Lately...

This is what has been goin' on lately...

My sister, Amanda (single mom of 3), graduated from Boise State University.

  



Sadly, this canal is the final resting place for Eric's eye glasses. E. was a good uncle and offered to babysit Amanda's kids during a girl's night/grad party for Amanda. Apparently, Eric and the boys were racing leaves or something in the canal when Daniel got overly excited and accidentally knocked Eric's glasses off...first onto the grate, but, unfortunately, they fell through to the rapids before Eric had a chance to rescue them. He even threw on his swim trunks and jumped in the canal in an effort to find them, which of course, was fruitless but very exciting for the boys. Unfortunately, the water was so deep, he couldn't even touch...and it was freezing. So we may not see those glasses again until the fall when everything dries up. While I was at the party, I got a text from Eric saying, "Not good. Daniel just knocked my glasses into the canal", and I had to laugh. What on earth are the odds of that happening?? He lost his previous pair of glasses when some homeless guy in Omaha tried to mug him, and somehow he swiped them off of Eric's face during the shuffle. I wasn't present for either incident, but I'm starting to wonder if he just makes these stories up to get new glasses.

P.S. I don't have my fancy birthday camera anymore. We decided to sell it so we can have the cash for more important things. Little did I know, those "more important things" would be new glasses for Eric. :)

Exterior Design

In the past few wks, it has become very clear to me that I'm a lot more comfortable with interior design than "exterior".

I had a $50 coupon for Franz Witte nursery, and I was so clueless as to what I wanted. You would think that my love for graphic and interior design would come in handy for landscaping as well, but not so much. Unfortunately, you have to take all of these different factors into account - climate zones, sun exposure, seasonal changes, etc. It was a little overwhelming for me. I just wanted to say hostas and hydrangeas and be done with it, but, unfortunately, I'm working with evening sun so it's not that easy. The one thing I knew going in was that I didn't want roses. And what did I end up getting?? Roses. The darn lady talked me into it. Don't get me wrong, roses are lovely, but the plants themselves are thorny and unnattractive to me. Plus, they're too common. I wanted to do something different and charming. In the end, the lady convinced me to try carpet rose b/c she said they're almost impossible to kill and they can withstand the harsh sun. Plus, I brought a photo of our yard, and she thought they would fit perfectly between our boxwoods. I do like the year-long purply, red leaves in contrast to the green. Eventually, I would love to make our front yard into a sweet little secret garden, but for now, we'll start with predictable roses.

Our yard before.



And after. I'm excited to see what the roses look like in full bloom this summer.



My succulents and a new little patio set. I thought I was being clever by buying this table off of Craigslist for only $30. The problem is that it's a wooden/indoor table. I tried spraying it w/polyurathane to protect it, but it's only been about a month, and it's already looking more shabby than chic.



Camel's Back Park

I'm loving the spring. Everything is green, and the weather is absolutely perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. We've spent the last few weeks outside as much as possible! Family picnics, volleyball, baseball, basketball, tennis, walks, frisbee golf, etc. Love it.

A few weeks back we got to take advantage of the nice weather for mutual and hike up Camel's Back...



Boise "skyline" in the background. Eric's bldg is the shorter white one coming out of Steph's head. :)



This shot makes me laugh. Melinda looks like she's in anguish.  Her sister is standing on her hair.



The YW human pyramid is a must.



I love Kendi's energy.



She asked me to help her with her grad announcement, and I immediately knew I wanted to keep it simple and showcase this beautiful picture of her. Love those eyes.



Spoiled

I definitely was spoiled this year for my 30th. Eric was sweet and left me 30(!) very thoughtful notes leading up to my birthday.

Day 27

Then, he surprised me with a Nikon DSLR camera which I've been lusting after for a while now. I knew we couldn't afford the D90 ($1000+), but he looked long and hard to find me this reasonable used D70 on EBay (for only a little more than we spent on our point-and-shoot)

Nikon D70

Here are a few photos that I've taken so far. (Keep in mind, I'm pretty clueless about DSLRs at this point so, hopefully, I'll get better)

Nephew Cooper & sis-in-law Sheri @ Braden's football game

Love that sky.

Jason posing at Tucano's Brazilian Grill. He and Eric kidnapped me for a birthday lunch and suprised me with the camera. (This is the very first shot taken.)

And thanks to all of the friends and family who sent cards and notes! Thanks to all of you, turning 30 was much less painful than anticipated.