One Year Ago

We found out we were moving. We had no idea where, but our lives were flipped upside down. We dropped everything in our life to go to the Temple that night, and we knew that it would be okay. We would move, and we would be blessed. The feelings from that day still feel fresh. The fear, the unknown, the worry. I felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath me. I had no idea what to do next, and we didn't tell people what was going on. And I wear my feelings out for everyone to show.. and I had many people wondering if I was okay. And I was, I was just scared of the unknown.

It began a month of prayers, of fasting, of waiting, of believing. And as we waited we were blessed. Randy flew all over the country interviewing for jobs in different parts of the country, and I was praying to go where was right, but if I got to choose Austin, Texas sounded great. We had looked at the job for Indianapolis many times and decided to throw it in the pile, all the while not giving it much thought, and constantly trying to pull it out of the running, but not being able to. So we waited. We had faith. And I about drove myself crazy with the waiting game. The adventure was exciting, but my heart was sad to leave family, friends, and Washington. It had always been my home.

Today I look back at the year we had. The year of taking a leap of faith. Believing our Heavenly Father had a great plan for us. Believing it would be okay. Adjusting to Eastern Time Zone (which I still hate.) Adjusting to living over 2000 miles away from family. Living in Indiana has brought us many blessings. More than I ever would have imagined. We have wonderful friends here that I couldn't imagine not having in my life. We have neighbors that are among the best in the world. We have grown as a family, and Randy and I as a couple.

And I continue my mantra, I can do hard things. Because this year was hard on so many levels. But I did it. I have lived in Indiana for over nine months now. I have not been back to Washington in seven. I have lived without seeing family weekly, if not more often. And I am not crying or hurting from missing them. I did cry a lot that first month. I missed my home so much it hurt. I would lay in bed at night just wishing I was home. Wishing I could change the past, and feeling hopeless. And after one month I decided I couldn't do anything about it. I was here to stay so I better figure out how to deal. And nine months later I am here. And I am trying to make sure I am finding the joy in the journey. I don't know how long we will be here, but I need to enjoy it. For me, for my husband, for my children.

And on a completely different note if you haven't checked out my website recently you should. http://www.photographybyleeann.com/ I have a brand spankin' new logo, and it is awesome. And check out Kimber, she is the awesome graphic designer who did my Logo.

In Honor of my 3 Year Anniversary....

Three years ago I started blogging. And this is the most consistent journaling I have ever done in my life. And it is random, it is quirky, and it is me. It took me forever to tell people I blogged. And I still hesitate a little, and many of my close friends/family still don't know. Weird huh? It is like my alter ego, but not really. I just don't know how to be like, so want to read what I write on the Internet. And in honor of this being my Blogiversary I am sharing what I did this morning. (Really I just wanted to announce I have done this for three years, and I wanted to show off my kid. But whatever.)


Little Miss started gymnastics two weeks ago today. The first week she did quite well for her first time. Her cartwheels left her on her bum that first day, and even last week. But check out today, those legs are getting up there. Not perfect but definitely going in the right direction!

And I love Miss Kim, she helps her to do it right! And get her legs straight and then land it right. And Little Miss was thrilled to see these pictures so she can practice doing it PERFECT!

And one of the best parts about watching her is her huge smile that she has on all of the time. Even when waiting her turn. Do you see this form before doing a frontwards roll? Arms up, legs together. It makes me happy.

She is learning to do headstands. I love how hard she tries. (Personally they hurt my head, I have been doing all sorts of gymnastics stunts with her since she started. Trying to relive the glory days when I did gymnastics a very long time ago.) And with a little help from Miss Kim she has it. And she thinks they are fun to do! And isn't she the cutest gymnast ever?

Let it Snow!!!

Last night it snowed. And then it snowed some more. And then a little bit more. (Sadly it isn't snowing right now.) This is our home covered in snow. Our driveway all snowy. We never shovel the third bay that is the "sledding hill" which happens to be one of the biggest sledding hills in Indiana. (Thanks Jen for the first three pictures, I stole them from her facebook page.)

