Goodnight, Garden

Shots from my backyard, taken at dusk.

My monstrous pumpkins, enjoying the break from the sun that makes their leaves wither in its heat.

The flowers on the pumpkins curl up at night.

The creeping vines are beginning to take over the lawn. They grow so fast, it seems like they are half a foot farther along every day. I could probably see them moving if I watched long enough. See the tiny pumpkin under the vines? This little dude makes me happy.

Funnel Spider







Goodnight, garden.

The Anniversary

It has been 3 whole years since the Mr. and I got hitched. We have been together for almost 8 years, and the other day I realized I have known him for TEN years! This is just unreal to me. It has been 10 whole years since I spotted him sitting in the front row of science class, with his red high top shoes. Ten years since I sat next to him and tried to dazzle him with my amazing taste in music, {Slipknot and Weezer} 10 years since we wrote notes to one other, admitting very shyly our crushes we had on each other.

And it really doesn't seem like it's been that long since we were 16, just driving around in his van, eating lunch together at Taco Bell every day, laying on the grass at the park, SO in love, so sure we would get married, have babies, and grow old together and we just could not wait for those things to happen.

8 years later, I am still just as in love with Cody Black, I still miss him when he leaves my side, I still get so happy when he gets home from work and I can find my place in his arms again. I hope this never changes. I hope we only fall more in love with each other and are always able to laugh and play and cuddle, and show our appropriate pda, until we are old and wrinkly and using walkers with tennis balls on the feet. We will still call each other sweetheart and hold hands and take slow walks in the park. Then I will write a book about our love and Cody can read it to me and we can die in our sleep together. That's the goal I have in mind, anyway. :)

Anyway, we had such an amazing, happy anniversary. I decorated our gazebo with rose petals, candles, and twinkle lights. We got all dressed up in separate rooms and then met each other outside with our wrapped gifts. We ate nachos (the food we had every single day on our honeymoon) and cream soda in glass bottles (we used to drink that back in middle/high school at lunch time) and watched a slide show I made of pictures of our wedding accompanied by music playing from our reception. It was dreamy.

We didn't talk any business, nothing about chores that needed to get done, or bills or anything too marriagey. It was just like we were on a date, on our best behavior. It was lovely.

Then we opened presents!

Cody got new hiking boots made of some type of fancy water proof leather (I am still sticking to the traditional anniversary gifts and 3 years is leather) and guitar pick necklace that says "So Happy I Picked You" on one side and "Happy 3 years Cody" on the other side. He also got a card that says "If I had a big enough needle, I would sew us together while you were sleeping so that when you woke up, we would be like one person. One big happy deformed person." I'm not lying, that's what it said. I bought it like that. I thought it was pretty awesome but Cody seemed oddly disturbed.

I got an absolutely adorable purse that I had told Cody about a couple weeks prior, not thinking he was even listening, and inside was an awesome handmade card and TICKETS to see my very favoritest band ever DEFTONES the next weekend!! I was so flipping excited.

Afterwards we cuddled in the hammock and just talked until it got dark. Cody told me all about the plans he made for us for the next weekend. It was such a happy night. That's the best word I can think of to describe what I felt that night. Happy. I don't think I've had a more happy night for quite a while.

Memorial Weekend

My cute brother, his cute wifey, and cute son came to visit us this weekend. We had crazy fun and many inside jokes were created. Saturday we had a pirate day and went to the pirate pizza place, then saw Pirates 4. Sunday we went to Zion's as they had never been, and that night we had a BBQ and some backyard fire pit time.

We had a park ranger take a photo of us. He counted to 3 and right on 3 we made this overwhelmingly attractive face. We think we're funny.

My 23rd Birthday Adventure

Last, last Friday was my birthday and cute Cody took me camping up in Zion Canyon. We went on a hike, ate at my favorite Springdale restaurant, Oscar's, survived the rapture, and got to sleep in our cozy new tent for reals this time (not just in our back yard).

This trail was pretty awesome, and we definitely felt it the next day.

Lots of yummy camping food!

Of course I took this opportunity to take some night photos.

These were all taken right outside our tent with varying long exposures.

