30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: Your Shoes

I LOVE these heels. I bought them with a gift card for my birthday and totally dig them. They have a platform so it's not quite as hard to walk in them and they are super cute!

Here's a link to them at Kohls.

We're officially halfway through with the 30 Day Photo Challenge!

Special (in a good way)

One of the more interesting things that has happened since Andrew started school is adults at our local haunts noticing he's not with me. The conversation usually goes something like:

Them (grocery clerk, barista, etc) "oh, did Andrew start school?"

Me "yes, he's in first grade now."

Them "wow! That's so great, how did the first day go?"

Me "really well, he's such a social kid and he loves school so it's easy for him to go."

Them "he really his such a nice, social boy. You guys have done a great job."

Now I'm not sharing this with you to toot my own horn, believe me, if we were perfect parents we'd already have written a book or 10 and be cashing in! Thinking about these conversations this morning made me realize how much the seemingly "little" interactions we have with people each day may truly mean a lot more to them than we realize.

I realize this isn't a new revelation, but take a second to think about what it would look like if every interaction we had was purposefully meaningful. To Andrew these interactions are all special and meaningful. He looks forward to going into the usual Starbucks, Togos and grocery stores so he can see his "friends". If we go at a different time and I tell him his friends won't be working he always quips "don't worry, that just means I can make new ones". Writing that line and picturing him saying it, just made me realize what a truly special boy he is to think that.

Here's my challenge (including to myself) try to make each interaction today a meaningful one. When the person tells you their name, remember it (I'm so guilty of this). Talk to them realizing the human being they are and love them in the way God expects us to. What a different life we would all lead if we just took the time to do it.

Proud

Right now Randy is at an informational meeting for the AIDS Lifecycle Ride. The ride is something he has wanted to participate in for quite some time and I'm so proud of him that this may finally be the year. Doing this ride would put R completely out of his comfort zone, but his passion for showing the AIDS community Christ's love (which is different from how many people believe the church treats the community) outweighs the discomfort of having boundaries pushed.

I'm super stoked to be supporting him in this and will be posting more about it as we find out information - how you can support him financially, through prayer, etc.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 14

Day 14: Flowers

First Day of 1st Grade

Today was A's first day of 1st grade, I can't believe time has gone by so fast. It literally feels like yesterday that we brought him home to stay with us for the first weekend. I had a rough time last night after he went to bed (definitely didn't want him to see Mommy's tears) coming to terms with the fact that my little buddy wouldn't be around in the afternoons to hang out with me anymore. He started full school days going from 8:45-3:15.

Thankfully, he loves school and is such a social little guy so it makes it a lot easier for him in new situations. He was so excited to go today to see all his friends, have two recesses, and learn new things. Randy and I were concerned with how he would be at the end of the day figuring he'd be tired and horribly grumpy but I was pleasantly surprised to find him totally content and happy! We went to The Penny Creamery with some friends from school to celebrate the first day. Such a great milestone and day.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 13

Day 13: From A Distance

The close up picture yesterday was Lola's tail. Here's a picture of her from a further distance.

Samson Family

Saturday night we traveled to Walnut Creek to visit with my dad's side of the family. His sister and one of his brothers had come to California to visit with their parents (my grandparents) for a week, which was fantastic since they haven't seen them in probably 4-5 years.

It was fun to hang out with my aunts and uncles as an "adult" even though I've been one for many years. My youngest uncle and I have a child the same age (born literally 7 days apart) so it was fun for them to play together. Everyone always just picks up where they left off as if no time has passed between seeing each other. Definitely love my family and was happy to be able to see them again.

Here are my grandparents with their grandkids (my cousins)

and their great grandson (my little one, A).

Panoramic pic of the goings on. My mom, aunt (dad's sister), uncle (dad's brother)

and dad in the kitchen. Grandpa, the kids and uncle in the family room.

Aunt taking pictures and Randy hiding in the corner ;)

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 12

Day 12: Up Close

Not sure what to say about this photo. Guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow's challenge for "from a distance".

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 11

Day 11: Something Fun

Beach volleyball is one of my favorite things. It's great exercise and just a good time to hang with friends and be active. This is a panoramic picture of the Tuesday night group I play with, always a fun time.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 10

Day 10: Something I Made

Rubber stamping is a hobby I've had for over 10 years. The past 5 years I haven't done it as much as I used to, but when I have it's always something I truly enjoy.

This is a project I made last year. The frames I bought at the dollar spot at Target and then I hand stamped the flowers, water colored the images and attached them to coordinating paper and included some embellishments. Custom artwork for less than $5!

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 9

Day 9: Faceless Self Portrait

Taken at Jade Street park during A's soccer practice.

Waaaah I'm Sick

I was trying to ignore it and just keep pushing through, but I finally have to admit I am sick. I started feeling off while we were in Tahoe but kept pushing through blaming it on the elevation, or different pillows, or basically anything but being sick. I spent most of today sleeping in between concerts from A with the damn Paper Jamz guitar. Seriously, if you ever want to get the kid in your life an annoyingly loud gift, one of these would be perfect. Hoping the rest today and some more tomorrow (sadly have to cancel volleyball for tomorrow night) will help me to get better quickly for my out of state family's visit this weekend.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 8

Day 8: Technology

Shockingly, this one was kind of hard. I could be obvious and take a picture of the computer, or iPad, or Randy's replacement iPhone, but I didn't. This is a picture from inside the carwash today.

