a day together

Adam had the day off due to Pioneer Day so we celebrated with

a mid-morning breakfast


a canyon drive


an afternoon tickle fight


a late afternoon sequence game


& an evening of crepes


There's really nothing more I can say that the photos don't already convey. It was a lovely day--together.

Happy Monday :)

tender mercies

you know those days when you wake up and nothings quite right? where your surrounded by people, lovely people, yet the loneliness weighs heavy on your heart and the woman in the mirror staring back at you is unrecognizable? you know when all you want to do is crawl in a hole and wait for any semblance of you to resurface?

sadly it's been one of those days.



today as i dealt with these feelings i can say with a surety that God is mindful of us and knows what we need, when we need it. i was drawn, out of the blue, to this photo i took weeks ago. it was a sunday and we had just spent the afternoon/evening together and we were getting ready for bed when a spontaneous tickle fight broke out. i have always enjoyed standing on the periphery hearing the rough and tumble of laughs and pleas. it was one of those happy moments where you hope your children never forget, and yet it has become a moment with a message for me. not only did it sooth my ache, but it stands to remind me how much i love my family life. they are my happiness.

but my ache had already been softened when i rediscovered a thoughtful card a dear friend of mine gave to me weeks ago. she could never had known when she gave it to me what it would mean to me in days to come. i guess we never do know how much our thoughtfulness today will help each other in the future. what a blessing it is to have such people in our lives who know and love us. i am grateful.

the cloud is lifting.
it will all be ok.

xo

a happy space

Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life. ~storypeople

made me smile

[click here for original note]

Dear Daddy,
I love you Daddy because when I hug and kiss you I feel happy about me.

I found this note from Tess to her Dad while cleaning out a stack of papers. I don't know how old it is, though her handwriting makes it look like it was written at least a year ago. It made me smile when I read it, in fact, I got a little chocked up.

You can never really underestimate the power of being loved.

I hope and pray she will always feel this way and know, no matter what's going on in her life we are always waiting in the wings ready to give her hugs and kisses.

five for friday

1. I actually considered not sending out Christmas card this year...I know, a shock. I love to send and receive them each year, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it. Lack of inspiration and time I guess...I'm going with the latter. I've felt so incredibly busy this season I just don't understand how everyone else seems to be doing it. It's not so much that I'm frazzled as much as I can see the time quickly passing and I'm not even close to being done. Anyway, yesterday I decided Christmas cards are a must since they're one of my favorite traditions, I just won't let it become a stressful part. Twenty minutes on the computer and I was done. Almost. I still need to pick them up and mail them out.


2. We brought home another friend today. Scratch that. We brought home two friends today from school to take care of over the weekend. Toffee and Speckles, Megan's classroom guinea pigs. It's made our Friday early out day quiet for me as the girls have been otherwise engaged. The poor creatures, I hope they don't mind being loved so much.


3. Can you even believe this photo? Leave it to Megan to hide her candy trail behind her dresser. I guess it shouldn't have taken me so long to figure it out, but apparently her bag was never in the pantry like the other girls. I imagine she had a lot of good times in her room with her candy bag. I wonder how many time she sat in her room smiling as she ate candy after candy while she was suppose to be in time out?


4. Last Sunday he left the house at 7:30am and got home at 4:45pm, but he still managed to find time for this. I admire the way he is able to fit it all in.

5. Dare I say I dropped my camera on the ground? Sigh. It wasn't my fault, expect it was. My camera bag was sitting on my jacket, but I didn't realize it and when I pulled my jacket away to put it on I turned at the same time and didn't see my camera come away and fall to the ground until I heard the hit. It was loud, but it was in the bag so I had hopes that all was fine. Well, a hit to the ground is a hit to the ground. I went to our ward Christmas party that night and when I took it out to use it the UV filter on my lens was completely shattered. My heart sank. As far as I can tell nothing else happened, but the filter is so messed up I'm unable to get it off. I keep taking pictures with the lens to make sure it's not ruined and so far so good, but I need to take it in to get the bits of glass cleaned off (I don't dare do it myself) and the filter removed. I feel very lucky it wasn't worse...it couldn't have been very bad.

typical sunday

Sundays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. A typical Sunday for us goes something like this...

After lunch, which is really dinner, Adam and I head to our bed. Traditionally this is when we would talk together until I fell asleep, but I can't do the nap anymore so we just lay and talk. Apparently we've done this for so long that the girls now know to let mom and dad have some alone time; however, there comes a time when they just can't take it any more and inevitably we find them sneaking in to reclaim us.

It usually looks something like this...


[this was one of the first Sundays with his iphone and he was thrilled that the two of us could lay in bed talking with music playing right next to us without having to hook it up to speakers. He will deny it no longer, the iphone has changed his life.]

Our comfy little haven broken up by our girls climbing all over us. It goes on for a while until we can't handle it anymore and then we begin to tickle.




[she doesn't look like she's enjoying herself, but I assure you she is.]

Then everything calms down for a bit. Adam does his thing, the girls do there's, and I do mine. The girls are really passing the time until Adam let's them know it's baking time.



We usually make cookies, but it varies. Last week we made banana bread because we had lots of ripe bananas and today, because we are having a BBQ tomorrow, we made chocolate cake.





and there is of course a lot of taste testing.



Now this is where the normal routine stops and it beomes a little unclear. Some Sundays we sit down to watch a movie together or Americas Funniest Home Videos. Other times, like last Sunday, we picked pears off our tree.



Then because we were outside we made an evening of it. Adam and I hunkered down and talked (round 2) while the girls played with one another. I so enjoy watching them play, especially when they get along, and hearing/seeing where their imagination takes them. I will definitely miss these warm summer nights.





Last Sunday we took a walk and delivered some banana bread to our new neighbors. Walking use to be a big Sunday tradition, but when there got to be too many kids to push in a stroller and too many hills we stopped. I think I'm ready to reintroduce the walk...it was so enjoyable.



The other thing I love about Sundays is Mondays are next and I love Mondays...especially holiday Mondays.