We had a great time! Oh yes, and Cody got me lots of cute gifts like bear rug coasters, cookbooks, the Pioneer Woman novel, and other lovely little goodies. He also built me a beautiful coffee table which I LOVE. Points for Cody!

2 Peas in a Pod

My cute sister-in-law is preggers with twins. I decided to get crafty and make her a necklace.

It didn't turn out perfect, but pretty good for my first time with this technique, and I like it's imperfections, anyway.

Life, Lately

Things are getting busy in the Black home. Moxie sales have picked up a bit and Cody started his summer semester today. We are really really NOT excited about this because he has hard crappy classes that he will be studying for all the time, and he has to be to work at 3am every morning which means most of his free time will consist of sleep. So to sum up, I won't be seeing much of him for the next couple months, and it blows.

I know that he has to do it for our family's future, and he works so hard for us. He wants to be home as much as I want him home, and I am blessed to have such a hard working, good man for my husband. Remembering this and trying not to be frustrated because I just miss the crap out of him is something I'm working on every day.

Enough complaining, lately I have been spending lots of time in the craft room gluing feathers together and such to make clips, and we started our first vegetable garden.

We have yummy little strawberries that are always getting nibbled on by garden pests.

And Cody built me a drip system for my tomatoes and jalapenos which have tiny little green baby tomatoes and jalapenos growing on them already.

As usual, Reagan must be right smack in the middle of whatever I'm working on.

I just love her and her little cat thumbs!

Happy Mother's Day!

May is already here and Mother's Day has got me thinking about that lady who birthed me 23 years ago. She is one awesome woman. I know a side of my mother that not many get to see. People who do not know her well get to see her floopy side (floopy? I don't know...) They describe her as many things, most of all free-spirited. Though she is quite the free spirit, I want you to know how far off this version of her is.

The mom that I get to see is amazing. She is so smart, talented and loving, and see's the best in people. She is so forgiving of anyone who has ever wronged her. The woman cannot hold a grudge. She has always taken such good care of me and has always been there for me. She has taught me to be (or at least tried her best to get me to be) strong, self sufficient, open minded, to not see fault in others, and to be myself and express myself the way I need to, among so much more.

She is a brave warrior woman. There was never a creepy critter too big to vacuum up or catch with a tissue. She always showed me bugs and lizards and snakes in our yard when I was growing up. We would search for "night crawlers" with our flashlights. One night when I was very young, she even woke me up to show me a newt she found. She is never grossed out by anything I tell her, she doesn't shy away from scary unknown kitchen mold species like I would, she just cleans it up without hesitating.

She has passed on her love of art to me. Her father was a painter and now she is the most amazing artist. Her house and her loved ones houses are filled with her beautiful paintings and drawings.

She loves to sing and is an gifted decorator and gardener. She never stops moving, she is constantly finding things that need to be done. She never stops working, and she never stops enjoying life. She is always trying to better herself. She has taught me to love every animal on this earth. She loves her horses like they were her own children. She has a hard time saying no whenever we go to the animal shelter. She was always willing to let me take care of various pets. Throughout my childhood we had a turtle, a bunny, parakeets, a snake, frogs, so many cats, and a lot of beta fish. She is an adventurer. Many afternoons were spent hiking in the mountains with her in the summer, and sleigh riding in the mountains in the winter. Many evenings were spent riding in my seat on the back of her bike. She showed me the beautiful world that God has given us.

She has done so much with her life as well. Along with being a great mother and being married to Brett Garn, in her life she has been a secretary, a lumberjack, a semi truck driver, a tupperware factory worker, a cleaning lady, flown planes, traveled the world, been a catalog model, a loving caregiver to lots of old people, and so much more I can't think of right now, all while looking fab, I might add.

I'm sorry for rambling but I am filled with so much gratitude for this lady. I am blessed to have her. She is awesome. She gave me THE BEST childhood ever and is now my bff. I love her! When I am a mother someday, I hope I can be the brave mama bear to my kids that she is to me.

Here she is striking a fierce pose in October 2010.




My mom and HER mom (moms!) about 1989-ish.