Wildflower Expedition

It's Spring in Texas and my most favorite season! I absolutely LOVE wildflowers! I had been seeing them around and kept telling myself I needed to stop to take pictures. So, after feeding Clyde I did just that.

There is a strip of land by the highway that was just covered in wildflowers so I decided to start there.

Primroses are so beautiful.

I found these Indian Paint Brushes over by Burger King the same area the above Primroses were.

These are along the walking trail next to Highway 180.

I was so excited to find so many different flowers in the same place!

Kaidence watching out for me.

This is a close up of one of the flowers in the photo with Kaidence. All these photos were taken in the morning and it was overcast. I was so pumped by the pictures I had gotten that I decided to go hunt again later in the afternoon. I really wanted to find some Bluebonnets. As you may have noticed they are very skimpy and stunted this year due to the lack of rain. By this time the clouds had cleared and it was sunny. Even late in the afternoon the sun was very bright. I decided to head toward one of my favorite places I used to take the dogs on a regular basis. Dobbs Valley.

I forget what these are called but they were all over the place.

This is some type of weed. I just thought it was unique.

These flowers are so pretty especially when there is a bunch of them together!

Where there are flowers there are usually butterflies!

Not sure what these are either. They are very tiny but pretty in a cluster!

These little flowers remind me of daises.

Wine Cups. Another small and very delicate flower. And more butterflies!

I was so excited to get this photo!

I love this one!

I just can't get enough! These were on Highway 281 south of Mineral Wells as well as the rest of the photos

Yep, I stopped along the highway...many times...and made a few u turns.

More Primrose.

I finally found some Bluebonnets!

These are different purple flowers than the ones above.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Have a good one!

Small Adventures are Just as Fun

Last Sunday the kids had a birthday party to attend out of town. They asked me to go by their house to let Kajen out. It was a beautiful day. I took my dog Kaidence along. The two dogs like to play together. Because the kids don't have a very big yard where they live I decided to take the dogs on a walk. There was an area where the dogs could run and explore only a couple of blocks from their house. An extra bonus, I found Bluebonnets!

This is what is left of an old amphitheater. On the other side of this area is the side of a hill with huge rocks and trails.

I thought this is a pretty cool rock.

This rock had a tree growing in the middle of it!

After hiking around a bit I see this view!

This is the back of the Baker Hotel but it's still a magnificent structure!

The dogs and I make our way back down the hill. I shared a photo similar to this one the other day.

This is a view of the Bluebonnets from the other side of the old amphitheater.

I let the dogs explore around the historic old school house.

The Little Rock School House was the first public school house in Mineral Wells built in 1884. The rocks were hauled by wagon and cut by hand onsite. It now serves as a museum and can be toured by appointment.

This is the side of the building where you saw the dogs earlier. 

Hope you enjoyed our little adventure. We sure did!

Have a good one!

 

Tokens of Love

Today's blog will be much different that I've written here before. Something I saw today reminded me of something I journaled over a year ago.

February 2012
Over the last several days Holy Spirit has been teaching me to be aware of my Papa's love for me. Whether it be sunsets,

weather systems

  or wildlife, 

I take great joy in Papa's creations. I often try to capture the moment through photography. One morning on my way to feed horses, a doe gracefully loped across the road. I smiled and said "thank you, Papa". He knows how much I enjoy seeing deer.

Walking from my truck to the barn, I heard a familiar "knocking" sound coming from above me. I looked up to see a large woodpecker with a brilliant red head! He was stunning! I was greatly annoyed that I didn't have my camera with me! Later in the afternoon driving down the road I spot a hawk. Upon closer observation I noticed there were two! I cannot recall ever having seen two at the same time! Once again, I didn't have my camera! Although annoyed I couldn't take a picture, I was truly thankful for the opportunity to see Papa's handy-work. It was then that Papa spoke (not in an audible voice but to my spirit) "Just enjoy the moment. This is my 'token of love' for you". I began to thank Him and express my love back to Him! It was a precious moment. I also began to ponder that phrase "token of love". I decided to look up the word. This is what I found.

The definition of "token" 1) something serving to represent or indicate some fact,event, feeling, etc. 2) a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof. 3) Memento, souvenir or keepsake.

I knew what the word "token" meant but reading these definitions brought a whole new understanding to what Papa spoke to me. As much as I enjoy the "works of Father's hands" I must admit that there are times I take it for granted and when I do I find that I begin to question His nearness and/or love for me. Especially when things get difficult. He reminded me that my opportunity to see the beauty of His creation is His "tokens of love" for me.

I was reminded today of Papa's "token of  love" when I saw this.

