Archives of Our Lives

{a narrow and broad look into the lives of people I love}

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

This is the Kind of Day That Engaged Couples Dream Married Life Will Be Like...

Poor Kyle got to sleep in. I had my errands to run. And when we got back together, we had a cookout.

One day, over a year ago, I stood next to Poor Kyle on the back deck of his newly purchased home in Mayberry. It was Autumn, we'd just gotten engaged, the weather was nice, and we had great expectations of all the bonfires we'd host in our fire pit...once we were married.

Who'd have thought we'd actually arrive at this point? The point where we're starting fires of our own free will, and not just to collect homeowners' insurance. But because we're so inclined. To look at them. And cook with them. And burn our trash.

And I feel sorry for you, since none of you were invited to our impromptu dinner. So I'll give you a recap, in photos:

The Day We Envisioned We'd Have as Married People, Back When We Were Not Married:

Poor Kyle was there (looking not unlike Napoleon Dynamite, in my opinion). My husband is a stud...

...see any resemblances?

Poor Kyle wasn't happy when I pointed out the uncanny coincidence. I don't suppose I can blame him.


The fire pit--well on its way to becoming our favourite place to cook.

The Log. The Log is for food preparation and extra seating. The Log is not for burning, despite common thought processes.

These may look like wieners, but in fact they are pepperoni sticks. Just a little appetizer while the coals got hot. Because when we cook out, we do it in style. Appetizers, cocktails, palate cleansers...the whole shebang.

Of course I should take a photo of my husband's bottom. I like it.

I was there, too, of course. But the only evidence you'll get are the photos of my garden. Which, given all the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into my garden lately, it might as well be me.

But just in case you wanted solid proof, there I am. (I'm skinnier in my shadow, which is a blessing, given all the chocolate-covered strawberries I ate for breakfast. And lunch.) My skinny-ish shadow is covering the corn. Only you can't see anything but dirt because I only planted a few days ago. And evidently, it takes longer than two days for corn to grow. What a rip-off.

If you look closely, you can see the word "CORN" etched laboriously into this copper marker. That's where I planted corn. Clever, I know.

And this can is what I use to water my tender little transplants. Not that it's doing any good at all, since I think I already killed the basil:

It's looking a little peakish.

Then again, that could be because of my weeds. They're pretty monstrous. I've gotten a lot, though. A quad trailer full, anyway:

See?

Die, monster weeds!

But I've digressed haven't I? The point of this post is that...

...today, being married was fun. We have a fire pit. We have a garden. And we're going camping this weekend, because that's what ambitious newlyweds do with their first long weekend of Spring.

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13 Comments:

Blogger Joel said...

Ahhhh!! You have as many dandelions as we do! Don't you HATE them, with their ugly-as-sin yellow flowers that seem to evolve overnight into GIANT puffs of yet-to-grow-in-my-yard baby dandelions? I think that I "planted" about a hundred thousand of them when I mowed the yard the other day. But there is no winning solution, especially when your neighbors' yards consist primarily of the blasted weed rather than the often preferred grass. Weed and feed and manual labor. Or surrender. I'm jealous that you have the time and energy to kill so many of my newest enemy...

And we made it to AZ yesterday!! No dandelions here. But no trees (that have leaves), either. And not a whole lot of green grass. And the air is VERY dirty. But family and friends and good times make abandoning my home for a week and a half (mostly) worth it! It was A LOT of work to get us and our two hijos down here in one piece with all the crap we need to survive without dressers and closetfuls of diapering supplies. Hats off to my wife, who put forth the majority of the effort.

May 15, 2008 at 6:10 AM  
Blogger Aimee said...

Here, here to the above comment. Except for this statement - "Weed and feed and manual labor". Joel does do the weed and feed, but let's just say that I got a dandelion weeding tool for Mothers' Day. I enjoy the labor part though.

And, "Permanently Dilated to a 10". Holy moly! You're so freakin' funny!! Sometime you should do a video recording of a post because I think it would be hilarious to see your mannerisms and hear your voice inflections as you talk about such outrageous topics.

And I pray you will get to roast home grown corn over your sweet backyard fire pit!!

May 15, 2008 at 9:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Millie,

You sound so happy. I'm very, very happy for you. Hearing you so happy makes it alright to have you live 1,500 miles away from here. (But I still can't wait until you're here next week!!!!)

May 15, 2008 at 11:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just used happy three times within three sentences. Some English teacher...

May 15, 2008 at 11:17 AM  
Blogger Whitney said...

What a fun yard. We cant have fires here in AZ... we will burn everything down.

May 15, 2008 at 11:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Camille! You are going to be here next week!?! Awesome! We should both make time to get together and visit so I can give you the stuff I've had for you for ... quite sometime. I hope to at least get a glimps of you while you are in Arizona. You heared that I am pregnant right? ~Kyrie

May 15, 2008 at 2:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

gardening, roasting home grown corn, firepit.
NICE!
so happy you're happy, and spreading the happy.
(firepits rock, way better than propane bbq's...i wonder, wood, or charcoal?)

(a corn tip, soak, husk on, in water for a few hours, roast, husk on, over a slow, glowing coals fire, on a grill, turn occasionally. you get smokey, delicious, and not burnt, southern alberta corn.YAAAAY.)

May 15, 2008 at 3:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

(and the slow roast could be snuggle time. don't get THAT in church!)

May 15, 2008 at 3:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'm so happy you're having so much fun! and you're garden is going to be amazing. oh, and i think dandelions are beautiful

May 15, 2008 at 10:37 PM  
Blogger RPH said...

looks like fun camille! i am glad you are enjoying the weather and being outside with NO SNOW! winter did end. Yea! Your garden is off to an impressive start!

May 16, 2008 at 8:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

YAAAAY, VICTORIA DAY!!

so, you've dropped the camping trip bomb, you lucky devil, should we hungrily await posts, during, or after, said trip into nature?

not that we'ld want to distract you.

yeah happy.

May 16, 2008 at 3:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

early childhood, they told us to contract we and would that way. about '68, edmonton.
since i began reading you, i've enjoyed your vision into the english-american-canadian dialect(s).


happy camping.

May 16, 2008 at 4:11 PM  
Blogger Jenny Biggs said...

Love the photography!

May 23, 2008 at 9:35 PM  

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