monday loves...pinterest

so i finally took the time to check out pinterest...and oh my goodness it is superbly fantastic.  i love love love photo sharing sites and i stepped out of my comfort zone and signed up to share some of my favorite photos.  i will let you know when i am up and running with that.  i am so inspired by the amazingly talented souls out there.  what an amazing day we live in to be exposed to so much great art on the internet.  so here area couple interesting photos i found.  sending you lots of love on this "monday loves".





1 year in blogland

this week i will have been a blogger for one whole year!!!!  thank you friends and family who check in and see whats going on in my corner of the world.  i love each and every one of you and promise some pretty darn exciting things to come!!!!!  i have been working on a little project called kenzi lu (named after my daughter) with my friend jessie.  i have goosebumps everytime i think about it and promise to share so much more very very soon.   love and hugs to you all!!!!! 

a lovely day in the a.k

three lovely ladies that i work with.  they are so much more than co workers...they are amazing friends that i cherish.  thank you ladies for your amazing support and for just being you.

lots of love

simple motivation

i found this photo on pinterest and fell in love with it. anything to keep me motivated these days to keep running!!!!
how do you stay motivated???? 

monday loves...reminiscing

happy to be here - happy to love you - happy to live as one

this is one of my favorite photos from our wedding almost thirteen years ago.  its just a snapshot taken by a family friend and not a formal posed picture taken by our photographer.  its the only wedding photo i have out to look at each day.  its sits in my inspiration space in our den and yesterday it caught my eye.  it brings back so many memories and makes me think of how much we have grown together as we live our lives and grow older together.  i am truly blessed to live each day with my best friend and share happiness, heartache, and love with my sweet gus.

so close

spring is just around the corner and i couldn't be more ready.  so ready for bare feet and grass, bbq's and sitting on the porch, and driving with the windows open.  hope you are feeling the first signs of spring!!!

i am so close to sharing my exciting news with you!!!!!!!!!!  YAY, i cant wait!!!!!!!!

so thankful for all of you--have a wonderful weekend.

all images found on google images

i was just thinkin'

-about life and how thankful i am for the little things.  a hot shower, food, a place to sleep and the comfort of my loved ones. 

-of all the things i want to learn and the books i would love to read.

-how much i love to sit and relax at night after a long day with a hot cup of tea just before i go to bed.

-of all the amazing people who make a positive impact on our world.

-of my new found hopes, dreams, and inspirations that excite me each day.

-a great song that comes on the radio when i am driving in my car. 

-hearing the birds and feeling the warmth of the sun after a long alaskan winter of cold and darkness.

-smelling the grass and seeing the earth that has been buried under snow and ice.  (hopefully this will happen within the next month)

-how much i enjoy laughing with my family

-sending lots of love hope and tears to all the people of japan.  my heart aches for them during this terrible tragedy. 

what are you thinkin today???

taking it all in

the last frontier

i love this sign.  everytime we drive by one on our way to anchorage i wish i would stop and snap a photo---so this weekend i finally did it!!!  i love it!!!  it makes me laugh when i realize we only have one main highway that goes through our state.

a view from the car window. the alaska railroad.

i love this spot with the ocean and the mountains connecting.

this is one of the most spectacular things you will ever see.  this photo was taken by jessies brother in fairbanks with his cell phone.  the aurora borealis is amazingly beautiful.  wow

monday loves...makenzi's story...part three

makenzi's story...

part three

kenzi started kindergarten at five years old and things were ok, but not as great as i had hoped.  she was beginning to receive speech therapy in school.  parent/teacher conferences ended with me in tears while my husband stayed strong through it all.

my husband had convinced me it was time to make an appointment with the autism dr in our state.  we sent in all the paperwork and made phone calls, but in the end they decided not to give us an appointment.  i was shocked that a dr could actually refuse to see someone. 

speech therapy and a few special services continued on through third grade. we decided again that it was time to find a dr and get her in.  we started with our family dr.  our doctor is amazing and she sat and talked with kenzi and i for a very long time and called us a few days later with another option.  she had found another dr in anchorage that would see us.  we made an appt immediately.  at this point makenzi was nine years old and i was finally ready to accept.  accept a diagnoses that i had fought for so many years.  a diagnoses that would help my sweet child and change our lives.  a diagnoses i knew in my heart was true and was what made my daughter the amazing girl she is.

after two appointments and five diagnoses later we felt relief.  relief might sound weird but with my new found acceptance i realized that i couldn't truly help my child until i could accept the fact that she was autistic and life would be a little more difficult for her.

why had this taken me so long?  i felt guilty, i felt like everything was my fault.  why her?  why did she have to have this?  ultimately it didn't matter, this was reality and we are her parents, we love her more than anything and we will do everything to help her.

makenzi's story...part two

we all have a story

part two

kenzi at one year

i didn't go back to school in the fall, i had decided to stay home with my daughter.  the first year or so she progressed like the books said she would, and i enjoyed my time at home while my husband was busy with work.

