Photo A Day Sept 11-30

SO...I might be a little behind in posting these but I was pleasantly surprised when I looked back and had so many pictures to choose from.  No wonder I am tired from this month!  I am really going to try to get back to posting once a week.  I realized this weekend that if I was diligent about posting once and week (and sent the pictures to be printed at the same time) that I might be able to finish my 2013 Project Life in the year 2013.  Crazy...I know.

Anyway...here is what the rest of our September looked like.

sept 11, 2013
good stuff coming from the garden

sept 12, 2013
my new fall Scentsy warmer...bought purely for business reasons  ;)

sept 13, 2013
it isn't fall until we have apple cider donuts from E.Z. Orchards

sept 14, 2013
oops....  

sept 15, 2013
Joe's aunt from New York came and visited and we took her around to see Salem.
 A carousel visit was our first stop!

sept 16, 2013
at Oregon Garden in the children's section.  And yes, she wore that crown all day.

sept 17, 2013
full disclosure...this was actually taken on the 16th but it was too good
not to share and I didn't have on for the 17th.
 Another stop at EZ Orchards turned up this to share.  T
here were 4 of us and we didn't finish it.

sept 18, 2013
a quick picture at preschool when I picked her up..not a very good picture
 but the only one that didn't have other kids faces and I didn't want to do
that for obvious reasons. She is loving school so much more this year than she did last year.

sept 19, 2013
Joe's mom and his aunt did a wine tour and we met them up in McMinnville at
 McMenamins.  It was a long day and I had been looking forward to this Ruby all day long.

sept 20, 2013
we drove over to Moses Lake and this is
one of my favorite pictures of Connor from the trip

sept 21, 2013
Heather, Connor and Chris
Such a wonderful family!

sept 22, 2013
a photo bomb of some sort.  

sept 23, 2013
another one of my absolute favorites from our weekend trip

sept 24, 2013
my fall mums bloomed while we were gone

sept 25, 2013
Oregon sunsets rarely compare to Montana sunsets, but
this one couldn't have come at a better time.

sept 26, 2013
trying to get something out of the cupboard and I caught it on
the popcorn, this was kind of how my day felt

sept 27, 2013
Taelin's wish for our Friday...to go to the library and get new books. Brillant

sept 28, 2013
a day spent scrapbooking is a day well spent!
 (I am up to the middle of May!)

sept 29, 2013
an unusual rainstorm for September caused a couple of trips to
Joe's work to check on the creek behind the building and to clear
 out the drain.  Last year they flooded and they aren't really looking for a repeat

sept 30, 2013
Taelin playing school and working on her name.  She absolute loves it, except for
when her picky mother makes her write her letters correctly.

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway. ~Henry Boye

I don't know that our trip to Moses Lake is the most important trip we will take but it was all about meeting people halfway.

Chris, Heather and their son Connor live in Missoula.  We live in Salem.  Half way between the two is Moses Lake.  So that is where we went!  Joe took a couple of days off from work and as did Chris and Heather and we renting a condo on the lake.  We had absolutely no agenda except to spend time together which is exactly what we did.  I challenged myself to take 500 photos during the weekend which I did with the help of an unplanned stop on the way home.

Here are some of my favorites from the weekend! (Don't worry...there are only 25!)

We were staying at a golf course so there were lots of
beautiful spaces to look at (and to play in.)

Thanks to Joe for grabbing the camera too!

Connor and Heather...that kid loves hats!

At a park in town

BIG step!

Right before Connor decided he did NOT like this purple dinosaur

Not a problem for Joe and Taelin

BUBBLES!

Sharing is hard...for the 18 month old and the 4 1/2 year old.

Add caption

Rolling down a hill

I don't know who had more fun!

Awww...

HAT! 

We went for a couple of walks and Connor LOVED finding the circles

There was a swimming pool that we didn't know about so a leotard had to be
 good enough for a swimsuit for Taelin and shorts for Joe.
I don't think they minded.

I love these two!

Double rainbow!

On the way home we needed a break from the car

<3

Thanks again to Joe!

Beauty all over!

We are getting good a self-family portraits!

Exhausted.

We had a wonderful weekend and it was just what we needed!  I have a feeling it won't be our last time at Moses Lake!

Be selective in your battles, sometimes peace is better than being right.

