Blooms

Thought I'd share with you what my flower bed looks like now...

Lots of daffodils

And one lonely purple tulip. :)

Speed of Light

Wowzers. I apologize for my absence around here, for some reason it seems like the days are just whizzing by at the speed of light. I just haven't had time to write about much of anything. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I've even had time to feel inspired to blog, either. I'm still doing all the same ol' stuff, but it kind of seems like this time of year things ramp up again until school lets out and we can finally relax during summer vacation. Am I the only one or does anyone else feel like this?

My flower bed is doing great, I finally got all of last years dead stuff cleaned out and am ready for new stuff. My daffodils are blooming and one tulip. Also the oregano, chives, thyme and marjoram are smelling GOOD. The other day both girls snapped a chive and ate it on the way to the bus stop in the morning. Weirdos.

I'm volunteering still at school, book club w/ Linds' class and whatever Kera's teacher needs help with. I've been working a lot too, mainly cuz I didn't do it earlier. If I did my "work" once a month like I'm suppose to, I wouldn't have these months were it seems like I'm working a lot. It's just that the time gets away from me. Also this new part time from home job takes up some of my former blogging time as well.

I'm still lifting heavy stuff, eating nummy paleo food and making lotion. Not much has changed, it's business as normal around here. I'm not entirely sure why it feels busier, but it is. So hang in there, I'll be back at some point, I'm sure! :)

Spring!

Tomorrow is the first official day of spring and look at what decided to arrive today. My first crocus. :)

I see purple!!

Typically, my crocus are the first buds to appear in my flower bed in the spring. I hadn't noticed their green leaves because I was following the progress of my tulips. But then this morning I realized I caught a speck of purple in the flower bed as I walked by to walk the girls to the bus stop. The first crocus bud!!! Yay, it's a sure sign spring is on it's way. That and the fact that I saw a sign on the golf course fence, "Driving Range Open."

The progress of spring

My front flower bed as of today...

the green shoots are getting taller!

:)

They're coming...

Can you see them? Teeny, tiny green tops in my flower bed means that my tulips and crocus are on their way! And you know what that means! Spring is right around the corner! :) I cannot tell you how happy this makes me!

Diamond & Cliff Lake

We made our annual camp trip up to Diamond & Cliff Lake this past week.

We spent 3 wonderful nights in one of God's most beautiful creation.

The last time we went up was the beginning of August last summer, and the differences were amazing.

Snow, lots of it, still residing up on the mountain. Huckleberries that were almost ready aren't even really berries, yet.

True to form, the weather was crummy for almost one whole day this trip. We spent some time in and out of the camper and around the fire that day.

I love our camper bamper.

The lake was pretty high, too. All that water towards the bottom of the picture wasn't there last year.

This was the evening of the rainy day.

But, the third day dawned with partly cloudy skies, so we headed up the one mile hike to Cliff Lake to check it out up there and hopefully do some fishing.

For a short hike, it is one of the most jam packed ones I know. You go from forested area around a lake to alpine hillside to more forested area and another lake. Plus there are tons of wildflowers, great views of the bottom lake from the middle part of the hike, and this year there was snow!

A butterfly on the dandelion...

Yellow Flower

Towards the beginning

Pretty pink flowers

Cute kids!

Yellow & Pink flowers

A hillside full of beargrass

Erik sawing limbs off a tree that had fallen over the trail.

View of Diamond Lake from the trail

Cool purple flower

Bright pink flower

Shooting stars! One of my favs!!

There were streams and marshy areas all over the place. It is still run-off season up there.

We had some wet and muddy areas to traverse.

And snow. Hard, dirty, slippery snow....

with moose tracks in it.

I couldn't believe all the snow still up at Cliff lake. It was breathtaking.

So beautiful.

Pictures do not do it justice.

Erik threw his line in a few times, but the fish were not biting. 

The sun came out and it felt great to sit in it.

See all the streams/run off on the hillside?

So much snow.

Check out the snow cornice! That thing is HUGE!

Heading back down the trail.

Flowers and snowy mountain in the background.

We had a wonderful time hanging out and playing as a family. And we loved our time at Diamond/Cliff Lake. It's definitely one of our most favorite places in Montana. And if you think I'm going to tell you how to find it, you are sorely mistaken. ;-)