Monday, August 8, 2011

Angels

My #1 Angel



My little furry Angel

Friday, August 5, 2011

Blackberry Bramble

Our neighbors on the other side of our fence have a huge blackberry bramble in the back of their property.  In years past I have just had a few little bunches come over the fence that we just ate fresh when they ripened.  But, this year we have had a bumper crop come over the fence.  I think there were several things that caused it.  Our other neighbor sprayed all along his fence line to kill the vines near them, I pruned the big canes that came over the fence but did not spray it with any vegetation killer and we have had a super wet winter and summer.  Blackberries love water.  So, we have these huge berry bunches hanging over our fence.  Now, I can just stand in our yard and pick the berries without having to deal with all the thorny vines.  Pretty nice!  I made a blackberry cobbler with my first bowl full and the one that Mary is holding I froze and will freeze more to make jam later.  Mary wants to help me pick them so bad but she is just not tall enough, so she settles for holding the bowl for me as I pick.  She is such a sweet little helper!  Here are a couple pictures of our wonderful black berries:) 

Monday, August 1, 2011

Wanna Play Ball?


Now who could resist that face!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The County Fair

We went to the county fair this last weekend and had a lot of fun.  It was Mary's first time and I am sure she will have some fond memories of our day.  It was the very first time for her to go on rides.  She went on a small roller coaster and a carousel.  She loved both of them.  The animals were so amazing ... BIG pigs, friendly goats and some beautiful cows.  We enjoyed fresh squeezed lemon aide, cotton candy and fresh hot baked pretzels.  Here is a slide show of our day.


Here is the link to the video: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=eb9544cc2c8482879b88b4&skin_id=1603&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Mary painted a picture of her and Mac playing.  She really loves her little dog.  Her Aunt Linda sent her a t-shirt that says, "I heart my puppy".  It couldn't be more true!



Friday, July 22, 2011

Princess and the Pup

Mary and Mac are becoming the best of friends.  Mary loves giving him treats and playing with him.  His little tail just wags his whole back end when he sees her coming down the hall in her pajamas in the morning.  He is getting better about his little puppy nipping.  He is extra gentle with Mary as she gets away from him if he nips her toes.  So being on her lap is a great for Mac and he is such a good boy





Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Yard Tour

I have put together a little video tour of our yard and flowers.  This year the weather has been so mild and lovely.  Such a great year for the plants.  As I am typing right now it is 64 degrees and raining.  Very unusual for this time of year.  We usually don't see a drop of rain in July and August.  So we have been having a wet and mild summer here in the Northwest.



Here is the link to the video:  http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=e9b34b62044f2805d3e1b5&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Cherries

From this ...
To this ...
To this!

My sister and brother-in-law gave us some beautiful cherries on the 4th.  They were so sweet to give us several bag fulls that they picked.  Rich made really yummy cherry jam from them.  He just used the recipe off the Ball pectin box and it came out so good.  One batch he added lemon zest along with the lemon juice.  We call it our zesty cherry.  It has a real lemon flavor along with the cherries.  I like it a lot.  The rest of the jars he just added the lemon juice and it brought out that beautiful cherry flavor.  We took several jars to our home fellowship and gave them to people.  Rich just loves to share the things he makes.  He is a true chef, loving to cook and loving to see people enjoy what he has made:)


Thursday, July 7, 2011

May the 4th be With You!!

We had a really fun Independence Day weekend!  On Sunday we all dressed up in red white and blue and went to church.  We had a special service to honor all the service men in our church and a special message concerning our nation and the church.  Then we went to Rich's folks for a fun afternoon.  We took MacKinley Mac as Mary call our little dog now, with us over to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Rich's mom had a couple of toys for him.  So cute.  One was a ball with a bell inside and the other was a stuffed bird as big as him and he loved.  We call the bird, Kevin.  If you have seen the movie, "UP"  the name will make sense.  Mac did really well at Rich's folks.  It is good to have you puppy experience different people and places when they are young so that get well socialized.  Also we were gone from our house all day and we couldn't leave him that long, so he had a great time at Grandma's and Grandpa's.  He is such a good boy and Mary is so good with him.  She loves him so much.  At one point he nipped her in his puppy play and she just cried and cried.  I held Mac up to her cheek and he kissed her so sweetly.  I told her he was sorry and she smiled through her tears.  I told her he did not do that on purpose but that is how all puppies play and he will out grow it in a few months.  She then said,  "Oh, Mama, I just love him sooo much!"  On Monday we had Rich's folks and my sister and brother-in-law over.  We had a bar-b-que and then dessert in the evening.  When it started to get dark we had a small fireworks display in our back yard.  It was a lot a fun and beautiful evening.  Here is a slide show of our weekend.

Here is the link to the slideshow: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=e7fec18470dddcf4965b86&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Friday, July 1, 2011

In Love

Yesterday we got a puppy and we all are just in love with him.  He is a little Pom-a-poo (Pomeranian and Poodle).  He looks just like a poodle except for his tail curls up his back like a Pomeranian.  We named him MacKinley and call him Mac for short.  MacKinley means "son of the white warrior". He is very tiny, only 7 weeks old.  He is the sweetest little puppy.  He loves his bed and his toys.  Very smart little thing too.  Poodles and Pomeranians are both very smart breeds.  Poodles are second in intelligence next to Border Collies who are the smartest.  Pomeranians were originally sheep herding dogs before they were miniaturized.  As you can tell I have been reading up a lot about dogs!  lol  I had been looking for a puppy for about a month and was getting a little discouraged at finding just the right one.  Sunday when we sat down at the table to bless the food, Rich said, " Lets all pray for a puppy and we will see what happens on Monday.  All day Monday nothing happened until right before I went to bed I checked some ads on the computer and there was an ad for these little puppies.  So, I just took it from the Lord we were to check it out. I called the next day and talked with the gal.  She seemed really nice and had 3 puppies, 2 females and one male.  I told her we would like to see them and we set it up for Thursday afternoon.  Thursday morning I got an e-mail from her saying the female puppies were not available as she had to sell them to one lady because she has promised her females in her last litter and didn't have any.  So, all that was left was the little male.  We had originally wanted a little female.  So, I was disappointed.  Then I just thought, "Well we are just leaving it in the hands of the Lord and he knows best."  So, I called the gal and got to talking with her and found out that she was a Christian and was so happy to know that we were Christians too and it comforted her heart about giving up the little male as he was her favorite.  She said he had the cutest personality and so smart!  So, Mary and I got in the car and drove the 30 miles so see him and he was wonderful.  We brought him home and we had a little bed and toys for him.  He just fell in love with his little bed and toys.  Mary just loves, loves him!  She can only hold him if she is sitting on the floor and I help her to remember he is just a little baby puppy.  She just wants to be near him and talk to him and watch him play.  I know they are going to be such good friends.  Rich really likes him too.  We have a little play yard for him with his bed, food and little wee wee pads to go on.