October 4-10 (In no particular order)

October 10: BBQ & bocce with friends.

October 9: My wonderful sister and friend. Happy Birthday sis!

October 8: A room with a view at The W Hotel in San Francisco!

October 7: Enjoyed a beautiful night at a beautiful wedding!

October 5: A much deserved treat after a long night of grading. Thanks for the help Hannah!

October 6: A much needed deep tissue massage.

October 4: A deliciously tart apple that helped sweeten a bad day.

Life is to short...don't let time run out!

I've been thinking a lot over the last few days about how short life really is. It seems that over the last few years I have known so many people that have quickly lost parents or loved ones. It seems that over the last few years I have known so many people that have been diagnosed with cancer or have had other serious health issues.

It has started to make me think...why waste life? Why waste precious time? Why spend time being angry or upset at a loved one for something trivial when you may never see them again? Why spend time worrying about tomorrow when you don't even know if you'll see it? Why waste the valuable moments in your day being unhappy?

It has started to make me think...why not make the best of every moment? Why not spend quality time with loved ones doing things that really matter...making memories? Why not start thinking before gettin angry or upset...is this really of importance? Why not live for today, chasing and following your dreams...even if you might fail? Why not choose to find joy in the little things? Why wait?!?!

"You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted." ~ Ruth E. Renkl

"Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. " ~ Wayne Dyer

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." ~ James Dean

"Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Living life intentionally...

Today's blessing: Zuda Yoga...where I'm learning to live a big life...intentionally!

Walking...

Today's blessings: Walking the quiet trails around my house. The sky was lit up in glorious shades of pink...

Soaking...

Today's blessing: My nightly ritual of soaking my cares away with some friends.

Counting my blessings...AGAIN!

I started this blog as a blessing blog. I was going to try to keep track of each day's blessing...no matter how small.

I've kind of gotten away from that and I was challenged last night by a question that Layton asked me. We were eating dinner and I was telling him about my day. He stopped my mid-sentence and said, "Tell me something good that happened today." I have been one to often focus on the negative and I try so hard to get away from that; however, I often find myself slipping back into that negativity.

Here I am again...trying to count my blessings. I shouldn't even have to try because they are bountiful. I'm going to try and do this everyday, even if it's only a picture with one sentence written.

Today's blessing: Getting my nails done. Enjoying Starbucks. Having an hour to read.

Stopping and starting...

I'm going to stop...

...making friends with people who are unavailable

...always being the one to call, text, email or get in touch

...trying to please everyone and make everyone happy

...allowing people who have too much drama in their lives suck me in

...letting other people make me feel bad for their relationship issues

...opening up to people that only reject me a few years later

I'm going to start...

...making friends with people that have enough time for ME

...allowing other people to pursue me, get in touch with me, and show me that they are interested in what is going on in my life, not just theirs

...taking care of myself, my husband, and my family before my friends

...ridding myself of drama filled people

...encouraging other people to deal with their issues and not drag me into them

...letting people into my life that will love me unconditionally, no matter my slip ups

9 years of sewing and plenty more to come...

"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years." ~ Simone Signoret

Layton and I celebrate our 9th anniversary on August 4th. I love the above quote because I definitely don't feel chained to Layton :) I feel connected to him through those tiny threads that have made up the last 9 years. Those threads are made up of laughter, tears, harsh words and kind words, conversations, hugs, kisses, date nights, cuddles, vacations, experiences, trust, and most of all L O V E.

The more I think about marriage I realize how much hard work it is and just how extremely fragile it it. If marriage were truly held together by chains, then marriages would not be broken so easily. Marriages are broken easily because of the fact that they are held together by tiny threads of life. Marriage is a fragile thing that should be protected and nourished at all times.

I am so thankful that I get to grow old alongside such an amazing man that has vowed to protect and nourish our marriage. I look forward to many more years of sewing with Layton.

Haven't we changed in the last 9 years?!?

Summer Highlights of 2010...

