Friday thoughts

 Some more flower pictures this Friday.  .  .

My side yard is full of my tulips. Also my purple alliums are blooming and my iris have started to bloom.  Love spring.

Just a close up of a beautiful peach and pink tulip.  These mixed on their own.  I didn't plant this mix.  They are next to the white and magenta ones that also mixed on their own.  Gorgeous!

And I love my alliums!!!  Some more of the 100 plus bulbs I planted 2 years ago in the fall.  These are about 3 inches in diameter.  I have bigger ones that get about 6-8 inches but they aren't all the way out yet.  Love them!

White tulips.  So pretty against the green.

And the first of my iris just bloomed this week.  A beautiful white one

I wish you could smell through the computer screen.  These are "root beer" iris and have the most delicious smell of any flower!  Amazing!  

And what have I done since I got home Tuesday night from Omaha?  Run to keep up with my kids but also bake more cookies than I could believe possible.  I think I baked 15 dozen chocolate chip cookies this week.  I even ran out of chocolate chips, and for a girl who buys them in bulk, that is saying something.  We needed cookies this week for 2 track teams--middle school and high school, one National Honor Society meeting and one forensics team going to state.  Feeding lots of kids here :)  But I love it.  Cookie making runs in my blood.  It get it from my amazing grandma DeeDee who can whip out a batch of cookies faster than you can blink.  She is my cooking inspiration, and if she had just a quarter for every cookie she has made,  individually wrapped and given away, she would be a billionaire, and I am not exaggerating.  Her cookies have been sent all over the globe.  Her generosity knows no bounds.  She inspires me.  Love you DeeDee!  I am carrying on your cookie making tradition :)

Have a great weekend!  See you Monday--if I am not still behind and late which I just might still be so bear with me :)

Friday thoughts

My random Friday thoughts and some more pictures of flowers.

This is my weekly bathroom mirror inspirational quote.  So true.  There is no room in marriage for selfishness.

Wanted to share some flower color I have going on right now.  

Peonies and yellow iris.  Gorgeous together.

This is what the small purple alliums I planted last fall look like now.  Cool spike balls that can just stay there all summer.

This is a different kind of purple allium--these are way bigger than the other ones.  They look so cool!  Some more of the over 100 bulbs I planted last fall.

Some of my many irises.  White, purple, yellow, and some mixed in there.

Iris are so pretty!  Isn't nature amazing?

So school is out for the summer here.  Today is our first day of summer break, and we had to cover our tomatoes last night because of a chance of frost!  Crazy!  We had to turn the heater on last night.  Not your typical summer weather.  Looking forward to summer and all that it brings!  

2012 Blue Jeans Week 15

Have you ever had one of those week where you feel like you are drowning because you are insanely busy?  Well, this week was like that.  Don't want to bore you with details, but sufficeth to say, I think April's activities and business might put me over the edge :)  And to top it off, my kids will be out of school for the summer in one month!  One month!  Ahh!  But I can't think about that too much, I am just trying to survive these next two weeks of piano and choral competitions, soccer games, track meets, and dance rehearsals.  If I can make it to May 8th with my sanity still intact, I will consider myself very lucky and blessed.  Anyone else in the same boat?  Are April and May activities drowning you?  And then there is yard work, gardening, mowing, cooking, cleaning, school projects, spelling lists. . . and the list goes on, but despite all this I am very blessed.  I don't have to do it alone.  I have a very supportive husband, and I have soccer games and track meets to go to because I am blessed with kids.  I have piano recitals and choral performances to go to because I am blessed with wonderful kids.  My family is a blessing, and I am grateful for that, and someday I am going to be really bored sitting at home with nothing to do--just wondering when that will be ??? :)  So here are our pictures from this week, and thankfully they don't show me running around pulling my hair out.

Sunday:  Easter--everyone in their new stuff all ready for church.  Mr J picked his tie out himself, and when did my 2nd daughter get as tall as my oldest?  Crazy!

Monday:  Mr J and his awesome pajama ensemble--man that kid has style :)

Tuesday:  Miss E lost a tooth at school today

Wednesday:  My volunteer day at school.  I snapped a few pictures of Mr J's class--the classic, "pick me" with his hand raised.  Love it!

Thursday:  I was at the school today for something--seems I am always there for something or another, and I peeked into the gym where Miss E class was doing archery.  How cool is that? 

Friday:  My iris are already out and blooming this year--a month early!  These purple ones smell divine, I wish you could do a scratch and sniff on a blog--you would love it!

