Weekend in pictures

 Labor Day weekend means it's Swiss Days in Midway Utah.
Tons of booths filled with crafts, food, etc. 
We went on the Friday before Labor Day. Hoping to avoid the majority of the crowds that jam into Swiss Days on the Saturday before Labor Day.
Nope. 
Guess everyone else had the same idea because it was shoulder to shoulder people.

 At the Midway store, called 'Everything in the Barn', there were beautiful displays of Fall goodies and even Christmas goodies.

 This 'Boo' sign was hugely popular, and this booth had a huge line around it. Folks waiting to buy their sign. 
I just couldn't bring myself to wait in line forever. 

 Tents and booths, and people galore. 
We did buy a few things: Honey, a Liz Lemon Swindle picture, and from the Midway Relief Society booth, a loaf of homemade cinnamon swirl bread that made the yummiest French toast.

 A beautiful old garage tucked back in the trees. Spied on the way back to our car. We parked in a field. Paid ten dollars, and was happy to have found a place to park at all!

 The town of Midway. Tucked into the mountains.
A beautiful old town, that is hugely popular now. 
Whereas it used to be a small farming community, it is now a place where multi-million dollar homes are built. You would be hard pressed to find an affordable home in Midway these days. 

 One of the bonuses to living in Midway is Deer Creek Reservoir. This is just a small glimpse of the lake.

 From a bygone time in Midway. A beautiful barn. Just past the barn, you can see a teeny bit of the lake.

 Back down the Provo Canyon... towards home.

Stopped by the Orchards Harmons to buy Hatch Green Chilies. The weekend of Labor Day, the market was roasting chilies. We bought a bushel of mild chilies.
Once home, we quickly assessed that the chilies were actually hot, not mild.
A phone call to the market and the produce manager apologized and promised us a credit next time we are there. 
   It might be a while before we return to the market, as it's over a hundred miles from where we live... one way.

Attitude of Gratitude:
~So thankful for my family. 
Our youngest son and his sweet wife were sealed in the temple yesterday. 
~Grateful for mild mornings that make it possible for my sweet husband and me to enjoy morning walks together. 
~ Thankful for safe travels. We love to go and see things. Lots of road trips and I'm always so grateful to be able to travel safely and return home safely.
~Grateful for laughter. A day without laughter is a day wasted.

~ Soaking up Summer ~

 Hello friends,
It's been a wonderful summer.
My sweet husband took some time off, and we spent the time doing projects, and we threw in time for fun too.
We went to visit our oldest son and his wife. This adorable cottage is in a little town, near where they live.
Isn't it just precious~!

 Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, and for their tips on getting our sunflowers to grow again, after we had to dig them all up.
The above picture was taken shortly after we transplanted them back into the ground.

 And now, they are thriving.
I think that the shock of being up-rooted, stunted their growth a bit, but they are putting on quite a show, and surviving!~

 We planted about 10 different varieties.
So far, we think about 6 of the varieties have survived.

 These red ones are really stunning.
I am so happy that they survived, and I'll be saving seeds from these to plant en~mass next spring.

  
 A new flower to our gardens, is this Green Eyed Susan.
Isn't it wonderful~?!
I do hope that it takes hold, and next spring takes off!  I hope to have enough next spring to divide and put in several places in the borders.

 One of the things that we did while my sweet husband was off, is work on the fence. We now have one side completely done...~~ Yay!
We also bought new perennials and planted them in the borders.  This variety of cone flower, as well as a yellow variety, another variety of lavender, and we put in 4 trees! Two of the trees are maples, and one tree is an apple tree, and the other is an ornamental pear tree.
With the other variegated maple and the two plum trees we put in this spring, our yard will have beauty, shade, wind protection and fruit. It's a wonderful thing~!

 It's always nice to have fresh flowers in the summertime.
Cosmos are growing ~ seeds from a friend. Goldenrod ~ plant starts from a friend. Daisies, they were here when we moved into this house, and the Black Eyed Susans, I planted last spring, along with some tick seed.

 And, yes.. some of our beautiful survivor sunflowers are gracing our kitchen island.
The gladiolus are some that the stem snapped on, after a rain storm. I generally do not cut them, for I like them in the borders, more than I like them in a vase ~~ still, they are gorgeous! We planted them in the early, early spring this year.

 We bought a flat of raspberries.  Seven plus pounds.
We made the most delicious raspberry jam~!
My sweet husband helped me.... he is a wonderful pot stirrer.... in the best way~! He generally helps me with the canning, if he's home.
We made 3 batches of raspberry jam.

 We also bought some gorgeous, giant apricots at the farm stand. You can just see one peeking out of the yellow bowl.
I made 4 batches of apricot ~ pineapple jam.
I had to stir the pot all by myself though, as my sweet husband was at work.
He thinks I'm a great pot stirrer too ~~~ smile.
The jam turned out wonderful, sweet, and delicious~!
By the way........ have you ever had a pan fried potatoes and onions and topped it off with a dollop of apricot ~ pineapple jam??
It is a taste of heaven~ really!

