Behold, the Elusive Cardinal

I have been fascinated by cardinals ever since we moved to Iowa. No, not the baseball team, the bird. They are so beautiful and I had never seen one in real life until we moved to the Midwest.

Naturally, I have been trying to capture one on film since last spring. Unfortunately, cardinals do not seem to be big fans of being photographed. There is one that likes to spend his days in the tree outside our bedroom window, but as soon as he sees me approaching the window to take his picture, he flys away. I know what he sounds like, so for months he has been sitting out there taunting me with his calls. In fact, I hear him right now.

Previous attempts to capture this creature on film have turned out more like a bad game of Where's Waldo than the beautiful picture I had envisioned:


































And here it is at last:

Carne Asada

¿Cómo se dice "yummy" en Español?

This weekend we decided to introduce our friends Derek and April to Carne Asada. Neither of them had ever even heard of it, much less tasted it. We enjoyed a full feast of beans, really yummy Mexican rice, chips, salsa, and of course, carne asada. It was delicious and Derek and April are now big carne asada fans.

Here are the guys at the grill:


Brett & Amy: Bringing south of the border flavor to America's heartland since 2006. : )

Spring at Last!

Well, it looks as though the dark and dreary days of winter have finally given way to the glorious warmth and sunshine of spring. The grass is green, the tulips are blooming and the birds are out and about. We went for a walk today on the bike path near our house. Here are a few of the beautiful glimpses of springtime that we captured along the way:

The bridge that we take to access the bike path:


Duck Creek:


Eastern Avenue Park:

Ah, New Life

Brett and I have decided to try our hand at ‘patio gardening’ this year. We are planning on growing tomatoes, strawberries, and a variety of herbs that we use on a regular basis.

I am amazed at how quickly the tomatoes are growing. They doubled their height in just one day! Here they are at one week after planting:

This time last year, I was wearing a tank top

I'm beginning to think that Spring is never going to come. This is us on Easter weekend last year:

It was a glorious 70+ degrees, breezy and perfect.

This picture (from the Des Moines Register) is from the same week this year:

Needless to say, Spring is long overdue.

Hooray! I'm an Aunt!

And Brett's an uncle! The newest addition to our family, Zachary Matthew, was born at a healthy 8 lbs. 10 oz. on Monday:

I can't believe I have to wait all the way until June to meet him!

Welcome to the world, little guy. :)