The Beauty of the Sea!!

I took a bunch of photos of the California coast. I love the opportunity to take photos of God's creation. I hope you enjoy how I see the beauty of the ocean.

Another Amazing Spring Break!!!

God has been showing me how to live life moment by moment. Some moments are good and of course some are not so good. Like the start of our spring break vacation. My hubby and I are in the lobby of our resort checking in. We are ready for an amazing restful week. We are met in the lobby with a glass of
champagne to welcome us. Ahhhhh! Yes, this is the way to start letting the stresses of life melt away. This was an excellent moment.


The next moment our children meet us in the lobby. Our youngest holding the cup of pop from our last stop on the way. He is white as a ghost as he says, " Mom, I ruined my root beer by throwing up in my cup." Not a good moment. Our sweet start to relaxation came to an abrupt halt. Or at least it could have. But I chose to see it for what it was....just a bad moment. This was not an omen of what was to lie ahead for the week. I wouldn't let it. I began to pray, " Lord, please protect our family from this virus. Please don't let anyone else get sick."  And that was that. Our son rested the rest of the day and was ready to go on day 2. And thank the Lord, no one else got sick.

As I type this, we are driving the 7 hours back to reality. What does this moment hold for me?  This moment holds peace, joy, and awe at how blessed I am. In vacations past, I would feel a deep sadness that our trip was quickly ending.  I would think back over the week and fight back tears as we headed on the rode that led back to our home.
My life has not changed a whole lot since those times, but my perspective has. This time I savored every moment I could and prayed that our trip would not go by too fast. I also prayed we would all be ready when it was time to go back home. I can't say that everyone in my family is content with going back to real life but I know I am at peace with it. I am much more useful at helping my kids get back in the swing of things when I am not trying to hold myself together at the thought of going back to work and school and bills.  I lived in the moment as much as possible and each of those moments held so many sweet memories and love with my family. I am very thankful! I am bursting with love
and gratitude for my Father in heaven who made this and every moment with my family possible.
Savor each moment. Look, listen, sniff, and feel what this moment has in it. You will find beauty in even the moments that seem like they don't hold any.  You will find joy in the mundane moments that seem to be the auto pilot moments of life. You will see your Father in heaven smiling on you and blessing you with the desires of your heart. Stop! What is in your moment right now?

Keep Calm and Put Your Feet Up!

I pride myself on being organized. Oh, believe me, I wasn't always this way, because I don't think my parents would have labeled me as organized as a kid.
But, once I got out on my own, I came up with a list or way of doing almost everything. I wrote to do lists everyday. Each day a different area of my home got cleaned. (I still do that...hehe) Monday is living room, Tuesday is Kitchen, Wednesday is bedroom, Thursday is bathroom, Friday is touch ups. My kids chores are based on this system as well. It works and I love it!
Then,  I started organizing my meals. Monday I made something with hamburger, Tuesday with chicken, and so on. I carried many of my mom's cooking traditions into my own family as well. Sunday is pizza and movie night, Wednesday is waffle Wednesday, etc.

After my kids got older I discovered menu planning. I still do this today. It sure helps with the stress of

wondering what to make each night. I now have a printable grocery list which has my staple items already on it. I have a list of meal ideas that I go to when planning my week and if nothing sounds good, I go to my recipe books to find new ideas.



I like routine. It has made life easier in many ways. But......there are times my hubby has not liked my organized ways. I admit if I don't get my chores done for the day, I can get a little cranky. I feel it puts me behind for the next day and the chores assigned to that day. He often wonders why I think something needs cleaning when he feels it looks just fine the way it is. Not me!

Well, this past week forced me to put my cleaning list and other routines away. I ended up in the ER with a blood pressure that was way too high. (Ok, so maybe my organization skills were not making life easier) I was forced to sit. Being up on my feet for too long started raising my BP higher and higher. My daily routine
was not getting done. The kids were doing their chores and my hubby was making the meals so everyone was fed, but my bathroom and bedroom were showing signs of a list not being tended to. Ugh! You would think my BP went higher because of this, but no. This was exactly what I needed. Usually I was running around like a robot doing what was put into my computerized brain to do. Everyday, the same thing. I needed this break in my routine to shake me up and show me that I needed to take some time away from the lists once in awhile.
In a way, I feel recharged. My bathroom may not be cleaned to my specifications, but it still works for the purpose it was created. Same with my bedroom.

Does this mean I will not clean anymore? Definitely not!!! Hehe. But I think I will take some time once in a while to let it go. I will sit and enjoy a day off from my routine! My house will still function just fine......maybe even better and more peacefully. So, if you like routine like I do, pick a date to sit and relax and let the list remain unchecked. Ask others to help once in awhile so you don't feel like you are falling behind. Allow yourself some down time. I see that I really needed it. My body is telling me I really needed it. I don't regret a minute of it either!

Winter Break!!! Am I really getting a break?

