Look For The Lovely: July 2013

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Berry Pickin'

Payton's 'GIVE ME MORE BERRIES' look!!

Last Saturday will probably go down as one of the most delightful days of my summer. We packed up and headed a few miles out of town to the charming Elderslie Farm with the hope of coming home with heaping buckets of blackberries (Mission Accomplished!!). It was a Worm Farm kind of day!! (The kind of day where everything is so perfect you would have fun at a Worm Farm.) The weather was cool and overcast and the berries were ripe for the picking.

We started our visit with some delicious breakfast....it's worth the drive just to taste the blackberry and lemon scones....and then headed out to pick berries. George Elder (our favorite blackberry farmer) gave us a very detailed description on how to pick the PERFECT blackberry. They must be coal black and ready to just about burst with sweet juices. He then teased us with a little sample.....AMAZING!! We were defiantly excited to start pickin'!!!

Payton loved looking at the wildflowers.

Jake enjoying his delicious cup of coffee.

Determined to pick only the BEST blackberries....he's not competitive or anything!!

Look at the size of those berries!!

Enjoyed making memories with this cutie!

Love the contrast of the red and purple against the green....stunning!!

Happily filling my bucket!

An adorable strawberry hat is a must when picking berries....thank you Grandma Swenson.

Miss Payton loved playing on the farm!!

Elderslie is by far the most lovely farm I have every visited. It's a little slice of heaven just a few miles outside of the city where you can take little break from all the craziness of life and just be at peace....it's always so hard to leave!! I hope you will visit!!

And just to tempt you.....here's a little something I made with my blackberries and purple raspberries.

Confession: It is possible that I ate all but 2 slices of this pie....but who's counting!! :)

Friday, July 5, 2013

I love My Life

I just needed to remind myself....

This week my attitude has been anything but lovely. I'm not sure why....nothing bad has happened....but I've been a grump!! This is hard for me to admit, because I'm one of those people that likes to appear like they've got it all together (I don't). But when I started this blog I promised myself I would be vulnerable and honest, so there you have it!!

When I woke up this morning I told myself that it was time for an attitude adjustment, but unfortunately I didn't get too far on my own. That's when my sweet Heavenly Father stepped in....

While I was driving I decided to listen to the radio. Immediately the speaker caught my attention. She said that she LOVED HER LIfE....and that's when it hit me....I had stopped loving mine. I was allowing myself to get caught up with all the little annoyances of my day, instead of looking for all the lovey moments God poured into each one.

I am so blessed, and its time to start focusing on that truth. So here are a few of the lovely little moments of my day:

I woke up to the precious voice of my daughter.
My scrambled eggs were exceptionally tasty.
The weather was delightfully cool while I watered my flowers.
Organic chicken was on sale, so I stocked up.
Payton stood for a whole minute by herself...she's so close to taking that first step.

So there you have it....although those weren't big things, they were sweet, and I would have missed them if God wouldn't have remained me to love the life He's given me.

So please don't make the same mistake I did!! Be grateful for the life you've been given...take time to give thanks....look for the lovely in each day...LOVE YOUR LIFE!!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Payton's 1st Birthday

Payton will be 14 months old tomorrow, but I hope you don't mind if I take you back a couple of months to her 1st birthday. I think I started planning her party around Christmas time and was glued to Pinterest for about 6 months!! (You may recall my hubby's little Facebook post saying that maybe if his name was Pinterest I would pay attention to him....guilty!!!) Anyways, I love planning and decorating for parties and this one needed to be extra special because it was for Little Miss Lovely!! The theme changed MANY times, but I finally decided on a pink and brown ice cream shoppe theme.

The week before the party was full of cleaning, shopping, decorating and a bad case of Tonsillitis to make things interesting (I never realized moms don't get any sick leave...sigh!). But all in all, everything came together, and it was a precious day. The BEST part was watching my cutie interact with all of her favorite people. She was all smiles the whole time and couldn't have had more fun playing with her grandparents, little friends and cousins. Here are some pictures of her special day.