The Rest of the Story

With a little tap on my door and an uncertain shrill in her voice I was awaken by Jessica this morning. By the child-like excitement in her voice I wondered if it was Christmas morning and if there were presents downstairs for us from Santa. But Jessica's news didn't include anything about Christmas, Santa, or presents, but of the possibility of the mouse being caught. Although she wasn't sure because she was too scared to open the car door. I rolled over to see what time it was, 7:30am. "You've got to be kidding me!" was my next thought. Then reality hit me. "The mouse that we've been trying so hard to catch might be caught finally. Sweet, a new pet!" I jumped out of bed, slipped on my chacos (which make the world go 'round), grabbed my camera, and headed down the stairs towards the garage.

Jessica again stood in the doorway of the garage waiting to hear the verdict of my findings. I peered in through the window and saw that there was definitely a mouse stuck to the sticky pad. I greeted him this morning with a nice little, "Hi little guy!" I thought I could see him breathing and the prospect of him still being alive was exciting to me. I opened the door to find disappointment in my hopes. The "little guy" was dead. We had finally outsmarted him, but it took his poor little life in the process.

Putting all the evidence together we concluded that he had gotten into the rodent poison, for he made a mess of it on the floor in the front seat, then realizing how awful it tasted went to the back to eat some yummy peanut butter he had tasted and loved the previous day. But when the mouse trap snapped down over his head he frantically squirmed, racing backwards to try to get out of the trap but ended up running right onto the sticky pad locking him into place. With no chance of getting out, despite his thrashing efforts, he ended up sufficating to death. Out of all the options he had to chose from he chose 3 of the 4 options. Our little friend did not choose wisely. (Sad day!)

Jessica was thoroughly relieved that he was caught so he could be disposed of. Her remarks included, "It feels good to get rid of rodents. What a great way to start a Saturday morning!" Being the one who got to do the dirty work of cleaning up his little body my heart went out to him and some sadness for his passing was felt in my heart.

Below are the pictures of the progressive events that took place in this tragic mouse drama story.

Warning: Some content may not be suitable for children. Viewer discretion is advised. Proceed at your own risk.

The rodent poison and a sticky pad on the floor of the the front passenger side.

Two mouse clamps with peanut butter, a sticky pad, and the metal mouse trap box.

This is me opening up the car door after confirming that there was indeed a mouse stuck to a sticky pad.

Our findings once the door was open. The little guy wasn't breathing like I had thought, but in fact his head was clamped shut in a trap!

Just like a dishwasher that is stopped on the rinse cycle before getting the chance to dry the dishes, I was awaken this morning before my beauty sleep cycle was finished (as you can see in the above picture). Anyway, this is me holding three traps, after taking it out of the car, that were all connected to one other by this mouse.

This is how close Jessica would come to the mouse. She kept her distance.

This is my sad face. I really did feel sad that this poor little guy was dead. I mean, how would you like coming upon something that contained your favorite treat inside tempting and luring you into it and then out of no where WHACK it comes clamping down around your head only to leave you to sufficate to death? Yeah, that's what I thought. Glad you understand and take sympathy for this little guy as well.

An above shot showing how this little guy spent the last minutes of his life.

Another shot depicting the clamps awful grasp around this little guy's neck. Aren't his little ears that are sticking out cute?

I had to rip the sticky pad off of the metal box. If you look closely you can see mouse hair around surrounding the mouse; evidence of a struggle.

Before the clamp came off.

You can see here how vicious this clamp is. All it took was a tsp. of peanut butter. What this mouse's life worth a tsp. of peanut butter?

This picture represents quite well the immense pressure of the clamp around his head. You can see exactly where it snapped.

One last good look at our little guy before he entered his plastic bag coffin. Aww, look at those eyes.

Jessica and I solemly walked out to the dumpster together to say our goodbyes to our dear little friend who graced us with his presence, giving us a challenge, and then giving his life for the cause. My he Rest In Peace.

