10 Minutes Looking Up

Last week at work, I was really bad about taking my lunch breaks. As far as eating at my desk goes (even if I'm not doing work stuff), I'm a repeat offender. :(

I like the idea that I'm busy at work - actually, I love it! But I really need to be more contentious and take a walk to eat somewhere other than my desk. There's just something about getting away from work (literally) for a little while!

One day, I decided to walk out to the new picnic table (at the edge of campus, next to the Golf Course) to take one of my breaks. I had my book and my phone with me, but instead decided to sprawl out (as much as one can, being that the picnic table and benches are circular!) The sun was not at it's high (it was about 3:00pm), and I just looked at the clouds, the trees, the birds - anything but campus, my computer screen, etc.

Here are some pictures I snapped, as I spent my break just looking up:

When you only see what you want to see....

...instead of really looking at an object for all it has
to offer

Okay, so this isn't up; it's out, but it still was
relaxing!

Blue skies!

I've decided that I need to spent 10 minutes looking up, at least once a week! I went back to my office refreshed and feeling rested - even after such a short period of time!

In other news, Elizabeth has discovered how to take selfies on my phone... sigh. I thought we had another 10-15 years before this! And she is generally not allowed to just play with my phone. Nor do I teach her how to use it, or make a habit out of using it myself (except to take her pictures or FaceTime Grampy) when I'm with her. This is literally at least a 4-button sequence, and she nailed it. Enjoy the following selfies I found when I was looking for something else the other day....

Hope you enjoyed those as much as Robert and I did! We definitely got a good laugh when we were discussing the pictures, and neither of us knew how she'd taken the pictures! Lol!

Next week returns to "normal" at work for me, except for our annual retreat. But the big conference is over, and I get my sleep back next weekend - yay! It was a phenomenal conference, and I had standing room only in my second workshop! I received great feedback on it, and my co-worker, Dan (who volunteered to preview my content before I actually got up in front of other professionals to teach on it), even gave me a hug and said he was proud of me when the conference was over! That meant a lot to me, because I know it's high praise! Many people asked questions and all were involved in the discussion, I got a few laughs and a lot of nods, and even saw people taking notes! This was so encouraging to me, as I've never taught professional development before. Maybe I'll get a chance to do it again!

I got to meet and talk to Ciscoe Morris! He was our
keynote speaker for the conference, and sat
next to me in the large group session! Ahh!!

As we speak, I'm listening for my jars of applesauce and blueberry jam to seal up on the counter. They are my last 2 entries for the Evergreen State Fair this year, and they are being dropped off tomorrow by Robert's co-worker and friend, Emily. I'm starting my day at East County Campus on Tuesday for the annual retreat, so this would be 4 trips to Monroe in 2 weeks for me, and since Em lives there, she agreed to drop off my canning entries. Yep, she's getting a Starbucks card! So grateful I don't have to do that drive in rush hour traffic tomorrow - yuck! My 1940s child's lawnchair restoration project was dropped off last weekend, as was my photography. I don't expect to place in anything, but am always excited to share my projects with others, and glean from judging and peer projects! If you've never entered anything in the fair, I encourage you to think about it and do it next year! Or, if you have any walk-up entries for canning/ food preservation, you can bring them tomorrow! Just make sure you read up on all the rules here.

It's already 11:30pm. Time for bed!

Errand Day!

Today was my errand day!

7 errands. It took 2 1/2 hours! But everything got done. Now I just have to make it to Friday so I can rest!

Grandpa Freeman came over to play with Ellie Jo, so I could get everything done in peace. I love taking her with me, but sometimes it's really nice to have a grandparent watch her so I can get everything done quickly. 

He wears her out, lol! (This was taken the other day).

One of my errands was taking Ellie Jo's baby swing to Auntie Karen's for baby Jamie.

It didn't take her long to figure out the lights!

She loved it. :) And I was happy to have it out of our house, because we're not using it right now. Thank goodness for sweet foster babies!
 

Another errand was picking up a Disney Princess Kitchen from some friends for Ellie Jo. Their granddaughter had outgrown it, and it's perfect for our little princess!

She LOVES it! Thank you, Olivia!

She played with it immediately after naptime and I hadn't even pointed it out! :)

Today was a productive day, as I got all my errands done, and even hosted the Titus 2 girls tonight. We only have one more meeting scheduled for summer. We've already got a service ministry lined up for Fall - soup kitchen! They are all so excited.

I'm hoping I can fall asleep quickly tonight, because I have a super long day of conference stuff tomorrow at work. I'll be there from 6:45am until after 9pm, including the banquet. Whew! Going to need lots of coffee for sure. Marathon day, I hope you go quickly, lol!

I've had some people ask why I haven't blogged much this summer. I didn't really mean to, but we've been so busy, and I haven't had time. I'm going to try to be better about it now that summer is winding down. We have so much to share!

Recent Randoms

I haven't had any time to blog lately. So this post is pretty all over the place!

