so far we've done a lot of

biking


walking


jumping


baking


eating


reading


and enjoying the fruits of someone else's labor (my father-in-laws beautiful greenhouse)

a fortune

fortune: you find beauty in ordinary things. do not lose this ability
(click on fortune to see photo of actual fortune)

I have never had a fortune feel like it was written solely for me until this fortune. I pulled it out of a cookie the night my friend Amy took me for sushi for my birthday. It was one of those reaffirming ah-ha moments where I realized finding beauty out of the ordinary is what I love to do. Watching life unfold around me and capturing those moments is the driving force behind my photography. The best part is, with my family, I will never run out of things to document.



case in point:
A few weeks ago I found Bella reading to Megan after school. It was her way of spending time with Megan and getting her reading done at the same time--so she says. I, for one, am grateful I heard mumbling down the hall and stumbled upon this scene. I know when they're older and Bella is busy with friends Megan will love having proof that Bella spent time with her. And of course the umbrella just makes it that much sweeter for me. The funny thing is I can totally see us talking about this photo in twenty years and Megan asking what she was doing with an umbrella. I'd like to think she was staging the scene, that she knew I would be coming with my camera, but using it so randomly is just Megan's way--a little bit quirky, a little bit loud.

I'm so grateful life is chock-full of stories like these to tell.

you find beauty in ordinary things. do not lose this ability
i pray i never will.

cultivating gratitude

Although I'm not grateful Megan woke up sick today with a fever, I am grateful it has slowed us down and given us all some time to just relax and enjoy the lazy side to summer. It's got me thinking, how come we haven't had more days like this?

I am grateful to have spoken with an old friend this morning, to know that time and distance hasn't changed a thing. We so quickly picked up where we left off...

I am grateful for the desire to get up at 6am each morning so I can enjoy the sunrise.

I am grateful for a washer/dryer that makes cleaning less of a chore each week.

I am grateful to hear creativity coming from the basement. Bella's on the piano continuing to compose her song titled "rain storm" while Tess sits next to her and attempts to write the music out on her own handmade music sheets.

I am grateful it's 5:30p and that Adam will be coming home any minute to spend the night together.

I am grateful for a husband who loves his daughters and isn't the least bit let down that he doesn't have a son to take on the fathers and sons camp out this weekend.


I am grateful for bakeries that satisfy my chocolate cravings.

I am grateful the clouds are rolling in, hopefully for another summer rain storm.

thoughts on a friday afternoon

I'm in my studio deep in thought, watching the birds outside my window ravaging my cherry tree like it's purpose of bearing fruit was for them. Now I understand why one day I look out and see delicious cherries growing on the tree and the next day they're gone. Even though I wish there were some cherries left for me I do love to see the workings of mother nature.

Mother nature did a number on me yesterday and helped keep me in bed feeling lazy. I can't blame her completely, I wanted it, I really did and I could take it because my girls were at Jill's house so I had all morning for me. I started reading Eat Love Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert, thanks to my friend Amy who suggested it and lent me her book. I'm enjoying it so much the hours in the morning got a way from me and before I knew it, it was lunch time. I'm a bit mad at myself for deciding years ago that this book was not for me. I'm not sure what I was thinking, I suppose I listened to the wrong reviews, but I was never interested in this woman and her stories from her travels around the world. Perhaps I wasn't ready years ago, but I'm ready now.

Her words speak to me and NOT because I want to change my life the way she did or run out and find answers in other lands, but because she figured out what she wanted and didn't let anything stand in her way to get it. (Please don't get me wrong when I say that, I don't agree with all she did, leaving her "good life", being so self destructive, and having it be all about her. I don't think you ever truly find happiness by being selfish. With that said, I can't judge her for the decisions she made and the place she was in when she made them. So when I said, she figured out what she wanted and didn't let anything get in her way I'm referring to when she made the list of things she wanted and moved on from there.)

Anyway, I've been thinking about that lately, what I want. And not in the grand scheme of things, I know that, but in the small day to day activities/experiences that will help me become the woman I want to be and take me where I want to go. For instance, reading more biographies, volunteering at my girls school, going to the temple several times a month, learning Spanish, going back to school and learning design, taking a lighthouse tour on the east coast, etc.. For a long time I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted, but now I have a clearer understanding. So I know the what, it's the how that seems to almost be the bigger question and a very easy road block to put the blame on because if I know one thing, it's knowing doesn't make it any easier.

When we know, why do we hold back? I think because changing is uncomfortable. It's safer where we are and frankly we know what to expect. It takes a lot to evaluate your life and have the courage to take a leap of faith and do what almost doesn't feel natural. It's always worth it though. Whenever I find myself on the far side (operative word) of change, I'm always grateful I made the difficult choice and pushed through to the other side because the blessings are far greater than if I had stayed (so easy to say when you are not going through it).

