I thought since I was doing so much with these wonderful plants I would give them their own space. If you were following this blog to get my updates about succulents, I would love for you to start following the new site!

As part of Succulents and Sunshine, I would love your input on what you would like to see more posts about. I have a few posts coming up, but I would love to hear what you would like me to share. Feel free to send me an email (info@succulentsandsunshine.com) or leave a comment on one of my posts there.

I hope you’ll find the new site to be useful and fun!

I bought a small pot from this vendor at the Harvest Market. I loved all of the textures and colors he used with his pots. I had a hard time picking which one I wanted but in the end I was happy with the one I got. I realized that I didn’t take a picture of it… so when I plant my succulents in it I’ll be sure to mention it!

Brianna was so excited they had an owl there and wanted to get her picture taken with it. I thought it was pretty awesome that it decided to open it’s wings for the picture :)

The previous three images were all taken on the chair lift ride. The views were seriously incredible. I was not equipped to properly capture the beauty, but even if I were… I’m not sure it really would have done it justice.

We had quite the crew on the hike! I think there were 15 people total.

I think the view from far away is much prettier than the view up close. When you are at the falls you can’t see the upper falls very well so you don’t quite get as much of the majesty of it.

Isn’t this backpack alternative awesome? You don’t have the extra weight of the backpack and the child is able to move a little better. I thought it was such a great idea!

We thought this log was pretty cool. We were trying to decide what it looked like. I think from here it looks like a snake or dragon.

All the Linebaugh Boys :)

Grandpa made sure he photographed everything so he could show Grandma everything we saw since she couldn’t come.

I love that little boys can be entertained for a long time by throwing rocks into the water. And the rocks get bigger and bigger each time.

Brianna found this awesome caterpillar. Everyone thought it was poisonous and so they were a little hesitant to touch it.

The boys were also on the lookout for the prettiest leaves as well as the leaves with a perfect shape. There were a lot of pretty leaves so they ended up with quite a collection!

I love how the leaves look on the ground! It makes the path seem more magical.

So, I really know nothing about rowing, but it was great to watch them. Also, along the banks there were a bunch of tents set up with different vendors. We quite enjoyed visiting each of them and the free food most people were offering. It was quite fun! So, if you happen to be in Boston in October you should go!

I loved all these steeples. There were three visible from the river and very lovely.

My hair was a little crazy in the wind :)

We were hoping to make it there in time to tour the house, as we’ve heard the inside is amazing. But, unfortunately we arrived too late. We had a really great time walking around the grounds though. The wooded areas were fun to walk through and explore and it was great to see all the leaves changing colors. We’ve decided we would love to have 20 acres of land to do whatever we want with :).

We didn’t really learn much about the house or the grounds since we didn’t do a tour, but if you want to find out more about it you can visit their website!

So, on my way home from Mount Auburn Cemetery I decided to stop in. I had looked at their website the night before and thought it might be fun to take a class from them. It didn’t give a lot of detail so I asked the lady there more about them. We had a nice chat and she recommended a class or two. She also said if I wanted to sign up for their newsletter I could get a free flower. I thought it would be a lot of fun to get a flower from them so I did!

I’m not usually a huge fan of roses, but she pointed this one out to me and I decided that was the one! Also, Evelyn’s favorite flower is a pink rose so I thought she would like it too. I took it home and had a fun time photographing it. I love the difference in color between the inside and outside of the petals. Both the pinks and the oranges are so pretty!

I’m thinking I will take a class from them, most likely one in October. I’m excited to see how it goes!

Mount Auburn Cemetery is both a burial place and a garden. There are still plots available so they do have funerals in the church there from time to time. It is also a beautiful place to walk around and just enjoy the beauty of nature. There is a large pond in one area of the cemetery as well as lots of trees, hills, and flowers.

At the top of the main road is a beautiful church where funerals are held. You can also go to the top of the Washington Tower which has a great view of the surrounding cities. There is so much to see and explore here. Also, many notable people are buried here including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow! (in case you missed it, I did a post yesterday about my tour of the Longfellow House)

While Mount Auburn Cemetery is pretty in the summer with all the greenery, I’m excited to go back in a few weeks when the leaves are starting to change. I’ll be sure to post pictures of the cemetery then as well!