I go back to work on Monday, which means summer is officially over!! It seems that each summer vacation is entirely different from the others. Layton asked me the other day how my summer was and as I think back on the last 10 weeks I would have to say that it was a pretty great summer. I feel like I did a lot and spent a lot of time with family and some great friends. Here are the highlights of my 2010 summer vacation along with some of my favorite pictures

taken this summer:

Our National Parks trip
Bodega Bay w/ our niece and nephew

Taking a photography class at REI

Reconciling w/ a friend after a year and a half
Lake Tahoe w/ Wedgeworth family
Taking a day hike in Big Basin

The 3 week marriage class I went to at BaysideKayaking w/ Sheley family
Our 9th anniversary trip to Healdsburg

Many dinner & movie dates w/ Hannah

Many lunch & pool dates w/ Jessica & Sarah

Over the last week...

Over the last week I have been amazed at the healing power of forgiveness...I have experienced something that I never thought would happen again in my life...I have laughed, cried and talked a lot, trying to catch up...I have really learned what it means to forgive someone....I have had a dear friend come back into my life after a year and a half of absence...I have been astounded by how God works.

What type of friend are you?

It seems like the Lord has really been challenging me over the last year and a half when it comes to friendships. It seems like I've never had so much change in my relationships with friends as I've had in the last year and a half.

I've had friends come back into my life that I'd never thought would, and then leave again...I've have a best friend leave my life that I never thought would...I've had friendships that struggled grow to be something great...I've had close friendships struggle and falter...I've had friends that I thought were friends end up not able to keep their word...I've had friends drop everything to come over and take care of me...then I've had friends want to work things out after a long period of silence.

It's really makes me wonder what is God trying to teach me about friendship? What type of friend am I called to be as a Christian. In my opinion, friendships are similar to marriage. They take work and time. I just hope that I can be the friend that forgives when forgiveness is needed that I can ask for forgiveness when forgiveness is needed.

My yoga teacher said yesterday that we often just need to forget the story and forgive. I'm going to try that this week. I'm going to forget the past..the story...and give and ask for forgiveness when forgiveness is needed.

I love this quote about friendship: "When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." ~Henri Nouwen

Summer vacation 2010...

We pulled off another unique summer vacation! For the past few years we've tried to do something and go somewhere totally different than what we've ever done before. A few years ago we spent 5 weeks living in Chicago and last summer we spent 2 weeks exploring the very historical city of Boston.

This summer, Layton planned a trip totally different than anything we've E V E R done before. For about the last year, Layton has been getting into backpacking. It's kind of worn off on me a little. I have yet to do an overnight backpacking trip, but I've grown to love exploring the outdoors with him. We've taken quite a few day trip to go hiking together. So...this summer we decided to center our vacation around exploring a few National Parks. We took a 9 day trip and traipsed all over the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. It was truly an unforgettable and unbelievable vacation.

The Grand Canyon: The first day we arrived late morning, so we decided to walk around the South Rim trail and just take in the initial view of the Grand Canyon. We spent a few hours taking pictures and then driving along the rim stopping at various lookouts. The Desert View lookout was definitely a highlight of this day for me. It has incredible views of the canyon and the Colorado River. The second day Layton woke me up extremely early because today was the day we were going to hike down into the Canyon taking the Bright Angel trail. This was an amazing hike. We started around 7:30, so the colors reflecting off of the Canyon were totally different than the day before. I carried my own pack, full of my camera equipment and my rain coat. I made sure to bring my trek poles since we'd be making a 3 mile - 2,000 foot descent - into the Canyon, which means we made a 3 mile - 2,000 ascent - back out of the Canyon. It even rained lightly on us as we were making the climb back out of the Canyon. The refreshing rain was nice after a long day of hiking. I was very proud of myself for accomplishing this hike. We ended day to at the Grand Canyon my watching the sunset over Yavapi Point, getting pizza, and heading back to Yavapi Point to view the Canyon by full moon. Layton and I agree that this was probably our favorite thing about the Grand Canyon. It was amazing to see it by full moon light.

We spent a day traveling from Flagstaff to West Yellowston by way of V E R Y scary, tiny, propellor planes. I wish to N E V E R do this again!!

