My personal favorite is Princess (named by Amanda). She is the chunkiest, fluffiest, sweetest kitty in the bunch. She just can't get enough lovin' and we can't seem to keep our hands off her.
She is such a purr-ty cat and I don't know that we will be able to leave this house without her.
I held her like a baby for half an hour the other day and she was in heaven.
I wish it really were...within my reach, I mean. I have been drooling over the idea of spending a summer at RMSP in Missoula Montana for about 3 years now. They have an 11 week Summer Intensive program and when you come out of it you are ready to go as a professional photographer. What a dream come true that would be.
The mist was barely lifting as I began and it gave those first pictures such a mysterious/melancholy feel.
I loved how the waves would rush into this crevice, then shoot powerfully into the air.
The water in the tide pools was so clean and clear, you could easily see the tiny crabs swimming around.
Somebody forgot to tell the seagulls they are supposed to be afraid of people. This guy was happy to pose for a portrait.
I was amazed when I came to an area with a ton of sea lions lounging on the shoreline. There was one in particular that caught my attention. Every time the wave would rush toward him, he would lift his head high in the air so his head wouldn't get wet.
Then I came upon these strange creatures who were also lounging around. Group nap? Nope, they were actually doing yoga.
Tonight my gratitude is overflowing. When I heard that my Dad would be released from the hospital this afternoon, I was finally able to exhale the breath I'd been holding for two weeks. Two weeks ago he went in for some tests and before he knew it they were performing major emergency surgery that he was not really expected to live through. The Dr. warned that if he did live through it, he may not have use of his legs. It was agony for me to be so far away and to not know if I would ever see him again or have one more of our "solve the world's problems" conversations. All I knew was that this could not be it because I still really need him in my life. My dad spent most of the past two weeks in ICU getting some major kinks worked out, then got transferred to a regular room a few days ago. He had VERY limited use of his legs until yesterday when he pulled himself out of bed and took himself for a walk down the hallway. With a walker, of course. I sure wish I had been there to see that, and I'm sure you could have heard the faint sound of angels sing Alleluia in the background. I'm so glad that he is able to come back home to recuperate. I love you Dad and wish so much that I could come be with you! When I told Janet what had happened to you she said, "I swear Kase, your dad has like 9,000 lives!" That cracked me up and I hope she is right!
Several weeks ago, Austin and I decided that we really wanted to get in shape. We began getting up early to work out before school and we've also been running in the evenings when the temperatures cool down. I am enjoying the results I am seeing in my body but more than that I have enjoyed spending this time with my son. Our evening runs have become one of my favorite parts of the day. We encourage each other to keep going when we want to quit and we have pushed ourselves to go farther and farther each time. We started with about a half of a mile and tonight we ran 3.5 miles. We feel so accomplished! Austin makes me feel old when I watch him run. He bounces along like he has springs in his legs and just when I am about to keel over, he will break into a sprint. I spend a lot of time laughing at him because he will do things like race dogs along a fence line while barking back at them. I beg him not to do these things because laughing while running cuts my power in half but the kid is merciless and keeps it up.Unfortunately, tonight our run ended with a terrifying event. We were worn out and struggling up our last hill when all of a sudden a beat up brown van flew up to the curb right behind us. We heard it coming and as I turned to see what was going on I saw that the passenger door had flung open and a man was jumping out before the van had even fully stopped. My heart jumped into my throat as I heard Austin yell back to me, "Run Mom! Run!" and deep in my soul, I knew he was right. I was literally sick as we ran for our lives, believing we would be thrown in that van and whisked away. Luckily, we happened to be not too far from the back side of our house. From the sidewalk we had to climb up a weedy, stickery hill and then climb over the back fence. I was so exhausted and frantic I could barely make it over. I was so, so relieved when we were finally safe! When we told Aaron what had happened, he tried to calm our fears by suggesting other possible reasons the van had pulled over. Austin and I are both very familiar with "promptings" and I have no doubt that we were prompted to run for our lives with every ounce of strength we could muster.
Now that my fear has subsided I am so angry that Austin and I will not be able to run, be silly and enjoy our time the way we have been. Now if we run, we will looking for threatening brown vans and wondering what could happen next time if we don't happen to be close to home. Aaron offered to follow us in the car for now on and I'm sure we will be taking him up on that. I know that our runs won't be the same, being shadowed by our own personal security guard, but I am determined to not give up something I love because of the evil lurking in the world. I will not let evil win.
My friend Janet and I met when we were twelve years old. We were instant friends and did all those things twelve year olds do. We tied up the phone lines for hours at a time, slept over every chance we got, and most of all talked about BOYS. We were great friends through Jr. High then got a bit separated in High School. I think we had only one class together out of all four years and yet we stayed close through constant phone conversations. Those conversations have been going on for 21 years now. As far back as I can remember, Janet has always looked forward to being a mom. She was deciding the names of her three children in Jr. High and knew that of course, she would have a girl first. She absolutely had to have a girl. After High School, Janet became a Labor and Delivery nurse and has probably helped deliver hundreds of babies over the years but it wasn't until the evening of May 9th that she delivered one of her own. I can't even put into words how honored I was to be present when little Addison Elizabeth came into the world and made her mother's greatest dream come true. Janet looked like she was bursting with joy and I was bursting with joy right along with her.
This Mother's Day I am feeling so grateful. Grateful to be a mother to these three awesome kids and grateful to have a mother who has been such a wonderful example to me. I couldn't ask for a better mother or better children. How did I get so lucky?
It's exciting to get flowers for your birthday.
Whenever I look through old photo albums I pretty much skip past the hundreds of Chistmas and birthday photos. I don't know why I have taken so many pictures of people opening presents other than the fact that it seems obligatory. The pictures I really stop and look at are the ones that capture a little slice of every day life. A couple weeks ago I went into the girls room to deliver their clean laundry and found Lauren laying on her bed reading a book. Something about her look of peaceful concentration and the soft glow of light made me want to remember that moment forever. It's moments like these that I will miss when my kids are grown and gone.
This morning I was fighting off a wave of emotion as I drove Austin to school. This kid of mine is growing into a young man right before my eyes and my heart aches because I know that in a few short years he will be ready to leave home and build a life of his own. It seems that every day his eye level creeps up closer to mine and I notice things, like how he no longer hugs me around the waist but can put his arm around my shoulders. I know that someday he will be amused when due to his increasing height, I have to look up to him. What he may not know is that I have always looked up to him. I have always marvelled at his intelligence, his work ethic, his strength of character, his integrity, his grasp of personal responsibility and his ability to do well at just about anything he tries. He is an awesome kid and I am so, so proud to be his mom.
