Mountain Festival Family Visit

What a wonderful time we had when family came to visit us last weekend. We loved having everyone in our "neck of the woods".

Here we are at the Mountain Festival:





Sunday we visited Murray Family Farms - the kids loved the petting zoo...

Is that you, Bambi?

Yay! I finally could grab my camera in time to capture some pics of this year's local deer. We first saw them last week, a mama and two babies walking behind our back fence. This evening I saw a baby and mama across the street from our house. I ran and got my camera and then slowly went outside. The mother had started going down the little hill to the field across the street but the baby stayed and watched me watch him/her! I LOVED IT!!!!!!! Click on the pictures to see if you can zoom in - he/she was such a cute little guy!



Mama is on the left, baby on the right:


I peeked down into the field and saw 4 other adult deer leaping back and forth frolicking in the dry grass:

Gardening Fix

[SIGH]....I finally got a good dose of my gardening fix last weekend. Being away visiting family and friends and Big Bear the last few weekends has taken me away from my beloved gardening. But, just this last Friday and Saturday, I got to go with my step-mom to gardening school classes and it was just the refreshing time I needed. I got VERY inspired about IPM (integrated pest management) and vegetable gardening. I was also reminded of the mighty power of compost.

Sooooooooo.....we stopped by Lowes and I found this cute miniature rose tree (in the picture - my parents' garden - mine is hoping to grow up to be like their's someday!) on sale and I picked up some seeds to try and grow peas, carrots, and spinach. Also during this week I managed to pick up a small trash bin to start my very own compost pile -- we'll see how it goes, I'm sure it will take some time to get the hang of it. But it was great fun to drill some holes in it (yes, I used the electric drill!) and it already has some garden clippings, old soil, and other stuff. Now I'll just wait for my folks to brink up some "starter compost" from their garden and I'll even have little 'wormies' to decompose things faster!

Who would have ever thought that deadheading out of anxiety when getting my psych license seven years ago would have turned into such a wonderful hobby!

Big Bear Get-Away

To enjoy some of the remaining Summer days, Derek and I headed off to Big Bear for an extended weekend - dogs in tow.

One of Monkey and Shasta's favorite activities was watching the squirrels run back and forth. They loved their quick running from tree to roof and the squirrel chatter:




Saturday morning we stopped by the "Loggers' Jubilee", an event that is part of Old Miners' Days:





Sunday we got in some horseback riding - great fun!!!





My honey and me (riding Hombre and Cruiser):



An afternoon walk by the lake...there is a mother duck and some babies in the middle of the picture:



We had a WONDERFUL time! Thanks to our folks for letting us use the cabin!!!

Readability?

Well, my sister had this on her blog (and I want to do everything she does!!!!!) - so I put in my blog. My sister talks mostly about her two kids but apparently writes at a post-grad level. Me.....apparently I write our blog at an elementary level -- not sure if I should be proud or offended! :)

Jenna's Wedding - Pt. 1

Sunday, July 20, my cousin Jenna got married. We were so excited to celebrate with her and it was a fun time for ALL of the family -- here are some pictures:



My cousin Adam & Grandma:
My cousin Spencer & Aunt Pam:

My Uncle Gary & Jenna:

Jenna's Wedding - Pt. 2

A few reception pictures:


Derek & Mark (my brother-in-law):


Randy & Staci (my brother and sister-in-law):



And I never want to miss the opportunity to love on my nieces and nephew - it is SO much fun to be their auntie!

Me & Siena:

Me & Garrett:

and Me & Aubrey:

Unfortunately, my picture of me and my sister turned out all kinds of fuzzy - if anyone else has a good picture of the two of us, please e-mail it to me!

Painting Some Rooms

After almost two years in our house, we decided to start painting some rooms.

Here we are beginning with some tinted primer:





And here's at least a close representation of the final colors:

July 4th - Evening

For the night-time, Derek and I headed over to watch fireworks with our church friends. We got together on our future home/church property and munched on hamburgers, chips, yummy pasta salads and homemade desserts!