"Both abundance and lack of abundance exist simultaneously in our lives as parallel realities. It is our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present- love, health, family, friends, work, joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth."


Aug 6, 2012

Odd Sunday Visitors

Our Sunday afternoon was a little more exciting than usual yesterday.  A few moose decided to wander through the neighborhood.  They usually don't make it so far into town but we got a close up view.  The police had to keep them coralled by our fence until it was cool enough for Fish and Game to come tranquilize them.  They were also nice enough to leave fertilizer in our back yard and I haven't checked yet to see if they helped themselves to anything in the garden.  Anyway, it was good entertainment for the kids for a few hours.













Jul 11, 2012

A Visit with Tyler and Sarah

Hello Dolly

Two months ago, I took Halle to our local community theater auditions for "Hello Dolly."  Since they said they don't accept any kids younger than eight, I was just planning on showing her what an audition looks like.  But once we got there, she begged me to let her get up and try the dance with one of the audition groups, and they agreed to let her on.  She didn't even get an audition number or anything, but the next week she was on the cast list. 
 
Now here we are at dress rehearsals, and Neal has spent just about every evening and Saturday building the sets with one other dad and I am working behind the scenes moving set pieces on and off stage.  Neither of us had planned to get this involved, but it's been a lot of fun.  We are, however, relieved that it's almost over.  Since we won't actually get a chance to watch the play, someone took some pictures for us.  If you look close, you can see Halle in a few of them.  (Oh, and you aren't supposed to see Dolly at the top of the stairs at "Harmonia Gardens."  We just didn't have the curtain up yet)

May 1, 2012

New Glasses

Dillon has glasses now and he looks so different- so much older. They seem to fit him, though, don't they?

Mar 6, 2012

A Few More Laughs

Alas, the home computer bit the dust for good a few months back.  So much for catching up.  But I wanted to share a few more comical kid-isms we've had in the past week.
 
Halleisms (if she doesn't know the exact pronunciation, she picks the next closest thing) - ie- the Rifle Tower or Naturella Cheese
 
Katiesm (courtesy of cousin Katie) - "Are we going to the Home Hippo (Depot)?"
 
Dillon - "Mom, can we go on vacation to Jamba Juice someday?"  (I call that excellent advertising)
 
Halle - "Mom, I think my heart attack came back again" spoken with her hand on her forehead.
 
 
And last, but not least . . .
 
Halle - "Mom, is Daddy coming to church with us today?"
Me - "No, he's sick today."
Halle - "Is it because he ate too much candy?"
Me - "No, he has a bug."
Halle - "What's a bug?"
Me - "You know when we tell you to wash your hands really good because there are germs on them?  Well sometimes the germs are still there and they can make us sick."
Halle - "Oh."
 
10 minutes later at church, our neighbor came over to say hi and Dillon says to her, "My daddy swallowed a bug."

Dec 1, 2011

A Few Things to Smile At

Aaahhhh! My old slow computer is back up and running and I can finally work on pictures again. That's enough to make me very happy. I have a whole lot of catching up to do, but for now I wanted to post a few things that made me happy as I was trying to decide where to start.

This video is from Halle's preschool concert last spring. You can see that she was way more into it than her backup singers were.








This is actually a very recent picture. I always forget to take progress pictures of our home improvement projects so I am proud of myself for remembering this time. We are finishing our basement right now and this is the mess we are living with right now. Dillon has been helping the guys with whatever he can help with. He's finally starting to mimic the men in his life a little and apparently this is a huge milestone. That makes me smile more than seeing my basement finished any day.



Oct 20, 2011

A Beautiful Fall Day

Our evening bike rides are fewer and fewer as the sun starts setting a little earlier each night.  We have a nature park very close to our house that we love to ride through and this night was perfect.