- Buds-

 Spring is such a magical season.
Heart smiles when one looks and sees the gardens coming to life, and plants beginning to bud out.
  Nearly all our of plants this spring are new.
 We moved into this home late last summer, and planted as many things as we could.
 We made new borders etc.
The above picture is of a weeping crab-apple. White blossoms, though they really are more of a pale, pale pink. 
  The lilac (3) bushes were so over grown with weeds, we didn't even know they were here for the first few weeks.

 

 Teeny tiny buds on the bleeding hearts.
We have two planted, but so far only one has teeny flower buds on it.

 A few alliums beginning to blossom.

One of the biggest surprises to me, are the various conifers that we planted. 
 Before living here, I had never, ever planted any type of conifer before. 
 Seems like these days, I can't get enough of conifers. 
Go figure.
The 'wonky' pine (I always refer to non typically shaped pines, as wonky) has the most interesting rosy pink buds...I'm guessing that the buds will develop into pine cones?

 Above: The first wisteria we've ever planted, coming to life and leaves beginning to bud out.
We will build a nice trellis for the wisteria.

 Butterfly bushes are showing signs of spring~life.

 Oh! I do hope that this picture is able to show the two~tone coloring to this pine trees needles! 
They are green and aqua! So incredibly beautiful and interesting.

 Seems that we have both been fretting over this pine tree in particular, as we had never seen a pine tree like it. 
Until that is, we bought it and planted it. 
New buds are a most welcome sight!

Another 'wonky' pine, and YIPEE, there is new growth on this tree as well.

I found a organic fertilizer especially for pines and I'm not certain if that was what helped the pines take off all of sudden, or is it the warming temperatures?

This past weekend, we transplanted a mulberry tree from a friends yard to our back yard. It really is more of a twig right now, but we have high hopes for it to produce volumes of delicious mulberries. 
The mulberry tree is a first for us, as well, and the one thing we are looking forward to making is mulberry syrup.
 I wonder...can mulberries be dried with any success??

My list:
 ~Transplanting 3 dogwoods.
~Removing more 'landscape' gravel and making room for a wildflower border.
~Work on getting my sweet husbands office painted, and decorated.
~ Bake bread this week...probably make my old standby recipe, or perhaps no~knead bread.
~ Menu plan..including a picnic dinner or Hobo dinner for Friday's fishing trip.

~ Things that make me smile ~

 The meadow is greening up.
The trees are beginning to leaf out and the last of the snow across the mountain tops is melting.
Spring is here! 
Warmer temperatures are here to stay for a few months and that makes me smile.

 Deer grazing on the foothills...

 and the elk are grazing in the pastures.

 The birds make me smile.
They have quite a routine down.
They hop onto the edge of the bird~feeder, knock the seed on the ground, then all their friends swoop onto the ground and feast on the fallen seed.

 Rogue rooster. Pheasant rooster out touring the neighborhood. 
Seemingly dancing through the green grass. 
Yep. 
Makes me smile!

 Pigweed makes me smile { the purple stuff is what I call pigweed. 
Purple weeds = Pigweed, and Yellow weeds = Spurge weed. 

It matters little if I have correctly identified the weeds, the fact that the weeds are growing is enough to make me smile. 
The color is beautiful in the meadow and I'm smiling to know that the growing season is here once again.

 The flower beds and borders are alive with color.

The skies are alive with color as well.

All is well. 
Spring has returned.
Flower are blooming, trees are leafing out, and the grass is growing. 
It makes me happy and makes me smile.

*Update on the house sale"
All is well on that front too.  So far everything is falling into place. 
We have begun to pack and sort the last of the items that need to be sorted through. 
My goodness, gracious, but we have accumulated a lot in 32 yrs.!!
Downsizing is a challenge, but the reward I think will be worth the efforts.

~Attitude of Gratitude:
 I have so many things to be grateful for...
Feeling grateful that our daughter~in~love and Grand are safe after a fender bender this last weekend. 
~Thankful for a husband that is my rock! 
Whenever I feel overwhelmed and unsure about my abilities to do things that are challenging, he reminds me of my strength and he gives me encouragement. He prays for me, and I am grateful for that.

