A Little Fun Last Night!

 

My son, Dustin and I had dinner last night at the beach. We walked Miloh and took some photos of the sunset. He has his camera and I have mine.  We used to share my camera.  He now has his own better camera!  He shares my love of photography. He is talented.  I can't wait to see what he does with it!  He photographs differently than I do.  He has his style and I have mine.  It was fun shooting photos and exploring the beach with my son.

I love seeing the sun set and the many colors it reflects.  God is very creative and gives us so much to enjoy!  I love the silhouette photos.  I'd never tried that before.  I loved it once again.  Thanks Dustin for sharing in it with me!  I love you!

Feeling a Little Caprese Lately!

I get these cravings sometimes and lately it's been all things caprese.  I love tomatoes, basil and mozzarella with a side of balsamic and vinegar.  Recently I had a Caprese Panini which had the typical tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese and they added pesto.  Yummy!!  So I made myself one at home recently and it was pretty good.  Yesterday, Mason and I caught up with the hubby for lunch.  There is a new restaurant called Elbows.  We'd heard good things about it.  It's all macaroni and cheese meals.  Guess what they had???  Caprese macaroni and cheese.  I tried it....it was calling my name!  It was good and very rich!!  Hubby had the hamburger macaroni and cheese which reminded me of a good version of Hamburger Helper.  Other choices were jalapeno mac, hotwings mac, swiss mac, truffle mac, spinach & artichoke mac, lobster mac and cajun mac to name a few!  Overall, the original tasted the best!  Nothing better than some plain ol' mac and cheese.  Although I think I'll make it at home from now on!   $24.95 for a mac and cheese lunch was a bit much!  So what are you craving??  

P.S.  I always crave me some good ol' red licorice!!  Mason loves it too!  :)

Happy Anniversary to ME!!

 I married the most handsome boy I knew 33 years ago and here we are!!  I love seeing all of our wedding dresses from this era.  Long sleeves and high necklines even in summer!  

Dwight has been my rock, my encourager and there beside me loving me each and every step of the way!  It's been a crazy 33 years but ones I wouldn't want to live without.  We created three beautiful children who have blessed our days more than we know and have given us so much to be thankful for!

 

This was last year...I love my children with all of my heart and am so proud of who they are!

Here we are today!  The whole family with another little one on the way!

We are off to San Diego where we honeymooned.  It's one of our favorite places to visit!

Change....

Change is inevitable and whether we like it or not, we are in a constant state of change.  

We have gone through a lot of change in 3 years and have learned so many lessons along the way.  Now don't get me wrong, I have not adjusted well to some of them well...maybe most of them.  I'm finally able to accept what has happened and move forward.   I'm not proud to say that I left God out of much of it over the last couple years. I have been a faithful believer and trusted God would take care of me which I thought meant that I wouldn't have to go through some really hard stuff.  I really like everything to flow and be happy!  I really misunderstood God's love and care because through it all, He was right there carrying me when I was screaming mad at where I was in my life.  Through God's grace and HIS grace only I realize this now and thank Him for never leaving me and for being the loving and ever present God that He is!

So change is inevitable...Here's a little snapshot of what I (we've) gone through.  My husband and a good friend, opened a business in 2007 only to close it in 2010 due to the economy and mistakes made opening a small business.  Every last dime we had was gone because we invested it and more in something we thought would take us into retirement.  We also had our boys working with us.  My son, Dallas and his family moved to Colorado for a job taking my grandchildren over a 1,000 miles away.   I was a realtor and in 2008, my business of listing homes for sale dried up so I didn't have work for the first time in 10 years.  I worked for another realtor for 6 months as an assistant and really enjoyed it.  His business was so bad that he couldn't keep me.  My husband was laid off from his job of 10 years.  My father-in-law died suddenly.  We had to buy two cars for cash (because we had no income any longer).  One car for my husband who had to turn back his company owned vehicle and one for me because my lease was up two months after my husband got laid off.  We had to file bankruptcy due to the business failure.  We attended the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Class at church to assist us in our finances for the future. (That program is amazing!)  My dad died suddenly after being hospitalized for pneumonia.  I went back and forth to Arizona for 6 weeks to visit him before he died.  God was good...he accepted Jesus as his Savior before he died.  He had resisted church or anything Christian most of his life.  The realization that we had to sell our home and where were we going to go???  And during this time, the hubby and I were having our ups and downs.  It was not good at times.  I was a mess inside, trying to keep it all together on the outside.  AND I can tell you...it feels so good to have all of this behind me. 

So I plan to share more as the year goes by of what I learned through all of this.  It's been alot to go through but then I am reminded in God's word about how He cares for us and doesn't give us more than we can handle and if we get in a hard place, He provides a way out.  Then again, I am reminded that there are others in this world going through so much more than I.  Thank you God for taking care of me.....

He Brings Sweet Laughter and Fun to My Day!

My youngest grandchild, Mason is quite a character and he's funny!  He does come from a line of comedians.  His grandfather on his dad's side was one of the original members of the clean comedy group, Isaac Air Freight which toured during the 70's and 80's.  Here's a link to their fan page on Facebook if you'd like to check them out!  Click HERE! 

So I had the camera out yesterday and was looking at some photos I'd taken and he was eating his lunch (turkey and yogurt pretzels) and he says "Grandma, take a picture of me!" which I was glad to do and he opens his mouth with all his food in it and just laughs.  We both did!!  So I keep shooting and he smiles for me!  What a fun day we had!  He makes me smile and happy that I am his grandma and that God has blessed me to be able to care for him two days a week.  He brings sweet laughter and fun to my days that I need!  And Jesus can do the same for us when we trust in HIM!  I'm trusting today....are you??

With Change Comes A Different View

 We certainly do have a different view these days living on a golf course and it's beautiful.  The hubby loves it because he doesn't have to mow it (or pay to have it mowed!!) and he loves looking out at this pretty jacaranda tree each morning.  It sure is pretty...did you notice the second tree right next to it on the left.  I didn't until he mentioned there were two trees.  Much like people, some are noticed more than others but all are important to God.

As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 ~  There is an appointed time for everything.  Change is one of them...we are embracing new changes in our life and some come with a good view and others do not however, we rest in the knowledge that God is in control and we are giving it all up to HIM and it's good!

Today....I am waiting for this cute little man to come to my house for Grandma Day!  One of the changes I get to enjoy is being closer to this little one and not having to drive an hour to see him. 
He loves coming to Grandma's NEW house!

Have a wonderful Day! 

I'm BAAAAACK!!!

I'm back!!!!  Yes....I've missed blogging and reading my favorite blogs and finding new ideas to try.  It's been a crazy time in my life because we MOVED!!!  I will be sharing all about it and am working on starting a new blog because afterall I have been 50 for two years now and I've got some new ideas to share!!  So anyway...what a great way to start back to blogging than to share one of my all time favorite photos of my sweet granddaughter Bella at the park taken a couple years ago.  This is SOOC and I love it!!  I'm linking up with I Heart Faces and sharing in their Yellow photo challenge.  Go on over to see all of the other yellow entries and you may just find a new blog to read if you need another one in your life!  Ha!!  Have a wonderful day and I'm BAAAACK!!!