My grandpa Tennant passed away this week. This is the first death we have had on my mom's side of the family and it was such a huge shock for all of us. I loved my grandpa so very, very much. He was always laughing and ready for a good hug. He made beautiful jewelry and I am so glad I have those pieces he made to remember him by. He was such an amazing man. He went from being homeless as a child to being an engineer, teacher, father, entrepreneur, grandfather, and so much more. He was smart and he understood what it meant to work hard. He was an amazing husband and he cherished my grandma beyond words. I love you grandpa and I will always miss you.

A new book...and a new challenge

I have been waiting for this book to come out and now I finally have it! I love Amanda Soule's blog SouleMama...you have got to visit this site if you have not visited it before. Her blog is a work of art. Her family is brimming with creativity and she seems to thoughtfully and carefully think about her decisions in parenting. I have been oh so inspired by her writings. Living creatively is something I so desire to do. I don't mean that every aspect of my life needs to be captured in paint and clay, or even glitter and crayons. Living creatively means taking joy in the little things and pausing to take in the moments of life that can so very swiftly pass us by. I want to be aware of how I raise my children and provide them with all the outlets to express their creativity.

This last weekend we went to Red Rocks with our friends Nate and Brook. It was so beautiful and such an amazing example of God's creativity when He created the earth. We were talking about how cool it is that God actually paused and said I am going to create this amazing place where artists can come and perform in the midst of giant red rocks. Our heavenly Father is brimming with creativity and we are made in His image as creative beings. Galations 6:4 from The Message Bible says, "Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life." I love that we are called to be creative in our life. The life God has planned for only us.

I so often find myself too side tracked with all the busyness that life is to stop and allow myself to recognize the little moments in life. I have really had a tugging on my heart to strive to capture the creativity that is oozing out of every pore of this life. To find the creative aspects in the mundane and normal and recognized. There are so many little moments that pass me by each day and I desire to capture them and take joy in them.

This is Blake

She is funny, sweet, spunky,

independant, cuddly, creative,

and full of it...

this picture proves my point.

Yes, I know we are in big trouble.

Slack Lining at the Dunns

I love my husband very very much. Not just because of how awesome he is and how much he makes me laugh, but because he comes up with ideas like building a slack line in the middle of our backyard. What is a slack line you might ask??? Just think of two poles with a very tight piece of webbing strung between them. Very carefully, you are supposed to walk across the webbing from one pole to another....kinda like a tight rope. The webbing is only like three feet off the ground (yes, I know you can have rather large injuries from falling from thee feet). This is just out beginners slack line...we hope to be able to do this by the end of summer:


I'm really not serious about walking on the slack line thousands of feet off the ground...I think three feet will suffice for the moment.

A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer. ~Author Unknown