eat your vegetables.

You are just dying to see the fruits {and veggies} of my labor, are you not???? Yes, I am so proud, I take pictures of my potatoes ... and my tomatoes. Why?, You ask ... because I worked my booty off to take care of them. Kind of like parenting, I assume. While parents give up their sleep, their strength, and a great portion of their lives for their children, I give up those few extra hours in bed with my hubs, much of my strength {and my once soft hands}, and most of my Saturday mornings to these vegetables. THEREFORE, since parents take pictures of their pride and joys {being their children}, I take pictures of my zucchini. Make sense?? I thought so.

SO, you are more than welcome to enjoy this simple image of the food I get to eat. :)

This is about a sixteenth of the potatoes I have dug up from the dirt. My grandpa says this is the family lifeline ... therefore, I am not allowed to share.

I say T-O-M-A-Y-T-O, you say T-O-M-O-T-O

and i also say FREE!!

The larger the zucchini, the less flavor ... yes, I get that. HOWEVER, this rather large piece of

v-e-g-e-t-a-b-l-e was quite marvelous.

Fresh fruit salad, home-grown, 100% YUM.

Peaches, Blackberries, and Balsamic (ok, I lied, I didn't grow the balsamic)

no you are not crazy. this is not a picture of a fruit or vegetable. THIS is a picture of hundreds of young adults worshiping the ONE AND ONLY Lord in a parking lot in the heart of downtown Sacramento. It was an incredible thing to be a part of ... the streets were echoing with voices proclaiming the Almighty One's LOVE. EPIC EXPERIENCE, hence, I had to share.

the little things in life.

The flowers from my {grandpa's} garden make beautiful arrangements for the house ... and they make me smile

What makes me smile about these?

1) perfect color coordination

2) multi-colored flowers

3) quaint mason jars

4) that they are from my own backyard

Every morning when my cute husband has time {which is impressively most mornings}, he makes me this DELICIOUS coffee beverage. I have tried to duplicate this masterpiece for myself, and it does not work. Better than Starbucks.

I'd easily pay $4.35 for this fantastic cup of yumminess.

What makes me smile about this?

1) the chocolatey surprise he often puts at the bottom of the cup

2) that he puts it in a "pretty" mug, instead of a big, old, clunky mug

3) the sugar boost I get, more than the caffeine boost ... it may not be better for me, but it tastes better

4) that it is usually waiting for me on the bathroom counter, after my shower

5) that he brings it to me

I am blessed, by flowers and sugar coated caffeine ... and LOVE. That last one isn't one of the "little things", it's the BIG thing.

one new message.

{Photo credit}

I have come to view the relatively new phenomenon known as “TEXT MESSAGING” as a way for boys/men to send brief, informal love notes to each other under the guise of a joke, sarcastic wit, or true sincerity, which might not otherwise be sent. {does that make sense? i thought so. just checking.} So often, I find my husband looking at his phone with anything from an undercover grin to a robust laugh … to which I attempt to ask “what” or “who” was the cause of such a reaction. Often times it’s a picture or a quote or even a simple “I love you man". He even gets an occasional picture from a friend participating in an activity that made him think of Erik - like snowboarding, mountain biking, etc ... and while I think the world is breaching a point of overtechnologydrivenmadness {yes, I made that up myself, thank you very much}, I think the ability men have to briefly share their affection in a fast and simple way is quite touching, really.

I have come to realize that my sweet manly husband is far more advanced in his relational intuitiveness and more regularly connected to his “boys” than I have yet to become with my “girls”. He regularly sends and receives verses and devotionals and notes of witty encouragement {along with lots of jokes and gross pictures} from his bromantic friends {I’m borderline jealous … not really. but a little. maybe.}

All this to say, I am learning a lot from my text-message savvy husband …

… and thank you text messaging world …

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.