~ Welcome Springtime ~ Today's top 10

 Spring is officially here, though the weather isn't cooperating, at all. 
We have clouds, rain, and wind with snow forecast for the mountains. 
I'm staying indoors and out of the cold and soggy weather today. 
The pictures in today's post are from a trip we took a few springtimes ago to St. George.  
The cacti were all in bloom and the colors of the blossoms simply amazing.

 Today I cleaned off the kitchen hutch, rearranged the dishes on the hutch. I also cleaned out the china cabinet, rearranging the dishes in there as well.
We've made tremendous progress in sorting and packing and downsizing. 
All in all, we painted two rooms, and installed wainscot in one room, a new light fixture in another room.

The kids have been here to sort through all of our
'get rid of' stuff and they have taken what they want.

Tuesday, my sweet husband took the day off of work and took me out to lunch and shopping. I was getting a bit of burnt out of dejunking and sorting etc. and needed a day away.

Today's Top 10 ~~
             Listening: to the rain
             Eating: a  piece of cranberry/white chocolate toast.
             Drinking: water with lemon and yep.. a diet coke!
            Wearing: pajamas...they are soft and cozy.
            Feeling: Happy and positive. This is going to be an epic summer!
            Weather: drizzly and cloudy.
            Wanting: A sunshine filled day with warmer temperatures.
            Needing: To get outside and work in the flower beds and borders.
           Thinking: About sweeping off the front porch and adding some fluffy pillows/decor.
            Enjoying: A warm and cozy fire.

~Reasons to Smile ~

This is a lovely time of year.
With flowers beginning to bloom, leaves opening on the trees, and sunshiny days.
In the old wheelbarrow, the pansies are beginning to bloom.
The grass is greening up and I'm thinking that this week, we may have to turn on our sprinkler system.

 Spring storms.
Over the weekend, we had a doozy of a spring storm. Crazy winds and intense cloud formations.
We actually have had a few tornadoes in Utah and a pretty serious one in our area, back in 2002, so we watched the clouds with trepidation. Thankfully, the winds didn't do too much damage, and we did get some rain from the storm.

 We transplanted a few clumps of German chamomile into some pots, and they are taking off, and quite happy in their new home.
I have more clumps of chamomile that I can transplant around our borders; makes a nice ground cover.

 Do you remember last summer, when we dug up heritage rhubarb from one of our previous old house gardens? The current owner doesn't like rhubarb, or peonies, & dug up all the rhubarb and peonies, We were lucky enough to save some of that old rhubarb, and we were able to save some of the old peonies, as well.
I should have included a picture of the peonies, because they are all coming up! It appears that they all survived being mowed over, dug up, transplanted, and our fierce winter.
Sure puts a smile on my face!!

Another reason to smile... the sunflowers have reseeded themselves and are naturalizing in the meadow. Just as we hoped they would.
Once they get a bit taller, I'll thin them out, and then plant new seeds every couple of weeks, so that we will have sunflowers growing all summer and well into fall.

The hummingbirds are back.
It kind of surprised me.
As I was sitting on the porch Friday evening, a hummingbird zipped by, looking for the feeder.
I jumped up, went in the house and made a batch of hummingbird food.

 My sweet husband got the hummingbird feeders out of the cupboard, took the lanterns off of the shepherds hook, and then put up the hummingbird feeders.

Right away, the hummingbirds started coming to feed.
So far, we can see three different birds, but last year, we had dozens, so we are hopeful that once they know that the food is available, that they will all be back.

~ I finished painting the kitchen island... again. I changed my mind {as I often do} and painted the kitchen island white. I had previously painted it an herbal green color.
~ I hung up some darling valances in the kitchen windows... red and white checked, with a lace underlay.
~Went to see the new 'Guardians of the Galaxy' on Sat. night.
I am NOT a fan of Sci~Fi, so it was not a movie that I wanted to see, however, I went with my sweet husband, and our youngest son and his fiance, and some family friends.
  I didn't see the first movie in the series, so I can compare the two, but I didn't enjoy the movie at all.
~Went to some yard sales this past Sat. morning. We got an amazing wrought iron umbrella base, and a post hole pounder, and I bought a few books for .25 cents each.

