Wow, it's been awhile!!

I realize June is the last time I posted, terribly sorry! Since then, some things have changed : ) Such as, Derek and I are now expecting a little baby boy OR girl. I am 16 weeks/4 months along now and am living an extremely blessed pregnancy. I haven't had morning sickness, and any other little annoying symptom all but disappeared by 10 weeks. At the most dramatic I was EXHAUSTED to a point I've never known and was hungry every 3-4 hours for the longest. Now I'm just a little more un-motivated than I was pre-pregnancy and still hungry. I cannot possibly believe that we will be finding out the gender in 2 weeks!!! If you are wondering, we will be having a traditional baby shower here in Colorado Springs probably in January sometime. For my Michigan family and friends, don't dispair! We will be celebrating sometime probably in September with a "meet the baby" party : ) This picture of me was taken yesterday, a day before 16 weeks.

The big rose dilemma...

I have always loved roses... they are my all-time favorite flower, since I was a little girl. I dreamt about having my own home someday and having roses everywhere to fill the air with their sweet, deep scents. Since I am in my first home, I've purchased 2 different types of roses.

Grande Dame is a deeply saturated pink with dark green, somewhat glossy foliage. Intensely fragrant! It made a beautiful addition to my good friend's vow renewal bouquet. The other is "Memorial Day", a lavender-pink with an intoxicating scent which fills my kitchen!

My dad is about to send me a start of a pink climbing rose which he acquired from his grandmother's original bush. It will be put at the corner of my gardening shed and presumably will take it over - a very nice image in my head! My rose bushes are on the side of the shed so I've deemed that my "pink rose garden".

The dilemma is this. For our 5th wedding anniversary, my parents sent us a voucher to choose a rose bush from the awesome David Austin collection. He is a hybridizer of roses in the UK, primarily English Roses. They are intensely fragrant, mostly all are re-bloomers and all are unique and gorgeous. I've narrowed it down to a few choices. They are posted below : )

This beauty is "Crown Princess Margareta" - apricot/orange in color, strong/fruity fragrance. 

This guy is "Abraham Darby" - Apricot & yellow with a rich/fruity fragrance.

"Flastaff" - Rich, dark crimson, developing rich purple tones. Strong old rose fragrance! 

And this ethereal rose is "A Shropshire Lad" - Soft peachy pink with a strong, delicious, fruity tea rose fragrance.

My friends.... my dilemma! WHICH DO I CHOOSE?!?! Derek has said he will construct an arch for it and we have the perfect place. Now I just need the PERFECT ROSE : )

(I should disclaim and say that I'd like to steer away from pink since I already have my pink roses in affect. Mr. Darby and Shropshire are ahhhh-mazing though!)

Tryin' this thing out... take 2!

I'm a little familiar with blogspot, as several years ago I had one for a while. But, I had hardly any followers and ended up just shutting it down. As more and more of my friends blog regularly from different parts of the world, I find the need for one has increased! So, I'm giving it another go. Welcome, to my life! As I know it.