Ben update

I'm not going to make this a long drawn out update... just some things I wanted us to remember.
-he says "ater-gader" for Gatorade
-lately things always happened "last night" instead of like yesterday or last week or whatever time period. Or even "a couple weeks ago"... as if he knows!
- he's such a good swimmer, he actually can get from one place to the other! He loves jumping in the water (with water wings).

-One Saturday morning when we got up we found him asleep on the couch! we think maybe his little "school bus" is getting uncomfortable for him.
-is a very sensitive and compassionate little soul. The other day we dress up as cows for Chick-fil-a's customer appreciation day, and I felt SO sick and couldn't even eat our free meal and he was SUPER concerned. He said "ahhhh! Mommy! What's wrong? You don't feel good?? (All with a high pitched concerned tone) It's okay Mommy... I'll come rub your back". He's such a sweetheart.
- love his flip flops, and because everyone has told him he's cute in them, he's now asking people if they think they're cute on him! haha
-tonight when I was putting him to bed after prayers (which he's been saying by himself really well lately) he wanted to sing a song I didn't know. So I had him sing it to me. Usually he gets shy and quiet and also distracted and doesn't finish or doesn't sound clear... but he sang this song perfectly and told me to sing with him. "5 little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away..." with hand motions and everything. He went from 5 ducks, to no ducks with a sad face at the end. It was ADORABLE and I loved every minute of it!!!
-The other day he was sitting at the table eating dinner and was talking to himself, which is not unusual, and started naming the months of the year! "June, July, August..." I was totally taken back! I am so grateful he is learning so much at his daycare.
- as before mentioned, he's my little therapist. When I'm obviously frustrated with ridiculous drivers around me he assures me that everything is okay and that "they didn't mean to mommy" or "that car didn't know mommy" he-he I told him my stomach felt sick this morning and he said "did you eat mommy?" to which I replied "Oh! Good idea!" He's really going to be the balance our family needs, I can feel it.

-He draws the CUTEST amazing little people ever. (some with poop? I don't know... I just... don't know)
-we got him his first Vans... they are SO Ben. They make him look so grown up. Sigh...
-He says "That's what I'M talking about..."
I love this kid of ours. He is a special and wise little soul.