While the kids played us Moms worked. We shoveled driveways and laughed, and figured we were burning way more calories than we would have at the gym today, and doing it with friends even better! Have I mentioned how much I love my neighbors! I think I am blessed with some of the best neighbors anyone could ask for. And of all the things I don't love about Indiana, they make up for it. And we are on a slope.. I am on the lowest part of the slope. I didn't think I would be quite that tall. And check out all that snow we shoveled.

And Jen captured this picture of me being oh, so graceful. I went to sit on the huge mound of snow, and it succumbed to my weight and I fell but hey it was all fun right?

And I only took a few pictures. It was snowing part of the time. And I don't want my nice big cameras ruined. I mean I fell while trying to sit on snow. We all know I could easily break one my nice cameras, so they stayed inside. And I took out my old, old, old point and shoot, my first digital camera. And I snapped a few pictures, and quickly remembered why I want a newer better point and shoot. I really think it is a need.

Little Man was less than thrilled I was taking his picture. He started out in a bit of a funk.

Little Miss was digging all of the snow, and didn't mind that it was all over her face.

Little Man, still having a rough day. And I totally captured it, because that is what we do right? He was mad that his sister was sitting on the snow hill. It was going to be his snow fort. But whatever. My thoughts.. really it is snow. There are big snow hills all over from our shoveling, get over it kid. (But I didn't say that, I don't think I said much, I just took a picture.) Nice huh?

And Little Miss was dying for a few more, and her she is all bundled up and thrilled that we finally got the snow she has been praying for for days. Finally we had a snowstorm like I think Indiana should. And I am hoping we get another foot on top of the foot that came last night. Hopefully Little Miss will have her prayers answered again.

Not in Indiana

It's not secret that I love sugar. When I was a kid I loved to help my Mom make things if we were using brown sugar, I wanted to eat the hard clumps. (Okay I still do.) Pretty much if it is sweet it has my name on it. And thanks to a special treat from Beth, I am now wanting my favorite indulgence more than ever. And it's NOT IN INDIANA. For reals. It's not. And right now that is all I want. A delicious Blueberry Truffle from See's Candy. Rich butter cream with blueberries. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I really thought that See's was everywhere before we moved here. I mean it is only the greatest candy company ever. And I am not a die hard chocolate fan.. but their chocolate, theirs is a different story. See's you need to open a shop in Indiana. I promise I will visit it lots.

Dear Iron, I hate you.

I don't mind most of my household duties. It has to be done, and you just do it. But one I truly loathe is ironing. I love cute shirts that need to be ironed, but I do not like to iron said cute clothes. This may be why I buy clothes 90% of the time that aren't always what I think is the best style, it is what I can wear that I don't have to iron.

But you know what I loathe as much as ironing. Clothes that should be ironed, that aren't. I hate seeing people in unironed clothes that are all wrinkled crazy from the dryer. I won't wear them, which comes back to why I wear t-shirts 90% of the time. I hate seeing sleeves all wrinkled crazy, shirt collars that don't lay flat. Hems rolled up all wacky.

And I am grateful for the wonderful people at Nordstrom's who make Randy's Smart Care dress shirts, that look freshly pressed when pulled from the dryer. They are worth every penny.

Williams Sonoma

If you go here you can buy the lovely sprayer previously mentioned. And their dish towels and wash cloths are quite lovely too. Going into their store makes me want to go back more and more and spend all of Randy's hard earned money on things I don't really need. But I am a believer that going to the store is ten times better than online on any store.

A new love..

I am not the type of girl to love my kitchen stuff. I personally think if we didn't have to eat like would be so much easier, and we would have a lot more time to get the things done that I find much more entertaining. However I am currently in love with this. My Sister-In-Law had one at her house over Thanksgiving and my Mom and I both drooled over it. We wanted one. It is way nicer than using Pam or something of it's nature to spray your pans. It puts a mist of pure olive oil on my baking dishes or in my skillet, and I can add herbs to it to change the flavor. This gets like a million thumbs up in my book. I love this new kitchen toy.

5

5 minutes doesn't sound very long does it? In fact normally it doesn't feel to long. But today running on the treadmill 5 minutes was more like 5 hours. Yes I know I am whining about running 5 minutes straight. I know lots of people run way longer than that, but today 5 minutes=1/2 a mile=Jell-O legs=really hard, and really long. I am on week four of my running! YIPEE! And the positive of the day I didn't fall off when my legs felt like Jell-O. YAY ME!

