Life is Good

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.There's lots of downtime: staying up way too late, watching T.V.; sleeping in, only to eat breakfast when it's nearly lunchtime; playing games with the kids because they got every imaginable game for Christmas; spending as much time as possible in your pajamas. I would go a little nuts if this was regular life. But for this week, life is good.

Which brings me to my next point. Can you believe it's nearly 2012? Wow. Aside from the fact that there aren't any flying cars out there, and space travel hasn't been brought to the masses, life is pretty good. I know, I know, there's a recession. There are wars and protests and causes and a ribbon for every cause. But I'm an eternal optimist, and there are also lots of good things happening. There are lay-away angels and babies being born and reasons to celebrate every day. And right within my own little sphere of life, it gets even better. I have a happy, healthy family. We have love. We go on amazing trips together. Both of our cars are pushing 200,000 miles, and yet, continue to start up every day. Our pantry is stocked. My countertop is overflowing with homemade goodies and Christmas cards, proof that we have friends! I am abundantly blessed. 2011 was super, and 2012 will be even better. It's a leap year, which means we get an extra day of happiness this year. Can life get any better?

P.S. The photography challenge? Was 30 days in a row very realistic? I mean really? More to come, just not on a consecutive basis.

Happy New Year!

Day 10

Today's photo challenge is a childhood memory. When I was a kid, my dad often kept a package of Oreos on top of the refrigerator. Why? Because he's 6'4" and we weren't. However, we were very good climbers. And we had bar stools. Too easy, Dad.

Catching Up, Part II

Day 7: Fruit -- This is a shot of some apricots that I turned into fruit leather and got a little weepy because it smelled like baby food and I no longer have babies.

Day 8: A Bad Habit -- Lest you think this child is innocently blowing bubbles into a glass of wholesome milk, think again. He's innocently blowing bubbles into a glass of half-and-half, which he constantly asked for (and got) on our cruise two weeks ago! Oh well, the kid is so scrawny, I'm hoping it put a little meat on his bones somewhere... anywhere!

Day 9: Someone You Love -- For better or worse, I took this shot of someone I love, taking a shot at something HE loves.

Catching Up

Due to a quick trip to Houston and some technical difficulties, I fell way behind on my self-imposed photography assignment! But never fear, because I am back and ready to post. Here are days 3-6:

Day 3: Clouds -- This is a big thunderhead looming over my house.

Day 4: Something Green -- Isn't he such a cutie on his first day of third grade?

Day 5: From a High Angle -- I was standing at the top of the Space Needle.... does that count?

Day 6: From a Low Angle -- This is my baby brother and his wife last Saturday after they went to the Houston temple for the first time. He's 6'3" so I had to crouch waaaaay down to get the steeple in the background!

Day 2 and Other Stuff

The challenge for today is to take a picture of what I wore, but I'm gonna be kind of busy tonight, so here is a picture of what I'm going to wear! It's chilly out there today -- we've got a dusting of snow on the ground -- and I've got to run some errands before leaving town for the weekend. I'm going to Houston, where it's hopefully warmer, and I've got to pick up a big bag of cinnamon bears for my dad, because apparently you cannot get cinnamon bears in Houston! This information was confirmed when we discovered that my brother-in-law, a native Houstonian, had no idea what on earth a cinnamon bear is. I prefer the ones covered in chocolate, myself.

Also, I'm leaving my husband and kids for four days, which means I've got to stock the fridge with "easy food," as my husband calls it. On the list of requests: frozen lasagna and corn dogs. I promise not to read the sodium content on the packages.

Other errands include a trip to the bank and gas station. Then later my taxi service will be open for business as I'll run kids between school, piano lessons, tennis lessons, and church.

Perhaps we'll have "easy food" for dinner tonight.

A Challenge!

Happy November! I recently came across this little photography challenge and thought it might be fun to give it a try. At the very least, I should have a blog post every day this month...

So here is my self-portrait for Day 1. It's gloomy and stormy today (as you'd expect November 1st to be here in the mountain tops). I actually took this picture about a week and a half ago, when I was on a cruise down in sunny Mexico! As we all know, I am a summer-lovin' girl, and this picture definitely represents that: no make-up, sunglasses, messy hair; and if you look close enough, you can see the straps of my swimsuit! Yes, I will take all the summer I can get.

What's Scary to an 8-Year-Old Boy?

Happy Halloween! Another one is here and no Halloween Gala to speak of. It will happen. One day. On Saturday we let our kids have a party, complete with costumes and severed-finger cookies. It was awesome. My husband was worried about the whole worlds-colliding thing as the party was all-inclusive... as long as you were a 12-year-old girl or an 8-year-old boy.

After an hour of Minute-to-Win-It games, the girls gathered around the kitchen island for treats while the boys did the same - around the kitchen table. The girls were enjoying their chips and salsa when one of the boys expressed his interest in said chips and salsa.

"Well go ahead and get yourself some," I offered. Aren't I a gracious hostess?

"But those girls scare me," said the 8-year-old hobbit.

So I fixed him up a little plate of his own. After all, Halloween shouldn't be THAT scary.