Utah Trip 2011

• The flight was good. It was a little boring for Ben and he was tired and wouldn’t nap and I was irritated with him, but overall he behaved. I unfortunately acquired a headache on the flight over, which is probably why I was irritated.
• I mention this because after we go to our hotel, the Luxor, we met up with Nichole and Chris Christensen and their kids. I’m grateful that we got to see them, and even though none of us felt that great we had fun! We went over to the MGM Grand to the Rainforest Café to eat. Cute place! Quite overpriced (thank you Las Vegas…) and we’ll never go there again, but it was good. Ben was SOOOO sleepy that he wouldn’t eat (the $10 kids meal we ordered… ugh). And Nichole also had a headache and their kids were quite tired as well. Luckily, we had the next morning to spend with them too- so at about 8pm we called it a night!
• The next morning we ate breakfast and watched the people who were STILL drunk from the night before walking around like lost puppies in the casino, went swimming with the Christensen’s and then went to see the Las Vegas temple with them as well. After we said our goodbyes we ate at In & Out and then headed to St. George to see my parents.
• Our rental car broke down on us on a steep desert hill in the middle of the Gorge right before St. George. It was 102® and we had no cell service. Luckily, we don’t have to have good reception for prayers to be heard- and I prayed a real big prayer after we were luckily able to pull over to the side of the road…. And after a few tries and us freaking out a bit- the car started back up and we were able to make it to my parent’s house just 16 miles away! We had the rental company tow us a new vehicle… that night! Ask Ben what kind of car it was and he will tell you “a minivan”! He kept telling everyone we had to get a new car and it’s a Mini-van. Haha (A minivan that smelled like a casino, blech)
• Saturday was also Ryan’s 30^th birthday! So we celebrated with pizza and brownies and swimming at my parents pool with the family. This was also our casual Father’s Day celebration.
• ·         Sunday we rode up to Utah Valley after Sacrament and spent time with the Green family and met in person, my BFF Andrea’s new hubby Matt and (now, just today!) Yay! They are cute and perfect for one another! And it was wonderful to be back in the Green home, brought back SOOO many memories. And Ben loved playing with all the kids!
• We had plans the next day of going to the Uintas, one of my FAVORITE places on earth… and well, seeing as though it was like 50® in Orem the day before and rainy… we decided not to go (50 in Orem most likely meant colder temps and snow in the mountains). Plus they had snow up there, and Utah is experiencing a lot of flooding this year. I was VERY bummed by this, I’d been waiting basically since we found out we were going to be up there and take my boys for the first time. But instead we spent time up Provo Canyon, which is also quite pretty. I also got a nice fresh Café Rio salad that day. J
• Monday night we went to dinner with the Webb’s (Kate & Ryan) and I got to see her cute little full-of-baby-girl pregnant tummy!  She’s adorable as a pregnant lady! We enjoyed spending time with them and kind of wished it lasted longer!
• Tuesday we spent the day with my brother Greg and his family, minus the oldest. She was at our Church’s Girls Camp having a blast. They have a fun little (free!) splash park about a block away from their house, within walking distance. And even though we didn’t have Ben’s swim clothes with us- it was pretty warm outside and the kids wanted to have fun, so we let them! Ben was soaked but he had a blast! I think his favorite part (and most hilarious) was punching and kicking the water spouts. I swear he was getting out a lot of aggression! He had fun playing with his cousins!
• Tuesday night me and another friend of Andrea and I threw a shower. It was a “Come Hither” shower and she got a lot of fun stuff!!! There weren’t a lot of us, and some people felt more comfortable buying things from her registry… but it was lovely! We ate dinner out and then enjoyed the backyard of her friend and opened gifts, talked and ate delicious ice cream cake! Oh and watched her open the fun stuff! Woo-woo!
• Wednesday we took off pretty early to get back to St. George. I don’t really think we did anything super special once we got there. I think we swam. Greg and his girls came down as well and so well just hung out with each other. That night after Ben went to sleep, we left him with Clau and Ryan and I and the kids met my dad over at the cemetery where my sister Shauna was buried. We all saved up and were able to purchase a nice sized headstone personalized just for her. The cemetery gave us permission to install it ourselves, mostly for sentimental value but also because it was much cheaper if we did it ourselves. So dad, Ryan, JC and Nico all dug up the spot where the headstone would go. Kind of funny sitting in a cemetery at night with flashlights while people are digging!
• Thursday we woke up early and headed to the cemetery. All of us were there except for my sister Delinda who couldn’t’ make it out and my sister in-law Clau who unfortunately couldn’t get out of working. The men of the family did most of the work, who am I kidding??? Did ALL the work. Ben and the girls all hung out in the cars… Missy and Alyssa hung out with him in ours and watched DVD’s in the back. After we got the cement in and the headstone properly set, we all took turns putting our hand prints in the cement (we did proxy for the two who were missing!). It looks a little cheesy, but I think it’s sweet and I know Shauna would’ve LOVED that. She was very sentimental and loved her family. SO now she’ll always have us with her. It only took us 3 hours to do everything! That afternoon we went swimming again at my parent’s pool. Then that evening after dinner we made tin can ice cream at their house. After a lot of shaking and spinning and moving the cans around, we had vanilla ice cream! It was yummy and something fun for the kids to do. The kids all played with each other and it was fun to see them laugh and run around together.
• Friday we spent time with my niece and took some photos of her, per her request. We got to walk through the St. George Temple visitor center and took some out near the red rocks which was cool. We basically hung out all day with Nico and Missy which was lots of fun. Got some frozen custard… went swimming again… Ben has a ball with these guys.  He thinks they’re pretty awesome. And they are really good with him. We spent more time with my parents and ate yummy Mexican food. That night we removed the form for the cement the headstone was in and cleaned it up.
• Saturday morning we said our goodbyes and then headed to the airport. I was pretty sad; I always get sad to leave my family. It’s not always easy living so far away from everyone. I wouldn’t want to live next door or anything… but across the country is tough sometimes. So I cried…. And Ben did too. He kept saying he wanted his “sisters” (which = cousins… still getting the relationship titles down!) I would get watery eyed… and one time he said to me pretend crying “mommy!? Are you crying too?” and I said “yeah a little” and he made a loud crying sound and said “me too! I sad!” I’m so glad he enjoyed his time with his family and hopefully he will have wonderful memories of the visit with them! 

