The GRAND CANYON

Gary spent 8 days in the Grand Canyon on a river trip in the beginning of October. He rowed a raft the entire time, slept on the water during the night, made new friends and enjoyed every minute of the adventure. He considers it one of the most wonderful & memorable times of his life and is so thankful for the opportunity. Here are some pictures from his trip.

A sibling for Canyon

A sibling for Canyon will be arriving this April. Gary and I have been so excited and we feel so blessed to have had this baby come so easy. We have been talking about babies a lot in our house and Canyon seems to be excited every time he is around or sees a baby. He especially loves his two cousins that were born last month. He also enjoys toting around a baby doll, wrapping it in a blanket, kissing it, and giving it nap time (which he quickly discards at the sight of a more interesting activity). He is very sweet and I know he will be a wonderful big brother.

I am thrilled and grateful to be having another baby. I am finally getting past the fatigue and sickness of the first trimester and aching to hold a newborn in my arms. Gary has been very accommodating and kind with all my needs and has been coming up with all kinds of crazy names (most of which cannot be used for a human child).

With my excitement about a new baby I am even more grateful to be giving Canyon a sibling. I love my brother and sister so much. I consider them some of the most important and influential people in my life. Despite the teasing, bickering, and annoyance we caused each other growing up we are now friends, good friends. You know the “Sunscreen speech?” Well there is a line that says “Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.” I believe this to be true and I hope this is an inspiration I can teach Canyon and our new baby.

A weekend away...

It had been 1 1/2 years since we spent a day and a night together alone. That is too long. We didn't really think about how long it had been until we got the chance to get away. This past weekend Gary and I went to Greer (a gift I won at my work Christmas party last year). The weather was cool and wet, but we enjoyed a short hike, watching movies, eating food and giving eachother 100% of our attention. I love Gary so much! I am so happy he is my husband.

A picture from our hike
The rain coming down.
On our way home there was a thin sheet of snow. You can imagine how happy this made Gary.

Inspirations of Peace

I have been reading a book of daily advice from the Dalai Lama. yesterdays advice was:

In order to to transform self-hatred, we need to become aware that we have developed a false self-image and instead cultivate an authentic and healthy self-confidence based on our fundamental human qualities. We should be humble and more open to others.

Then today I was browsing the Internet and found this picture. You can barely see the photo, but it is of 9 young boys dressed as Mahatma Ghandi to celebrate the Peace Activist's 139th birthday. It is so sweet to me to see people remember and honor such an amazing man.

Despite all the turmoil in the world I still find inspiration and hope for PEACE. I believe that the human race is good. I believe that we do care about each other and I pray that we can continue to open our hearts and minds to cultivate a more peaceful world.

A trip to Albuquerque

With my Dad and Clorie returning from New Hampshire and the Holly's having a weekend full of football we headed over to Albuquerque for a fun filled weekend.

On Saturday morning Matthew played a football game (coached by Mark).

They won and it was so fun to watch!

Later that afternoon we put on our Wildcat gear to watch a Arizona/New Mexico collage game.
Hanging with Matt
Me and Skye at the Game
Mark got to take the boys out onto the LOBO field to play a scrimmage during half time.

I recently got back in touch with my old friend Kelli. She came to a sopapilla party that my dad had on Sunday. It was wonderful to catch up lost time.More pictures from the sopapilla party:

YARD WORK

Gary and I have been working hard all summer on our yards. Before the summer came to and end I thought I would share our progress with you.

Flowers in pots in the front yard:

I planted 3 new rose bushes in the front yard flower beds:
More flowers in the front yard:
We planted a vegetable garden in the backyard. The prettiest part of the garden right now is the marigolds I planted to keep the good bugs coming. We had cucumbers, lettuce, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon and cantaloupe in our garden. Canyon has loved the grape tomatoes and cucumbers. I have been loving everything:
We got our sprinkler system fixed at the beginning of the summer so we replanted the grass in the back yard:This is the entrance into the garden. I can't wait to grow something on my arbor next year:
Our most recent project is laying the sandstone. It has given our yard a softer, less square look. I absolutely love it. The grass is coming up great in between the stones:
These two have led us to one final project for the summer. Making a "dog yard." They have chewed and dug everything you can imagine. We have had to replace multiple sprinkler heads, replant grass, fill holes, repair fences. So for the sake of our yard (and the dogs) we are relocating them to a side yard where they can dig and chew without causing heartache:

Summertime

running through the sprinklers. warm nights. sunsets. vegetables in the garden. naps. afternoon thunder storms. boys. dirt in the back yard. dogs.

that's why I love the summertime.