~ Summer Scrapbook ~

 

Summer sunflowers.

Sleepy morning bees...still sleepy from gathering pollen.

Sweet little sheep, grazing in a field. 

On an early morning ride, we saw these sheep in a nearby town. They are very small and quite sweet looking, though I haven't any idea what kind they are.

We drove to Loa to a shop to have new tires put on one of our vehicles. Loa is close to Capitol Reef National park.  This cute old truck was at the gas pumps. 

Love it!

Lots of beautiful skies this summer. 

Most mornings we go for a walk, and what a treat to see such beautiful morning skies. Although, most evening skies are equally beautiful.

Sea Holly. This has been a good year for our flowers, and the sea holly is gorgeous. 

For July, I put out buntings and this sweet Uncle Sam porch sitter that I made years ago. I gave him a refresh this year with a new wooden USA tag. 
July is a big month in Utah... not only do we celebrate Independence Day, but Pioneer Day as well.

Also, both of our sons have birthdays in July, one of our daughter~in~love, and our only Grandson has a birthday in July!!!

There is a great barn door and shutter-making factory in our area, and many times they will have scrap wood that is free for the taking. It is a great benefit for the community to have the free wood, not only for making cute crafts but also there are those that heat with woodburning stoves, and that scrapwood is so nice for that.

We used a bit of the scrapwood to make these sweet little 'lathe' stars. I put one on all the exterior doors of our house for July.

 

Another day, another beautiful sky.

New French-style bistro in our area. 

There is a darling patio attached to the bistro as well, strung with cafe lights and cute French-styled bistro chairs and tables.

July hutch... all the red white and blue. 

Barn on the property just west of us. This barn belongs to the people that sold off 40 acres of their farm and made our subdivision. We are still on 'farm share' water, and we pay just $10.00 a month for pressurized irrigation.

Incidentally, the couple that owns the farm, and barn, and sold the land for our subdivision, lives in our ward. The Mr. told me that this land is fertile and some of the best farmland he had ever had!

We made this sweet 'Garden Angel' with scraps we had. The shutters were given to me by a friend when we lived in Spring City, the head and wings and arms were from the scrap wood pile at the factory that I mentioned previously.

The wheelbarrow was a curbside find and given a bit of a crafty makeover. 

I am enjoying this summer so much. It's been a long time since I remember enjoying summer so much! Usually, I tend to wish summer away a bit. 

Especially as I have gotten older the summer heat just zaps me, but not this year! I am loving all things summer and each and every day has been a blessing and a treat. I am thankful for this summer.

So many good things and blessings plenty this summer. My cup runneth over.

Tomato, Sugar, and more...

Summer has officially kicked off at our home.

Like so many other folks, Mother's day is flower day around here. Everyone in our family knows that I love to get my summer flower containers planted up for Mother's day, and everyone pitches in to get all of the containers filled with flowers.

In my mind's eye, I had a picture of soft pinks and yellows, and whites for the containers this year, but all of those ideas got thrown out when I saw the amazingly dark and beautiful color of these marigolds.

Above are the flower choices for our containers this year. Bold colors.

Pink canning jars. 

Once a friend told me about the pink canning jars, and I ordered them right away. 

They took nearly a month to be delivered but were seriously worth the wait. I love them!

Last Fall, our local hardware store started selling electrical spool rounds. We bought a bunch, and made giant pumpkins with a few of them and placed them in our borders...very Gardner Village- like. 

We reserved one of the rounds for a table in our living room.  Sanded, stained, and sealed I attached hairpin-style legs to it, and ta~da~ a perfect table! 

I'm quite pleased with the results.

My sweet husband built and installed a railing for our front porch.

It is a nice safety feature for our small Grandchildren, and it looks so nice!

There is also a handrail that he built and installed on our back steps. It will make it nice for everyone to have something to hold on to when they are using the steps.

 In thifting adventures... I found a 'Granny' chair. I have long loved these old upholstered rocking chairs, and they are harder and harder to come by. 

The last one that I found was years ago, and I gifted it to one of our daughter-in-loves to use as a nursing chair.

This one will get a good vacuum, and shampoo, but is in nice condition and will be a great addition to our library.

More thrifted finds.... padded dining chairs.

Our dining room table and chairs are so pretty, but the chairs are not padded, and I have found as I get older, sitting on those hard chairs is quite uncomfortable. 

I was on the search for two padded dining chairs and found these two at the St. George D.I.

