a.rose

Welcome to my Backyard! part 1. This was taken in early spring, just a few weeks after we first moved in.  Let's say the end of March? Just because I know you've been dying to see what my backyard looks like.

Around here, Devin is more than just the breadwinner.  He is also the bread baker.  On a side note, while he does bring home the bacon symbolically speaking, he is sadly bring-home-bacon-less in the literal sense.  Go ahead.  Take a moment to pity me.  I can take it. I return now to my purpose: When we first got married he typically made two loaves of bread a week.  Many changes have come to our family since then, but one reliable constant has been that Devin still bakes our bread.  About a year ago he taught me to bake bread, and I do it occasionally, but the undisputed award for best bread will always go to Devin in this household.  Or until the girls get old enough to challenge him. Which may happen sooner than you'd think: Yes, it truly is what you think it is: Hallie kneading the dough for a loaf of bread. Hallie, in the short, tender years that she has been with us, has become somewhat of a bread snob.  It's totally not our fault, ...

It is a completely satisfying experience to read a thoroughly good book.  It is so uplifting to me to read a book that not only has good plot and great characters but is also well written.  Have you ever read Woman In White by Wilkie Collins?  If so, join with me in saying "Bravo" to Mr. Collins, and if not, let me urge you to do so.  If you've never heard of it, do not despair, for neither had I until just recently.  Now that you have heard of it, make haste! Run, don't walk to your nearest library and begin! At once! Ok, see how I'm trying to talk like him now?  That's the one problem I've found with reading literature written by such genius as Wilkie Collins.  It's the same way I feel after reading one of Jane Austen's.  They have the same way of describing their characters so deliciously, of developing a plot so carefully and to the purpose that fill me up with excitement.  I shuddered as I was reading it to think what I would write in...

You'll think that I must live in a cave when you are done reading this post.  Or maybe under a rock. Or on Mars.  Put me wherever you want, but it must be some place far from the reaches of popular culture, or whatever they call it. I don't own a smart phone.  I have never used DVR.  It's possible that I have never sent a text message.  I had to have a friend explain "BubbleBoy" to me when I kept hearing people talk about it and couldn't figure it out.  I finally googled Susan Boyle , again when I couldn't figure out who she was that everyone kept talking about.  (Pretty amazing, though.) I don't tell you all this because I think it makes me great or wonderful.  I don't think it makes me anything except, well, just me.  The reason I tell you this is because I just stumbled upon an ENTIRE WORLD that I never knew existed.  Have you ever heard of the Bloggernacle ?  Me either, until about a week ago.  You may have noticed the ...

Let's go on a walk, Mommy. Ok. Fully dressed, check. Diapers recently changed, check. Baby recently fed, check. Diapers, check. Wipes, check. Sunscreen, check. Spare Clothes, check. Burp Cloth, check. Water bottle, check. Garage door opener, check. Toddler, check. Baby, check. Sunglasses, check.

I love to see the temple I'm going there someday  to feel the Holy Spirit to listen and to pray For the temple is a House of God A place of love and beauty I'll prepare myself while I am young this is my sacred duty. from the Children's Songbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. c. 1989, p. 95

Al and I walked to the park today.  The park is just down the street from my house and it was a nice day, so we packed up all our gear and off we went.  We were about halfway to the park when we passed a house.  From the garage we heard barking, and as Hallie loves all things dog I said, "Listen Hallie, do you hear the doggy?"  She got excited so we stopped for a minute, and that's when I noticed the yard. It looked worse than ours does, which is really saying something.  The house itself looked creepy and unkempt, (think the house kids avoid on Halloween...)  I just looked and looked at that house trying to put my finger on just exactly what it was that looked so wrong about it.  Then it occurred to me: it looked neglected, completely abandoned. So what were those dogs doing in the garage then?  I said to Al, "I hope these people take better care of their dogs than they do of their yard."  I was quickly calculating in my head what optio...

Sometimes I think about the people that first said common phrases.  I mean, the person that first said, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” condemned old dogs to a life of performing only the tricks they had always known, never to have anyone try to teach them something new.  Was the person that first said it merely being flippant, having no awareness of the impact his words would have on the lives of dogs around him?  Or was he a dog expert, and made his comment after years and years of intense, careful research, and he actually knew for a fact that you cannot, indeed, teach an old dog new tricks?  I’ve also wondered if perhaps it was one person at all.  Could one person really say something and have it catch on like wildfire, spreading throughout the masses until everyone had heard it at least once in their life?  (While we’re on the topic of phrases, I have never understood “catch 22” OR “mutually exclusive”. If anyone could explain these to me, I’d ...

