The temperatures are changing in the valley of the sun which means an increase in yard work. The whole summer we put off certain yard projects because the heat was unbearable. Now we're cooling off and we're ready to tackle the yard. Our first item of business was to plant winter grass.
This is a foreign concept to us. Growing up in Idaho, your yard went dormant and snow covered the ground and spring showed up and the grass was green. Milwaukee was a similar experience except we were fortunate to never water our lawn because the frequent rain storms kept the ground plenty moist. We moved to Arizona and all the sudden even when the grass is in it's "prime" state its not this beautiful luscious green grass and it's even worse when it goes dormant. Winter grass is a popular option to have a decent looking lawn for the duration of our very mild winter.
We asked around for tips and tricks and we felt as though we had a good grasp on what it would entail. We knew this weekend we had "Church-at-home" (lovingly named by the kids), General Conference. We figured we do some work in between the three 2-hour sessions on Saturday. We underestimated the physical labor it would take. We got a jumpstart on Thursday. We mowed our lawn really short.
Saturday after the first session, we then went back over that lawn with a different lawn mower with a special blade that tore up the grass and it cut the grass down to nothing. We made another pass over the lawn with the regular mower to pick up all the extra clippings. We watched more conference. Steve then went over the lawn with the weed eater and took to the ground stubborn weeded areas that wouldn't scalp. I blew what extra clippings were left off the lawn. I spread the fertilizer and grass seed and Steve followed up covering the ground with grass clippings. We were exhausted and we only planted grass in our front yard. It took hours of both of us working, no wonder why some people refuse to plant winter grass. The worst part about it is this process is repeated every fall - it's an annual seed! We'll see if any of the grass takes whether we do it again next year!
The consolation prize for our hard work was the great time we spent listening to church leaders Saturday and Sunday, not to mention our traditional conference breakfast with Steve's brother's family (complete with apple nachos!).
There were some profound talks. There were talks that were emotional. There were talks that I could relate to. And then there were my favorite talks that I can't stop thinking about and that move me to action. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf was one of those special talks that resonated with me, "Of Regrets and Resolutions." President Uchtdorf spoke how people, with the click of a mouse can "connect" with thousands of "friends" without facing a single one of them. "Technology can be a wonderful thing, and it is particularly useful when we cannot be near our loved ones.... However, I believe that we are not headed in the right direction, individually and as a society, when the most frequent way we connect with family or friends is by re-posting humorous pictures, forwarding trivial things, or linking them to sites on the Internet.... If we fail to give our best personal self and undivided time to those who are truly important to us, one day we will regret it."
How true and simple is that? Oddly enough I needed to ask a family member a question right after that talk. I made mention to Steve that I would call them and ask the question. He replied, "Just text them." That is easier. It always is and that's why it's our preferred method of communication. More importantly it limits the amount of time I have to devote to that specific task. What if I call and they talk forever? I just have a simple question!
Having the technology that allows us to communicate so easily is awesome and I take full advantage of it. There is definitely a place for all of it but with that comes excessiveness in all of it. I realized for me, by limiting my communication to technology, I'm also limiting my ability to read people and to read the sound of their voice. We all know that the tone in someone's voice speaks volumes. Are they sad, frustrated, elated, tired - I would want to know about all of them. So what if they want to talk forever, they probably need someone to talk to. Or maybe that phone call will reinforce a relationship I already have and I'm reminded again at how much I love and appreciate that person. Either way, I want to work on giving my personal best to those that are most important.
The whole talk was phenomenal and there were at least 5 things I immediately knew I wanted work on. I'm sure my "action-list" will increase once I can sit down and study the talk in more detail. Can't wait. I love conference weekend.
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