Yellowstone: We stayed 3 nights in West Yellowstone, Montana at a very cute bed and breakfast, driving into the park every morning and spending the entire day there. Our first day in Yellowstone we spent driving around and stopping at various "must-see" sights. We stopped at a place called the Artists' Paint Pots, which had hot springs and mud volcanoes. We also stopped off at a place called Sheepeater's Cliff and we grabbed a few photos of the Golden Gate Waterfall. Our day ended at Mammoth Hot Springs. Here we followed a 2 mile boardwalk that wrapped throughout the hot springs. Our second day in Yellowstone was another hiking day. On the way to the trailhead we stopped off at the Grand Canyon of Yellostone where we saw a few waterfalls. We then drove to the DeLacy trailhead and hiked along the DeLacy Creek trail, which led us to Shosone Lake. This was a gorgeous 6 mile hike that wound us through meadows of wild flowers and lodgepole pines. Granted, I did get 18 mosquito bites on this hike, but it was well worth it. After our hike we drove up to see if we could catch Old Faithful, since we'd missed her by about 5 minutes the night before. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before Old Faithful went off. Our third day in Yellowstone we saw a few fun things on our drive to the Grand Tetons. We saw the Fountain Paint pots, Firehole Drive Geysers, and the Midway Geyser Basin. These are pretty much some of the best geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone. The largest geyser in Yellowstone is in the Midway Geyser Basin.

Grand Tetons: We arrived in the park about mid-day and spent some time taking photos and getting settled into our hotel. Our first full day in the Grand Tetons we spend doing another hike. We woke up early again and drove to Jenny Lake, where we started our hike. This hike wove us around the lake, took us on a detour by Moose Pond, up the side of the mountain by Hidden Falls, up to Inspiration Point, and ultimately through Cascade Canyon. I kept telling Layton, "I can't believe that I'm actually in the middle of two mountains right now!" I was S O proud of myself after this 10 mile hike.

I was very interested in seeing as many wild animals as possible. So here's a list of all of the animals we saw: Trumpeter Swan, Bald Eagle, Elk, Bison (we also saw a herd of about 60 of them), Sandhill Crane, Bull Snake, American Pika, Coyote, White-tailed Jack Rabbit, Moose, Yellow-bellied Marmot, Western Tanager, Golden-mantled Squirrel, Uinta Ground Squirrel, White-crowned Sparrow, Chickadee, Gray Jay, Spring Azure Butterfly, Monarch Butterfly, Canadian Goose, Mallard, American Robin, Common Raven, Golden Eagle, and a Violet-green Swallow

My favorite memories of this trip: Hiking the Bright Angel trail, viewing the Grand Canyon by the light of the full moon, almost being kissed by a Bison through my open car window, being chased by a Moose down the trail and walking through a canyon between a 13,000+ ft. mountain and a 10,000+ mountain ft.

9 days, 3 National Parks, 4 hotels, 7 airplanes, 18 mosquito bites, 2 close encounters with wild animals, 3 day-hikes, 23 miles hiked through the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons, over 800 miles driven, 25 wild animals spotted, THOUSANDS of memories made with my husband = a P R I C E L E S S vacation!!

Check out my Flickr page to view A L L of my photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwedgeworth/

75 minutes...

Today I took a break from life for 75 minutes. I know that isn't a really long time...but it was HEAVEN!! Yoga is there for me when I need to just quiet down and listen to myself. It is my way of breathing, relaxing, letting my thoughts of the day go, and focusing only on myself and what my body needs. I thank God every single time I step onto my mat that I found the practice of yoga.

"Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured." ~B.K.S. Iyengar

"The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren't enough." ~Amy Weintraub

Monday's musings...

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."
~ Epictetus

Rejoice in what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have!

I rejoice in the fact that I have a husband who wants to take a quick walk with me to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone before heading back to work!

Do you know Swimmology...

I was in yoga this morning and Diana was talking all about learning how to swim when life's waves try to knock you down. She told this great story that really spoke to me. If you do not know Swimmology, when life's waves come your way, 100% of your life will be wasted!!

"Once upon a time a very learned professor was traveling in a ship to some place. It was a long voyage, and very soon word of the professor’s knowledge spread. People were eager to meet him, to invite him to their cabins for tea and chat with him. He was a distinguished man after all.