I forgot to mention earlier, but one of my favorite things about Mount Auburn Cemetery is the signs that indicate all the little paths between the headstones. The paths themselves have really fun names but they also look pretty too!

The Longfellow House played two significant roles in it’s history. The first is it was George Washington’s Headquarters in the Revolutionary War. The second is that it was the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his family. The interesting thing about the tour is they talk about the house before George Washington showed up, while George Washington was there, and while Longfellow lived in it. So, in almost every room you get three different stories. Our tour guide was fantastic and had answers to all of our questions. There were only two other people on the tour with us (we went right when it opened and it was a weekday) so she gave us a more detailed tour (because we were interested).

I wasn’t able to get very many good pictures of the inside because they were having some power issues and it was rainy outside, thus, not much natural or artificial light to work with. However, I will say that the interior of the house was incredible! The furniture was very ornate and had really intricate wood carving. Some of the wood on the armoires and book cases were unbelievable. It was really a treat to be able to take our time and look at all the amazing pieces of furniture as well as the architectural details built into the home.

If you are in Cambridge this is a must see! It is an amazing house with a lot of really interesting history!

I didn’t take a ride around the lake on the swan boat, although now I’m thinking I should have. I think is is $2 for adults and $1 for kids or something close to that. So its a reasonably priced activity and you ride around the perimeter of the lake and learn a little more about Boston Public Garden. The garden has a lot of beautiful flowers in very manicured beds. This is actually Boston’s first public botanical garden.

While I was here, I stopped in the shade and did a little bit of watercoloring. I can’t remember if I mentioned this before, but I’ve taken up watercolor while I’m in Boston. So, if you would like a watercolor postcard from me just send me an email with your address! I’ll probably be sending some out around the beginning of October (my first few paintings weren’t so great although I’m getting much better!).

This is a really great place for a nice stroll through the park. It is really pretty and most of the paths are shady. While I was there I saw a lot of parents (or nanny’s) with kids feeding the ducks and running around. There were also a lot of business people taking a lunch break, walking as they ate. So, whoever you are Boston Public Garden is a great place to go!

I have to say, while cupcakes are good, they are not my favorite form of chocolate or sugar. That said, these were pretty good cupcakes. The two I got both had ganache on top rather than frosting (since ganache is way better than any chocolate frosting I’ve had) and that was a good choice. The ganache was really good and added a lot of moisture and gooeyness to the cupcakes. The ganach makes the cupcakes not quite as picturesque as the kinds with frosting, but nonetheless I felt compelled to photograph them!

One thing about the Georgetown Cupcake store, at least the Newbury Street location, is that it has very little seating. I guess a lot of people get cupcakes to go, but if you did want to make a date out of it you should consider going somewhere else to eat. It could also get crowded really easily as the setup for the line and waiting area is a little bit funky. I’m not sure if other stores are this way, but it was a little difficult to see if there was a line to buy or if people were just waiting to get their cupcakes. The inside of the store is really cute and has a very clean style. Also, the pink is actually very bright and happy which makes the store seem fresh and clean.

There are a wide variety of shops on Newbury Street, from clothes to health and beauty products to cupcakes. Now that I think about it, they do have a sort of feminine tie… I had a lot of fun admiring all the pretty dishes and fabrics in Anthropologie and shopping for clothes at H&M. I didn’t end up getting anything, but there was a lot of eye candy!

Perhaps the best part of my walk down Newbury Street though was taking my time and admiring all the architecture. There were some nice additions to  my collection of Boston Buildings. Two of my favorite things that I saw along my walk were flowers on the porches and the pretty teal color of aged copper. There were flowers on almost every porch and there was a lot of aged copper. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful warm day. The combination of everything made for a very pleasant walk!

This store had a huge glass window front full of old sewing machines. Because of the reflections it was hard to see in a picture of the whole building, thus the close up, but it was really cool to see!