They are already getting a makeover with paint, and gorgeous cottage-style fabric. I'll update you with a picture once they are finished.

I found this sweet table cloth at the thrift store. I spied it and saw that it had embroidered work on it, and without really taking a good look at it, I bought it.

Once I got it home, I took a good look at it. I love the tomato-colored flowers on it, and low and behold, it is an old sugar sack!

I also snagged this darling red geranium print with the tomato-colored frame.

A closer look at the sugar sack logo.. U & I sugar. 

As far as I can tell, the sack is from the 1950s.

I was raised to live a provident lifestyle. To not waste and to make the best of the things that Father in Heaven blesses us with.

I have great respect for other people that live providently as well, and it made my heart happy to see this sweet table cloth that was re~purposed out of an old sugar sack.

Lovingly embroidered to enhance the beauty of such a utilitarian item.

I know that the person that made this, and I could have been great friends :)

~ and then ...

 In the middle of the night,  smoke drifted through the windows, waking us up, and then we realized that there must be a wildfire burning nearby.
In the light of the morning sky, we looked across the meadow, seeing the smoke filling the valleys and obscuring the mountain views.

 And then, we spent the day digging out the old rock edging and replacing it with a scalloped metal edging. We bought the metal edging at Walmart in the spring.
Additionally, we pulled out nearly all of the Brunnera that had gotten crazy~overgrown and cleaned up the beds.
Cut back the bleeding heart, cleaned out the window boxes, etc.

 And then,  we decided to clean out the potted annuals and transplant those annuals into the border beds to make them easier to water and maintain. 
We are currently on watering restrictions in our little town.
Finished the front border bed and then we will continue to work around the house, getting all the border beds cleaned up and we'll thin out the leggy overgrown plants.
Even though cold weather is a little ways off, it will feel great to get the beds and borders ready for Autumn and winter.

 
 Sunflowers growing like crazy.

Sea Holly.
 This is the second year for this perennial in our border. 
The sea holly was a birthday gift for my husband two years ago. 
It has become one of our favorite plants.
I've seen Sea Holly pared with sunflowers on Pinterest and would like to fill a vase or two with the pair one of these next days.

Dowels drying in a wire basket on the window sill. 
We have a monthly "Dinner Club" where we get together with other couples and then have a themed dinner party.
This past Sunday we met and one of the menu items we made was 
" Italian Bread Twists". 
There is a Utah restaurant that makes bread twists and they are delicious. We did a copy~cat version of the bread twists.
 The dough is wrapped around wooden dowels, and then baked hanging over a cake sheet as to not have a flatted side of the twist. 
Here's the link, if you would like to make the recipe:http://www.rhodesbread.com/blog/blog/twisted-breadsticks

We've had string bulb lights on the front porch, though they were the style that had the brown wire between the lights, so we took off the old lights, and then hung up new lights with a white wire.
 A lovely glow for a summers night.

And then, we awoke to a new fire this morning. 
This fire is closer than the last one.
 More smoke-filled air, more murky sunrises, and sunsets. 
Many prayers for everyone that is feeling the fear of wildfires creeping closer to their homes. 
Prayers for brave firefighters. 
Prayers for rain.

 ~ Update: August 7th, 2018 12:24 pm 
                                    Hilltop Fire ~ Sanpete County Utah

                                     *picture via SanpeteMessenger.com
                                    Our local newspaper
The fire has grown from 50 acres yesterday evening, to over 1000 acres currently. Two structures have been lost and over 150 homes are threatened.

~Attitude of gratitude:
We received an awesome text early this morning. 
Our daughter in love and Grand are coming back to Utah!! 
They will be home this next week.
She and our Grand have been in Brazil, visiting her family for the last 5 months, while our son (and her husband) has been in the language training school for the military; he's learning Mandarine. 

Feeling grateful for a date night with my hubby tonight. 
Picnic dinner in the mountains, and a bit of summer fishing.

So thankful for sunshiney~ summer days. 
Thankful for fresh flowers. 
Thankful for a wonderful husband that works side by side with me on projects.

* Seriously*?

 It's been said that as we age, time passes more quickly.
It is certainly true in my case. 
I cannot seriously believe it has been so long since I last blogged!?
Busy days that meld into weeks, that meld into months, and before I knew it, time flew by.
 To be frank, it's a little, or a lot frightening how quickly time flies by...