We had a wonderful visit. I only wish we could've visited more people and done/seen more things- but... we will take what we can get! I also wish with all my heart I was able to have made it out to Andrea's wedding today, and her brother also a good friend and his wife got sealed yesterday. So bummed. I love them and I hope they know that! Pictures to follow!

I have a lot to catch up on and don't worry I will. We've been to the beach and to UT and some other things... so not to leave you hanging- but I'll be writing soon.

May Destin, FL Trip with friends

I'm backdating this... I wrote down a couple things so I wouldn't' forget. I don't want to bore you with details, over all the beach was wonderful as expected. We have really come to LOVE Destin, FL. The Gulf of Mexico side really is my preference when it comes to the FL beaches. The water is warm, clear, clean (although a lot more stuff in it this year than in years past) and the beach is just really nice.

• traveling with a potty trained child has proven a new challenge. Because when they say they need to go, they need to go NOW! A 6 hour drive isn't always condusive to that esp when you're caravaning. We had some funny experiences with that, and that is all I will say. 
• We had a lot of fun playing at the beach. We even burried Geoffy and made sandcastles. We had A LOT of cool beach toys this time. 
• Got sunburnt... even with SPF50 applied several times.
• On the way there... let's just say that Mapquest (I think) was not my favorite GPS system. SMALL ROADS IN RURAL ALABAMA ARE NOT ALWAYS FUN. (no offense) In addition the Love Bugs were O.O.C. (out of control) and literally sounded like rain on the windshield as we were driving these small, rural Alabama roads!
• This year there we some extra visitors to the beach; a school of stingrays and a SMALL shark, oh and some blue little jelly fish. I missed the shark but got to see the stingrays. *No one was hurt. 
• Ben watched Land Before Time with us and he loved it and it brought back memories for all of us. That was one of my fav's as a kid!
• Ashley celebrated her birthday while we were there! It's her last year in her 20's! hehe
• Ben and Savannah bonded. He told us she was his girlfriend, and she had her first trip to the beach!
• We swam in the pool some. We did an evening swim one night (while Ben and Ryan slept) and Jacob showed us his best "beached whale" impression. He also showed us how he could swim from one end of the pool to the other I think like 3 times (whoa) and then said "that's the way the whales do it!" Hey Ashley "I gotta get the ear out of my water"! hahahaha
• Me, Ashley and Jen went shopping at the awesome outlet malls. That was fun.
• Ryan made DELICIOUS Teriyaki Pineapple Turkey burgers. They were amazing. That is all.
• The last night we were there, we found a restaurant with in walking distance called Kenny Dee's and ate dinner there. It was fun! Pretty sunset, good food

Kenny Dee's

Happy Birthday Ash!

Clint's always gotta make a face at me. But truth be known, he loves me.

Mmmm, turkey burglers. Yes. Burglers.

tee-hee! so cute!

 

Pooling it up.

playing in the sand!

Look at that water! Not even color-corrected.

Sunburn Evidence! I sat under the umbrella a lot.

 

Saying goodbye to the ocean before heading home!

Yes folks, my child enjoys Dill Pickle potato chips! Yes!

On our drive home. I just love these old buildings in the small old towns in the South.

The drive home was non-eventful, except for that time I ran over a plastic gas can... unavoidable. Luckily it did no damage. It was a very fun trip! I love the beach. Ben loved it a lot more this time. 

(P.S.- sometimes Blogger sucks.)

