While I am not a huge blogger (I find that I only have time to post a few pictures before I need to do something bigger and better) I feel that I need to post something from time to time. With what seemed like such a LONG winter, we are truly enjoying the summer. I forget sometimes that it is the little things in life that remind us how beautiful life truly is. Even in difficult times, we need to stop and reflect on the small miracles in life. While taking a short stroll down our long driveway the other night to claim some "princess" shoes left at our neighbors tree fort, we encountered some awesome things in nature. Here are some of the things that made me smile with joy!


This is a picture of a baby cedar tree growing on the side of our driveway. This is one of Kinzi's favorite trees and for the longest time I could not understand what she was talking about. I kept thinking she was saying "baby cheetah" and was kind of alarmed that she would think there were cheetahs in the woods. Yikes! But she was really talking about a "baby cedar" tree. This ,however, did not surprise me, since Kinzi knows the names of many flowers, birds, and trees.


Purple Beardtongue. This is a prairie flower, but we found this growing alone along our driveway.


This is probably the most exciting moment we encountered on our walk. We were about halfway down our driveway, when we heard a meowing in the weeds. We found this cat scared to death and extremely hungry. I had the girls race back to the house to get the cat some food and when they came back the cat inhaled the food. Someone must have abandoned the cat and left it to die. People can be so cruel! For right now the cat has become an addition to our family but will remain outside (or in the garage during the night/winter). It is a male and the girls named him Tiger after deliberating over that name and Oliver. Our other cat, Allie, kills mice and moles, so hopefully this one will do the same since we tend to have plenty of those living in the country. Now, if we can just get us some horses, sheep, and goats, we will be set!!



One of the most exciting things for me to discover on our walk was wild strawberries growing on both sides of the driveway! I had no idea these plants were there--hopefully the rabbits will just stay away so that we can have a sweet treat!




Last night we had a cookout at our house with Leo's family, and the fireflies were everywhere (hundreds of them!). The girls caught four of them and were so excited to have a natural night light. Now if only I can try to get a good picture of the fireflies in the woods at night! Another one of the joys of life!