Raspberries

The raspberries in the backyard are lovin' all this June rain in Utah. The bushes are just covered in them.



























Here's just one day's raspberry harvest.



When you have this many raspberries every day, you just have to make raspberry milkshakes.


No pictures of that - it's gone already.

Free paint

I've been getting so much painting experience lately that I'm thinking about taking it up as my new profession - NOT. After hints and suggestions (nagging) from my children, I have been painting again and the white walls are finally gone in 2 more rooms of this Farmington house.

Here's a view of the extended kitchen area painted a dark sage green. It's a darker shade than the sage green of the main kitchen area. I think I like it.
Notice the white wall behind the TV in the family room in the background and compare to the picture below.
I forgot to take a before picture, so this is
AFTER #1















AFTER #2
Notice the white wall behind the TV is now a nice shade of warm brown.
















Below are two other views of the new brown wall. I think it even makes the fire place look acceptable. I guess the rock fire place can stay now, but the wood burning stove will have to go eventually. I plan to paint the other walls of the family room this color along with the hallway to the bedrooms. I'm just trying to keep up with my sisters who have done recent renovations.

This paint was not free, but right now YOU CAN can get a quart of FREE paint from Glidden by going on their website glidden.com before July 1. It's hard to pass up FREE. I hope they actually deliver on this offer. It will take 4-6 weeks to find out. Anyone else want to try for it?

High Maintenance

Now back in Utah, I have taken on the challenge of the yard. If Arizona can have low maintenance landscaping, why must Utah be such HIGH maintenance? I guess it's because you only have to deal with it for 6 months of the year. IMHO, This is the one and only advantage of the winter snow, ice and cold temperatures here.

One area that has always needed attention is the area by the sidewalk on the side of the house. Others who have tackled this challenge in years past (Suzy?) will agree, this is not an easy task. This has been my project for the past few days.

Before -
Notice weeds choking the sidewalk.












After -
Where you see dirt in this picture, was previously all weeds,
the full length of the fence.















Also, a few years ago I planted some wildflowers by the side of the driveway. They are really pretty this time of year, but no one sees them, so I thought I'd just include them here. Does anyone know the name of the tall orange flowers?

Name that Car II

Apparently, some people thought the car I previously blogged (see May 15 post) was way too obscure.

I now submit pictures of two less expensive cars and ask:
Can you name that car?

Would you drive one? I guess the more appropriate question is:
Would you fit into one?

















The bumper sticker is giving you a little hint here.


Most of you are way too young to remember this one, but you can still take a guess at which company manufactured this classic.

Belgian Waffle

I have done some more painting at the Tucson house.
This time in the kitchen and dining area.

The paint color is called "Belgian Waffle" which sounds perfectly delicious for a kitchen. It appeared on the sample to be a golden brown. However, now that it's there, it seems a little too yellow to me. I think it looks like one of those "Tuscany" colors, which is fine, but not really what I had in mind. Also, look at the color above the cabinets. It looks much more orange than the color below the cabinets and I swear it's the same color from the same paint can.
How does this happen?













I think I can live with this, but I need ideas on what to put on top of the cabinets to soften the yellow color and NOT emphasize it. With the 10-foot ceilings there is plenty of room. I'm not really into any frilly flowery type stuff. Any ideas? What would you put there?

Hiking and Swimming

It was so fun to have Suzy and Claire in Tucson.
While they were here we did some hiking and swimming.
Around here, the first activity usually result in an immediate need to do the last.

Hiking the trails at Sycamore Canyon.

























At our Sycamore Canyon pool.




































In Kevin & Caroline's pool.
















Claire's first time "swimming" in a pool. (I guess the bath tub doesn't count.)





























Other random photos at Kevin & Caroline's house.






























Suzy and Claire have now gone on to their new adventures in Georgia. Thanks for coming to visit, Suzy. Miss you already!!

Three

Another birthday! Three years old!

The birthday boy smiles while waiting for his tasty birthday dinner with the family. He won't really eat any of this food, but the rest of the family liked it!
















Opening presents is so much fun. What's in there?
















The family audience watches him open presents.














It's nice to have an older brother show you how to blow out the candles.















And the next day, even more fun with a visit to the Zoo.



























A new way to see the bears.

Cousins

More catch up photos:

With Suzy and Claire visiting in Tucson, that means lots of family time.

Ryan and Ashley meet Claire for the first time, with cousins looking on.














Baby cousins meet again.

















I'm sure they will be good friends as they grow up, just like these 2 cousins, Suzy and Jill. Thanks Jill for making the long drive down to Tucson for a visit. We loved seeing you!




The family gets serious about playing a Wii game at Kevin's house.
















A walk by saguaros with Claire.

















Claire can finally wear her cute summer clothes in sunny Tucson.

Catching Up

A lot has been going on the past few weeks.
It will take a few blog posts for me to catch up with everything.

First, we went to Massachusetts to see Casey graduate with honors with his MBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Congratulations Casey!!!
















And congratulations to both Suzy & Casey for surviving two years of cold winters and the high cost of living in Massachusetts. While we were there, we also helped Suzy & Casey pack up for their move to Georgia where Casey has already started his new job as a Marketing Coordinator for a software company. We are glad they are moving to a warmer place. Congratulations to Casey on his new job!

Claire is growing up so fast and is just as cute as can be! Please note the adorable shoes.

























After the graduation, Suzy and Claire were able to come to Tucson for a nice visit with the family here. More on that in future blogs.