When I first became interested in gardening my next door neighbor was my mentor, always encouraging, reassuring me that nothing was final and that things could be moved and changed later. As an example, she told me of a woman who changed her garden every year. If the roses were in front one year, she moved them to the back the next, then moved the hostas along the fence, the day lillies from the walkway to the back porch, etc. I've become that woman! Every year I work my little fingers to the bone and think the yard is finally just perfect, but by the end of summer I realize that the Forget Me Nots are getting too much sun, the berm is over-crowded, the Scotch Broom didn't survive the winter, and the white Clematis doesn't look good next to the white Rose of Sharon. It reminds me of the scripture from 2 Timothy about "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
So here is this year's "seeking for knowledge." When I created this flower bed years ago, it was underneath the ash tree and, therefore, a shady bed. Over the years the tree has struggled and is now only HALF a tree. As a result, this bed is now a sunny bed. While it looks beautiful in the spring with the lush hostas, by mid-July, the hostas are burned and riddled with holes where the slugs have feasted on them.
I think the flower beds at the Nauvoo Temple are so beautiful and have wanted to learn to create something like them. While I have neither the budget the temple has, nor the manpower, I have made a change. At this stage, it's hard to believe that it could ever become the beautiful bed of annuals I'm hoping for, but you'll be seeing how it progresses as the summer moves along. Right now we just need some sun and some warmer temperatures in order to get things growing!
While in Utah I got to spend a couple of days with Rob. He took two days off work and we spent one of them doing something we've enjoyed doing the last few times we've been together--COOKING! We put together a list of things he'd like to eat during the next couple of months. We make one giant shopping trip for ingredients, then return two or three more times as our plans change, we think of things we forgot to buy, or have to go to a different store to get something. 
We did a really great humanitarian project in Relief Society last week. We made 80 little dresses for African children. Most of them were made out of pillowcases. We just cut off the top, gathered the front, and put the bias tape around the sleeves. The side seams and the bottom were already finished. It was easy, but as you might guess, there weren't many cute prints. I opted to buy cute fabric, which required a little more sewing, but will hopefully make some little girls happy.
