Six.

My Blakeley turned six yesterday - my sweet, stubborn, adventurous, creative girl. We celebrated with starbucks in the morning, watermelon for a school snack, Chinese for dinner, and cake and ice cream to finish...all Blakeley's favorite things. Blake is a truly kind hearted person. She loves people and loves meeting needs. Each year I love seeing how far she has come. She is determined and once she gets something in her mind she will work as hard as she can to see that she accomplishes it.

I have been richly blessed by her and I am honored to be able to watch her grow and discover life and all that is holds for her. Happy Birthday to my Sunshine Girl. I love you so and I am so glad you are my daughter.

We went camping a few weeks ago at one of my most favorite places in the world. It is a magical place green with moss and wildflowers, hidden toadstools, and berries growing wild. We go fishing, play in the creek, go hiking, relax and just take in nature. I love this place.

Slack lining with good friends.

She was serious about keeping mountain lions away - "Parent Trap" style.

Slipping away...

So wow...welcome to the second half of August. I have been working like a mad woman for the last few weeks and have not had anytime to do much of anything. I feel like I woke up from my work fog this weekend and realized that summer is slipping away. Before we know it the leaves will start changing and autumn will be here. In the mean time, I am determined to enjoy the rest of our garden.

Our first artichoke, the size of a golfball right now...

Also, our first sunflower around 10-11 feet tall.

We have to harvest our vegetables in a laundry basket...zucchini, summer squash, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelon.

Garden Update

Insane is the most common word we use when we talk about our garden. It is absolutely insane and we are loving it. Our garden is starting to really take off. This week we snacked on snap peas, enjoyed basil, chopped a very small onion and harvested our first two zucchinis. I can't help but peaking out at the garden each time I walk by a window. I want to be out there seeing things grow and change and feeling the energy of all those living things. I am blown away each time I look at one of the plants I grew from a tiny seed. It is amazing what can come from something so little and in such a short amount of time. July in Colorado is when gardens really start to take off because the days are longer and the weather is hot. We know that things are really going to start exploding very soon...I will let you know when we are up to our elbows in zucchini!

In my bike basket this week - 2 cook books - Enchanted Broccoli Forrest by Mollie Katzen and Sundays at Mooswood Restaurant. CDs from the library - the soundtrack from Whip It, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, and the soundtrack from Pirate Radio.