After all, we are meant to change, we are meant to move.

**Have you made a list of things you want?
**Have you made a bucket list? (i still need to sit down and do this)


Now for a harder question...what's for lunch?

Enjoy your weekend.
xoxo

Happy Birthday Jill!

no regret | story people

I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my children & I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long. - Story People

30 minute thoughts

I've been thinking about my new years resolutions this week and seriously considering adding giving up sugar to the list. I believe it's the cause of my headaches and it definitely slows me down in the afternoon. I guess I just need to see if it makes a difference when it's absent from my diet. I'm not going to rule it out completely, I'm fine with dessert or foods with some sugar in it, I'm mainly thinking of candy and all the sugary snacks that have been around lately. Have you ever tried to give up a food? I'm scared.

I'm celebrating the fact that I'm done making/buying Christmas gifts. Ok, I do actually have one more to get, but then all that's left is the wrapping...that is if I can find all the gifts. I put them in so many random places I forget where and just when I think I've wrapped them all I'll remember another. I need a better system.

I'm feeling peaceful. After my anxious week last week it's such a welcome gift.



I'm reading when I shouldn't be. Despite our busy schedule these days we've managed to fit in visits to the library. I've been on such a reading kick these days, such a bad time to start that too, all because of Hunger Games. I had it on hold at the Library and it finally came in so even though it's December and I have a list a mile long of things I need to do I'm finding as much time as I can to read. I guess that's what the wee hours of the night are for. I really love being in that place where you have a good book going and then another and then another and then another. It's crazy, I haven't turned on my TV the entire month.

I'm rescheduling my CT scan to find out what this lump is on my neck. It was suppose to be today, but after registering with the hospital yesterday and finding out it was going to be $800 I canceled it. I considered not doing it at all ($800, that sucks), but I have to find out what this is. So, after all was said and done, I figured if I'm going to use my deductible I should use it in January and not December. At least then if I have to get something else done the insurance can take care of it.

I'm looking forward to crafting my way into the new decade. I received, Martha Stewart Encyclopieda of Crafts last night at our annual bookclub book exchange (Ann brought it). It's crazy what a project funk I was in this year, I don't know what happened. I really want to push myself this next year to do more in my studio. I've missed it.

I'm listening to the quiet and gearing up for it to start getting noisy.

reality

I was reading in bed yesterday afternoon and slowly, so slowly where you think your still in it and you tell yourself your still reading, but your eyes are closing, drifted off to sleep. I believe I was out for only a few minutes when Tess came in the room with her book and started reading with me. I liked having her there. That peace didn't last very long before Megan showed up with her paper airplane asking all kinds of questions and talking non-stop. She even danced around a bit on the bed while singing and I thought, this is my life. As I laid there jostling about because of her jumping I reminded myself how easy it will be to drift off to sleep when they're gone and how much I would miss the interruption.

I love where we are now.

tell me a story

Lately the girls have been asking questions about when they were little. You know, question like, "Tell me what I was like when I was little?" Once Adam or I finished telling one of them a story someone else would chime in wanting to hear stories about them. They laugh and laugh with and at each other at the stuff they use to do. With so many inquiries from them and not wanting to disappoint, I started looking through photos as a way to jog my memory. I don't know what it is about taking pictures, but I can remember exactly where I was and the circumstances of when I took it (too bad I don't remember the date).


[I took this with my first ever digital camera I got for Christmas in 2001. Oh my if you could see this old Sony camera now. I don't even know what happened to it. The photos were 640x480 pixels 72dpi (super small printing 1.5"x2") and it wrote the pictures onto a 3.5" floppy disc. It's crazy to think of now, but I loved having it.]

When I saw this photo of Bella and Tess I was immediately reminded of what we used to do during the day. Bella was a very calm little girl (luckily, because she was not a calm baby) and she was always satisfied by sitting and reading with me. It worked out marvelously when Tess came along because, as you can imagine, I was sitting a lot with a newborn. So Bella and I would read, and we wouldn't just read anything, we read No Matter What by Debi Gliori. It was one of her favorite books at the time so we read it over and over again. Now, if you know Bella then it's no surprise she had the book memorized after the third time through (she is still like that) and there was absolutely no way I could skip a part or miss a page. So after Tess was feed and happy Bella would sit next to her on my bed and read to her.

After remember and sharing this story with my girls I thought, I really should buy this book again (after so many times through it got ruined). A few weeks went by and I sort of forgot about it until I was at the library yesterday with Megan. It just occurred to me to look for the book and I was lucky enough to find a copy. So I brought it home to surprise my girls. When I originally told the story to Bella she didn't remember the book, but when she saw it again it brought back all her memories (of the story, not of reading it to Tess).



