Day 5: 14 Days of Love - Photo Challenge

I love my family.

I love having time to read.

I love all things outside.

I love a good blizzard.

I love sitting in a boat on the lake.

I love hot tea.

I love being available to my kids.

I love my camera (yes, you can love your camera - just go with it).

I love pineapple banana smoothies.

I love writing in the snow.

I love the beach.

I love listening to music in a large church.

I love green.

Happy Tuesday.

Day 4: 14 Days of Love - Photo Challenge

Taking photographs has become a wee little obsession of mine.  I love the process of taking hundreds of photos and then finding one that just grabs your eye.  The expression on their face, or the lighting behind an object, or the mood that is created are all part of the hunt for me when taking photos.  I look back at all the thousands, yes thousands of photos that I have and wish I had started my obsession many years ago.  Oh the pictures I could have taken.   I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time.  My boys have been known to get a little irritated with the snapping of my lens in their faces, but I know one day they'll be thankful I took so many.  They'll never forget a moment of their lives that's for sure.  

Over the weekend, I went fishing with our oldest like I mentioned to you yesterday and while I was sitting and watching him fish, my eye caught a heart shaped rock.  This isn't the first one I've found there.  So many beautiful stones in the river and this one was waiting for me to pick it up.  It was cold on the bottom, but warm on the top where the sun had been shining on it all morning.   I snapped this photo and tucked it into my pocket for the ride home.  I have a collection of found heart rocks.    Today I'm sharing my pink river rock photo with you and hope it will make you smile, because I did when I found it.  (I took some liberties with the editing and became fond of the shocking pink that emerged as I was playing with it. It really isn't pink.)   Enjoy your Monday.

found heart river rock

Day 3: 14 Days of Love - Photo Challenge

Brown Caddis. 

Black Wooly Bugger. 

Copper John. 

Blue Wing Olive.
and
Dark Jujubee

He would stand in the cold water from 6:00am until 9:30pm if you'd let him.  All day. Every day. He is a fisherman.  It is now in his blood.  It is part of who he is.   There is no turning back.  Hook. Line. And sinker. 

my fisherman

Yesterday was fishing day (again).  Yes, I know it's February and February is cold, but when you have a fisherman in your home, all those rules go out the window.  If it's 40 degrees or above, it's fishin' weather.  So off we headed after an early morning basketball game to the river.  It was beautiful actually.  No wind, but warm sunshine all day, so the 44 degree temperature felt more like 55 degrees (well, kind of).  

I followed him around the outskirts of the river videotaping his every move and knot tying minute for a school project (that's why we had to go you see).  It was so nice to just be.  And, to be with his smile and hope for "the big one" made the entire day wonderful.

The fisherman beside us caught a 19 inch trout and instantly the energy increased.  The "they are really in here and I'm going to catch one" excitement increased once again.   He quickly took the fisherman's spot as he left and headed down the river to a new possibility under some sagging branches.

He casted and casted and waited and waited.  Fishing is a patient man's sport.  Very patient.   He was persistent, but at the end of the day, with only one quick hook and the fish coming off, we were still fishless.   But, in our house, the saying goes.  

"A bad day of fishing, is still a good day of fishing."   

So happy I got to spend this time with him.  Beautiful company, great conversation and a great day of fishing.

heart shaped river rocks from our day of fishing.....second time i've found them while fishing with my big guy.

Day 2: 14 Days of Love - Photo Challenge

Everyday I pick up my two boys from school and have a few minutes to sit and admire the view of our glorious mountain before they hop into the car, filled with their stories and hellos.  I love that I can pick them up everyday.  I dreamed of this when I was growing up and so wished and hoped that one day, I could be a stay at home mom.   I've been doing this for many years (almost 12 now) and love every minute of it.   The first few moments they hop into the car are important to me.  I can read their day on their face as they walk to the car and am thankful I am there to get all the details or emotions that filled the minutes of their day.  The layers of their day begin to peel away and they share the silly joke they heard at lunch, the formulas they learned about the velocity of a moving car (I just nod and smile when this comes up.  What they don't know about what I don't know won't hurt them), the crazy French phrase they studied, request a ride to a friend's house, or turn the music up loud for the three minute drive home. I l.o.v.e. this part of my day. It fills me to the brim.  It's only a few short minutes of chatter, but it's filled with such life and personality that it brings sunshine on even the cloudiest of days.  I love my job. Simply love.

the heart in my car that catches the sunlight each day while i wait to pick up my boys.

Day 1: 14 Days of Love - Photo Challenge

Today is Day 1 of my 14 Days of Love photo challenge.   I'm starting with a simple photo I took on our recent trip to the Caribbean.   It was a trip of love.  It was time for me and my sweetheart to hold hands and relax and enjoy each other.  It's a simple photo of a heart in the sand, but it's a photo that captures the moment and the sun on our faces.  Truly mesmerizing to say the least.  The waves coming and going and the rush and power of the ocean as it touched the shore are all in this one photo.

May your first day of February be one of light and love.  May you touch those around you with a tenderness and softness that shows your love for them.   Happy February.