posting with a picture of Lilly (Happy birthday to you too Annie). It is such a blessing in my life to have her with me. I receive constant compliments from people at church and school about how wonderful she is, and of course it never gets old. Heavenly Father helped me choose well, and my only regret is that I wasn't more humble at BYU--we could have been on our third child by now. I love you Maggie and I can't wait to see your smile--> the favorite part of my day.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

How does your garden grow? update...

Our garden is officially planted and (cross your fingers) growing. I planted the seeds this weekend, since the weather was beautiful and hot. So, everything is now in motion...and hopefully all ends well and in our tummies. Some of our seedlings didn't make it to the garden, having been unfortunate, stunted and dead. I replanted seeds as I planted the rest of the seedlings and I'm hoping they grow and we don't have to make a last ditch effort and buy plants at Lowes.

I'll take pictures this week and post them so everyone can see what we're doing.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Ramp Festival


Today was a gorgeous day, and since it was a gorgeous day, we thought it would be nice to get out of the house. And wouldn't you know it...there was a ramp festival going on in nearby Mason-Dixon, PA. Well, I had never heard of ramps before (they are a wild oniony-thing that grows around West Virginia) but Bobby had grown up going to such festivals and we had researched where we could go a couple weeks ago.

It was your typical small town festival--lots of booths with local artisans and food vendors, some delicious smells, some good people watching (let's just say the humanity was somewhat stereotypical of what you might think would attend a small town festival in the middle of nowhere). But Bobby and I had a lot of fun.

We had some deep fried ramps which we stood in line for for about 15 minutes, and which were indeed not worth standing in line for that long.

We also bought some yummy strawberry rhubarb jam from a very sweet man.


And we saw some alpacas, I told Bobby about my dad's life long dream of running an alpaca ranch, and he thought that was funny, and then of course we had to take pictures. The alpacas were really pretty cute. They were selling teddy bears made out of alpaca wool and they were the softest, dreamiest things you've ever touched.


There was also a small stand of tractors and engines, and there was this really cool racing tractor:


We think my dad would look pretty spiffy mowing the lawn on this bad boy.

We had such a wonderful time, and even though the ramps themselves weren't that fabulous, we are definitely planning on attending again next year.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Rain, rain go away!

Okay, I know that April showers bring May flowers. I learned that way back when...it's called the precipitation cycle. It's a lovely thing that keeps this planet alive and growing. But, what happens if all the April showers wash away the May flowers? Case in point: It's rained every day for the last four days, and nearly every day for the last week and a half. I recently noticed a little perennial I have in a pot by our front door, which had started putting out sweet little tender green shoots is now dead. Dead! Why? Because of the crazy amounts of rain we've gotten. Now, perhaps I should have been more observant and protected the poor little soul, but I'm going to blame it on the rain! Stupid precipitation cycle...

Monday, April 13, 2009

Visiting Columbus

On Friday Bobby didn't have school and I didn't have work, so with our day off we went to Columbus to attend the temple and visit friends. We had a wonderful time, the temple was beautiful despite the rainy, dreary day.


After the temple, we went to Easton to visit Crate & Barrel and see all my old friends. It was nice to be back and see what everyone was up to. I still miss the fun I had there, even though Morgantown is now feeling like home.

After visiting Crate, Bobby and I went out to dinner with Lindy and Fredo. We had some mexican food and shared some great conversation and laughter.




Bobby and I drove home after and boy, I can sure say that I don't miss that drive at all...though it was much easier driving with Bobby and being with him the whole time rather than driving away from him and saying goodbye.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter! Really, it was our first one together because last year Bobby was in Utah that weekend and we weren't able to spend it with each other. We went to church and had a lovely time hearing messages about our Savior and reflecting on the sacrifice He made for us, and the miracle of His resurrection. What comfort and peace the knowledge of what He did for us provides!

