Mind the Snow, it's nearly May you know.

it's the end of April. But it's snowing. It's snowing. IT'S SNOWING! Not hard, mind you, but who ever heard of snow at the end of April? Last week it was in the 80s. I'm just worried about my poor little garden. I have so much planted in my little plot of earth and I do not want any of it to die. I'm going to stretch trash bags over them tonight so they can try to keep warm and keep the snow off.

My love is pushing through the dirt

My plants are starting to grow! Precious tender seedlings are pushing up through the often nutrientless Utah soil.
Who can look at spring and not be in love? I am in love with the blue sky -not the blue of freezing air, but the blue of soft tender air. I am in love with the baby green that is transforming my vista.
I find it easier to be happy and show affection when I'm warm. I feel my Savior's love. I'm happy to work (especially since I'm baking again and NEVER will work a swimsuit shift again). I'm happy to be busy -though not with school.
I am in love with the possibilities that come with the warming of the earth. I love the axis of Earth. I love having this time to face the sun with all our might and bring life and love back into the Northern Hemisphere. I love geography.
I love surprises (though not secrets). I love that we all have weaknesses -our fallibility strengthens our bonds. I love the frailty of life -it makes everything more meaningful.
If you read this, (which means I probably know you) I love you. I love you readers from London. I love you readers from Redding. I love you readers from Utah, Arizona, New York, Cairo, Washington and anywhere else you may be. Matthew, I know you don't read my blog very often but some time you'll read this. I love you. You have become a dear friend to me. I'm so thankful for your strength.

winter's gone and taken my roommates

Exciting news pt 1: I got my very own KitchenAid. It is this lovely blue machine behind the lovely white cake it produced. I will never be able to live without my new friend.

Exciting news pt 2: The stupid tree in my yard has been taken to task. With the help of my hometeacher's yard tools, my strong boyfriend, and my helpful roommate we to' that tree up! No longer will it darken my garden with it's undesirable shade.

"Exciting" news pt 3: Three of my roommates will be in Africa this summer. Sophie moved out on Tuesday for Cairo, Nicole left this morning for Uganda, and Paige will leave on Friday also for Uganda. I miss them all already.

Exciting news pt 4: I love fish tacos! To celebrate Nicole's last day with us we went to Rubio's and got their World Famous Fish Tacos -for half-priced Taco Tuesday.

I ate 2+ of those tasty taco temptations.

Matt was unsure how he felt about the tacos.

Nicole shunned him for not understanding the flaky fiesta that is a fish taco!

At least I'll have Rudy all summer. She'll get me through missing the rest of them. (Matt you look stupid in this photo...)

Rudy's Last Swim

Missionaries and Wrinkles

Matt's little brother Michael went into the MTC yesterday. He's been called to serve in the Pocatello, Idaho Mission. On Tuesday we all went up to Salt Lake. While Matt, his mom, and Michael did a session, I did baptisms. Unlike the Provo Temple that takes FOREVER to do baptisms, I was done within 30 minutes. The Salt Lake Temple is so beautiful and old and has so much history.

The temple grounds have flowers blooming all year long because of an expensive heating unit in the ground that keeps the soil at a temperature sustainable to fragile flowers. Tulips have got to be my favorite flowers. I think they're just elegant. The ones around the temple were so lovely.

It was a beautiful day. I didn't mind waiting 2 hours for the rest of them to be finished. It was cold outside but I enjoyed myself.

We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building for lunch and I took photos of Matt and Michael for a bit after. I think Matt looks so handsome in these photos. I love him in grey.

There was an old woman on the piano playing a medley of The Sound of Music songs.

I'm getting wrinkles. It's hard to imagine why that could be....
I think it's kind of unfair to still have acne when I begin to get wrinkles.

haute couture

Wild Things

The Legs of a Ram

Arctic Explorer

David Bowie

Beethoven

Victor Krum


None of these things are things that I would like to look like. Maybe Chanel understands more about what actually looks good than I do, but I'm going to stay away from the oversized furry pieces...

I only liked 2 things from the Chanel Fall 2010 collection:

They were actually pretty. Some of the other cockail dresses looked like someone had to shear a yeti to stay warm in the arctic tundra. Unflattering.

text support

Today Matthew flew home for the weekend to say goodbye to his brother. Michael will leave for his mission on Wednesday. It's not that I miss him -I do but that's not really what this is about. It's that I know I can text him at any time but for the first time in 4 months my text is second. Family is first. That's the way it's supposed to be. I want it to be that way. But, I miss having my best friend only a text (or a 3 minute drive) away.

I'll probably get a lot done this weekend though.

At work I got a text sent from a flying plane. It made me remember the last time he sent me a text from the air -Thanksgiving. I wasn't sure I wanted to be with him then. When I got this text I was sad for the November Lana because she really didn't know what was up. She didn't know how amazing Matthew is. She didn't know how much happier she would be if she gave him a proper chance. She didn't know. But April Lana knows. And when April Lana got the text from the air, it made her smile. It made her sigh with contentedness. She knows how amazing he is. She knows how lucky she is. She knows and it makes her glad.

Easter Weakend (Strengthened)

Not a type-o, but a silly pun I guess. Weakend as in the end of being weak. First we got to be spiritually strengthened through General Conference (the end of our weak resolutions and a strengthening of resolve to do better) and second we celebrate our Savior's resurrection -the overcoming of everything weak.

I got tickets to see General Conference from my Bishop. It was my first time. Matt and I drove up in the morning and watched the first session in the old tabernacle (pictured above). The organ pipes were beautiful and it was really neat to be able to watch conference being broadcasted in the building where conference had been held for so many years.

Salt Lake Temple

During the intermission Matt and I took a tour of the Beehive House and had a lunch-to-go from the Lyons House.
The Beehive House was where Brigham Young lived with his family. It was really beautiful and very opulent (especially considering the times and how difficult it would be to make and obtain these things out in the middle of Utah when very little transactions were taking place).

You can see us in the mirror.

Digression: Lately, Matthew and I have been getting a lot of :"You two look like siblings!" False. We do not. This is what my siblings look like:

Sister

Brother

While Matt and I are cute together and I'll admit we may look similar, I do not think we look like siblings.

Back to Conference:

Conference Center aka The Meganacle

We looked darling. I curled my hair for the day and felt very pretty. I was really thankful to be able to go to conference (even though I fell asleep during the sustaining and my pen fell off my lap and the little girl next to me put it back on my lap while I was snoozing away on Matt's shoulder). Also I look A LOT like my niece Katie in this photo I think. Compare with photo below.

For Easter I made a Lemon Crepe Cake courtesy of the Martha Stewart Magazine. I hate lemon curd but this was absolutely delicious. Though I could only take a few bites before I hated lemon curd again.