Memorial Day 2009

The above picture is from Memorial Day 2008...and I'm walking in the Annual Fun Run for the City of Falls Church. The picture below is me walking from Memorial Day 2009...and once again I'm walking in the Annual Fun Run for the City of Falls Church. Above my friend is pregnant...below she has beautiful baby girl in the stroller.

The above picture is the free T-shirt we got last year (2008) and the below picture is the free T-shirt from this year (2009). I'm not sure why I wanted to include last years' pictures in with this post...it just seemed cool.When we planned our vacation for Memorial Day weekend, we forgot that the city of Falls Church did so many fun activities for their Memorial Day. It was also nice to participate in these activities because we ran into friends and were able to talk and catch up on their lives.

My husband has always had a following of little girls. I think it's because he'll play with them until he gets too tired.

I miss all my friends in Virginia...so that's why I had to keep taking pictures of me with them. I love creating memories and photos help me remember those memories.

Here's my friend and her two cute daughter, who walked with me the last two years. This is also a former missionary from my same mission. We were never companions but we had a lot of the same companions. It's fun to compare notes from that time in our lives.

And here are some more friends. One was my visiting teaching companion and the other is a former home teachee of my husband. When his partner was unable to go home teaching with him, I'd be his partner and we'd have a great visit.

Trip to Virginia

Last week we flew to Virginia. We went back there to visit friends, be official tourists and SM threw some work in also. We were able to stay with our former bishop and his family. The above photo shows the joys of being the older brother. This little guy is also a former student. I worked with him last year and we fixed some articulation errors.

I just couldn't not post this picture. The bishop and his wife have four kids and this is their youngest. She is so cute.

When we attended church last Sunday, we had many former ward members ask us why we were there. Many of them were hoping that we had decided to move back. Unfortunately, this was not the case, but we did explain that we were just there for a vacation. A few of them were confused why we would spend our vacation in Virginia. To us, it was a no-brainer. We were surrounded by friends, had a place to stay, a vehicle to use and were able to be tourists in DC. We had something every night...dinner and games...or dinner and talking....or movie. It was lots of fun and we enjoyed seeing so many of our friends.

Spring time flowers

I am always struck by the beauty of the Spring Time. Here are a few pictures of some of the recent flowers. The colors just intrigue me and make my inner artist want to paint something. But that'll have to wait...there's too much to do outside to waste a few days painting.

Beautiful orange and yellow!

This iris has rain drops all over it. It rained one early evening and then the sun came out again right before it set. I saw these iris's and had to run inside and get my camera. I love God's beauty that He gives to us!

Our Garden is In the Ground

Last Saturday morning, SM and I got up at 6 am so that we could hurry and get in line for a plant sale. We arrived around 6:40 and found out that we were the second people in line. And then we waited until 8 am for the sale to open. SM knew exactly what he wanted to purchase and so we went into the sale with a plan.

The plan worked well and we were able to buy twelve different tomato plants. There will be eight different colored tomatoes represented when our plants are mature.

We also bought some cucumbers, a zuchinni plant, pepper plants, garlic and onions.

"Who is that crazy person in the garden?!!" I had been sitting crossed legged and looked like this while getting up and sneaking up on SM...

We are really excited to grow this garden this year. SM has been talking to his fellow workmates and they've begun comparing their garden stories, even though each of them have only had their gardens in for less than a week.

My mother-in-law planted her flowers in the front flower gardens. It was a great day for planting and being outside.
Here's that cute husband of mine.
And I had to through this last shot in because it is so pretty.

My Dad has some funny ideas

Have any of you been around someone that once they get an idea in their heads, they just can't think of anything else? My dad is like that...once he gets an idea, he thinks about it and thinks about it and then does something. Well, on Monday when I went to my parents house, I was VERY surprised to see half of all the trees, de-limbed (if that's a word). And the word "surprised" is a less than graphic word for how I really felt. I was very sad and confused to see the trees this way.Apparently my dad got the idea in his head that the trees needed their bottom half branches cut off. I thank the neighbor for this idea since this is what the neighbor did to his trees and they look just as awful. Anyway, Dad employed the neighbor to do this to the trees. And then my dad and mom had to clean up the mess.

There was only one mistake when this branch fell, piercing the roof. Luckily it was only one hole because there could have been multiple holes with the number of branches that were cut down.

So, from this blog, I bet most of you can feel the disappointment in my voice. I was really sad to see these beautiful trees cut this way. Apparently, though, in the years to come it should make the trees easier to cut down when the time comes for that. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to keep all "IDEAS" from my Dad. I don't know what he'll do next.

Trip to Idaho

This weekend, after SM's graduation, we drove up to Idaho Falls to visit our friends, Marty and Jill. I had my first eye exam and am proud to report that as of yet, I do not need glasses. We are also really excited that the lasic (sp?) eye surgery SM had on his eyes three years ago is still holding and he continues to have great vision. The above picture is of the Idaho Falls Temple. We decided to be tourists one day and went to the temple to take pictures. The spring weather has almost arrived and the tulips were beginning to open up.
This is the middle daughter of our friends. She is sporting her new glasses. She kept telling her dad that she needed glasses, and he didn't believe her. But one day he did an exam on her and she really did need them...but just barely. Apparently she really wanted glasses and now she has them.

Here's Marty checking up on his raspberries that he planted earlier in the week. While we were there, he planted 250 strawberries in his front flower garden...in the pouring rain. He was wet and numb when he finally got it done but very happy to have those plants in the ground. Each day he would tell us how excited he was to grow strawberries.

Jill was an amazing cook! I had some very delicious meals and now have some new recipes to add to my arsenal.

Here's their oldest daughter. I think she looks like her mother. She's also got a great personality and loves to cook.

And here I am "reading" a coloring book with their youngest. He is all boy!

And here are the happy couple! But they both look really tired, as they should be since they stayed up talking to us after midnight for four days in a row.

We look less tired because we slept in each morning. Also, SM is really happy because we played hours upon hours of games.

Playing games was the number one reason SM wanted to go to Idaho Falls to visit Marty and Jill. Poor Marty came in dead last in all but two times...and I think we played at least ten times. We did play a variety of games so I think this just wasn't Marty's weekend for winning.

I had to take a picture of the sky on our way home. The clouds were amazing! I love the beauty that is all around me.

Spring at Mom's House

The apple trees are in bloom. They have such beautiful blossoms! They also had a lot of bees so I was anxious to take pictures and get away from the trees. (I have an allergy to bee stings...too many times being stung as a child).

I loved how this photo of the tulips next to the wooden fence post turned out. Did I tell you how much I love flowers and springtime?

The blossom size of these tulips were really large. A little larger than my fist...I just didn't want to add my fist to the picture.

Looking down the fence! Doesn't this just inspire you? I love going to Mom's house and spending time outdoors in such beauty.

This tree is a decorative peach tree...supposed to blossom but not produce fruit. Well, apparently it feels really different than all the other peach trees and so it has begun producing peaches each year. Unfortunately, they are small and tasteless and yucky. So, it's a beautiful tree in the front of the yard but messy! We have to clean up the fallen fruit before mowing the lawn or else you get a real big mess.