I thought the front of this cupcake shop was really cute. I actually had cupcakes from Georetown Cupcakes which was down the street a little way, but I’ll have photos of those another day.

Can I just say that I love rooftop gardens? I don’t know that I would necessarily like living on the top floor of a building but I would really like to have a rooftop garden!

The Brimfield Antique Show happens three times a year (May, July, and September) and we were fortunate enough to be in the Boston area at the right time. Fortunately (and unfortunately) Kevin didn’t have much to do the first week we were here while he was waiting to get access to various things at BU and BYU. So, it worked out that we were able to take a full day and go to the show. We are about an hour and a half from Brimfield which means we needed to drive. Laura was interested so we packed up a bunch of snacks for the girls and made the trip out there. It was definitely worth the drive!

I was overwhelmed by all the amazing treasures for sale. There was even a shop that had succulents in antique cups and pots! Somehow I forgot to take a picture of it though… Anyway, I could have spent a couple days there. Anything antique you’d ever was there. It was wonderful! I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I figured I’d end up getting something.

I’ve always thought it would be fun to have a vintage suitcase but never found one for the right price. There were lots of suitcases here! I ended up buying a really cute blue one with periwinkle interior. The best part? it was only $10! I also got a flower frog. I wanted a little more intricate one, but they were much more than I wanted to pay. The one I got though was also $10 and I really like how I look. I’m hoping to buy some succulent cuttings when I get back to plant in it. I’m sure you are shocked right?

I took more pictures of some of the things I was tempted by, but in the end I had to make sure I’d be able to get it home on the plane, otherwise it would have cost me a great deal more in the end. This is something I would love to come back to for sure! I’ve never been to anything quite like it!

Miriam loved this little chair and didn’t want to leave it!

I forgot to tell you about my favorite part… the Apple Cider Donuts! I’m sure I was pretty hungry but these were so delicious! I ate two and could have had more. It was the most satisfying things for my tastebuds and such a great way to celebrate the coming of fall. Laura tells me there is an apple farm we can go to and have more donuts and apple cider. That I can’t wait for!

This collection of photos come from my walk to the bus stops nearby. I’m planning on taking a day soon and just walking for a couple miles down some roads nearby. It seems like every road I’ve taken the bus on or we’ve driven through has such amazing houses that I wished I could have photographed. Hopefully I can remember where they all are. If not, I’m sure I’ll still be able to find some beauties!

One of the things I love about these houses is that so many of them have flags hanging by their front doors. Everyone seems to be much more outwardly patriotic. Plus the flag just looks great with these greyish/bluish houses!

Aren’t these mailboxes cute? They caught my eye when we walked by and I just couldn’t resist taking a picture of them!

This blue color with the white diamond window is one of my favorite combinations! I absolutely love it!

(This one just made me laugh! These kids looks so young!)

I will most likely be posting a lot of pictures of buildings and houses I come across. They won’t necessarily be places that everyone would want to visit so I’ve created a new section called Boston Buildings. The buildings may not only be in Boston proper but they’ll be from the surrounding areas as well. If you want to look at either the Boston Buildings section or the Things to See in Boston section specifically, just take a look at the “Categories” section on the side bar of the blog or at the bottom of the page.

Today’s Thing to See in Boston is Walden Pond. If you don’t already know, Henry David Thoreau lived at Walden Pond for part of his life. He wrote about the pond and it inspired much of his writing. I’m not an expert on it’s history, but you can follow this link to find out more about Walden Pond.

What I wanted to show you are some photos from my walk around the pond. One thing I should have taken pictures of but didn’t is the beach front. Walden Pond is a great place for kids to swim and enjoy the beach. If you are interested in doing a long swim this is a great place as well! The water is surprisingly warm (even in September) and the water doesn’t get deep very quickly. The scenery is beautiful and kids will absolutely love playing there. They have a lifeguard but only some of the time.

My favorite thing to do is to take the path around the pond. There is so much greenery to see including mushrooms, fungi, lichen and other amazing plants in a variety of colors and textures. Last year I saw some really amazing mushrooms. While I saw a few this year they weren’t as amazing as I remember but I’m hoping to find more on another trip out there.

