LAKESIDE LAVENDER.

One day, waaay back in July, I was on my way out to the Ranch when I spotted the sign for Lakeside Lavender and their upcoming Lavender Festival. I have been driving past this lavender farm for YEARS and somehow never noticed it! I was simply delighted! Realizing that I was, unfortunately, scheduled to shoot a wedding the weekend of the festival, I quickly formed a plan! The next day I called the farm and explained to them that I wanted to shoot some photographs and asked if they would allow me access to their fields. Much to my surprise, they eagerly agreed! The next day I snuck out of work a bit early and met the Clarks of Lakeside Lavender. They were busy preparing the grounds for the upcoming festival but allowed me free reign of the farm! I quickly found myself waist deep in PURPLE BLISS! Before I photographed anything, I stopped to enjoy (and memorize) the sights, the sounds, the smells! If only I could have bottled them for a dreary winter day! When I went home that night, lavender simply oozed from me! My skin had readily absorbed the familiar fragrance of lavender as I moved about the fields. But more than that, a love of lavender had crept into my heart. One thing I know for certain--there are surely lavender fields in HEAVEN!

THE FARM

THE BARN

which i obviously thought was super cool!

THE LAVENDER :)

THE BEES!

which had the field positively humming!

THE HAPPY LADY!

and future lavender farmer! first crop already in the ground!

WILDFLOWER EXPEDITIONS.

At the beginning of JUNE (yeah, I am waaaay behind on my blogs) I spent the weekend in Cascade. The weather was absolutely crappy! It rained the entire weekend! However, that certainly didn't stop me from hunting wildflowers! Mom and Dad were such good sports (as always)! They helped spot flowers and were so patient with me! We really did spend the majority of the weekend driving around in the woods! I feel so blessed to have parents who are not only willing to indulge my passion but who are an absolute blast to spend hours upon hours with in the cab of a truck! I took hundreds and hundreds of pictures of flowers over the course of three days. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could write a wildflower identification book myself now! Although I pretty much photographed every flower I found, there was one particular flower I was in search of--the wild peony. We indeed found the peony, and a few others I was absolutely thrilled to find! However, those super cool flowers will have posts of their own! In the mean time, enjoy these beauties!

PINK

PURPLE/BLUE

RED

WHITE

YELLOW