February and March 2015

My apologies for not posting in so long! 

I haven't been very good about taking pictures of what is happening in our lives. Which looking back is kind of sad, but where do you find the balance of living in the moment, and not behind a camera, and capturing moments to share with others and to look back on?! 

I'm not real sure, but here are a few things that I did capture! I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our lives. I don't know how much our love for each other and happiness in the life God has given us can come through in pictures, but I sure hope you get a glimpse!

Glenn and Annie's cat
This is Keeks, I can't remember which is Litttle Keeks and Big Keeks, because they are now the same size!
This one is super friendly, always greeting me and with all dignity demands a petting before I start cleaning.

So chickens out here are HUGE! I pay just over $4 per chicken,
 this is two, and get this much meat....

I love it!

Granny Clem's sister, Aunt Annabelle, is making a states quilt.
When she got sick, Granny volunteered to help her. Then Granny heard
some new great-grandbabies were on the way, and wanted to start working on their quilts.
So Momma said she would help Granny!
And I got the California one to do:)

Cerro Cabrillo hike again! Another beautiful day.

In this one you can see Morro Rock.
 Just this side of it and a tiny bit to the right is Black Hill, which I have not hiked yet:( 

Loving the green!!

Cherisa has been doing Couch to 5 K program usually twice a week around Atascadero Lake. Sometimes Paige and Bryson, Mom and Sarah Beth, and I all come! Sometimes she has to do it alone:( Lucy came once too. It is a lot of fun to walk and talk and run and huff and puff together!

Matthew went into Bargain Market with me one day. I had to grab 2 or 3 things, but of course we came out with 5 or 6! Matthew was really excited when he saw the chia seeds, runners' food, and got two bags. When we got home he looked up recipes to use them in. The bread one was really strange, so I found this one done in the pull-apart way, which I'd never seen before. It didn't turn out the greatest, but it looked neat!

Lacing together another braided rug. I have three braids that need to be laced together but I'm almost out of lacing, and I also had some pretty blisters from pulling the lace tight!

One day I came home to find a blue jay on Buttercup's back! I was surprised!

I knew birds landed on zebra's back, like in the Bill Pete books (very educational:), but I'd never heard of other birds landing on a horse's back. Since then I've seen it a few times, as well as on the deer's back! 

Buttercup always gets a funny expression like, 'aaah... hi! What are you doing back there? 

Are you friendly? Okay, I won't twitch then.'

Spring has sprung!

(and since then sprung to brown):

I had fun taking these pictures of Uncle Jerry's trees one day while I was waiting for Ashley to come run. I love how the little bud seems to possess potential energy. 

Like it is just waiting to burst into a boom! 

Sweet Cassi is growing up! Don't you see Kevin? That's what most people say, I'm

 not much for 'oh, her nose is just like so-and-so's, but that mouth, that is so-and-so all over again.' But I know she's super cute :)

I haven't gotten to hold her much because I had a cold that turned into bronchitis.

Another cleaning day at Annie's.

It was cold and rainy and whichever Keeks and Cooper were looking in like,

'you mean you aren't going to let us into the warm house to keep you company? 

We have to stay out in the damp cold?'

Thanksgiving dinner was a long time ago, but I was still missing not being able to have a 'real' turkey dinner. So I made these fried onions from scratch for the green bean casserole which I made cream of mushroom soup from scratch and used almond milk. Like the recipe says, make twice as many as you need because you are going to eat half before you can get it into your recipe!

Ryan and Paige and Bryson came to help us eat everything. Paige made some amazing glutenous rolls for the guys, and we enjoyed GF and dairy free stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, gravy, turkey and cranberry sauce.

Okay, so here's a picture of real, everyday life! That huge stack of dished that is waiting every morning for me... Sometimes I just have to take a picture afterwards to completely enjoy the short lived feeling of accomplishment! It isn't something I really mind doing for the most part, but it does get old and mundane so pause a moment  with me and help me enjoy a job completed!

I started listening to Psalms during this 15-25 minutes of my day. I had been feeling disconnect from God and remote. As I listened to the pouring out of a heart to God, I realized that I had forgotten the open, genuine prayer and conversation with the Lord. I remember as a young teen trying to read the Psalms and just not getting it! The despair, the darkness, the loneliness. 

In my youth and inexperience in life, I couldn't relate. But as different hard times came through later teen years and young adulthood, I found my Best Friend and felt the honest and direct prayer to my God. The times of knowing He is hearing but feeling like there is no response. Of having confidence that He cared, but not seeing it in life. These memories and a deeper connection came to me as I listened and began talking to my Best Friend in this way again.

