sunday quotes

Just wanted to share two quotes I heard while in church today, quotes I've heard before, but stood out to me more today than in the past.

"...those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle--one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us--not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed.
-Elder Uchtdorf

"that which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our power to do is increased."
-Heber J Grant

52 photo project | week 14 | chocolate

Somehow chocolate has become a part of my everyday. It use to just be a Sunday thing, but has quickly turned into an everyday craving. Honestly I don't think a day goes by that I don't have a piece in one form or another. Today it was these m&ms, yesterday it was a bite of Bella's snickers, and the day before that it was 2 squares from a ritter sport dark chocolate bar. mmmmm my mouth is watering. I do prefer the premium stuff, but some days, like today, I will take whatever I have on hand.

I tried to get off it when I stopped eating sugar a few months ago. Remember? The first few days were so so difficult, but slowly I was able to ween myself from the everyday treat. In all that time what I figured out was that I missed it and there wasn't a good reason not to have it. After all a little bit never hurt anybody. So now I'm back on & happy as ever.

Are you a chocolate lover too?

good things

--It's finally getting back to normal around here, or I should say, today was the first day it was summer as usual. Seriously, going out of town takes it out of you. Sure felt good to be back on track with not only my sleep, but exercise as well.

--It was the craziest surprise this morning when I turned on the Today Show for background noise and the first thing I saw was my friend Jordan being interview with her daughter & husband (her daughter was bit by a shark last week) and a couple of the photos I took of her family last fall were used in the news story. I must admit, it was more than a little thrilling to see a photo of mine on TV. Wahoo!! Of course more than anything I'm so so glad to see her daughter is alright. It's such a frightening story considering we were just at the beach.

--It was delightful to taste the fruits of my labor tonight as my dinner included basil that I'm growing in my backyard. I know that sounds pretty lame to most of you, but I'm not a gardener and considering that I have a black thumb I'm more than a little pleased I'm keeping this plant alive. Especially since I accidentally broke the stem of my tomato plant while trying to replant it and it's barely hanging on.

--I've been on jury duty all week, but so far have not been needed. Thinking I might get off this week without having to go in. :D


--Nothing like a cool thunderstorm on a warm summer eve. It was exactly what I was looking for to cool off. We opened all the windows/doors and listened as the heavy rain beat down against the earth. I actually considered going out in it to take pictures until I saw the lightening--i'm not that crazy.

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 :)

this summer night

I was reminded the other day that we only have a month before summer is officially over and school begins. I can't say that I was really all that surprised, I mean, school always starts is august, but I was surprised. I feel like summer just got started and its hard to believe it's already beginning to wind down. I'm not ready to say goodbye and move onto schedules, homework, & early nights.



But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself--I have the tendency to do that from time to time. Funny that I'm lamenting we only have a month left when a month is a huge chunk of time. So I'm choosing to forget that school is on the horizon and consciously deciding to focus on the moment at hand--this summer night. Listening to the fireworks in the distance (state holiday tomorrow), while playing a serious game of tag with uncontrollable laughter, plus watching the sun set in the distance made for a very memorable night with my girls.

A month is still a month. I plan to enjoy each and every day.

How is your summer shaping up?
When does school start for you?

seven

It's not so much that she's seven that's throwing me for a loop, it's that she hasn't been a baby for seven years. I don't know, it just seems like yesterday that she was toddling around my house with kitty in toe. Maybe it's because not much has changed. She is still spunky. Still happy. Still loveable. Still a whole lot of Megan.







We joke around here, and have joked for years, that there is a lot of Megan--she definitely has a big personality. There are moments, I admit, where she is a lot to take in (she tends to talk a lot), but mostly she is an utter delight and I enjoy her enthusiasm. In fact, it's that enthusiasm and her love for life that I am grateful for as she has reminded me on more than one occasion just how amazing life can be.



Thank you little g for always making me smile!

Delay

I should be enjoying this sunset from my bedroom window, but instead I'm seeing it from my car window. We unfortunately spent 3 hrs on the side of the road somewhere between Mesquite, NV and St. George, UT changing a tire in over 100 degree heat.

Good times.

Why did it take so long you ask? Our jack broke or stopped working properly and it took us lots of creative thinking & jimmy rigging, like digging up rocks underneath the tire, to get the tire off. Oh and I can't forget once the spare was on it was flat because the air had slowly been leaking. So still just as stranded.

Grateful to the trucker who stopped & filled up the tire so we could get out of the canyon and to a place for help, and another passerbyer who let us use her cell phone--thank you Verizon, AT&T failed me.

Grateful to adam & joe for doing all the work.

Grateful for the kids great attitude. They handled this issue awesomely, better than I would have expected, considering we had been in the car for almost 8 hrs already

Grateful for my dad who called in favors to his St George friends & had three cars coming to pick us all up.

Grateful we had waters & snacks.

Grateful it was only a change of tire instead of an accident.

Check out this tire. We're all saying prayers of thanks that all we're coming home with is a few blisters on our fingers--could have been much worse.

