Mother's Day & Andy's B-day

   Mother's Day was made lovely by my cute family!

Late at night, after I had gone to bed with Ben, they painted this sign and hung it up...

Apparently, Josh was not around when that happened so he wrote this poem for me to find...

Isn't he cute?

I took the older kids out to visit with my fam on the deck in Young Ward...

                                                 

We kept our distance in this pic.

Just missing Ang...

For Andy's Birthday he wanted to take the kids for a hike but it was a really warm day so instead, we all went to the Institute building and played pickleball!

Give this boy a ball and he is a happy man!

                                                

                                                

The person not playing pickle ball rolled another ball back and forth with Ben.  We rotated through so we all got a turn with everything.

                                           

Because Abby went barefoot she ended up with super dirty feet :(

Cleaning up the feet...

Then back home for cake and presents...

A backpack that he had picked out for himself...

Some Theodore Roosevelt books...

                                                

                                               
                                                                                                                                                         And the one surprise I had for him...a gong!

Weeks earlier we had joked about getting a "Gathering Gong" to round up our family for prayer, scripture study and meals.  He acted halfway serious about it so I bought one :)    

          He was surprised and seemed genuinely pleased.                  

                                                      

Love this guy of mine!

Josh's B-day

                                    

Josh turned 17 the beginning of May!

Mom and Dad came by to wish him a socially distanced Happy Birthday...

                                 

    

He chose Sweeto Burrito for dinner.

Josh is a lover of root beer so when Andy saw a bunch of fun different varieties at the grocery store he bought them and we had a root beer tasting along with our dinner.

He was a fan!

He wanted to play some Nintendo switch as a family so we indulged...

He was a kind older brother and let Ben in on the blowing out of the candles...

Mint Oreo ice cream cake...

The sibs...

The birthday boy with the "Aged Ps"

We sure love our Josh!  He is such a joy.  It is strange to see him so grown up and just a year away from some big life choices.  But we know he will succeed because of his compassion, quick wit, sharp mind and awesomeness :)  Happy Birthday Joshy!

COVID Flowers

(Really these have nothing to do with COVID except for the time frame)

I can never resist taking pictures of the flowers blooming in my yard each year.  Here are some of my faves...

Beauty of Moscow lilac

Klehm's Bechtle Crab

This crab apple's blossoms are my favorite.  I searched specifically for this variety to plant in our yard.

It has trouble with disease every year but so far it has survived.  The boys took some pruning shears to it after it bloomed this spring and really whacked it down to almost nothing.  We'll see how it does next year :)

I don't know the name of this peony but it's one of my healthiest bushes.

Coral Charm peony.

pink oriental poppy

Obviously this one isn't in my garden but one of my many orchids produced, basically, a siamese twin bloom.  These two are connected at the back.

I've mentioned before that I help a friend out sometimes with her floral business.

My next door neighbor's oldest daughter was killed in a car accident and I was honored to be able to help with the funeral flowers.  It was my first time working on a standing and casket spray.  Quite a learning and sweet experience.

This is just an arrangement I made for a friend's birthday.

I love flowers!!!