Wild Flowers

Who would have thought that in the process of stopping on the side of the road, for some much needed personal time, you would get smack dab in the middle of..............Wild Flowers?









Red ones..........














Really Ravishing Red ones..........

Pulsing Purple ones...........

Youthfully Young Yellow ones.............

And Optimistic Orange ones.........

I love Spring.

Love Always,

midRae

Things to Remember.........You know all through out my life I have loved flowers. Not so much the digging and planting them each year, I really hate to get dirt under my fingernails. I just hate it. I leave all of the playing in the dirt to by midMan and the boys. I am no girly girl by any means but I just can't handle the dirt. Getting back to the flowers though I just wanted the world to know how much I do love flowers. Especially those that grow naturally and come back every year, no matter what. I can't wait until the Sunflowers start bursting out all over. I can just bet that you will see a lot of those on my blog.

A Study In Frustration.

For three years our youngest, tailEnd, has played in his middle school band. We have watched him go from the Trumpet, to the Baritone, and finally to the Tuba. We have enjoyed watching him learn to play each instrument and to excel on them all. Through all of these changes we have managed to be to everyone of his band concerts. And have been so proud to call tailEnd our son.

Now you may be asking yourself, "What is so frustrating about that?". Well let me explain. Throughout the last three years we have never managed to take a camera with us. Either we had no camera, we just forgot the camera, or we figured out that our camera needed a lot of help, as in lets just bury it. We always thought, "Oh well, next time." After all this time I finally talked midMan into buying a new camera in January, a Nikon D60. I am still learning how to use it but I love that we have a great camera with so much potential. Now if only I would reach the same potential.

Now the really frustrating part. About two months ago we went to tailEnds last band concert. I forgot that I had a camera and left it at home. We were so sad at the thought that we would not get any pictures and didn't have enough time to run home and get the camera. You see, tailEnd has decided not to continue his career in band and wants to learn to play the guitar, and this, we thought, would be our last chance for pictures.

Then God smiled down on us and the band had one last concert a week before school let out. I was so excited. I was going to get some pictures of tailEnd playing the Tuba. And he has always been placed in the best position. As we would sit and face the band he has always been on our right side, on the last row, at the very end. Perfect picture position! Yeah!!!

Frustration has arisen. For this last concert the leaders decided to change things up and put the JV band on our right side and the Varsity band, which he is in, on our left. This placed tailEnd in the very back. As far from the camera as you could get. I wanted to scream. The one and only time I have a camera and they put him in the back. AAAHHHHHHH!!!

And then to top it all off, every time I would get him in my sights one of the kids in front of him would move in front of him, as you can see from the great blur in the middle of the picture above. I finally just had to give up. I think I ended up taking about thirty pictures and the ones your see are the best I could come up with.

Good thing he had that big curly head so that I could at least find him in the bunch.

Love Always,

midRae

Things To Remember.......................You all may not know this but back in my youth, 7th grade, I was given the opportunity to learn an instrument. I choose the flute and have loved the sound ever since. It's music just speaks to me and I love to sit and listen and to pick out the sound of the flute. It's music can be so sweet and sorrowful at the same time. It can make you see and feel joy and happiness and then just as easily make you see and feel the haunting sound of loneliness and sorrow. I was unable to continue playing the flute but I am so thankful that I did get the opportunity. I don't think I would have appreciated it's sound if I had never gotten the chance.

PANDA.......mmmmmmmmmmm.........

midMan, wonderful man that he is, has an addiction. It is such a sad and terrible thing to watch him slowly spiral down into the depths of total dispare. This addiction takes over his existence and changes him into a bear (a panda bear that is). He lives to fill this need, this want, this all encompassing addiction that he has. Praying that some how some way he will find relief. He spends each and every week looking forward to Friday night so that he can satisfy this addiction.

HE NEEDS HIS PANDA!!!

It's not just a little bit of Panda that is needed, oh no, not my man. He, my wonderful midMan, needs oodles and oodles and lots and lots and gobs and gobs of Panda. What he eats could feed a neighborhood block party. He doesn't just order the 2 entree plate. He needs to order a 5 entree plate. And please please the bigger the serving the bigger his smile. Ah yes and if he smiles real cute he might even get an egg roll or two.

He then will happily sit and consume the entire order in one sitting. Only then will the savage beast be good for one more week. And oh oh, you can bet, that during the whole next week he will be dreaming and drooling over what he knows is to come Friday. Not a date with midRae and not a game night with the kids, but PANDA, PANDA, PANDA.

