and THESE are the DAYS of our {LIFE}

Last Friday, we went yard-saling. Big surprise, eh? I found a wine rack for $.50, Ryan got a few brand new Gap polo shirts, and JD scored a .22 pistol for $30. Needless to say, we were all pretty happy (Gage was happy with his chocolate milk) ;) After we were sale-d out, we saw a U-Pick sign for cherries. Last year, we {almost} paid $5 per gallon cause JD had a hankerin' for canned cherries. This year, however, must have been a good year for cherries because we picked 82 pounds @ $1/lb! SCORE.

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The next day, my mom and I canned all 82 lbs! We had a:

It's so fun to learn how to do these domestic-type thingys from 'the master' you know? My mom definitely knows her stuff! Plus, she has all these handy tips that only moms know. Like how to NOT crack all the jars when you put them in the water- handy things, like that. Oh, and just in case you're wondering, 82 lbs of cherries is about 48 qts. Just in case you ever need to know ;)

Oh, and before I forget. I scored this at the Goodwill for $1. My daisies are going to look so cute in it:

I also have a bunch of 'projects' that have been piling up and FINALLY got finished. Like this sign in our family room. JD cut and routered the edges. I painted it and applied the...ehem...adhesive letters! Hahahaha. I'm just glad it's finally on the wall!We (as in Ryan, Gage, and I) have also been working on a little alphabet book. It was an idea I got a few years ago from my friend, Kelly, and we're finally giving it a try! Hahaha... I basically filled a scrapbook with different scrap paper and plan to do a letter per day with the kids. We might find letters...or things that start with certain letters...or make them...or take pictures of them...or maybe even find them in nature. We'll see. But while I was putting together the paper part (and the boys were 'supposed' to be sleeping) Ryan snuck downstairs to watch. I was working away and watching the movie 'Fireproof' for the second time. So now Ryan has decided that he wants to be a fireman. Here he is with his new fireman's mask: I'm not sure how the whole idea is going to turn out but so far, it's fun stuff. Here's how the 'A' page turned out:

Ryan cut out all those 'A's from a newspaper and Gage just sat next to him yelling "AAA...AAA..." It was so funny! We got the big stencils from my nephew's preschool teacher. They are so fun! The boys painted it red and then Ryan arranged the 'appleness'.

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Oh, and before I forget. Look what our new puppy did...

And look what the wind did to our glass table top!!!

After a pretty eventful morning, we decided to hit the spray park. And if it's free, it's me!!!

It wasn't until we got there that I realized I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet!

(ahhh...summer feels GOOD, doesn't it? On second thought...maybe summer feels kinda gross actually....lol)

We're back now (and my teeth are brushed!).

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Lately I've been thinking a lot about what our {life} might look like if I stayed at home instead of worked. How it would be different...how it might be the same. I thought about the things we would do...where we would go...and what we'd spend our time doing.

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Then it hit me, as things like this often do.

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How might our {life} be different if everything was smooth sailing all the time?

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If Olivia hadn't died, would I find a noisy house as {peaceful}?

If I hadn't burried a child, would I {rejoice} in what happens after death?

If my brother hadn't gone to war, would I have realized how {safe} we are?

If Ryan wasn't hospitalized, would I be as {comforted} when he crawls in our bed at 5am?

If I hadn't lost a boat, would I have realized how {blessed} we are?

If I didn't work, could I find the {treasure} in an ordinary day like today?

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I challenge myself today. I challenge myself to fertilize my vision ~ to thank the Lord for loving me and to start seeing my {ordinary} life through His eyes. I challenge myself to not only feel blessed but to be a blessing... to others.

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Bless YOU for dropping in!

A {STINKIN} cute Video

Luck {and a story}

Are you lucky? Do you feel lucky? Does luck {find} you?

It found me this week and let me tell you about it. This week was a {big} family week- what with the 4th of July and all. I took the boys to Sandpoint while JD worked. Long story short, he surprised us all and miracled (that's what we call it) some trades and was able to join us.


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How lucky is THAT?

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So we saw the fireworks at his {stompin'} grounds and the next day, we headed to Montana for some good old fashioned family fun. My aunt and uncle just bought a place on Golden Pond (seriously, it's called that- just like the movie) and we showed up about noon.

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I should interrupt here to introduce you to a member of the family- esp since he's in this {story}. He's my cousin (one of only two). His name is Shaun and he's a big-shot lawyer in New York City. Seriously. He lives in an apartment with a domed pool on the roof. It doesn't get any more big-shot than that. More to the point, he's the reason JD and I met. About 13 years ago, JD told Shaun that his girlfriend was "hot". Shaun's 'girlfriend' was me and you can just about imagine the "ewwww" that dripped from Shaun's response. Anyway, he introduced us and I suppose the rest is history. So this is Shaun:


And because I like to be 'equal' and all, this is my other cousin, Cody. He just got married last summer and I swear, he gets cuter every time I see him! He's carrying the family business (concrete) and is actually really, really talented at 'staining' driveways and such to look like other stones (like slate...or marble...). Anyway, here's Cody:

So anyway, back to the whole 'luck' thing. The whole family participated in this neighborhood golf scramble on the forth of July. Shaun was lucky enough to win the scramble AND as the grand prize, he won a BOAT (granted, no keys and no title...but still). A BOAT. Seriously. Everyone teased him about how he'd get hit home- tie it to the bottom of the plane or possibly sell it before he leaves...

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I should interrupt myself again and let you know that my uncle Doyle won a BOAT at a fishing derby. Not just a metal beater either. It was a NICE boat with a cooler and all! This is one boat-winning family, I tell you what.

