Grade 4

I've been taking lessons from a new bagpipe teacher, and she is really moving me along, and is patient with me especially since I have trouble with counting/rythm. But the exciting news is that she said it is time for me to start saving money to get some pipes. Hazaa! That means I will no longer be a lowly grade 5 anymore. (Piping is ranked in grades: grade 5 being beginner, and grade 1 being -Obi-won-kenobi- how do they play that fast- master level. I'm so excited, but I'm really going to have to budget, like all instruments they are pricey. But it gives me something to motivate me to practice. It is exciting for sure.

Down South

We went down south to St. George for Spring Break with M's family. We had a fun time playing on the red rocks and hiking about. We also got to visit my brother and his family that lives down there. It was a fast three day trip but we had a good time.

New Doors

We got a new sliding glass door. It's been installed for about a month now and it's beautiful.

We went to the Home Improvement store and they were having a clearance on all these doors and we picked this up for cheap. My brother installed it for us and I love it.

Great Eight

We celebrated Eight years of marriage today!

We've been in some sticky situations........

But we are blessed beyond measure to have each other!

Chocolate Bacon Bar

When we were in Jackson we went into a shop that had the infamous Chocolate Bacon Bar. So we decided to fork over the extra cash and give it a try. We opened it up and it smelled a little like burnt rubber, but we ate it anyway. I think dark chocolate would taste better than the milk, but it was interesting. It is sweet and then all of a sudden.... Bam! Bacon! It is defenitely interesting. It isn't fabulous, but not grose. It's hard to describe. But we were glad we gave it a try. The question is would I buy it again, probably not, but if I really wanted something sweet and salty this would do it.

Jackson/Tetons

We went to Jackson/Tetons about a week ago. It was so beautiful there. It was sunny and mostly warm. We just went up for a relaxing little get away. We hit some of the shops, (the economy has hit a bit hard up there, a lot of empty store fronts) but we still managed to find some fun shops (fyi, Jackson has one of the nicest dollar shops I've been to). We found a used book store, that had some okay things, and the fun art galleries, and all the fun tourist trap stores. But the main event was snowshoeing, which was so much fun.

We shoed up to Taggart lake, about 3 miles roundtrip from the parking lot. It was so sunny and bright. It was spectacular. I love it up there. It was so quiet too. Although there was one annoyance. It seems whenever M and I go outdoors and have made it to our destination, some what exhausted, it isn't two seconds that someone a lot older than us comes running past us saying something like 'only 12 more miles' as we are trying to catch our breath. Hmph how dare they be in shape.

We had an excellent time though and love going up there.

China, Belgium, and "Prapple" Tree

Three events that really don't have anything in common, but they're what's happening with us.

About eight years ago when we were engaged we had registered at a shop down by M's parents house that everyone registers at for weddings. We registered for some china, the store mailed us our credit and we quickly forgot about it. Until in a futile attempt to get organized I found the envelope with the credit and we went back to the store and we finally ordered our china.

This is what it looks like. We added a little of our own money to get a bit more, but we ended up with eight dinner, salad, and dessert plates.

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The other day M took me to SLC to get an authentic Belgium waffle. They aren't the waffles they we are used to. They make a dough kind of like scone dough and then the throw it in the waffle iron and yummy goodness comes out. Top it off with some real whipped cream (not that stuff in a can) and some fresh strawberries and it is tastieness and very filling.
They only make waffles and fries at this little shop, and they sure know what they are doing.

Side note, next to the waffle shop there was a Italian market and we went inside to see what fun things they had. They had all sorts of weird stuff I would never try, including $600 a pound truffles, but there was one thing that caught our eye. They had a section of gourmet chocolates and we found a bacon and chocolate candy bar. We almost bought it, just to try it, but a little too expensive just to try. I may go back and try it though. Just for fun.

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The "Prapple" Tree

When we first moved into this house 4 years ago, there was a bush/tree on the corner of our house. It would drop these weird seed pods that looked like a pear and an apple combined. So we named it the "Prapple" tree. (We actually found out it is a Flowering Quince) Well the Prapple had to go and I yanked it out but in the process found this mysterious pipe underneath it. We didn't have sprinklers that we knew of, but thought maybe someone had buried something weird in the yard. I don't know what it is about these 50 year old houses but for some reason they buried weird things in their yards. I can imagine the dialogue "Wilbur, what should I do with this extra plaster?" "Just take it outside and bury it Gus". Anyway I digress. Well with the upcoming basement improvements coming, M went outside to take out the weird pipe. Turns out we do have sprinklers.

We found all sorts of weird pipes going all over our yard. Problem: we don't know how to turn them on, or where supply line starts or any of those other good things that are kind of good to know about a sprinkler system. To think I've been dragging the hose around for 4 years when we have a system already.

So that is very exciting, but I wish for once though that when we dug up a hole we could find some treasure.

"Wilbur, what should I do with these Spanish doubloons?" "I've told you before Gus, just bury them in the yard."