Saturday:  Our church has temples where special worship services and marriages are performed.  I was married in the Salt Lake City, Utah temple.  Where we live our closest one has been about 5 hours away, but they recently built one just 2 hours from us, and we are so excited!  We drove up there today to go through the open house, and it is so beautiful!  The kids were very impressed.

Thanks for visiting, and hope your week is going well, and that if it is crazy, that you survive!  :)  Hang in there, I am with ya!

Fabulous Friday

Happy Good Friday to you all!  We are having a beautiful day here.  I walked around my yard this week and got some pictures of my flowers.  I have some iris that are in bloom, can you believe it?  They are a month early this year.  Our spring sprang early :)  Enjoy your fabulous Friday and the colors of my yard. . .

This purple iris smells amazing!  Too bad you can't do scratch and sniff on a blog--it's scent is divine!

I have these pretty yellow and pink tulips

I also have these pretty white ones.

This is a new flower I got last year for Mother's Day, and I cannot remember the name, but it grows on a climbing vine with these beautiful purple flowers.

Love creeping phlox.  I just wish they would bloom all summer instead of just the beginning of spring.

Ben also gave me my first knock out rose bush for Mother's Day last year.  It is already blooming!

Have a very blessed Easter weekend!  Thanks for visiting!

Blue Jeans Week 27

Finally got a little rain and some cooler-only 99 instead of 104-temperatures :)  so we are doing good!

Sunday:  Miss E reads to Mr J.  Love it when the older girls read to their younger brother.  So sweet!  Of course 5 minutes after they are done they are fighting with each other, but at least we have a few minutes of peace when they read to each other :)  We will take what we can get. 

Monday:  Went to the city today, and whenever we go we hit Costco--our favorite store.  They always have such pretty flowers, and today they had these awesome pinecone type flowers--don't know the name--the girls were so impressed with so Miss A took a picture.  Anyone know what they are called?

Tuesday:  The library was having a Spiderwick mini-camp this week.  Miss E is making her fairy/sprite house.  Love the library.  Love that the mess is there and not at my house :)

Wednesday:  Summer fun--swim in the pool to keep ourselves cool

Thursday:  It seems like in our house someone is always on the piano--with 4 taking lessons.  Got a shot of Miss O getting her practicing done today.

Friday:  Had a church camp out this weekend.  Mr J and his friend enjoying their meal in between their swimming in the lake they camped by.

Saturday:  Ben and Miss A enjoy the lake on the camp out. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Blue Jeans Week 19

What a week, what a week, summer is finally here. . .

Sunday:  Got my pots in the back planted.  Love those wave petunias!

Monday:  Mr J got this book from the library and has LOVED it!  He laughs and laughs, and I laugh too because it is pretty funny.  I have read it at least 3 times daily to him, and then he reads it to himself too.  It is  The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens.

Tuesday:  Let it begin. . . Mr J started piano lessons today. I start my kids right after they finish kindergarten, and I have told them they may quit when they are 18 :)  His teacher is the same one I had in high school.  I now have 4 taking lessons, and am wondering when we will get all the practicing in???

Wednesday:  Mr J's birthday!  Miss A made him his cake, which wasn't a cake, it was an Oreo cheesecake that he requested.  Yummy!  Smart boy!

Thursday:  My youngest sister and her hubby were in town, and it is tradition that Aunt Tessa always does the girls' nails when she comes, so we had Tessa's nail salon today.  So fun!

Friday:  Miss A took a gardening class this week from this sweet man.  Such a nice guy, and she learned so much.  She came home and told us all the things we are doing wrong in our garden :) so maybe with her expertise we will bring in a great harvest this year!

Saturday:  I took the kids to a local greenhouse and gave them $2 each to buy any plant they wanted.  Miss E got hers all planted and ready to go.  Love gardening season!

Hope you all had a great week!

 

Because It's Spring-3

My final spring installment. . .

I love tulips! This is a close-up of my favorite pink and yellow ones.
Some more pretty tulips--white, yellow/pink and deep red ones.

I think I made a mistake when I planted my tulips. These are all on my one side and back yard, and none are in my front yard. I planted my daffodils in front and none in back. I think I need to get some more and rectify that problem. Anyone ready for a bulk bulb ordering party this fall???

One major sign of spring at our house is Ben tilling the garden. We usually have really wet springs, and this year has been no different. It has been hard to wait for the garden soil to be dry enough to till, but it finally stayed dry for a week so Ben was able to get it tilled this week, right before it rained--again :)

And another sign it is spring at our house is my kids are on the trampoline constantly, jumping, playing games, running circles, or just sitting on it to talk. They love that thing! They are counting the days till it is warmer and then they can put the sprinkler underneath and jump in their swimsuits!