December.. January..

It's still cold so really it doesn't matter that I am finally blogging Christmas Morning pictures in January right? I mean we have snow right now, so I can pretend we are celebrating our White Christmas that we didn't have this year now. I made the kids pose in front of the tree before we touched anything. This is the only full picture of the tree from this year.

And a close up just for good measure.And the family shot on self-timer. Randy had showered.. putting me to complete shame, but hey that is what it's all about right? Family and keeping it real. I had to jump in in a hurry so I could be part of the family.

Santa brought him his Radio Control Hummer. He still loves it!And the Littlest Pet Shop Gym. I am not sure if she could actually see it, or me but she smiled anyway. Gotta love the morning hair.And that is about the extent of the pictures I took on Christmas Day. The rest of the day I chilled out and enjoyed time with our little family, and with friends.

Things to be grateful for

I had a post written and published, and then I deleted it. It was sad and crappy. And I don't want to be sad and crappy. So I decided I should be grateful.

Today I am grateful for:

• Good friends who love me even when I am emotional, and are always there for me. And let me know it is okay to have a hard day.
• My kids happiness this morning before going to school, they were delightful.
• Randy working so hard to provide for us.
• All of my pictures through 2004 in an album.
• That is has been snowing ALL.DAY.LONG. Seriously does it get any better?
• My Dad and all he goes though.
• My Mom for all she handles so strongly.

Loser

I am a loser. In all my married life I have not had a real photo album. I have had a few small ones that hold 5-15 pictures. And I did a REALLY GHETTO scrapbook once. Today I finally broke down and bought photo albums. And I have pictures from the time Randy and I started dating until right before Little Miss was born now in an album. I am feeling quite proud of myself. For someone who loves pictures as much as me, you would think I would have albums all over, pictures hung all over but I don't. I am not that good at all of the details. And I am finally figuring our my resolutions for this year.
1. Don't have surgery.
2. Get all pictures in an album or frame.
3. Be better, do better. (That encompasses everything else.)

They're Back!

Last night I received the most delightful message on our answering machine. Little Man's shoes were returned. He was thrilled, my wallet is ecstatic, and my faith in people who go to the YMCA is back. And thankfully the shoes still look new. I have no idea what happened, we are just grateful to have his brand new shoes.

I'm sure they needed them more...

Friday we went to Dick's to buy Little Man some new shoes. He was in desperate need his New Balances that he loved were getting too small. We went to Dick's, (it happens to be one of his favorite stores) and he chose the shoes he wanted, these nice Adidas. They fit well. He was sure he could run faster in them, and they were on sale. I was happy, he was happy, we bought them in a whopping size 3. My kid totally has big feet, and he can thank my side of the family for that.

He wore them everywhere we went and was positively thrilled to have new shoes. And then Saturday Randy and I decided we needed to go get in another run this week. (That's right I started running this week! YAY ME!) The kids went into the YMCA child watch while we ran. They were excited to play, we were excited to work off all of the Holiday food we had been eating.

After our workout we went back to get the kids and Little Man discovered his shoes were gone. No where to be found. Randy I was irate. I was scouring everywhere sure that someone didn't walk off with my kids BRAND NEW shoes. Little Man was so sad, he hid them because he thought they were so cool and didn't want them to be stolen. And the YMCA lady was not-so-helpful. She finally promised to call everyone who was at the gym that day and see if by chance they took home our shoes. We found another pair of Adidas that had red stripes on them, but not the same shoes, and they looked like they had been ran over by a truck, dunked in mud, and chewed on by the dog. I have no idea if they were the shoes of the kid who took Little Man's shoes, but there was no mistaking. But seriously wouldn't you notice if your kid had on a brand new pair of shoes on that you didn't take them in? I would.

Tonight I am hoping that we get a call tomorrow telling us they have our shoes.. which I am not too hopeful on. Or that they really needed shoes and we are helping them out.

Lesson learned, by the cheapest most ghetto shoes you can find before going to the YMCA. Then when your kid has his shoes stolen it will be okay, because you paid $1. Don't take their new fancy kicks.