Day's Events

Not to deceive you from the title of this blog, I only have two events to share from today, but they have been exciting events.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!
Last night after coming home from Institute Jessica came running up the stairs into my bedroom where I was and with excitement and shocking disbelief in her voice she told me the story of how she has had a mouse living in her car since Monday. For the first couple of days she would find items in her car nibbled on or scraps of little (bitten) up pieces of bags. Then when walking out to her car yesterday afternoon and opening up the door her she saw it. The mouse. It scurried off so fast from her sight that she didn't know where it went, but everything all made sense now. She had spotted the culprit of the messy motor mouth that was litering all over her car. She was almost mortified that she has been driving around since Monday with a wild little critter running freely inside her car. The thoughts of all the "What IF..." possibilities made her cringe and give her shivers down her spine.

She purchased and set up four sticky pad mouse traps on the floor of her car behind the drivers seat after getting home from work yesterday evening. After telling me of the ensuing drama of this mouse episode she solicited to me for my service in going out to her car to see if the mouse had been trapped because she was too scared and grossed out to do it herself. Excitement then filled me as thoughts of finding this mouse in one of the traps ran through my head, but was disappointed when the traps produced no mouse. We baited the traps with chunky peanut butter and called our work done for the evening having expectations of finding a stuck, yet a well fed mouse in the morning.

Jessica and I arose from our beds and emerged from our bedrooms at about the same time this morning. Not five minutes had passed before she came into my room again asking for my assistance to check on the traps in her car. It being my pleasure, I slipped on a pair of my chacos, which of course makes the world go 'round and complimented my pajamas, and headed out to the garage. Jessica stood tense and ridig in the garage doorway as I approached the side window of the car. I peered into the car at the traps below to see if my expectations had been fulfilled, my thoughts being, "Who would pass up free peanut butter? I mean, c'mon! You gotta be crazy, esp. if you are a mouse and don't possess the higher level of intelligence that we as humans have."

I think this mouse is gifted. All four traps that were spread across the floor were now all stuck together and some of the peanut butter was gone, but there was no mouse. How did he do that!?! Beats me. Yep, beat me and our attempts to outsmart him. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He outsmarted us. Feeling that he had left the ball in my court, I was then determined to find him. (Yes, that is pride). With a headlamp in hand I began my search for this gifted rodent. Twisting my body into positions I didn't know I could to look in all the crevases and to stick my hand in all the holes I could find there was still no sign of him; there were no traces of him anywhere! I think somebody taught him the principle I learned while ding-dong ditching when I was young, "If you don't move they can't see you." Apparently it works better for mice than humans because I was found, yelled and cursed at. Not so with this mouse. The mouse made no sudden movements; not even a scurry across the floor to another hiding spot and I never spotted him. Not only was this mouse outsmarting us but he was a stealth ninja mouse too. He's good. Real good.

Jessica, asking for my moral support, had me drive her car over to Cal-Rance in order to pick up some more mouse traps. We were determined. We picked up another 4-pack of sticky pads as well as a metal mouse trap box. Jessica again baited the sticky pads with peanut butter and put cheese inside the metal box. She placed these traps, with some additional traps and poison, in the car as before and then left the door open allowing the mouse to leave with no harm done. At this point the mouse had four options and ONLY four options:

1. He could get stuck on the sticky pads
2. He could get trapped in the metal box
3. He could die from eating the poison OR
4. He could hop out of the open car door and scurry away free

Staying in the car without deciding upon any of the above choices was absolutely not an option! We waited in anticipation. And 9 hours later we are still waiting in anticipation........

THE BEAVER D LOOP
After the mouse excitement calmed down a bit I geared up to head out on a bike ride. With the forecast predicting rain, wind, and possible thunderstorms, I had to take advantage of today's mild and beautiful weather! It's rare to have a day in Rexburg (during the fall, winter, and spring seasons) that isn't being ripped apart by the piercing, bitter cold wind. Today was one of those rare occassions. Although there was a bit of wind, it was bearable. The sun was out and small clouds dotted a blue sky. The temperature, 49˚ degrees. All mixed together created an ideal recipe for a nice bike ride. Oh yeah, baby!

