Garden

One thing that I really really like about the apartment that we're living in right now is that the woman who's basement we're living in, has a large garden area that she doesn't use and said that we were free to use it if we would like.

So last Saturday while Ben was at a study group, I went to town on getting all of the weeds and gunk out of the way. It's not even ready to be planted yet, but getting all of the layers of leaves and stuff moved off was a huge check off the list for getting the garden ready. Here are a couple of before and after pictures. Doesn't look like a lot, but it was packed pretty heavy!

This is what it looked like to begin with

After about two and a half hours of raking pulling, I finally got all of the gross stuff pushed aside

Then I started on getting the "grass" pulled out and switched to making the edge.

I was completely worn out by the end. I was only out there for like three and a half hours, but I was so tired! And I'm still sore! I guess that's what I get for not working out regularly... Anyway, I'm excited to finish up the prep this week, especially since my parents are taking us to J&J's tomato sale on Saturday.

I'm getting really excited about this whole garden business. I grew up in a home where we always had plenty of fresh vegetables all summer long, and I think it will be really fun to get my own little garden growing :)

Cooking Adventures - update

In January I wrote a post about how I was getting excited about cooking. That didn't last very long. I love being a wife, I really do. This may sound bizarre but I love cleaning, doing laundry, straightening the house, etc. - but cooking is really not my favorite thing to do.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of photos showing my awesome cooking-skills:

This, my friends, is a piece of very burnt bacon. I kept saying to myself "I don't think it's done yet, maybe I should leave it in a little bit longer..." It practically turned to dust in my mouth ;)

This is chicken that I pulled out of the freezer to thaw, and forgot about. I found it like three weeks later.

I've cooked a little here and there and as I cook more it becomes less of a drag. It will take more time, but it is going better, and it's easier now that I've started to meal plan.

Actually, I signed up for e-mealz.com today and holy cow it is perfect for me. It plans a week's worth of cooking and even makes a menu for you! So cool. Hopefully it helps push me to cook more. :)

"Fires"

During the first summer of our marriage, Ben did "fires." I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this already knows what "going on fire" means, except maybe a few of my friends... sorry, I tried explaining it but after I typed it and read it over, it made me confused as to what he did so I erased it haha.

Anyway, so last summer was really wet (compared to other years) so lucky for me, Ben didn't get called out too much. But one fire he did get called onto was one in Grantsville, Utah. That's right. Like 45 minutes away... So I tagged along! Kind of... I went to work during the day and a few of the evenings, I drove out there and had him show me what it was like.

Here are some pictures (keep in mind that this fire camp was set up in a high school parking lot - there was grass and cement and it was all very CLEAN. Ben said that camps are usually really hot, dusty, dirty and are miles off of any main roads. But I'm glad it was so close and clean because I got to take picture of what he did :)

This is the trailer that he worked and slept in

Those boxes that he's kneeling by are all full of phones that he can set up if they need him to.

Ben by the satellite dish that he set up

Ben said that this was called the "rack" or electronics case.

Looks easy enough, right?

I took this picture one of the first days so there weren't that many people there yet. But this is a couple of rows of trailers that were set up (i.e. the communications trailer, the logistics trailer, etc)

Gross... I actually didn't use these. At all. I drove to the gas station down the street. Haha I know I'm a wimp but these really gross me out. (I hope I didn't creep that guy out by taking this picture...)

Mobile showers

Backside of the mobile showers. It's really cool how these are set up.

Hand-washing station

Food line. I'm surprise how well they fed them - they served a ton of food!

This is actually not a very good picture of the tents that the firemen slept in. In the park across the street, there were TONS of tents set up everywhere.

So this might not have been interesting for anyone else to read, but I loved seeing all of the stuff he did and it was really cool to see this little "community" pop up in the middle of nowhere.

First Apartment memories

Just documenting here. We took more pictures than this, but this is what I remember most about our first apartment:

Outside (second level)

Looking out that same window. Yes, those are our dying tomato plants and flowers. The patio got really really hot during the day and cooked our plants, making it hard to keep them alive. At least, that's what I tell myself - part of me thinks it might be the accidental plant-killer in me. Who knows.

I never decorated our bedroom. I figure why decorate if we're going to move in 6 months (which we did) Sweet red blanket thought, right? Who else thinks Ben should be a fan model?

I took this picture because I wanted to remind myself (when we buy a house) how important storage space is. We crammed all our stuff into one closet haha.

And yet the Ramen got it's very own cupboard...

We enjoyed out first apartment, but really really like the one we live in now. But we're glad we moved into that one because it helped us find the one we're in.

Cruise 2009

Right after Ben and I got married, we were invited on a Caribbean cruise with all of his family and some of their extended family (minus the little kids). It was so fun to spend time with his family and get to know them and I thought the Princess cruise line was fantastic!!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

(oops, no picture of the whole group... there were lots of us though!)

We spent a night in Florida before we sailed off. Here are a few of us playing some card game or other waiting to leave the hotel (notice the swe-ot matching shirts)

I'm so excited

Goodbye Florida...

Hello cruise!!

Us at one of the ports

This day was so fun. Mark and Amy, Brett and Carrie, Daniel and Riki, and Ben and I all rented these fun scooters and rode around the island

I thought it would be really cool to get a "riding" picture so I whirled around and took this. Well when I whirled around we nearly got in an accident and I wasn't allowed to turn around anymore... Haha

Ben snorkeling on the prettiest beach I have ever seen

This picture really doesn't do it justice... the water looks dark, but it was the prettiest blue and when you stood in it, it was clear you could see your foot perfectly!

Check out the color of that water

"Whoa... that's a really big butt!" (Finding Nemo)

This trip was so fun for us. Looking back at my pictures I am realizing that we only took our camera out one, maybe two days... We were too busy, soaking up the sun, snorkeling, playing card games every night, eating until we felt like we were going to explode, exploring the islands, "whale-rolling" into the hot tub, eating pineapple at EVERY meal, winning Family Feud, being beach bums, and hanging out with a really fun group.

Since I don't have any pictures of any of that, I guess you'll just have to imagine us. Especially the "whale-rolling" into the hot tub. :)