Tomorrow if we don't have them back I am going to do my job to stimulate the economy and go purchase yet another pair of shoes for my boy.

January 1st... January 2nd.

January 1st and January 2nd are special days to me. Not because it marks the New Year, or because of resolutions. (Remember I don't really do those.) They aren't because of your typical reasons.

January 1st is my Grandpa's birthday. This year marked 100 years since his birth. He passed away when I was pregnant with Little Man, June 23, 2001. I think of him on January 1st every year. I wonder if my Dad feels old knowing his Dad is now 100. I have reminisced about my Grandpa and some of my favorite memories.

My Grandpa was bald. Like maybe 100 hairs graced the sides of his head. He was bald and had a shiny head. He always loved my thick hair. Whenever I would go visit Grandpa he wanted to brush my hair, brush my hair, and brush it some more. He would blow it dry and ask if he could cut it off to glue on his head.

Grandpa fed my dog food when I was four, I ate it willingly. (I still remember this.)

Grandpa always gave us money to run to the candy store to get us all sugared up. It isn't my fault I love sugar so much, it is his. He started me out young.

Before leaving Grandpa's house we would get a handful of change, sometimes with silver dollars, and often it would add up to more than ten dollars, I always loved my handfuls of change.

Grandpa loved ice cream. He loved to dish us up our ice cream. If we had a cone and ate all of our ice cream out of it we could take it back and get a refill. This was one of my favorite rules at Grandpa's house. Grandpa loved ice cream so much that when I was in High School I watched him dish my ice cream up for me. He scooped it, and then licked the spoon before each scoop. I still giggle about this. Only Grandpa.

Grandpa had the longest prayers, and being the irreverent child I was I timed them a few times, they went over 6 minutes often. But Grandpa prayed for each of his children, their spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He loved each of us so much.

Grandpa had a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He did his best and served the Lord until he passed away. He devoted his life to God.

Grandpa loved to garden. He always had beautiful flowers, and the best garden in town. The year he passed away he killed his front yard with round-up. He had ordered 1000 Gladiola's to be planted in his yard. My Dad went to his house and tilled the ground and planted them all. Sadly Grandpa passed away before they bloomed. But the Church had flowers from Grandpa's yard all summer long until they sold his home. Grandpa's flowers were always the biggest and the prettiest.

And Grandpa loved Grandma. And it broke his heart when she died. He missed his sweetheart everyday.

January 2nd was my Grandma's birthday. And she too would have been 100 this year. I love that their birthday are just one day apart at the beginning of the year. It couldn't have been more fitting.

Grandma was an amazing woman who was driven and worked hard.

Grandma could give the look over the glasses when you were being naughty that stopped you in your tracks. My Dad does it now. But now I almost giggle, because I see Grandma.

Grandma would eat anything that we made her, good or bad. And she would say on those dishes that weren't quite so wonderful Mmmm.. this is extra good.

Grandma crocheted blankets for all of her Grandchildren for their wedding day. She had an amazing talent and could make the most elaborate afghans, I think I have the best one she ever made. But I don't tell my cousins that.

Grandma always had the best treats in her cookie jar, and she would let you eat as many as you wanted.

Grandma always made comments on my crazy socks or shoes, especially when I was in High School. She would look at them and say those are sure nice. Maybe I should some for myself. I loved that even though times had changed she made a huge effort to know me, and to be interested in what I was interested in.

Grandma loved her pretty jewelry. She was always wearing her earrings, a broach that matched and possibly a necklace. She wanted to look her best. And now I have some of her jewelry that I wear. I always think of her when I put things from her on.

Grandma was a wonderful cook. You never left her home hungry. She made sure you knew where food was and that you were welcome to eat it.

Grandma knew the Church was true. She lived the gospel fully in her life. She was always an example to me of the way I should be.

Grandma passed away my senior year of High School, February 22, 1998. I saw her that day. I was able to hug her and tell her I loved her. I knew I wouldn't see her again in this earthly life and my heart broke. I love my Grandma and it was hard to say goodbye, but we knew she needed to go, her body was tired and she needed the rest.

January 1st and January 2nd are special days. I get to remember my Grandparents, and I am so grateful to have them. Grateful to be part of their posterity.