TBT - Planting a Memory Tree

A few years ago my Uncle wanted to plant a new orange tree in his yard.  

He thought it would be fun for the grand-kids/grand-nieces &grand-nephews 

to plant it in honor of my Grandma and my Mother.  

Plus, any excuse to get together is a good one.

So we all met at his house, my cousins and brothers, my Aunt and Uncle and all our kids.  

Aren't they a good looking bunch?  The girls outnumber the boys in this group.

Sara Jane

 Garrett and Abby - two peas in a pod

 Uncle Pete dug a hole then we shared memories of Grandma Betty and Aunt Barbara (my Mom)

Everyone brough something to put in the hole.

Little notes, rose petals from a special rose bush, little girl trinkets and i guess a sugar cookie went in there!  (I don't remember that.) Good thing we have pictures to spark a memory.

The tree being planted.  All the kids got to help.  

This is a fun idea to do every time you plant a tree.

It makes that tree have memories from the very start of it's life.

Every time we go to my Aunt & Uncles house we smile and know that tree is filled with love and sugar. (literally)

 

I brought a Dr. Pepper because we all know that was my mom's favorite. 

 We all toasted and drank Dr. Pepper at her funeral.

It was only fitting to add a bottle to the tree.

Plus, plants like caffeine and high fructose corn syrup....don't they?

Thank You Uncle Pete for thinking of this fun memory making activity.

And good luck little tree!  

We love you already.

TBT = Throw Back Thursday 

Pictures and Memories from Feb. 2010

InstaFriday

 

Today is Insta-Friday!

Where I post pictures from the week that I captured from my phone.

Little everyday tidbits that come up that aren't planned.

Also, my sweet Aunt doesn't have instagram so this way she can stay up-to-date. ♥

I like to decorate my mantle for the different holidays. 

 It makes it seem less overwhelming to only have to decorate a small space.  

And my kids think I'm the greatest even though I'm cheating with very little effort.

 Last year I was in my favorite thrift store and I found the little drummer boy above.  

Is he not perfect?  I couldn't believe my luck!  

And he was all of $2.95

The magnet board is hanging over my couch.  It holds a lot of different things throughout the year.  

I just took all the graduation announcements off and put up the 4th of July freebie from pinterest.  

If you click HERE it will take you to endless 4th of July Printables.  

The space picture was painted with spray paint by Cassidy in art class.  It's pretty amazing.

After swimming all morning on Monday we took the kids to Iceburg

 for the biggest milkshakes you have ever seen!  

Word to the wise, only order the mini or you may be in trouble. 

 I love that our family lives close and that my kids can grow up near cousins. 

Our chickens are laying everyday.

We get lucky a lot with double yokers.

on Instagram you can click on #iseefaces

and it will show the most amazing photo's that people post of random everyday things with faces.

Try it.  You will be amazed.  

I did that with this photo because I saw a face.  

You can also click HERE on your computer to get a glimpse of some good ones.

Yesterday I was catching up on some computer work and it was Just Miss Abby at home.  

So she crafted and I worked and it was a win-win.

This is what she made.

Gumball necklaces.  

She used a small screwdriver to make the holes then used a large needle to feed the ribbon through.

She made several in different colors.  My favorite was the red, white & blue.

  

Go ahead join in.  

Go post your instapics over on Life Rearranged and make some new friends while your at it.

p.s. my instagram page is private but I would love to have you follow me.  

Don't be shy.  Follow me and I'll let you in. 

InstaFriday

Since I haven't blogged in a long while I thought I'd play catch up to what we have been up to with InstaFriday.  Jeannett over at Life Rearranged does a weekly re-cap of her week through Instagram and encourages others to follow.  It's a fun way to post your weekly favorite InstaPhotos and see what others are up to and quite possibly make some new InstaFriends.

The weather has warmed up and night swimming has become a must.  

91 degrees @ 8:15pm
It's the only way to cool off after a hot summer day. 

This Abby girl of mine is always got something in the works.  

She's a busy bee with a full social calendar.

