Our Little Garden Space

It is hard to believe that garden season is done!

Just for point of reference, it has SNOWED and SLEETED on this thirteenth of October today!

Crazy weather!!

I think that September was the most productive month for our little garden space this year.

Even as we fought the Japanese beetles, we still were able to bring in a lot of produce!


I was thankful for my ever helpful gardeners too.


We worked in the garden Labor Day weekend, and then not again until we cleaned it out to get ready for winter.

I had a moment about that – but then I remembered what joy it had brought us while we were able to care for it, and told myself it was ok we did not finish strong because of my hand surgery.

You can only do so much, right?!

I did get this photo one day – do you see that beautiful bee there?

I so badly wished I had my big camera with me right then!!


Of course we are already talking about an expansion project for next year!!

I’m hopeful for some more yard completion projects come spring, but we have enjoyed everything we have already done to the fullest!!

Hope all the gardeners out there had a wonderful season of gardening too!

So Long August

Hhheeelllooooo!!!!

Yes, I am aware that we just said so long to September in real life, but I’m a smidge behind, ahem.

I do have a good excuse reason!

I had surgery on my left hand/wrist three weeks ago today, which has given me limited use of my hand.

All is well though!

And I am typing with two hands, praise the Lord!

So, let me get our memories from August in our little scrapbook!

Most of August our dryer was still broken, and we were spending time each week at the laundry mat drying our clothes.

In the middle of August, Blake bought a new washer and dryer for us!

I might have been in the store with him convincing him to not spend too much on them – saying we did not need the bells and whistles and all.

Little did I know that the cheap ones don’t even have a light that comes on inside the washer and dryer when you open their doors!

It’s all good, though.

We are washing and drying all things at home now and I am so thankful for that!

Carrying all that wet laundry up town to dry it and then carrying it all back home to fold it was a big job!

Even though we fought Japanese beetles our gardens did so beautifully and were a JOY to us!

Especially the cut flowers we grew!

I am sure we will choose to do that again!

Speaking of those Japanese beetles…this is what everything they touched looked like.

Our cucumbers did SO amazing this year!

My favorite thing was to just pick things from the garden and eat them right then!

Having green smoothies with some kale from the garden is a favorite too!

We also put up things for the winter.

I shredded all of the zucchini to use later.

Zucchini, green peppers, and jalapeño peppers are my favorite things to put in the freezer from the garden.

Our landscape in front of our home was beautiful too.

I’m so thankful for how pretty it looked all spring, summer and even now!

You know we ate in August, don’t you?

It was cool enough to bring in some of our fall like meals – soup and roasted chicken!

I am super hungry now after looking at these photos!

We fought a bit of sniffles back in August.

I am so thankful because it didn’t last but a day or two and wasn’t that bad!!

God blessed our efforts for sure and I just praise Him for it!!

School continued on, and continues on!

We are really enjoying school!!!

Is there anything better than walking into the kitchen and looking over to see your sweet girl praying during her Bible time?

Lane is still building all kinds of cool things in his STEM class!

It’s during the kids table school work that I do all kinds of things while being completely available to help them too.

One day I put little nuggets all over the house – here are a few of them!

One day, after Grant moved to his house, we did school at his place so we could let the internet guy in to get Grant’s internet hooked up.

We LOVE being there, of course!!

I took a photo of the dining room light they had just hung that week, and Grant’s new (to him!) dining room table that his big sis Kayla had found him on marketplace!

Speaking of Grant’s place – Chad moved in with him at the end of August!

YES – I cried my eyes out – while standing in our walk-in closet – which is where Chad found me when he came to say good-bye that Saturday night after he had all of his stuffed moved down there.

Man oh man did I cry.

But – we are THRILLED that our boys are sharing this season of life together – we are always better together!!

This is the only photo I have of Chad for this post, which is really a photo of Ruby, but I will put it in here for good measure and all, ha, ha.

I miss those boys of mine SO much!!

Our days are ALWAYS better when there are our GRANDBABIES in them!!

This first photo is how you know you had a WONDERFUL Sunday with your grandbabies!!

Kay’s got new wheels too – and we were thrilled when they came to show us!

My favorite is when they pop in and stay for lunch – IT IS JUST ALL SO FUN!!!

Other happenings in August – our annual church baptisms took place in our pool.

My heart about explodes every year as we listen to the testimonies and watch the sweetest people publicly profess their faith!

I also did the HUGE job of the big clothes switcheroo.

Growing children means they have to try on all of their warmer clothes for fall and winter.

Then we have to make a list of all the needs and shop for them.

