moving the blog.

i have decided to re invent my little blog. please come over to the new blog & read about us a little. the first post will describe the reasoning behind everything. hugs. summer

lots of time to sew.

i've been crazy busy getting things organized in our cute little house up here in the pacific northwest. it has been a lot of fun and a lot of work. in the move some things were broken & some things were destroyed! one of the things that was destroyed has repaired. thanks to a little inspiration from... well my o.c.d... i got to work. in 2 hours my ottoman had a fresh new look. it was super easy. why white with two kids? one word... bleach!!!!!!

up next... the couch! well... maybe that can wait a little while!!!

little things that make me smile.

sparkles make me smile. since (being now a resident of oregon) the glimmer of sunshine is something that makes me smile... simply because we see less of the sunshine up here. (by the way... did you know that in the springtime it isn't supposed to be 75-85 degrees? huh... just learned that). so for that i created my own glimmer... here is my replication of the shimmer in my new little house. these {antique glass crystals} were courtesy of my mom who works in a restoration store in the historic district of dallas/ fort worth, texas. i have carted these around with me for a while dying to find a place for them. here are the two things that i have done with them.

#1: at the bottom of the jars hanging in the bathroom {2 from pottery barn... 1 a canning jar}. inside the jar a tea lights... to add a little sparkle. (candles are not lit in this picture)

#2: hanging from my birdcage {minus the bird}, next to a lamp & candle that allow the glass to glimmer, glisten, & shine.
{{ps. more to come on our little adventures in oregon.}}

i know i will get an award.

i asked ash this morning what she was going to say when i got the award for being the greatest mom... she laughed and said, 'that's a good question.' i know i am bound to get one because the other day when she came home from school she asked me to make her something pink to wear for the next day because... well she was supposed to wear pink. when i asked what she was supposed to wear pink for, she said she had no idea, but that elle said she should wear pink. so since i had just found a large piece of fabric at the bottom of my scrap bin (which i will show another time & what i am doing with those scraps), which wasn't even a scrap, it was a little piece of heaven, i set out to make her a quick little shirt. i know what you are thinking... why hasn't anyone presented the award yet... well i am waiting. ash will give the speech! now don't you think i should get an award for it?

quilted memories

i quilted this all the way back in december... it was my christmas present to my little sister. it was a labor of love. the back of the quilt is my favorite part which usually is the case! going down the back (off centered) is a 'film strip' of pictures of her and my dad. the top picture being the hospital picture of my dad holding her (each of us have one with him). the bottom picture being a picture of her and my dad in hawaii a few years ago (her favorite) and in between are cherished memories of christmas past, father-daughter banquets, vacations in pismo, sailing off the coast of africa... i cried when i gave it to her. she cried too. more important... its usable! it now sits on her couch for everyone to see. a conversations started to share precious memories of our dad.

a better person.

i grew up in the same house as my dad. i moved out just down the street from my dad. i always lived down the street from my dad (with in a few miles) until 2 1/2 years ago when we moved up to san luis obispo. random thought right? well track with me for a second. this morning i am laying in bed having 'cuddle time' with both my kids. i told them that this was the best part of my day. thought process chain:... i hope i never take things like this for granted... i hope i always have memories like this that stay... how many memories have i taken for granted... i miss my dad... i took living close to him for granted... i miss my dad... i wish i had treasured more of that time and not simply thought of it as just hanging out but rather as an opportunity to gleam something from him... i guess i did learn... because of him i want to cherish & treasure these memories... i want to be a better person. i grew up in the same house as my dad. i moved out just down the street from my dad. i always lived down the street from my dad (with in a few miles) until 2 1/2 years ago when we moved up to san luis obispo. random thought right?

random thought... random picture from our adventure on saturday.

raw pictures.

two things struck me when i was looking at these pictures... first being the love of a boy for his dog. these two will play out in the backyard, chasing each other, jeremy trying to ride hurley, playing 'fetch' & tug. watching them wrestle in the backyard does my heart good. best friends. buddies. homies. second... these pictures are completely unedited. look how green the grass is & jeremy's eyes are pretty killer too.

i know she is bound for great things.

she wants to be an inventor when she grows up.

remembering my dad.

1 year later:
this is how we remembered him.

the picture below his head stone. decorated about 6 months ago by jeremy with rocks.

jeremy keeping his papa's picture clean.

my favorite picture of the day. the kids sat at his grave for a little while and then walked away comforting on another. a treasured memory for sure.

we let balloons go. 1 blue balloon to symbolize 1 year passing.

my sweet niece becca.

uncle todd and becca doing 'up downs'.

my sister breezi and her boyfriend jason.

my brother tony & his wife beth.

the siblings... breezi, tony & i.

my sisters best friend (who is apart of the family), breezi & ash.

the end of the day we bar.b.qued at my sisters house. jt curled up on lindsay's shoulder. we had to take a picture because he is going to want this when he gets older.

and that concluded our day.

saturday.

these past few weeks are but a blur. hard & emotional. tiresome. i can't quite figure out where they all have gone. vaporized into some time warped place in nothingness & i sit here and try to figure out what is going on. saturday rocked my world. i stood in a storage unit... recently emptied and displayed before me were all of my dads belongings. hard... yes. sad... yes. a blessing... definitely. as we dug deeper into the things that were my dads, my sister stumbled upon 2 files. one said 'breezi' & the other said 'summer'. there was nothing profound in them. no letters to us from him. but what was inside showed me what my dad treasured. he treasured us. he has all the letters i had written to him. my graduation stuff from high school. my first speeding ticket. my drivers test. a stub from when we went to go look at cars when he was getting me my first car. the card that the hospital gave him the day he received my blood during surgery. my college class schedule. a tee sheet from the first time we went golfing together, on it was his hand writting that said 'first round of golf with summer.' this one impacted me in a way that i didn't think it would. it was a beautiful momento. i remember that day well. i have such an insight into his heart for his kids.

my life. my loves. my lists.

i found this book at starbucks and it has a ton of questions, some thought provoking... some silly. there are quotes from people that are directly related to the questions asked. i love books like this. i started to do the book. so fun. here is my first question i've answered.

'recall as often as you wish; a happy memory never wears out.' libbie fudim

'what are the things i think of that always make me smile?'

-running around climbing trees with my brother as a kid.
-the day i found out i had a little sister (seriously feels like it was yesterday. my brother wanted a boy... i wanted a girl. i won. i wasn't gracious.)
-my dad.
-when my friend stephanie 'encouraged' todd to ask me out. (hilarious story that i had nothing to do with.)
-when i got married.
-when each of my kids asked jesus into their heart.
-ashlynn laying with my dad in bed and watching cartoons.
-talking to my niece on the phone.
-baking with ash.
-playing baseball with jeremy.
-hearing my kids talk about my dad.
-reading a good book.
-going to scooters jungle with the fam.
-mandy. anna. steph. alyssa.
-laughter.

over a month.

it has been a crazy month. i mean crazy! seriously crazy.
we packed. enjoyed christmas amongst boxes.
loaded a moving truck (2 trucks).
said goodbye to slo. and hello to LA.
enjoyed my niece and nephew a ton.
i started running again after a small hiatus.
spent new years watching jeremy do push-ups.
(see todd's facebook for the video).
went to arizona for a good friends father funeral.
ash got a library card.
sewing like crazy (more to come with that).
i am homeschooling the little hommies.
i love it. seriously love it.
enjoying the family.