Yes!!!

As a dear friend so aptly asserted in a comment here a little while ago, "Spring and wellness just go hand in hand"...which is precisely why this morning found us all outside, enjoying some fresh air and sunshine! It's such a gorgeous day, and we were all getting a little stir crazy after having spent most of our weekend indoors. Dylan and Caitlyn dug holes in their play area while Meghan watched from her high chair on the back porch, munching on fruit puffs and laughing at their antics. While they were so happily engaged in their own endeavors, I spent a while photographing some more of our beautiful backyard blooms. Every day brings something new to find and delight in!

I just couldn't be more pleased with how well our vegetable garden is coming along! Everything we planted seems to be thriving, and I'm astonished at how much growth we've seen in just two short weeks. The kohlrabi, sunflower, and carrot seeds we planted have become the cutest little sprouts...I feel so proud!

The onion and lettuce plants have perked up considerably and are, to me, beautiful.

And, I just have to say: I am completely astounded by the tiny heads of broccoli that are already beginning to form! I mean, how cool is this?!

This entire process has been just amazing to me. I wish we had started gardening years ago!

Our flower bed holds a vast amount of untold treasures at this time, too. So much has been planted in there since we moved in that we're never quite sure what will pop up where. It's always so exciting to see what else is blooming when we go out!

The Navajo Sage at the far edge of the bed is currently displaying a brilliant explosion of red.

There is plenty of Dianthus, a popular favorite of mine, scattered within...but I forget from year to year just how beautiful their hues can be!

And here is another of my sweet little "mystery flowers". I loved the white one I posted about a while back, and we've since discovered this lovely purple and a vibrant pink of the same variety.

Darren's native garden is home to some particularly lovely flowers right now, too. This pink Globemallow is actually one that we fought over on numerous occasions in the past, with my position being that since we didn't plant it and it obstructed so much of the actual garden, it should be pulled up and discarded. Darren insisted that it was just fine where it was (right smack dab in the center of the walking path) and that we should leave it alone. We reached a happy compromise a few weeks ago (after several seasons during which the thing more than tripled in size!) by simply modifying the walking path to include it as the foremost shrub in our desert garden--and I am so happy that this was one fight I never could win! Its delicate cupped flowers are so gorgeous; I would be truly remorseful to have been the cause of its demise.
And here are just a few more beautiful blooms adorning "the cactus patch", as we affectionately refer to our expanse of native southwestern cacti, shrubs, flowers, and trees:
Our morning concluded when Dylan decided, entirely on his own, to come inside and take his shoes off. He wanted to rest. The fever was back. And this time, he had company: Caitlyn, it seems, has decided to join him. Time to put into effect, I think, the sweet idea Celeste shared on her blog this past Saturday. (Thanks again, Celeste!)