~ Attitude of gratitude.
Feeling happy and grateful that we are well into spring now, and hopefully over hard freezing weather.
~Feeling thankful for quiet Sundays.
~Feeling thankful for opportunities to serve.

~Goodness, gracious! Life clips along at a pretty quick speed! ~

How is it that time just seems to speed up, the older I get?? 

Before I know it, a day is gone, then a week, then a month, and so forth. 

I never had any intentions of being MIA from blogging so long, but then that time thingy happened, and before I knew it "poof", months had passed by.

Wonderful, amazing, miraculous life has been happening around here.

The above picture is from Waikiki, Hawaii. 

My darling husband and I just returned from a lovely and wonderful trip to Hawaii, to celebrate our 30th anniversary!!

Our amazing kids got together and surprised us with the trip! They paid for and arranged everything! The flights, hotel, excursions, etc... 

All we had to do, is pack a bag. 

We have been so incredibly blessed, and the blessings just keep coming. 

I feel truly humbled by the blessings that have been showered upon us.

A huge blessing is that we are going to be first time grandparents!!!!!!

Yep.. we finally get to join the grandparents club, after waiting for years.

Our darling daughter in law is due in July. This is an older picture, of course.
She is really good to update her pictures, but I don't have an instagram account, and that is how she usually does it.
We got the happy news about becoming grandparents on Christmas day.
The last present that was opened was one that our son gave me. It was a bag, and inside the bag wrapped up in tissue paper was a framed picture of a sonogram.
Instantly, I gasped then started to cry.
I blubberly gave the bag to my hubby, and jumped up and gave our daughter in law a hug.
By this time, she was crying too.
I told her that I had no idea why I was crying, but I suppose it was because I was so happy,
She told me that she didn't know why she was crying either, because she had known for a few weeks!!!
Those stinkers knew that they were expecting when they were here for Thanksgiving, and didn't utter a word.
Anyway... we are over the moon happy about being grandparents!

 Gender reveal party.
Our son and wife called after their checkup to see what the gender was. That was on a Wednesday, and they wouldn't tell us!
They wanted to drive down and have a gender reveal party with the whole family.
So that following Sunday, the whole family met, and we had my daughter in laws family on Skype, and she handed me the knife to cut the cake.
Of course laughter, and squeals of delight followed the cutting into to the cake to reveal that the baby is a boy!!
Just my daughter in law and I had been thinking that the baby would be a boy, everyone else in both families thought that the baby would be a girl.
Yay!!! We can hardly wait to meet this darling boy!!
Now... if they could just pick a name! I keep texting my ideas to then, but so far, none of my name ideas have been chosen.
Our son wants a name that is adventurous like : Indiana Jones, or John McClane... etc.
Naturally, our DIL vettos those names... **giggle**
So, if anyone has any awesome name suggestions, I'd love to hear them!!

 A few more pictures from our recent trip.
All of you that are still waiting for snow to melt and the weather to warm up,~~ you are welcome!

 We stayed in a five star hotel that overlooked the ocean and Waikiki Yacht Club.
Boy, did we ever feel spoiled and la~te~da.
Our kids really spoiled us!
When we left Utah, it was snowy, snowy, and cold.
We had to wait for the plane to be de~iced, before the plane could take off.
You can imagine what a welcome sight blue water, palm trees, sand and sun were for us!

 Sunrise over North Shore.
We made it just in time one morning to see the sun rise over the ocean.
We collected a few pieces of beach glass, coral, and lava rock to take home with us.
I put all of our little 'treasures' on a blue colored glass dish in the living room. A constant reminder of a wonderful and lovely trip,

 The LDS Laie Hawaii temple.
We had wanted to attend a session of the temple while we were in Hawaii, but it wasn't open when we were over on that side of the island.
It sure is beautiful though!

