Happy Father's Day

 Ellie picking dandelions which she calls bubbles and blowing the seeds. 

 James exploring with Daddy on the trail, picking up sticks and throwing rocks in the river. 

 Ellie had to stop and smell every different kind of flower along the way, James smelled some too.

 Daddy found a caterpillar...sooooo cool!

 Happy Father's day to an amazing dad, who makes being a dad look easy :)  He is calm, caring, and kind and always a voice of adventure in our lives.  He always sees the good even when we get lost and end up driving around for an hour looking for the trail.  He is a quiet leader who adores his family.  I can not say enough about what an incredible father he is and how loved my kids are.

A little picnic by the river...

Diggin in the dirt...

Ok I'm going to totally geek out and let you in on  a secret.  I LOVE to garden.  I feel so complete when I am gardening.  Out there digging my hands into the rich soil I can't help but get lost in memories.  I have no idea what I am doing when I am out there.  I am not an expert and I don't care if it's spaced perfectly or not, what the PH levels are, or any of that. Everything I know I have learned from years of watching my Granddaddy and Grandmommy and from time spent along side my dad, mom, sisters, and brother and now with my husband.  I enjoy the simplicity of knowing that if we put seeds into dirt, water it and give it sun, it will sprout and grow.  We started the garden at our current house as a little triangle of dirt.  Then we expanded it to a square shape for a few years and this year we have made the leap to tearing out bushes and  making it our whole side yard.         

 
 This was phase one...nice view Jeremy :)

 This was phase 2...

 This is our garden now...

Our Raspberries (below)

First Romaine lettuce of the season (below)

Our leeks (very thin and hard to see)

 Tomato blooms--our cherry tomatoes have been the most sweet and delicious hearty plants every year.

2 Roma and 2 Cherry tomato plants

 Two rows of rainbow colored carrots

My gorgeous peonies

 Super hard to see but the tall green stock in the middle of the photos is our first year of asparagus.  We wont pick any this year but looking forward to next.

 Honeydew melons...

 Jeremys pepper garden

 Melons

 Yellow squash

 Cucumber

 Zucchini

 Cabbage

 Rutabega

 So hopeful for all these peony blossoms

 Artichoke

 Pumpkins

 Gorgeous deep maroon peony

 Butternut squash

 Not sure the name of this flower but I love it.

 Our newest hobby---a composter

 Lilac

 Clematis about to bloom like crazy

 More updates to come about my nerdy obsession :)