There was one old Sailor (employee of the cruiser) who was more than eager to meet the professor and learn whatever he could from the distinguished traveler. He would lie in wait for him, bend over backwards to serve him and be extra courteous to him than he was with other travelers on the ship.

Seeing this service, the professor was pleased with this sailor and called him to his room for a chat. He asked the sailor, “Do you know about Meteorology ?” The sailor replied “What’s that Sir? I’m illiterate. I’ve never been to school .” The professor said “Old man, you spend your entire life on the waters, under the open sky. You don’t know meteorology, the study of climate conditions? Go away, 25 % of your life is wasted.”

The old man not knowing what to say, just nodded his head and went away. “If the learned man is saying 25% of my life is wasted, then it’s wasted. No point crying over it..” Saying that, he went his way.

A few days later, their paths again crossed. The learned professor regaled him with various anecdotes of his academic life and the old sailor lapped it all up enthusiastically. After some time, the professor asked him “Do you know about Geology?” The sailor replied “I told you Sir, I can barely scribble my name. How can I know?” The professor, somewhat angry, shouted “Old man, what type of a sailor are you? You do not know meteorology, now you do not even know Geology, the science governing the earth and the mountains? Fifty percent of your life is wasted.” Saying that, the professor gave him a lengthy piece of his scholarly mind, and again, the old Sailor, shaking his head in shame, went away.

As the days progressed, the Old Sailor in no way angry with the professor met him and served him selflessly on many occasions, overwhelmed by his distinguished air. He held him in the same awe as a poor man holds a billionaire, as an ugly person holds a Greek God. Seeing his meek dutifulness, the professor entertained him, chatted with him, but it was only a matter of time before he could not control his academic superiority any longer.

He asked the Old Sailor, “Old man, tell me, do you know about Oceanology?” The old man replied “Told you Sir, I’m a total illiterate. I never had the occasion to learn about any of these great topics.” More in disbelief than anger, the Professor actually snarled “How can a person be this ignorant? You do not know Meteorology, you do not know Geology, now you do not even know Oceanology, the laws covering the waves and the tides of the ocean? What type of a sailor are you? You have spent your entire life on the High Seas, and you couldn’t even learn oceanology? 75 % of your life is totally wasted!!”

The old Sailor not knowing what to say, simply nodded his head in silent acknowledgement, as if to say “Yes Sir, if you say so. You cannot be wrong.”

As the weeks went by, and the voyage neared its end, one day early morning, the old Sailor came rushing to the Professor. He blurted out “Sir, do you know swimmology?” The professor shouted “You fool, there is no such logy!” The Sailor reverted back, this time with a little triumph in his voice. “That I do not know Sir. I only wanted to tell you that the ship has dashed against a Rock and is going to sink any moment now. There is a little Island just a few miles away. All those who know Swimmology, they will be saved. If you do not know ‘Swimmology’, 100% of your life is wasted.”

Do you know Swimmology??

Twenty-fine...

Last week I turned TWENTY-FINE...aka 29! It was also my Spring Break off of work. It turned out to be one of the B E S T birthdays yet. It started out with dinner at my parent's house for the my birthday a little early. Then on Monday I was extremely blessed by all of the amazing women that I am so proud to call my friends and family. We celebrated at Lucca Restaurant in mid-town Sac. Every showered me with birthday words and I left feeling so loved and important to all of them. I also received the B E S T gift that I think I've ever received. My friend painted me an amazing picture!

On Wednesday I met up with Layton in Portland to spend a few days there for my birthday. We had such a fun time exploring downtown Portland. We felt the same way as we did when we were in Boston and Chicago. We felt YOUNG! I know that sound silly because we are young. But...if you know us, you know that we are kinda old people at heart; however, the more we spend in fun cities, the more we realize that we enjoy being young! We went to a few museums, went out to Lake Oswego to have dinner at a friend's house, went to a fabulous jazz club to end my amazing birthday day, went to Voodoo Doughnuts, went to a taproom, etc. It felt so good to enjoy life! Layton knows me so well that he got a King Suite with a H U G E bath tub in it! I definitely took advantage of that. Again I realized how truly blessed I am to be married to the perfect person for me. I love exploring life with him and making so many great memories. Here are a few photos from our Portland Adventure. Who knows...Portland may find us as temporary residents someday...

