Horticulture

While attending BYU my bishop worked in the horticulture department, specifically in the soils department. His office was in the basement of the Widsoe along with all of the other plant enthusiasts. I certainly remember thinking "what the heck could these people be learning about for four years!" There were maps of soil and test tubes of soil....so much soil....

Well since moving to Georgia (I will say I noticed NOTHING until I moved back here after college) I have become quite the plant enthusiast myself. I guess that implies I that I am enthusiastic about the plants living here....that would be incorrect. While I find it AWESOME that you can actually grow a garden that consists of more than root vegetables, (seriously, carrots rule but it's nice to have some variety!) the regular foliage is severely lacking. If you refer back to this post from a LONG, LONG time ago, I was first frustrated with the tree situation. Well now it's the grass. Grass is like a MAJOR thing. A major thing that I spent my life taking for granted. It's green, it's soft, it smells good. You just want to sit down in the summer and enjoy yourself. NOPE. Little did I know. There are MANY varieties of grass. Mostly separated into cool grass, and warm grass. I grew up enjoying the wonderfulness of Kentucky Blue Grass. A fantastic specimen that is soft and luscious. I now look out the window to see Bermuda Grass. A horrible weed that people like to use for a lawn. It's scratchy. SOOO scratchy. It gets everywhere. I don't know what the deal with that is, but its horrible. You sit on the grass (if you have to and you aren't scared about what might be lurking underneath the thick, intertwined, spiky surface) and when you stand up, you are covered in little pieces of grass. AND for all of that fabulousness, you get to do EXTRA maintenance. Bermuda grass needs to be edged because otherwise it spills out and looks like a big weed (coincidence? I think not!).

So basically, as Matt is taking care of our lawn this Spring. I appreciate the effort. And it surely looks better than it did before. But I don't know that I will ever be able to truly enjoy it. (And if you are wondering Kentucky Blue Grass will not survive here, I already checked.)

Too lazy to get my camera, but stay posted because I have pictures from our trip to the aquarium. (I know the suspense is killing you)

Yeah That Happened

That's red nail polish. Ryan broke a bottle of it on the floor.....At least it was in the bathroom!

Progress...

So the biggest question in our house right now...HOW DO YOU UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE FREE PAPER??? Seriously. I am asking. I really don't want to get the Forysth County News and Review (I actually don't know if that is the real name because I promptly throw it in the trash when I get it). But I promise, I know how these papers work, I spent some time in this field. There are three people on staff and they are running press releases sent by overzealous media folk so basically the whole thing is a big ad with sports highlights....don't care. But what we HATE is the whoever delivers in throws in and the END of our driveway (yes, we are just that lazy). And there is more than one free paper, so we are getting like 5 a week. And lately it has been raining ALOT soooo it turns into a big gooey mess. And if anyone knows how to unsubscribe to the free paper, do you think you can unsubscribe your neighbors too? Because my neighbors don't care about their paper and let it set on their grass forever before picking it up...and it gets super yucky.

In other news, I have noticed that people who have lived in their homes for a while seem to have everything unpacked and things hung on the wall and stuff. I figure that once I live in this house for a while the same thing will happen to me....except that would require that I made a LITTLE progress. Seriously, we still have boxes in almost every room. So how to you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!! I decided to start with the dining room, I thought it would be the easiest. In typical me fashion, I think I have bitten off more than I can chew with my very lofty ideas....you know, that I will simply do things that I have to idea how to do and that it will all work out. But I took a before picture, and I am posting here that I am working on it to hold myself somewhat accountable. I plan to have made substantial progress by tax day (April 15th) so check back then!!

