Blooms!

 Ashlyn is really enjoying a youth group that she's been going to for the past year!  They had a retreat she loved every minute of the weekend!!!!  

Lena and I were in charge of the big event of Grandparents Day at school last Wednesday and the day went well!  We served over 500 people!  The Gold Rush Breakfast Casserole was a hit along with donuts and fresh fruit and juice!  One of the moms put together some flower bouquets and I got to bring some back home!  This is stunning by my kitchen window!  It's filled with fresh cherry blossom branches!  

Here's another boutique!

It's Meadow Tea season again!  My family loves this tea!  I grew up with my mom asking me to run out back and cut a big bowl of "apple mint" tea and then she would wash it, boil a pot of water and steap the tea for 10 minutes.  Add a cup of sugar to the concentrate and fill the rest of the jar with water.  Cool and enjoy!  Its a refreshing mint drink that we enjoy all summer long!

The Cherry Bloosom trees are full of blooms!!!!  It looks like cotton candy outside my windows!

I call these snowball plants but I'm not really sure the real name of them?  They smell delightful and make a cute bouquet by my windowsill!

The cardinals are still so stunning right now!  I love birds and for many years I wished for nice birds but we always had lots of outdoor cats and kittens running around.  Well, we are down to one friendly cat and the birds arrived!  It's a delight watching them from inside!

My morning walks at the park with my friend from town is just the accountability I need!  We've been walking each morning for well over a year and the seasons have been wonderful here!  Watching the trees bud and now bloom and the tulips and birds and frogs in the pond peak their heads through the water have been so fun to watch!  Our world is such a beautiful place to live!

Slice of heaven on earth ... Longwood Gardens!

 Longwood Gardens is the most beautiful place!  Every time I visit, I mention something like, "This has got to be a piece of heaven on earth!"  It's a lousy comparison I'm sure but it's just so pretty here!!!!  Mom, Jody and I went to see the tulips and enjoyed the day out very much!!!!!

Rows of tulips all lined up in color groups ... it's just stunning!

Mom had to use the restroom and I couldn't wait to show her the green walls of live plants!  

White is always a beautiful color!

We strolled the conservatory and the smells and flowers and trees and plants are just wonderful!!!!!

Gorgeous!!!!!!

So much pretty around us!!!!

Hydrangea balls!!!!!  Unbelievable!

I love the purple and pink colors together!

And the biggest fern ever!!!!

We strolled though Longwood Gardens and enjoyed it very much!  Then we ate lunch at The Terrain and it was just as beautiful and yummy!!!!

I absolutely love days out like this!!!!  They are the best spent with mom and sister and good food and the best flower views!!!!  It just feels like a slice of heaven here on earth!

April you are beautiful!

April Showers.

 April is here and so are the rain showers.  The first week of April has been rain, rain and more rain and I heard on the radio that we already have our rain level amount that we normally get the whole month of rain in just the first week.  We are soaking up the rains literally and will be ready for lots of sunshine and blooms hopefully soon!!!!

There are little shoots coming up in the garden.  Radishes are peeking through.

Carrots, radishes, red beets, cabbage, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce is the garden!

We had a cleaning night at church and Ashlyn captured this photo on the way home.  The rains are here and the sun came out just at sunset.  So pretty!

Jody had extra onions for the garden, so I planted these in our garden!  I use onions for salsa in the summer!

The kids have so much fun when Meg and Mel come over and I found these awesome photos on my phone the other day!!!!  They love to take silhouette photos and these turned out great!

A new sports season has begun!!!!!

"The fruit guy" came over and trimmed our peach trees and I brought some branches inside to see if the blooms would open up inside.  I love to use branches and flowers from our gardens to make arrangements inside!

Another visit with Mommy D.!!!!  I love it when she's awake and talkative when I drop in!  I try to stop in once a week but that doesn't always happen.  She's in a home and well taken care of but this visit she asked if I ever visited her there?  I laughed and showed her some photos of the two of us together!  It's so sad to see her memory declining but I'm all smiles when she knows who I am!!!!  I love my grandma!

April showers are bringing lots of spring blooms and the grass is lush and green and its back to lawn mowing and pulling weeds!  April is full of family birthdays, Easter celebrations, tulips, trips to the greenhouse and vegetable plants in the garden!  I like April but really can't wait for the weather to warm up!  Spring is here!!!!!