Birmingham Botanical Gardens

This past week I went to Birmingham Alabama to visit my boyfriend for a week - April 4th to April 10th. I took the Red-Eye flight Tuesday night so I could have as much time as possible. We mostly did shopping and boring things Wednesday because I was not feeling great and Thursday he had work and class all day. Friday was our first opportunity to do something fun so we went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens which is awesome. It is totally free to the public, even parking is free. All they have is one sign up for donations.

Josh was a good support about going to the gardens, he was in-charge of picture taking so some of the pictures are a little funny. Like this one, he tries to take random pictures of me with the flowery landscape.



I LOVE lilies!! We ended up going to the gardens twice - once Friday and again Easter Sunday after church so we could try and find all the lily gardens. This is the Easter Lily which I thought was appropriate to take of a picture with on Easter Sunday.



The Botanical Gardens have supposedly a very accurate representation of authentic Japanese Gardens. It was very beautiful but my favorite part was this pond where a Canadian Goose was nesting in the middle and another one swam and scared me to death when it flew up onto the bridge.



The fish were very cool too, Josh spend almost half and hour trying to get a good picture of them but the water is super dirty but these fish were SO bright and big! They are Koi which meant something to Josh but not to me - apparently these are very expensive fish.





I LOVED these flowers, they are Chinese Snowballs or something like that, I thought at first they were a relative to Hydrangea.



Josh and I in-front of some pretty purple flowers.



This flower was BEAUTIFUL, it stood out like the sun in the flower bed, absolutely gorgeous.





A very kind man was taking pictures in the same side of the garden we were and offered to take a picture of Josh and I. It is a good picture, the shade hit both of us at different parts of our face but it is a sweet picture I think.



More of the pretty purple flowers :)



Josh LOVES the greenery in all nature, so the gardens were fun for him too. There were tons of beautiful green trees for him and lots of colorful fun flowers for me. We took a lot of pictures of trees with a beautiful shimmering light filtering through.



Oh my Goodness, these flowers were SO pretty, the color was so vibrant and the flower was just cheerful and fun to look at. My camera does not quite capture the delicate details but trust me, it was awesome.



This flower is an Azalea and I remember because I loved its fragrance, most of the flowers smelled nice but this flower was just lovely AND it is HUGE! I do not think you can tell by the picture but this flower is easily twice as big as my head.



This was one of the first flowers we saw on our first day there, you can tell the two days we were there. I am in a gray and cream dress the first day, Josh in a black shirt and then Sunday we are both dressed up for church.





This floral plant was breath-taking. I loved the color and texture of it, especially with the sun setting it was beautiful.



Here is the first of lilies we found and I LOVED them! My favorites are calla lilies but were never found any and we looked everywhere. But these were so cool, I have never seen any in water before.



This picture turned out super well, actually one of my favorites of the two of us. The only thing that I do not like is that Josh is convinced I have blue eyes - kind of a long standing joke and in this picture my eyes really do look blue.



I had a GREAT trip, my camera actually died on Sunday while Josh was taking a picture of me in the Gardens. We didn't get pictures of me and him canoeing but probably for the best, I had a small panic attack on the river. I am pretty afraid of water and drowning is a BIG concern. But I pulled through and learned to use the oar and got pretty decent on the canoe and had fun. We went on a bike ride Monday and just had a great time together. Next time I will remember to bring my camera charger.

The Wells Fargo Coach Arrived

At my work we had a Diversity Day where all different organizations come represent all kinds of nationalities and Wells Fargo programs.

They had a big poster about Arizona's 100 year birthday!





I was a little disappointed that they wouldn't let me get inside and get my picture - apparently they placed the coach on a slope & didn't feel it was safe to let others inside. BUT when I went to lunch & they were wrapping up I saw people who organized the event getting inside & getting their pictures taken. . . seemed safe enough to me.



It was a fun event, I felt like I was back at school and on a field trip or something where you get permission to leave class and food :)

My First Spring Training Game

For my Birthday my friend Dave took me to my first Spring Training GAME! It is crazy for as much as I LOVE baseball I really don't go to many games at the ballpark - I catch as many as I can on TV but I don't really enjoy it live. But we did go and it was pretty cool, Ryan Roberts played and got an RBI which was awesome. The Diamondbacks were playing and lost to the Royals, but it was a beautiful night, I can see why Spring Training is done in AZ because the weather was great.

This picture we were waiting for some people behind us to move so I just hold air in my mouth, it actually doesn't look that bad so I thought I would share it :)



But this is the "official" picture of me at my First Spring Training Game. I had no idea that the Salt River Field was on Indian Reservation - throughout the whole game they kept mentioning the Pima Indian Tribe & Walking Stick Casino when it dawned on me where we were. It really is a cool facility there.

As you can see I did get a little chilly, I was very grateful I brought my hoodie and blanket :)

The New Apron

This may not be blog worthy but I am very excited about my new Apron! A girl I used to work with started making aprons in her spare time since she became a stay at home mother & I took the task upon myself to learn how to cook some of the things my boyfriend likes. So. . . I needed/wanted an apron. It isn't what I would have picked but I am learning to really LOVE it. It is a really bold pattern but the shape fits me perfectly and the pockets are very purposeful. But what I really Love is the two flowers she sewed on the side of the bottom pocket, very cute - which you cannot see in the picture - sorry.



I have already had 2 cooking lessons so I am have already broke my apron in, but it isn't dirty yet so I don't know if that counts. Anyway I will keep updates of anything I cook (that turns out good). And yes that is my crock pot again, this birthday made me feel really old because I was VERY excited to get a crock pot.

My 25th Birthday :)

Today I turned 25 years old! I worked today but rushed out so I could get Rubios, I have been craving nachos so Rubios works really well.



Mom got me slips to wear, this is specifically what I asked for, it is really hard to find slips. As well as the next book in the Brandon Mull Beyonders Series.



Brian picked out a "Big Bang Theory" Trivia Game, we all love this show so it will be one of the few games all of us can play.



I got a CROCK-POT! This was a way fun surprise, now that I am the activity co-chairman I have been thinking how great it would be to have a crock-pot.

Dad's Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad!



We got him a CD, a gift card to Home Depot and some Reeses Pieces. And for dinner Mom and Aunt Jolene made him stuffed pork chops on Sunday and on his birthday we got Mattas. I think he liked his Reeses Pieces and the meals the best.

Relief Society Activity

For the past 6 weeks I have been on the Stake Relief Society Committee to plan for the Stake Relief Society Activity on February 16, 2012. The theme was "Everyday Miracles" and I was on the Decorating Committee so we were in-charge of Table Decorations, Plating and other misc. decorations.

Here is a picture of the whole Cultural Hall, I took these with my phone so they are not great but I think you can get an idea of how big it was.



This is a close-up of one table. My committee was basically responsible for everything on there except the food. I took a half-day so I could go in the morning and get the tables up and then hauled to make it back at 6:00 p.m.



We had a great turn out. More than we were expecting which was about 250 and planned for 320 so we're thinking we got about 350 maybe even 360 so last minute we had to set up about 8 more tables to accommodate everyone. We moved chairs this morning & set them up around a table so while trying to get the table out all the chairs completely collapsed. Probably the funniest thing that happened that night - it still makes me smile so I am thankful I thought to take a picture of it :)



I am so grateful for this opportunity of service, it is amazing how hard working the women and the men that came to set-up and take down do. I am not finished yet though I have to rewash the tablecloths I was assigned but after that I am good for a year!