Then we sell all of the things we no longer need at a second hand store.

Glad that job is done for another season!

We got outside every chance we could in August – the weather here has just been incredible!

I cannot get over how creative our Lord is, can you!?

I mean, just look at this guy!!!

No, I did not touch him!

We had a cooler and rainy summer, but many gorgeous days too.

I know we will be longing for days like these come March!!

On that note….August brought us some of the most BEAUTIFUL skies.

Hi!!

I’m the lady who loves the sky!!

I just don’t understand how anyone could look at it and not see God’s hand there.

Oh my, I have a lot of photos of the sky in August.

Please look at them, though!

They are each unique, God’s handiwork, and declare His glory!!

And there went August!!

It seems like FOREVER ago already and yet just yesterday too.

Life is FULL and AMAZING and CHALLENGING and WONDERFUL and BLESSED and sometimes PAINFUL (hello, left hand).

Couldn’t be more thankful for it all – because I trust the Lord I love with ALL of it.

His ways are higher than mine!!

His ways are BEST!!

And I sure hope I can bring glory to His name for whatever ways He chooses for me.

Happy October and fall, friends!!

Hoping to keep catching up here – all of September memories are up next!!

Happy Birthday Grant Evan and Addison Mae!!!

At the end of August we had the privilege of celebrating Grant and Addie’s birthdays!

They were born 364 days apart, and have shared their birthday parties their whole lives!

Thank you two for this photo – I love it!

I asked Addie what she would like us to do for their birthdays and she wanted to stick with tradition – so that’s what we did!

We love traditions.

And good food.

And Sundays with our favorites.

So it was perfect!

I made a huge spread of chicken tacos with all the fixings and it was perfectly yummy too.

There were gifts!!

The BEST part about birthdays is getting gifts for the ones you love!

There was cake!

I actually made the cake, but Addie did her magic to make it beautiful!

And she made some grain-free cupcakes so we were sure to have enough dessert to go around.

Once again I wish I had more photos!

Which means I was not thinking of you all as we were celebrating that day.

So sorry, but I think it is good to be present instead of always behind a camera, don’t you?

It was a GREAT celebration!!

How I enjoy gathering around good food with our family on Sundays.

Adding birthdays to that weekly occurrence makes it more special!

Grant Evan and Addison Mae – you bring so much joy, laughter, and life to our lives and we are SO thankful for you both!!

May this next year be a year of growing closer to the Lord as you live out this next season of life!

Happy, happy birthday to you both!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Family Nights in August

Our Thursday family nights have continued and I LOVE THEM!

It’s not at all about what we do, it’s just about that intentional time we are spending together, focused on each other, and making some awesome memories while doing so!

Our first August family night was planned by Chad.

We went to a local park, literally five minutes away, and played a round of disc golf.

It was a BLAST!

I am not good at disc golf, but I had the best time trying to learn it and improve this skill!

After we finished our game we came home and had homemade ice cream.

It was yummy!!

Our second August family night was planned by Lane.

We had the most hilarious spelling bee!!

We laughed so much my face hurt the next morning!

Of course there was dessert – cake – which I forgot to get a photo of.

Our third August family night was planned by Grant.

He blessed my heart SO much!

I had not even reminded him that it would be his turn, and he called me first thing that Monday morning to say that he had already reserved two lanes at our local bowling alley!

What a great idea for a family night!!

We even had a gift certificate to use there!

Unfortunately, Lane was getting sick that day and had a fever, so he and I stayed at home.

But everyone else had a great time!!

Our last family night of August was planned by Blake.

I received a text that day with about fifteen options on it, ha, ha!

I quickly replied – “you are supposed to plan it, not me!!”

He did a great job and we headed out after dinner to do a scavenger hunt in town!

We split in two teams and set a time to meet back at our cars.

I do not have any photos of the other team because as soon as we were handed that list I took off running and yelled at told my team to follow me!

I have heard that the lady behind the camera is a little competitive, ahem.

Tate’s team ultimately won the hunt though!

Afterward we headed back home and had root beer floats provided by my awesome husband!

Family night has been a wonderful thing.

Intentional.

But simple.

It would be SO easy to race through this life not being intentional about ANYTHING.

We don’t want life to consume us!!

Relationships can be pushed aside in today’s world of busyness, social media, and trying to keep up with expectations that should not even be a part of your life.

I am prayerful and hopeful that our family night will stick around!

In some form or another!

It’s still going strong as I type this, because today is Thursday and I know our plans for this evening!

Here’s to another awesome evening together making memories that will last!

Memories made and now memories kept!

Happy Thursday, friends!