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So anyway, Shaun told the family that if anyone could wrap their balls around the orange pole three times, they would win the boat from him. Oh, and the whole balls thing is this really fun yard game called Ladder Ball. I had never played so JD and I decided to challenge Shaun and the neighbor, Jay. We played really poorly up until the last throw, which was mine. We needed 9 points to win and one ball on the orange pole is worth three points, so I needed to get all of our balls on that pole somehow.



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The first pair dangled....from the orange pole.



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The second pair dangled...from the orange pole. This would be a good time to say that I used to be a pitcher in softball and the orange pole was right in the strike zone.



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And by this time, I hit celebrity status because not only had I hung two pair of balls on the orange pole...


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So on the third throw, the balls flew and flipped....and flew and flipped...smack dab onto the orange pole. And what did that mean???? It meant that JD and I had kicked Shaun and Jay's BUTT is what it meant! (and we should have played for money but I was too cheap and lacked the confidence).



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Then Jay, out of the clear blue sky, yells "It's a BOAT!!!"


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But I must tell you, that when I threw the third pair of balls, they kinda kicked the second set down a bit and dangled on them. Three balls on the orange pole was all it took to take home the boat and I guess I'll let you be the judge:


Since it's uncle Doyle's yard, he got to make the final call and he did in fact say, "If one pair of balls dangles on another pair...so long as the original pair is still in tact, it counts. It's a boat."



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It was luck. Pure and simple. And so I asked JD to take my picture next to the only balls I'll ever take credit for:


Shaun tried to argue the win. He did. But after uncle Doyle's rule, there wasn't much he could do. So he celebrated with me, like any good cousin would:

He's cute, huh?

Then Cody drove up in his golf cart and tried to hook my boat up:

And here's the inside:

And don't, for one second think that I cared about all that mess. I was just elated. I had won a BOAT. It's not every day that someone is lucky enough to win a boat.

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And it wasn't very long after all this that I found out the whole thing was a joke. I don't even think they knew who owned the boat. Or shoot- maybe they were just waiting for me to leave before someone really took off with their winnings.

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But there for a minute, I felt really lucky. I felt really cool, you know? Kinda like just winning a boat...but then not. Hard to describe. I mean, on one had, you try to be cool, you know- hide it like you do when you don't really get a joke but pretend you do...

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And on another hand, I felt like jumping in to a freezing cold Montana lake. So that's exactly what I did and JD was kind enough to take my picture right before I got warm enough to do it: (And if you think I didn't crop my legs out of this picture, you are kidding yourself. It's just that I try not to take myself too seriously and this is part of the story- plus, this is my new modbe swimsuit and it's stinkin' cute, k?)

This pic was taken 2 seconds before I jumped in the lake and 4 seconds before I lost my right contact.

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How lucky is THAT?

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Probably lucky enough to NOT pack and extra set of contacts.

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And not quite as lucky as blinking into a towel for YEARS to find it wrapped up behind my eye ball, iron it out flat with my finger, and use lake water to pop it back in my eye. And so as I laid on the dock trying to warm up (because I tell you what, the lake was FA-REEZING snow melt. No joke). Anyway, as I lay there, I saw this guy comin' after me so I grabbed my camera and snapped this:

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"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to take you out on this boat" he replied.

And so it ensued. The most romantic boat ride I've ever had the pleasure of taking.

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And I'm sorry. My husband is FA-REAKING cute.

My views from the front and the back (see above and below):

And JD's view: (I know I'm a total geek but as I said, I try not to take myself too seriously).

And as we paddled back, JD looked me straight in the eye and asked me a really off-the-wall question:

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"What are your thoughts?"

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And here's what I thought: I thought, what the heck? You know? How could I be so stupid to think I actually won a boat? What was I thinking? I must have looked like a total idiot getting all excited at the thought? I'd never 'won' anything. Why was I letting myself get all wrapped up in that. And then it hit me.

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I don't even believe in luck.

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Here I am. Sitting in this boat with the man of my dreams feeling un-lucky?

Give.Me.A.Break.

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Blessed. I am so incredibly blessed and I thank God for all of it- even for giving me a boat and then taking it back just so I could be reminded that luck doesn't exist.

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It just doesn't.

{our} beach

Lately we've been home long enough to do laundry and pack up again. But last night we decided to take the dogs (yes dogS- we got a puppy) to the river. It was spectacular:Here's Ryan with {his} dog- Lightning (as in Lightning McQueen):

JD and {our} Sadie dog (she LOVES the water):

brothers:

This was weird- the twighlight setting:

and the best for last:

It was such a beautiful evening. My heart has been heavy lately and this was exactly what I needed. Who knew that this little gem of a beach is just up the road from us? It's definitely going to become one of our {regular} hang outs!

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And now it's time to start packing again...

The Rocket's Red Glare

Something tells me that you can take fire away from a man but you can't take a man away from fire.

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JD will be working on the 4th of July this year so we decided to celebrate a little early (with Landing Days in Uma). We thought that this might be the {safest} place to light off some of our {reservation} loot. I think the pictures probably speak for themselves. ;)

I couldn't believe it when I turned up and saw this. Of all the sillouette pictures that I took that night, this one is my absolute favorite:

I love how Mikey's head is turned up and his knees are turned out. And how you can see Gage's binki (we're still working on that by the way...). I love Sarah's cascading hair and the sharp lines of Ashley's shoulder. Serendipitous. ;)

We ended our day with the big fireworks show down at the marina in Umatilla. It was pretty spectacular but I don't have any pictures that turned out. Picture this though- two brothers, leaning in on one another, while the rocket's red glare lights up the sky between their two heads. It was so stinkin' cute. Most of the spectators were "oooo-in and ahhhh-in" over the fireworks but the true show was right there in front of me.

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I hope you find a real 'show' in the midst of your 4th of July celebration!