Weekend Plans

Jesse and I are house-sitting for some people in our ward for the next few days. They have horses--2 grown ups and a baby! Harses, harses, harses. They also have a giant tortoise, baby chicks, guinea pigs, and grown up chickens. Did I mention this guys's a vet? Should be fun.




On page 135...

St. Patty's, breakfast, dinner last night

Currently I am:

missing this person:

and this one:

and this one:

and this one:

Looking forward to going here:

And moving here:

And going to school here:

And then moving here:

And LEAVING this:

Only on page 108 of BOM.

Sunday Post

Well friends, another weekend has come and gone. Although yesterday and today were spent working and churching, we got to enjoy some sunshine on Friday! It was about 60 degrees here, and Jesse and I decided to go play. I made a pie, we went for a jog, I went with J to get a haircut, we ran some errands, went to the batting cages (yeah, I'm pretty good if you can believe it), and then made dinner, ate pie, went for a long walk, and watched The Sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. What a great day.

We've also given ourselves a challenge. As we're going to General Conference in about two weeks, we've decided it's about time we read through the Book of Mormon again. I'm not sure we're going to make our deadline, but we'll at least get a good chunk under our belts. I have to say, when I read the scriptures, sometimes it feels like wading through words. Not always, but sometimes. But the difference of my quality of life shoots way out of the park (still stuck on my surprising aptitude for baseball). I wake up feeling lighter, with a warmth in my heart and an excitement about the day. I'll keep you apprised of our progress. I know you're just dying to know how we do.

If I don't blog before then, I want to give a birthday shout-out to Mama Llama! Hope you have a fabulous spring break and get some r&r. Tell Medford hello and smell some daphne for me!

Peggy's Pie Flashbacks

Found these pictures from my Peggy's Pie adventures last summer. Also found some rhubarb at the store. I'm goin' in!

Housing Woes

So Jesse and I are trying to work out our housing in Kent from afar. Our deary dear friends Sarah and Annie are also trying to do the same. And I need some advice. The university doesn't have much in the way of married housing, and to be honest, we'd all love to be in the same house (especially Jesse and I). We've all been roomies before and it's worked out wonderfully. So our options are to either get what we get and sign up for on-campus housing, or try to rent a flat/house from away over here in North America. There are more hang-ups, too. Jesse and my program will take us away from Kent for about 4 months, but Annie and Sarah's won't. So here's the conundrum: do we go ahead and rent something off-campus (which will probably be cheaper) and just hope we can fill our room for 4 months in the middle of the year, or do we opt for student housing, in which we'll be separated (possibly even Jesse and I)?

This is all a bit overwhelming, and I need some perspective, here. This is where you come in.

Notice:

People with Asian characters for names who leave links to schoolgirl porn as comments on people's blogs should find something better to do with their time.

YIPPEEEEEEE!

Guess what we did today? We just bought our tickets! To LONDON! One-stop in Reykjavik, Iceland, then on to jolly old England. And what a deal! Our one-way tickets from Seattle to Heathrow cost a whopping $388.00 a person. That's right. $388.00. It's really happening!

It's Coming...

Putting in the Seed

You come to fetch me from my work tonight

When supper's on the table, and we'll see

If I can leave off burying the white

Soft petals fallen from the apple tree

(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,

Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;)

And go along with you ere you lose sight

Of what you came for and become like me,

Slave to springtime passion for the earth.

How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed

On through the watching for that early birth

When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,

The sturdy seedling with arched body comes

Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.

~ Robert Frost

I've been planning an official springtime post, but it's not quite time yet. Jesse and I spent the afternoon planting little things, including Heather and Canterbury Bellflowers (we couldn't resist). This is my Almost-Springtime Post.

Jesse's Birthday and Hooping Skills

Well, Jesse's been in the world now for 27 years. What an old fart. His birthday passed pretty uneventfully--mostly because all my birthday surprises were discovered or fell through:

• I has called the Bishop of our ward to see if I could surprise Jesse with tickets to general conference. Bishop M told me they haven't been having luck getting tickets and to not get my hopes up.



• So then Neil and I went in on a really great suit that Jesse has had his eye on since September. Neil also bought a tie while we were at Burlington. The next day at church, Jesse leans over to me and asks if we went to Burlington yesterday--he used to stock that tie and he knew exactly where we had been. I caved a little too easily and ruined that surprise.



• The day of Jesse's birthday, I wrapped his gifts and left them on the table (he likes to have things to look forward to). I went to work after making Jesse swear he wouldn't touch them or try to guess what they were. I even put the books I got him in cereal boxes so he wouldn't suspect what they were. That night before we went to dinner and before the gift opening, Neil was saying that we had both chipped in for the suit (as he knew about that gift already), and I blurt out, "But I got you the books!"



• One last surprise to go. Can I pull it off? I stuffed the "27" candles in my purse and we headed to the restaurant. After we had ordered, I excused myself and hid by the restrooms, hoping to flag down our waitress to pass off the candles. Instead, Jesse comes around the corner and sees me pretending to text someone. He's like, "what are you doing?" and I said (oh-so-cooly) "What? oh fine! I have these candles and I was trying to surprise you and now you've ruined it and I'm not even gonna do it!" Sadly, he hadn't even seen the candles in my hands.
  

Oh well. We had a nice dinner and he like the suit. And the books. And the candles. And maybe we'll drive to conference anyway and sit on the grass and listen like we used to do.

And here are some awesome shots from Jesse's church b-ball playoffs last night~