So this morning when I woke up, later than usual, I found the three of them cozy on the chair listening while Bella read them the story. It was a sweet sight for me to see and one I always hoped I would find since 2002 when I watched Bella reading to her sister for the very first time.

she reads

Megan has, for the last few weeks or so, been wanting to read. She is a lot like Bella where she's the one pushing to want to do it. Each time she comes up with an idea like this on her own I think, how could i have been so blind. I guess to me she is still just a little girl who couldn't possibly be old enough to read. At some point I'm going to have to realize she's growing up. My baby isn't a baby any more.

So last week we went to the library and got her a bunch of books recommended by Tess' reading teacher. They are the perfect beginner books and wish I had bought them years ago for Bella and Tess to enjoy. She is actually doing a fabulous job. Much better than I initially thought she would. I hope this will be the first of many hours with her nose in a book.

she loves luke

Tess got the Star Wars lego game for Christmas and plays it whenever I give the ok, well her and Bella. The game plays a lot like the movie so Adam suggested they watch Star Wars one night last week while I was away. The girls loved it, except megan, and the next morning Tess woke up and said, "mom Luke is so handsome." When I finally realized what she was talking about I started laughing (not in front of her) about how sweet she sounded.

So today when we went to the Library and she found a Star Wars book with Luke on the cover I wasn't surprised she wanted to check it out. As soon as we got in the car I turned around to make sure they had their seat belts on and noticed her doing this...


My cell phone camera saved me and I was able to capture her. I love that she likes Star Wars and that she thinks Luke is Handsome.

self proclaimed reader

By the looks of this photo I am a serious reader when in fact I am not. I guess you could say I just look serious when I read. HA!

I've never fancied myself a reader before. It's not that I don't enjoy reading, but there's always something else more inviting calling my name, usually something creative. There have been times in my life when I read more (novel types), where I have to have a book going constantly, but it's been a while since I've been on a reading kick. I guess you could say I'm in one of those right now.

Since my trip I've read 4 books and I'm working on my 5th. Yes they have been more of a lighter read, but I am slowly working my way in from the romance teen novels to the tragedy that most fiction and non-fiction alike eventually take you...a journey I have been reluctant to go on that I am now willing to experience. Go figure, I'm changing my ways. Individuals who know me should be very proud.

Right now I am reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. A book Adam told me about years ago that sounded so fascinating that I am now giving a chance. It's a book about how little things can make a big difference. On of the back sleeve it reads, "...it is a road map to change, with a profoundly hopeful message..." Sounds like a concept I can get behind. Anyway, I guess I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

Thanks to Michelle O., up next I will be reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I just bought it on Amazon the other day and am really looking forward to sinking my teeth into a tragedy because really a memoir without tragedy...well those books don't get published.

What are you reading this summer? What is your favorite book(s)? I'm looking for ideas.

this afternoon & project 7

While I was busy taking a photos of the thank you card (below) and other things outside Bella and Tess came running out to play, or at least I thought. I assumed they were playing since I heard Tess running around, but when I turned around I saw this...


It's hard to explain how it made me feel. I was pleased. It put a smile on my face. It made me feel like maybe she's getting it. And for a moment I hoped she could understand the power in the book. When I was leaving to go she heard the door and came running over. I asked her what she was doing. She got this really embarrassed look on her face and said, "I was just reading some parts". I was so impressed that she had grabbed that book and took it outside to read in the warm sun. I was also impressed that the book she choose to pick up was the BOM. I hope this becomes a regular occurrence, even if it's a different book. I would love for her to find a love of reading and get lost in the worlds that are found only in our imagination...and of course those books that are built on truth and excellence.


This weeks project (project 7) I was busy making thank you cards along with the valentines that went out early in the week. I also started something else, but only got the painting done so that project with have to wait for next week.

Have a great weekend.

books...

"Books humanize a house. They endow rooms with memory, individuality even temptation, as well as the happy chaos of inadvertent color. The contents of people’s bookshelves can be more revelatory than their furniture or their family pictures, which explains why book-filled spaces radiate such intimacy and character." -martha stewart mag

love this quote. working on a layout to use it.

i have never been a reader. somehow it never really caught on as a kids and i find it hard these days to fit it in. i suppose there are things i would rather do, scrapbook, knit, any other project really. i know this is the wrong attitude because reading gives a person so much depth, knowledge, power.

i want to be better. when i do read, i love it. i get so involved in the book, the story, that i don't want to stop. i guess i haven't had a book lately that has made me want to read. i am looking for a good book, a love story, something historical, something to make me want to be a part of the characters life.

i want to go on a ride...i need to start reading again.