Yoga and Layton...

...those 2 things were my blessings yesterday.

• I had a long day



• I was tired because of the time change



• I had a mound of papers to grade

Usually when I've had a day like yesterday, there is one thing that ALWAYS helps!! And it did help!

I felt refreshed and rejuvinated after yesterday's 75 minute yoga class. Right before I went into class Layton sent me a text and said that he'd take care of dinner that way I could focus on grading. After I got home from class, he sent me upstairs so that he could work on dinner. He bbq'd a pizza from Papa Murphy's and then after dinner he helped me grade a stack of tests.

It's the little blessings that count. I'm so blessed by Yoga and Layton!

Snapshot Sunday

I'm going to start something new on my blog each week! I'm going to put up a favorite snapshot or two that I've taken throughout the week. Hopefully this will get me to take my camera out more.

This week's snapshot is to get us all in the mood for Spring! I couldn't help but bring my camera out while I went walking this week and I captured the cherry blossom's in bloom.

Enjoy!!

.l o v e.

Yesterday was a much anticipated day. As I stood at the altar, listening to the string quarter play over the speakers, watching the rain outside gently fall on the window, looking at my sweet husband getting teary-eyed as he watched his brother greet his bride...I couldn't help but feel the love on this amazing day! Yesterday we welcomed a new member into the Wedgeworth family. Yesterday was such a beautiful day.

We've watched Colby and Margaret grow up and it was such a blessing to stand up with them yesterday as they pledged their lives to each other. Colby was only 14 when Layton and I started dating and we met Margaret a few years later. It is so amazing to me how the difference in age seems to lessen the older that I get. I truly love these two people and think of them both as my brother and now new sister. They are such beautiful people and I truly am blessed to be part of this amazing family.

The entire Wedgeworth family had so much fun celebrating their new life together. I also had a BLAST getting to take some photos of my first wedding. I think I did a pretty good job not being the primary photographer :) Here are a few of my favorite shots!

It was also really fun for me to stand up at a marriage altar again with Layton. I couldn't help but sneak a peek at my husband of nearly 9 years as the pastor was having Colby and Maggie repeat their vows. It brought tears to my eyes to see him so emotional over his little bro's marriage. It reminded me of what I said to him 9 years ago this August.

It reminded me of how truly blessed I am!

Valentine's Day

We decided to do something more low-key this year for Valentine's Day. We went up to Placerville to our favorite cafe called Heyday Cafe. While we were at dinner, I was reminded why I'm so blessed to call Layton Jaret Wedgeworth my husband. We were sitting and talking when Layton said to me, "You really are more beautiful than the day I married you." Talk about an ego booster :) With that one sentence, he made my night!

After dinner we came home, put a Diana Krall cd in, and we danced in the living room.

It really was a perfect evening with the most amazing man on the planet!

He is my blessing!

Birthdays, bridal showers, and HOT date nights...

Once again...I had a very busy weekend. I found myself scheduling in a day this Saturday to "not make any plans!" Yes...I actually put that on my calendar. I have to schedule in time to not do anything. It's crazy, but when you have family with birthdays, friends having babies, family getting married, etc...what is one to do?!?

Friday started out with a family birthday celebration AGAIN!! We celebrated my beautiful niece's 8th birthday. I still can't believe that the precious little baby I watched being born is already 8 years old. I am so blessed and proud to have such an amazing little girl to call my niece. I can't wait to see what she becomes!

On Saturday I was blessed with the opportunity to celebrate with my new sister-in-law-to-be!! I love the fact that I truly do think of Margaret as one of my sisters. She is a beautiful person inside and out. I am so blessed and honored to have her in my life. I can't wait to see the amazing life that her and Colby are going to share together. The wedding is in only 26 days!!!

Later that evening, Layton and I went to one of our favorite little spots in Midtown called, Lucca. We hadn't been out on a date in awhile so we enjoyed a great evening of catching up and talking. I don't need to say again how blessed I am to get to spend every day of my life with him.

