Romantics Anonymous

Travis and I watched a French movie called 

'Romantics Anonymous' the other night.

It was really good. Maybe not if you don't like

subtitles, but otherwise, funny film.

Anyhow, it's about a chocolate maker and her boss

and they fall in love, blah, blah, blah.

Apparently the thing Travis got out of it was simply

a craving for chocolate.

GOOD chocolate.

You know, the kind you find in Europe.

So...we're going to Europe!

Just kidding.

Well, someday hopefully, but not until we retire or something.

Instead, we were in bed Saturday night after watching the film,

and Travis asked me if I wanted to go get some chocolate.

I thought he was joking.

Nope.

11:15 pm, we got out of bed and headed to Smiths to get some chocolate.

Pretty sure we were the only customers in the store.

But it was worth it. 

And we even managed to save half of it for the next day.

(Why we only bought one? Don't ask me.)

Sod

Travis told me a while ago that we should go check out the sod that we'll be purchasing.

The time is getting closer....not close, but closer.

So, since the weather's been a bit too wet to do much yard work, 

we took the opportunity to drive up to Weston, Idaho last week.

45 minutes.

That's how long it took us to get there.

1 minute.

That's how long we stayed.

I guess I didn't quite grasp that we were really going to just LOOK at it. 

I mean, we did get to walk on it, and it's really nice sod.

I'm excited to have it in our yard one day.

So, I decided we at least had to photograph this trip.

This would be a great photo if Travis' eyes were open.

I kept complaining about it so Travis pulled the car over on the way back

so we could take another photo...not next to the sod.

Better.

Then we were going to stop at a place that apparently sells liquid bricks, 

which I found out is just a milkshake, but sounded good nonetheless.

Travis missed it.

So we went to A&W instead. :)

Enjoy the moment, right?

Happy Day

It's birthday month. Not for me, but for two of my best friends.

And, they both absolutely adore Doctor Who.

So, I made this awesome cake for them.

For those of you who don't have a clue what Doctor Who is, I'm sorry.

This is the Doctor's time travel spaceship thing.

I'll stop there.

Here's the birthday people. :)

Love them.

Also, random and this is a bit late, but apparently Travis picked up an awesome 

tradition on his mission in Mexico to make cheesecake on cinco de mayo.

I love cheesecake.

And I love traditions.

Here's his incredibly delicious homemade cheesecake. 

He is certainly talented.

 

Film Photography--Stages of the Ages

Just wanted to share my final portfolio from my color photography class this last semester.  

I really enjoyed it for the most part. I got to photograph what I like with color negative film.

Stages of the Ages

Series I: Dress Up

Series II: Distress/Pain

One day I hope to be like them...

I went to my cousin's graduation ceremony yesterday.

His name is Ryan. We're the same age and we grew

up about a mile away from each other.

We're basically best friends.

So proud of him.

I also went to my other best friend's graduation, Amanda Snow.

She and I were roommates last year.

She is super super awesome.

And she's going to grad school in WASHINGTON this fall.

Pretty excited for her.

I will be like them one day, all graduated. Only when I do,

I will be done with school I think.

No masters for me.

Happy Graduation!

DIY Wall

How To Build A Retention Wall

So, Travis and I decided we'd like to have a flat yard rather than a steeply sloped one.  Which led to the obvious decision to build a retention wall.  Travis watched hours of youtube videos so he is now a pro. He said all the videos he watched were roughly 30 minutes long, so it should certainly take no longer than an hour.... 

Anyway, we did it. We built a wall all by ourselves (with the help of family of course.)

Step 1: DIG

 Make sure you have one of these beauties, cause it sure beats using a shovel.
Then dig a massive ditch.  Quite simple. I mostly watched during this part. Wait, false. We had to make sure the ground was fairly level, so I was the level checker.

Step 2: LAY GRAVEL

Thank goodness for Travis' family. His dad had some big trucks, his brother-in-law had some connections and his dad had the skill to work all the rented equipment.  So we got a TON of gravel and laid it down for the foundation. Then you have to use a compactor thing (pictured below) to compress it so it's nice and flat for the first row of blocks.

Step 3: LAY THE FIRST ROW....CAREFULLY

We used cinder blocks for our first row since we'd bought a ton before deciding that we were actually going to use the other, prettier blocks instead.  In my opinion, this was the hardest part (even though I essentially did nothing here either.) It's just very meticulous. According to youtube, if you don't get the first row completely level and straight, your wall is a disaster...or something like that.

Good thing we had plenty of help though!

Step 4: BACK FILL AND LAY ANOTHER ROW

And now the fun begins.  Laying the block. Nothing more to say about that. (Also something nice to have is an incredibly patient husband...)
Then fill it in with more gravel (seriously we had like 5 tons of gravel) for the first few rows and then dirt for the rest.

One row down!!!  

Step 5: BRING IN THE FILL DIRT

Lots and LOTS of dirt.

And...try not to get the skid steer stuck.  Level it all out and you've got yourself a yard.

And WE"RE DONE!!!  The wall may not be perfectly straight, but it'll keep the dirt in perfectly.