 I had taken Kaidence for a walk to the cemetery. There used to be ducks at this pond but they disappeared several months ago. As we got to the pond I saw something on the water. I was thrilled to see it was not one but two Canadian geese! Not sure why they are here. They have usually headed north by now. Wouldn't you know....I didn't have my camera with the zoom lens. I watch the geese and notice something in the water with them. Oh my goodness! It's babies! I was ecstatic! I walk Kaidence back home and grab my SLR camera to go back to the cemetery for some pics! Hoping beyond hope that I didn't disturb them too bad the first time. I make it back to find they are still there! What a treat to watch these beautiful creatures!

It was so neat to see Mom and Dad watching over their young.

Aren't these little guys so cute?!

Even with my zoom lens they were not comfortable with me being there. They kept moving away from me.

 What are Father's "tokens of love" for you? What things bring you joy and pleasure? Is it a "hug from a friend", "'I love you' from your child", a "lick from from your canine companion?" I encourage you to begin to recognize Father's "tokens of love" to you then give Him thanks and praise for "He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

Have a good one!

Hello My Little One

I'm sharing my first two page layout for Kashton. I am so thankful that I work at my LSS Cat's Creations. I'm asked to make pages with new paper to display at the store for examples of what to do! This helps me continue to make progress! For this layout I got my inspiration from CatNanDo Sketch #1 of 2013. This is a two page sketch. Which I love as I typically do a two page layout.

 This is the left side.

This is the right side.

 Here is left side of my layout. These are pictures of the day Kashton was born. We couldn't have asked for a better nurse. It didn't hurt that we knew her as well! Vanessa is overcome with emotion at the first look at her son after birth! He was a much bigger baby than any of us imagined weighing 9lbs .28 oz. and 21 inches long!

As you can see I took some liberty with the sketch. But sketches are intended to inspire your creativity not just copy...although you can most certainly do that. For this layout I am highlighting Moxie's new paper collection called "Wee Ones". This paper was unveiled at the Cat's February Retreat. I used a diecut from that collection for the title and word stickers on the vertical striped paper.

Here is the right side of my layout. Keannon and Vanessa admiring their new son. I apologize that the middle photo is so dark. I think I'll go have that edited and reprint. And Kennedy meeting her brother for the first time. She was quite excited to get to meet him!

I didn't embellish much on this page. I did use some clear stamps I had purchased from my LSS to put the stats for Kashton. I cut out the cream oval and the scalloped orange paper using Spellbinders dies. I inked the oval with Tim Holtz distress Antique Linen. I wanted to journal about this day so I made a pocket to go behind the oval, sewed to the background paper. I made a tag for journaling using my Tim Holtz die. I inked it with my blending tool using Antique Linen then tied twine to the tag.

Here is how the two pages look together.

Remember to see the pictures larger just click on the photo. Two down and many more to go! At least I've started now!

Kashton is starting to smile now. Vanessa took this photo today.

Have a good one!

It's Spring!

I was amazed when I discovered that it had been two weeks since I last blogged! I apologize! Not sure what happened (other than life) but time obviously got away from me. As it tends to do.

It's Spring here in Texas and it's April which means BLUEBONNETS!  I LOVE Bluebonnets! They are not as plentiful because of our drought conditions but they are out! I was over at the kids house and Kennedy wanted to walk around the block. I spied this empty lot that had some of these beautiful flowers. The sun was a bit bright though and Kennedy had a hard time keeping her eyes open for me!

On another day I took her for a ride. Mom came along and took our picture as you can see by her shadow in the bottom right of the photo.

I actually got to keep Kashton for the first time last weekend. It was Keannon and Vanessa's 1st wedding anniversary. You can't tell by this pic but he wasn't a very happy baby that day. Not sure if he wasn't used to me or just gassy but he was very fussy.  I was thankful that they weren't got a long time.

He went to sleep for a little while when I took this but he didn't sleep long. I finally handed him to Granddad. He seemed to have more of the magic touch than me!

I love this pic. Kashton looks so comfortable.

Sister wanted to hold brother. She likes him so much!

Kennedy wanted to do something crafty. In looking for something else I ran across some puff paints I had and decided to let her use them. She had so much fun! She used them as finger paints.

Along with warm weather come the dangers of running into other critters. Hubby has been working in the yard filling in holes and low places with some fill dirt and ran across this creepy things!

Which I had thought to put something in the photo for comparison. They aren't that big but big enough to know they aren't worms! They are grass snakes but still makes me shiver!

I'll leave you on a more positive note by sharing one more Bluebonnet photo.

Have a good one!