My Garden

In April, as Spring was springing, I decided to plant a garden. Megan was in town for the weekend and we went to Home Depot and got all the supplies. When we got home, Will was a little surprised that I was serious about planting a garden, but I did! Most of our little backyard is paved with bricks and filled with our hot tub. so, I just had a couple flower beds where I could plant. I chose tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and a watermelon. Unfortunately, with all of the rain we've had, and the clay-like soil, the watermelon washed away. But, my strawberries, peppers and tomatoes are growing! Just this morning I noticed our first tomato, so I decided it was time to take a couple pictures. I was nervous to before, just in case nothing grew. :) So, here are the pictures.

The tomatoes and peppers. I can't believe how tall they are getting.

The strawberries, with the cute windmill Will got me.

A closeup of the strawberries - can you see them growing?

And, the first tomato growing quite healthily!

I also meant to post a post about how I've been cooking a lot lately and loving it. But, I haven't gotten around to it. This isn't a super exciting meal, but I took a picture because it was breakfast in bed for Ross' bday. Fresh fruit, mini sausage and veggie frittatas and homemade cinnamon rolls! Yum.

And, along the lines of cooking, this morning Will and I did some grocery shopping at the Falls Church Farmers Market. It was fun and I'm excited to use the fresh vegetables and local bison meat and free range chicken for some great meals this week.

Other News

Somehow I seem to have led people on that some exciting news is coming.

Let's see. What is exciting in my life right now? Oh yeah, Ross moved out here this week! It's so fun to have an automatic family of three, and a new family member that entertains himself, makes his bed, and even does dishes is great. We're happy to have him.

I also planted a garden and my tomatoes and peppers are growing very well. We have some green strawberries and the flowers got a little pummeled by rain this week. The only thing that doesn't seem to be thriving in all the rain we're having is my watermelon. I think it actually washed away this weekend, but haven't searched that hard yet.

And, today I got another calling! I am going to be the Stake Young Women's Camp Leader for the second year girls. I love girls' camp and am excited to get to know some new people, even though I love our four-year-olds!

So, that's all the news for now. Hope it was worth the wait. :)

Book Tagged by Holly AND Camilla

Guess you really have to do it when you're double tagged.

So here it is
A) pick up the nearest book
B) turn to page 123
C) find the 5th sentence
D) post the 5th sentence
E) tag 5 (or more) people

The nearest book was Confessions of a Carb Queen by Susan Blech. The book is a little over-the-top, but a good deterrent when I want to carb out. I think Will was reading it and that's what it's doing in the front room.

Page 123, sentence five:
"She's been to Baltimore before, and she knows where she wants to go."

I tag my Mom, Marisha, the flipflop fed, Angie and Marla

Kennedy Center Sunset

A few weeks ago, Will and I got last-minute, free tickets to hear the National Symphony Orchestra. We had a great evening and enjoyed hearing some Russian composers' music. The conductor was young (32) and amazing. We arrived at the Kennedy Center before the show and were able to see the most amazing sunset. I love sunsets. I have some other good ones that I might have to post sometime soon.

That's Georgetown University in the background. We would have loved to have been on the boat on the Potomac. It looked fun.

This picture is of Georgetown (the part of town). You can see the National Cathedral in the background and the Thompson Boat House, where I learned to row, right on the river.

This sunset was beautiful. Beautiful sunset, beautiful music, a beautiful husband.
It was a great Spring night.

Walking for Lois

June 7, 2008 is the National Race for the Cure in Washington, DC

I will be walking this year in loving memory of Lois Taylor, whose life breast cancer cut short this past December. Lois was my friend, my boss, my sister, and my DC mom. From the first day I met her, I knew there was something special about her and I know that she was one of the greatest reasons I came to DC. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be served by her for years and that I was able to serve her during the past year.

If you are interested in learning more about the National Race for the Cure or in making a donation to our walk in honor of Lois, please click HERE.

This is definitely not a favorite picture of me, but is one of my favorites of Lois. We are at Old Faithful, on a fabulous trip we took for work and play in 2004. It's funny, we had known each other less than a year and we flew to Utah to go on a fun road trip in advance of a work trip. She was that type of friend. The type of friend that you could be yourself around and do anything with. She was up for anything and everything. I miss her.

Six Months

Saturday was my and Will's six-month anniversary. The last six months have been some of the hardest, best, saddest, and happiest of the last few years and I am so glad that I've lived them as Mrs. Will Doutré. I truly believe that my Father in Heaven is watching over me and made sure that I had Will in my life right now. I'm still amazed at how content I am to just "be" with Will. Just "be"ing and not "do"ing something all the time is still quite new to me, but I like it. I love playing games on Sundays, sleeping in on weekends, and everything else we do together.

So, Saturday, to celebrate, we went to the temple and did a session. It was nice to be there and to reflect on the past six months. We had some spare time before our dinner reservation, so we went to visit the newest Washington monument, the Air Force Memorial. It was fun to see it at night, it's a beautiful monument and from it, there is a fabulous view of the city. Then, we ate at one of our favorite spots, the Melting Pot. We first ate there last Valentine's day. We thoroughly enjoyed the Carribean-themed special - who knew that cheese with pineapple juice was so tasty? We finished up the night with an amazing bananas foster chocolate fondue. I was a little nervous because I'm not a huge white chocolate fan. But, add some bananas, cinnamon, and dulce de leche and it quickly became my new favorite. If I had a little faster metabolism and unlimited funds, I would definitely visit the Melting Pot more often. Maybe I need a fondue pot to try the deliciousness at home. :)

Enjoy some pictures of the temple and the Air Force Memorial.