Not knowing where this ride would take me, I knew I wanted to head out on Hwy 33 to Beaver Dick Park. The ride to Beaver D didn't seem to take long at all and so I decided to make a pit stop there. I walked, while carrying my bike on my shoulder, to the docks. After resting my bike against the Park sign I made my way down one of the docks and took my seat. While sucking water from my camelback I watched the water gently drift by and reminiced in my mind the many memories I have had there. It was a very pleasant and peaceful time.

Not exactly sure where I wanted to go next - either continue on Hwy 33 and turn towards R Mtn. or to take the northbound road from Beaver D - I quickly did inny-minny-minny-moe between the two options. The R Mtn. option didn't win and so I jumped on my bike and headed north. I had only been down this road once before on a bike ride with Angie, but we had gone about a mile in before turning around in order to make it back into town for her to go to work. So, anything beyond that point was new to me, but I had an idea of where I wanted to end up and figured it wouldn't be too complicated to get there.

I biked for a few miles down this road, taking in the mountains in the far distance off to my left and the farms, run down houses that were far and few in between, and the river and trees that snaked it's way through the land along with the wildlife inhabiting the area. It seemed to go on for a ways, but finally coming upon the first road I took a right onto RD 4000. Now, I was biking east, back towards Rexburg, paralleling Hwy 33. This road wasn't a straight road before my next turn, but swung back and forth a few times adding some variation to my ride. Farms filled the majority of this road and I enjoyed seeing the many horses and cows feeding in the fields. My next turn, a right hand turn, took me onto RD 3575, which also zig-zagged around. This road was a lot more familiar to me as I passed by Warm Slough, Hibbard Elementary School, a church house on the corner, and the turn off towards Rabbitstick Rendezvous. Before getting closer to Rexburg this road was mostly lined with the growth of nature and many more bridges that crossed over the winding river. It became my favorite road on the ride. Just like I had planned, this road spit me out where I wanted - the gas station just off the second Rexburg exit. The rest of the ride home was a quick hop, skip, and a jump away.

I had made a huge loop that calculated out to be 21.2 miles. And as a reference back to this ride I named it the Beaver D Loop. It was quite the ride for only having been on a couple short rides this season so far. My ultimate goal is to ride to Idaho Falls and back before the triathlon in August. Riding 21.2 miles today was a good start - it roughly being 1/3 of the ride to Idaho Falls and back.

I am so grateful for Tom, who first introduced me to mountain biking 3-4 years ago when we participated in a short BYU-Idaho triathlon, for Spring Summit which further increased my love for biking, and for my best friend who then helped turn my love of biking into a passion and who also introduced me to road biking and my girl Jamis. I love the physical aspect of biking, but I love what it does for the soul even more. Biking allows you to get away from the distractions of the world, exspend pent up energy or emotion that's been bottled inside, clear your mind, and enables you to enjoy the beautiful God-given creations around you. Today's ride allowed me to release some depressing emotions that had started to creep up on me this morning, it cleared my mind, challenged me physically, and brought back good ol' memories. I am grateful to all who have helped develop this healthy addiction, love, and passion of mine. Thanks!

Frightening Attack

I awoke at 2:34am on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 from the most frieghtening nightmare I have ever had in my entire life. The reason for this nightmare and what followed thereafter is unknown to me. I recorded my dream in my journal the morning it happened. Here is what I recorded:

Setting of dream
My dream took place in a house that had stairs from the front door leading up to my bedroom, just like this house. The rest of the house was the same as this one except there was an addition to the right of the kitchen and dining room. It was like another living room. My bedroom was empty of any furniture except a futon mattress that was on the floor.

