Handsome Hubby

Whit and I eat lunch together every day, but we picnic it on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I'm already at the college taking a class. It's a nice change and the weather has been really warm, so I love it. We ate together yesterday a little ways from a small group of girls from my class. We finished all at the same time and Whit went back to work and I went back to class with all these girls. In the elevator, one girl asked if that guy I was eating with is my husband. When I said that he is, she was like, "dang- he's cute!" and all the other girls agreed.

They are so right!

Hmph.

For the second time in as many months, someone has asked me if another ADULT was my offspring. This was pretty funny the first time - Ha Ha, the lady probably didn't even look at me - but the second time the person who asked me is a lady I see on a weekly basis! I met this kid (well, if 20 is a kid) when he helped me take groceries to my car from the store. He is new to Utah and wanted something to do so I invited him to volunteer at the hospital the next day. He met me there and a nurse (who I KNOW) asked me if this 20-year-old kid was my son.

Did I mention he is 20?

This is only kind of funny the second time. Do I look maternal? Whit says that instead of waiting, I should just introduce whoever I'm with as my child, that way they will say something like "oh honey, you look way too young to have a child that old," and I can start piecing together my shattered confidence through their compliments. Yes. I think I will. I will now refer to Whit as my son. Go ahead, tell me no one will believe me - that's exactly what I want to hear.

Summer Projects

One thing I love most about Whit is that he's a doer. If he has a good idea, he acts on it immediately. And it never matters if he even knows how to do whatever it is.

Instead of wasting time at the car shop, Whit fixes both our cars. He's never been trained in car-fixing, so he researches online and in the car manuals how to fix stuff - and they both work great! Instead of calling a plumber to fix the chaotic mess of a sprinkler system we had, Whit spent hours researching, building, and rebuilding the entire sprinkler system. Now it’s on timers and will go off in the middle of the night. Yay!

One major summer project Whit has accomplished is building us a garden. He researched square foot gardening and built one up high so I can reach it. He wanted to make sure it was secure, so instead of just four legs, he built it with nine.

Heh heh heh

Square foot gardening is the idea that you can grow 16 squre feet of garden and have it be super productive. It’s basically the soil that makes it so good– vermiculite, manure, and top soil. It never touches the rest of the ground, so weeds aren’t a big issue.

We planted –
basil
tall onions
garlic (we’re both not sure why)
lettuce
spinach
beets
carrots
flowers
brussel sprouts
parsley
broccoli
tall onions 9yes, again – we really like these)
arugula
flowers (they’re good for attracting bees)
cucumbers – we’ll plant these when it gets warmer
potatoes (we’ll plant these when our little potato pieces sprout eyes…they’re currently on our kitchen table)

We also have a longer garden bed running by our carport where we put JMom’s old orange wheelbarrow and planted strawberries. My dad came and planted yellow squash and acorn squash there also (we love squash). We also have big pots and we planted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, peas, and lima beans fresh ones taste so, so good, not anything like canned ones).
So, my wonderful husband has been pretty busy with his summer projects…and it’s only May!!!

Inner-City

Greetings from the inner-city, I have news...or maybe I should say "holla! Let me give yous the skinny on what's going down in our 'hood!" Apparently we live in an inner-city ward. We heard a new couple missionary say that about us and we laughed, then we heard it from the Stake President. Huh. I always imagined I'd feel unsafe if I lived somewhere where we had to have bars on our windows...oh wait...we DON'T have bars on our windows!

Whit just got a new calling to 'seek out the poor' in our inner-city ward. He was called as the second counselor in the Elder's quorum presidency. We're both pretty excited, he'll be pushing the home teaching, apparently that's a huge deal with our for us ruffians. President Monson said we're supposed to 'seek out the poor', so that's Whit's new church job.

He's pretty excited because his new best friend is the president. They both play basketball and carried their ward team pretty far. They work really well together and it seems like it's going to be fun and productive.

...or maybe I should say, "they's homies who know how ta make stuff happen."

Faith

This is 'Faith' This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which had to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born.

Even his mother didn't want him. His first owner also didn't think that he could survive. Therefore, he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'. By this time, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She was determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself. Therefore she named him 'Faith'.

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing board to let him feel the movements. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and rewarded for him for standing up and jumping around. The other dog at home also helped to encourage him to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward.

After further training in the snow, he now can walk like a human being.

Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he attracts all kinds of people. He is now becoming famous on the international scene. He has appeared in various newspapers and on TV shows. There is even one book entitled 'With A Little Faith' being published about him. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies. His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul'. In life there are always undesirable things. Perhaps we can feel better about ourselves if we realize just how good we have it. I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone can appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day that follows. Faith is the continual demonstration of the Strength of Life.