Quote of the Day

So, last year Link’s little “girlfriend” moved and is going to a different school.  He talks about her sometimes but I think it is just starting to hit him that he doesn’t have a valentine this year.  The other night Jack was at scouts and Mike, Link and I were talking about girls.  I was asking him if there was anyone else he might like to have as his valentine, I told him it didn’t have to be someone in his class, it could be someone from church or in another class.  This is the conversation that followed…

Link: “There is just no one.”

Me: “Well, that is ok.  You don’t need to have a valentine every year.” (he is only 9, after all)

Link: “yeah, Jack knows all about that, he has never had a valentine.”

Me: “Don’t make fun of him for that, okay?  That’s totally fine.”

Link: “Oh, I won’t.  I’ll just point out that he’s been living a lonely life.”

At that point I couldn’t keep a straight face, he is so funny.  If he is this way about girls now I seriously can’t wait to meet 16 year old Link. 🙂

Since we had this conversation Link found a cute girl in his class that he wanted to ask to be his valentine, he made her a little card, asked to get his hair cut and actually paid attention to what he wore to school the next day.  He was so nervous but he happily came home with a note that said “yes”, he told us it was fridge worthy so that is where it now resides. 🙂

Let 2012 Be.

I know I probably say this every year but I am seriously shocked at how fast the years go by.  I really just don’t get it.  2012 ended much faster then I was ready for and I feel like my head is still spinning a bit.  Looking back we had such a great year, each of us individually and as a family.  We tried new things, went new places, and made new friends.  Over all it was just fun!!  My word for last year was Let It Be, and once again it was perfect for what I needed and it helped me so much move on from some of the sadness of the past few years.  In fact, I liked it so much I will probably keep it as a back up word for this year too, it’s just that awesome.  I had a really hard time coming up with this years word, I thought for a while that maybe I just needed to do a second year of Let It Be and then finally, last night, I put my finger on what I was feeling that I wanted this year to be.  So, it all kinda started with the marathon.  Early last year Mike and I signed up for the St. George marathon as a way to get moving and to try and do something hard and to definitely do something we have never done before.  And all those things were exactly what it was for us.  Over the course of the whole experience though I realized something about myself.  Running just doesn’t fill my soul and why was I putting so much time and energy into something that doesn’t do that for me?  I realized that I should be spending my time doing things that will fulfill me as a person, not just doing things because everyone else is doing it.  I have thought a lot about all the things that would fill my soul and that led to my word for 2013.

Ready for it?

LIVE

This year I want to live!!

I want to do things fun and different and hilarious and colorful and beautiful.  And I want that in all aspects of my life, at home and in my business.  All the possibilities kind of make my head explode and last night I just couldn’t sleep because I was so excited.  Here is a little list of things that are some of the things I want to experience this year…

1.  I want to go for a ride in a hot air balloon.

2.  I want to go to monument valley.  We have talked about doing this for the last 5 years, I just want to go already

3.  I want to learn how to make funnel cake.

4. paint, paint, paint.  For my birthday Mike signed me up for an art class and I just can’t wait for it to start.  Painting definitely fills my soul.

5.  Mike and I have been working on a project for about the last 3 years, this is the year I want to let it out into the world.  It’s been a lot of hard work and a lot more hard work is needed but I think it’s going to be amazing.

6.  I want to own a cactus.  I have a hard time keeping plants alive, but I love them, so I think I just have to find ones that will work for me and I think a cactus might be it.  Plus, I just think they are neat.

7.  I want to do at lest 2 photo essays.  I want to do one of each of my boys and where they are in their life right now because they are on the verge of some pretty big changes in the next few years and just want to remember all that they are now.

So, that’s the start of what I think is a promising list.  I’m excited to add to it and see where it takes me.  I think all this living is going to be rad!

Last year my band was Dave Matthews and he was good to me.  We didn’t get to see him live but there is always this year. That would fall perfectly into my year of really living.

For this year I want my music to be that of Bon Iver.  I just discovered him a few months ago and he moves my soul, I truly love it and it makes me happy.

I did alright with my Polaroid photo project last year, surprisingly I still have 4 packs of film left so the fun will continue! Here are some highlights and I really hope that blogging won’t be on the back burner this year because I really love this blog.  Happy 2013!!

P.S.  If you are interested in reading more about my yearly word you can check out these posts… 2011 Gratitude… 2010 Love… 2009 Eliminate

it’s the little things

Today was like any other day, Mike and I were sitting on our computers working away, trying to get as much done as we could before the boys got home from school and then we get this email thru the photobooth site that made us laugh so hard.

 

Name: Jackson ouzts

Event Date?:  nothing

What city will your event be held in?: St. george

What type of event are you planning?:  famliy reunion

How did you hear about us?:  your my mom and dad

Message:

i love you

 

Seriously, it totally made my day.  I love that kid.

 

 

a back seat

Blogging is something that has really taken a back seat this year and that’s ok, it’s life I guess.  I have been doing a lot of art lately, not computer art but painting and all sorts of other things.  It seems like I always come back to photography though.  Here is something I put together tonight and it sums up my life perfectly right now.

something i love

when the boys were little, a long time ago, they both said prenzels instead of pretzels.

now that they are older, they still call them prenzels, and I love it, it makes me laugh every time!  we corrected them the other day but they didn’t care, they were still going to call them prenzels, and that is ok with me.

this is Jack working on his science fair project, it’s what we did over spring break.

Quote of the Day

So, tonight at dinner Mike actually said these words…

“Keep your wiener in your pants!!”

yup.

smiling

Quote of the Day

Going on two years in a row Link has had the same valentine.  She is a cute little girl in his class and he asked her the other day if she wanted him to be her valentine again and she told him “You will always be my valentine”.  It made his day.  We were talking about what to get her this year and this is the conversation…

Link: “how many days until Valentines?”

Me: “about 2 weeks”

Link: “ok, that means we have to go to the store next week to get her gift.”

Me: “alright, do you have any ideas on what you want to get for her?”

Link: “no, I’m just going to look in the heart section.”

🙂 I love that boy.

i love you, i love you, i love you!!

Yesterday I had to go run errands, I said bye to Mike and got everything I needed together and as I walked out the door I heard him yell “IIII looooove yooouuuuu!”   It totally made me smile and I remembered our first conversation about saying “I love you”

Today’s random memory takes us waaay back to the year 2000, we had been married 4 months probably, we lived in a tiny studio apartment in Jackson Hole, WY and we each had a job that started at 3 in the afternoon so our mornings belonged to us alone.  One day I walked by Mike and told him that I loved him, just like I did 20 times a day and he asked me if I thought we said “I love you” too much.  He thought that maybe if we said it less it would mean more when we did say it.  I remember feeling really strongly that I wanted a home filled with love and hugs and kisses all the time, I wanted our future kids to know that each day we were going to love on them and each other and to be used to it and I was sure that it would mean even more the more we said “I love you”.  After hearing my side Mike agreed with me (such a smart husband!) and our days have been filled with just that, lots of hugs and kisses and I love yous.  Even when we go to the boy’s classes they jump up and give us hugs, I don’t expect that to last forever but I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I love that it’s not weird to be affectionate in our home and I hope that it’s something our boys can carry on when they have homes of their own.

Quote of the Day

Jack: “I’m pretty sure Batman is my new favorite superhero.”

I’m such a proud momma at this moment!