1st Step

Isn't the first step admitting you have a problem. Well here it is, I am obsessed with Costco. Yeah, prety much I love that store...alot. In fact I spend a ton of time on Costco.com just checking things out. And seriously, I like just talking about that store. I mean hello, it's awesome. I fully bonded with a girl in our new ward because she loves Costco too (though I doubt as much as me!) I love to read the Costco Connection (it's their totally self-promting magazine that I read cover to cover) AND I was THRILLED to learn in the Costco Connection that they would be bringing back the chocolate and almond ice cream bar, I enjoyed one today, much to my and Ryan's satisfaction. I have found that they sell EVERYTHING at Costco. In fact, I have thought A LOT about items that they DON'T sell...there aren't many, in fact I have thought of two currently...fabric by the yard (and other sewing accesories, not to be confused with sewing machines because they do sell those) and fences. I am in the market for a fence (to fence my child in and my neighbors out, don't I sound so friendly :) and so I noticed that you can't buy a fence from Costco...yet. Perhaps I should make this suggestion. As I have mentioned before, Costco does sell caskets, but I did notice when reading the frequently asked questions (I was looking for the answer to whether the purchaser must be a Costco member or if they could use the deceased membership card) that they DON'T ship caskets to Georgia. Soooo....if I am in need of a casket while living in Georgia, I also would not be able to get that at Costco.



Yeah, so I like Costco...and I don't see an end in sight, because I feel that it is a healthy addiction :)



Another shout out goes to this man.

I think of him every year right around this time. You see, one of my FAVORITE days of the year is DAYLIGHT SAVINGS. I think it is wonderful. I love when it is light outside for longer, and it feels like the beginning of spring. And EVERY year as a child I would wish that daylight saving could be longer....actually I would wish that it could be all year however, if that happened then I wouldn't get the joy each year of SPRINGING forward. And back in 2005 this dude signed a bill EXTENDING daylight saving for an additional 3 weeks on either end. So thanks President Bush. You are awesome. I will be thanking you again in October when I get to enjoy daylight savings for an additional 3 weeks!! Did you know in some states they don't participate in daylight savings? First of all, get with the program and stop trying to be different...Secondly, sucks to be you, you are missing out on one of the best things about spring!

Love Has Its Rewards

For Valentine's Day we went with some friends to Fogo. I have blogged about this restaurant before, it is one of my faves....all the meat that you can eat. It was a wonderful night with a few awesome highlights. First, we got there and we could hardly get in the restaurant it was SOO crowded. There were people who told us they had been waiting for almost two hours to get seated!! BIG shout out to Matt for making a reservation (I won't lie, I was kinda wondering about the people who didn't make a reservation on Valentines, I mean c'mon what were you thinking). Then we sat down and we were seated by Evander Holyfield. He was also enjoying his meat. We were seated on the right side of him but he was facing us, so the missing cutlet was on the other side. But don't worry when he got up to leave, he turned and I saw the missing piece!! It is really small and hardly noticeable...if it hadn't been a major news story for like 6 months. We had a wonderful dinner with AWESOME food and great conversation, THEN as we were preparing to leave, they gave us a special Valentine's coupon, for a free meal for next time! So we will now have to go back! And soon, that coupon expires on April 8!!

Ryan loves to wear his sunglasses and I think part of the reason is because I take pictures of him whenever he puts them on, so from the MANY that I have, here are a couple.

Much Anticipated

Well, at least for my cousin. Basically I don't think I can talk to her again until I post these pictures because I'm outta excuses and she has been waiting. For the rest of you, enjoy. I mentioned that we moved into a new house. We moved right after Christmas and are still settling in. We love our new house and are really excited for all of the extra room that we have. So cousin, here is what you really wanted....pictures....

Outside, it was really sunny.

Family Room

Kitchen (obviously....)

Breakfast nook (cause you can only eat breakfast in here!)

Dining room....No we don't have a really shiny table,

that is our mirror that we still haven't hung up....

Downstairs bathroom

Office

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3

Ryan's Room

Upstairs bathroom

Upstairs landing

Master bedroom

Master Bathroom

Shout Out

So I'm shopping online, of course, at Costco. I wanted to look at furniture but I accidently clicked the wrong tab....FUNERALS. Who knew that you could plan your funeral through Costco. Love that store. They really have everything. Also, a shout out to the Wal-Mart by our new house, Wal-Mart Supercenter #4436. The best Walmart I have EVER been to. It is clean, new and it has showrooms (yes, I typed that correctly). The isles don't look the same, they have different products, but it is in fact a Walmart. They also have THE BEST staff ever. Super friendly and helpful. So SHOUT OUT #4436, you are AWESOME.