gardening with Eve

Oh how I love spring! The azaleas are in full bloom and blazing with color in the front yard.

Our temple has closed for remodeling, so the gardeners were giving bulbs away to the workers and my mom brought home several different kinds, not having any idea what they were. I immediately planted them in a pattern according to likeness and they bloomed this year too. They were so pretty, but I missed taking a picture of the flowers. Here is the pattern though.

This year is proving to be quite promising with the vegetable garden, even though I started out with seeds growing from a cup and ended up buying plants. (I transplanted too early and the plants died- oh, well) It's practice and plants aren't that expensive anyway. I stubbed my toe on one of the blue crates at Wal-Mart. It hurt, but my tough toenail caught the brunt of it. I made a report just in case my toe swelled up and turned purple the next day. And they must have been worried, because they gave me a call the next day and I had totally forgotten about it, ha ha. Here are the pictures you've been waiting for:

Reunion Trip

It's been a while, I know. I haven't felt like blogging lately. I went out of town for a week. I flew to Utah for my mission reunion, and the best price for a ticket was to stay for a week. Luckily my brother lives in Utah, and luckily he likes me enough to let me mooch off of him for a whole week. I flew out with Chrissy, and she did very well on the plane. I sat next to a guy who had broken his leg in a car wreck. We chatted here and there, and when I told him my name, along with Adam's, he said- "You know that's a website." I have heard about it on TV, but I have never visited the website. What is this world coming to? Anyway, if I've piqued your curiosity, don't bother- I don't think it's good. On the flight out of Denver to Salt Lake, I sat next to a missionary that was going back to Temple Square from her three months out in the field. She was from Argentina, and very pretty. Memories flooded back to me from my mission. I really had a great time and it was the best learning experience for me. I grew up a lot.

The reunion was awesome and I'm glad I got to see my mission president and his wife one last time- that's what he said to me, lol! "Sister Graybeal! All the way from Georgia! I thought I'd never see you again. I'm so glad you came because it will probably be the last time we ever get a chance to see each other again!"- Isn't he funny?! I saw some past missionaries and we reminisced about the good old days with Pres. and Sis. Hoyt and it was really fun.

The flight back was awesome. I had a layover in Denver, and that is where Gina lives, one of my mission companions. It was so neat to see each other and meet our kids- we both have had three since we last saw each other. We even had one last weird experience. You see, when we were together in Savonlinna, we met the weirdest people. She said it was because she attracts weirdness- and she does! A man sat down next to us and talked our ears off, so I knew we had to get away so that we could spend whatever time I had left having our own conversation. But the man was wearing shorts... and nude pantyhose!! Yeah. Weird.

On the flight home I sat next to a young woman and her mom. I was slightly ticked that she had brought on Pizza Hut pizza and I had none, but she didn't know that I had wanted any ;p And as I was waiting for my bags at Baggage Claim, my sweet Adam came over and gave me a kiss. I was so glad to be home again!

Goings on....

Let's back it up to where I've left off...

The funeral went well. You can read some about it here, on my sister's blog. She sang a great harmony to the song I wrote, and Kevin Hayes played guitar with me. That was on a Saturday. That next Monday my dad was actually buried, in the Georgia National Cemetery, and he gets a little quote put on his headstone,'Those who wish to sing always find a song', and a picture of the angel Moroni(reference 2.) to depict our religion. Kinda cool.

So then it was that my younger brother and sister were in town. It's been so much fun to have them here. Michael left two weeks ago and Bekah leaves tomorrow, but we have been having a blast. It's neat to see us grown up and parenting little offspring of our own. I'm really glad they both came and they really are great siblings, even though I wasn't always the nicest big sister.

It snowed! It was awesome and we built a snowman that was awesome! You can tell by the pictures.


The butt chin is awesome, sorry to brag.

Adam and I cleaned out the garage and the sun room- finally! Some stuff just relocated to the dining room, but it will eventually find a home in the attic or in someone else's abode. I have several things to yard sale and I have been telling Adam for quite some time now that I will have one, so I have started making a collection for the spring, which is the ideal time to have a yard sale.
Dontcha know.

I have tons of projects that I want to work on- painting murals, drawing/painting portraits, working on pottery, painting gourds, planning my garden, knitting mittens, and anything else that I pick up along the way.

Tripp turned two today- I feel a little anxious somehow. He's growing so fast, not physically, but he just isn't my baby anymore. I know I have plenty of Christina to cuddle, but I just want to make sure that I infuse into Tripp how much I love him. I hope that I can always be that kind of mother. That's how my mother is, so maybe it will rub off.