An Unexpected April

Well, I've mowed the lawn so it's officially spring :) The baseball season has started and we got off to an awful start but things have been going better lately. I do want to go to a game this year since it will be the last time I'll get to see Cabrera play.

April was thrown off course right at the start when a friend's dad died unexpectedly in a freak accident. A lot got put on hold for the first two weeks so that we could be there as much as we could for the family. When stuff like that happens it sobers you. Life, relationships, and plans all take on different meanings and importance. It felt wrong to go on with my plans for the month, to keep living my life as normal, when I knew that their life will never be the same. What changed was that I was more grateful for the things I was doing and the people I was doing them with.

In my family news, we got two pigs and we found out that our two vacant staff positions at church are filled! We don't know when each man is starting but I'd imagine by mid-June or early July they would probably both be here. It's so exciting!

The weather did not cooperate for planting things but we did get our strawberry plants potted so they can start growing and my dad helped me tear out a bunch of bushes, move rocks, and get some areas read for plants whenever it is warm enough.

Sadly, the cafe lights did not get hung this month. We'll try for May!

Personal

• Went to a vintage mall with a friend. She had gone to this place for her birthday and told me about it. It sounded cool so we decided to go together. It was nice to spend most of the day with a friend who I don't see often. I got some vases for my dried flowers!
• Easter. It was marvelous. We dyed eggs with our cousins on Saturday and the service Sunday was incredible. I think I could easily handle a 2-2.5 hour service on Easter. It's just the best. We spent some good family time at my grandparent's house and ended the day playing Catchphrase around the campfire. I don't think I'd ever played it before.
• I am going barefoot and wearing my sandals and I do love that, even though the sudden warmth has been a difficult adjustment overall.
• The hammock is up and I've been spending time getting sun.
• I got the front flower beds in order for our plants. It looks so nice, if I do say so myself.
• Watched some high school baseball. I miss high school baseball so I decided that I was going to go watch some games this year, just because. I also miss photographing it so I am taking my camera along.
• My recipe for this month was trying my hand at making bagels! They looked great from the top and tasted wonderful but the bottoms... the bottoms of my breads always are a struggle for me.

Business

• Noah's senior session. We had intended to do his senior session last fall but then his family ended up moving in August but we finally did it! He did a fantastic job :)
• Photographed an Easter fair. Through a string of events, I ended up volunteering my services to the church I've been attending for their Easter fair. It was quite fun and I got to use my new 50mm lens and practice my flash work.
• Updated my 50mm lens. I have decided it is time to get lenses that actually are made for my mirrorless camera. I've been using an adapter and it's okay but my plan has always been to upgrade. Canon does not have a 28mm with the new mount yet, so I am waiting on that one.
• Finished my KJ course. I completed the re-watch of the lessons in March but there were some bonus live examples and things that I did not get to and each one was over an hour long, so I spread those out in April.

This is Porky and Petunia. My brothers named them. (iykyk)

I was working in the front flower beds and this captured my attention. It's so cool!

I wanted this globe! If only I'd had the space for it!

Every country is a kind of rock!!!

We finally got photos hung up! I also got some things hung in my room too.

My vases and dried flowers :)