The dream
I had slept in my bedroom for several nights in a row and each night got progressively worse; the feeling in the room would get a little darker and I would get a little bit more scared each night. One night I got so scared that I wanted to get up and go across the hall to the room that my dad was sleeping in. My door was open as well as his door. My bed was in such a place where I could look out my bedroom door into his bedroom and see the windom on the other side of his bedroom.

As I sat on my bed trying to get enough courage to go into my dad's room I'd occassionally peer across the hall into his bedroom anticipating my walk across the hall. During one of my glances into his bedroom I saw a figure walk by the window, whom appeared to be on the outside of his window. I quickly looked away and refused to believe that it was outside and that it was anybody but my dad. Hoping and wishing it was him so bad I got up and walking into his bedroom I called out to him, "Dad?" As his bed came into view he responded, "Yeah?" I then asked, "Can I sleep in here with you on the floor? I'm really scared." He said that wouldn't be appropriate for some reason, which made sense to me in the dream, and then reassured me that all was ok and I'd be fine sleeping in my own room. Trembling I walked back to my bedroom to find an even darker feeling in it.

As I laid back down to try to go back to sleep a drum set appeared in the corner of the bedroom behind me. There was a person sitting behind the drum set, but wasn't visible due to the darkness of the bedroom. He began playing hard core alternative music. Nobody could hear it except me. It didn't exist to anybody else. I tried to ignore it as best I could as I laid down to try to go back to sleep. Somehow I managed.

The next day somebody, a friend, was over at the house with me. My mom was also home, but was busy tending to household duties. My friend and I kept going in and out of my room for whatever reason, but each time the dark feeling in the bedroom got worse and worse. I finally asked my friend if she could feel the darkness as we were in the bedroom. She gave me a puzzled look but stopped to see if she could feel it too. I began describing to her what I felt, "It's a dark feeling that gets darker and darker each time I come into the room. It surrounds me more and more; it's tightening in on me. I can feel a pressure and pain right in the middle of my chest." As I finished describing what I was feeling to her the evil power that was in the bedroom became almost overwhelming and so I started to make a quick dash towards the door with my friend trailing close behind. Right before we got to the door both of us fainted and collapsed to the floor. I saw my mom at the bottom of the stairs, her back towards me. I was hoping as I was collasping that she'd hear us fall and come up to help. She didn't.

Shortly after we had collapsed on the floors our bodies were thrown, heel over head, towards the stairs by the evil spirit in an attempt to have us tumbled like rag dolls down the stairs. Since I was the closest to the stairs I was projected and rolled about halfway down the stairs before stopping. My friend landed at the top of the stairs.

The next couple of scenes were the same as the first - being in the bedroom, fainting, and then being thrown towards/down the stairs - with slight variations, but always the great feeling and power of evil spirits controlling our bodies more and more. After this happened a few times we decided to avoid my room at all costs. We went into the additional living room off to the side of the kichen. My mom was in there preparing a small snack of string cheese and strawberries.

My friend and I sat on two large comfortable sofa chairs. The colors in that room were black and white, the furniture altering between the two colors. There was a black couch, a white sofa chair, a black sofa chair, and a black coffee table in the middle of the room. There was a high, bar-like counter on the left wall where my mom had prepared her snack. My mom was seated in another sofa chair at the bend of the room - where the room began to bend back towards the front of the house.

My friend sat down in the sofa chair closest to my mom and I took my seat in the remaining sofa chair next to her. I started talking to my mom about what was going on and wondering why she couldn't feel it. She didn't seem too interested in what I was telling her. It didn't seem like a big deal to her. That surprised me.

I had to step out of the second living room for some reason, but hadn't gone very far when my friend yelled after me to come back because something had happened. As I came to the entry way of the room my friend was leaning over looking at and pointing to the flooring in between her feet. "The evil spirts somehow purposely spilled something on the white carpet. They are trying to stain it!" I looked down and saw an orange liquid being absored into the carpet. At that moment my body was lifted into the air and almost in a violent yet controlled way was thrust towards my friend and this liquid on the floor. I had no control over my body. My friend yelled out, "They're trying to get you to stomp it into the carpet to stain in permanetly!" My body began to fall towards this stain, my feet pulling the rest of my body in any direction the possessor desired.

