Summer Blooms

The blooms in our yard this year did not disappoint.

Every year I document the flowers in our yard, and every year I love them more & more...

If you looked at the photo archives on my computer, you'd see that they mostly contain photos of flowers, because lets face it... flowers are pretty & they make me happy.

Actually, I guess you could say I have a thing for photographing nature in general.  And, I'm so thankful I live in such a beautiful place, where all I have to do is step outside my front door & am instantly inspired by each seasons blooms.  Once again, reminding myself that I am truly thankful for all seasons.

 If you're interested, here's what Winter & Spring look like, according to our humble little yard.

What's your favorite summer-time bloom?

#gardenlife: round 2; an update.

It's been just over a month since I gave you glimpse of our 2016 garden.  Since then, we've been rollin' in the garden goods!

Here was our most recent harvest (we pick about every other day -- it's insane how fast everything grows!)

To be fair, Zac spends a good amount of time in the garden, so it's success is mainly due to him (and I think we have really good soil, too).  I mostly just take pictures of it, and clean or giveaway whatever he brings me :)

This year we planted a row of mini sunflowers, and a row of zinnias, which are two of my favorite flowers.  The sunflowers aren't quite ready yet, but the zinnias are blooming in full force!  I love that I can have fresh flowers in my house year round -- we're definitely planting them again next year.

It's been so fun reaping the rewards of Zac's hard work -- if anyone needs beans, zucchini, yellow squash, or cucumbers, please let us know!

And of course, it's still a full time job keeping this monster out of the garden -- even with the fence, I've caught her sneaking zucchini... she's lucky she's cute!

When the kids come to play...

... we make a side-walk chalk family...

... Grace relishes in the delight of endless attention...

... Homegirl shows off her mad hopscotch skills....

... we break for popsicles...

... we check trail camera with the mule...

... we search for pretty shells, among millions & millions of zebra muscles....

.... we *pretend* to strangle our sister...

... we slide, climb, twirl, and twist our way through the playground...

... we're scared, at first, of the monkey bars...

 ... but in no time at all, we got this...

... and we end the day with a glimpse of this sweet specimen of a child.

Playing with our niece & nephew makes my heart so happy; may they never grow up!

Summer Snapshots

It's rather hard to believe, but summer is half over already...

While I love the warm summer months, knowing fall is around the corner has me very excited, but I'm not wishing time away!

Here are a few of the ways that we've been enjoying this season:
(this is mix of camera & iPhone photos, so sorry about the poor quality)

  Took off on a Friday & hit the beach.

Zac trained & ran his first 10k!  So proud of him!

Spent the day in Door County with my long lost cousin.  

And then we played old school Uno at Grandma's, because #wheninrome...

Made a slew of strawberry freezer jam with my mom & dad.

 Captured backyard rainbows.

Had a couple Frosty Tip dates with these cuties.

Picked our first batch of zinnias from the garden.

Played with this cutie.

Spent a few evenings on the water, and tried to fish...

...But all we caught were Busch Lights.

Woke up next to these three bed heads.

And took lots of evening walks with this wild one.

What have you been up to this summer?