While walking around I saw this lady building this interesting sculpture out of rocks in the lake. The picture isn’t great because I took it quickly, but I loved how it looked! My guess is that she swims to this point on the lake everyday (or every few days) and adds a couple rocks to the stacks each time. This part of the lake isn’t accesible from the walking trail so I’m guessing it stays undisturbed most of the time. Such a cool idea!

Ruffle Wedding Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Delphinium Wedding Cake

Coconut Cupcakes

The workshop was at the Old Faithful Inn. So we picked up equipment and then walked around Old Faithful. I used a Canon 5D-Mark II with a couple different lenses. My favorite lens that I used was the 24mm tilt-shift lens. I don’t think I perfected the use of it, but it was so much fun to try! Here are some shots from the workshop!

The last two shots were by our friend Seth. It was crazy to see this osprey carrying a fish right over our heads! I loved all the amazing colors from the hot spots. I’ll have some more images from the rest of our adventure tomorrow!

We got to photograph this cake at the bride’s reception at The Bungalow. Some of you may know this place has a special place in my heart for several reasons. First, it is where I had my wedding reception! Also, my parent’s reception was there, my mom worked there in high school and her Aunt owns it! If you are looking for a wedding venue definitely take a look! They are so great to work with and the place is beautiful! The perfect place for a wedding! (and a great spot to photograph a beautiful wedding cake :))

Included in the picture below is a loaf of the Wildtree Flaxseed Beer Bread. It has a unique sweet flavor and goes very well with the Wildly Blueberry Jam! A great mid-day snack!

If you’d like to purchase either of these or any other Wildtree products just send me and email and I’ll get your order in!

I don’t want this to be a super lengthy review but I do want to tell you what I thought. First of all, I also read Creative, Inc. by the same authors when it came out and really enjoyed it too. The thing I liked about Mom, Inc is that it talked a lot about running a business from home. It covers things from myths about being a “Mom Entrepreneur” to whether or not you think you’ll need daycare to techincal information about blogging and online shops. Both of the authors are moms and business owners and it is clear from the way they write that they are writing from experience. I also found this to be true in Creative, Inc. as well.

Even though I’m not a mom I found the information very useful for someone who just wants to work from home. I still have a family (myself and my husband) to take care of and we have obilgations to work around and I feel like the information applies well to anyone who is family focused in their work. It also talks about going into business with your husband and family and that part was enlightening as well as they shared the ups and downs of working with family. The examples given in the book are really useful. They interview various mom business owners and ask them about how they run their business and balance their work and family time.

There are chapters in the book dedicated to specific types of at home businesses (blogging, service, product). If you are trying to decide what you want to do for your business this is a great help because they are pretty specific about what is involved with each type of business. If you already have one of these types of businesses set up they offer advice on what you can do to make your business stronger too. The book has several resources that I found to be quite helpful and even list specific companies you can look at to help your business succeed.

Overall I think the book was a very helpful guide for deciding if you would like to actually be a mom entrepreneur and a helpful guide if you are already a mom entrepreneur and want to improve your business. This is all my personal opinion and I’m writing this because a friend asked me what I thought of the book. So I thought, why not share it on my blog! I’d love to know what you thought of the book if you’ve read it!

photo from Chronicle Books website

Beekeeping is something that I would love to do. The only problem is you have to have your own space to do it. Considering Kevin and I are currently living with my parents and have no idea where we will end up in the next year, it really isn’t something I can do. One of these days though I’ll have a lovely little bee hive and tons of happy bees making delicious honey! Doesn’t it just seem like so much fun?

Music “Arabesque No. 1″ by Claude Debussy played by Natalie Pratt

These are of Kevin from last year’s festivities. I also filmed a little bit of our sparklers. Nothing too exciting, but they are pretty!

(music from the beginning of “America” by Niel Diamond)

This is the door into the playroom:

The awesome ship built into the room:

This is underneath the ship is a crawl space:

The Lost Boys’ Room

The entryway into the whole room and windows looking into the Darling Family Nursery:

For dessert my sister made angel food cake (which we always have for my mom’s birthday). She even made it from scratch! It was also very tasty.