I have only a few days left of my winter break and what have I accomplished? Was it really a break? I spent weeks counting down to this 2 weeks of not having to get up early and go to work. I planned in my mind what it would be like and what I would get done around the house.
The morning would be spent slowly with a cup of coffee in hand. I made a list of the cleaning I wanted to get done with the kids help. I also planned to spend a couple hours each day studying photography tips and know how. So, did I accomplish these things?

My mornings were definitely spent with a coffee in hand and if getting up at 8 am is sleeping in (it is for me)
than they did start slow. My kids and I spent a few days deep cleaning the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. They were such troopers and I am so thankful for their help. As far as the studying, well I did some but did not reach my goal of 2 hours a day. I guess I anticipated more hours in the day than what was reality. Lol




I made sure to take a couple days with the kids to just have fun as well. We took a couple days and just made it a movie day with no chores. We enjoyed these lazy
days, because they are few and far between in our house. We also took a couple days and spent them at our time share in Phoenix. We enjoyed the pool and hot tub, went out to eat, to a movie and out for ice cream. We even did a little shopping.

And I can't forget the holidays. This was the first Christmas without our oldest daughter, Ashley, living with us. It was very strange to not have her here to help right away and to have to work around her schedule and time with her boyfriends family. I don't like to share her, but I have
to.
We also had our former foster daughter, Saraphina, here with her boyfriend. She is our daughter. We have eliminated the foster part. She is as much a part of our family as the rest of our children and it was a blessing to have her here. We had a sweet day!
And finally we rang in the new year with just our family, minus Ashley and Saraphina, but it was a sweet evening as well.

As I look back over this winter break, it was a bit different than how I had pictured it but it was so sweet in its own way. I don't do new years resolutions, but I do want to change something this year. My perspective! Instead of dreaming up in my mind how a break, vacation, or other upcoming event should play out, I want to give it to God and wait and see what gifts and treasures of sweet moments He had dreamed up for me.
So, Happy New Year to all who read this. I hope your holiday season was one filled with fond memories. I know mine was!!!

Winter is Here!!!

We got some snow here in Arizona the weekend of Christmas. I am not a big fan of snow because I grew up in North Dakota and spent 30+ winters there. I have had my fill of snow!!! But it is still very pretty, I must say. So, I had to take some photos of it.

Catching Up!!!

I haven't been posting my photos like I used to. So, I decided to do some catching up. Here are some of the scenery photos I have done. 

Fall is here!

Monsoon season is winding down.

Photos of the Verde Valley from Jerome, Az. This is a place everyone needs to see!

Photos from on top of Mingus Mountain of the Verde Valley.

Thanksgiving 2016!!!!

Thanksgiving has come and gone again for another year. We had a great time with family and friends. We tried starting our day with the parade like we do every year, but the kids quickly got bored so it didn't last long. Plus, we got busy right away with preparations of food and table settings. My daughter, Ashley, has the job of setting the table and she loves it. She won't let anyone else do it! The past couple of years she has also taken on the job of making apple pie. She is very successful at it!! My other daughter, Hailey, has her jobs each year of preparing the relish tray, cranberries, buns, and of course lefse. If you don't know what lefse is you are missing out on a real Norwegian treat.
The easiest way to explain it is it looks like a tortilla made with potatoes. You dress it with butter and
 sugar or brown sugar, roll it up, and enjoy! Yum!

The boys, Brendan and Adam, help with odds and ends such as bringing in extra chairs, tables, or running out to the freezer or fridge in the garage to get us this or that. I, of course, have a very important job. I cook all the traditional yummy foods. My hubby usually has the job of cooking the turkey though. We have for years used a turkey fryer to cook our turkey. We tried it once and were sold and have done it that way since. Except this year, he got the day off because some sweet friends who joined us for Thanksgiving, brought the turkey. It was a special treat!!

After we ate and cleaned up and refilled the dishwasher for about the 3rd time, hehe, we sat down and enjoyed a movie or visited until our tummies could endure a piece of pie. I went away from the traditional pies a bit and added a chocolate chip cookie pie for my hubby. His favorite dessert is obviously, chocolate chip cookies. Lol. We also had pumpkin, which is a must, as well as Ashley's apple pie. It was all wonderful.

We ended our day by saying good bye to our friends and thanking them for the incredible turkey, and then drew names for Christmas. The kids love this part! They look forward to getting and also giving gifts. We set a budget and everyone updates the gift list I keep on our main computer to make buying a little easier. Of course, Mark and I exceed the budget a bit and buy a little extra for the kids. We don't go crazy though because we don't want it to become a greedy time of the year. We want it to be special and fun and another fond memory as a family who loves and works together.

I am so thankful for my family. I think I thank God everyday for them. I feel like I have done what I wanted to do when I see them get so excited about days like Thanksgiving. I pray it will always be a day they will look forward to.  I pray yours was a day with fond memories as well! Until next year, Happy Thanksgiving!!!