It's About Bloomin' Time!!

It's been a long cold spring after a long cold winter. We have had so much snow and rain these last few months that our snow pack is way up over 160% of normal! Now the weather is warming beautifully but that is bad news for the flooding situation in our rivers and creeks. I am glad I live at the top of a hill!

The tulips and other plants are all about three weeks behind normal; but since they have bloomed, they have brought back hope and happiness to my heart. Last Saturday Dee and I had a lovely afternoon at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Thanks Britt!

Behold...my joy after a grey, grey spring! ~

Brittany works in a beautiful place! Too bad she has to be in her office for much of the day!

"Little purple pansies touched with yell-ow gold!" (That was for you Mom!)

I want to know what this variety is called. I love their unique bloom!

 This little guy was a perfect model. He hardly moved at all!

Isn't he the sweetest?

I do not know who weird turban guy is back there. Thanks for jumping in my photo dude!

I never met a tulip until I was 18 years old and found myself living in Idaho one spring. The tulips came up in our yard after my first winter of Idaho snow and dreariness. (Having grown up in Mesa, Arizona I thought I had died and gone to that other place!) The tulips were pale yellow with reds edges on each petal. I thought they looked magical! About three days later a wicked Idaho wind came and whipped them to death. I was devastated! Tulips have since become some of my favorites. It's truly sad that they only last a few weeks.


What's blooming in your yard?

Gaining Ground

I am four weeks post-hysterectomy now. Wow. In some ways it feels like forever ago then I turn around and think, "where did the last month go?" I am feeling better every few days, gaining more energy, and I am able to do a bit more each week than I did during the last week. I still struggle a bit with weariness every afternoon, and my tummy is still sore. I hope this passes soon! The sun has been shining for us for a few days and I am ready to get out there and plant some flowers! Speaking of which...


 ...look what grew in our flower beds!

We get daffodils every spring, and that is exactly my point...SPRING!  We have had so much snow and rain since my surgery that it was easy to lay around under a quilt and sleep. Now I am ready for warmer days and a healthier body!

This past week was spring break for my men. It was so nice to have Dee around every day to help me and take care of me. He spoils me and I love him! He and Richard had a lot of well deserved down time. They also got the yard mowed twice and did a lot of weeding and clean-up that I would normally do. (spoiled!)
Richard has had a gift card for the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City for awhile so I insisted one day that he and his Dad get out of the house and go have some fun. These are the picture mail I got on my phone from them about an hour later...

In case you are wondering, there are no little green men on Mars, just big Loose ones! They enjoyed the exhibits and saw a movie in the planetarium dome about black holes. It was shown in 3-D, 360 degrees in the round. Dee got a bit nauseous. I guess he wouldn't make a good astronaut. But then, if you went through a black hole you feel a bit queasy too!

Finally, with melting snow comes mud in the yard. Leave it to "my youngest" to find the mud and try to bring it inside! He did NOT enjoy his foot bath nor the whole body bath he got an hour later when he went right back out and rolled in the mud!! He never learns!

Happy Spring everyone!!

Stay out of the mud!

Emerging...

I am alive! Just thought you might want to know. I am starting to feel better and I can get around a do a few things now. I even wore make-up for the first time on Friday. The nurse at my doctor's office was surprised. She said, "You are only two weeks out from your surgery and look at you! You should see how most of the women come in here at two weeks." Believe me, that would have been preferable...sweats, messy hair, no make-up...it's much less effort! I suppose I just have some pride (and I look really old with no make-up)!

In keeping with my feeling better physically, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! We even had our windows open yesterday. It was a glorious 70 degrees! Not today.

Springtime in the Rockies is schizophrenic! Multiple personalities designed to bewilder this Arizona girl's heart! At least it will all be melted off by afternoon.

I think I'll curl up under my quilt and go back into "rest and recover" mode.

Time Travel Tuesdays~

Let us journey back in time to those marvelous days of yesteryear. That wonderful time of slenderness. This photo is from the spring of 1981. Here you see a 23 year old me and my sweet first baby Sarah who had just celebrated her first birthday. We are all dressed up and ready to walk across the parking lot to the Manavu LDS Chapel for church. We lived at "Moon Apartments" in Provo, Utah, only one of two married couples in the complex. The other couple were the mangers and we lived below them. The little building is still there in the middle of the parking lot but I believe Sarah and I would be standing in the present-day swimming pool!

The sun was bright that day and you cannot make out the sweet baby blue of Sarah's dress. She is wearing soft, white leather dress shoes and her ruffly bum tights!

I am wearing the same dress I wore to the temple the day Dee and I were married just 21 months earlier! It is oh-so 1980 with it's blousing top in a shade of dusty pink. Do you notice anything else that is very 80's, even though we were just getting into the decade? Hint...look at my head!

Empty Nest

Our four lovely, blue Robin's eggs are gone. We suspect the culprits are starlings we have seen zooming around the yard. Richard was appalled. "You mean there are cannibal birds?!" It is true that starlings feed on the eggs of other species but more often they are known as "egg dumpers". They will take eggs from another bird's nest so that they can use the nest themselves. We found broken eggs on the street below our tree. Sad. My one gladness is that the nest is gone too. I believe two little girls I saw the other night checking the nest probalbly took it home. I am glad. Take that, Starlings!

There is an analogy for humans in there somewhere, I am sure. I am too tired to think of one!

And speaking of tired...have you ever had a non-functioning thyroid? Mine was about as low as one can get. This explains my extreme fatigue all winter long. I also feel vindicated over my huge weight gain. Since taking the thyroid medication I have lost 7 pounds! (in one week!!) My metabollism is up and running again and feel like a blast furnace most of the day! Is anyone else out there as hot as I am? My Sweetie thinks I am hot!

All I Want For Mother's Day...

My flower beds are full of weeds. I would love for them to magically disappear. I know I can count on my two men to help me with this gift tomorrow. In fact, I am looking forward to it! I splurged this year and purchased some "Preen" to keep those weedy weeds from coming back too. I'll let you know if it works.


In other Mother news: We have four maple trees on the side of our house. They sit in the parking strip along the sidewalk. The one closest to the front is housing a delightful surprise!

I just about squealed when I got close enough to see these sweet eggs! And "how" you might ask was I able to get such a good shot? Observe...

The nest is directly over Sarah's right hand in the crotch of the tree!

Sarah and Richard searched for the parents.

Here is the proud Papa! Tell me, Mr. Robin. Why did you put your nest so low in the tree? Now we worry about the safety of your babies day and night!

I'll let you know if those pretty blue eggs hatch anytime soon.

In the meantime...we'll be pulling weeds!