White is Glorious

I love Succulents, my mom is so good at nurturing them. She planted some I picked out for me and I'm trying my green thumb with them at home.

I love the white and black mixture I found in my parent's retreat of a backyard!

I wanted to try out these mirrors, they are like a fun house, neither appears how I really am. I like the steering wheel for a boat to signify what I will choose to believe MY image to be... Something in the middle of small and large, but definitely not only as I appear in the mirror.

White is such a beautiful pure color. I've attended many wedding receptions this year, white roses gave me that feeling of celebrating marriage. The clouds particularly amazed me with their whiteness. The sun shining on the clouds made it even more glorious. I liked looking for white this fall. It gave me more opportunities to play with my new camera and family liked seeing me use it. I have everyone around me in color mode, even the tutors ask me about what color I am looking for now. I have missed a few amazing shots because I was driving or without my camera, but This challenge has helped me see this beauty of this fall in terms of color.:)

Wordless/ish Wednesday

Pink Peony. Just like life, this flower has its beauty, it comes and goes as fast as you can think of it. It's nice to capture and cherish those moments of pure softness and beauty.

Home Again~

It was such a lovely trip visiting my folks this past weekend. I felt pampered as we did the things I enjoy most. It was a long drive, feeling a little free and a little weird with out my family, but I made it to my folks house and we went out for Sushi. I loved the quiet, that was the most noticable difference being away from my sweet little ones. I relaxed some and had a wonderful early Thanksgiving with my parents, sister, and nephew. We had our nails done and went to the hair beauty supply store too. Its great to have girl time with my mom and sister. It was a beautiful weekend in LA. It has sprinkled a little so you could see all around.:) I love it when the smog is gone and you can see the beauty of the palm trees and rolling hills. I was pleasantly surprised by the flood of good memories while I rode a round the streets where I grew up!

We love to go to the jacuzzi at my parents house and watched a movie nightly, It was nice to watch things I enjoyed like Pride and Prejudice and Twilight: Eclipse. I had to get ready for the new movie coming out this Thursday.:)

I flew home on Southwest. It was a full flight, but I loved seeing the changing sunset out the window and drinking my ginger ale like I used to when I flew a lot. No one strip searched me which I was happy for and all my things made it there safely. It was a successful trip! My battery is recharged and Brian says he can't wait to go to work to rest today.:) Of course he is joking since his work is not restful. He is the best husband ever for watching the kiddos all weekend on his own, I love him!

Roller Coaster Ride

Roller Coaster Ride. That's how I would consider the last few days. One fantastic good thing seemed to be paired with some upset, mess, or disappointment. I had the choice to be positive and hopeful. Spencer's school and bus are having a hard time dealing with him again. I mean a really hard time!

At home we do the best we can trying to make sure he has stability, a voice, all his needs met, and medication that can help him be the most successful. Lack of structure, reaction over his behaviors cause an uprising in my Sweet Spence. Yes, he cannot communicate with words effectively, but he wants and needs to be heard. At home we use thought bubbles, narrating what he would say by looking at his non verbal body language. He smiles and giggles and nods his head as if to say"Yes!, That is what I meant!" It can be a spiritual experience trying to be one with him enough to sense his wants and needs. It also takes quite a bit of spiritual, emotional, and physical strength to deal with his aggressive bouts towards myself, his siblings, and others. What can I do other than say sorry to them and help Spencer to find other outlets, to find his voice, to train him to cope and cooperate positively.

I am still on a mission to capture my life positively. I got a new camera! A Nikon digital SLR with a couple lenses. I love trying it out. I also have the opportunity to go on a road trip to Southern California today. It will be great to see family, relax, and take a lot of pictures! Bri and I went on our date night last night. I was feeling like Italian food so we went to IL Forno Classico. The bread is baked with herbs, so yummy! The balsamic vinaigrette and oil dip has a hint of artichoke in it. That paired with the artichoke spinach ravioli in lemon creme sauce made for quite the comfort food. Now, today I get to leave my worries behind and hit the road in a 2010 Prius and focus on well.. anything I want.:) Its going to be great.. I'll take this ride over any other even with its downs and ups

Finding Brown

I love the warmth of the colors of fall, even when its growing cooler outside. Brown is a nice color too, a color I wear and enjoy around me. Amber is my favorite stone, and I've painted my house in some shade a brown throughout. I love Celia's and Emmy's brown haircolor and all my kiddos have brown eyes. Brown can be beautiful! I think I own at least five pairs of brown shoes... Brown wasn't hard for me to find for this photo challenge, I'm sure because its a color I love.:) In the second of these photos you can see the shape of a star and an iceskater. Can you see it?

Arranging Flowers

I had a great time at our Relief Society Meeting last night. We talked of being thankful and then we were allowed materials to make our own table center piece. We were taught a few tricks by two florists then were sent to make our decoration happen! I love the chance to create and be among other women. I will keep it for years and love all what it represents about changing seasons, being thankful, and blooming in creativity.

Always remember the fifth of November

Emmy and I had an enjoyable morning looking through old scrapbook and remembering celebrations of birthdays past. Emmy is going to have a party with her friends later and Bri is outta town on business so the kids and I decided to celebrate together.

We went to the discovery park by the Sacramento river. It was beautiful out there. We had a picnic breakfast from McDonald's and wandered around. It was nice we seemed to have the park to ourselves other that an American Indian group chanting in full costume preparing for some performance of some kind. I love the happy sounds of live music happening spontaneously, it is one of my favorite things. Joseph wanted to leave right after we ate, but it was so lovely outside we let him sulk a little bit.

We then went to Old Sacramento to the sock shop and the candy store. Emmy opened up a guitar music book and has been enjoying learning how to play her favorite yellowcard songs on her guitar this afternoon. We had pizza that we added pepperoni to, and Joseph made Emmy a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Emmy went and spent the day with Rah Rah yesterday after school she came home with krispy kreme doughnut hats and we used them as our party hats.:) Spence was acting like a teen and throwing us his funny expressions.~Happy 15th Birthday to my wonderfully fabulous daughter Emelie.~