Summer winding down

Eric went back to work Monday. Girls start school this next Tuesday. Summer is coming to a close and I'm ready for fall to come. I love all the seasons really, and I get giddy for the next one to get here! Soon I'll be anxious for winter.... Then spring, then summer all over again.
Things I love about summer:

Lots of Days off!
Boating.
Warm days.
Sunshine.
Tans!
Flowers in the garden.
Lush green grass.
Eating meals outside!
Long walks.
Bike rides.
Productive days- projects checked off the lists!
Ice cream!
Veggie gardens and fresh fruit out of our yards.
Volleyball nights at the hoffmans!
Bbq's
Mowing the lawn.
Wearing flip flops.
Washing the cars at home instead of the car wash.... The water is freezing all other times of the year.
Beach days at honeysuckle.
Time with friends.
Art on the green.
Fair food.
Having company come!
Road trips to Cali!
Birthdays.
Lots and lots of things I love about summer!!!! And I'm sure this isn't all of them. Just a quick quick quick jot down of some of the things!

The verse I hold tight

This verse is on my iPhone. I need reminded of this daily. This is my life verse. Holding dear to His promises that He has laid before me. Gonna look to Him in all things.

Tomorrow is tea party time

Riley has a tea party birthday party all planned for tomorrow. Can't wait till tomorrow! We'll be posting lots of pictures to share with y'all. Until then it's time to get some sleep! It's now midnight and there's LOTS still left to do in the morning so it's early to rise fir this mama!

Red!

Now my red tomatoes are ready! We've been eating lots of our yellow pear tomatoes but the big huge red ones have taken a long time to ripen! they're finally ripe and getting eaten ;)

Puffy eyes

I walked out on the deck, and this is what I saw..... Riley with her cucumbers on her eyes.... I asked what she was doing, she replied her eyes were puffy and she saw this in one of my magazines. Never a dull moment with that girl!

Dahlias

I planted dahlias for the first time up here.
I'm so excited it worked! I grew them a lot in cali but they aren't as common up here from what I've seen.... But I'm a happy girl to have them! Can't wait fir them to bloom, I'll share pictures when they do!

Hot!

A canon 60D

Well..... A year ago my most favorite lens broke when we were in California on a trip. I had the lens repaired, and it didn't work :( so since Easter I've been sad only having my portrait lens..... Missing zoom abilities and a wider range of uses for my camera not having that lens..... Well we went to costco to price replacing the lens that broke and heard Costco online had major bundle deals on lens packages..... Long story short, we were able to get the exact lens I no longer had, but it also came with a new camera body, a camera case (huge), the battery pack and the card reader...... And we paid the same as we paid for the lens but got all that stuff with it!!!! Our canon rebel is about 5-6 years old, so, it will really be something having a newer camera body!!!! The quality of the canon 60D is almost twice as good as the rebel was that I had..... The rebel I had was so old, they've since some out with several versions of the rebel and I had one of the original rebels.... So, it's gonna be exciting to start playing with the new camera. Very fortunate to be able to get this deal, we would never ever have been able to afford all that we got if not for this Costco deal!!!!! Battery is charging, can't wait to play with it! Nervous to learn a new camera..... My old camera was like a comfy old couch all broke in and this new camera seems fancy, more gadgets and capabilities and I'm almost nervous holding it, almost nervous, mostly excited. And anxious to see what i can do!!!!! It also takes video, which is exciting...... Canon 60D.... please be good to me. Be good for all my future clients! I have been so blessed to have the photography jobs, and look forward to building my portfolio with this beauty. Thank you Jesus for this blessing. Thank you Jesus for this gift. Thank you Jesus for a husband that believes in me and wants to see me achieve more in the world of photography...... Thank you Jesus for everything. For everything, I owe to you. My life is yours and help me serve others with my life and my abilities. Amen.

An amazing salad!

It was amazing! I threw stuff together to make a salad and i wasn't sure if it'd be as delicious as it looked, but it was! So I'm gonna pass along what I made so you all can try it if you'd like!

I look warm freshly baked chicken breasts and cut it into slices......

Mild cheddar cheese shredded......

Black beans drained and slightly heated on stove.......

Corn slightly heated on stove......

Grilled some onion on the stove in olive oil.......

Diced tomatoes......

Cucumber sliced into tiny pieces......

Butter lettuce, romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce (all from our garden)......

Then threw all that together and topped it with KC masterpiece BBQ sauce.....

(I also tried the salad with homemade salsa which was delicious, and I've also made it with homemade ranch dressing- depending on what sounds good you can make it a grilled chicken salad, a southwest salad or a BBQ salad).....

Fresh avocado is also a bonus on top!!!!!

Try it! We loved it. I wrapped caelans salad mix on a warm tortilla- she loved it that way!!!!!

Use Your creativity! And enjoy!

Sawyer

A week or so ago I did sawyers one year pictures! He's a cutie! I posted most on our freshlypickedbyME.com site but here's a few favorites ;)

Tomatoes!

Yeah for tomatoes in our veggie garden! Love the little yellow pear ones! We will be planting lots of those plants next year. The others are doing well just taking a long time cause after all summer took a while to get here in the beginning : /

Hayden lake

This morning we took the boat out at 9am. It was a beautiful morning. Then holly and justin came aboard! A great day!

Boating with Justin and holly

Today we had the pleasure of having Justin and holly take a long ride on our boat. Justin did so great! It was fantastic! Love them! They are a family in our small group who moved up from
Corona last November! We've had an awesome time with them! Thanks for hanging with us holly and justin!!!!

Conversations with kids

Two things made me feel old and dated...... All in one quick conversation with Caelan..... The conversation went like this...... Caelan asked:
"mom, what kind if dog did you have growing up?"
I replied, "a miniature sheltie, looked just like lassie." she replied, "mom, who's lassie? Or is lassie some old thing like those rectangle movies some people have, what are those things called???" I replied, "Caelan those are VHS tapes, we had those growing up?" she came back with the response of, "wow that was a long time ago, just like computers huh mom, you didn't have those either huh?" I replied, "nope, we used card catalogs at the library to research, and Caelan don't bother asking cause you won't know what those are either.... (sigh)" Caelan, "yeah, I don't."

Backpacks

For our first and third graders. They choose them and I'm certain y'all know which one the 3rd grader choose. ;)

Green bluff and boat time

The Roth's, Rollin's, Klossner's and us all went to green bluff to pick peaches, have lunch and listen to the live music at Walters fruit ranch. It was a blast! We each all came home with a box full of peaches..... Now the four of us are looking for recipes to use these peaches ;) after green bluff, we came home hooked up the boat and the four of us went to lake CdA for the afternoon and evening. It was awesome. It's 6 o'clock now and we are just pulling the boat out. Love the convenience of living so close to the lake to be able to do what we do.

Riley Lost another tooth!

I'm losing track at how many she has lost.... Last night she was eating a granola bar and out another tooth came!!!! This time it was the baby eye tooth on the left.

Abbys party part 2