Before hitting the ground my body was then yanked back up into the air. While continuing to look down and having a greater sense of fear not knowing what was going to happen I saw my friend become possessed with this same evil spirit who then caused her to be pulled from her chair to the floor onto her knees. She then began to violently throw up; so violently that her whole body shook. I then began to violently throw up as well. Somehow I was able to slowly make it over to the sink that was on the far back wall of the room, but ended up gagging on my throw up. With some effort I was able to prevent myself from choking on it and being sufficated. I turned to my mom who was still sitting on her sofa chair and asked her, "Why aren't you being effected?!" She looked at me and said, "I pay no heed to them." I looked at her in disbelief. How can you pay no heed to something who has possessed your body and is controlling you?, I thought to myself.

I could still feel the evil spirit very strongly in my dream but it was at this point that I realized I wasn't asleep deep enough anymore that I could tell myself to wake up. And so I did and woke up. I thought after waking up the evil spirit that I felt in my dream would go away, but it didn't. Not only did I feel the evil spirit, but I felt a number of them surrounding me. The fear rapidly increased inside of me. I felt like somebody had come into my bedroom while I was gone with a weegie board and put a curse on it inviting the evil spirits to be present. I also felt that same painful pressure in the middle of my chest like I felt in my dream.

My fear increased with each passing second. It felt and I literally thought these evil spirits were trying to rip my soul from my body because of the pain I felt in my chest. I feared something physically was going to happen to my body, like Joseph Smith experienced. I began crying because I was so incredibly scared and felt my life was almost at stake. At that moment I heard in my head something say, "Start praying NOW! Pray NOW!!" I began praying, "Heavenly Father cast these spirits out! Please! Please! I'm so scared! Take them away!" I was then told to start singing hymns. I attempted to sing, "I Am a Child of God" but was unable to make most of it out because I was crying. I could still feel the evil spirits surrounding me so much so that I felt like I could almost literally see them around my bed looking, pointing, poking, proding, and laughing at me.

I quickly pushed play on my CD player which had the Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD "Love Is Spoken Here" in it. I again prayed and then directly told Satan to, "get thee hence." I sang along to "I Feel My Savior's Love" and "Our Savior's Love" with MoTab. I could still feel a slight presence of evil spirits. I got up out of bed, flipped on my light, grabbed my scriptures, and began reading allowed. After reading 3rd Nephi 17, I knelt in prayer again pleading for the evil spirits and the feeling of them to go away and be replaced and filled with His love and protection. The spirits and their presence, as well as the pain in my chest, slowly began to fade.

Sleep had fled from my eyes at that point. I didn't want to go back to sleep because I didn't want the same or similar dream to occur again. I didn't want to turn off my light in fear that I would be able to see one or more of the evil spirits still in my room. But I turned off my light, jumped back in my bed, and covered my head in my blankets keeping my eyes tightly shut so not to see anything in my room or possibily outside my window.

I have had many bad dreams before but never to this extent or fear to where the feelings from the dream because a literal living reality. After thinking and discussing this dream with a couple people several possible conclusions were drawn. One, Satan is just kicking me while I'm down physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Two, there was some unfinished business from the pre-existance that these evil spirit wanted to take up and finish with me. Three, I did or didn't do something which would invite these spirits into my life. Four, Satan was using his power against me in an attempt to prevent something good from happening.

I related my dream to my roommate and she printed off and gave me a talk to read from Elder Holland, "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence". I haven't had a chance to read it, but Jessica shared a section of it with me and thought it as a possible reason for the dream. Holland said, "...the adversary [has a] strong, preliminary, anticipatory opposition to many of the good things that God has in store for us." I am still puzzled by this very frieghtening experience and pray each day that I will have protection against the adversary.