PANDA.........MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Love to All,



midRae



Things to Remember.....................I remember as a child I lived in a very small town where we had not one fast food restaurant. We did have the Hong Kong Restaurant and the Diner but they were definitely not McDonalds. We barley even had a grocery store. Every two weeks my mom would travel to Cedar City, Ut to do her extra shopping. We waited the whole day just knowing that when she came home she would bring us a treat. The best treat would be a bucket of KFC chicken. I could not tell you what else she would bring home we just waited and waited for the KFC. It definitely was not the Hong Kong. It seemed so exotic. Children in small towns lead such a sheltered existence, so sheltered in fact that when mom brought home KFC it was like Christmas all over again.


P.S. We are not affiliated with Panda in any way shape or form. We just love their food.

OUR GARDEN

15 years ago I tried to grow a garden in the middle of the desert in St. George, Utah. I planted my corn in May when I should have planted it in February. It only grew to be 2 feet tall and the Rolie Polies decided that they would have a feast of the rest of my little garden. At that point I decided that apparently I had a black thumb and I should never ever attempt to grow another living thing outside. Pots in the house are good but getting any where near the outdoors with a living plant and the Rolie Polies line up for a feast. You would think that I would have learned.


But.........

As you can see we have decided to attempt it again. Only this time we have decided to armor plate our planting area. We have planted our garden in an old water heater that had been turned into a trough. I talked midMan into letting me use it. He was planning on putting it in the mountains by a spring so that he could have a good spot to deer hunt. He has two of them so I am hoping I can keep this one. But I digress. We are hoping this will keep the Rolie Polies at bay. But you never know, I have found them upstairs in my house. I really believe that they are my nemesis.


We have planted jalapenos.


And tomatoes. With salsa in our mind. Hot, spicy, homemade and yummy.

We have even planted some Zucchini. We are being quite adventurous here.

Our neighbors gave us a few strawberries last year and they seem to be taking off this year. Hopefully we will get a few good ones.

But I really believe that the saving grace for our garden this year and the only thing that will make it grow and prosper is our youngest son, tailEnd, playing Guitar Hero World Tour to our garden. You know they say that music will make your garden grow. Let's hope it keeps the Rolie Polies (savage beasts that they are) away, too.

Love Always,

midRae

Things to Remember.......................Growing up my mom had a huge strawberry patch. I can remember sitting in the middle of it and eating strawberries until I was sick. I loved that strawberry patch and was so sad the day we sold the house. The new owners got to keep the strawberries and my mom never planted any more. Hopefully ours will prosper and grow and I can go sit in the middle of it and eat until I am sick. But this time I think I will take some fat free whipped topping with me. Yum!!

Dreams

I dreamed about my big brother last night. It left me sad and confused. Sad because I miss him, confused because I don't know why he came to me in a dream the way he did. I haven't seen him since January 30. You see, he died on January 26, 2009.

As we were driving to his graveside the song 'Hero' came on the radio. When I heard the first words of the song I cried out and turned the radio off. But just a quickly I turned it back on. I know God was reminding me of how much I looked up to my brother and what a strong person and spirit he is and was.

As we grew up we fought so much and had very little in common. He is five years older than I am and it seems that I was always standing between him and our younger brother. We took different paths in our lives and saw each other rarely. We even lived in the same town but seemed to not have much time for each other.

He was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago. We learned to communicate, which I find to be a great blessing. He decided to put his life in God's hands and let God decide what would happen with his life. God gave him some pretty amazing years. My brother taught me that I was not the one in control of my life. That God is the One in control of my life. He showed me that God is taking and sending me to where I would not go on my own. He showed me that God has a plan for me and that only God knows where my life will go. He thaught me how to forgive, without even knowing that he did.

My brother had so much faith and trust in God. He taught us all some life lessons in the last years of his life. I hope and pray that I may have the same faith and trust in God. I love and miss my big brother so much and wish that I could tell him that just one more time.

Love Always,

midRae

Things To Remember...........I had the coolest bike in the world when I was growing up. It was just a plain jane blue bike. Nothing fancy but is was so fast. I remember racing my older brother, him on his 10 speed and me on my little blue bike. I always beat him. I so loved that bike. I don't remember what ever happened to it but it sure did leave me with a great feeling of accomplishment as I grew up. It showed me that I could be a winner, I just had to remember to never give up and try as hard as I could.