Sunday March 16th - A perfect day. Here's why.

Started the day with a homemade breakfast by my mother-in-law. Went on a two-mile walk with Justin and two of his siblings through the hills behind his parents' house. Went to the park with my brothers, their kids, and my parents. Got my mom out in the sunshine, got her to exercise a little bit, and had a blast with my family. We all needed the fresh air. Spring always makes me feel alive again. This day is one that will stay in my memory forever. I love this woman with all of my heart. She is a champion.

I finished my day at work, ran home to pick up a few things, water my precious wildflower patch to keep it from cooking in the 90 degree mountain sun, and then I was going to rush off to a fun family barbecue/picnic... and came home to this:


Yesterday it was this:

WHY YARD PEOPLE, WHY?!!!!?!?!?

I am seriously pissed. I spent 2 months trying to grow those wildflowers and they kind of looked like a big pile of weeds but they were all covered in buds and in the next few days would've looked like this:

http://www.hamptons.com/gallery/article/16907c.jpg

I have been waiting 2 whole months. Patiently watering everyday, checking their growth from the tiny little seeds I dumped gently into the dirt, to teeny tiny seedlings, to the 14 inch tall plants they had become. I was a proud gardener yesterday. Happily posting the above collage to Instagram, just knowing I was going to brag about my amazing green thumb in a few days when all those pretty purple, orange and red blooms opened up. Yeah... NO.

Happy Monday yard people. Happy Monday everyone.

HAPPY.
FREAKING.
MONDAY.

GRRRRRR!

I feel like a combination of these two things now (tough to achieve, I know! It only happens when you uproot my precious flower beds while I'm at work!):

http://community.mom365.com/group/crybabyphotocontest2011

http://churchfun.com/images/wp/bear.jpg

I've been talking a lot about Vitamin D in my recent posts... obviously I have a thing for it, or just a thing for sunshine and all the awesomeness it brings with it.

Easter Sunday was a fabulous Spring day.

Justin and I went for a bike ride, fried up some burgers for our first barbecue of the warm weather months, and I even potted some flowers that will live in my window until it's warm enough for them not to freeze outside at night. Northern Utah is still classified as desert (I think) so even though it's 65-70 degrees during the day, it doesn't mean it won't be down around 30 degrees at night. It's pretty standard that Spring weather here consists of summer weather in the morning, and snow around 3pm in the same day.

I can't even describe to you how awesome those first warm weather days are for my psyche. But... I will try anyway. It just makes me feel like everything is going my way, and all is right in the world. Don't be surprised if you see me singing "these are a few of my favorite things" in a meadow of Spring flowers. That's really what it does to me! I might need to move to a state that has more even temperatures all year round. (Just no Arizona... too dirt-filled.) Anyone have any recommendations?

Here are some photos from the day.

I had a great weekend. Did you? I hope so.

Let me tell you my why my weekend was good.

First off, I got to leave work Friday at 12pm. That's always a great way to start the weekend! Second of all, I got to go on a mini road trip with my mama! We drove down to Southern Utah to spend time at home. She has her treatments Monday through Friday 4 hours from her home, so it's great that she feels awesome enough to go home for the weekend. The weather was a little rainy but the sun came out and the temperature got up to 65 degrees! We also chatted for the whole drive down there. It was so nice to have it just be us two in the car, talking about anything and everything. I loved every minute of it.

I also love when the sun comes out and warms everything up in the spring. I get the winter blues whether I want them or not, so the sun invigorates me when it's been hiding for months. Saturday I sat out on the deck soaking in the Vitamin D while my mom made her regular April rounds through her thawing garden. She pruned the peach tree so it would be able to give us awesome peaches like it does every year. The poor thing gets so many huge peaches, the branches get too heavy and almost break. She also pruned her raspberry bushes, and cleared up some of the random debris that winter storms leave behind. It hardly felt like anything huge has happened in our lives. She doesn't even seem like "the awful news" ever even happened. I'm grateful for days like that, and for her amazing health right now.

My german sis and I soaking up Vitamin D on the deck.

Also this weekend was the LDS General Conference. For those not a part of the LDS religion (the Mormons) this conference happens every 6 months and can be seen via satellite broadcasts at meetinghouses, tv, or in person at the conference center in Salt Lake City. We watched it on tv from my parents' house. Sometimes it feels as if the whole 2 days worth of spiritual guidance is specifically geared toward me. I am a spiritual person. I pray to God multiple times a day for whatever I might need that requires a little help. Sometimes they are purely just prayers of gratitude, sometimes they are the pleadings of a heavy heart. This weekend, it was a little of both.

It was so nice to spend the weekend being uplifted by amazing talks on faith, perseverance, and life lessons. Practicing faith right now seems to be the topic of my life with what's going on in my family. I was so happy to be in my childhood home with my younger teenage brothers, my German sister, and my parents.

And then my mom baked 2 kinds of cookies. Aaaahhh the good life!

Also, apparently this little gem happened during the conference... 2 old gospel nerds fist bumping. Awesome.

Photo credit: Google Images had so many versions of this in their image search, so I just linked to one.