More Than I Asked For

When I worked at Anasazi after I graduated from July to December 2007 I had a really neat experience one night. It was a Friday night and I was pulling a Rabbitstick (the first four days young walkers come into the program). So, it was our first night on Rabbitstick. I was with another trail walker and we had three young walker girls. We got out to the trail after it had gotten dark and we had blindly hiked down a wash from the dirt road we stopped on until we found an open area where we could just roll out our sleeping bags and go to sleep for the night.

I unpacked my pack, rolled out my sleeping bag, got my things situated, changed into my sleeping clothes, and then slide into my sleeping bag for the night. I said my prayers and then rolled over onto my back to look up into the beautiful starry Arizona sky. As I laid there I had the desire to see a shooting star before falling asleep. The thought came to me, 'well, if you want to see one, pray for it.' I followed that thought and said a prayer that Heavenly Father would provide for me to be able to see a shooting star before I drifted off to sleep. No more than 30 seconds had passed when a shooting star shot across the sky right above me. My heart was filled with love and gratitude and it was a simple testimony to me that God hears and answers our prayers, even if we're in the middle of the Arizona desert and all we want at that moment is to see a shooting star. Something so little. I said a prayer of gratitude and then drifted off to sleep.

This past Sunday evening I had the same desire I did on the trail so many months ago. My mind was still deep in thought from the fast that I had ended a few hours prior. I was thinking about the person I had fasted for and my heart was going out to this individual. I was laying on my bed looking out my window into the night sky at the stars above. I wanted to know and feel that the Lord was close to me at that time and so I said a prayer like I had before on the trail. I continued to look out my window waiting and hoping to see a shooting star, but I drifted off to sleep before I saw one. I don't know if a shooting star shot across the sky that night or not.

The next night I was again laying on my bed looking out of my window at the stars above. I was looking in a northwest direction when I saw the night sky light up from the east. I quickly sat up in my bed and looked to the east. What I saw astonished me! A comet was shooting northward across the sky. It was bright yellow in color and had a long tail trailing behind it. I only saw it for an instant or two before it faded, but I was so excited and felt like it was an answer to my prayer from the previous night. I prayed for a shooting star, but was blessed with a blazing comet streaking across the night sky.

To add to that tender mercy, I happened to be on the phone with the person I had been thinking about Sunday night when I prayed for a shooting star. It was a blessing to be able to then share that experience with this individual. The Lord knows all.

The Lord listens and hears our prayers. The Lord answers our prayers. He may not answer them when we expect or when we think we need Him to, but the Lord always answers our prayers on time. I am so grateful that He hears and answers prayers from His children who may think that their prayer or that they themselves are so insignificant compared to all the problems or other people in this world. He is my God. He is your God. He is our Heavenly Father.

Part I: Beautiful Butterfly Garden!

I don't know what gave me the idea to grow butterflies, but I did and got really excited for the possibility of doing it. Before this idea came to me I signed a housing contract for the house that I am living in and in the contract it strictly said, "NO PETS ALLOWED!" I thought of all the pros (lots) and cons (none) of having butterflies and so I finally asked my roommate if I could have butterflies as pets. Without hesitation she gave me permission. Her excitement for the idea grew just as mine had.

My research shortly began after receiving permission and discovered that you could raise your own butterflies. My excitement grew at this thought! I had started growing a small flower and herb garden in February and have had so much excitement as my little plants have grown. How much more exciting would it be to receive little caterpillars in the mail and then watch them grow into beautiful butterflies?

I started doing my homework in figuring out what I would need to get in order to make my own little butterfly hatchery. The suggestions on the internet only further sparked my mind and imagination. It didn't take long before I had a vision of my butterfly hatchery. I learned that butterflies like to lay their eggs on flowers. The idea of creating a butterfly garden then came into my mind. Not only did I want to raise butterflies, but my hope was that with the flowers they would reproduce and lay eggs beginning the cycle all over again. Below is the process of my vision coming together from beginning to now.