I truly enjoyed my busy and full weekend. It again reminds me of the many people that I am so blessed to be surrounded by.

Birthdays, baby shower, and rainy days off...

Hopefully this weekend was the culmination of my busy month...until a family wedding on February 20th. This weekend was full of blessings!

Friday night my entire family was all together. It has been a few months since that's happened. We celebrated my beautiful mother's 55th birthday. I am so blessed to have this amazing woman in my life. She has taught me so many things about life and I am honored to call her my mother and my friend. We blessed her with a new sewing machine. I am also blessed by the CRAZY people that I call family. I think I am the luckiest person to blessed with such amazing people. I cooked dinner at my sister's house for everyone!

On Saturday I was able to bless my beautiful friend with a fun and sassy baby shower. 5 of us girls got together to throw THE BEST baby shower EVER!! Our theme was zebra print and hot pink and we had so much fun blessing Jessica and baby Sarah Marie. I am again honored to have all of these beautiful women in my life. I couldn't do it without you girls!!

On Sunday I was felt like I could finally breathe again after the last month of holidays, family emergencies, birthdays, baby showers, etc. I took quite a few hours to clean up my cluttered and neglected house.

Today was my day off and I organized my closet! I took things to Goodwill and traded in some books at the used book store.

I'm looking forward to getting back to normal life...that is until the FUN family wedding that we have coming up in a month.

Looking back on this weekend I feel extremely blessed to have the amazing women in my life that I do. I was a little saddened on Saturday because I was not involved in the baby shower of a person who I used to hold so dear in my life. I thought that I would one day be involved in the birth of her children. However, God gave me a beautiful reminder that I am still so loved and treasured and that I am surrounded by people who can see that I also am a beautiful treasure in their lives. I was able to bless my amazing friend Jessica with what I consider to be THE BEST baby shower around. It didn't matter that I wasn't able to be involved in this other person's baby shower.

Here's to the amazing women in my life!!

Glancing back and looking forward...

As I get older the more I learn how unreliable life really is; however, I'm slowing learning to enjoy the unexpectedness of it. The biggest lesson that life is teaching me right now is to trust. 2009 threw some unexpected things in my path and I think that I dealt with them pretty gracefully. 2010 has just begun and it too has thrown some unexpected things my way. All I have to say to 2010...BRING IT ON!! My motto for this year...and soon to be my new tattoo...is TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART!! Here's a glance back to my 2009 and a expectant look forward to 2010...

January 2009 - Brought an unexpected car accident my way. With it came a few aches and pains (and a new car); however, I was determined to not let those get me down. Because of this car accident I found a new found passion for yoga. My body has never felt better and I now know that I can physically do pretty much anything I put my mind to!

March 2009-I flew to Denver to visit my best friend! We hadn't seen each other for 3 years!! We spent a great weekend together and picked up right where we left off. We also determined that 3 years would never go by again. I'm anxiously anticipating her visit this March!

April 2009-I celebrated my 28th birthday! Here's to almost being 30!!

May 2009-I ended my 4th year of teaching and celebrated a very nice mother's day with family.

June/July 2009-Found us in Boston for 2 weeks. There are too many memories and pictures to just put one up, but I'll try!

August 2009-We celebrated 8 wonderful years of being married. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into when I married Layton as a very young 20 year old! What 20 year old knows anything about marriage. I have been so amazed at the blessing and lessons that I have been able to experience with this amazing man!

September 2009-I started my 5 year of teaching at Capital.

November 2009-Of course I have to mention the annual Apple Hill girl's trip. This always is one of the highlights of my year. We were missing a few friends, but we still had a fabulous time! Layton and I also got to go to Bodega Bay with the entire Wedgie clan! That always makes for a good time!

December 2009-Christmas and a fabulous little mini-vacation with Layton to Big Sur!!

On to 2010...

About 5 years ago I put together of list of 30 things that I'd like to accomplish in my life before I turn 30. I was a little over zealous! I didn't think about the money that it would take to accomplish a lot of these things. Since I started my list, I've made slight revisions to it and I've also come to the realization that I won't be able to do all of the things on my list in the next 1 1/2 years :) So...I've decided to just make it a list of Life Goals. I've decided that I can make revisions and delete things from it. Here's my list. The things in green are the things I've already checked off of it and the things in blue are my goals for 2010!

