Day 3 Photo Challenge

(I am doing some catch up since I have been sick the last few days I am a little behind.)

*Hands*

Aren't those some deliciously plump little hands? Reminded me of this poem:

Day 2 Photo Challenge

So I'm going to cheat a little bit today. Today's challenge is words. I decided to just post some of my favorite quotes that have been inspiring me lately.




Every time I read this it reminds me that I need to be more compassionate, even with those I disagree with.





I love this quote because it can be applied to so many aspects of life. I first liked it because it applied to my fitness goals, but then the next few times I read it I realized it's all about enduring to the end. Sometimes in life we are just running at top speed and everything is awesome and we feel like nothing can stop us. Then other times we have to slow down and just do all that we can to keep going.





I so need to work on this. I raise my voice and get mad way too often with my family. I need to tape this one to my fridge!

Day 1: February Photo Challenge

I saw this idea on Pinterest for a February Photo a Day challenge. I thought this would be a great thing for me to try and do since I am always saying I need to take more pictures. Every day for the whole month I will be following the list and taking a picture of mostly every day things that I would usually never think to take pictures of. I think it will be fun and maybe teach me to look at the simple things I'm surrounded by in a different light.

The challenge for day 1 was to take a picture of your view today.

I snapped this picture on my way to pick up Morgan from preschool.

I love how green the fields along Sandifur already are and how this captures some of the rolling hills that surround us here in the Tri-Cities. It has been kind of a rainy and overcast day so the sky was kind of hazy. I love these little patches of farm land that have survived the never ending housing boom. They help keep me sane in a strange way. It's good to look at a big wide open space as I drive back and forth. Makes me feel like I can take a big breath and relax.

Trip Down Memory Lane

One of things I wanted to do and be better at this year is keeping all of my photos organized that I have stored on our computer. I've been weeding out and deleting ones that aren't worth keeping and making sure dates and things are correct and so on. While browsing through some way old ones, I found this gem that was in a random folder:

This one was taken of Riley and I on the 4th of July in 2002 at my grandparents house in Hermiston. I was just a month or so away from having Kendle. That was a really fun day we spent with lots of family and my aunt had bought everyone matching shirts. It was a gorgeous day and we stayed until dark to watch the fireworks from the backyard and I stretched out on a lawn chair to prop up my swollen feet.

This is another favorite I found that is of Kendle and I when she was only about two weeks old. It was a sunny September day and we were laying on a blanket out in the shade in our yard. I was soaking up all the snuggles and hugs that I could. I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was really exhausted, but I loved becoming a mother. I think this is one I scanned into the computer since you can see some spots on it. Notice my wedding ring on my pinky? Ya, my fingers were still so swollen it wouldn't fit on my ring finger but I wanted to wear it anyway. Silly?

Maybe if I get really ambitious in the next little while I will pick out some of these old photos and get them framed to hang in our house.

History Repeating Itself

My little Morgan loves to help Riley mow the lawn and push any type of wheelbarrow or wagon around. In fact, it's one of his favorite things to do. Whenever he stays at my parents house in Irrigon, 9 times out of 10 you can find him pushing their wheelbarrow all over their property pretending he's mowing the lawn and fixing things. Up hill and down hill, through dirt, grass, gravel, and rocks he pushes away. Sometimes in bare feet no less. He will do this for hours on end - rain or shine. It's a trait that makes him the little boy that he is.


I've always remarked to Riley how much I think our children resemble him as a child and also his father when he was little. On Sunday I was looking through an old photo album that one of Riley's aunts made for him with pictures of his dad and his grandparents. It is a true treasure. She documented dates and names and it is a real gift. I had looked at this picture of his father before, but this time I literally got goosebumps. Take a look a this little gem:

This is Riley's father Dwight James Dodson probably around age 2 or so and wouldn't you know it he's pushing an old lawn trimmer. Coincidence? The family resemblance is pretty strong. Morgan asked, is that me?

I never had the chance to meet Dwight because he passed away about 6 months before Riley and I met. Riley and his father were not that close and had a strained relationship most of his life, but I am so thankful for these pictures so that we can look back on his father's childhood and younger years and show our children and teach them a little about who their grandfather was.