. . . i love to see the temple . . .

. . . nearly full moon . . . 

. . . pleasant temperature . . .

. . . beautiful surroundings . . .

. . . favorite place to spend 

wednesday evenings . . .

. . . i love to see the temple . . .

. . . one of my favorite views 

of this beautiful temple . . .

. . . this is the reflecting pool 

on the north side . . .

. . . serenity at its finest . . .

. . . i love to see the temple . . .

. . . i wondered how a nighttime photo

 taken with an iphone 

would turn out . . .

. . . no surprise . . .

. . . when the subject is as beautiful 

as this one is,

it turned out just fine . . .

. . . i love to see the temple . . .

. . . it's always a sad day 

when spring flowers give way 

to the few spots of color 

that can survive 

an arizona summer . . . 

. . . temple gardeners, though . . .

. . . they sure know 

what they're doing . . .

. . . if you're wondering about 

the best things to plant 

at any given time of year . . .

. . . just take a little stroll 

around these grounds . . .

. . . the flower beds and i both 

got a much needed trim today . . .

. . . row row row twelve . . .

. . . originally posted 

at bee in my bonnet 

on 20 february 2013,

i finally got around 

to making these darling baskets . . .

. . . they were quick and easy . . .

. . . and then --- 

taping them all in a row 

to my front porch railing 

just seemed like 

the right thing to do . . .

{total number of pieces in row 12: 110}

{total number of pieces in rows 1-12: 1427}

. . . i love to see the temple . . .

. . . the east entrance 

of the mesa arizona temple 

is much less used 

than the west . . .

. . . the last of the spring flowers . . .

. . . the olive tree . . .

. . . and that sky . . .

. . . a lovely evening . . .

. . . at a lovely place . . .

. . . the new neutral . . .

. . . my bedroom window seat's cushion

 is about eighteen years old . . .

. . . it's always been covered in

green and white stripes . . .

. . . and is in desperate need 

of an update . . .

. . . i bought this 

woven upholstery fabric 

about four and a half years ago . . .

(when amanda and i were shopping for elliott's crib bedding fabric)

. . . and i've been trying ever since 

to convince myself that

a) i can do this myself, and

b) it'll look okay . . .

. . . so i bit the bullet . . .

. . . and i bought a zipper . . .

. . . a reallllllllllllllllllllly long zipper . . .

. . . fourteen and a half feet long, 

to be exact . . .

. . . i installed it fairly well . . . 

(it goes along the back side, so . . . whatever, right?)

. . . i made a lot of cording . . .

. . . no, really . . .

. . . i made a LOT of cording . . .

. . . turns out i made 

waaaaaaaaaaay too much cording . . .

. . . and i sewed it along 

all the edges 

of the cushion top pieces . . .

. . . then bill and i literally 

had to wrestle 

the foam pieces inside . . .

. . . it was maybe pretty comical . . .

. . . and HARD work . . .

. . . but i felt like it was 

quite an accomplishment . . . 

. . . and it fit! . . .

. . . and then i was feeling cocky . . .

. . . so i made a couple 

of throw pillows

 to go on the couch 

that used to be 

in our living room . . .

. . . to hopefully tie it in . . .

. . . because cheetah 

goes with everything . . .

. . . right? . . .

. . . it's the new neutral . . .

. . . 1979 ~ 2013 (so far) . . .

. . . here's what i was doing 

thirty-four years ago today . . .

. . . i posted this photo on instagram

 and got a little ribbing 

about my bouquet . . .

(when what i really deserved ribbing about was this super dramatic pose!)

. . . my bridal bouquet was created 

by a family friend/ward member . . .

 . . . lyman haws was 

the owner of haws flower shop . . .

. . . i told him i wanted daffodils . . .

. . . he said, "are you sure?" . . . 

. . . i was sure . . .

. . . then i think my dad told him 

to be sure it made a statement . . .

. . . i think it did! . . .

. . . i've never seen anything like it . . .

. . . after posting that photo, 

i received an email from a friend . . .

. . . donna told me that 

lyman haws is her stepdad . . . 

. . . i had no idea . . .

. . . she said, "i talked to him today and asked him if he remembered an unusual request for a wedding. he immediately said that he had done a wedding for 'ole jack davis' daughter' and she had a trailing bouquet of daffodils. he even remembers the reception. not bad for a 93-year-old man!! . . . he said that he was good friends with your dad and he was very particular about what he wanted . . . his mind is as sharp as it was 30 years ago!" . . . 

. . . then she shared that 

he now has a quilting machine 

and that keeps him busy! . . . 

. . . here he is on the day 

he was teaching donna 

how to use it 

on her lori holt row along quilt . . .

. . . my mom loved 

hearing this story . . .

. . . anyway . . .

. . . back to the fact that 

today bill and i have been married 

for thirty-four years . . .

. . . that's a long time . . .

. . . but not nearly long enough . . .

. . . this is for better or worse . . .

. . . for richer or poorer . . .

. . . in sickness (him) 

or in health (me) . . .

. . . through thick (me) 

or thin (him) . . .

. . . this is forever . . .

. . . yay! . . .

. . . i love to see the temple . . .

. . . thirty-four years ago today . . .

. . . the day before 

we were married . . .

. . . i entered these doors 

for the first time . . .

. . . the temple has been 

a blessing in my life 

ever since . . .

. . . so grateful for the opportunity 

to serve here every week . . .

. . . bloops! i did it again . . .

. . . one day i turned 

yards of cotton gauze . . .

. . . into lots of bloops! . . .

. . . generously sized 

swaddling blankets . . .

. . . with nary a kitty cat 

nor a dinosaur in sight . . .

#yayforprettybabystuff!