Riddle me this... we left with fourteen, but caught none.

Late is better then never, once again my excuse for posting about something WAY after the fact.  Fathers day, yes I know, I know, good grief. but I couldn't just skip over it! :) We went lake fishing for trout, and had a picnic and it just happened to be a beautiful day. Perfect way to spend Father's day in our book...

My husband borrowed a little boat and the kids took turns going out with him to fish. :)

 Funny story~ Just about every time my husband took one of the kids out to fish someone would offer us their trout. Which we gladly excepted. So every time my husband came back to land {sadly with out fish} the other kids would run up and tell them about the fish we got. This was a bit annoying for my husband I'm afraid. ;) They didn't end up catching any fish that day, but we left with 14 trout anyways! I smoked them all, and they were good. :) My theory on why this happened... I'm thinking {because of the boys long hair and the fact that every one under the sun seems to be calling them girls right now} they all thought Ryder took his four girls fishing on Father's day and wasn't catching anything. So I'm thinking they felt a wee bit sorry for him and wanted to help out, ha ha! That or they thought I was pretty {Ryder's theory, he makes me giggle... silly guy.} I happened to be reading my book the whole time, while the kids caught caterpillars, so it definitely had nothing to do with me being friendly, that I am not. ;) All joking aside it is more likely due to the fact that people like to catch fish, but not all of them like to eat fish. Waste not, want not is my motto. :)

And now to leave you with a creepy picture of the huge pile of caterpillars my kiddos caught. At one point Atty had them all in his hands and crawling up his arms. Totally, utterly, disgusting! Shudder.

I spent the day feeling really thankful that my kids have such an amazing, hardworking, and absolutely loving father. It truly brings tears to my eyes seeing how much they adore their father and how much he deserves their adoration. :) It's a beautiful thing.

Ever Changing

I think what I love most about gardening is how the garden is ever changing. A kaleidoscope of colors, and the textures, oh my! A feast for the senses. Something new and excited waiting for anyone willing to take a moment to take it all in. In my garden not only is there ever changing colors, textures, and smell, there is also seasonal fruit to look for. First comes the strawberries, then currents, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, pears, apples, and soon gooseberries! And sometime in the next couple years I hope to have plenty of elderberries as well. I'm still thinking about adding a peach tree, but they take so very long to have any fruit on them. Then there is the vegetable garden and all it's bounty. We recently ate our first artichokes of the season, and boy were they good! I'll post some veggie garden pictures soon, but for now I will leave you with some snap shots of the front garden beds. :)

I saw a sign that said, 

All Gardeners Live In Beautiful Places 

Because They Make Them So.

I couldn't agree more! :)

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My newest project. These are the last of the large rocks from the pond removal.  They have been sitting here for a while now, so I decided to do something with them. We gave most of the others to a dear friend of ours, but these ones are just so stinking heavy, they would take some serious equipment to move again. So I decided why not make them into planters for succulents? I'm not done planting them yet, but you get the idea. :)

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I made pockets to fill with soil, and transplanted some succulents, but I need to buy some more to finish the project. I'm going to back fill with gravel so that there is no soil touching the house and the space is filled. My cat Rio loves hanging out with me when I'm gardening, it's cute and annoying.  :)

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On a side note- Leiella and I got matching aprons at the farmer's market, so very cute! {And yes I'm aware that it looks like I'm lacking clothing on the bottom part of my body, but I assure you I'm wearing shorts, ha!}

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I could gaze at these all day, but I'd rather wander outside for the real thing... ;)

Kitchen remodel.... just the beginning. :)

So yesterday I decided that I wanted to open the kitchen up a bit. It feels so cramped, so I thought why not open up one of the walls so that the kitchen flowed a bit more. I brought it up to my husband, thinking it would be one more thing on the "to do" list. He said "what you want to do that now?" So I said sure, sort of thinking he was joking. He went out and got me a hammer and said, "Go for it" So funny. {He showed me how to do it safely.} We were excited to find that there weren't any electrical wires that needed to be rewired, it was all easy-peasy. :)

And the demo begins!!! One of the many reasons I adore my husband, he help me with all my creative and crazy ideas. :)

Sorry for the sideways pictures, I got a new camera {finally} but it doesn't automatically rotate the pictures like my other one did, and I can't figure it out on the computer. Sigh.

I love Leiella's reaction in this one. It was all so very exciting! :)

I might have squealed and jumped for joy...