After church we came home and began preparations for our Easter dinner. Bobby had really wanted to do a fried turkey, so after researching, I found a recipe that sounded good and he commandeered the deep fryer. I, of course, had visions of our house going up in flames, so I carefully monitored the whole process and made sure there was flour and a hose close by. Have you ever You-Tubed turkey frying disasters? Yeah, it's scary.



Anyway, we had Xax and Shannon and our friends Doug and Amy (that's Amy Bramwell, for anyone from Solon that's wondering). And we let Meech tag along too.



Dinner was yummy. I made scalloped potatoes, corn pudding and Shannon brought a green bean casserole and rolls. And for dessert I made trifle. It was scrumptious!

Of course Easter isn't complete without Easter baskets. I told Bobby a few weeks ago that I wanted to do Easter baskets for eachother and I think he thought that sounded a little childish. But my family would always do Easter baskets and then hide them on Easter morning. So we went out this weekend to Gabe's to find some fun things to put in. I got Bobby some ties and other goodies and he found some cute gardening things for me. And after we had found our baskets and sorted through the treasures inside, he turned to me and said, "That's a lot of fun, we need to do this every year." I love that we're making our family traditions!

Happy Easter!

Friday, April 10, 2009

How does your garden grow?

Technically, our garden isn't growing yet...but it will be, very very soon. Bobby and I have been planning what we want to do with the yard for a few weeks now and we've already got some veggie seeds sprouting inside before they make the move outside. Bobby has been more than eager to get that started...the idea of saving money over the summer by growing our own produce, and eating said produce really makes him happy. However, the work of figuring out what to do to make the yard beautiful is pretty much up to me, since that interests Bobby just a little bit less.

There's a little spot by our front door that I want to plant some hostas and annuals. It was a pathetic little patch of barely-growing grass before, but I've dug it up and edged it and now it just awaits some plants.


As you walk to our backyard there's a few steps going down to the patio and I'm planning on doing a small daylily bed on either side. I love daylilies and can't wait to see the bright color here.


And this is where the majority of the garden is going to be. We'll have tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, peppers and an herb garden. The bed further back by the back door will be a cut flower garden...Bobby will be able to get me flowers for free (but before anyone says anything, let me add that he has gotten me flowers pretty regularly the last few weeks. This man does take very good care of me.)


We also have a fence along the back of the yard and here is where more experimentation will happen...we plan on growing corn, watermelon, cabbage and other yummy things...it'll be fun to see how they do.

I can't wait for summer and fresh vegetables and beautiful flowers!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

What I love about spring...


Spring is probably my favorite time of the year. The weather is perfect...warm days, cool, crisp evenings and mornings. The trees are blossoming, bulbs are starting to grow, forsythia, hyacinth, crocus, and daffodils are all adding color to the dreary landscape. I've started teaching Bobby the names of these flowers and he's really cute when I put him on the spot and he can't quite remember the name of something.

In our yard we have a beautiful dogwood in the front. It's been blooming for a few weeks, but the last round of rainstorms has managed to make it naked again. My favorite though is the magnolia in the back. It's about to be glorious in the next couple days. My favorite part? Every morning when I eat breakfast I can look out the window and it's right there, pink and lovely, to brighten my day.

Monday, April 6, 2009

General Conference

Bobby and I have always loved being able to watch General Conference together, and this weekend was no exception. Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a conference twice a year where our church leadership counsels the members and provides guidance, inspiration and expounds and explains doctrine. The conference starts on Saturday with two, two hour sessions and continues on Sunday with another two, two hour sessions.

This conference, as most are, was absolutely beautiful. It's such a comfort to hear the voice of our prophet, and the other general authorities talk about our Savior, His gospel and the love of our Heavenly Father for us. My favorite talk was given by Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the members of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. He spoke about Christ's atonement, the sacrifice and pain that He went through for each of us. The journey that Christ made was lonely and we should always strive to live in such a way that we never turn our backs on Christ and make him walk alone again. He always wants to be with us, to guide us and lift us, all we must do is accept him.

How grateful I am for our church leadership and for the peace and joy the gospel brings to my life!