Some Stuff We've Been Up To

Jackson and his latest creation

Savanna shoveling my driveway

The boys being silly

Savanna and the team at the OSU Gymnastics Meet

The girls with the OSU women's gymnastics team

Blue Hawaii

I had a dream last night that I was visiting my brother Jon in Hawaii. The breezes were warm and I can't even describe to you the clear blue sky. I just kept staring at this beautiful sky. Even in my dream I was saying "Wow, we haven't had a sky like that in forever!" Then, unfortunately, I woke up looked outside and saw nothing but gray. Gray sky, gray snow, gray trees. I am so sick of gray! I looked down and even the sweats I was wearing (and not surprisingly am still wearing) were gray. Have you ever read the book "The Giver"? It starts out with this society of people who live in a world with no color but they don't realize it. Since they've never had color they don't know what it is when they see it. That's how I feel and this dream woke me up to what color is. Wow, I miss it and honestly I really want to be in Hawaii right now.

Savanna's Floor Routine

Here is Savanna at her last meet. She got 2nd on Floor and this is her routine.

Survival

I recently read a book called The Survivor's Club. It was about how people survive, what gives them an edge, why some persevere and others simply give up. It recounted stories of cancer, unemployment, car accidents, mountain lion attacks, you name it. Anyway I've been thinking a lot about surviving lately. We had a couple of weeks I wondered if I'd survive. Now of course these were minor in comparison to having your face ripped off by a mountain lion, surviving cancer or having acid dumped on you but it was what I've been dealt...so far. Our family got a respiratory flu for about a week and then Luke's turned into pneumonia which triggered asthma and put him in the hospital for 3 days. That was a first for us, because a)I've never had the flu for that long and b)we've never had a kid in the hospital, scary. It definitely made me grateful for the time we live in. I couldn't help but think about the flu epidemic of 1918 when so many died from it. I hope we never have to survive something like that.
I think sometimes we can equate survival to the good times as well, like say surviving a family reunion. We had a great time, horseback riding, eating, fishing, eating, chasing kids, eating, laughing, eating...there was a lot of adrenaline going on and when that was gone I got violently ill for about 4 hours, probably something I ate. But I survived and with some great memories. All in all survival is one of those things that comes in all shapes and sizes, it can be small or huge and life changing, it can be very public or it can be something no one is ever aware of, it could be a trial and a burden or a satisfied sigh at the end of an amazing adventure. Regardless of what package it comes in we are all survivors.

Happy Birthday Liam!

Liam celebrated his 3rd birthday Sunday. I can't believe it's been 3 years since he was born. Here are a few pics of his big day.

Liam is a hug fan of Scooby Doo,

and also monster trucks.

Calling all Conservatives - The Follow Up

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post and for the interest you expressed. What I decided to do was find a group that was already formed. I used meetup.com and found a local group of conservatives that get together to discuss the books they are reading and talk about what they can do to make a difference politically and otherwise. We are meeting Tuesday, March 31st if anyone is interested in going with me. I'm a little nervous so wish me luck!

Calling All Conservatives

I was wondering if anyone out there with conservative ideals and values would be interested in starting a group of sorts. Somewhere we could get together, educate each other, share information, ideas and ways to support what we believe in and fight what we don't. I want to be involved but struggle with knowing where to look and what to do. Maybe if we share what we know we can be more of a voice. I'm not sure what the best setting would be, online or in someone's home I am open to suggestions. I just need some support so please comment with any ideas. Thanks.