the present

Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.
~Jean de la Bruyere

some of the grands and their enjoyment of the present

one happy boy after getting "cruncher" the remote dinosaur for his 7th birthday

clay sporting mama's shoes and a new do


milo LOVES the harley helmet papa has for the little ones
walks around in it til he's just sweatin' like crazy



wyatt, clay and brody

before brody and wyatt's 'graduation' from preschool


may we all enjoy
the little things
and our little ones!

this and that

june:

busy

hectic

celebrated
shared

activities

family

blessings

we are almost done with all the june celebrations and then jamie's being the 4th of july... it is always such a fast and furious month for all of us

cassie came down and celebrated with us and filled back up on all the love from family...including those precious little ones...her neice and nephews and we all got to have some cassie time and get our share of sister/daughter love too

bryan and i made several trips to california ~ you know me and the ocean....just can't quite get enough!

and in there also was a mammogram that came back suspicious....so an MRI was ordered for two weeks later and thankfully it came back normal!

so i am one thankful lady

a song on a cd that cassie gifted me for Christmas is a great reminder to be thankful for every day that we are alive!

i'm alive by kenny chesney

So damn easy to say that life’s so hard
Everybody’s got their share of battle scars
As for me I’d like to thank my lucky stars that
I’m alive, and well

And today you know that’s good enough for me
Breathin' in and out's a blessin' can’t you see
Today's the first day of the rest of my life
And I’m alive, and well
I’m alive, and well

and very.very.thankful

ocean love*

bryan and i took a little trip to carlsbad/oceaside ca a few weeks ago

just beautiful and full of livin'

so much vegetation around...

walks on the beach

so many beaches around this area...just beautiful


an amazing little coffee/tea eatery in encinitas

we had some amazing food!


coffee at the beach....yum

we thought the grands might enjoy these pterodactyls...er...pelicans!

the waves were just amazing while we were there

oceanside by the pier

oceanside beach area near the pier


thursday street market


The waves of the sea
Help me get back to me

great reminder*

i know i don't need another "something"
to take time away from other things that need attention
or keep me from other creative avenues...
but i have an account with pinterest.com
and i love it
it is a site to share your loves.dreams.creativity
in pictures/words......
a type of
virtual pinboard —

a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by others

this is one of my favorite pins:

sure makes you think

doesn't it?

catching up*

wow....i can't believe it has been so long since i have added to this blog.
it certainly isn't because we haven't been doing anything.....
or gone anywhere
or had a million thoughts whirling around in my head....maybe there was tooooo much going on. sometimes when that is the case
i kind of shut down as far as this blog goes....so much and so little time.
i realize blogs have started to be lost a little
in the shadow of facebook
and i participate in facebook to see what is going on "quickly" each day
with friends and family
but........i have loved going back through this blog time after time for my OWN self ;
it is my journal so-to-speak
the only one i really keep
except for my memories....and those are subject to remembering
so...i will continue to update here
to be able to come back now and again
and walk through memory lane
but it will be when time allows

we have had

jessamyn's birthday celebration
st. patrick's day fun
spring sprung
Easter
the grands joying in so many days
swimming
t-ball
i went to california to see joni and annette
mother's day celebration
and it just goes on.......
the following photos show just a bit of what has been going on with me and mine lately
in no certain order :-) joni and i in san fran ...i didn't get a photo with annette :-(

kodiak milo

clay

roses bloomed wyatt and journey

beautiful weather to spend time outside

celebrated jessamyn's 30 birthday wyatt

journey girl

asher...doin what he does

this one made nonnie very nervous
brody and wyatt
journey
brody
asher reading his book

before a game.....sharing his knowledge

my heart just swelled tonight going through these photos
our family
my grandbabies
the love i have for them all
how blessed we truly are.

a thrill

"when i no longer thrill to the first snow of the season,

i'll know i'm growing old"

~lady bird johnson

last week

it was a "cold" rainy day.

i was sitting in the living room and something caught my eye.....

soft.fluffy.snowflakes

falling

here in mesa, arizona

i jumped up

yelled

grabbed my camera

ran outside

took photos

was in awe

came in

texted my girls and others

the excitement

so glad that i'm not growing old!

joy*

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.

~H.G. Wells

during our beautiful weather, bryan and i started riding our bicycles again.

what a great way to start a morning.

we have just been setting out with no destination in mind,

winding around here and there.......exploring.

when i got my bicycle out of the garage

she was covered in dust and looked sad from neglect

so i brought her inside and spiffed her all up.

since riding became a daily event, i parked her inside

and suddenly, i just realized she fit right in.....

bicycle art...at least for me

so there she stays.....at least for now!

riding bikes has not only been a grown-up thing, as this next little generation of ours is quite into bicycles right now and showing off their skills!

brody is now doing an amazing job of riding with no training wheels, wyatt is a speedster on his Christmas bike with training wheels, and little milo who just turned 2, is a little pro on his birthday bike.

it was such a joy to watch them have so much fun together doing something as simple as riding bicycles.....another age old type of play

in fact the other day brody came over and was riding his bike and i heard this funny sound as he rode......he showed me that he had cards in his spokes and was very surprised to hear that nonnie and papa did that to our bikes when we were little!

wonderful to see old traditions carried on and new ones made