When a thing is wick...

it has a life inside it...and it makes the advent of spring magical! She's here--spring that is--early and unseasonably warm, but most welcome. My sweetheart started our summer seedlings indoors, and the basil (pictured above) is going gain-busters. Some others are starting to come up now as well. We purchased a special T5 light this season for the seedlings, and it seems to be helping a lot.

On Monday, I planted an early spring garden at some neighbor friend's in our ward. They own an acre (or more?), and offered a "bit of earth" to us for planting. The best part? Thanks to their neighbors (who own several horses) the beds are seasoned with all the fresh manure they care to shovel. So, basically, my little seeds are growing in black gold. I planted spinach, 'Red Sails' leaf lettuce, arugula, chives, cilantro, green onions, Swiss chard, and snow peas.

Tomorrow I am planting a similar early spring garden at my mother-in-law's house. Bring on the leafy greens!

Tender Mercies

This past Monday it was my turn to prepare the lesson for our family home evening. I felt impressed to share a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar in the April 2005 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called The Tender Mercies of the Lord.

Several times in this talk, Elder Bednar testifies to the following:

"The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."

With his words newly imprinted on our minds, the events of this weekend were most interesting.
On Friday, Dallin and I went to the temple for date night and Ezra went to Grandma's house. After our evening at the temple, we went to dinner at a mall area just a few minutes from Grandma's house. As we were leaving the parking lot, our car showed signs of serious distress. We had just gotten into Grandma's neighborhood when the car died. It came back on one more time, choked, sputtered, and then died again. We were just a block or so from the house and so we walked the rest of the way.

Let me interrupt for a moment to say that earlier that day I had been out and about with Ezra twenty miles from home doing errands; the car performed perfectly normal. We drove 50 minutes to Grandma's house that evening; the car performed perfectly normal. We continued on to the temple, another 35 minutes; the car performed perfectly normal. Only when were were minutes from Grandma's house--walking distance!--did the car have problems. I am humbled to think of all the things that could have gone wrong that didn't. I am humbled to consider how we were protected from harm's way throughout the evening. I am humbled to recognize the tender mercies of the Lord.

"The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."

We were stranded, but conveniently so! We stayed the night at Grandma's house where there are beds and food to spare. On Saturday, Dallin used his time and resources, and some mechanical grit I didn't know was in him, to diagnose and fix the car himself. My sweetheart put in a new fuel pump and fuel filter, and with some timely help from a mechanic friend, the car was up and running again.

We have been so blessed by the Lord's tender mercies!

Happy Birthday!

My sweetheart is celebrating a milestone birthday today (...rhymes with dirty). Perhaps the years have played a dirty trick, but baby and I are determined to make it his best birthday yet!

We love you!

An Irish Blessing

I think a wee bit of the Irish luck be with us this evening. The little one rolled over (from back to tummy) for the first time! It isn't just a passing fancy lads and lassies, for he's done it now several times in a row. A pat on the back for the little one; 'tis harder than it looks.

Time flies...

...whether you having fun or not!

So, I guess it has been a busy month, or I am just head-in-the-sand focused on doing daily life.

Here is a quick run-down of the goodies from this last month:

• My sweetie added two more orchids to our collection, of the Dendrobium genus. All three are currently blooming and on warm, sunny days, the fragrance is very nice.
• A new "health miles challenge" started through husband's employer, so we wear our respective pedometers religiously. Daily goal: 7000 + steps.
  
• Relief Society Women's Conference featuring Sister Barbara Thompson of the General Relief Society Presidency, who is quick to laugh at life and herself. A jolly woman with wonderful counsel.
• New efforts at better recipe planning/shopping is helping the budget! The other week I bought enough produce for almost every letter in the alphabet (apple, avocado, beet, banana, cilantro, celery...)
  
• A trip to the Denver Temple (& a baby switch-off) to do family names. Hooray!
• Ezra turned six-months old! He likes to grunt, bang his fists on the floor, verbalize, and clap his hands. Oh, and he is now eating baby food (officially). The pea puree is a big hit.
  
• Ward choir (sixteen member strong!) sang for our ward conference.