The opening is going to be a bit bigger then this, it's just the beginning of what is going to be something very awesome. :) I've got all sorts of plans for my kitchen that I've been mulling over for the last 5 years. :)

So little by little is my plan right now. One big kitchen overhaul hasn't happened {I mean come on I've been waiting five years, it's just not going to happen} so now I'm going to try and break it down into manageable {and affordable} pieces. First this new opening up of the kitchen, then new additional cabinets to go under new countertops {new countertops for the whole kitchen} and new pantry shelves/doors. Possibly a new kitchen window. Then I'm moving onto a slider in the dinning room so that I can tie in an outdoor living space on the deck with the indoors. And so that I no longer have to have my guest walk through my laundry room, that also happens to be the drop zone, {if you have kids, and you are normal, then you know what I mean ;) Ha ha!} to get outside. I'm hoping now that Ryder will feel motivated, as well as have enough free time, to finish up this hole in the wall! He has been working crazy long hours, and has a five hour commute right now, so when he finally gets home  he's beyond tired. But we have been talking about fixing up the kitchen since the day we moved in, and I am telling you I am focused now, and no matter if I have to turn into the annoying wife for a while, it will get done, slowly but surely. :)

Rock pictures over the years! :)

I found every one of our yearly rock pictures. :) I thought we took them in late spring every year, but that is not the case. Most were in late June, one in October {the year Atty started having seizures so that's probably why, didn't go on many outings that spring/summer}. It was quite the search. :) But I love seeing them all in one place, wow have they grown!!!

First rock picture, 2009 :)

2009

2010

2010

2011

2011

2012
For some reason Ira was in a super bad mood, so he's glaring in all of these pictures and did not want to participate. Sigh.

2012

2013

2013

And that brings us up to date. Wonder how long I can force them to take a yearly rock picture. ;)

I don't know if anyone noticed, or cares {ha ha}, but I dropped the nicknames for my kids and started using their real names. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted their names on the internet... but it's not like lots of people read my blog. ;) So since I rarely call them by those nicknames in real life it just felt weird to keep doing it on here. So there you go, identities reveled! Ha! And for anyone wondering how in the world you pronounce Leiella it's ~Lee Ella~. :) Also introducing myself, Miriah... and my husband, Ryder. So now we are properly introduced, phew, that feels so much better. ;)

Our favorite picture spot...

We went to the same park we go to every year in late spring to take pictures of my kids on a certain rock and then of course play and explore. But some one else was on the rock at the time so we wandered off and I ended up finding this really awesome stump to take pictures on. 

I love all their different expressions. 

My boys are growing their hair out for locks of love, and wow is it getting long!

I love this picture, mostly because Leiella looks like such a baby because of the face she is making. Love it!

Another favorite...

 On our way back to the suburban I noticed that the rock was free, so I hurried them over there. Had to get that shot!

Unfortunately after a day of play and pictures, they weren't in the mood for more pictures, and you can tell. Ha ha! 

Love this spot, and these kids! :)

I eventually got them to smile by promising to be done if they all smiled nicely for the camera, ha! I then got some pictures with at least a few faces smiling at once, but not all at the same time. Oh well. :)

This one cracks me up, I caught Banden in mid yawn, ha ha! They were so, so done. But Leiella finished with a big ol' smile. 

So happy to see sunshine again, it's finally starting to feel a bit like summer around here. :) Makes this girl very, very, very, happy.

Rockin' it!

A follow up on my prior post... This is what happens if you are my daughter and you decide to chop your own bangs. You get CrAzY morning hair. Ha ha!

Notice that in every picture she sports that smile now. I can't get her to do anything different. She doesn't understand why I would even try. So funny.

Rock star!

She's going to be famous one day. ;)

So where do I begin... My daughter is feeling the calling to be a beautician, but she lacks the training as of yet. So she gave herself a mullet. On one side of her head. Or maybe that was just her making a niche for herself in the fashion world, start something new. Either way, in my humble opinion, it was awful. Not my favorite thing ever, and I sincerely hope it will never catch as the latest and greatest, but you never know. Might wake up tomorrow and a one sided mullet with be the new coolest thing. ;) 

So we were already planning on taking her in with her best friend to get matching hair cuts right before this happened. But we had to get a little edgy and drastic with Leiella's hair to blend in the mullet.

 Here she is getting her first professional hair cut ever. She was so excited.

I was planning originally to get her hair cut super short in the back and leave it long in the front. Mostly trying to get rid of the irritating, ever present,  baby frizz she always had on the back of her head. But because of what she did to her own hair prior to her appointment that wouldn't work.

 So we decided to go short on one side, long on the other. And because my daughter is sassy with a big ol' personality it works. It totally and completely fits her. And the lady worked some serious magic. :) 

 I don't know how she did it, as my daughter has really fine hair and she was working with a mullet cut, but she made something fabulous happen.

 And Leiella came out of that chair look years older, it made my heart ache! But also it made me super happy, because she loved it and she just looked so stinkin' adorable!

 Here she is with her twin. ;) Best friends forever! She also got a haircut and looked adorable.

All was well... and then... she strikes again! The girl used some kiddy scissors on her hair for a second time! Chopped herself some bangs. Sigh. She had told me she wanted bangs like me, but that didn't really go with her hair cut so I chose not to. Well she wasn't kidding about those bangs, so she took matters into her own hands. In her tear filled voice she told me she just wanted to look like me. Hard to be mad about that... She always knows the right things to say. And she is such a striving mini-me right now, she copies ever. single. thing. I. do. Which is annoying, humiliating, hilarious, and endearing all in one. :)

Side note, I have no idea what is on her face, but that's normal. ;)

Needless to say all scissors are on lock down until further notice. 

I've since been told that super short bangs are in style right now, so I guess my girl is more "in the know" then me... Ha! And she rocks it, because she's awesome like that. :)