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~

wishing...

Oh how I wish it were summer. I want to bite into a real, red tomato. Or go blackberry picking. Or go fishing! Or go for a long walk at night with bare feeted friends. Or make a pizza on the barbecue. Or smell the grass. Or cut some flowers.

In the meantime, here are some updates:

• We had a great visit with Savannah a few days ago. It was wonderful to catch up!
• Jesse got a job, and is very much happier. (Although I'm not at liberty to say where he will be working...)
• Our tulips are coming up!

I think that's about it. My job's still fine-ish. Jesse's birthday is on Wednesday, and that will be fun. I think that's about it.

March couldn't come sooner. Thank goodness it's almost spring--I'm hanging on by the skin of my teeth!

Oh Well...

Well, we are now recovering from our mad dash to Rexburg. It was so wonderful to see our lovely Annie, Liz, and Sarah. And CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah on getting into Kent!!! Wahooo! Anyway, Our auditions went well, but due to some different housing arrangements this year (and lots of good competition), we will not be a part of Playmill Theater this summer... Oh well. I'm really glad we tried out--Jesse especially had a great audition (something he needed right now).

So Valentine's Day consisted of a long day's drive (mostly by Jesse) and a fair bit of disappointment. But at the end of the day, I realized that I love Jesse more than the day I married him, more than the first day we held hands (Valentine's Day 10 years ago) and definitely more than the first day I saw him: when I was in sixth grade, we went to a performance of The Emperor's New Clothes. Guess who was the beboxer-shorted, curly-headed, eighth-grade Emperor? Yup, my Jesse. (By the way, we just figured this out this year.)

So we're regrouping, trying to focus on grad school stuff, and just hangin' out in wonderful spokane. Nope, doesn't deserve capitalization.

Greener Grass

Isn't it funny when you have a plan, and you feel mostly content to stick with that plan, and then something new comes along--some unexpected alternative. And suddenly, the old plan just won't do anymore...

"Oh Kathleen, stop being so cryptic. We casual blog-stalkers don't have the time or investment to play guessing games."

Well, Jesse and I have decided to try out for the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone, Montana. We sort of thought this experience was something we'd just never get to do (and may not still), but when Jesse checked the Playmill website on Thursday and realized auditions hadn't happened yet, we laughed. Then we sat in silence for 10 minutes. Then we decided if we could clear our weekend and get audition pieces together, we'd do it. Well, within 2 days, we had our stuff together, found a sub for my Beehives' lesson, found someone to cover my shift at work (hopefully!), got an accompanist to practice with us here, and called up an old friend to play for us at the audition. So here goes nothing.

Big Decision Time