HE reigns.

i am currently loving this song ... in church, in my car, a Capella, and from the strings of my husbands guitar. just an example of HIS awesome power.
{God You Reign}

You paint the night
You count the stars and call them by name
the skies proclaimGod You reign
Your glory shines
You teach the sun when to bring a new day
creation sings God You reign

God You reign
God You reign
forever and ever
God You reign
You part the seas
You move the mountains with the words that you say
my song remains
God You reign
You hold my life
You know my heart and You call me by name
I live to say God You reign

hallelujah, hallelu {photo credit}

I can't see a picture like this without thinking, "He certainly does reign"

typos or just bad at spelling

Whoopsies. As I read through some of my old posts, I am embarrassed at my grammar and spelling mistakes. Maybe this is why my mom used to make me hand write ALL of my papers as a rough draft (ugghhh) before typing them. Maybe I am too reliant on spell-check and don't notice mistakes without the red squiggly line highlighting my typo. Hmmm. Excuses, excuses. I actually did quite well on my spelling words in grammar school. You may not believe me, but I promise. AND, it was before computers were prevalently used for homework. (I also remember what it was like when you had to manually rewind tapes and you couldn't pause television. I'm already dating myself at the ripe old age of .... 25)

Please accept my apologies (and embarrassment) for any past, present, and FUTURE spelling/grammar mistakes and typos. Thank you.

just saying ...

Today, I am suffering the consequences of my allergy to walnuts. Although I am not a fan of walnuts, they seem to find their way into things that I am a fan of, i.e. fudge, granola, health bars, salads, and so on. I know you are just dying to know what happens when I eat a walnut (aren't you??) ... WELL, my mouth just about explodes. Ok, maybe it's not THAT bad, but it does get very raw, fills up with canker sores (weird name for a sore), and sometimes bleeds. There, you asked for it.

But to move past the oh, so glamorous life of a walnut-intolerant being, I must share these cute pictures of a man I find oh, so handsome.working away in the shop on a cabinet. nope, it's not for me. not yet at least.

he is loving the redneck life. ok, just because he is on a riding lawn mower doesn't make him a redneck, but i was told by a friend that the shirt and cut-offs do. cutest red neck i've ever seen.

Last Saturday, my face was lit up by brilliant flashes of fire streaming from the sky. 4th of July in Cameron Park was celebrated on the 3rd of July ... and we celebrated with our dear friends (ok, let's face it, we see the Bashams so often, they are practically family) on their front lawn as the fire bombs exploded above us. f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s.
one of my many fascinations in life. fireworks.
there should be more events in life that should be celebrated with a fireworks display (with a large finale). you know, like birthdays, anniversaries, fridays, saturdays ...
i'm just saying.

from city to sticks.

It’s time for a new page. This one is going to be amazing. The last one was amazing. This one is sure to be beautiful as well!

And the story goes:
At the end of March (yes, just 3 months ago), Erik and re-signed our lease for the little apartment we made home in Sacramento. We loved it and we will always remember it as our first home together. With the full intention of spending one more summer downtown, we proceeded with signatures on contracts … until the phone rang. The phone call was one sweet grandpa with an incredible offer at hand. He asked Erik and I if we would be interested in moving to The Ranch. He had since bought my grandma a beautiful, one-story home closer to town and to the family, fulfilling one of her greatest dreams over the last 10 years or so. Much to our delight, he was not quite ready to part with the 10-acre homestead he had spent 25 years creating. Yes, this is the site of most of my childhood adventures, the place I met my husband, and the place where we said “I do”. How could we say know? Well, there were so many reasons why we should say “no”, but alas, God’s plan came to light. We talked and prayed and drew the scales with pros and cons in our heads. We slept on it and we sat on it. We did it all. And we decided. To move. On Memorial Day, we loaded up the trucks with the assistance of some truly cherished friends, and we drove the contents of our one bedroom apartment to the old farm house in Placerville. It’s bigger (I’m not used to cleaning more than one bathroom anymore), it has a deck, it has deer, it has a work shop (Erik’s favorite feature). We are no longer from the city. We are now from the sticks.
All of our stuff

Our first home together!

Although excited about the move, I was dreading the 1 ½ hour drive I was going to suffer to work every day … until the phone rang, yet again. We prayed about the commute and we knew if this was HIS plan, it would somehow work out. The second phone call was the Vice Chairman of Gun Owners of America. He was offering me a job. A big job. AND, it is only 30 minutes from our new home. WOW. I don’t believe in coincidences. This is the organization my grandfather (the home-lender) began over 30 years ago. This is the organization that employs my dad (love that!). It was the head hancho that called me. BIG DEAL. My grandpa didn’t even know about it … and HE says it’s a big deal. I don’t mean to brag … it’s more intimidation that I am currently expressing. But excitement is overcoming the intimidation. God is GOOD.... Yes, this is what I work with now ...

