quick trip over the mountains and through the woods

Mom wanted to take the kids for a couple days, and the hubby was out of town, so I loaded them up and took them to mom’s after work on Saturday and stayed overnight. 

We did a lot of fun random things…

I wrote “welcome” on her chalkboard project and we hung it off of a jute string duct taped to the back…

Highly technical.

We took the kiddos on a golf cart ride and I tried in vain to get them to be normal at the same time for a photo…

As you can see I got to practice photography in direct sunlight again.  So troublesome for me.  Notice how the kids look okay but the background is going toward all white, or “blown out”?  Not sure there is any way to avoid it in these situations.

I told mom I was remembering to capture photos of the kiddos doing the everyday things, but that Mark was so hard to photograph because he was always being silly.  She thought I was exaggerating until she watched me try.  Then she said, ‘no wonder you take more pictures of Susie!”

I took pictures of details and things everywhere we went, I was just in that kind of mood…

This washer (?) is on the collapsing deck of an abandoned cabin along our golf cart ride to the wilderness.

We hung a mirror of my mom’s from a glass knob and jute string on the wall above her bathtub…

We have more plans for this wall.  I’m sure I’ll share someday when we finish it.

I went for a walk and found more details and some scenery…

I love it this time of year when the lush spring grass starts emerging from the old and dead.

Mom’s daffodils are the best and the sun was glorious.

I made three necklaces the first night I was there…

I am happy with them all and they were so easy.  They were from $6 to $10 each to make.  I still have stuff to make a couple more with three blue stones and enough marble beads for a wrap bracelet.

The kiddos were having a blast playing outside in the vitamin D.

Poor dear.  Her little nose got sliced across both nostrils when she hit an obstacle while pushing a laundry basket around the house at a rapid rate of speed.  She came to a sudden stop and went flying nose first into the laundry basket where her nose landed in one of the little slots. 

I shot this photo through my sunnies on my way out of the valley…

I love the pattern they did in the wood.

Now, the big decision… my mom kept the kiddos… what to do tomorrow on my day off!!??

Happy Monday!

terrarium

we kept our Sunday tradition of going to the local plant nursery after church again this week, and I finally got some plants to put together a terrarium…

   

   

   

I asked what kind of plants I could use for a terrarium, and the owner of the nursery took me to these succulents first… I loved them.  I might make another one using ferns and moss later, though because I like that look too.  I asked him what dirt to use and he showed me that too.  Easy.

Such a quick, cheap and easy project; I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to it.  Other than the fact that I didn’t have a good container for it so I had to steal the laundry soap canister.  Now I need to thrift something for that!  Any excuse to buy plants or go thrifting – sign me up!

ten years

this past weekend, Ty and I celebrated our tenth anniversary. 

We took a night off and headed out to pick up business forms at Staples (this is becoming a regular outing) and go to our favorite local restaurant for dinner.

We got a snapshot before we left…

If we look young to have been married ten years, that is because we were wild and crazy and got married the month we both turned 19.  We weren’t actually wild and crazy other than getting married young.  By the grace and leading of God, we are still happy and going strong!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY!  YOU’RE STILL THE ONE!

 

PS, I am glad we took a picture that night to demonstrate to me that that shirt is not flattering on me. 

diy - infinity scarf

 

I am bailing on WIWW for now.  But I do have something fashion related to share…

I finally thrifted a scarf to use for a tutorial I pinned…

Simply sewed the ends together by hand real quick…

And wa-lah!

This checks two things off my fashion needs list: neutral scarf: check!  infinity scarf: check!

branches

A couple weeks ago I was sitting in a Taco Time drive through and saw a tree that had full, fluffy white flowers like a cloud.  I took a picture on my phone and brought it home and went on and on and on about it’s amazing full white fluffiness and layer upon layer of lacy white petals showed the tree man, but my pictures were from too far away.  He made some guesses but couldn’t be certain.

Then one day that week, he brought me a branch that he had clipped at work.  He is a tree trimmer; his job is to cut trees and branches that are encroaching on power lines.  He had to cut this one though for public safety because it was “hanging dangerously low over the sidewalk”…

Due to my [ahem] thorough description, he found my tree!

Still, we didn’t know for sure the species.

He has been bringing me lots of branches this spring; cherry branches, pussy willows, aspen twigs, and now these.  God is a most talented creator and I love bringing the creation indoors!  I find that most any branch looks pretty and interesting in a farmhouse pitcher.  When the flowers wither and shed and I have to toss the branches, the coffee table looks so bare.  But I find that if I can wait it out till the flowers fade (I shake off the shedding petals outside, then bring them back in), the leaves are still interesting, new leaves keep sprouting and sometimes new flowers, too. 

Last weekend, wandering the tree section of the local nursery, Ty said, “hey Tash, there’s your tree.” And it was! It was a Mt. Fuji Flowering Cherry. It doesn’t bear fruit. It was decent size and potted (more expensive than bare root) and didn’t have a price tag.  We figured it was $40 to $60, based on the other trees that size.  We passed it up for a couple cherry trees which would bear a lot of fruit.

But guess what… this weekend, we went back again (becoming a Sunday after church tradition), and visited my tree and asked about it, and they sold it to us for $15!! It was the last, saddest one, a little lopsided. My tree man can train it right up though, and prune it to become big, straight and strong.

 

   

I won’t be taking any clippings off this one for a long time!