Sunshine and scribbles: Lately.....it's summer!

June flew by and we've had quite a summer so far. I complain about Pocatello in the winter time, but it does not disappoint in summer. The weather is perfect. The evenings are cool, and the mountain air comes down in the early morning. I love this town in the summer.

Here's what we've been up to:

Lots of country drives.......

Inkom countryside

City Creek one Sunday evening

My apple tree is full of apples this year. It's going to be stunning this fall. I cannot wait!

We passed by this little one on one of our drives. She was four days old! The sweetest thing.

I really enjoyed the fresh peonies from the little flip house we fixed up. They were so pretty! I clipped several bouquets.

Laundry day, and more peonies!

And more peonies! And the vintage concrete laundry sink Mr. Keller gave to me for our 'somday' home.

Pretty flowers from the boys.

These two are closer than ever. They play so good together. I'm thankful for that.

A few more instagrams from our California trip.

And.....I turned thirty. It was a great day, and I felt so loved. Danny kept asking me all day when my birthday was going to come. I finally realized he was asking me where the cake was. Mr. Keller brought home this beauty from costco. It was so heavy! It weighed like eight pounds. It was a beauty, but we all decided homemade chocolate cake is waaaaay better.

Mr. Keller took me out to dinner and afterward, we went to the park we used to go to all the time when we were dating, which was ten summers ago. Hard to believe!

On my birthday, I went to a killer estate sale! I figured it was God's birthday present to me. Good sales are sooo good for my soul. I know I'm weird, but it's such a thrill for me. Major birthday gift. I found a gorgeous vintage turquoise fan (and two truckloads of other stuff), and I also found this dress form.

Here's the flip house all finished! It sold within twenty four hours of being listed. It closes the end of this week. It turned out so cute.

Another Sunday drive in the Chubbuck countryside. Wheat fields are so lovely.

We also restained our backyard deck. Lots of trips to Lowes, it seemed.

One Monday, I decided to take a photo, because it seems my house looks like this every monday. I don't know why, exactly. But the Bachelor always makes it better.

Hours and hours and hours have been spent in the backyard so far. Looking forward to many more.

We have a slipnslide, too. Morgan nails it every time, and Danny usually trips and faceplants in the grass before he even makes it to the plastic. I really need to try to get it recorded.

Popsicle maker thing from the dollar store. So nifty!

The funniest old man I met at an estate sale one day. I wanted to buy his truck so bad.

Danny's favorite favorite favorite day of the week. He loves to work. He loves it. He can hardly take twenty minutes to play, without doing something yard work related. He weeks, trims the edges with his scissors (haha!!!), waters the garden, etc. I trimmed the front bushes one day and he kept thanking me and telling me how good the bushes looked. He's so funny!

A few instagrams from his birthday.

Hanging out with grandma and papa. Later that night, Mr. Keller, my dad and I went to Jurassic World. It was opening weekend, and I've never seen my husband nerd-out on a movie before in my life, with this exception. It was amusing. And of course we had to see it opening weekend. If we were younger, we would have been there for the first midnight showing. But I'm thirty now. Ain't nobody have time for that shiiii anymore. Sleep is waaaaay more important.

I've been drinking lemon water for the last several weeks. It's so delicious. I can't get enough.

This picture makes my heart hurt to post, but I figure it was a little chapter in our lives, and I had better mention it. I went to an estate sale the day before Danny's party, and fell in love with the place the sale was held at -- an old farmhouse that happened to also be for sale. It was a one-owner property that had been in the same family since the 1940s. The man had just passed away a few months ago (he was 95!), and left the acreage to his children. They had ten kids altogether, and raised them in this house. We took many drives out to this house, went through it several times, walked the acreage over and over, made all sorts of plans, and both Mr. Keller and I were on the same page for once. It was so lovely and we had such a vision of what it could once again be with some love and attention. We even met the family, and spoke several times with them. We ended up finding out some information about the ward from a neighbor there, and were surprised to find out the boundaries included all of South 5th, and several (seven!) trailer parks. Danny and I left our ward a bit early one Sunday to go check out the other ward, and before we went in, I said a very fervent prayer asking for guidance, and throughout the meeting, it was affirmed to me that this was simply not going to be something we could do. The primary was very small, and the ward was very small, and but for a few solid families, very transient and intimidating, especially for someone like me who has a hard enough time attending church as it is. And I kept envisioning trying to feel comfortable about my children attending, and I knew it would be extremely difficult for me. It was hard to accept the answer we received, but I'm so thankful to that little neighbor gal who mentioned the ward. I would've have even thought about the boundaries being that way. It hurts my heart, even still. When I spoke with the daughter in charge of selling it to tell her our decision, we both cried over it not working out, though I kept the ultimate reason private. We just connected with the family, and I think that is what made it harder. It, of course, was very emotional for her and for their whole family, to even have to let the property go, and she kept telling me how she could see how much we loved the property. She knew it would have been in good hands, and I told her how connected I felt there and had envisioned the place coming full circle, having, once again, little boys there. It has been hard to move on, but it has to be right. Right timing, right place. I know Heavenly Father leads us.

Here's one of the tractors on the property. The boys were so in love with it all and kept calling it 'our farm'.

More summer silliness.

Off to Cafe Rio for Taco Tuesday, because I hate to cook. Especially in the summer time. I should be fired.

The morning of Danny's actual birthday

He'd wanted goggles for a long time. He has gotten so much joy from those things.

And, of course, the tradtional ice cream/pancake breakfast. With candles and sprinkles, of course.

Danny and his new trampoline. This tramp is the perfect size and has been so much fun for the boys.

Ice cream to end his birthday. Two cones, to be exact.

Pretty hydrangeas from the Boise temple. Mom sent me this picture. So pretty!

Birthday shopping trip to TJs. I came home and realized everything I bought was white. Why so boring, all the time? Freaking OCD.

Lovely new curtains.

Sending our birthday balloons off.

Mustaches. Best and funniest ever.

Another work day. Notice the small toy gas can in Danny's hand. So cute!

Birthday dress. Also the Sunday my elderly neighbor Ross came up to me at church (after he and I had walked to church together), and told me how nice I looked. I pretty much melted. I love my Ross.

Gorgeous vintage cake stand I got at the Goodwill.

A quick little overnight trip to SLC and the Hogle Zoo with the Kellers. It was blazing hot, but lots of fun.

More backyard fun!

Dad went sturgeon fishing on the Columbia for his Father's day present this year. He caught this bad boy. Seven feet! Uncle Mike caught a twelve footer, but after an hour of reeling (and four more hours ahead), they decided to cut the line. Crazy!

Mr. Keller went on the High Adventure with the ward boys a few weeks ago. He sent me this. So so so pretty.

While he was gone, the boys and I hit some great yard sales. We added the airport, train and jeep to our vintage fisher price toy collection. At that same yard sale, the guy had a huge huge huge, unopened collection of star wars figurines. Boxes and boxes. Morgan could have died. He kept saying for the rest of the day, "I was just so in love with that sale!" Hahaha! My mini-me.