My Weekly Garden Walk. Week 3 The Tulips are starting to bloom. April 9, 2019

It's the third week of the gardens being open and 

they are getting ready for the Tulip Festival to begin. 

I love seeing all the tulips, but hate the crowds that come with it. I try really hard not

to have people in my photos, but this year I may do a few photos with people just so you can see how

many people are around during the Tulip Festival.  Once it ends most of the time I walk

the gardens I feel like I have them all to myself.

This year I think they are trying to control the amount of people being

in the gardens and have timed tickets.  So we will see how that works. 

I think the shade of pink for this tulip is so beautiful.

These are foxglove in a planter arrangement. I am trying to limit

the amount of photo's I share in my blog.  I am also trying to think of

interesting ways to show perspective in photography.  So in the future be ready for

some new and interesting post.  Well maybe interesting if you like flowers.

Last year the photos I posted were never photo shopped.

This year I have found some fun photo editing tools and so some

of my photos will have a little bit of  added filters, like this one with

the shaded edges.

I just love the edges of this Tulip. I love how 

there are so many different colors and shapes to flowers.

This is an interesting spot in the gardens.  The view of the mountains which you

can almost see in this photo in real life is so beautiful.  We have had

a very wet winter and I love looking at the snow covered mountains.  I wish they 

could stay covered with snow all year round.

This is such an inviting pathway of Hyacinth plants. I've tried to 

give a few different views of it in the following photos.

I really liked how these flowers flowed together.

The bottom flower is pretty open and you can see inside, the next flower

is a little more closed up, the next is almost closed up and the top two are totally closed.

It just had a flow to it that I liked. 

A Mallard duck at the pond.  There is a big Koi fish under him, can

you see the orange shadow in the water?

This is a photo that you have to know exactly where to 

position yourself to get.  I was showing my son how to take it and he and

his new phone camera got a much better photo than I did.  I love getting the flowers 

close up in the front and the snow covered mountain in the distance.

Another group of Tulips are in bloom in the Fragrance Garden.  I hope to get

all the flowers with their name plates this year.  They have some kind of alphabet theme

going and at the end of the Tulip season I hope I can do a post with them in alphabetical order for you.

The entrance to the Secret Garden.  I photo edited

this one. 

The Italian Gardens.

They are doing something different here at the carousel.

The bees are busy in the gardens.  I'm going to try to have

a different bee photo every week.  Bees are an important 

part of our world. 

In a lot of their planters they have Ranunculus flowers.

They are just so beautiful and vibrant.  It amazes me that they start out little buds and end

up these big beautiful flower.  I like this photo because it shows the stages

of the flower from tight bud, to an opening bud to the full flower. 

A splash of color, orange and red tulips and yellow and white daffodils.

I think this is a Magnolia flower. 

I hope you enjoyed these flowers and that you are enjoying your spring.

What Gardens do you like to visit?

What is your favorite spring flower?

A Journey of 714 Days.

Here we are at the airport 714 days ago.  A young man who wanted to serve God and go on a mission.   I think he was very scared and yet he got on that plane and left us.  I can't imagine how scared he was, I know that those weeks away from home were sometimes very hard.  I look forward to the days ahead to hear all the stories.

Here we are at the end of the mission journey.  The change is there in this young man who stands tall and confident and ready to take on the world.   714 days away from us changed him in ways we don't even understand yet.  We changed also in ways he probably doesn't yet see.  We now have a few months together before he heads off to his next stage of life.  College, and then a career and hopefully a family of his own.  This journey it was a good journey.  I pray the next steps in our lives will be as wonderful.  Thanks for reading all of his adventures on his mission.  Thanks for your prayers for our son and our family. 
G.G.

Mom of a Missionary. Some April Fools Day Crazy and a Great Welcome Home. April 1, 2019

April 1, 2019 was the day my son was coming home from his mission.

we were very excited to have him come home. I got up and I made my husband lunch and then thought of all the things I needed to do.

About a half hour later I received a text from my husband, some how he had

taken my car keys to work with him.  I replied back " Please tell me this is an April Fools day joke."

Unfortunately it was not a joke and that was the beginning of my 

Crazy day. I had balloons ordered for his return.  Since we have been Empty Nesters for 

almost a year now I thought this nest balloon with birds was fun to have. 

