Keenland Spring Meet 2009

For the past 5 years, spring in Kentucky has meant a trip to Keenland, organized by Steven and Lindsey. This year was pretty much perfect because of the awesome weather (75 and sunny) and seeing so many good friends all gathered in one place. Pictures portray it best, and I took too many as usual of course!
Katie, me, Lindsey and Chrisinda
Too much food, but oh so good!
Chris should have known better than to fall asleep unattended with John Hammon nearby...
All the guys....somehow we missed a whole group shot this year and even one of the girls!
Katie, me and Becky enjoying the sunshine....tailgating is the best part!
Steven smoking a cigar...how Keenland of him!
You know I had to make Nate take a picture with me....because apparently we don't have enough of the two of us already:)
So cute...
Danielle and me taking a break
Waiting for the next race to lose some more money!
Nate and me with our long lost friends Aaron and Becky....they were living in Guatemala for the last 2 years but are home now! Wherever home is exactly they are still trying to figure out but I figure as long as they are on the same continent then that's closer than they were before. You can read about their work in Guatemala here and a see recap of our trip to visit them here. Such a fun weekend to catch up with everyone...next weekend we will have a houseful of friends as well since the Kentucky Derby mini-marathon race is Saturday. Whoever is willing to get up early on Saturday is welcome to come cheer us on!

Easter Sunday

I took this picture of our church this morning because I think that Easter Sunday may be one of my favorite days in church. Our church follows the traditional Christian calendar, honoring the Lenten season, Palm Sunday and of course today, Easter. It was such a beautiful service and a beautiful day outside so I couldn't resist taking a picture. I love, love, love singing old hymns, every single verse....my favorite was "Christ our Lord is Risen Today" with the choir and all the voices together echoing off the height of the chapel. Just such a wonderful reminder of hope.
We had Easter brunch at my parents house...I can't believe I only took a total of 2 pictures there! This one is the table, all set and ready, just to document my mom's hard work in feeding all of us. Plus, if you look closely, there is bread in the shape of a bunny. Nate accidentally ate the tail during dinner, not knowing that it was more of a decoration!
Erin and Mark came into town this weekend...here they are with Marcia, my mom's best friend and pretty much an unofficial member of our family, seeing as she's been there since all 3 of us were born!
Saturday night Nate and I headed to Slugger Field for a Bats game...to celebrate Justin's 30th birthday. Steph is so good with planning stuff like this...she got a suite at the game and had food, drinks and cake for everyone. After watching (or really not watching since baseball bores me to tears) the game in a boxed suite I think we all got spoiled!
Some of the girls who were there...Molly, Steph, Brooke, and me.
Such a gorgeous evening and an awesome view of the field...at least the boys partook in the game watching!
Shielding their eyes from the sun!

Steph, me and Molly enjoying the sun right before it went away:(

Spring Break 2009!

Doesn't the heading sound like my week was eventful? But no...I was not on a beach or even out of Louisville for that matter...This is the first spring break since I was maybe 14 or 15 that I haven't been to the ocean! I guess I have just been spoiled, but I feel a need to go to the beach at least once or twice a year (which was much easier when we were in college and it was only 5 hours away!). But Nate's spring break was different from mine this year so we stayed local...and I'm actually glad we did. I got to actually catch up on life outside of work. I spring cleaned my house, worked like crazy in our garden, caught up with friends, read a few books and I even managed to take a few pictures, which I've been really bad at lately.
Jess, Rachel, me and Hayden (Rachels' newborn) at Cafe Lou Lou for lunch. I always love catching up with these girls that I've known since we were in middle school.
My garden, which may not look like much now but these guys will hopefully grow like crazy and bloom in the next few weeks. This is how I spent the majority of my time...outside!
More of my nerdy garden pics...purple salvia and creeping phlox.
And I can't forget the pots...I think I am becoming more of an old lady with each passing day because my idea of a good time is digging in the dirt. I can't wait till summer when I get to do it every day!
Window boxes/baskets on the front of our house...
Nate and I decided we needed a place to sit outside without sinking into the grass, so we built a patio this weekend. I would just like to add that I single-handedly moved those bricks. We lucked out because the office where my mom works was building a deck over the humongous patio in the back (her office is in an old house)...so she jumped at that opportunity (wanting to build a patio herself) and Nate and my dad moved about 30 carloads of bricks this past fall. My mom had plenty extra when she was finished with her and my dad's patio so I had free reign of them this week...Nate told me he would build a patio if I could get ahold of some bricks. When he came home Tuesday I had 200 of them nicely stacked and ready for him:)
Here's the finished picture!
And Tom, Danny and Nate enjoying the warm weather after completion
That evening we had our first official poker night of the season...hopefully to be followed by many more. And I don't really play poker but I love having our friends over...one of these days I'll jump in the game and everyone will be happy because it will increase their odds of winning!
Molly won big...at five dollar buy-ins the competition got pretty intense...not really, but we had fun just sitting outside anyway. It's been a long winter and I am glad spring is here! Today we celebrated Palm Sunday at our church which always reminds me of this season of renewal and hope. I love the Easter season for that reason as well as the renewal outside.