Isn't it sad, how things/people seem suddenly MORE important or significant to you when there is tragedy in your or someone else's life? I just read a story on CNN (and watched the video) of a father doing a press conference notifying the media that his 3 year old son that went missing in the tornadoes in Oklahoma was found this morning, not alive. My heart sank to my stomach, he was Benny's age. I can't even imagine the heartbreak those poor parents are going through. Not only did they lose him, they lost their 15 month old son too. The poor mother is pregnant and in the hospital as well as their oldest daughter.
I go through life, with the motions every day. I'm a grumpy bear a lot. I'm tired from working and traffic and I get annoyed really easy. I get more annoyed and frustrated than I should... and I think it's my own fault. I forget to stop folding laundry or washing dishes and just sit and enjoy and love on and hug my boy. I forget to laugh and loosen up a little. I sometimes don't allow myself to stop and read him a book because it's an "inconvenient time" and because I'm busy. Laundry will get done. So will the dishes. But he's only going to be 3 for a little while, and pretty soon will be a teenager who doesn't want me to pay him ANY attention.
After I lost my sister, I realize just how fragile life is- and how at ANY minute, someone can be taken from you. I don't want to have to "remind" myself of these things- but I guess it's good to have reminders. I love my husband. I love my little boy. I love our family and would be so sad with out any one of them. So here's my reminder. Take a mine to LOVE. LAUGH. BE HAPPY. As mom would say "Put a smile on your face and a melody in your heart!"  And... get over it. :)

Ben update

I haven't done a Benny post lately. There are just so many things that he's been doing or saying lately that are hilarious and it's hard to keep up with it all!
-Lately, he's had this thing with Alligators. Supposedly they're scaring him. Early this morning (4am) he came in to our room crying. I got up to see what the problem was and ask him what was wrong and he held on to me so tight and said "I scared myself!" hahaha, not sure what he meant I asked him if he was scared of something and he mentioned an Alligator... and then a mouse? I don't know. He might've had a bad dream or something, but he also has a stuffed animal that happens to be an Alligator we got from IKEA and he's been sleeping with it in his bed lately. So took that out of his bed and he crawled in and went RIGHT back to sleep...random! He's also mentioned being scared to go poop in the potty because of the Alligators... again, random!
-He loves to shove food in his mouth lately. Like he has to hurry and eat it. I don't know why he's started doing that, but I guess that's pretty typical.
-Whenever anyone passes gas... or as we say "farts" he says "EWWWWW! Roll da window down!" even if we're in the house!

-He's really been in to playing outdoors which is great probably because it's getting warmer. I welcome it whole heartily. He's been enjoying drawing with chalk and blowing bubbles a lot, and especially when I can blow him REALLY big ones. He's helped me plant some of our plants we've put in the yard. We even bought a little seed kit thing from the store that had pumpkin seeds in it that you start and then eventually plant in the garden. The seedlings grew REALLY fast and he loved watching them grow everyday on the window sill in the front room. Then after about a week or so we went and planted them in the yard and I let him do that part. He has also as of late been enjoying throwing and catching the "bisbee" (frisbee), mostly with Daddy. Ryan taught him how to hold his hands up to catch it, and he does a really good job! He's got a pretty good arm on him too, I've mentioned this before. I hope to get him in to some activity like soccer or something soon.

This was him throwing to Poppy

-Whenever we ask if he need to use the restroom he'll say "I just went pee" or "I just went poop"... even though most of the time he hasn't. It's the "I just..." part that gets me!
-we were all cuddling on our bed just now and he likes to rub our backs when we're tired just like we do his. And so I said "Benny, rub my back please" and so he rubbed it for just a second and said "enough?" and I said "no" and so he did it a little longer "that good?" me: "no, more please" so he continued to do it "enough?"... it went on for some time and it was adorable.
-He’s taken to talking back… something that I want to get in check REAL fast, because that’s not going to fly in my home.