Did I mention that we got out of our lease too? Someone rented our apartment relatively fast, so we only had to pay one month’s extra rent … this praise resulted in very loud screams and jumping for joy. It was THAT big of a deal! We are blessed.

Living on so much property is so much fun! Now I get flowers all the time!

I'm turning into a farm girl ... I've planted squash (if only I liked to eat it! It's a good thing my husband loves it) and pumpkins!And I get to eat fresh berries (yay antioxidants!) every day.
#8 on the Bucket List. check.

Life is Beautiful.

adventure. it's a requirement.

I think Bucket Lists are fabulous ways to encourage, inspire, promote, and REQUIRE adventure. Too often, we live our life saying “someday”; but by creating a list, that “someday” turns into something that must happen. It becomes “someday soon” and “ifs” turn into “whens”. I love that. I have a list of dreams {thank you Dream Manager} that I like to think of as my bucket list. Recently, though, as I was perusing the blogs of my friends, I found a “pre-baby bucket list” and a “summer bucket list”. Why not break them down into things of the NOW {not just things for 20 years down the road}.

So here goes … our immediate, near future, Summer 2010 bucket list: (In no particular order)

1. Go camping: one date already set!
2. Go boating on the lake (it’s rained so much recently, it must be full and ready for boating!)
3. Move to Placerville
4. Go to a concert in the park
5. Go on a few Mountain Biking Adventures {hopefully without damaging the face ... like last time}
   
6. Go hiking as much as possible
7. Visit a waterfall {a big one}
8. Spend Saturday mornings picking berries {to be done once moved to Placerville}
9. Spend a day in Tahoe
10. Spend a day in San Francisco {maybe walk to Golden Gate Bridge (??) & definitely eat dessert at the Ghirardelli Square}
11. BBQ’s and summer parties
12. Shooting adventures with friends at the parentals
13. Invest ourselves into IMPACT
14. Meet our niece
15. Build a bed
    
16. Entertain the brother-in-law when he visits {he said he will and I believe him}
17. Make a Mexican feast and eat left-overs for a week
18. Go to a baseball game {major league &/or minor} & eat lots of hot dogs while watching
    
19. Much more to be added later ...

**Italicized Items: Completed or In Progress :)

i'm allergic.

They say, even if you have never had allergies before, once you move to Sacramento, you will. Well, I have lived here my entire life, and I'm still allergic to this place! All those little pollen flowers that dance in the breeze with such ethereal grace, while beautiful at times, are really quite mean. They find it fun to redden my eyes to the point of tears and to make me itch all over.

And oh, the sneezing! If you have ever heard me sneeze (more than likely), you know sneezing for me is not a brief experience. No, rather, sneezing is an exercise. It takes a lot out of me, as each sneezing session includes, on average, 6 sneezes. (Personal record: 13 ... all the way back in junior high) Thanks to my mom and her mom, the hereditary "repetitive sneezing gene" was passed down to me ... and during allergy season, it's rather entertaining (to some) and annoying (to most ... including myself!).

Oh, sun, I beg of you ... please let your heat penetrate through that complicated atmosphere down here to little old Sacramento. Rid us of this rather energetic pollen and let us welcome summer. Now, if you could do that while leaving the beautiful colors and fragrance of the flowers and grass, I would love it. But if not, I'll sacrifice the green fields for crisp golden (dead) grass, if it will mean I can stop sneezing. Thank you.

extra pulp please.

I am not much of a coffee drinker ... unless it is sweet, creamy, and absolutely yummy. Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and all other sugary additives are welcome. When asked how I like my coffee, I would respond, "white" instead of "black". It's just how I roll {although I occasionally enjoy a small cup of black coffee after a delectably rich dessert}. Erik is my morning-coffee-drinking husband. Since being married, my coffee consumption has increased due to the yummy concoctions he creates for me in the morning, usually including a scoop of ice cream in place of creamer {it's heavenly, unhealthy, but heavenly}.
However, we recently ran out of coffee. OH NO!!! Well, that wasn't my reaction {more of a shoulder shrug}. Much to my surprise, my coffee drinking husband didn't ask if we could refill our coffee supply ... instead he asked for orange juice. I gladly responded with "let's go get some!". It was late at night {maybe even after 10pm} and we made a trip to the store {I love late night spontaneity!}, purchased cereal, milk, toilet paper, and orange juice. Mmmm. We both agreed that we LOVE the pulp as it tastes more like an actual orange that way. {Another reason we were meant for each other? I think, yes} The next morning, we filled our glasses and realized what we have been missing. Why has it been so long since I've purchased orange juice? I am embarrassed to say, I don't know. {My sister would have a heart attack if she knew it had been months since I've purchased her early morning life-line}

Today, I started off my morning right, with a good morning kiss from the cutest man ever, and nice tall glass of extra pulpy-orange juice. MMmmmmm!