Summer.

I wish the Winter months would fly by like Summer months always do!  My last blog posting was in June and I was at the Oregon Coast...and here it is August already?!  And, while I am really looking forward to more beach time this Fall (including a trip up to Seattle and into the Olympic National Park and then more Oregon time!)...the Summer has mostly been spent closer to home. 
We left the beach and made a detour to Washougal, WA, to watch Mike and his brother, Shawn, along with thousands of other crazy people, compete in a Spartan Race!  If you've participated in one of these races before, good for you!  If you've thought about it, watched the videos, studied the courses and decided against it, even better for you!!!  It was crazy and intense, and I was just a spectator!
Shawn is an amazing competitor, kind of a BEAST, and he killed the course in under an hour!  I am pretty sure he's hooked now...I hear he's going to do another run this fall!  And Mike did great!  I will be honest, I kept an eye on the ambulances that were standing by, a little bit worried...but he did really well ("for an old guy" he would say)!  He got hung up in a pack for awhile on one obstacle, which the participants aptly nicknamed "Cheese Grater Hill" (imagine crawling uphill for about a hundred yards on a thin layer of mud over a cheese grater [a rocky hillside]...ouch...oh, did I mention you'd be crawling under barbed wire?!).  But, he finished it with a smile on his face...I think that was a smile, it might have been mud...?!  Mike says he is really glad he did it, but don't be looking for him on another course any time soon!

The brothers; before and after...still smiling!



The weekend after we got home we packed up again and headed south to Mack, Colorado for "Country Jam", a weekend outdoor music festival which takes place in a giant dust bowl in the middle of nowhere!  Luke Bryan (who was an amazing performer!), Jo Dee Messina, Trace Adkins and, my favorite, the Zac Brown Band, were among the long list of performers over the weekend.  We did a lot of people watchin' in and around the concert grounds (plenty of crazies!), wandered into the cute little town of Fruita, and spent one morning exploring the Colorado National Monument, trying to stay out of the heat wave!  We got to have a fun, unexpected breakfast with my Aunt Sally and her husband Mike, who were passing through...and then saw them again a few days later when they came up through Wyoming to Pocatello. 

The Colorado National Monument...if it looks really hot and really dry, well, it was!

We spent a pretty quiet 4th of July, watching the local fireworks show from our deck, headed to the mountains for some kayaking, and then spent a couple of weekends in Boise helping Mike's parents move into their new digs. 

In between our travels we, of course, got in lots of Harper-time! She is growing so fast and has the cutest little personality developing!

I could do this all day...!

Tummy time!

Momma at work!

Seriously, how cute is this face?!

So sweet!

Reading stories!

5 months young!

They make cute babies!

And then, finally, Allison & Stephen arrived!  Oh, I sure do miss her when she is away...and she has been away for awhile!  They've been having adventures of their own, in Alaska, California, Alabama and Florida!  We headed to Jackson for some great kayaking (minus the crazy storm that literally chased us off of String Lake!), have had a few dinner/bbqs with both our girls and their hubbies, missed out on our camping/hiking trip because a stomach bug infected our house : ( ...but have enjoyed spending a quiet week just kind of hanging out.

Harper time with Aunt Allison!

Floating the Snake River, near Oxbow Bend.

Leisurely float down the Snake River.

See those thunder clouds coming over the Grand...

...yep, chased off the water by rain...and thunder...and LIGHTNING!

Triangle Rock!  String Lake.

Clouds cleared away...beautiful day on the lake!

Considering...

Making the leap!

Mid-air!

Splash!

They like each other a lot.  :)

Up next, well, Allison is packing up the rest of her things (we've had fun going through all of her childhood stuff...I didn't know I had that many stuffed animals in my house!) for their move up to Seattle!  Stephen starts school again next month and Allison will be settling in, making a new home and looking for work...and we'll get to see them soon with a truckload of their household stuff!