-He loves to dance to music. And he’s starting to remember lines from movies. He was playing with his Buzz Lightyear doll the other morning and he was quoting the part with Buzz's dad saying "FATHER!!!!" in a quiet little voice!
- there's a Christmas CD I made years ago in the car. And he said "ooooh Mommy, I like that CD can I have it?" and I said "no... it's mommy's. It's our Christmas music" and he said "mommy. We go see Santa at the church. You have to get your Church clothes on Mommy. We go to Church and see Santa and sit with him."
-If he likes something he wants or thinks looks nice he'll tell you. He's good at giving compliments. He even opens the door for me at his school! He's said to me "I like your haircut mommy!" or "I like your dress mommy, it's like a princess!"
-after I've gotten mad at him or he knows he's not my favorite person, he'll come to me and say "I love you mommy" and then puckers up and kisses me. He loves to kiss and grabs our cheeks. Daddy mostly appreciates kisses on the cheek or nose, but every once in a while Ben really wants to kiss lips! It's pretty funny to watch them. He's learning the art of manipulation with the whole loving mommy when she's mad thing though! I'm on to you kid..... hehe
-I've mentioned before he's really sensitive, but sensitive to people's moods and emotions. The other night I was kind of sad/upset about something, and we were sitting on my bed and he said "mommy, what's the matter?" and I told him I was sad and he said "it's okay Mommy. Don't be sad. I love you." He always wants to make people's hearts happy and faces happy by fixing whatever is wrong. I hope he stays that way!
-When we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he says "BIGGER!"
-I think he's starting to shy away from naps. Sad day. He hasn't been sleeping well lately, I wonder if it's a growth spurt or if it's simply that he's having dreams now... possibly scary ones. 

-He's still pretty skinny. He's pretty finicky when it comes to food. He'll only eat veggies as long as they're baby food veggies. He's gotten taller... but he's still fitting in to his shorts he wore last summer. But I don't think that's going to last much longer.
-he's starting to be a little more precocious now. He's never been one to get in to things or to climb... and now all of a sudden he is. He still stays out of places where he knows he shouldn't be- but he's figuring out that if he pushes the stool to the counter in the kitchen that he can reach things we don't want him to have. Or that he can climb up the changing table in his room to turn the light on and off. Things like that.
-he still loves bath time and could sit and play in there for an hour if we let him. I can't wait to get him to the pool this summer.
-He's been doing some silly faces in pictures lately. Little Kung Fu moves and stuff.

I guess that's it for now. I'm sure y'all get bored of hearing all these silly details. Or if any of you that are around him enough think of anything else I need to add, message it!

Easter 2011

We had a good Easter. It was a gorgeous day. Ben asked if we could color eggs this year so I got one of those fun little kits and we went out to the garage and driveway to die our eggs. Ryan had actually never (to his knowledge) died Easter Eggs before so it was fun for everyone! Afterward Ryan traced Benny on the driveway a few times! We enjoyed sitting outside on the front porch for a while too. 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Ryan's family. Everyone came so it was a busy house but lots of fun. It's always good to see extended family.

 

Ben and his cousin Nicholas

Little Stud

Ryan & I hid the eggs; the ones we dyed and the ones Nana had put together (which are far more fun because they have money in them!) out in the backyard. The kids went on their hunt and Ben had a ball. He really had fun with it this year. Nana & Poppy got them all Easter baskets too. I decided I'll do that for him next year. :) BUT I really want him to understand the importance of Easter and why we really celebrate it, and that it's about the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior... and not just a bunny and some candy. That part is fun yes, but not the important part. We were SUPER exhausted after having had a very busy week so we didn't stay too long, but did enjoy our time!

