Rooms With a View

SORRY TREE HUGGERS~

When we moved into our house there was a Holly Tree in front of our kitchen window. I hated it. It is so hard to trim and if it is not trimmed it looks terrible. It is also full of spiders. Here is what it looked like...

This is what it looks like untrimmed.

Mitchell trying to trim the tree.

Here is what it looks like now...

Yes, I cut it down. Well, Patrick cut it down for me. Here is the space where it was. I am so happy that we can now see out the kitchen window.

I know many of you will be upset with me for cutting down this bush/tree. Well, all I can say is I am sorry!

FALL~

A friend of Charlie's who lives in my hometown of Salt Lake City, asked him to send some photos of our fall colors. The best colors are outside of our yard, especially along the freeway. Since I don't feel quite up to driving, I just took a few from our yard. I thought I would share them. I took these yesterday.

Standing in our driveway.

Standing in our driveway looking the other way.

The front of our house.

More house.

Another view from our driveway.

From the front porch.

Across the street.

Well, that is it for today! Have a great weekend.

Another day, Another frog

Hey there! its Patrick. Shaun's oldest son. You know how we have that pool in our backyard? Well we always find frogs in it, and my mom always blogs about it. Whats different this time, is that its the end of October, and the pool is kinda sorta freeeezing. Whats a frog doing in that water? i guess they like it. So while my family, along with my good friend Erin, were putting up Halloween decorations, I had to go fish the frog out of the pool. Its hard, i promise. Here are a few pictures.

Frog in the net.

an overwhelmed frog.

 

Mitchell and the frog.

Thanks for stopping by!

HAPPY MONDAY!

I am still suffering from my Tysabri headache and some other icky symptoms. I cannot post without a photo, so here is  a pretty moth seen on our back door. I will be back tomorrow!

BEETLES, FROGS & BABIES

After my nice pampering hair cut yesterday I decided to check out the pool. The kids and I got in on Wednesday night even though it was quite chilly. It was actually quite pleasant yesterday with the exception of what was floating around. Here is what I scooped out of the pool...

Need a close up?

Yes, those are beetles with a few wolf spiders mixed in. We have never had this many before and the only thing we can think of is that when the termite guy came out for our inspection on Monday, he knocked them all lose. Beetles were not the only thing I found in the pool....

Patrick retrieving the other friend out of the pool.

And here he is. Frogs are not an unusual visitor to our pool. This is a little late for frogs though. Once we got him out he sat by the diving board for a while then Vinny checked on him to see if he was still alive and he jumped back into the pool. I was able to get him out and he jumped away into the grass.

Now, I have a video to share. Enjoy and I hope you have a glorious weekend.

DAY1

Sam arrived safe and sound on June 10. My kids immediately took over and monopolized Sam's time. We Charlie and I barely knew he was even here. For a man who has never had children, Sam is amazing with my children. He never loses his patience and will pretty much do whatever they ask. Here are some photos from day one...

 

Sam diving into the pool for the first time.

 

Vinny and Sam doing his gopher impersonation.

 

Patrick showing off for his friend Alex. She is the cute one in the yellow bikini.

 

Mitchell showing off for Patrick's friend Alex.

 

Miss Alex showing us how it is done!

 

And Miss Vinny.

 

Mitchell doing his handstand dive trick. His form has been better.

 

Sam showing his great form.

It has been a great weekend with Sam and I am so happy that we still have two days with him. I will have many more photos to post of our visit with Sam.

Now for a few Hummingbird photos...

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a great Monday.

FILO (FIRST IN, FIRST OUT)

School has been out for almost two weeks and I finally took a few photos of the kids. The photo on the left is the from the first day of school and the left is from the last day of school. Well, actually they are from yesterday. Don't forget, you can click on the photo to make it larger. Enjoy...

 

 

Patrick before and after. 

 

 

Mitchell before and after.

 

 

Vinny before and after.

And here are my Hummingbird photos of the day...

 

 

I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

HELLO, IS ANYONE THERE?

Today was the day that Mitchell's cell phone contract was up so he was able to go and buy and new phone. He has been saving for a while and was happy that the new Xenon was on sale for $50. Charlie, Sam and Vinny went along and Sam took some photos for me. I wish I had photos of when Vinny bought her first phone a few weeks ago. Oh well. Here are the great shots from Sam...

 

 

Mitchell is in cell phone heaven. Charlie is trying to be patient.

 

Mitchell trying to be patient.

 

Finally!

 

On the way out of the mall you pass by this kiosk that sells cell phone covers and other accessories. It is pure eye candy for teenagers, preteens and cell phone fanatics of all ages.

So, Mitchell is now the happy owner of a new cell phone. Here are my Hummingbird photos for the day...

 

This is the first year that we have had more than one Hummingbird at the feeder at the same time. Usually one will fight off the other.

 

 

 

I am off to bed! My goal is to try to be asleep before 1:00am. Have a groovy Friday and thanks for stopping by.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!!!

Yesterday, June 10th was my niece Nicole's birthday! I was only 7 when Nicole was born and as much as I loved her, I was also a little jealous. She was the first grandchild and I was used to being the youngest girl and only one of two girls in our family ( the other being my cousin). Nicole has grown into the most beautiful, talented young woman. She is an amazing wife and mother to two adorable daughters, she is a talented writer. Her first novella will be published this summer in News From the Republic of Letters!

She and her husband recently moved to Montana where they spend their time fly fishing, hanging out with their puppies and dealing with snakes. I wish I had a recent photo of Nicole to share. I do have a couple that are not too old so I will share those. I also have a fairly recent photo of her two adorable girls. So, please leave a comment wishing her a happy birthday!

 

This is Nicole with Molly. Molly was probably around 1 or 2 here and she is now 7.

 

Molly is a little older in this photo. This was her daughter Grace's birthday which was a Harry Potter theme.

 

Grace and Molly in California. I believe this was last summer? Grace is 9 and Molly is 7.

Happy Birthday Nicole! We all love you and miss you.

I did not post a Hummingbird photo yesterday so here are a few for your Thursday viewing...

 

Coming in for a landing...

 

Almost there...

 

Chow time!

And off he goes.

Sam arrived safely today! The kids and I were able to do everything we had hoped except vacuum (the vacuum broke) and mop the kitchen floor. I am exhausted and plan on spending the next 5 days just enjoying his company.

Thanks for stopping by!

DAILY HUMMINGBIRD PHOTOS...

I was hoping to post photos of the kids last day of school but I have yet to take those photos. The problem this year was that the kids all had to be at school at different times so I could not get them together on Wednesday. I hope to do some photos tomorrow. In the meantime here are some photos of my Hummingbirds...

 

 

See his little feet?

 

 

 

That's it for tonight! I hope you all have a great weekend.