The one giving thanks

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.”
- Anonymous.

I am thankful…

For the joy and blessing of having family near by this holiday season so can enjoy each other, laugh, and love in my home town.

The knowledge that Heavenly Father loves me. I can feel his warm and tender presence around me in my best and darkest times. I know that He wants me to succeed and He believes in me because I am His daughter.

For the times that Seth and I can laugh, sometimes deliriously, even when life is ganging up on us.

For a good movie.

For Santa Barbara sunsets and the sound of the ocean waves from my patio. The eternal spring time of Santa Barbara and Timeless Winters of the cabin.

For my job that has given us the time and resources to have such adventures in this world.

That we have gathered such beautiful friends that I love as deeply as my own family. Friends that will eat my failed cooking experiments and smile, friends that I never have to get dressed or put on make up to see, friends that will take naps on a sea of pillows in my living room, friends that bring me flowers during a hard time, friends that know the real me, and friends that will always lend me their last onion.

For my camera lens. Through it I can focus on the beautiful wonders around me. Nature, People, Love, and God.

For the answers I have to important questions. For my knowledge of God, His Love, His purpose, and mine. I’d be lost without the blessing of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Heavenly Father has given me the Gospel of Christ and I am blessed.

For peanut butter and chocolate. That divine pairing.

That I have the health to sing, to dance, to serve, to taste the savory and the sweet, to catch a Frisbee, to walk on the beach, to see the sunset, to hear stories of adventure, to take pictures of what catches my eye, to smell rain on the asphalt, to hold beautiful babies, and to be held by a husband who loves me.

I am thankful.



jj

The one with bikini brandon

We were looking through pictures from the weekend and Brandon says "um... I look like a lady."

 

baow. baow. dude looks like a lay-day...

jj

The one with Mack and his Flapper

To celebrate Halloween, Mack and me got in our swankiest get-ups and hit the town. First we stopped at the Mag’s place ‘n beat gums with Darth Maul and Princess Leah. “But Darth Maul is a rag-a-muffin!” says you but I say horse feathers! He’s on the level. Plus that sheba of his is a real tomato, so we ankled over to my hayburner and got a wiggle on to the ward costume party.

Let me tell you, that party was berries! Beats out any rub or speak easy in town. Not a killjoy, bug eyed Betty, or wet mop in the joint. Everyone looked the cat’s pajamas in their glad rags. We gabbed with a Princess, Phantom of the Opera, Pirates, American Gothic, Napoleon Dynamite, Medusa, Max from where the wild things are, and my favorite garbage man west of Tin Pan Alley. Hot dawg, everyone was hip to the jive last night. And how!

We stayed till my dogs got tired then Maul and Leah hopped in our struggle buggy and we were off to Pink Berry for some swell yogurt-ski. We had a ducky of a time. How could you not when your escort is such a fine cake-eater? I’m stuck on that daddy. Didn’t he look spiffy? I’m glad I took the middle isle with him!

For a guide to my jazz age jive click here: http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm

jj

"Hey dame, cash or check?"

"Sorry Mack, the bank is closed."

The one with pumpkin grunge

Also with Halloween comes the annual Pumpkin Carving Party. We evict our living room furniture, put plastic drop cloths on the floor, and make a beautiful mess! (The genius is the tarp. At the end of the night we roll up the pumpkin droppings and throw it all away. I may do this every day when we have children). This year we had a great turn out of awesome friends, funny kids, delicious food, a double batch of Nana's fameous filling-poppin' popcorn balls, and – may I say - really really cute vampire cup cakes...

All this fun and I didn’t take many pictures...

jj

The one with the Baptism

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain,

And ponder on the beauty of the Earth washed clean again.
I want my life to be as clean as Earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,
and I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.
I want my life o be as clean as Earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Karissa, 8 Years Old
Baptized in the Creek behind Papa's House
September 26th, 2009

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To do...

1. Fly to Arizona and enjoy Karissa's baptism:

2. Hang with the fam and eat A LOT of carne:


3. Shoot arrows with Dallen's sweet longbow:



4. Swim in the creek, romp in the dirt, smooch froggies, morph into creek zombies, and watch Seth experience his true joy- playing with pups:



5. Race upstream:




And lastly... Catch a toad:


jj

The one with Lock, Shock, and Barrel

I love these two...



How cool is he?!

The one with the Whirlwind Tour of Athens (Seth's Grecian Adventures Part I)

[The blog posts labeled "Seth's Grecian Adventures" document my adventures and misadventures while wandering for a month alone in the Eastern Mediterranean, waiting for Jenae to come join me. Stay tuned for exciting episodes such "The one with the Madness of Archaeology" and "The one with the Haunted Hotel"]

As it turns out the best way to fight jet lag is to wake up early and hike up large hills in the August heat of Athens. If you force yourself to do this all day then I guarantee that, come nightfall, your body will long for nothing more than sweet repose in whatever cool, dark corner you can find, no matter what time zone your brain thinks it is. I got to Athens at midnight Friday after some 28 hours of travel, and I decided that I needed to make the most of my single day in Athens before I left for the dig, so I came up with an action-packed itinerary for myself: Hadrian’s Library, the Ancient Agora, the Temple of Hephaistos, the Acropolis – complete with the Parthenon, Erechtheon, Propylaea, and the ever popular theaters of Atticus and Dionysus – the new Acropolis Museum, and finally the Archaeological Museum of Athens.

It was a full day. I’m afraid that the archaeological museum didn’t really get a fair treatment since I sleepwalked through the last half of the galleries, but I did gaze upon the face of Agamemnon – or Schliemann, whatever version of the story you believe.

(There is some controversy over whether or not the ancient Mycenaean funeral mask called the “Mask of Agamemnon “is a hoax. Detractors say that the archaeologist who discovered it, Heinrich Schliemann, had the dapper-looking death mask fabricated so that he could drum up some positive press for his excavation. One of the principle arguments is that handlebar mustache seen on the mask is not evinced elsewhere in Mycenaean art, but does happen to bear a striking resemblance to one Heinrich Schliemann. For me, the jury is still out – I’ll let you decide.)

Unfortunately Jenae wasn’t with me so I had to take a lot of self-portraits. How lonely…

It was a lot of history for one day, but it was definitely worth the extra effort to see all of my favorite sites in one of my all-time favorite cities. Athens, here’s looking at you!

sj