We've had a busy past few weeks! March 21st was The Spring Garden Festival at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens and the Walk for Hearing. Thank you for all of the wonderful donations for the walk! It was a beautiful day, there were over 200 people that showed up and I was one of the top fundraisers! Below is a picture of a few people I walked with.

After the walk I high-tailed it over to the gardens for Mark's presentation on the City's tree planting program. Thank goodness I got there when I did because it was standing room only. . . actually, it was such a nice day, and the presentation was inside, that only 1 other person turned out for the talk. The poster below shows the list of presenters for the festival and has Mark's name on it.


Other than those big events we've been working, and enjoying the spring weather before it gets too hot. We've taken advantage of the free t-shirts, and food for UF students on Sundays at the baseball games. Mark's gets the better end of the deal since the free food is a hotdog and soda! This is a picture from the game last week. The weather was perfect and lent to a beautiful sunset.


We finally got some rain this weekend (in the form of big thunderstorms with REALLY LOUD thunder and lightning). . . . but regardless, it was very needed and the garden and birds loved it. We had a huge flock of goldfinches on the feeders this weekend which was a first and very exciting. Mark and Bailey are holding down the fort for the rest of the week while I'm at an annual Audiology conference in Dallas. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures from the trip to share when I return.

Henry's Running a Century

So, Henry's at it again . . . another one of his crazy ideas, and this time he's roped Mark and I into it. He's running in the Key 100 May 15-18th and has talked us into being his support crew. Yes, that means he's planning on running 100 miles! He has 2 websites created for the event. It's supporting prostate cancer research and so his fundraising website is http://www.active.com/donate/keys100/Forrest

He also created a blog to track his training and progress. I hope to post on it during the actual race to keep everyone updated. http://followforrest.blogspot.com Should be an experience of a lifetime for all of us!

The Pollen's a Fallin

It was another beautiful weekend here but allergy season is also in full force! Everything is in full bloom, but EVERYTHING is covered in yellow dust! We spent the weekend working in the yard again. The garden and new sod are growing so fast you can literally see them grow! There was one bean plant up this morning and by mid day about 5 were up. The corn is up as well so we got some netting to cover it in hopes that we can save it from the birds and squirrels this year. We also made a flower box, planted some petunias and impatiens, and continued working to get the yard ready for all of our graduation visitors. The upcoming week is busy with work and school. I have a meeting to plan my PhD schedule and am in the process of figuring out the details so I can work in the clinic this summer. Mark is getting ready for his presentation at the Kanapaha Garden Festival on Saturday, and I have the Walk 4 Hearing on Saturda . . . plus a full weekend of UF softball and baseball to look forward to. We should have lots to post by next Sunday.
Cantaloupes on the rise.
A few corn plants coming up.

A green bean that we watched grow 2 inches today!

Sunflowers poking through the soil.

A Beautiful Weekend!

It was a beautiful weekend here. We cleaned up the yard: bagged leaves, mulched & planted the garden.




Bailey had a fun time playing in the leaf pile before Mark bagged it.




We planted green beans, tomatoes, green peppers, cantaloupe, corn and some flowers. Hopefully the crows won't eat everything like they did last year.

This weekend marked the passing of a dear friend. . . Bailey's couch. It was once ours, and my parents, and is now retired. This is it, out of the porch. We moved it out there to wait for trash pick up and Mark and Bailey were taking a work break this afternoon when I took this picture. It was a great couch and we're sad to see it go, but out with the old and in with the new. Bailey now has a couch with a slip cover which is much easier to keep clean, and this is our new one.


A goldfinch visiting one of the feeders with azaleas blooming in the background.

Spring is Here!

It's been cold the past few mornings, but the days have been beautiful! I think spring is finally here! Since it's so green year round here we don't realize how many trees still drop their leaves until the springtime. All the new growth is coming out and it's so pretty! The dogwoods and redbuds are in full bloom along with the azaleas, and it's going to be 80 here this weekend! Here are some pictures from our front yard.

Atlanta and our version of "The big snow"

This weekend we went to Atlanta for my grandmother's birthday. Most of the family didn't end up making it because they were sick but we got to see my parents, brother, grandmother, and Rachel. Although it rained the entire weekend we still had a good time. The daffodils were blooming . . . this isn't a good picture because were were driving but I miss them because it's too hot for them in FL so I had to take a picture.


When we left yesterday it was pooring rain in Atlanta, but as soon as we got south of town it started snowing.



It was strange to be driving south in Georgia and be driving through snow. It was so exciting though because I don't remember the last time we saw snow. We didn't get to see any accumulation but it snowed through almost the entire state of GA. Then, this was the scene when we drove into Florida. :-)


It's called the sunshine state for a reason. We've never seen anything but blue sky and sun when we've driven into FL on I-75. It is cold here though, only in the 50's today and down into the 20's tonight. Wish we had snow on the ground to enjoy!

Coming next weekend!

The Great Backyard Bird Count is next weekend! For more info go to their website.