The Smiths: All Things Bright And Beautiful

I love our backyard. It is so full of life. I know this probably isn't amazing to anyone else but after living in homes and apartments without yards for SO LONG, this ranch-girl heart of mine is happy to have a piece of nature that's all mine. Our yard has lots of trees (shade!) and bushes and a wide spread of soft perfect grass for playing on. It was all green when we first moved in and I loved it. But about a week later, to our surprise, everything bloomed and our once all-green yard suddenly blossomed with bursts of yellow, pink, purple, orange, white, and blue!

I love the ant. . .

Eliza loves all the flowers and picks them constantly.

I made her pose in front of this flowery bush on our way out the door to swimming lessons.

We have been enjoying the flowers inside and out.

There is also animal life to be seen in the backyard. Our neighbors have a bird feeder just above our backyard fence and we see the most amazing beautiful birds perched there. We saw an armadillo scuttle around the side yard and Brigham watched an opossum walk the length of our back fence one morning. There's also the neighborhood cats and the rabbit that makes his appearance every now and again.

This year we raised ladybugs. They came in the mail as larvae and we put them in this ladybug habitat (where they escaped and climbed all over the kitchen before I could catch them all). Eventually they grew, formed cocoons, hatched, and turned into ladybugs. They lived in their habitat (in our kitchen) for a while eating raisins and then we let them go (all twenty-four) in our backyard where they live to this day.

Brigham, in particular has enjoyed a backyard full of bugs, slugs, snails, worms, and butterflies. He catches something new and exciting everyday.

Nate loves the lizards. Ask him. They are everywhere. . . everywhere! and they change colors right before your eyes. The boys tried to rescue an injured baby lizard but it died and they had a funeral.