in our yard this summer...

PEACHES! while these are not the prettiest peaches i've ever laid my eyes on, they are, however the most magnificent! you see, they are the first edible peaches we've been able to pick from our peach tree out back. this is only our second summer at this home and we have not been taking preventative measures to ensure some rot free fruit. so imagine my delight at finding a few golden fruits that were ripe and ready.

my small herb patch, right outside the back door

our compost bin! jason built it from pallet wood! we are so excited to get it going.

this beautiful and simple swing from terrain, is my inspiration for a swing out back. good thing i have a carpenter in the family!

Cake of the weekend

 Round two on the murder mystery cake circuit! It was a lot of fun making this mystery manor cake. Good thing I had some extra "blood" from the last one!

a little more love from our trip

most of the national parks we visited were selling these retro looking cards. we instantly loved the  look of them and started a collection to remember our trip. they were reprinted orginal artwork for posters done for the parks in the 1930's. you can read about the full story here. pretty fun stuff.

summer's best

 a couple of years ago, in Holland, we made it to the tulip festival. it was one of my fondest memories, being a lover of tulips. these cute little bud vases were hanging up around all the shops at the festival and i just loved the idea. so this the first time i've brought them outside here at our new house. i think i would have like to hang them horizontally but this is what i had to work with on short notice. plus it brings me cheer each time i come in the front door!

On the road: Interesting things we saw along the way!

here is a list we started making when we were driving and encountering  things we had never seen or experienced before.

on the road: from a pennsylvanian perspective!

• windmill blades
• circus rides ( on the highway)
• a tractor driving on the highway
• world's largest mcdonalds (former)
• sign that says "don't drive into the smoke"
• being in the  exact middle of america in oklahoma
• a couch in the middle of the highway
• a stage coach in new mexico
• tumbleweeds (interesting at first)
• long horn
• Jesus "blessed" texan watermelons
• yellow bellied marmots
• rain coming down on only one side of the car
• a guy in a tutu, running a race in death valley
• swimming cows
• next to a prison, a sign saying: " do not pick up hitchhikers"

a few last images from our trip

  utah

 utah

 bryce canyon national park : utah

 southern california

 mariposa grove: yosemite national park, california

 california

 death valley national park: california

 

yosemite valley

 yellowstone national park: wyoming

 grand prismatic springs: yellowstone

badlands national park: south dakota

desert!

most of these shots were at monument valley! we really enjoyed it there. there are so many other great scenery shots that we have as well. the west is astounding in beauty!

we also stopped at the four corners monument.

the corners of utah, colorado, new mexico and arizona!

highlights from new mexico and arizona

 meteor crater in winslow, arizona

 best breakfast of the trip so far. burrios, huevos rancheros, fresh squeezed oj, sweet roll.

at a place called frontier in albuquerque!

 near acoma pueblo in new mexico

 old town, albuquerque

 amazing sunset in new mexico

 tumbleweed and windmill. two most common sites here.

 so much so that a man had a giant yard collection of them.

 petroglyphs. ancient indian carvings and drawings

 badlands in the petrified forest

 rocks. somewhere :)

petrified wood!

friends in oklahoma... and texas

friend #1 : prairie dog 

we went to prairie dog town in oklahoma in the nature preserve. they were quite the sight to see. even saw some prairie dog kisses.

friend #2 : buffalo

they were pretty scarce with how hot it happened to be in oklahoma. hoping to see more in yellowstone

friend #3 : longhorns

these guys were all over.

p.s. we had longhorn burger for lunch.

staying with family in oklahoma was awesome! the picture is from mt. scott.

texas was more of a passing through state. we did however stop at slugbug ranch to tag a few beatles. and cadillac ranch to marvel at how many other people had tagged. ate some big steaks at the big texan and drove through parts of rt. 66 before heading to new mexico!