1. Get back on a bike

2. Learn how to play Monopoly without the help of Layton

3. Learn how to crochet

4. Finish my scrapbook

5. Acquire a taste for tomatoes

6. Take a cooking class

7. Read "Great Expectations"

8. Read "Les Miserables"

9. Read the entire Bible

10. Take a photograph that I can proudly hang in my house

11. Volunteer

12. Play Blackjack in a casino

13. Take ballroom dancing lessons

14. Take a painting class and paint something good

15. Learn another language and actually use it

16. Visit Alcatraz

17. Hang-glide in San Fransisco

18. Start an herb garden and keep it alive

19. Go sailing

20. Start writing my book

21. Fly first class

22. Experience the beauty of the Grand Canyon

23. Live in Chicago, Boston, Italy, and Ireland

24. Scuba dive

25. Own a brand new red Lexus is250

26. Go back to Ireland and kiss the Blarney Stone

27. Start taking flying lessons

28. Overcome my fear of moths

29. Start my own organizing company, photography business and interior design business

30. Turn 30 gracefully

I heard a great quote from my yoga teacher last weekend..."There's no such thing as Try...there's only DO."

I AM GOING TO DO ALL OF THESE THINGS IN 2010!!! And I am going to trust in the Lord...no matter how unexpected or unreliable 2010 proves to be!

My sister...

...has truly become such an inspiration to me. I have watched her over the last 5 days walk through what has been the most difficult 5 days of her life. She has handled these last 5 days with such grace, calmness, patience and love. I have been truly amazed.

Growing up we weren't the closest :) There are quite a few years between us, so I can constantly remember wanting to hang out with her and her friends and I can constantly remember her saying, "Don't be a pest. Go away!" I always wanted to borrow her clothes and often got in trouble for leaving them crumpled on my floor when she wanted to wear them. Such are the things that happen between siblings when they are children.

As young adults we weren't always the closest either :) I think immaturity and our personalities got in the way. We both have VERY STRONG personalities and we are both VERY headstrong :) However, over the past year or so I have been realizing what an amazing friend, confidant, ally, cheerleader, and teacher I have in my sister. She has especially taught me a lot these last few days. She has taught me how to be strong when your best friend is laying broken in a hospital bead. She has taught me that prayer and faith really do pay off! She has taught me to trust in the Lord our Healer!!

I am proud of my beautiful sister and I am proud that people often mistake us for twins :) I am so very inspired by the amazing strength that I witnessed in my sister and my friend.

Today's blessing is my amazing sister, Miranda! I LOVE YOU SIS!

The last few weeks...

...have been quite the up and down roller coaster!! My family has been through quite a lot in the last few weeks. That's most of the reason why I haven't blogged in such a long time. Let's just say we really need prayer right now.

On the Tuesday before Christmas, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He's still having scans and meeting with doctors to decide on the next step.

On January 1, my brother-in-law, who is a motor cycle police officer for Folsom, was involved in a very bad accident while in duty. He has a severe concussion, which has resulted in some temporary memory loss, a broken clavicle, a broken tibia, broken talus bone in his ankle and a dislocated thumb. He had surgery this past Saturday to repair his tibia and he's having surgery on this coming Tuesday to repair his ankle.

The last few weeks have been quite the whirl-wind.

In the middle of everything, Layton and I were able to enjoy a FABULOUS mini-vacation to Big Sur. It was a nice lull in the storm :) We stayed in a Yurt, went on hikes, ate at a RIDICULOUSLY expensive restaurant, saw a wolf, and just all around had a great time. It was one of the best and most unique trips we've been on in a long time.

I am still trying to count my blessings through these storms. We had a fabulous Christmas with both sides of our families. We truly are blessed with AMAZING families! I am so blessed to have the family and husband that I have. We are definitely bonding together as a family during these difficult times. Please continue to lift my family up in your prayers as we have a difficult next few months ahead of us.