We're all headed to Boise for a Hawks baseball game and a birthday celebration (Happy Birthday to Venita, my sweet mom-in-law, who will turn 74 on Sunday!).  And then, a kayaking trip in the works, a trip to Boise to do some senior pictures with my beautiful niece, and then...finish out the summer with a trip to Washington and then Oregon!  The beach is calling!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay, so there is something you should know about me.  I collect stuff.  No, not like "hoarders" kind of stuff, though I am certain that is what the people on "Hoarders" say also...but small, memorable collections of significant items!  Heart rocks, for example, I collect heart-shaped rocks...and sea shells.  And, oh, I love projects!  I am sort of hopelessly hooked on taking on a variety of projects, in fact!  I have a room dedicated to those projects in my home.  Sadly, it is where some of those projects have gone to die!  Basically, what I just admitted to is that I collect projects?!
I am not alone in this addiction of never-ending projects.  I know I am not...pick any person on Pinterest and you will find an assortment of boards entitled "to-do" or "creativity" or "someday" or, my favorite, "when I have the time"!  And within those pin boards there are imaginative photos to take, slipcovers to sew, furniture to stain, crochet patterns to learn, books to read, stories to write, recipes to try (there are lots of those on Pinterest!), rooms to decorate, gardens to plant and parties to plan! 

What we crave, I am convinced, is not only the creative, but the time to dedicate ourselves to creative pursuits.  It makes us feel accomplished, alive and utterly unique!

So, it's Valentine's Day!  Happy day of love to all of you! 

Awhile ago I found a great little art project on a blog I love to stalk,  Deb Schwedhelm.   She is an amazingly creative woman and I am always finding inspiration in her words and in her art.  The first picture in the collage below is hers...a creation she made with her kids.  And, I loved it so much I decided to create my own!
So, every morning, for about a week, while I drank my coffee and watched the morning news programs (and yes, I like a little coffee with my cream!), I sat with scissors and old magazines and began cutting and collecting...letters.  Lots of letters!  At first, it was I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U...V's being the hardest to find, by the way.  And then, I decided to personalize my collage, with a few of my favorite quotes about love...and then a few special things we say to each other...  It was a LOT of cutting and a lot of sorting!  But kind of fun, like a scavenger hunt!
And then, on an old canvas I already had (a different project!) I began arranging and re-arranging, building a puzzle/collage...and then adhering the letters on with mod podge...line by line, section by section!  I do remember thinking, at one point, that I should've chosen a smaller canvas, but gradually, it filled in!  Then, layers and layers of mod podge...a canvas frame, I ordered online...and, in plenty of time for gift-giving on Valentine's Day...ta-da!!  Completion!!!!  It always feels good to complete a project!  Especially good because I made it for Mike for Valentine's Day...and he really liked it!  No, really, he DID! 
It's hanging in our bathroom now...fits perfectly on the wall over our tub (I think I originally bought that canvas for a project for that wall?!)...and it looks really nice...over my collection of seashells and rocks!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!  You are loved!

(Oh, and stay tuned...I have another project completed that I am dying to tell you about...!)

Oregon Coast!

A spur-of-the-moment trip to the beach this past weekend proved to be the perfect way to celebrate Memorial Day. Remembering lives past and honoring the future always seems more relevant to me when surrounded by the sound of crashing waves and the sight of those dramatic coastal horizons. The chance to reflect is never more accessible than when you are walking, a little bit aimlessly, eyes down towards the sand, wind at your back, the sound of waves a constant rumble...

I love the Oregon Coast.

(...and I love my new iPhone, with the cool photography apps I've found too! This picture was taken with ShakeItPhoto and then collaged with Diptic. So fun!)

iPhone obsession!

My daughter says I am kind of obsessed with my new iPhone...(maybe that has something to do with all the photos of her cat I've been sending her!)  I say, "well, yea, I am!"  I love it!  One of the things I love most about it is all the amazing photography apps...many of them FREE!  In a world where we sometimes obsessively concern ourselves with the "reality" of digital photography, me included, it is really fun to be able to let go a little and play with these ingenious, creative tools. 
I took this photo with my iPhone using an app called Hipstamatic, which I love.  It features different "films", including that old school grainy look, and different lenses and flash capabilities too.  And then, after my dog walk, sitting on my stoop, I tweaked it a little more with a free app called Instagram, which adds to that vintage feel. 
It's fun to play and to be creative, whatever your tools!  (...I am feeling the need for a fresh box of crayons...wanna color, Allison?!)