This morning was so much fun!

When I started running around the lake it was barely misting through a dense fog, but by the time I finished it was POURING! As people ran for their homes and cars, I had a blast saying, "Good morning! Beautiful day!" Because for me it was. It isn't often here to have inclement weather. I love the sunshine and warmth, but I miss the challenge of functioning in bad weather. Of going for a walk despite the wind, or cold, or rain, or snow. Or the challenge of finding beauty after 3 weeks of RDF (rain, drizzle and fog). There is something that makes you ALIVE in those times and I do miss that every once in a long while! So this morning was the cheeriest in a long time for me, and also the first time I ran 5 miles. 

Sarah Beth is taking some collage courses at South Cuesta campus. That's right next door to where Matthew works. So sometimes I have gone with Vanessa and SB. We would drop of Sarah Beth and wait a few minutes until Austin got out of class to meet at Bishop's Peak. Sometimes Lauren and her dogs, Cody and Tessa, came too. After hiking, we'd go back and wait for SB to get out of class and usually by then it was time for Matthew to get off work. So he would pick me up to go home together.

SO GREEN!

Fixing some necklaces. Please notice the handy tool in the bottom left corner of the picture! This was part of my birthday gift from Austin. It has two little legs that pop out and a little suction cup clip that can hold your phone for a timed selfie! I thought it was just the greatest thing! I also got a waterproof bag from him. Cherisa's gift to me cracked me up! A Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Pound Plus AND a pair of gloves weights that I'd been wanting! Sarah Beth gave me a gift card to our favorite coffee shop, Merry Hill.  Dad and Mom gave me salt and pepper grinders (which I had been wanting) and a very useful Trader Joe's insulated bay, which was perfect timing as the one Linda gave me for our honeymoon and had just ripped! Daddy and Momma gave me money to buy some Norwex stuff I'd been drooling over! The dusting mitt is wonderful!

This is an early Sunday morning at the Wagon Wheel at Grizzly. They were doing a 10K run.

I was planning on running with them but hurt my foot about week before. So I took pictures instead!

On the right are the girl members of the run club. They were warming up.

I thought this was really cool!

It was foggy and the sun just started to break through. 

I got some really neat pictures, and then the fog closed back in darker than before. 

It was the morning of the time change, got up early, went to Camp San Luis, did a race, home, showers, second breakfast, and went to meeting! 

Atascadero deer...

What can I say?

They just look at you like, "Excuse me, do you need something? I'm eating my lunch."

It is kind of neat and naturish to have them walking through the yard all the time,

as long as I don't have any plants that I don't want them to eat!

I was walking along in Albertson's grocery when I saw this.

I cracked up!

"Jumbo Pack, Hot Wood"

It was around $8, I forget exactly.

This girl had two blue cheerleading pig tails attached to her helmet!

More springing!

I love these trees and got to them several times on my many visits to Dr. Cohen's office.

Braided rug completed!

I got this t-shirt on our anniversary in Santa Barbara when I forgot to pack a shirt for hiking the second day. I really like it but it has this huge rubbery tag on the back. After sweating the least little bit it sticks fast right between the shoulder blades! Whoever's bright idea this was, had better go back to design school! 

This was after I tried to melt it off with a hot iron and an old rag. It took some off but not enough. I ended up sewing a small patch over it.

Avocados, 2/$1 anyone???

I love CA!!

Grits and an omelet anyone?

Giant chocolate chip cookie anyone?

Ha, you hungry yet? ;)

Spring flowers at Annie's

I love the view out the back of their house!

One Wednesday I went out to the ranch with Annie to count calves! 

So much fun, besides trying to drive over a rattlesnake to kill it...

This brown calf looked pretty new.

This one has a white heart on it's face.

One day I grabbed eggs at Bargain Market, which I don't usually do.

They were Jumbo and about 80% were double yolkers!

How do you count calories on that?!

Or if I normally scramble 4 eggs for us, and the first two I crack open are double yolks, 

how many eggs do I do?!

I can fit my bike in my car! One Sunday afternoon I rode down to Mom and Dad's and Matthew picked me up after the guys played paintball, so I had to get it home again somehow.

So that's it for now. There are a few more pictures in March of our little house/pet sitting adventure in San Luis Obispo, living the city life! But I'll include those another time since I don't have them load yet. Off to Hunter Liggett this week for some camping! Looking forward to that and being with everyone. Hope you are doing well and talk to you next time!