Summer Projects

This past spring, some friends of ours gave us a bench.  An old, weather-worn, wooden bench.  The moment I saw it, I told my mom...

"I'm painting it blue."

A couple of weeks ago I secured the help and painting expertise of a dear friend and we set to work.  Sanding and sanding and more sanding and then, finally! painting.

Unfortunately, after all of that sanding, some of us were just too tired to paint whilst sitting upright.

But Bear came to our rescue and encouraged us to sit up and get to work by informing us that he wanted to sit on it, so we should hurry up and finish already!

I am quite proud of our finished project and I can't wait to use it in photoshoots!

 

Because of our great teamwork (and the fact that we would've won any 'How in the world did you get paint there??' contest), we celebrated by watching The Emperor's New Groove.

Love that movie.

Inspiration Board

“In this story, the sun moves. In this story, every night meets a dawn and burns away in the bright morning. In this story, Winter can never hold back the Spring... He is the best of all possible audiences, the only Audience to see every scene, the Author who became a Character and heaped every shadow on Himself. The Greeks were right. Live in fear of a grinding end and a dank hereafter. Unless you know a bigger God, or better yet, are related to Him by blood.”

― N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl

Oh the Places We'll Go!

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

The view from our Kodiak campsite.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And then things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights.

You can get so confused

that you'll start in to race

down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace

and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,

headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...

People shots in Paris

...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or the waiting around for a Yes or No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

NO!

That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape

all that waiting and staying

Watching the Tour!

You'll find the bright places

where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,

once more you'll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.

Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

So...

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,

You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!

Snapshots of our summer adventures, narrated by Dr. Seuss's 'Oh the Places We'll Go!'

We're Moving!

Okay. We're not moving as in "moving" moving.  My blog is moving.  But we're not moving.  Yet, anyways.  ....This has become more confusing than it needed to be. 

Visit (and follow) my new blog at A Dandelion-Wish Away. :)

Tschusse!!

These Last Days of Summer

31 days left, 31 things to do (post idea from Emilyann Pool over at the nine tenths).  Enjoy :)

{Day One} Very first post on the new blog.

{Day Two} Go to the pool.

{Day Three} Start a scrap journal.

{Day Four} Paint.

{Day Five} Finish a sewing project.

{Day Six} Breathe. Do the things that come naturally. Electronic-free.

{Day Seven} Send letters. At least five. Just because.

{Day Eight} Pack for camp.

{Day Nine} Smile. Even if you don't feel like it.

{Day Ten} Nature sketch.

{Day Eleven}  Spend extra time in God's Word.

{Day Twelve} Smile at a stranger.

{Day Thirteen} Photograph memories.

{Day Fourteen} Phone call to Mom.

{Day Fifteen}  Sit. Relax. Be.

{Day Sixteen} Pray for a friend.

{Day Seventeen} Cloud watching.

{Day Eighteen} Pick a flower to dry and save.

{Day Nineteen} Plan a fun craft for Sunday-school lesson.

{Day Twenty}  Blog. Blogblogblog.

{Day Twenty-One} Skip the junk food. Only natural stuff today.

{Day Twenty-Two} Finish summer reading and notes.

{Day Twenty-Three} Bake a new dessert!

{Day Twenty-Four} Write a poem.

{Day Twenty-Five}  Complete one Pinterest project.

{Day Twenty-Six} Order photo prints.

{Day Twenty-Seven} Write a short story.

{Day Twenty-Eight} Say "I love you" to someone.

{Day Twenty-Nine} Get a schedule in place for the new year.

{Day Thirty} Draw something and give it to the person you thought of while drawing it.

{Day Thirty-One}  Show grace.

River Flows In You - Lindsey Stomp

And We're Back!

To quiet all of those crazy rumours that I know are circulating about why I haven't blogged recently:

No.  It was not due to the fact that I had finals this month.  It was, instead, due to the fact that I was abducted by green, mind-reading aliens with slimy tentacles and three eyes.  It wasn't until just yesterday that an astronaut rescued me and I was returned to our lovely planet earth.  The experience was horribly traumatizing and I don't know if I'll ever recover.

True story.

Even after this scarring event, I am determined to continue my failed blog challenge.

Because I'm focused like that.

Thank you for dealing with my sudden disappearance with such poise.  (Though I might have appreciated a search party, missing person report or something like that. But it's okay. I forgive you.)

Onward! To summer and freedom and consistent blogging!

-- RM

Time to Partayy!!

Oooor lay on my bed, stuffing our faces full of popcorn and chocolate while watching a movie.

The only problem is ... twin beds can only hold so many people.

I draw the line at four.

There was not enough room for Isaac, Abi, Plutarch the Lamb, Pablo the Mexican Ducky, Snoopy, AND me..

Someone had to go.

I made my siblings sit on the floor.

It's not me being mean, I promise ... It's just that Pablo's claustrophobic.

I mean look at him! He's freaking out about being stuck in the middle.

Poor thing.

(It is completely normal for sixteen-year-old girls to take pictures of her stuffed animals, right? Right. Okay, thanks.)

We picked Mulan.  I do love that movie.  So, I thought I'd share one of my favorite clips with you...

Never gets old.

-- RM