 Nearly a year ago, our youngest son got married. We have a 'new' daughter in love.
 They are head over heels in love and looking forward to celebrating their one year anniversary at the beginning of next month.

 Liam. He is our very heartbeat. 
He just turned one year old! 
It's true what everyone told me... being a grandparent is the absolute best!
As one of my sweet friends told me..."makes you glad you didn't kill your kids when they were younger, doesn't it"! 
Yep. 
Grands are the best!! 
After waiting for our eldest son and daughter in love to have kids, the six-year wait was SO worth it!

 Summer is just cruising along. It's been a hotter than usual summer.
We recently celebrated Pioneer Day, here in Utah. 
The day our state celebrates statehood. 
We decided to get up into the mountains, away from the heat, and to get close to the water. 
  Here in the valley, we are on water restrictions.
We are allowed to water twice a week.

 Of course, the sunflowers don't mind the heat and lack of water.
They just continue to grow happily along... blooming and adding sunny yellow to the borders.

 Most of our flowers are fine with the drought.
That was all part of the plan when we planted nearly four years ago. 
Can it really be that we've lived here at Mill Hill Meadow for just over four years now?!

 The master bathroom makeover was high on my priority list, tho it has taken four years for me to actually dive in and get it completed! 
 Finally took the time to get it done this summer, and I'm so happy that I did.

 Sure enjoying the charcoal countertop and the white vanity.
Black and white accents can easily be switched up for a new look down the road if we so desire. For now, the simple cottage look is perfect.

 Do y'all remember my friend that owns the cute old gas station/shop? 
This summer I spied this cute 'married' hutch in the shop and bought it for our dining room.
 Decked out in the Bee dinnerware that I've been collecting for a few years now.

 Still doing a lot of thrift shopping. 
I love a great deal and the thrill of a great find!
Recent finds... the 'thankful' sign. It's quite large and perfect for Fall decorating, but really I could display it all year long.

Another find; this giant rustic frame. 
Soon to be fashioned into a large chalkboard. 
It will replace the cupboard door chalkboard that I've had for years. 

Have a happy day.

Attitude of gratitude:
 Feeling thankful to have overcast skies this morning, as it will make cleaning out borders and flower beds a more pleasant task.

~ Catching up ....

 First of all, I want to wish everyone a very happy first day of Fall... yay!!!

It's been a while. 
Blogging took a backseat this past summer. 

We decided to enjoy every bit of summer and make time for traveling and spending time with family.

 My sweet husband and I just returned from a wonderful trip to beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 If you've ever been to Santa Fe, then you know how beautiful it is. The architecture, the colors... it's all wonderful. 
I love the old doors, and the blues, and greens, and turquoise colors against the adobe and stucco colors. Look at the brick detail in the above picture... simply beautiful.
Did you know that the oldest house in the United States is in Santa Fe??

 This is the oldest house in the U.S.A.
There is a museum in the house, and you can see the way that people used to live back then.

One of the best things about Santa Fe, is that right now is chili season, and everywhere you go, there are chilis roasting. The entire city smells wonderful and there are delicious meals with roasted chilis as a main ingredient.

We brought home four containers of fire roasted chilis. I deseeded them and cut the stems off and froze them. Looking forward to having those chilis this winter... thinking about the delicious breakfast burritos, and chili relleno casseroles, and blue corn and chili cornbread... yum!

Driving through Utah, we saw some pretty country. This area is in the Monument Valley region. Utah is a gorgeous state!!

Back home, we are getting Fall~ish weather now.
The grass across the meadow is all golden and dry now, and the Fall storms make for the most beautiful sunrises.

Fall is my favorite time of year.... absolutely!
Though, I will miss our summer flowers.

My sweet husband and I are staying pretty busy... .so much for slowing down as one gets older... **haha**!
  We are now working two days a week in the Manti temple.
We are baptistry coordinators and that's keeping us pretty busy.
We're still making time to travel a bit, and we are working on projects around the house.
I'll have project updates soon, and show you what we've been up to.

*Attitude of gratitude ~
~I'm so thankful for this season in my life. Being an empty nester is the best!! We adore and love our kids, but having time together without additional distractions and responsibilities is wonderful!
~I'm grateful for the rain we are getting. It is sorely needed, and although growing season is about done with, it's nice to have the moisture and to take a break from having the sprinklers on.
~I'm so grateful for our safe travels. Each time we've taken a trip, we have been blessed with safety. No vehicle problems, or health problems, etc...  so very blessed!!