Signs of Spring...

These guys were starting to come up in my garden....And it was 80 degrees and sunny yesterday!
Nate and Tom working hard on our vegetable garden beds (please excuse the garage that is in serious need of work). And let's all take a minute to absorb the head attire on both of them....Nate in his gardening hat and Tom in his bandanna...aren't they cute?
The finished product...which took way longer than it probably looks. We worked all afternoon on these garden beds! In the next few weeks every imaginable vegetable will likely be planted. Nate got enough seeds to feed a small country and so we're hoping to turn our garden into a communal garden for anyone who wants to help/is in need of some tomatoes! Needless to say, this was a great weekend simply because of the warm weather. Nate and I went running Sat. morning and broke a sweat for the first time in a long time because it was actually HOT while we were out. I think the entire city of Louisville had the same idea because I've never seen so many people out walking/running or working in their yards. I hope the warm spell stays!

In honor of Nate...

I haven't posted in over a month (not that anyone's missing it exactly...) however, I may look back on 2009 and wonder what we were doing during January and February. Mostly surviving the winter! Thank goodness there are signs of spring outside now. So since I don't have any crazy stories (or pictures...I've been bad about that lately!) to post, I think I'll just write about Nate. I have a lot to brag about with him, and since I don't think he ever reads this blog, I will take this opportunity to do so! First, have I ever mentioned how hard of a worker he is? Nate currently balances a full schedule of graduate classes and two jobs, one at the Center for Hazards Research at UofL and the other as the director of sustainability at Boone Gardiner Landscaping. The first job...I'm not sure exactly what he does all day because it is beyond my realm of understanding: research and feasibility studies and lots of graphs that this English teacher doesn't get, but he loves it so that's all that matters. If you didn't know, Nate will graduate this summer with his Masters degree in Urban planning which is perfect for him. Now I went to college with Nate of course and we even managed to take a few classes together and I can say that hiking usually came before school (not in a completely irresponsible way of course, just in a "nate" way...if you know Nate then you know what I mean). But these past few years in grad school have allowed me to see a whole new side of Nate; he is so devoted to doing his best and he really cares about what he is learning. I love that he's finally found something he wants to do, mostly because it genuinely makes him happy. Plus, he's gotten all A's in all of his classes! Without sounding like a mom, I am proud of him! Then there's his job at Boone Gardiner where he works with sustainable landscaping projects and design. Check out the blog he contributes to (and it has some good info on it as well): http://boonegardiner.wordpress.com/ In other words, Nate is hard working and devoted to what he does and that is just one more reason why I love him!
On top of all that busyness, he found the time this weekend to start renovating our basement. Aren't the dark socks a nice touch to this look? Nate probably will hate this picture, but it documents another area he is so talented in: construction/renovation/making something out of nothing! I don't know how, but there isn't a tool in the world he doesn't know how to use (or figure out) and I am one lucky girl to have such a talented husband.
Finally, this picture sums up the last two months...hibernating by the fire! I took this last night after we got back from a LONG run in training for the mini marathon in April...I was not in the mood to run very far but Nate apparently was and I made an internal decision to just go with the distance he felt compelled to go...8.5 miles later my legs were numb and I was floating along literally: the runner's high I guess! I know that might not seem like a lot to some people but getting me out in the cold for that long is quite a feat! So in conclusion, if anyone is still reading, this post is just a reflection of how much I love and appreciate my husband! He challenges me, impresses me with his mad construction skills and knowledge of all things outdoors, is my best friend in every way and loves me much more than I deserve:)