I couldn't find the person that said these wise words, but it is where I am right now.  I woke up Friday night/Saturday morning in what I think can only be described as a panic attack.  I was on day 4 of the same headache and had taken a new over the counter medication that got rid of my headache but had so much caffeine in it that I felt like I was literally spinning...only I wasn't.  And honestly, it scared the crap out of me.

Saturday I spent the day scrapbooking with dear friends.  I vented, listened, laughed with my friends and the first time all week I felt a little more myself.  I had a great time spending time doing something I love with people I love.  I was scrapping pictures from earlier this year (March and April) and realized something while I was doing the journaling.  I have a really great life.  Like really great life.  And I was letting crap from work spill over into every part of my brain and had been for awhile.  Even when I haven't been at work all my conversations with friends when they ask me how I have been doing have been about how hard work has been since going back.

Thankfully, it isn't all hard though.  I have some great teachers this year and I feel so lucky to work with them.  They energize me so much as I work alongside them.  It is all the other stuff that is hard.  Stuff that I am just not going to go over again because I just need to work on letting it go.

While, there is one thing that was definitely the tipping point this week if I am being honest the other night has been building up for awhile.  I feel like I am constantly not getting enough done.  Like constantly.  And today, I am claiming myself back.

I haven't had enough of the following things in the last few months and I am vowing today that I am getting it back...

*Enough Sleep  It is ridiculous to think that I can do all I am trying to do on less than 6 hours of sleep.

*Healthy Fuel I need to follow the same nutritional standard for myself that I have for Taelin.

*Exercise  I have been to the gym a total of 3 times since mid-August.  3 times.  I can do better and will be going later today once Joe is up.

*Decontamination  I am not talking about my frig (although that could probably use some attention) but I am talking about putting my work bag in the closet when I get home and leaving it there until I need to work. Saying I am not going to bring work home just isn't a reality this year but not walking by it constantly reminding me that I have work that needs to get done can be something I can do. Thank you Michael Grinder. (Hold on a minute while I go and do that.)

*Peaceful Home I need to get back into the routine of having a clean house.  I need to start using the system that has worked in the past so that when I am home I know what I need to do instead of mentally feeling like I am never done.  In order for this to happen, I am going to have to ask for help from Joe and Taelin.  Help that I think they will happily give to get their wife and mother back.  Walking through a clean space vs a messy one will make a HUGE difference.

*Writing  I have said it before and it is so true.  I need to be writing more.  In order to write more I need to make time for it.  I makes such a difference in my overall centeredness.  And while, I think I will keep sharing my photo posts out to Facebook, I think I am going to keep posts like this one, here. When I put it out there for everyone (I know that seems weird to say since I am putting it on the freakin' internet.) it feels less therapeutic for me. I feel like I can be less "me".

*Letting Go Out of all of these, there is not one that is going to be harder for me than this one.  I can only control what is within my control and other people's action are not.  I am so lucky in so many ways I need to bloody remember that.  I think while my "one little word" this year is supposed to be 'grace' I am bring back last year's word, 'peace'.

Photo A Day-Sept 1-10

YAY!  It's September...officially the craziest month of the year!  

sept 1, 2013
I am losing them constantly.
 Luckily they are always in my possession, I just don't know it.

sept 2, 2013
Happy Birthday to Me!
37?!?
(photo credit to Taelin)

sept 3, 2013
just a little painting project...a long overdue painting project

sept 4, 2013
I love this one more and more.  I really wanted to capture her braids and I did.
 Everything else is blurry...which is kind of how time feels right now.

sept 5, 2013
us after being caught in a downpour...it was a CRAZY thunderstorm

sept 6, 2013
this girl loves her bubbles

sept 7, 2013
it is a bit early but we have company coming from the east coast, gotta get ready

sept 8, 2013
Taelin has been asking for a clipboard so she can play school "for real".
I pulled this out of my school stuff and after she realized it was for her she exclaimed,
"Oh yeah!  Now we're talking!"
 Notice the long orange line?
 That is where I got crossed out for not being a good listener.
Apparently she will add me back when "my goodness" comes back.  

sept 9, 2013
we moved her kitchen back down to her room.  she was glad it was in it's "proper place".

sept 10, 2013
Her first Jodie-O!  She didn't want to help me expect for being the "taster".