So I was reading one of my favorite blogs, May Dreams, and came across a really funny posting there. For all my sisters and anyone else trying to stay on top of their yards, this is the post for you. I had some laughs reading it and learned some stuff too. Click here and let me know if you have it too.

:nature:



Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.



Robert Frost

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

So lets count em shall we, the birthdays I mean.

1. April 6th- Jody Zimmer, my sweet brother in law
2. April 9th- ME, the big 24, can anyone believe it? I sure can't.
3. April 11th- Ivy Clason, the cutest Clason girl yet
4. April 12th- Some might not remember, Grandpa Charlie. We all miss him.
5. April 14th- Mom, what would we all do without her?
6. April 20th- Elizabeth Jones, the best little sister in the whole world
7. April 28th- Jaxon Orin Zimmer, the newest addition to Jeff and Aimie. Congrats.
8. May 4th- Daniel Zimmer, my very best friend and amazing husband
9. May 6th- John Clason, my awesome big brother who took care of all of us

We all have such big families now it's hard to keep up with all these dates! But I am so glad everyone is healthy and happy at one year older. Jody, thanks for being so great to Dan and I, I love having a little brother. Ivy- I love you so much, I wish I could have been there to see you eat your ice cream cone cake (tear). Grandpa- I know you are so proud of us. Take care of our future children up there. Mother, I miss you everyday and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks. You are my hero. I hope to be half the woman you are someday. Lizzy, I am so glad you are happy and loving your new life with Heath. You deserve the best of everything. I miss you and love you. Jaxon- you are so handsome! I can't wait to meet you! Be good to your Mom and Dad, I love and miss you guys too. Daniel- my life is better because of you. Even from the day we met you have ALWAYS been there for me. I can't tell you how much I love you. And John, I am so proud to be your sister. You have set the example in every way for me. You have a beautiful little family and have so much more ahead of you, I can't wait to see what you do next!


When Issac (Daniel's nephew of 2 years old) was leaving with his parents on Sunday from Daniel's birthday party, he enthusiastically said, while walking out the door, "happy birthday everybody!" Which at this point is the best way to put it.

Our love to everyone who celebrated. Thank you to everyone who called, sent gifts, baked cakes, sang songs, took pictures and gave hugs. We love and miss you all.


Jaxon

Daniel's party essentials. "Dan's" root beer (I made the N myself), croissants, strawberries and banana cream pie


Dan and I in Logan

Fun with the Zimmers

There are three Zimmer boys in Rexburg, Daniel and his two brothers Jason and Jody. We have a lot of fun together. With Jody living in our basement and Jason and Aimee about a mile down the road, we try to get together as much as we can. We play with the kids (Ila, Isaac and Aiden), play the Wii, celebrate holidays and birthdays together, go on trips together (mostly just home to Oregon), play games and eat TONS of delicious food. We miss Jeff and Aimie alot, and we wish you could be here with us- you too Nana and Poopa. Here are some fun pictures and movies we have taken these past few weeks. I love being a part of the Zimmer family!


Jody and I at Lake of the Woods in Oregon


This is Aiden and his Mom having fun on Easter Sunday


Isaac and I trying our "glasses" on for size


Daniel and Isaac taking a Sunday nap


Cooking Jody's birthday dinner


All the boys playing Mario Party on the Wii. There is a mini game called "Chomp Wash" where you have to wash off spray paint on a cannon ball by shaking the controller up and down as fast as you can. I crack up every time I watch this because this is what it's like all the time around these boys. Enjoy.

Goin' on Down to Georgia

About a week ago I went with a team from BYU-I to Atlanta to participate in a national landscape design/management competition called PLANET Student Career Days. I competed in two events- Pest Management and Maintanance Cost Estimating. There were about 12 other events my team participated in. It was such a great opportunity to learn and travel places I had never been before. The accents were hilarious, and the people were bubbling with that southern hospitality. Out of 66 universities we finished 3rd, only 6 points behind BYU in second place. Arrrrrgh. Now- I am a cougar fan, but I had a really hard time liking them when I was competeing against them. Sorry to everyone who attended or attends said school, but for BYU-I to beat BYU in anything is huge for us here in Rexburg. I finished 3rd in Pest Managment (see below pic) and 21st in Estimaing. Both had about 130 participants per event.



When you place in the top three you get a certificate and cash award from the event sponsor. I got to walk on stage and take tons of photos. It was a pretty big deal. Heather (in the picture with me) finished 2nd in Interior Plant ID.


This is my team studying and waiting for the events to start.


A picture I couldn't resist taking :)

We also visited gorgeous gardens, and the Coca-Cola world in Atlanta. At the end of the Coke tour they had an entire tasting room dedicated to every product created by Coke. It was fun tasting latin american, asian, and european soft drinks. Sorry Mom about all the soda drinking- I brushed my teeth as soon as I got back to the hotel. Georgia reminded me a lot of Oregon. There were green trees and beautiful plants everywhere. The humidity was wasn't too bad either- I even got a sunburn on my face! I came home to 40 degree weather and snow on the ground. Drats.


This orchid was just growing underneath a palm tree in a giant celarium. Totally cool.


These were the latin american products- they were actually really good, one soda was banana flavored. Yum.


They also let you take all the coke you want before you leave, I only grabbed a few. . .

We Celebrated!

Today we celebrated:

1) Our first bike ride of the year! After school today it was 50 degrees outside which in Rexburg language is "everyone takes a jog/walk/drive with your windows down/bike ride/break from pants and put on some shorts" kind of day! Dan and i enjoyed riding around the neighborhood racing to the bottom of all the streets. Hoora for spring!

2) Women's Day. ( A national Russian holiday- basically valentines day and mothers day combined.) I found out from a friend about the holiday and then gracefully reminded Dan. So the rest of the day I tried to get Dan to get me flowers and buy me a treat but he just laughed- we still had a nice day together even without the presents :)

3) Three and a half weeks left of the semester! We are counting down. We might be planning a little trip to Las Vegas as soon as we're done. Here comes the sun!

4) The bulk section at Winco. On Saturday night we spent like a half an hour in the bulk section picking out delectable snacks for a home made trail mix. Don't you hate it when the trail mix you buy doesn't have the stuff you want in it, or even worse- when it has stuff you don't want in it? Well- say no more. We built our own mix of deliciousness and payed like five bucks for everything. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for trail mix satisfaction.

5) The sight of grass in our front yard! The snow melted about a foot back from the sidewalk and we can see our lawn! Since we have had 4 feet of snow on the ground since January we are really happy.

And so we drank our cranberry apple sparkling cider and made a toast to ourselves and to all the great things that are happening- what a way to start the week!



This is Daniel's nephew Aiden. Isn't he sweet? We sure think so.

Ah . . . . Family

For Presidents Day weekend we went down to Utah to visit all of my sisters. As of Christmas I am the only one left in Idaho finishing school. Three of them live in SLC and Toria is about to move to Dubai- about a million years away from Rexburg. Its ok though because I can always come visit you all when I get home sick. Thanks for letting us stay with you Anne. I do miss you guys a lot, don't forget about me up here ok?















Don't mind all the Carl's Jr. cups. We all just had some delicious hamburgers for dinner. We really don't drink that much pop all the time. And that is our friend Jessica standing by Liz- She came to visit too.


My niece Claire loves playing with just her diaper on. I caught this little video of her enjoying her new found freedom from her clothes. Just call her Tarzan.