good morning mr. lincoln

after years of talking about it, I finally dragged myself to the steps of lincoln to see the sunrise over the capitol. 

 

it was a beautiful spring morning, but of course happened to be the one day the reflection pool was drained.   

my telephoto lens was happy to be out of the box and made my camera even more fabulous!

MXperts!

Happy to report the racers finished safely and did very well!

Andy's goal was to be in the top five

and he took


FIRST PLACE
Todd wasn't sure what to expect

and he took

FIFTH PLACE

and Justin was happy with 24th!


Dad and I, both at different places, had pounding hearts at 2:30 race time! Knowing the tenacity of our boys, I always worry about that first corner with 40 riders all vying for the hole shot...oh boy...scarey place! I figured Justin placed himself on the end to stay out of the dirt fight, so wasn't too worried he'd get taken out - just the other two had my heart skipping a beat.
Pretty proud of their first race in many years - brings back the memories! Woo hoo!

Look out circuit - THE BOYS ARE BACK! xo

Economy Boost

We offered a generous contribution towards boosting the economy today and made one Honda dealership very happy - two cars! As much as Chris fought buying a van, you can't help but cave into it's mom-friendly features! It was so much fun watching them all snuggle in and drive off in their first new 'family' car! Pure joy!

I do love my Pilot too! It has EVERY spoil-me feature Honda makes and even tho Heather doesn't think white is very creative, I love it! (maybe the pinstripes will win you over!) Texas and white pair well together ... third white car in a row!
Thanks Andy for working us two smokin deals! xo

Fruits of my labors...

Whew! Productive day! Morning swim class, mowed the weedy acres, went shooting with da boys and then put up these 29 containers of raz freezer jam! (Fresh, but hardly healthy ~ 30#s of raspberries to 24# of sugar - wo!)

Tonites slice of heaven off the top balcony ...



We will never approach godliness until we learn to love and lift. Indifference to others and their plight denies us life's sweetest moments of joy and service.
~ Marvin J. Ashton ~ The Measure of our Hearts ~

Happy Valentines - spread some love today! xoxo .....

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Chris had a great enrichment cooking class better than on tv, because this was complete with girlfriends to eat the goods and idea share! So fun!


Here's a good belly shot!

Chris is a dedicated chef in search of the best flavor, so after 8 batches or so and a significant investment in chocolate, the perfected recipe would be 4 oz semi sweet chocolate with 4 oz. unsweetened if you like it dark and rich. For the sweeter tooth, go 6 oz. semi and 2 oz. unsweetened. Follow the rest of this recipe and eat em hot! Oh boy!

meno ...Pause to reflect ...

Since having young children and finding how productive you can be late at night when the house is quiet, I became nocturnal.
Some flowers bloom at night - that's me!
But lately I've wondered if I've acquired a sleeping disorder. This video is me! ... and of course I am this beautiful in my sleep ... (video music is good so pause the mood music on the right and x out of any google ads that may pop up on the bottom of the video)



Last week Oprah and Suzanne Summers had a very over the top show on menopause symptoms and shocked me to find out sleeplessness is one of them!
Whew! Not a sleeping disorder! I'm ok!

I am framing this because

there are no tears or screams.  no bribes of food or rocks.

and because I love him and his cute little zoo hat.  

and adore the way he loved looking at those penguins and the way he said "uuuuuuuuup".

(Thanks mom for sending me pictures and a great great valentines box.)

Zoo Friends

One of our zoo highlights is if Alex the lion roars. We named him Alex (after Madagascar) because he seems to know when we're there and on queue stands up and roars "SHOW TIME," - we know it's for us!

We heard him roaring when we were at the monkeys and we bolted to not miss him. Sure enough, we get there, "It's Showtime!"

Not only do we get to see our regular zoo friends, but we found Emily when Alex was roaring, and we had to compare belly's. They are a month apart - Emily Feb 24 and Chris Mar 21st!




All the zoo babies are getting bigger - not just Cash and Tanner, but the monkeys and tiger and lion cubbies.All so playful today!


Tanner enjoying some independence ...

but as Pooh says, "It's so much friendlier with two! [or three!]

Feelin the cousin love!


Ok, enough of an intervention - where's my mom?

Livy has Emma's slippers on and with her tweety bird feet, this picture reminds me of one of our favorite books ...
"Are you my mother?"

Playing dress up with daddy!

Tanner graduated to the tower and was getting into rolling out a pinch of dough.

Up pops Haley Mae!
I love the look he gives her - "I know it's pink, but you're not taking this away from me!" No aggression - just the look! It worked!

Tender memories and tender mercies!

Superbowl Sunday is another opportunity to gather as a family and feast together. Our superbowl picture a year ago found us all dressed up as we closed a family fast for baby Tanner. It was somber, but a sweet memory to watch a family with heavy hearts rally around one of their own.

A tender memory for parents to witness your sons and nephews ... a band of brothers ... all young fathers, call down the powers of heaven to bless a young one. The year has shown tender mercies to all of them, specifically Tanner's positive outcome. A year shows us the obstacles before us were NOT greater than the power behind us!

We are blessed with a loving Heavenly Father that designed for us to gain strength and support from family in the highs and lows of life. As we continue to fast and pray for Heather's health, houses to be sold, jobs to continue, new babies to arrive safely ... we find power in the circle to help sustain each of us in our earthly burdens.

So happy ... WE ARE FAMILY! xo

This is a strange journey we walk, full of peaks and valleys. But since God [and family] is in both places, we walk unafraid. ~ Barbara Johnson ~