Life is better ...

Sometimes I get downright cranky - usually when I haven't had enough sun.  I was thinking this morning, "What is the key to happiness?" For me it's GRATITUDE. It's about searching out all those little things in my life that  have made me happy and reflecting on them with a grateful heart and trying to do that OFTEN.  Sometimes I get bogged down in the fact that I thought after chemo and radiation things would be so much better.  It's taken a lot longer to recover than I thought.  That 5 year mark - well, they are serious about it. Along the way I've learned a few things.  Things I'm grateful for.

I recently went to a 'lung' doctor. He diagnosed me with reactive airways - exercise and allergy induced asthma.  This incredible but expensive inhaler that I use twice a day has been a gift from God.  My energy levels are amazing.  I can exercise the full 20 minutes of the 30 Day Shred without that horrible pinch in my chest that makes me hunch over in pain.   He also sent me to have an ECHO done.  Well the only problem was that it's taking my heart longer to fill up than it should (common after chemo), sometimes almost twice as long. It doesn't happen every time. Only every other or every third time.  So - I now have an explanation of why I am tired frequently.  And that is a gift too - because now I know it's not just in my head.  I can relax and press forward slowly.  It's also something that can  get better - 'give it 5 or 10 years' he's said. I can do that. I've also been thinking about all the things I've been able to do since chemo and radiation that I haven't done before. I'm working on that list and will share soon.

Also, Marne - I'm only using that steamer canner for PEACHES.  My husband loves them. We are going to put away 4 quart cases this year.  We need the speed. I'm also going to get a pressure cooker canner for things like tomatoes and green beans.  I'll post a photo when I get that thing too. Thanks for your info and for sharing that link. Appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Canning

I guess canning is the hot new thing for domestic divas to conquer.  Hmm ... well it's just a coincidence that I got this. I started canning peached for my husband last year.

I had to take a photo of it shiny and new!

He needed to feel included

So I went to JoAnns and bought 1 yard of fabric and a few more D rings and here is the finished product.

Wild Flower Photos by my daughter

We took these photos while we were up at that high mountain lake.  These are the photos my daughter took.

 Wild roses

Fireweed

And Tyler took this wild flower photo with one of my favorite parts of the cliffs behind it.  He is so talented with the camera it takes my breath away. He just knows how to photograph a scene.

Wild Flower Photographs 2010

And here are the flowers that I photographed.

wild geranium

wild geranium in pink

even the thistle looked pretty

Can't wait to find out the name on this one - looks like we are due for a trip to the library

even the tiniest wildflowers added to the beauty of the area

These were by far the most prominent

These tiny flowers had a very strong scent.

These had the prettiest scent but were the 2nd smallest in size.

As you can see we really enjoyed our walk around the lake. 

Time to check out the wildflower books at the library again.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

We went to Great Grandpa's favorite spot for his birthday this past weekend.  Grandma S brought her little raft and the kiddos were excited to try it out.

Then we went for a walk around the lake.  There is a nice path all the way around it.

My daughter and I are talking about how she thinks the large rock stairs are 'Royal Stairs' made just for us to get down instead of a slippery slope.

The wild flowers were amazing.  I am going to send some of my daughter's photos for printing so that she can enter them in the county fair next week.  The photography section has the best prizes.

There are no motorized boats allowed on this lake.  So some of the people there brought canoes.

When we started our walk, which was slow because of all the flowers we had to stop and photograph and smell, there were a few white fluffy clouds in the sky.  About half way around the clouds showed up.  By the time we loaded into the car the downpour arrived.  It was a gorgeous rainstorm.  Which it would have hit the valley too!

Summer Camping and Wild Flowers

We recently went for a ride up in the mountains and did some camping.  We weren't in a designated camping spot so we brought up the camp stove and curled up in our sleeping bags and watched Back to the Future III with our kids. The scenery was breathtaking!

Starting with these - right next to our campsite.

another view

And then this:

My daughter photographed these up close.

and these pink flowers too:

These were right next to the snow:

Yep, we had a snowball fight in the middle of July.

And these were just down the hill from the snow.

This is what we saw on our way back down the mountain on our way back to our tent.

Lots and lots of Dust!

And a beautiful moonrise!

H ... is for Harvesting

I picked these wonderful veggies from my garden July 22nd.  Yum!  The carrots were gone in a hurry! I gave the green onions to my mom to use in our lunch.  We had a blast with cousins and Aunt C and the water park on base.