Garden Starting!

My pink Tulips.

Radishes popping up !

Good Spinach!

Excited to see some things coming in the garden! Radishes, onions and lettuce are popping up! Any my tulips that I just planted last fall are blooming!

Spring Things!

Here is a little picture story of what has been happening around here. It seems we are busy but nothing to out of the ordinary to tell.

Enjoying the first flowers -mini irises.

Lots of bike and dog time!

Trees are blossoming - wind and rainy weather!

Getting started on the planting - potatoes, radishes, onions, carrots all in the ground and enjoying the taste of our spinach and asparagus.

Fun birdies at the feeders. 2 Oriole males have been hanging out, along with lots of goldfinches, sparrows and woodpeckers.

A Mom's Favorite Flower

It is amazing how this "dis-liked" flower soon becomes "loved" when given by a child.

Trip to Grammy's

5/22/11 Trip to Grammy & Gramps' place. Play ball with Tee Ross got for Z. Checked out Grammy's Flowers, Grampa's Cows and the water near Harlow on the way home.

Play Ball!

Smell the Flowers!

Feed the Cows!

Flooded Hwy by Harlow.

Summer Grins 2009

July 17-19 - the Grin family all got together. It had been since Christmas so we were all glad to get to see each other again! Zach also got to meet his Great Grandma and Great Aunt Ivy for the first time. We had lots of fun just hanging out, playing HORSE, Baseball, shooting 22, bonfires etc.
It makes me so sad to have to wave good bye to my brothers, wish they were closer so we could see them more often.

Giggles with the Grins!

This past weekend we went down to spend sometime with Grammy & Gramps. It was such a nice time - it helped this Mommy get a little R&R.

Father's Day 09

To celebrate Dean's 1st Father's Day we went down to Gramps & Grammy Grin's for the day. Bonnie gave a presentation on her Holy Land trip at church and then we had dinner with Jane, Doug & Becky. If Zach sees the dishwasher open he always volunteers to help! It was a fun time!

The Future is Bright!

Spring weather has finally arrived! It really changes a persons outlook to have sunshine and no snow, especially after this long yucky winter. Anyway...we have been enjoying the past few days outdoors. I found my crocuses and tulips popping out of the ground and Dean got out the leaf sweeper and took care of all the leaves. Sassy and I went for a ride for the first time since May of 08! And Zach seems to enjoy the outdoors too, wanting to play with leaves, rocks and sticks! Of course the nuk helps keep them out of his mouth. And the shades :), keep the sun out of his eyes. Aren't they hilarious and cute?

What's Up? - Current Events for May

May so far has been a pretty busy month. I have been feeling lots better in general and have more energy to do my fun outdoor projects. Although the month started off with cold & snow, now we are dealing with mowing & gardening. I have been able to enjoy the tulips blooming, and have fun with the horses.
With Andrew, Renae and Tressa closer, I have been able to go for some fun walks we Renae and Tressa. She loves outside and keeps on going like the energizer bunny. Just last night Tressa got to meet Sassy. She was pretty excited and kept saying WOW! as we walked up to the horses. Sassy treated her well and even let her sit on her back for a few minutes. (Chester was much more leery of a little person.)
This past weekend we went to a graduation for Paul who I used to babysit for, and this coming weekend we will have more graduation fun with niece Jessica, nephew Brandon and Dean's cousin Ethan all graduating. Unfortunately they aren't all in the same location so we will have to make the rounds. I guess Brandon and Jessie are having a family get-together in June. So that should be fun.
Baby Bugs has been jumping around like an acrobat since the beginning of the month and getting stronger all the time. Daddy was even able to feel him/her jump around the other night. Looking forward to see "Bugs" & all that movement on the ultrasound in June! Vote for your guess on boy or girl to the right!

The picture says it all.

Spread your wings and fly!

This morning we woke up to some of our butterflies hanging and drying their wings. I suspected we would find some this morning because of the way the cocoons looked last night. You can start to see the orange and black wings through the cocoon. What used to be bright green becomes clear, as you can see in the photo, what's left is just a clear skin of the cocoon that the butterfly is hanging on.

After their wings had dried a bit I went out and put them on the lilies, which just started blooming today, and other tall plants and hangers to keep them out of reach from the cats.

It will be fun to see them flying around the yard.

Mama Rut's Flowers

My mom is such a good gardener, I think it is her favorite hobby. She has beautiful flower beds and vegetable garden. Thankfully she has shared some of her perennial flowers with me, to get some beautiful blooms around here too! Thanks Mom!

Birds 'n' Blooms

Here are some pics of my flowers along with the birds and butterflies around here.
We haven't been able to collect any "timmies" (aka Monarch caterpillars)yet. But there are definitely some big Monarchs and other butterflies floating around the yard as the one in the pictures.
Also, a killdeer has decided to nest in our driveway again this year. It's pretty hard to spot the eggs among the little rocks so we put a flag by it. Last year we had one do the same thing but the eggs got run over by a salesman that drove in the yard- hopefully this year they will hatch. We are a bit concerned about Miss Kitty finding them!

Number 31

What a wonderful number! I had a wonderful day of celebrating my birthday. Mom, Dad and Bonnie all came up for supper. Later Daryl, Susan and girls came over too. Hopes were to have a bonfire but it started to rain later so our bonfire was cut short. Had a great time anyway.

Flower Power

Now my crocuses that I planted last year are starting to bloom again! Exciting!

Crocus Time

What a beautiful weekend! So much to do, so little time! On Saturday we decided we better go out in the pasture to see if we could find any crocuses. And we did!! I always love finding them.
Other weekend activities included yard projects, four wheeling, horseback riding, watching the grouse dance, hearing the first frogs sing and installing a doorknob on our garage door.

Springing Blossom!

In the fall I took some tulip bulbs and planted them in pots to force. I keep them in cool fridge temps for about 15 weeks or so then take them out and let them grow. The first one is blooming just in time for Easter!