On the internet the butterfly sites offered mesh containers to raise your butterflies in. I wanted to make a home for my butterflies and the mesh containers would be sufficient or work. I shopped around and chose a 21 gallon fish tank instead. This ought to do the job! The first step in creating the garden is the dirt. Obviously.

In my homework I discovered the certain butterflies are attracted to specific types of flowers. I happened to receive my little caterpillars in the mail the same day I started creating my garden. The time frame of growing the flowers my butterflies are attracted to didn't line up with the time frame of the caterpillars becoming butterflies. I had to improvise. I purchased four pots of flowers: Primrose (2), Chrysanthemum, & Daisy Highside.
A top view of the flowers I planted in the tank.
Left: Purple Diasy Highside
Right: Yellow Primrose, Red Chrysanthemum, & White Primrose
Note: The flowers that I purchased are not the flowers that my specific type of butterflies (Pink Lady) are attracted to. The packets of seeds you see laying in front of the tank are some of the flowers they are attracted to. They include: Cosmos, Hollyhock, Aster, & Scarlet Runners.
I planted the seeds of the flowers that I purchased on Monday - the same day I planted the pots of flowers and the same day I received my little caterpillars. I didn't expect the seeds I planted to germinate or come through the dirt for quite a while. The above picture was taken this morning when I first discovered some of the flowers growing. These are the Cosmos coming through. I was shocked and excited to see that they had come through so fast. They're quick little guys!
The previous picture was taken just prior to me watering the flowers. Later this afternoon I was checking on the Cosmos that I had discovered this morning and it looked like there was more growth to them from just this morning! This is a picture of them this afternoon. This picture I actually put the camera inside the tank. The one previous was taken from the outside.

These are Cosmos flowers as well in a different part of the tank. I purchased three different types of Cosmos because I liked them so much. This picture was taken this morning before the watering.

These are the same Cosmos flowers as in the previous picture taken this afternoon. It looks like a ton more growth took place in just a few hours. This picture was taken from within the tank.

Finally! Here are the caterpillars. This is on Monday right after receiving them. I was very surprised by how small they were! I didn't see how they would grow big enough in the time frame given before they made their cocoons and became butterflies. They're just little guys!

Boy, was I wrong! This picture was taken today. They've grown 2-3 times their size from the time I received them! It's crazy how big they've become in just a few days. I can't wait to see how big they become before they go into their cocoons.

I am so excited for the progress of my Beautiful Butterfly Garden to continue! The process is so exciting. I will continue to take pictures of the new developments, so stayed tuned! Thanks for sharing the excitement with me!

This One Goes out to My Best Friend!

- I'm missing her lots and lots and lots!! And the good ol' times we've shared together!

- I am happy to find out that she only has allergies and isn't sick. Phew!
- I am sooo excited she got all registered for classes for this summer! Her effort in doing that has given me more motivation to get on the ball in that area! Thanks girl!
- Love the pictures of the pants and hope she remembers that she doesn't have to keep them if she doesn't want them. Pants that fit are so wonderful! Can't wait til she has some for herself.
- Absolutely love the different styles of hair she has done which include the BBP clips. How does she do that so well, esp. the half up with a messy bob? Like that one a lot!
- I'm excited that she's starting her new job today and am praying lots for her! I'm excited she gets to wear chacos to work - they make the world go 'round!
- I can't wait til she goes on a bike ride again after soooo long of deprivation!
- I smile knowing she is sleeping so wonderful on her new pillow, esp. that she is close and that she gets to fall asleep to the stars and wake up to the sun just like I do!
- I have the will and I will keep trying! I will never give up on WE!
- I still have some desire to run or to move, but am praying it will fade. I won't forget the promise I made to her and will continue to go on faith.
- I am searching for the desire within and praying that we will both find it!

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
("White Flag" by Dido)

∞ WE, SIS, BFF, BBP F&FA NMW! ∞