~ 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 :)

~ What I'm loving this week....

Beautiful jar of faux lemons on the island, and a vase filled with babies breath.

Ingredients for protein bites: Almond butter, raw honey, organic unsweetened coconut, ground flax, black chia seeds, organic dried cranberries, honey roasted almonds, rolled oatmeal, and mini 'Enjoy Life' brand of mini chocolate chips.

A new apron in a sage and white check.

An enjoyable book series. I've been reading a ton this winter.

A thrifted rocking chair getting a chalk paint makeover.

Our thrifted kitchen table also got a chalk paint makeover. We gifted our rather large kitchen table to our youngest son and his wife. It was a massive table and we simply did not need such a large table anymore. This smaller double drop leaf table we bought at a yard sale a few years ago. It's perfect. I will also be painting the chairs to match the table.

Attitude of gratitude:

Last night, as we were bringing home our new trailer, we got about 40 miles into our 55~60 mile trip home, when we heard a loud 'pop'. 

Fearing something had gone terribly wrong, we pulled over... thankfully there was a spot perfect to pull our Yukon and trailer over and get off the highway. 

The 'dummy' light indicated that our hood was unlatched. Evidently, the hood didn't get shut tight enough,  when the dealership was installing our brake assist, and it was a simple fix to open the hood and slam it shut. 

I feel so grateful that it wasn't anything serious, and that the hood stayed shut and didn't fly open on the highway in a spot where we wouldn't have been able to pull over. 

Prayers are answered!!

We said a prayer before we went to pick up the trailer, and we said a prayer before we left the dealership to travel back home with the trailer. Heavenly Father watches over us and for safe travels I am grateful!!