It was quite the adventure if I do say so myself. Loads to be grateful for as we pull into town tonight.

52 photo project | week 12 | summer treat

Always such a busy time right when you get back from being out of town. This week has all been about getting laundry done and getting back into our routines that I haven't had a chance to even upload all my photos, let alone have a look through them.


[self portrait using camera timer]

This photo, however, did catch my eye as I recall what a happy day it was for all of us to be together, blissfully unaware of what was going on elsewhere, making sand castles at the beach. It was definitely a treat--the best kind of treat I can think of.

Looking forward to sharing it all with you.

Have a great weekend!

12of12 | July | the iPhone addition

I did actually take pictures today with my canon that I will eventually share when I get home, but like I said earlier, not having the internet made using my phone the best way to improvise. It definitely does the job & captures the bits & pieces of our day--well, at least the bits & pieces when I pulled out my phone. I must say, i actually quite liked the change.

01-04. all finds from my morning run--a delightful morning it was.

05-08. a day at the beach

09-12. resting after a long day at the beach & shakes just because

Another month down--we are half way to our goal. Crazy to think half the year is gone already. If you played along make sure to share with mister linky.



P.S. for those interested, i put these photos together using the diptic & instagram apps for iPhone.

Have a good one!

next stop--laguna beach

We are just outside of Vegas now making our way west in a glorious 14 passenger fun bus. I'm really glad we were able to borrow the van & drive together (we are with our friends). It's made the time go by so much quicker, plus, the kids are in heaven right now, even though we have had some seating arrangement issues. Apparently the seating chart they made earlier in the week is not sticking.

But with that said it's been far easier than I expected. I thought it would be more enduring the noise from the kids, but the only loudness is coming from the rattling of the van when we get to speeds above 70 mph. It's all apart of the adventure--right?

So far so good.

12of12 reminder

[July 2009]

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is the twelfth of July. I hope you're all ready and looking forward to documenting another day in your life.

This is going to be a different one for me. As you read this I am on the road with my family heading west to California. I didn't put it together until last week that I wouldn't be here for the twelfth, and while I'm excited to be documenting this day, I'm definitely going to need to improvise. I will not have the internet, but I will have my phone so I'll definitely be able to post something--who knows maybe I'll do a 12of12 iphone style. Make sure to check in on the thirteenth and I will at least have posted mr. linky if not more.

Have a good one!

lucky enough to lose

I don't know how long I can do this, he said. I think the universe has different plans for me & we sat there in silence & I thought to myself that this is the thing we all come to & this is the thing we all fight & if we are lucky enough to lose, our lives become beautiful with mystery again & I sat there silent because that is not something that can be said.
~storypeople

The weight of this storypeople hit me like a ton of bricks and sat with me for a long while after. I love it when quotes, talks, movies, and books make me pause and give me reason to sit in the quiet for as long as I need. I have a million thoughts filling up my head right now that I long to share and no time to share them. Instead I'll let storypeople do the heavy lifting and say good night for now.

good night.
xo

52 photo project | week 11 | in the garden

this weeks prompt gave me the perfect excuse to step away from all my "have tos" and find much needed peace and clarity in my surroundings. i don't know why i don't think to go explore more often--does the trick every time.

over the weekend | farmers market

I have to laugh when I look back at my post from last night. I don't know why i ever think it's a good idea to be blogging in such a vulnerable state. Thank goodness for a new day and a clear head--I woke up this morning feeling totally refreshed and in control of everything.



Over the weekend we made our way to the farmers market downtown. I always find it enjoyable to roam around and see local artists, live musicians, fresh produce, and taste homemade goodies. I would definitely recommend going and going hungry. It's seems like every time we turned around there was something else that looked phenomenally delicious. My other recommendation would be to go early. I read you want to go early enough to get the best produce, but really you want to go early enough to beat the heat. I'm thinking fall would be the perfect time to go, of course then you might miss out on all the flowers. Go now & go then--I'm certain that will not be our last visit.

The other thing that made me extremely happy was to see my two oldest walking around with their cameras taking photos of stuff that stood out to them. Looking forward to pouring over their memory cards as soon as I have a moment.

deep breath

i'm exhausted.
my mind is fried.
my emotions are too.
i've got a huge community party to make flyers and posters for that i've worked on all day and only have a rough draft to show for it.
i've had to reschedule all our "scheduled" summer activities & find time to re-fit them in.
i've been on the phone with about 20 different people, no exaggeration, for various reasons. some of them two or three times.
i've got several days worth of photos to edit for others & myself i need/like to get to.
i've got loads of laundry backed up waiting to be folded
i just found out, literally 20 minutes ago, i'm supposedly hosting a cub scout roundtable in less than a month and i don't know what a roundtable is let alone cub scouts. what in the world?
amongst all this i'm trying to prep to leave town on monday and I haven't had a moment to consider what I might need.

i know this doesn't seem like that big of a deal, and it really shouldn't be because i'm getting it done, it's just the weight of everything i need to do and all the new stuff getting thrown at me feels heavy today.
i'm exhausted.

deep breath.



i'm grateful to robyn and jill for having my girls tonight. they certainly had no idea how my day would evolve and it's nice to be minutes away from climbing into bed with a book and a quiet house. so although i am overwhelmed on so many levels at this moment I am blessed. I know it will all be ok.

