~ 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.

Jumpers

The Jumpers are back in town..

 The peaks of our mountains are said to be some of the best for jumping off of; for paragliding, of course!
When the weather warms up, we see many para~ gliders dotting the blue sky.

 Landing zone.
Prepping zone, as well.

 To learn more about our local popular jump sites, visit here:Central Utah Air Sports Association

 Certainly looks like a blast, but I'll be keeping my feet on the ground, and eyes to the skies and enjoying the jumpers from terra firma, with a set of binoculars.

 Now that we are official members of the 'Bragging Grandparents Club', I just want to mention that our little Liam will be a big brother to a sweet baby sister in June!

Our darling daughter~in~love had a bit of a scare last week, so she's been instructed to take it easy and absolutely NO lifting. 
She's following doctors orders and is feeling well now and each day is a small victory!

Things I've been working on ...
 *Yard work...in all of its glorious forms!
 *Major re~arranging of furniture. Living here for 9 months now, I'm getting familiar with our home and what looks and feels best.
 I tend to start one project, then it becomes 2 and 3 and 30!!!

A Most Perfect Day

 Monday night the clouds gathered, and the pitter~patter of raindrops began to fall on the giant leaves of the hostas.

 Cloudy skies and rain are most welcome. It has been a very hot and dry summer, with little to no rain.
A thunderstorm was sorely needed.

 As the clouds thickened and thunder rolled deep and low across the valley, my heart did a happy dance. 
Rain, glorious rain!
Rain continued throughout the night, then in the early hours of the day, we had a slight break in the storm.

 Tuesday morning dawned with more clouds gathering around the valley and across the mountains. 
A promise of another stormy day; a most perfect day.

 Across the meadow, clouds over the mountains, and gathering thickly. 

 I walked around the yard, checking downspouts and making certain that anything that could blow around was buttoned down and storm readied.

The cozy view outside the kitchen window. 
An impending storm.
I searched the candle cupboard, and pulled out a Yankee Candle called " Spicy Pumpkin". 
I lit candles and turned on accent lights and a few lamps. The entire house glowed with a most lovely light and I shut up all the windows as the rain began to pour down. 
It rained most the day. Dark cloudy skies, and thunder rolling across the mountains and valley. 
I almost made soup... as it felt so nice and cool. 
I watched Midsomer Murders... again. 
It was a Most Perfect Day.
Today, we are looking forward to more thunderstorms. I think it's going to be a lovely day, but it would be hard to beat the feeling of Autumn that yesterday had.

~ Attitude of Gratitude :
Feeling beyond thankful for the rain, thunder, and even the wind that prevailed yesterday and the night before. So much smoke from fires and stale air was scrubbed out of the skies.
~Grateful that I am blessed with a thrifty manner. I bought candles for Autumn when they went on clearance this past spring. Saving money while enjoying the scents of Autumn are a perfect match!
~I'm so grateful to live where there are four seasons, and just when I thought I couldn't handle one more day of endless heat, smoke, and crunchy grass, Heavenly Father sent us rain. 
He knows me so well! He blessed us with a taste of Autumn and a remembrance of better days ahead.

~ Monday this and that....

New dishes, in Autumn colors. 
Walmart had a set for four on clearance for under twenty dollars. I bought them online.
 I'm so looking forward to cooler temperatures.
Looking forward to Autumn thunderstorms.
~ Pumpkins, crunchy leaves, cool mornings, and hot cocoa.

This past week was a whirlwind. 
Our son and his adorable family were here for a few days. 
After almost six months apart because of the military, he was able to reunite with his darling wife and sweet baby boy.
We too hadn't seen him or his family for nearly six months, and we too were so happy to be reunited. 
Hugs all around!
They are gone now, and we miss them already so much. 
Though now they are just a few days drive away, so it's better now to know that we can see them more often.

Life goes on, and there are household chores to be done today. 
I put some pears in the dehydrator and will do chives later on this week.
Laundry is getting caught up.
Text to our kids are going out, and there is a quiet peace in my heart that all is well.

An attitude of gratitude:
~I feel so thankful that we were able to travel not once, but twice to the Salt Lake City International airport in safety.  It's a two-hour trip, one way for us, and on the second trip up to pick up our son, we had winds and rain to contend with that made it nearly impossible to see the lane lines. Prayer and faith saw us home safely.
Nearly 3:00 am, we pulled into the driveway. As soon as we all got into the house, the rain came down so hard that the rain gutters looked as though we had turned on a firehose.
~So grateful we had a chance to see our son and daughter in love, and our Grand. 
~Feeling thankful and hopeful for the rain that is in the forecast for this week.
~Grateful to have the good health and strength in order to work in the borders and prepare them for winter. Cutting out leggy plants, weeding, trimming perennials, etc. 

Improvement

 Improving skies.
Much less smoky and murky skies these past few days, as some of the wildfires closest to us are becoming more contained. 
Very thankful for all the incredibly hard working firefighters.
Very thankful for their families and the sacrifices that they make in order to let their loved ones go out and fight and contain these wildfires.

 Once again, as the sun rises we can see the gorgeous mountain tops.
So much better!!

 Driveway improvement. 
On the bottom right portion of the above picture is the driveway. 
It is much improved after spending a good amount of our weekend on it.
 Powerwashed, primed with cement primer, then painted with an epoxy paint. 
It is a much better-looking driveway now!
Some years ago, due to the frost, snow and salt damage that the cement had suffered, we resurfaced the driveway. 
One winter was all it took to make the resurfacing crack and break. 
Sans digging up the concrete, and pouring a new driveway, this is our attempt for getting a few more years out of the concrete. 
We have a north facing home and live in Utah where we get LOTS of snow.
 Concrete, snow, ice and ice melter make for a messy mix
If we ever have to repour the driveway, we will have low voltage warmers placed in the concrete, in order to melt off the winter snow and ice 

 My second attempt at bleaching out the pinecones resulted in a much lighter pinecone.
Still, these pinecones aren't as white as the ones that I've seen on magazine covers, Pinterest, etc.
I wonder if it is a certain brand of bleach that should be used, or have those photos of the super white pinecones been enhanced?
Still, I'm quite happy with these pinecones and the color that they are. I will absolutely use them in my Autumn decorating. 
Today I will place the pinecones in a box, and add some cinnamon oil to them. 

 The very large frame that I bought at the thrift store is now a new chalkboard.
It is a more substantial size than the last chalkboard that I had in this location.
The other chalkboard was made from an old cupboard door, and I gifted it to our younger daughter in love.
She was tickled to have it.
I was happy that she wanted it.

Even without measuring, I knew when I spied this large frame that it would make a better chalkboard than the cupboard door chalkboard for this space.
Another thrifty shopper asked me if I was an artist and if that is why I had the frame in my cart... **smile**. 
I told her 'nope, but I have big plans for this frame!'
This is the section of wall that is between the garage door and the laundry room door. 
I'm so pleased with this new chalkboard, and it's generous size.

Attitude of gratitude:
 ~ Thankful to wake up to clearer skies. Grateful to have less smoky air.
~Grateful for sweet summer garden produce.
 It's not a ton.. as we only have a few plants, but I'm thankful that I was able to pick a few squashes and a couple of peppers this morning; they'll be used for dinner.

~ 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.