Saturday, May 24, 2014

Outdoor Happenings

Here is our new, and still un-named, kitty.  He was found hiding in the bushes by the Catholic Church and he is very skittish.  He disappears for a day and then we think he is gone for good.  But he still
comes back........so far.


David is now out of school, having completed his freshman year.  He's been doing a lot of painting for us around the farm.  Here he is scraping and painting the sides of our out-building, which was the original house on the property.  We refer to it as "The Palace".



Speaking of David, and this has nothing to do with "Outdoor Happenings", he had his spring orchestra concert last week which was spectacular!  This is kind of blurry, but David is sitting to the left of the tall music stand.  He actually admitted to us that orchestra was fun, and he is now considering being in it again next year!  Yeah David!!



Back to the outdoors........We got our garden planted!  We use trench-irrigation since we never get any rain except during the monsoons.  When we did our first Arizona garden years ago we didn't think a thing would grow.  But gosh, give this barren soil some water and miracles happen!!

We had a beautiful overcast day which made all this hard work very pleasant.  Doughty Family, don't you wish you were here to help us?  Good memories of days gone by for sure!!!



David was a big help smoothing out the trenches, while Joe, the boys and I got the seeds planted.







Poor Willie...........hanging out with the family sure wears a dog out!




By the time we had finished, the clouds had moved on and the sun had come out.
I'll keep you posted on the progress of the garden!



Monday, May 19, 2014

A Wonderful Mother's Day!

This was my very first Mother's Day back in 1991.  Courtney was barely four months old, and we were visiting my parents in Florida.  Boy, don't we look young there?


I've had lots of Mother's Days since then and Joe has gone out of his way to make them special for me.
However, as the children become adults, he says they are on their own - ha ha!
So Isaac and Joshua were doing lots of whispering the week before and I heard
quite a few "Don't tells" from the two of them!!

 We went to church...........



Had a special Mother's Day song...............there were more children, but we just captured this 
goofy group on the side.


Got special hand-crafted cards.................



and a REALLY BIG CARD!..........................




a very special note and gift from Rachel, who was in Tucson.........................



two very wonderful phone calls from Jonathan and Courtney, both far away........

and a very lovely yellow rose bush that got planted immediately!




I will spare you the picture of this gorgeous bush THE VERY NEXT DAY, after our two dogs had a mad
chase after the cat and lept  through over the rose bush.  Not pretty......

So thank you to all my family who made me feel loved and special!


Saturday, May 17, 2014

David is 15 !

David is the last birthday of four-in-a-month.  Whew..........., but we still try to make it special.  When Joe was in Alabama back in February for Jonathan's ATC graduation, he got this sweatshirt for David - to be from him and Jonathan.  Unfortunately, it was just the right size with no room to grow.  So I sent it back and they were so kind to send us a bigger size.

David leaves for the bus at 6:45 am, so he is barely awake here.  But we wanted  him to open it
before he left for school.



Okay, he's had a full day of school................are you a little more awake, David?



Rachel's David came over for the evening, which was an added bonus.  Wow, two Davids in one family....





Ice cream and cake - just what young boys need right before bed!!



Joe in the background with his traditional "Happy Birthday" on the guitar.



Yes, Rachel, we are all going to miss you!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! MAKE IT A GREAT YEAR!!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Celebrating Joshua!

This special boy just turned six!  Isaac's birthday is several weeks before and it is SO HARD for this young man to be excited for his brother and all the gifts that came to him.  

But Joshua's day finally arrived and he is all smiles!







You may remember that we planted thirty evergreen trees back in January.  They are doing well and we are expecting rapid growth from here forward!

I took a picture of Isaac by the seventh tree and Joshua by the sixth tree and we will compare them each year!




Rachel Turns 21!


Well, this is what happens once you join the big adult world.  Rachel had to work on her birthday, as well as take a big test!  No pictures of cake, presents, etc.

We still love you lots!