Another project that we worked on, was to make a shed overhang roof for the ATV's.
We planned to add a shed overhang roof to the back side of the garden shed, when we first ordered it in the spring.
Once the shed was delivered, and we painted it, we knew the next order of business was to get the shed overhang roof built, before winter and snows descend on us.

My sweet husband, and our youngest son worked together to get the shed overhang roof done.
There is plenty of room for our ATV's, plus there is still enough room left over to stack wood next to the roof.
Just disregard the totes {they still need to be put in the garage} and the garden wagon {full of tools and supplies for the fence} and the birdhouse {still needs to find a home in one of the borders} and the charcoal grill { we only use it once in a while, and generally use our gas grill}.
I still need to get the stuff put away, and finish the posts, etc.  I'm debating if I want to stain them to look old, or paint them to match the garden shed.
The roof is old tin that was recycled from our son's old garage.
Hmmm..... guess I'd better decide soon, and get it finished.

When summer began, we had one hummingbird feeder, and one faithful little hummingbird.
We now have 2 hummingbird feeders, and we are filling them 2 x a day.
Last night as we sat watching them, as close as we could count... we now have over a dozen little hummingbirds.
I think they are trying to soak up summer too ~!
In one of our previous houses, we had 3 feeders and filled them multiple times a day.. we could count more than 20 hummers.
So, for now, we haven't set a hummingbird record.
Still, there is a bit of summer left, so one never knows.

Another fun thing we've been doing to soak up summer, is to go up to the lake.
This lake is just five miles from our house.
My sweet husband catches the biggest lake trout, and we've had some delicious dinners of lake trout with grilled veggies.
Tastes of summer.......

Can you spy that little town? That's our little town.
The winding road takes you up the canyon to the lake.
As you can see, we are blessed to live in a beautiful valley.
Mountains surround us, and fields make a beautiful patchwork like quilt in the valley.

I'm off to soak up some more summer.
Before you know it, it will be Autumn.


~Attitude of gratitude
~ Feeling blessed to have fresh jam on the shelves in the store room
~Feeling grateful to have packages of shredded zucchini in the freezer... enough to last throughout the winter, and to make cookies, breads, soups and chili's with.
~Thankful that we've been able to travel safely to our destinations, and back home again. What a blessing!
~Feeling thankful for great books and magazines that I've found at bargain prices this summer. I'm all stocked up for Fall and Winter reading, and for just a few dollars!
~I am so grateful for my life! I have a wonderful life, and I am completely humbled by how blessed I am. I feel favored by the Lord...

Would you ever??

Would you ever paint your house a bold color, like this?  Would you?

I've been smitten with this house in Midway, for well over a year now.
 I think it's adorable. 
It certainly has character.

For my birthday, this past week, my amazing family and I went to Midway, and Heber City. 
There is a fun store in Midway that I like to shop at. It's called " All that Stuff in the Barn". 
It was a treat to drive up Provo Canyon, and past Deer Creek Reservoir to Midway.

 As a lover of all things old, Midway has some great old houses~ 
Loved this one too..... painted a kind-of rusty, barn red color.
How cute are those mossy green Adirondack chairs on the front porch?!
Would you ever paint your house this color?

 How bout this color?
A brighter red, with white trim?
Too bold??
Can you see at the bottom of the picture, a small wooden water wheel?

Here's a close-up.  So charming!!
This little water wheel was just spinning around and around; just moving the water along in the irrigation ditch, in front of this house.
Who thinks of making something so cute?

 Of course, when we drove over to Heber, I just had to get a shot of one of the engines that is being restored for the Heber Creeper line.
So exciting to see this old gal get restored, and one day, be back in service.
My kids used to play on this old engine. It was permanently parked in the old GRA park in Provo.
All the kids used to climb on this old engine, and play.
Back in the early, early 1950's, when this engine was in use, my Dad was a 'Fireman' on this engine.
Meaning.... he shoveled coal into the fire, for the steam engine.  I still have his old fireman's hat.

On the way back down Provo Canyon, we stopped and I snapped this picture of the backside of Mt. Timpanogos.  So beautiful with the snow, and the Fall leaves.
Growing up in Provo, and now living so far away, I miss seeing these mountains.
It was a wonderful trip, and a real treat.

I still LOVE that green house, and have not gotten tired of seeing it. 
If we still live in this house next Spring/ Summer, I am seriously considering painting our house green.
Would you?
Would you be brave enough to paint your house a bold color??

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm so grateful for my family. My husband and my children are so incredibly good to me!
~I'm grateful that little things still mean the most to me.  May I never get so big for my britches, that I  take for granted the little every day blessings, and tender mercies from my Heavenly Father.
~I'm grateful that Hot Chocolate season is here.  Nothing warms me up like a mug of cinnamon laced Hot chocolate.