Nana & Poppy and all their grandchildren

Tornado Outbreak

I have lots to catch up on, but we have had some scary weather here in the South during the month of April. Since I've lived here in GA (almost 7 years, can you believe it?) I have not had to experience so many tornadoes. It's not good for my nerves, I tell you that much. For those who don't know already the storms yesterday and last night were REALLY, REALLY bad. The system that came through GA last night had previously made an ugly mess in other states, particularly bad in Alabama in the Tuscaloosa area. The cells of storms moved through Georgia between 9pm-2am, which seems to be the trend. And normally bad cells break up over time… but the particular cell that caused so much havoc in Tuscaloosa keep its power and also created havoc in Northwestern GA. Miraculously, we totally got missed. There were lines of storms above and below us. The City of Atlanta and up through Roswell (where we live) and the Alpharetta area were in a pocket that never stormed up very bad, with no particular explanation. We did get some rain and lots of wind. But NOTHING compared to what the other poor people got hit with. This, however, did not prevent me from staying awake until 1:45am watching the news and weather coverage for fear that the storms would take a turn for the worst and come our way. I wanted to be prepared and not be lifted up like Dorothy and taken to the Land of Oz. Although, I guess I’d be fine with that as long as my boys came too, and there were no flying monkeys. I supposed I’d feel right at home with the “little people”…

Here are some bits of info just for the record:

1. President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn Tuscaloosa neighborhoods on Friday, declaring the devastation brought by a series of powerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen. 
2. About 148 twisters Wednesday left a swath of destruction across 13 states, killing more than 335 people in six states, including 250 people in Alabama alone.
3. TWC Severe Weather Expert Dr. Greg Forbes says tornadoes were reported nearly continuously from just after midday April 25 through about 5:30pm EDT on April 28. That's a roughly 76-hour outbreak!  According to Forbes there have been 194 confirmed tornadoes, and still 126 reports of tornadoes yet to be confirmed! (taken from www.weather.com)
4. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has said some of the tornadoes on Wednesday may have been more than a mile (1.6 km) wide with wind speeds over 200 mph. 

Check out this link and article, surprisingly from BBC. The first view you see to me was the most impressive video. You can hear the guy panting in the background he's so freaked out. Crazy huge tornado. It was a pretty stressful night, but I feel so glad we weren't hurt. Not sure what we would've done in our tiny bathroom if something that big would've come over us. Not sure we'd still be here!

I don't like tornadoes.
This was from an email my cousin Mark Collier sent us. He lives in Guntersville, Alabama.
"Yeah, we're doing great.  We had a tornado miss our house at around 6:30 AM, by about 100 feet or so, but it got our neighbors'.  One of them had part of their roof torn off, one had a shed obliterated and several of them lost many 200 year old oak trees.  We had another smaller tornado follow the exact same path at around 9:00 PM that finished off the roof started by the morning one.  In all, our town had 12 tornadoes last Wednesday.  Several sections of our zip code were flattened, and almost everywhere else, there was significant damage to trees and stuff.

We spent six and a half days without electricity, and two days with no running water.  I dammed up the creek to catch water to use for flushing the toilets, and we had a 50 gallon drum of drinking water stored in the garage.  All in all, with our church-inspired emergency preparations, we managed with no real issues.  We had enough to share with neighbors.  No one on our road was physically injured (miracle).  Several people in the next town were killed.

Celeste and the kids were caught in another tornado while in the car later in the day.  They were driving along, and golf ball size hail started hammering the car, so they pulled over into a gas station.  Sheet metal and lumber started falling from the sky.  I stood on my neighbor's back porch and watched that tornado go rumbling by, knowing my family was in it.  I've never said a prayer like that one before.

I spent six days cutting trees to help people get out of their homes, roads, and driveways.  Being prepared at home allowed us to help others who were either unprepared or unable to do the work themselves; testimony to the wisdom of the Lord and his prophets!

All in all, it's been an interesting experience that has strengthened us.  Just thankful none of us was hurt.  By the way, they really do sound like freight trains...."

Andrea!

My BFF from Utah Andrea came to visit us and I'm just getting around to writing about it so I hope I can remember all that we did. We had a lovely time, I remembered all over again how much I miss having that chick around in my life! We hid from tornado warnings- twice, we went to the Temple Open House (I'll do a separate post), we went shopping, ate, went to the Dogwood Festival down at Piedmont Park, napped, laughed, watched Season 1 of Modern Family... had a ball basically! It was just what the doctor ordered and I'm so glad we got to have her visit. Ben loved having her here too because she read to him a lot and brought him books to read, and played with him lots.
Photo time! (If I can get stupid blogger to work right!)

