greener grass

okay, this is a funny post, but i just have to get vocal about this because i feel that my fellow ladies out there will empathize. i stumbled across this picture of myself today (i know, i'm bordering on vanity here!), and all of a sudden got a huge sadness that all my long hair is gone! this is one of the curses of the Fall, i'm sure of it! first we want long hair (and it took me two years to grow!), then the hunger for short hair cropped up, resulting in a lovely haircut and a moment's fleeting joy, and here i am missing the long locks again! short, then long; straight, then curly; dark, then light. uggggh. the grass is always greener. you girls understand me, right? it's no wonder the guys in our family roll their eyes. :)

domesticity

how refreshing it is to be focused on the home again! i have been working so many hours these past months for the National Pastor's Conference that i literally have not had a moment to focus on anything else. hence, the reason why you haven't seen any recipes or pictures of food lately. :) last week, when we left for yosemite, i had a sink full of dirty dishes, two weeks of dirty laundry in the basket, no food in the fridge, and a generally disgusting house. i literally have not done any real cooking for a month! but, thank the Lord i can now focus again on my home, and it feels so good. so, without a moment to lose, i finished the mundane-ish (although it didn't feel so mundane since i hadn't done them for so long!) projects and then dove right into the fun stuff. there's something glorious about glorifying God with one's hands.

strawberry freezer jam, from local organic swanton farms

fresh flowers

baby gifts (these are burp rags of sorts, kind of shabby chic like) (kat, i forgot to take pictures of yours! will you take some for me?) :)

a quilt in process, from amy butler fabric. this was placed and pinned over a year ago, and i just brought it out of the closet today to finally start putting together.

bug

we've been getting some weird and wonderful creatures creeping into our house lately...it is spring, i guess. this guy has been the coolest, though. after i found him on my sweatshirt, i returned him to the wild. you gotta click on the picture to see the him close up. he was mellow yellow...very obliging. :)

diversion party

so, to make sure joe didn't expect the yosemite trip, i threw him a suprise bbq on his actual birthday, which of course he totally was NOT suprised at. his intuition said i was driving him to a suprise party, and he knew exactly where i was going (even when i thought i was losing his sense of direction by driving through the new leaf and safeway parking lots). i could tell he was a little teensy weensy bit bummed that this was "all" that i had planned for his 25th, and so i was secretly rejoicing that i had something bigger up my sleeve (and was praying with all my heart that he wouldn't figure it out!). but even though joe saw the party coming, he loved it nonethelsess. thank you all for coming! and thank you kirk and mary beth, and mom and dad, for your selfless help!! i couldn't have done it without you. sorry it was so last minute. :)

sweet kathryn syres...i'm so glad she could come.

i got him good

for joe's turning a quarter century last week, i surprised him with a weekend trip to Yosemite...and i got him good, baby! let me tell you, he's HARD to surprise. but after almost five years of marriage, it was definitely time for surprise success. :)

when he woke up friday morning, i told him he had to obey my every word. so, i first told him to get out of bed. next, brush his teeth, do his hair, get dressed in the clothes i laid out for him, wash the dishes (yah, i actually made him wash the dishes!), take out the trash, and pick out a book to read. meanwhile, i snuck our pillows and toiletries in the car, and he was shocked when i said i was driving (i don't love to drive, so that really shook his world).

as we headed to scotts valley, he thought he had a concept of where we were going...until i made a right hand turn toward my parents' house. that really threw him. (he said later that he thought maybe they had rented him a convertible for his birthday...can we say conceited?) :)

it was 9:30 in the morning, and it was HOT out already. we rang the doorbell, and joe walked in to our "parents-four" singing happy birthday, trudy rocking out the tune on the piano, and a huge breakfast spread awaiting us at the table. we ate like kings, and then i gave him "the binder," which gave away the travel secret in pages. surprise is not a strong enough word for his reaction. he was speechless. and then he freaked out for about an hour, since he of course assumed he'd be working all weekend. i reassured him that his boss okayed his leave, and gave him permission to make unlimited work related phone calls before we left. he needed to make sure his work world was in good hands before he left. after he got all that off his chest, he was stoked. so, with car full of goods and a huge jug of ice water, it was off to yosemite.

dad and i rented the cabin online, and i was just a teensy bit apprehensive as to what kind of place it would actually be. but thank the Lord's kindness, it was heavenly. every kind of amenity was there (except for cell phone service, which was perfect!), and joe and i even got a steam shower and jetted tub.

our first evening there was spent recovering from random illnesses: i had a plugged up ear and a swollen ankle, my mom had a migraine, and donovan was on antibiotics for his recent cold. i also spent our entire saturday gimping around yosemite, joe got "lost" for an hour trying to find me an Ace bandage, and then spent sunday nursing a gashed toe after running into a well-camouflaged tree root. :) but God was SO kind, and despite it all, we had a BLAST and did get some good rest. we all needed it in a bad way.

here's only a few on the pics we got...joe took all the fancy ones, except i take credit for the blackbird on the fountain. :) i love you, honey! happy, happy birthday to you. and thanks, sweet parents, for going with us!

i'm consoling a freaking-out hubby

lunch at Casa de Fruita

yosemite tunnel vision

our sweet cabin!

i had bought these candles six months ago and had been storing them in my sock drawer! then i lost them, and then found them again, and almost forgot to bring them along. but trudy made brownies (we didn't have oil or butter, so we used coconut milk!) and we turned into a birthday cake. :)

i'm icing my sprained ankle. it was bizarre to get up to the cabin, feel some pain and look down to find my ankle completely swollen. why? well, i the only thing i can figure is that i had just spent 4 days running around in hundred-degree weather coordinating a conference in flimsy flip flops. needless to say, when we got back home, the first thing i did was purchase a good pair of summer shoes.

half dome

el capitan

some falls...i think they're bridal veil? :)

us on the tour shuttle

my sweet hubby in his nifty hat

at the foot of yosmite falls. God's power through this water and wind is incredible!

at the wowona hotel for dinner

our little cabin :)

at the foot of yosemite falls

progress is a hole in the wall

joe and donovan cut a hole in the wall today, and now....we have a window in our new little room! it's turning out to be so cute in there! i'm sure we'll have it all done and usable by june (we have to anyway!). joe's already envisioning a home theater room and has pinpointed the perfect spot for our tv. ;) we'll see.

more birthdayness