Spring has Sprung...and Pollen is in the Air

I love Spring so much because everything looks soooo beautiful!  As I was out in the backyard playing with the pups I noticed that the trees we planted in the fall, when we first moved in, are starting to bud and bloom!  I was so excited!  I thought that I should take a picture of Willow with the trees (I tried both dogs, but Harley wouldn't pose for me or stay still long enough) each year so I can see how much they are growing.

Here is Willow with the Purple Leaf Plum Tree.  This is the tree Joe and I purchased together as a memento for purchasing our first home together.  I love the little white flowers that are all over it, and it smells AMAZING! (I did kind of get a picture of both of them with the PLP, but Harley just won't pose pretty like my chocolate horse will :)

My other tree, which we planted at the same time, kind of has a background story.  My maternal grandmother had this type of tree in her front yard while we were kids growing up.  It was the most beautiful tree and her favorite.  My mother took a branch off that particular tree when her and my father bought the house that my brother and I grew up in.  She managed to make that little branch grow into an amazingly beautiful tree that enveloped our entire front yard growing up.  I remember each spring when the tree filled with huge pink flowers, and when the flowers fell to make room for the leaves, they would cover our yard making it look like pink snow.  I always remembered how beautiful that tree was!  When my paternal grandparents moved to Gainesville, they took a branch off of my mother's tree and planted it.  It is a huge beautiful center-piece in their front yard now.  Sooooo, when Joe and I bought our house my paternal Grandmother wanted to buy that same tree for Joe and I to plant in our big back yard.  (She had to buy an established tree because I kill everything and wouldn't be able to root a branch off of her tree :).  It is just a tiny little tree now, but it is full of buds and I can't wait to see it grow and bloom!

This tree is called a Kwanzan Cherry Tree and will look something like this when it gets full grown.  Beautiful...I know...I told you! ;0)

I even got a picture of our one little deformed strawberry.   We are trying to grow strawberries, but Willow ate the first one, and we are not really sure how big we are supposed to let them get before picking them.  The last one was so small but it began to get soft, so we went ahead and picked it...but it wasn't even a bite worth.  Oh well, we will keep trying and hopefully I can post pictures of some big beautiful strawberries later in the summer.

Plus one more picture of my sweet chocolate horse...of course :0).  She just always poses so nicely for me and takes the most awesome pictures.  She is such a good dog and definitely a mommy's girl.