 The view from one of our adventurous days.
Our kids arranged for us to go to Kualoa Ranch, and do a two hour ATV ride.
Kualoa Ranch is the setting for many movies and shows :Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and 50 First Dates, Lost, & Hawaii Five-O..., just to name a few.
There are tons of activities to do there, and I would highly suggest a visit there if you go to Oahu.

 Too fun!

Looks impressive.
Made completely out of styrofoam.
Our tour guide looking at a rope that someone had placed on the skull.

 Sunset view from our room.
That view never got old, as you can imagine.
I have this pic as my current computer save screen.... sigh.... wish I had this view each and every day.

While we were on our trip, our youngest son got engaged!!
Goodness, gracious!!
We knew that these two were going to get engaged, but we thought it would be official once we got home from our trip, not while we were away.
He sent us a pic, and told us it was official.
They are so darling together, and I hope and pray that it all works out beautifully.

This is one of my favorite pics that they had taken.
Her dad took it, and I think it shows their cute personalities and how much fun they have together.
Her dad did an excellent job taking pictures, and I think he is planning on taking the wedding pictures as well.... yay!!

So, now y'all are up to speed, as much as possible at least, without having to read a novel...*giggle**.
This is a big year for me:
  * Our 30th Anniversary
  * Our first grandbaby
  * A wedding
  *Four family birthdays in July
  * Me turning 50, later on in the year.
I'll do my best to update this ol' blog more often, and to get around to visit and chat with everyone.
Enjoy this amazing day... 'cause it'll be gone for ya know it ** hee hee**.

Attitude of gratitude:
~Feeling so thankful for the birdsong outside. Seeing robins and hearing birdsong means that warmer weather is on the way.
~Feeling thankful for daffodils blossoming in the yard.
~Feeling so grateful that our youngest son is in fine health this morning, after a late night scare.
Second time that he's had a disabling panic attack. This time we managed to avoid and emergency room visit and the docs giving him nitro.
Seriously, hope and pray this boy finds out what is triggering these extreme anxiety attacks and is able to fix them.
~Feeling grateful for sweet friends that help out... no questions asked, just supportive and loving when we call at 10:30 at night and asked for help with Spencer.

Our view... trees are beginning to green up, as are the fields.

Last nights scene.
The sunset reflecting off the tops of the mountains. A fresh dusting of snow covers the tops of the mountains, but all that moisture sure helped everything green up even more.

~ Iffy~

 My goodness.. spring has been iffy, at best, where we live.
We'll have a warm day, then a cold day when it's chilly enough that I end up turning on the fireplace. Also, we've had a lot of wind this spring. Tons of wind!
For a bit, I thought that I'd never see the brunella bloom again, or the tulips for that matter.
Now that things are greening up and looking beautiful, my heart is happy that spring is finally here and summer just on it's heels.

 We've stayed pretty busy.... we replaced the light fixtures in the kitchen. The previous light fixtures were a bit too contemporary for my taste, and the new light fixtures are more 'country' or 'farmhouse' and simple.

 I've been making summer crafts....

 and spring crafts......

 and making over furniture.
That little chest of drawers was given to me years and years ago. Our youngest son helped me cut the 'skirt' off of the chest of drawers and helped my add the 'feet'.
Then, I cut a piece of wood and replaced one of the drawer stops, and gave the entire thing a paint job.

 Distressed, and stenciled and sealed, it's a great additional storage piece.

The entire project, including the cost of paint, and the stencil, came in at under $20.00. A real bargain for a nice storage chest. The 'feet' we bought at ReStore and adapted them to use on the chest. Originally they were furniture 'feet' that were for couches, or side chairs I imagine. At just a dollar a piece though, they really were a great buy!

Also iffy... my ability to keep my blog updated. I have good ideas for posts, and then I run out of time, or fail to make time to download pics, and write and publish a post.
Guess I'm too busy soaking up the warmer weather, or maybe I've outgrown my desire to blog?
It's iffy.