soccer stud

AYSO for us started with a brutal registration process (as if they're trying to evade those trying to sign-up... like they're some exclusive high-brow club, leery of newcomers...) but now there is nothin' but "rah-rah" game faces, rushing the goooooal grinning ear to ear, and sweaty jerseys and even sweatier socks!  ...nothing but pure fun and inexhaustible energy.  thank God for children who turn everything into fun and games.

show-off

oh my Lord.  when he wants to show off in kitchen stand back and thank your lucky stars.

{buttery grits, perfectly poached eggs, homegrown tomatoes, apple wood smoked bacon and nectarines.}

sunshine bums

 

 

...and the very next day they used the same rainy umbrella to shield themselves from water gun spray.

umbrella LUV

 

planting with pops

1 year wiser

Once upon a time there was a baby-boy named Elias.  He turned 1 year old and he wasn't really a baby anymore.  sigh...

earthly aid

 

i'm amazed at how God constantly ushers me into His fine tuned and well orchestrated dance.  He is ever-attentive to both the nuances and the cataclysmic in my life... and as i continually fall at His feet enamored by His great power and yet His remarkable carefulness in every story that unfolds i realize that nothing in our world is amiss... a mistake... All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  

shark boy

 

    

 

 

two slip n' slides... not enough time.

august

so bright young gabel who once saw the banners for the fair years ago asked as usual "what does that say" and we responded, "the orange county fair is coming in august".  from that day forward regardless of our many attempts to convince him otherwise he referred and still refers to the fair as "August".   just one of the many laughable quarks we will look back on.

not exactly easter

so santa barbara held a fiesta called Fiesta and we attended in all our befuddled and tardy stupor.  come to find out the Fiesta parade is the largest horse parade in the country.  oh, swell... i just missed the only worthy parade of the year.  the event which celebrated latin culture had a hodge-podge of random booths and vendors, good authentic grub, and singers who performed on a grand stand stage. most curiously there were tons upon tons of decorated confetti eggs which could be purchased street side... so naturally we made very good use of this odd attraction, buying several and wielding them over each other's heads, crushing them with a "crash" and generally making a very, very, very colossal colorful mess.  what did Fiesta mean to us?  easter on 'crack'.

my love

at times my love for you is so overwhelming...

the story began...

in a crowded shelter... where somehow only You existed.  you were a pitiful ball of nerves... not quite sitting, not quite standing... as we often recall... hovering... quivering... waiting patiently for us.  ...and we were innately drawn to you of course... because you were ours... meant only for us that unsuspecting november day; you and your shaky legs clawing at tiled floors and wooden staircases, you and your worried cries at the end of corridors too perilous to venture.  your sheer, devout love for us was your driving force to comply, to overcome your fears; relying on us completely as your domestic counsel.  in turn we relied on you as our guide to the great outdoors; an unconventional perfect union.  our spirits soared with yours just watching your boundless energy... plunging into duck filled ponds and raging rivers, dashing across ocean sprayed, seagull-filled shores... through mountains filled with dairy cows, snow powdered plains, and shady pine tree forests, through still meadows and quail-filled, yellow  fields, lunging skyward over enormous rocky cliffs and leaping from unimaginable heights... you were our redemption from a plane world... our very thrill and our joy. 

january 2005

march 2, 2002 - july 19th, 2012

-with you we had it all...-

trinibirds

they are back...

the artful, high flying paper birds from trinidad.  ...and as we folded and colored and flew them above our heads i described to gabel how my daddy taught me how to make these cool birds... and for a that moment gabe was mindful... and it was as if daddy was with us, soaring in spirit.

shaka ride

check it out bra...

no training wheels!