Yes, we might think of the carwash as an "old" invention/technology but think about our great grandparents, they would be amazed by this kind of thing! The second part of this technology themed picture is that I used Instagram one of my all time favorite apps for the iPhone. If you don't have it, get it!

Tahoe Sunday

Day 2 we got a late start and did a few things closer to home. The other family (The Griffins) came up Saturday night and so we spent most of Sunday with them swimming, hanging out at the lake and then packing up to go home. Here are a few snapshots of the day:

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 7

Day 7: Something New

This photo I took at Squaw Valley is an awesome example of new life. These flowers bloom every summer after the snow (as seen in the background) has finally melted off. It just amazes me that new life can grow from under something so seemingly bleak and dense, and a good reminder that changes and opportunity can hide just beneath the surface of where you least expect it.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 6

Day 6: Childhood Memory

One of my favorite childhood memories is swimming. I have been able to swim for as long as I can remember, it started with taking lessons during preschool. During my tweens and teens we either owned a pool, or belonged to a neighborhood that had a pool association, which was an awesome thing growing up. I've recently re-discovered my love of swimming with trips to the lake and swimming in the pool with Andrew in Tahoe. So great to see that he is picking up my love of the water.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 5

Day 5: Someone You Love

Picking just one person you love is ridiculously hard, but I chose my Andrew. As much as he challenges me, I love that little booger with all my heart. I'm a better person by having him as my son. Love you buddy!

(pic was taken on the gondola up to High Camp at Squaw Valley today)

Tahoe Saturday

This morning we got up and headed out to Squaw Valley to do some hiking, always a ton of fun! We took the gondola (cable car) up to High Camp and hiked for a good 2+ miles. The scenery was gorgeous! Such an odd sight to see both snow and flowers flourishing. Here are some pics from our day -

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 4

Day 4: Your Favorite Color

My favorite color is teal/turquoise. This is a picture from the outer bay exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I love how the sunlight is coming in highlighting the beauty of the water.

Honestly? (aka Tahoe Friday)

It's been a trying day.

We drove up to Tahoe (North Shore) today and had a great family drive in the car. Everything was going very well until we actually got to Tahoe. Once we landed and got unpacked A just started running amuck. Granted, he was excited for his friends to arrive (turns out they had major car problems and won't be arriving till tomorrow) but he was off the hook crazy. Not listening to anything we told him, excited talking to the point of panicking, wasn't paying attention to where he was going walking to the car and smacked his head into the door so he got a HUGE knot on his forehead, and the list goes on. We finally got him semi-calmed down to go swimming but then once we were done he was whining about what fun thing he got to do next.

BREATHE

Something I think we all forget to do from time to time is to just step back and breathe. How do we get our kids to do it, if we often have times modeling it ourselves? Looking forward to a better day tomorrow and praying for renewed mommy patience with the new day.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 3

Day 3: Clouds

Today was a gorgeous, clear day with absolutely no clouds. I had to pull this pic (one of my firsts and favorites with my iPhone 4) from my camera roll. It was a gorgeous morning for volleyball that day.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: What I Wore

Nothing too fancy, went to coffee with a friend (and her new baby!) who I haven't seen in a while. Jeans, black top, black sweater and my blue hawaiian flower flip flops.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 1

Day 1: Self Portrait

I took this photo after getting my hair cut and straightened by the amazing Evelyn Drake. Like most people, I'm not a huge fan of photos of myself, but this one isn't bad ;)

30 Day Photo Challenge

Like I said, I'm trying to get better about blogging regularly. One of the things I've been wanting to try is a 30 day photo challenge. I think it would be fun to document specific things in our lives. For this challenge I'm going to use the inspiration below, as a specific challenge to my self, I'm going to try to do 99% of the photos with my cell phone. Maybe later down the road I'll do another challenge using mostly our fancy pants SLR

I'm Still Alive

Forgive me internet, it's been 3 months since my last blog post. I really am a horrible blogger. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure Randy is the only one who reads this anyway. If there is anyone out there, here's what you've missed:

• The end of kindergarten has come and gone for A, he's a big first grader starting in 14 days.
• My brother got married in May
• I celebrated my 2 year kidneyversary in July and hoping for 30+ more.
• Spent an awesome weekend with Staci and Angel on the lake
• A finished up a great season of tball and took a variety of small summer camps (baseball, cooking, rock climbing)
• I've been playing a decent amount of beach volleyball and looking forward to a tournament in September
• I was asked to talk to members of hospital clergy staff to share my transplant story and am on "hold" to speak at high schools this coming school year

Our family is heading to Tahoe this weekend with some newer friends of ours, definitely looking forward to relaxing and some time away from Santa Cruz. Also excited, nervous, unsure for some possibilities for the future, but all great adventures start out that way, right? Just gotta leave it to God.

So here's to another promise to try to get on this thing more often. I'm going to start out easy with a 30 day photo challenge which I'll describe in my next post.

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