Some simple things that make me happy.

They say that "things" don't make you happy. I beg to differ. So today I walked around my house taking pictures of some of the simple things that make me really happy.

Of course I'll start with thing 1 and thing 2


And almost always, without fail, this thing makes me really happy.


Our porch swing that I always sit on with at least one of my 5 boys.

My house. I love almost everything about it. We custom built this house and it fits my needs almost perfectly. I have a love/hate relationship with my wood floors. The only two things I love about it: that it is soft enough to not give concussions and broken teeth when little boys fall on it, and it is very beautiful for about 5 minutes after I clean it. I hate everything else about my wood floor. Other than that though, Dave was very smart in thinking through every last detail of it, and it is remarkably functional. Thanks Dave for building me such an awesome house! Oh yeah, and it isn't crooked in real life. Those are just my wicked photography skills.

Also notice the perfectly thick, green, lush grass in the front yard. Our backyard needs some recovering from last year's neglect, but the front is great. And the awesome landscaping, done by me. It's taken me a long time, but it is only about 2 years from being exactly where I want it to be :).


I must mention my plants. If you think you know me, and you didn't know that I have a ridiculously uncontrollable, overflowing, unruly maternal instinct, then you didn't really know me did you? I satiate this instinct by having loads of babies, and obsessing over my plants. Every morning I walk all around my yard to see how things have grown, I can tell you every change with every single plant in my yard. Yes, it's weird. But it makes me SO happy!

My dirt perennial garden which consists of burning bushes, shasta daisies, chives, oregano, jonny jump-ups, barberry, peonies, dahlias, lilies, daylilies, white dragonflowers, crimson coral bells, carnations (which haven't flowered yet, so I'm still a little unsure about them), hostas, hmm anything else? I can't remember. But I do LOVE my flower garden.

My weeping Cherry tree. It blossoms with millions of white flowers in the spring and just looks cute the rest of the year.


My fruit trees in the back- plum and apple. The other two fruit trees don't make me very happy. grrr. But these two are doing great.

My Honeysuckle that climbs up the lamp post. Isn't it cute?


My hydrangea that my neighbor compliments me on every year. She always makes me feel good for being able to keep it alive.


My weeping red rose tree. I think I need to cut off that long branch a little bit. But it is about to burst out with red beautifulness. I think I made up that word.


My only really flowering Peonies. They are going to be really beautiful in a few days. And notice those huge Hollyhocks in the back. I think I'll like those, at least I hope.


Our bistro set on our front porch. It definitely makes me happy.


Our first year with our Bing Cherry tree. I LOVE cherries, and I can't wait until this tree gets a little bit bigger so we can have tons of cherries. Right now we only have about 50 cherries on it, but not terrible for the first year.


So in a five minute walk around my house I found a lot of "things" that make me happy. I'll have to post more pictures in a few weeks when my plants start getting some colors.