My dad recently added a gas flame to our fire pit and moved it into the gazebo. We sat out there for a while that night and enjoyed the warmth while the sun went down. We all decided it was a great addition to the back yard!

This is the gate up to the pasture. The pink clematis looks so pretty climbing up the arbor around the gate! It’ll be awesome once it has grown completely over so there will be a wall of pink in the summer.

My Grandpa found this water pump from the 1930′s while they were in St. George. Isn’t it awesome! It looks great up by the barn, especially by the red door! The lighting was beautiful that night!

Over the years my grandpa has collected quite a few old farm trinkets. Most of them now have a home on the side of the barn. It is such a fun collection! I’m thinking I’ll have to take some more images of the Ranch to show you. It really is such a fun place to explore and play!

For the recipe I used my Grandma’s awesome pizza dough recipe and made up the rest, though it wasn’t anything crazy. Although I should warn you that salt in the pizza dough is a crucial ingredient so don’t forget to put it in. Fortunately, it still tasted good, just needed a little salt added on top in the end. So, if you want to try your hand ad the best homemade pizza ever here is the recipe!

Pizza Dough

• 1 TBSP yeast
• 1 C warm water
• 2 C flour
• 1 tsp salt (remember to add this :)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle yeast in warm water to dissolve and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the flour and salt. If you don’t use a pizza stone you’ll need to grease the pan or add some corn meal. I highly recommend using a pizza stone!

The Rest of the Pizza

• 1/3 C Wildtree Basil Pesto
• 1/4 C warm water
• 1/2 C Wildtree Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil (or other grapeseed oil of your choice)
• 4 chicken tenders (about 1 lb)
• 1 tsp Wildtree Garlic and Herb Blend
• 1 TBSP Wildtree Natural Butter Flavored Grapeseed Oil
• 2 C Mozzarella cheese (fresh mozz would be awesome!)
• 1/2 C Parmesan cheese

Make the Wildtree Basil Pesto according to package directions (with water and garlic grapeseed oil). In a frying pan add chicken tenders, butter grapeseed oil and the garlic and herb blend. Fry chicken until browned and the juices run clear. Remove chicken from the frying pan and cut into small pieces (you could also shred it). Spread pesto evenly on the pizza dough. Sprinkle the chicken evenly on top of the pizza. Add the mozzarella cheese and then top with the parmesan. If you are using a pizza stone bake for 10 minutes until cheese is just starting to brown. If you are not using a pizza stone you’ll need to cook the pizza for 15 minutes, again until the cheese is just starting to brown.

Remove from the oven, wait for it to cool (this will be the hardest part) and then slice and enjoy!

I was thinking of a few ways to make the pizza even better, which would be a little difficult to do… But it would be awesome with pine nuts and fresh tomatoes on top as well. Something to try the next time around! If you want to give this a try and would like to purchase the Wildtree products just let me know!

I almost forgot! Because there are so many people who show up we park in the pasture so people can still drive through the driveway.

Here is my collection of items to spray paint:

The fences before the spray paint:

Fences after spray paint:

Kevin wanted me to include this picture he took of my foot…

Here I am spray painting away!

Tomorrow I’ll be posting some final images of the cans and the fences in my completed window well garden!

• Strawberry Sauce
• Fresh Strawberries
• Caramel Syrup
• Chocolate Syrup
• Crumbled Snickers

While it did end up being a fair amount of work to do the dinner, overall it was really fun! Plus, how can you go wrong with a $15 dinner for two that tastes like it came from a $50 restaurant?

A few tips on dipping strawberries:

• Wash the strawberries the night before you use them so they have plenty of time to dry. Water and chocolate don’t mix so wet strawberries will not dip well.
• Use a high quality dipping chocolate for the best results. Our local grocery store, Macey’s, sells blocks of chocolate for a really good price. It heats up well and is very smooth.
• Don’t refrigerate the berries when you are done! Again, chocolate and water don’t mix. If you refrigerate the berries they will start to “sweat” which will cause the chocolate to pull away from the berry. It just doesn’t look pretty!