I haven't been great about taking pictures as regularly as I would like to. What it's really looked like lately is that my camera is in my hand when some asks me to take pictures for an event or something. It makes me kind of sad. I need to start picking out which ones I'm entering into the Evergreen State Fair this summer, so I picked it up again.

Here are some recent photo ops!

One Friday night a few weeks ago, we decided to be spontaneous and go out to dinner at Anthony's! We really only planned to go for apps and visit with Robert's former co-workers, but we ended up staying for dinner. It was such a nice treat! Ellie Jo came with mommy & daddy, so it wasn't exactly a date night, but we all had fun! For anyone who thinks you can't do anything spontaneously after you have kids, this ought to prove you wrong: From the time the decision was made, reservations placed and we got in the car to leave (with a baby who was hours overdue for a nap), it was literally 15 minutes. And she was a perfect, sweet little girl all through dinner (about 2 1/2 hours). It's all about teaching and training, my friends!

Daddy shared his sourdough bread with Elizabeth
(but that meant having to cool it down a bit).

"Mmmmmm!"

More of this....

...for more of this!!

After awhile, Robert asked me if I wanted to go out and take some pictures at the marina (this was one of the reasons we had wanted to go). I didn't want to just abandon him and our sweet baby girl, but he said it was fine. So I went. :) Sorry you can't see those pics yet - I'm considering entering one or two in the State Fair!

Yes - I am obsessed with food pictures!

That shrimp was SO GOOD!

The light was perfect also!

Baby got tired about this point. So did Daddy.
This was before our dinner came.

Banana leaf!

Seriously, I LOVE food pics!

One sad event did recently happen, as our Great Uncle Bill passed away on June 1st. :( It was so surreal for me, because I had literally seen him hours earlier. I wouldn't have seen him if it weren't for perfect timing - we were at Youth Group doing the cookout for the kids, and Leah sent me across the street for more forks at the precise moment that Uncle Bill & Auntie Lois were leaving the church. I got the opportunity to literally say goodbye to Uncle Bill. Although I didn't realize at the time that when I told him goodnight and goodbye that it would be the last time, I'm still so grateful for the opportunity. That was such a comfort to me in the days following his passing! And - for the first time in over a year, he knew my name. He usually stuck with "kiddo" or "young lady," as proper nouns, since he had a difficult time discerning specific names. But, he greeted me sweetly with my own name that last night, hours before he went to Heaven to be with Jesus forever. It's such a sweet memory for me!

Here are a couple of pictures from his memorial service:

Color Guard

Beautiful flowers

Aren't these gorgeous?!

Nana kept Ellie at home with her during the
service. She was totally ready for a nap when she
arrived for the reception. You can't tell from this
pic, but she was having a fit right before Daddy
took this!

Roses!

Lots of laughs!

Grandpa Byers

Grandma Byers

Pastor Dave

Luke, reading the Scripture passage

Linda & Lee

Pastor John

The front of the church, including Uncle Bill's
flag.

"Loving Husband" arrangement
from Auntie Lois

This spray was just bursting with
color!

Bright, like Uncle Bill's smile

The past couple of weeks, Ellie has been cutting teeth. That basically means she doesn't sleep all night, and she hardly eats. Last night, after having cut two teeth the day before, she cut a third. I finally gave up and let her have an entire container of yogurt, and a Mum-Mum cracker dipped in  peanut butter. And then her Zoe got dunked in the peanut butter because mommy & daddy were trying to get out the door to Brent's graduation party. (Mommy snuck Zoe into the washer early last night!)

You know we were desperate to get her to eat - I
allowed her to keep her pacifier while she was
eating.

Clearly, eating out of the side of her mouth,
because those new front teeth HURT!

A little peanut butter up the nose never hurt anyone,
right?

Mmm mommy!

Tonight, I caught some super cute moments of Ellie Jo at the screen door!

What nap, Mommy?

I see your plants, mom!

"Pease?" (She wanted to go outside)

Don't mind the stupid eagle
sticker - we can't get it off. Look
at the sweet baby pointing at
mommy's plants!

I brought Ellie outside with me to check my garden. I let her help me pick some ripe strawberries and peas! Then I let her touch and explore them. It was so cute!

Digging in!

She was shrieking "Yaaay!"

Giggles!

"So big!"

Exploring the peas & strawberries

Peek-a-boo under the chair

What's under here, mommy?

Big girl standing up!

Strawberry, mama!

Trying peas!

Trying strawberries!

I like this!

Yay for strawberries!

We have been having so much fun watching Ellie Jo grow into a little girl. She is very sweet and precious! I still sing her the "precious baby" song that I made up for her, and now she has learned how to "squeeeeze!" and give loves. She gives kisses and says, "baaayye baaayye" with this adorable little twang in her voice when she waves bye-bye. She started signing "thank you," and she is curious about EVERYTHING. She can hold up one finger when you ask her how old she is. She can point to many body parts, and she sniffs flowers.

Yay for being one!

I promise to be better about posting in the coming summer months. Stay tuned!