Empty Nesters. The summer nest is filled and I love it.

Summer is here and the nest is filled to the brim.

First my son came home from his mission in April.

Then my daughter came home from college in may.  Both were

very successful with the out of home experiences.  My son had a 

life changing two year experience and came back more confident and ready to take on the 

world.  My daughter got straight "A's" her first year of college, and she was

taking really hard classes.  I got quiet a few new grey hairs!  

Then we welcomed a new rescue cat into our lives.

So what is this family doing this summer.  We are all working Ugh!

But we find time to connect.  My daughter and I play different word games 

together all day.  It's been a fun treat.

We all spend at least one night together playing Scrabble.

Even Dynamite sits with us and helps me make words.

We have gone and watched lots of movies.

We also sat down and wrote a list of places we would like to visit 

before the end of the summer.

We are enjoying our time together and it has been so 

nice to see the bond that is growing between my young adult children.

They took an adventure on the train and checked out the 

school my son will be attending this fall.

I don't look forward to fall and the emptying of the nest.

These next few summers before they leave for good will be sweet and

I plan to soak in as much time with my children before they are too busy

to be with me. 

I'm thankful for this summer and all the sweet little memories we are making.

what are you doing this summer?

Do you have a favorite place to visit?

Do you have a favorite game to play as a family?

G.G.

Can you really get paid for doint that ? Podcoin, listening to podcast for a little extra cash.

So on Facebook every now and then you see ads saying download this app and get paid

to do something.  I have slowly been testing out some of these sites to see if you really 

can make money.  Well maybe not actual money but gift cards to Amazon.com.

Who doesn't want gift cards to Amazon?

One that I downloaded and use is Podcoin. I think eventually yes 

you can earn an Amazon gift card by using this app.  You will have to do a lot

of podcast listening to earn.  It is honest you do earn coin for your listening, but if

you like podcast then why not?  So I will be honest with you I had never listened to 

many podcast until this year. 

The first podcast that I started listening to was "Crime Junkies", basically because

my daughter listens to this podcast and she kind of got me hooked.  Then

I saw the Podcoin advertisement and thought why not earn a little for the listening that I do.

This led to me finding out that there are tons and tons of podcasts.

So for now here is my favorites list:

This doesn't even have "Crime Junkies", and I have

found a few new podcasts that I like to listen to. 

I'm hoping over the next few months to share with you the different podcasts I'm listening to

and why I like them. 

So can you earn gift cards by listening to podcasts? Yes.  I have been listening a little bit everyday

for about two months and I have earned a two dollar amazon gift card. Maybe by the time Christmas rolls around I will have a ten or twenty dollar gift card.  I'm not too worried as really I have just

found that I love listening to podcasts.

So do you have a favorite podcast that you listen to?

Let me know so I can check it out.

G.G.

Young Living Farms, flowers and horse what a delight.

The Young Living farm in Mona Utah has a small

but beautiful garden.  It also has lavender fields.  They produce

essential oils from the lavender. 

My husband and I took a trip down to the farm a 

few weeks ago because I wanted to see the lavender in bloom.

Here is some with a busy bee.

The gardens with a view of the mountains in the distance is very beautiful.

There is no charge to walk around the farm.

They also have 2 or 3 horse barns.  They show Percheron horses.

Last fall we went to their fall festival and it was a really fun event.

I look forward to going for the whole weekend this year.

When I was young I worked on a horse farm.

It was fun to see the mares and foals.

This is a Zebu cow.  I guess it is a type of mini cow. 

The question I have is why would you want a mini cow?

I guess I'll have to look that up.

I think the camel is losing his winter coat.  

I'm sorry but camels are weird looking.

I think you get a better understanding of how huge

these horses are when you see my husband next to one.

That is a big horse.

This little foal wanted to come home with me.

It followed me everywhere along the fence line.

If you want to can pay for a wagon ride. 

The horses are so beautiful. I forgot how much 

I used to love horses. Strange how life takes you

away from some passions and gives you new ones.

Do you have a favorite place to visit in Utah?

G.G.

Red Butte Garden Walk July.

My daughter and I went to the Red Butte gardens

to walk around and see what new flowers might be in bloom.

She pointed out this Quail in a Pine tree.

I don't think I've ever seen them up in a tree before.

I loved the purple flowers with the mountain in the distance.

Purple Cone Flowers.

Aaron's Beard.

Spiderwort. This is a pretty little plant.

I'm not sure what this tree is, but it just looks so fluffy and weird at

the same time.

I love their rose garden.

I love the shape of this roses petals.

Japanese Hydrangea Vine.

Clematis.

Honeysuckle.

Sacred Datura.

Fox Glove.

Nasturium.

Calendula.

I hope you enjoyed the flower photos. 

G.G.