1) London & Abby as unicorns

2) Brittley and Abby in summer colors

3) Miss Amberly as a Southern Belle

4) Going to school

A little recap on what I've been doing:
1) Ragnar - funnest thing ever!
2) My sweetie and I
3) Before and after my hair appointment
4) A baby picture of me to prove to my brother that his little guy has my hair curl. (truth)

My #1 Miss Cassidy who will NEVER let me take her pictures was nice to me and even smiled.
Eating at Rubio's our family's favorite. (minus Abby who hates Mexican food - GASP!)

So head on over to  Life Rearranged to read and post your own InstaPics.

Senior Pictures for Sariah

I dabble in photography.  I say dabble because it's a hobby of mine not a profession. I have taken a few classes over the years for the sole purpose of taking decent pictures of my kids and record our daily lives here on the blog.  I love taking individual shots of people.  I love, love, love having that blurred background, making the person POP right out of the shot.  It's my favorite.

I felt honored when my niece Sariah asked me to take her senior pictures.  It took us months and months to get our schedules to line up (she's quite the popular/busy girl!) but we had so much fun getting these great shots!  She's beautiful inside and out, sweet, kind hearted, very, very smart, giving of her time and talents and most of all the BEST big sister to her six younger brothers and an amazing example to all those around her.
 Love you Sariah ♥

Message me and I'll let you in on her darling dress.  

She lucked out finding it and it was perfect for her pictures.

That smile! It's so contagious!

This girl is an amazing volleyball player.  Like seriously.....she's GOOD!

Because of her my girls are following in her footsteps and loving playing volleyball. 

She's off to collage and I am so excited for her and to see where life takes her on her new adventure.

Baptism Pictures

 My little niece was getting baptized which means photo-shoot from her favorite Aunt Cara. 

 Since we had four baptisms on Tom's side this year I thought I would take all three 

(that live here) along and do a photo-shoot together.  

I could die from the cuteness in these photo's.  

Seriously.  

I need to get my act together and get these printed for my MIL before she sees them here on the blog. 

(these are supposed to be a surprise for her)

Are you with me on the cuteness factor?  

Look at sweet Joseph putting his arms around his cousins. 

 Awww!

 Such little sweeties.

I love that they are so close in age.

(only a few months apart)

We are missing our cousin Mac who lives in MO that also got baptized this year.

These two.  

They have been best friends since birth.

I know they were besties in Heaven too.  

They love eachother like sisters - without all the fighting.

 Miss Amberly.  My sweet little angel girl♥

London, Congratulations on getting baptized into 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  

We Love You!

Summer Trip #1

We hadn't planned on going anywhere this summer. 

 Pool time and summer movies was the only thing on our agenda.  

The closer it got to the 4th of July the more we wanted to get out of the hot desert air and go somewhere cool and with a parade.  We didn't see either but we did have a great time!

Cousin Mischa age 5

We went on long walks down country roads, had long talks with friends of old.  

Grandma came and played games for hours.  It was a heat wave, so glad we had power! 

We loved being away from real life.  The country is so peaceful and quiet.  

These pictures are all on Tom's brothers farm.  What a beautiful place to live♥

I love the history of the Midwest.  Everything in Arizona is new, new, new.   

I love that too.  

But there is something about seeing these old buildings and barns that have been around for 

100+ years that melt my heart.

The favorite thing from our trip was swimming in the pond out back.  

My kids loved it and I loved watching them.

Other things we did:

 

 We went through Oklahoma which Cassidy was thrilled about - since she was born there.

 My Dad's mothers maiden name was Hooker.  

I had to take a picture of this as we went through Kansas for two reasons: Why? And Why?

 We stopped in OZ in Liberal KS.  

They have Dorthy's house, a museum and if you blink as you are driving through the town you'll miss it. 

 (It's a very, very small town)

 

We met a biker guy named Jingles at a gas station and he gave Tom this bobcat hat.  

Yes,  Tom can make friends anywhere!

 

We played socks with Grandma and the cousins.  

She does "socks" so no little hands get hit with 'spoons".

We also, watched fireworks, lit fireworks, BBQ'd, went to dinner with friends, stayed up way too late, melted in the humility, went swimming in ponds and pools, antique shopped, grocery shopped, went to an Amish auction, ate ice cream, organized, and overall had a lot of fun.