Ok, really this post is about gardening again. But I've already written a post that I titled "Gardening", and I thought this would catch your attention. And I think that gardening probably is a sure-fire weight loss activity, cleverly disguised as hard work. There I am, getting the soil ready to welcome the seeds.  The original garden was pretty big, but we added about five feet, and put the fence around it.  The original owners also apparently planted nothing but corn and strawberries, and let me tell you what: Strawberries are a mess to dig out once they get in cozy and comfy.  Phew, that was a chore. What a handsome, handsome man. Hanna was a champion through most of this part: And Hallie did a really good job sleeping through all the fun parts, and then she woke up to the drudgery of putting in seeds.  Thank goodness we had her around to liven up that most dull of garden tasks. I can't wait to meet you, little carrots, sweet peas, green beans, peppers, to...

So, I never really got the whole "zoom-zoom" thing as an advertisement. I even thought the little whisper at the end was super-creepy.  Because of all that I didn't have much to do with Mazda. We are a GM family, after all.  (I'm still proud of it.)  However, all that changed two weeks ago when I became the official owner of my very own Mazda.  ZOOM ZOOM, indeed. "Hi, I'm 2 going on Legal-driving-age.  Want to friend me on facebook?"  "Ok, really, I am still just two."  And, because it's been so long since you've seen any pictures, I know you all want a peek at Hanna: "Huh. So that's where I put my foot." Now that I am footloose and fancy free, I can go wherever, whenever. Just like Shakira.  Awesome.

Last week Devin was gone from Monday through Thursday, touring the wheat fields of Kansas to help with the projected yield for this year's crop.  The girls and I missed him dearly.  It was the first time I had been alone in... a long, long time. (Usually when he goes somewhere I make my mom come and stay with me, but we are much too far away now for me to indulge in that kind of silliness.) He is out of town again, this time touring Nebraska, and he won't be home until tomorrow night.   A few days ago (read: before he had even left) I was walking around with hot, bitter grumblings coming out of my mouth.  I was dreading him being gone, leaving me alone, and I was felt that if I complained, well mine was a "righteous" murmuring, and I was entitled to it, because after all, look at what I was being forced to deal with! Alone! By myself! Here! Sometimes, at night, it gets dark!!  Can you believe it? Then, as I was really getting into the groove of my grumb...

One of the most exciting things about moving here was that we finally expected to be in a permanent location. Since we were married three years ago, we have moved eight times. The moves have all been my fault as I have worked my way through internships, graduate school, research assignments, and post doc positions, and I am particularly grateful for my wife’s constant support.     One example of how supportive my wife is occurred just after one of these many moves. Part of my research in grad school required me to travel the Netherlands for three months to collect some data and evaluate some new equipment developed by a company there. This was my first time ever being out of the country and I was terrified of not being able to talk with anybody.     We arrived on a Sunday, and my supervisor picked us up from the airport. When he dropped us off at our new apartment, he told me that he would take me to work the following day, but after that I should take th...

A few posts back I wrote about a journal that I kept when I was a junior in high school as part of a daily writing assignment for my English class.  I was 17 at the time, and I think I thought that I knew a lot.  I also, it seems, was afraid that I would become boring sometime in my twenties.  Well I'm definitely in between twenty and thirty, and what's funny to me about that is that I'm still worried that I'm boring.  (And if you think that's a silly thing to worry about, you should hear about the other things I'm afraid of!)  So I've decided to stop worrying and being afraid that I am boring, and analyze the situation.  I realize that some people would say, "Ok, I'm afraid that I'm boring, so I will go and start being totally un-boring.  Alright, tomorrow I've got myself booked for sky diving, and the day after that I'm going to have a few teeth pulled at the dentist without the anesthetic.  That should keep  me interesting at least un...

A while ago I made Hallie some alphabet flash cards to play with. I know, I know, I'm such a nerd. That's not the point here today. A few days ago I decided to make her some number flash cards that we can play games with, too. She's pretty good at her numbers, but I thought it would be fun. (Nerd.) So I made these ones really big, a full half sheet of paper for each number. I left them empty on the inside because I wanted to color them in myself (save on ink) and then I was going to laminate them. Hallie wanted to color something the other day and saw them and before I could stop her she had grabbed them and commenced coloring. Well, I figured they were for her anyway, so why not let her scribble all over them? My eyes bugged out of my head (almost literally) when she showed me her finished product, and my goodness, you could tell she was proud of herself. Not nearly half as proud as I was when I saw: Good job, Hallie!  I've never said a word to her about dr...