52 photo project | week 10 | the blue hour

The Blue Hour is the transition between day and night; the period of time just before night and just before morning in which the light touches the earth.

*******************************************************

Yesterday was one those loud sort of days where I couldn't wait for the night to come and the noise to settle. I finally got the girls situated inside and slip out the back door for some "me" time. I just needed a bit of peace and calm and I got it at the edge of my yard. As I sat on our swing, gently swaying back and forth overlooking the valley and watching the sun fall from the sky, I started putting the pieces back together that had lost it's way throughout the day.

and then I went and played in it.

quiet morning

Wanting him to come back before anyone notices a part of the world has not moved since he left -storypeople

With Adam hopping on a plane today, bound for Las Vegas and home this weekend, this morning was a gift for us. You wouldn't think with Adam not sleeping well and my friend cancelling our walk that my morning would be so nice, but it was those two changes that made our morning delightful. Well, that, and the fact that my girls had a sleepover with cousins/nana.

And we needed a delightful morning after a busy day of meetings yesterday and only a brief moment to go to dinner before his evening meeting begun. We were so exhausted last night we didn't last more than minutes once we hit the pillow so it was perfect to be home this morning, present, not letting our thoughts drift to the "have tos & needs tos" of the day. We talked and laughed and enjoyed our quiet home together drowned in morning light...

it's been one of these kind of days.

hot
full
loud
wet
treat filled
sun kissed

These days are exhausting, but some of my most favorite of the summer. I think that feeling is very much tied to my childhood. Absolutely the best activity I could ever do as a kid in the summer was go to the pool, especially when it wasn't an everyday occurrence. I learned to appreciate each opportunity. And I can still remember what it felt like to come home, clean the pool off me, & hop straight into my jammies feeling my tight newly sun kissed skin. It's still very much the same today, except I never fight bed time--because let's face it, right now, my bed has never felt so good.

52 photo project | week 09 | a word that decribe you

I can't say this word describes me right now, but it's definitely what I aspire to and desire to become--fully giving all of myself.

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)

desire

We've been writing like we promised we would. Bella I think has the most entries out of all of us, though we do seem to do it best when we do it together.

I have enjoyed pulling my journal out and letting my mind flow without worry of grammar or punctuation or if my words even makes sense on the page. I just let what's in out and it has made a world of difference to the rest of my day. I feel more free--open.



In my journal today were thoughts about desire and getting real about whether or not I'm on the path that will lead me to where I want to be. It was very disappointing to see what little progress I've made this year, almost discouraging, but I'm determined not to let it make me want to run and hide. I know it's work ahead of me, I know. That can be a very scary prospect for me to face, work and I are not always friends, but gratefully I'm in a better place right now to see it so that I can do something about it.

I know my truth, but it's time again to refocus, rededicate, and start living it.

These thoughts came about yesterday when I reread Elder Oaks talk from the April LDS General Conference on the topic. I highly recommend it. Here are a few of his thoughts that stood out to me:

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

"When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously."

"...what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity." -elder maxwell

Happy Monday. Hope your week is starting out as good as mine. :)

blessed

I had this moment today as I watched Adam with his girls reading his handmade father's day cards and laughing together that they too, like me, are extremely lucky to have been blessed with an amazing father.

When I think about the man my father is and what he has taught me in this life I am reminded of my Adam. They are both one of the most sincere, genuine, and giving people I know. I am who I am today because of their loving influence in my life.

thank you for giving all of yourself to us.
we are so very blessed.

52 photo project | week 08 | outside the window

Adam and I sat watching the moon rise above the mountain outside our window as we attempted to escape the heat of the day. We let the rustling of the leaves and passerby-ers provide the only noise as we enjoyed the view, the cool breeze, and each other. Eventually, as our eyes felt too heavy to stand, we made our way inside and said goodnight to a busy day.

a day in the city

library
new books
reading passports
attic room
magazines
art gallery
ideas
cafe



glass elevators
roof top garden
lovely views
noise
waterfalls
foliage
summer heat



fresh cookies
gateway
more heat
fountains
shops
knick knacks
can we get a slushy?
apple accessories
mist

glist

right now I'm grateful for...



--the early light in the morning that gets me up
--the coolish breeze
--quiet time after a long busy day
--a husband who just knows to bring me home neilsen's frozen chocolate custard with toasted almonds
--friends who listen & understand
--possibility
--second chances
--a heartfelt thank you from one my girls
--inspiring images
--answered prayers
--my testimony
--good British tv when I just want to veg (check out Masterpiece theater: Collision)
--the farmers market
--the new cut grass smell
--books that keep me & the girls reading
--our right to choose for ourselves
--a family who bravely let's me try new recipes (tonight: skewed chicken with peanut sauce)
--our differences, that we each have something unique to give/share with each other


**what are you grateful for today?