kenzi and i spent our days playing and reading books.  at just around 2 years old my husband and i began to notice little things here and there that were a little out of the "normal" category.  our daughter wouldn't imitate certain everyday gestures like waving goodbye and her vocabulary was minimal compared to other children  her age.  she had also developed an abnormal behavior.  quite often she would hum while propelling her arms and sort of skip around the room. we weren't sure what this was and that's when i first heard the word autism come out of my husbands mouth.  i immediately said NO WAY!!!  i wanted nothing to do with the thought of it and quickly defended my little girl.  she was a snugly child, while i had heard autistic children don't like to be touched.  she was so little, she would grow out of this and i knew that everything would be ok.

i continued to stay home and a few months after kenzi's third birthday our son creed was born.  i now had two little ones so there was no way i would be going back to school anytime soon. 

the humming and propelling continued and her vocabulary still suffered.  i bought all sorts of books and continued to believe she would eventually catch on. 

when she turned four we decided to start her in preschool a couple of days a week.  it went ok and helped introduce her to other kids her own age.  during that year we were in touch with a woman who worked for the school district screening pre kindergartners.  we decided to set up an appointment and see what she had to say.  a week after the appointment i received a phone call that still bothers me to this day.  over the phone she gave me the results that there was something seriously wrong with my child.  i was so disturbed by the way she talked to me and what she had said that i totally shut down.  i completely believed she was wrong and that she had no idea who my daughter was and how amazing she was.

love love

my friend jessie

here is jessie!!! 

jessie and i met a few years ago.  we found that we had so much in common and have been friends ever since. 

 check out her beautiful blog

once i heard a song of sweetness.

she is an amazingly talented writer and she inpires me each day with her approach on life.

through her writing you will feel her beautiful heart and caring spirit.

thank you jessie for sharing your world with all of us at

once i heard a song of sweetness

love love

monday loves...my story...makenzi's story...part one

everyone has a story

part one

newly married to my best friend and living in the last frontier.  i was young and attending our local college working on my education degree (i chose education because it was one of two 4 year degrees i could receive at this school).  don't get me wrong i enjoyed it and i was excited about my chosen career path, but it wasn't what i had dreamed i would do.

my husband, 5 1/2 years older than i, had already finished college and was a few years into his career.  we were stable and settled so when i became pregnant three months after we were married i knew we would be fine financially.  i would finish college and become a teacher in our small community and life would be easy and "normal".

my pregnancy started out very normal with a little morning sickness, bigger appetite, and more sleepiness.  as my pregnancy progressed so did my size.  in the end i had gained a hearty 65 pounds.  i continued school with my due date in the summer i could easily finish the semester have the baby and be back to school in the fall to finish up my last year.  so simple i thought, little did i know i would never return to school after our little girl was born.

continuing on with my pregnancy...things were still in the normal category until my obgyn appointment just before the 35 week mark.  i wasn't feeling well and i had gained a lot of weight quite rapidly at this point.  during my appointment the doctor noticed my weight gain and also my blood pressure was abnormally high.  they were concerned and we were headed into the weekend so i was to check my blood pressure the next day and if it was too high i was to go directly to the hospital.  so i found myself in the hospital the next day diagnosed with pre eclampsia or toxemia.  a serious but pretty common condition that affects both mom and baby and the only cure is delivering the baby.

my husband and i were in shock, i wasn't ready, i still had five weeks until my due date.  there was not much time to think, i would be induced in the morning and we would have our baby by the end of the day.  after 12 hours of pitocin and an epidural our daughter makenzi lauryn was born.  five weeks early she was a surprisingly healthy 6 pounds 2 ounces and breathing perfectly on her own.

a weekend away...my work party

i am very blessed to work for some of the most caring and selfless people i know.  this weekend they took all of us and our spouses to the town of homer for an amazing dinner, loads of laughs and beautiful scenery.  i have made wonderful friendships with my co workers and we have so much fun together.  here are a few pictures of our weekend.

live simply

live simply...
life can be crazy and hectic and leave little time for the things that are most important.  why is life this way???  why has everything become so rushed and jam packed???  i have been asking myself this question over and over again lately. i guess what i am getting at is i feel like i need more time to just breathe, relax, and create.  i want to live simply within and not feel rushed and overwhelmed.
i need to take one extra hour, well maybe half hour to start with for me.  time for me to do something i want even if it means just time to sit and do nothing.  we all need "me" time and to remember its ok to say no.  we don't have to commit to everything proposed to us.  if its not in your heart to do, say no and say yes to you.  we are better people and are able to care more for our loved ones when we take the this time for ourselves. 
being a mom is one of the most rewarding and humbling parts of life.  i am blessed with two amazing kids who inspire me to be a better person each day.  i have grown and learned so much in the past 11 almost 12 years of motherhood. 
here's to living simply and taking the time to breathe.
love love love

my new shoes

i haven't bought fancy shoes in a long time so when i saw these i knew i had to have them for my work party last weekend!!  more pictures to come of our beautiful homer weekend!!!

spring favs from anthro

oh how i love anthropologie!!!  here are a few of my new favorite new arrivals to their spring line.  YAY!!!

happy tuesday!!!