Blooms & Planting

It is almost the 1st of June, which means the very short growing season in my little micro-climate is ready to begin!  I just came in from helping hubby with planting a few roma (plum) tomato plants out in my little salsa garden. We already planted green onions (scallions) and cilantro there last week. I haven't done my large garden in a few years, though I plan to do so in a year or two again. Meanwhile, a few years ago I started planting a bit of a salsa and kitchen garden in between our perennials just out the back door. I love love love just stepping out the back door to snip some cilantro or grab a handful of green onions to use in dinner! I also have some seeds for lettuce that I will throw in the ground today.

We currently have gorgeous blooms all over the property, and we have so been enjoying the sweetly scented air. Currently blooming are the apple blossoms, lilacs, serviceberry blossoms, wild strawberry blossoms, tulips, and more... it's so beautiful!!

Enjoy this wonderful day!

An embarrassed Jim as the entire dentist office sings Happy Birthday to him! Too fun!!

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Wild About Wednesday Indulgence

Yep. I always love for Wednesdays to roll around so I can see what this week's Wednesday Indulgence deal is at PixelGypsyDesigns.com. I mean, getting $10 worth of digi scrapping product for a mere $2 is my idea of fun! Today's bundle is from one of the newer designers at PGD - Shawn Headley. Pretty stuff!

DerekMDesign: MAGNOLIAS

I came across this short little story this morning & found myself in tears unexpectedly. If you have ever felt overwhelmed ... or ever felt useless ... or known the busyness of having a wedding ... or known the grief of losing a loved one ... this will touch your heart. God bless!

DerekMDesign: MAGNOLIAS

As Promised ... More Sailor Pics! :)

Since arriving back home from our trip to Great Lakes, I'm afraid I have been hit with a really lousy flu bug (hrrmmm... could it be the swine bug found me?? Probably not... but I've been miserable nonetheless!), so I have not gotten as much done with our trip photos as I'd like. That, and I have had a lot of photos to go through as I took well over 800 pics on the trip! (I know my brothers are laughing loudly at me right now, but for the average photographer/scrapbooker, that's not such an overly large number of photos for a weeklong trip! :P) So I am busy sorting through the pics, weeding out the keepers from the tossers.  I have so many great ones I want to share, and plenty I want to scrap. Here are a few more favs to show you...

...love those uniforms! ...

... more from grad day ...

 

... our hotel offered a warm welcome for our sailors ...

... we saw a few movies over the weekend, including 3D! ...

... and we paid a fun visit to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago!

Happy Morning Call & Sweeeeet Deal today!

My morning started off with an early-morning phone call from my son, Justin. He is at the Chicago airport waiting to go to the Navy base in Connecticut. So nice to hear his voice and have a few minutes just to visit. Isn’t it amazing how special those little moments are when it’s someone we love dearly? Of course, the Navy works in “wonderous” ways (LOL) – they had him up at midnight, on the bus at 2am to the airport … and his flight doesn’t leave till around 10am! Poor guy – he’ll be dead tired by the time he reaches his destination! But that’s military life, whoot??! :D

Now for the sweet deal of the day …

Digiscrappers celebrate! The folks at PixelGypsyDesigns.com have gone all out for today’s Wednesday Indulgence special: for only TWO dollars you get the entire Wishes & Whimsy Mega Collab kit! Is that just too cool or what?

You may remember this page I created using the awesome alpha included in Wishes & Whimsy:

Credits:
All papers & elements by Inspired Mommie Designs from Busy As A Bee at PrettyScrappy.com
Alpha by Sherrie Piegdon from Wishes & Whimsy Add-On at PixelGypsyDesigns.com
Font: Pea Frankie

Hope you all have a wonderful day, and remember: the sun is always shining if you climb high enough above the clouds!! woohoo! ~Cari~

Our Seaman!

We had the awesome privilege of seeing our youngest son, Justin, graduate Navy boot camp today. WOOT! Justin was Guide-on for his division, & was carrying the division flag at the ceremony. He, of course, looked handsome in his dress whites. He is looking really good, healthy, happy, strong. We got to meet two of his chiefs who each thanked us for sending them a young man who didn’t require much work at all, described Justin as a real asset, and one chief told us Justin was their absolute best “stick” (i.e., carrying, displaying, & maneuvering his flag while marching & such). He definitely performed with military precision and attention today! :)

 

 

Navy grad!

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Great Lakes Bound…

Well, here we are in Illinois! Our son, Justin, graduates Navy boot camp tomorrow – woohoo!! We got in last night – had a delay on our layover of about 2 hours in Minneapolis, but at least the ride into Chicago wasn’t as bumpy as we were expecting. (just a couple whoop-dee-doos!)

The first leg of our flight I had a wonderful seatmate, Kathy (Cathy? sp?), who, as it turned out, has a husband from the same small town my dad’s family is from – she even knew my cousin, Clint! :) Kathy was fun to visit with and swap stories of our families with, and she was very generous in letting me lean across her for some nice shots out the window!

Here are a couple pics from the flight to share with you before we head out to find some lunch!

My NSD Speed Scrap LO

I had a ton of fun at the speed scrap on National Scrapbooking Day over at PGD, and the layout turned out really great.

OUR SWEET SON

Credits:
All from PixelGypsyDesigns.com:
Papers by Sherrie Piegdon from Debbie's Camp Hilaka Papers
Frame, Nature's word art, string bow, leaf, & fern by Sherrie Piegdon from Debbie's Camp Hilaka Elements
Random Alpha 1 & 2 by Ami Collofello
Button by Ami Collofellow from Table Scraps Elements
Splat glitter by Abish Allen from My Garden

Word arts, button, & star by Elise Hansen from Cowboy Cool

Font: Snowshoe

Green Spring! ... and Raven :)

I am amazed at how everything is suddenly turning so beautifully green around here. We've had bits of sunshine and a good bit of rain, and it is working its miracle. Here's a shot of the scene out my door this morning:

(Regular followers of my blog may notice that my birdhouse is missing from its fencepost - winter was hard on it. However, we will get it put back up soon, AND it is now part of a fun digital scrapbooking kit I am working on!)

My hubby has a blacksmith cabin out back of our house, and very recently added some welding equipment to the setup. This gave him the opportunity to work on some letters he's had planned for some time now, using a combination of forging and spot welding. They are not completely finished, but I really like how they are looking. These will be part of a sign he'll have hanging out front of the smithy cabin. Neat, huh?!

Sweet Smile

I absolutely love the newest kit by Sherrie at Pixel Gypsy Designs, and just had to scrap with it. This is a kit I will be making many pages from, but here is the first:

SWEET SMILE

(Now who could that precocious little girl be?? :D )

Credits:
All papers & elements by Sherrie Piegdon from Effervescent at PixelGypsyDesigns.com