Hiding in the bathroom from the tornado... we look scared huh?

Temple open house

Dogwood Festival

Cute Andrea looking AMAZING!

Ben loved Miss Andrea!

I loved our visit!

Let the Good Times Roll..

Okay. I can't hide back the excitement anymore. I'm excited! I'm excited for this month, for May and for June.
There are so many things happening just this month that are all so fun and exciting! The Atlanta Temple is reopening after having been renovated for almost 2 years. I have been so blessed to have watched it's progress over the last couple years, as I drive by it two times a day every day on my way to work. I am pretty excited about the activities surrounding the re-dedication, and President Monson will be here to do it. I hope we are able to watch the dedication, I have never seen one before. We are going to take a tour prior to the dedication though, and I'm pretty excited. If you're not a member of our church and would like more information, you too can visit the open house before it is dedicated. Click here. It's been interesting not having a functioning temple that we can regularly attend the last 2 years, it'll be nice to be able to go back more often.
My BFF Andrea from UT is coming to visit this week, which makes me as giddy as a school girl. I miss living close to her, and am SOOOOO stinkin' excited she's coming to see us. The last time she was here was when we were married 4 years ago- so it should be fun! We are taking her with us to the temple open house tour.
THEN... my sister Delinda will be in town for a short visit for an art conference at Emory, so we will get to spend an evening with her as well! And my brother just called and he is probably coming again next week for work! And I may have a couple of photo shoots this month as well!
THEN... We're going to Destin, FL at the end of May and I have a wedding to photograph the week before that. THEN... like two weeks after that (mid-June), we go to Utah! YAY! We get to see all sorts of friends and family (I hope!). We start off seeing our friends the Christensen's in Vegas and then from there on out I'm not sure what the plan is. But I hope we can see as many people as we can!  I'm so super excited to see my mommy and daddy and to squeeze and hug them and kiss their cute cheeks, and go to my sister Shauna's resting place to see the new headstone we all chipped in for in person. AND of course, all my nieces and nephews.... oh and I guess my big brothers too!
THEN... no just kidding... but it will be the 4th of July soon after that and we get a day off for that. We plan on doing other various activities this summer. Hopefully some tubing in Helen? Or even white water rafting? Camping? YES PLEASE! We will be busy! But I think we function well with busy.

Tulips & Daffodils we planted as bulbs

Who knew ferns could be so interesting?

We have been tending to our yard lately. I took a special project on this year, the flower bed in the
backyard behind our bedroom. It has been covered with leaves for pretty much the whole time we've lived here and I just got sick of looking at it and decided one Saturday to clean it up. I've planted some bulbs that I'm not really sure when they'll come up; some bleeding hearts and some astilbe. I know you care right? But my point is, I'm excited to see how it all turns out to be, because it's mostly shaded so it should be pretty lush in a couple years with pretty greenery and the flowers from above said bushes I planted.

Our veggie garden is growing pretty good. I'm trying to feel as much motivation and excitement about it this year as I did last... I'm trying. We planted asparagus this year though, which apparently has to mature a year. We planted carrots and broccoli this year and no tomatoes. Ryan's parents usually have a forest of them (literally) and so I figured we'll just eat theirs! Our front yard looks pretty good too. Lots of new plants coming up from bulbs we planted, and we just put some new mulch down. It's getting warmer and warmer out and all of the spring/summer noises outside are getting louder and louder. We were just sitting out on the front porch saw some bats, listened to frogs and an owl in the distance... pretty soon we'll have lightning bugs! And boy, we're getting our typical stormy weather too. Last week there were severe storms (which translates to potential tornadoes here in the South) and tonight we're expecting another. Too bad they're in the middle of the night which prevents me from sleeping, because... well, I'm a worry wart. I love the Spring here in Georgia all except for the HORRIBLE pollen and allergies I get from it and the tornadoes, oh and traffic.

Pollen Eyebrows on my planter

Not my fav.
Well, I'm not feeling well tonight so I better get some rest before the storms come a brewin'.