my first piano lesson

i found this little gem one day while i was trying to organize the million and one things we have in our tiny apartment, and if you look closely the very first quality the twelve year old version of me decided i should develop is playing the piano. darn you young women leaders for making me fill these things out and now look back wondering what i was thinking!

back in the day i took piano lessons, but eventually gave up on them and now i am left with measly music skills, and a random memory to play the star wars theme song. 

i'm working to catch up with my twelve year old self though and have taken up piano lessons again! this time my amazing mother in law is my teacher because well let's face it she has led, taught, and inspired her entire family to be so musically inclined and it is absolutely beautiful. in the three plus years that i have known the swainstons i have witnessed countless musical numbers on all different levels, venues, audiences, and settings, and they never disappoint. 

cody finally pushed me to set up an official lesson time with his mom, so we could actually get things started, and yesterday was my first lesson!  

my lovely husband secretly snapped this picture while i was hard at work.

and now today i start my homework for the week. i have actual "homework" pages in one of my books, but i have playing "homework" to practice this week as well in the other books.

this just goes to show that even after you graduate from college, you will still have homework to do.

 

so here's to one goal of mine that i'm working towards...now if i can just figure out a way to have perfect hair everyday and cook like bobby flay.

a girl can dream right?

one day i'll live in a big and beautiful farm house with a wrap around porch,

one day i'll look out my window and see a herd of my favorite cows grazing,

one day i'll have my dream hobby "job" of baking cupcakes all day,

one day i'll have one (or a few) of these to do all my "work" with,

one day i'll pick up the violin/fiddle again and play some good old tunes,

one day i'll cook like the pioneer woman for every family meal.

                                                                       

a girl can dream right?

30 minute drive turned 2 hour

farm boy and i are quite the country loving couple. we would much rather go visit a dairy farm together than go spend a night hanging in the city. don't get me wrong we love a good night of eating out and catching a movie, but some of the best times we have together are when we just cruise around the back roads.

we made a quick trip to preston, idaho (cody's homeland) sunday to watch his cousin open her mission call, and i say quick because it is only a 30 minute drive from where we live in logan, utah. once the celebration was over, farm boy and i headed back to logan. he decided to take a few back roads (quite a few actually since he didn't exactly know the correct roads to take) and show me a local elk farm they have in preston. so neat! they raise elk there and then move them onto their hunting property for trophy hunts. i had never seen one before and always enjoy seeing any kind of farming or agricultural operations. (and of course i didn't take any pictures!)

we continued our journey back to logan by taking as many back roads as possible which i loved! giant fields of grain, open pasture of cows, and farm equipment everywhere is my idea of heaven. and as we cruised around sunday night admiring the beauty we came across several hoop barns on a farm. and typical of us we debated what was in them. i suggested hogs especially after we noticed a small hog barn right next door to several of the hoop barns...farm boy was skeptical though. so i suggested he pull over and i would run over to the nearest barn and put the debate to rest. it seemed like a very logical idea to me, but farm boy had an even better one. he pulled right up to the house and knocked on the front door.

yep, that's him just chatting it up with the hog farmer and his son (and yes, i said hog farmer! my assumption was correct). 

after their good chat about the hog industry we continued our way home. and although it may seem mundane or odd to some people, i loved every minute of our drive home. farm boy and i sure do miss the country, but we keep reminding ourselves that our short 8 months here in logan is necessary if we want to spend the rest of our lives together in the agriculture industry. until then we will keep taking the long way home and talk about all the big dreams we hold so dear to us.