A little sign to welcome him back.

I love plays on words.  I filled a basket up with goodies for him, many of them

bird themed.  Gummy worms, the coveted tootsie roll Easter eggs.  Plus his favorite treats.

My husband made the signs for the airport.  This looks simple but

I think he spent many hours on these signs.

More balloons for at the airport.

Here we are waiting...So we get to the airport and think we are in the correct terminal.

We even asked the guest service person is this where we should be for the flight from Mexico.

" Oh yes" she said.  Thank goodness for the sign that said Mexico on it.  As another airport worker saw it and came over.  They asked if our son was coming on a direct flight from Mexico.

At this point I was so nervous that something more would go wrong in my day that I thought they were going to tell me the plane crashed.  That is just how emotionally wound up I was.

But instead they said "you are in the wrong terminal, you need to go to the next terminal for international flights.  So off we went.  And we watched every person come through the customs door.

I think the boys waited till last to come out.  People would come through the doors and say "they are back there."

Here we are.  He is back Yeah!!

Congratulations on a Mission Accomplished!

Mom of a Missionary The creation of a journal of precious memories.

My son wrote home a few months ago and told me that he had to 

throw away most of his journals and his camera flash drive also had 

been ruined.  So I took upon the task of making a memory 

journal for him of all the emails he sent home and the photos.

There are 63,380 words, 1250 photo squares, 271 photos,

244 pages, 121 page protectors.

2 binders

One dedicated mom who spent countless hours

to make a journal of precious memories.

I also put all the fun names he called himself on purple hearts and

covered his door with them.

When my son got home he was so happy to have these binders and it made all the work worth it.

G.G.

PS.

While making this binder I decided to put in maps of where my son was serving.

About 3 weeks before he was to come home I ran across this map on the Internet.  It was published by the salt lake tribune.  I had kept myself a bit ignorant of where my son was serving.  I trusted the Lord would keep him safe.  I'm glad for this because if I had thought he was in a dangerous place for the whole two years instead of the last 3 weeks of his mission I would probably have a head of grey hair.  But the Lord took care of my son, who is really his child more than he is mine.  He taught him lessons that will bless his life.  I feel I have this spiritual giant residing in my home right now. 

I think that is what my husband and I both need too.  Our returned missionary is showing us how wonderful God's plan is.  I am so enjoying listening to his stories and seeing a much more mature and confident young man. 

Spring Walk at the Lake. The birds are coming back. April 2, 2019

We went for a walk at the lake and I just loved seeing all the birds.

Here is a Mallard couple. 

A red wing black bird.  I have had such a hard time

getting a good photo of these birds.  I knew their 

call but this is the first time one has been where I could photograph it.

We saw two Pelicans.  I just love seeing these giant birds.

My husband likes the lake for the sound of the water, I like 

it for all the wild life we see.

Do you have a favorite place you like to go to relax and leave the world behind?

G.G.

My First Garden Walk Spring 2019. March 30, 2019

The Gardens opened on March 30th and I was there to take a first walk.  I'm excited to see how the garden will change through the season again this year.  I'm going to try to limit the amount of photos I post, and also try to have some photos be in the same spot.

They always have beautiful potted plants around the garden, so I will take a photo of them each week so you can see how they change from spring to fall.  It looks like they have some ornamental kale or cabbage in this first pot and I think the second pot will have tulips in it.

This area here is a spot that always has a nice photo option.  It looks like the tulips planted will be yellow this year.  It will be so fun to see what this looks like in full bloom.

This is another spot where the flowers change through out the garden season.  I wonder what color Tulips will be here.

The geese are back at the pond.  I can't wait to watch a new family begin this spring.

I like this spot in the gardens, I can't wait to see what flowers they decide to plant here.

This is new in the fragrance garden.

I loved these little flowers and it's the first time

I've seen crocus plants at the gardens.

The Italian gardens, this is another favorite spot.

The carousel.

Looking down from the main building.

This is heading out. I'm sad to see that the glass tulips are gone.

Over the next few weeks they will be putting more decorations out for the tulip festival.

I can't wait to watch the changes.  I'm so excited to be in nature again.

Do you have a favorite garden that you visit?

G.G.