wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

seeding the back yard has been on the top of our list for quite some time, and with tennessee’s stupid back and forth spring and winter weather this year, we haven’t been able to do it until now (well, the first half, bc of the dogs).

i know there were probably plenty of easier, less labor intensive methods, but i got out there with the tiller (the kind you stick in the ground and twist…and do a bazillion more times) and started softening up the dirt that has been packed down the for the past few months. wil joined me a bit later, to mow the grass that was already there in patches, and all of the sudden, we were pulling out bushes, weeding and flattening more ground.

i got the whole area tilled and seeded (where do i buy straw, anyone know?), and wil successfully uprooted three massive bushes in preparation for a future patio off the screened porch, in about 3 or 4 hours. we were exhuasted to say the least. and now i sit in pain; i think my arms are trying to separate themselves from my body, but my body won’t let them. even the stupid little muscles in my fingers burn as i type. my muscles were clearly not prepared for the work they had to perform today.

wil went to bed three hours ago (at 8!)…not only did he work in the yard with me, but he was up at 4ish for an opening shift. i think i’m about ready to hit the sack too…i was just reflecting on the day prior to calling it a night. the only bummer with seeding a lawn is that you do sooo much work for no visual evidence or change whatsoever. i’m really keeping my fingers crossed that this lawn actually sprouts. i took some before shots, but it will be weeks before there’s anything worth mentioning.
please oh please grow!

As a Starbucks manager, we are required to order business cards so that upon command we can whip one of these babies out and confirm that we, indeed, make coffee for a living.

i apologize for another picture post. but i’m the one at the keyboard, so i get to call the shots! heh!

here’s what i did today: (or got done, since i couldn’t physically do this myself)

thus far, this weekend has been great for me…good friday lived up to it’s title for a few reasons. this week being spring break, all of our clients are out of town or not calling, and carolyn was out of town for the latter part of the week. she had us leave a little early every day, but then thursday afternoon she called to say we could leave work at lunch on friday if we were done. wahoo! cass and i grabbed a coffee together to end our week of work on an even better note than it already was on. the weather was fantastic, so i drove straight to the dog park where wil met me with the girls for some playtime and just to unwind on a park bench in the sun.

only being 2 or 3 in the afternoon when we got home, we played outside together- giving our front lawn it’s first mow (even dead grass looks better when it’s mowed short!), seeded it and watered it in the light of the setting sun. i made some dinner and we enjoyed it on the patio (first meal out there this season) and it kind of reminded me of the little italian bistros we loved in europe for some reason.

and of course as you saw above, today, i greatly altered my physical appearance. i feel so light and stylish when i get a haircut. i wish i did it more than once a year, but i don’t think the change each time would be as drastic and uplifting as now. wil likes it, which is good…since he has to look at me every morning and night. : )

this afternoon with another beautiful (not as warm) day, we threw the dogs in the car to go to the d’orazios for cookout, basketball, and decorating easter eggs. they don’t have a dog, but a great yard that the girls played nonstop in. and their little daughter (she’s 4ish, i think?) isn’t afraid of gracie or ava at all, even though she’s about 1/4 of their size. very funny.

a very untraditional good friday and easter weekend, but in a sense, i’ve had a great joy in life… the blessings of being surrounded by beautiful flowering trees and spring weather, a lovely husband and best friend, good company and relationships to spend time with. a love of life not possible without christ’s life.

so there you go.

Hey everyone,

I did some work on the look of the website.  I think it was just time to clean it up.  So, a lot of the old pages have been purged and we only have a couple important pages… the front page, a link to kris’ flickr page, and a webcam page.

I also imported a little widget type thing on the side that is a feed of kris’ most recent images.  I thought it was fun.  I hope you enjoy!

-wil

i may have been singing a different tune a few moths ago, but no more snow! weather, you think it’s entertaining to toy with my emotions?…giving me a day of 70 degrees, only to snow 3 or 4 inches two days later? i can’t take it! our weather has been so kooky the past few weeks and it’s made me quite spiteful of the glistening snow and chilly air i used to love. now that it’s march, i’m ready for spring to take some action.

friday, a storm moved across the southern states and brought us a bunch of snow (a bunch for tn, mind you) for saturday morning…(only a couple months late!). ava flipped out, being her first real experience, so the girls did get a couple hours or so of running around, eating it, being silly, etc, but it didn’t take long for it to be just warm enough to turn our yard (with non existent grass) into a mud pit. they’ve been walking around in circles bored, moping at me to go outside today, but i won’t let them…not letting those freshly bathed paws step into that mush.

the clocks have moved forward and i’m feeling the hint of sunshine, warmth and new life that sprouts up around everyones’ yards. it makes me feel so happy to be outside…even if it’s just sitting doing nothing in the sun. even wil’s change of our website’s layout seems a bit springier and fresher. i am very much ready for winter to quit. wil and i have hopes of fixing up our yard this year…now that taxes are over for us and we can actually have an income again, we will probably start thinking of all the things we hope to do to make our yard more enjoyable. i know the three main things are to seed the lawn, create a nice flat little patio off the steps of the porch, and to potentially reroof the screened porch (it’s not so much of a roof when it rains…). i know they’ll probably be a bit more money and work than we think (isn’t that how home projects usually are though?), but they’ll be worth it.

with all that said, i have a few pictures of the girls enjoying the snow…hopefully this will serve as a proper adieu and winter will take the hint. (because, you know, winter does surf the internet and read our blog time to time)

plus: we just discovered a fantastic creek/riverside walk that leads to a huge closed in field for the girls to be off leash in and it’s about a mile away…the sooner it gets warmer, the sooner we can all enjoy it!

So,

Yesterday I went to Wally world and when I pulled in, I was ecstatic to find that the very front parking space (next to the handicapped ones) was open! I was so excited and when I came back out with my cart full of groceries, I realized that not only was I amazingly close to the front doors, the space was ALSO right next to the cart return!!!

War mid-day laziness!