Aloha.....

SO you may have noticed..if you're still checking, that it has been awhile since I last posted.

Oh me oh my. 

It is because we've been ever so busy swinging from branches, swimming with fishies,

and hiking through the trails of Maui.

I shut down the blog.  I shut down the shop.  And we went on vacation.  

It was glorious.  I don't say this to brag.  Please know that's not my intention.

It's just that ever so often in my life I have been too much in my head about a million other things that I don't really enjoy the moment the way I should.  


I prayed my head would not get in the way.  
And God answered in a powerful way.


That is why I'm ever so grateful for these very special memories.

It has been eight years since we've taken a big vacation like this 
and the girls had never been to Hawaii.

It was so amazing watching our kids discover so many things.  
And it was so freeing wading through rivers and snorkeling with turtles,
going under waterfalls, and just being in God's creation without a care in the world.

I got to just play.  To just be.  
To smell the flowers, feel the water, revel in the colors, the rainbows, the food, 
the time to be a family doing fun things together, working as a team.  


Truly amazing.  


As the days go by and we settle into real life again I will share more.  

But for now...here are some of my instagram pics...

And finally....I'm linking up to embrace the camera again!  Because it's Thursday and because

I actually have myself in some pictures!


My most favorite moment ever...we found dozens of turtles swimming freely right alongside us.
That's me... me just chilling with Mr. Turtle there.  I really still can't believe it.


Mahalo God.


It was truly a gift.  Your creations are beyond beautiful.

“How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; 

the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, 

teeming with creatures beyond number-living things both large and small.” 

Psalm 104:24-25

birthday road trip

My husband surprised me this weekend and told me to have my bags packed.

We left at 1:00 on Friday.

He was very secretive.

And was throwing out curve balls to keep me guessing.

Our destination turned out to be one of my most favorite places ever.

The last time we were here, was 11 years ago, for a special birthday of his.

In case you're wondering it's the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito.

They so sweetly put your name on the front of your cottage.

Last time, they also put our dog's name with a care package for her.

I loved that.

And adore the understated coziness.

This is where Jack and Jackie Kennedy spent their honeymoon.

It's simple, and charming, with hiking trails all around.

It felt like we were a world away.

Saturday we went on a wine tasting tour in Santa Ynez,

complete with a beautiful picnic lunch.

I was pretending I was in the South of France.

with miles and miles of this everywhere you turned.

The trip was wonderful..and of course all too fast.

But our son left today for a week long camping trip with friends from church, 

some he has known since preschool.  

They'll be in the mountains, having fun and worshipping Jesus.

And he'll come home filthy..and that's ok.

But we both wanted to make it back to give him a big hug before he departed.

He thought we weren't, so we surprised him.  

And you know what, I could tell it made his day.

He's growing up too fast I tell you.

And now, now we have a girls week ahead.

It's a completely different energy here without our son.

It's weird, and feels like something is missing.

But it's also kind of nice for the girls to just do girl-ish things.

And I have a post coming about my 40th bday and the 40 acts of kindness inspired by this lady.

I tried to get it put together that night.

But do you know I crashed my iphoto program trying to off load pictures from my phone.

The tech support guy told my husband he's never seen anyone with that many

images stored on their iphoto.

It's time to do some serious offloading.

And printing and finally putting these pictures into books.

The scare I just had of potentially losing them.

It was a serious wake up call.

After 11 hours of backing up it appears to be ok.

And soon, soon I want to write all about the birthday adventure of kindness.

a new baby

A new print is in the shop.

And this time, it's totally customizable by YOU.

It's to commemorate that special day of a new baby's birth.

Print measures 8x10.  Perfect gift, or a keepsake for your own family.

You get to pick the fonts you like best, the background color & the scripture.

It's no secret I love silhouettes.

I also love woodland animals.

And babies.

And chevron.

And of course scripture.

So it's a winning combination.

You can find them here...have fun looking around!

huntington summer evenings

Last night kicked off the Huntington's summer series of picnic's with live music.

I have a long standing love for the Huntington Library.

My parents gifted a membership to my husband and me after our son was born.
And my mom saw that I was struggling, a lot.

That child had colic for about seven months.

There were food allergies and diagnosis' of 'failure to thrive.'

My journey into new mommy-hood wasn't an easy one.

He was three weeks early and I literally worked till the day before he was born.

My water broke at 4 a.m. Saturday morning.

That day we were supposed to go to a wedding.

The next day, my work baby shower.

But the Lord and our little guy, they had other plans.

Which were exciting, and glorious, and filled with life changing blessings.

But without a network of mom friends.

In fact, I knew NO moms at all.

And suddenly home all day,  I felt very much like I was losing

every sense of self I had with a baby that cried nearly round the clock.

I am totally digressing right now.

Back to the point.

The Huntington Library.

That membership in 2002.

Well it was my lifeline.

We would walk through their gardens.

My baby would be mesmerized by the trees, the light, the shadows, the air.

And I, I felt like a grown up.

It was a beautiful time.

I instantly feel peaceful here.

It has been a constant through the years.

No matter what season.

We've studied, and learned, and run, and played.

We've celebrated birthdays, brought friends, and kicked off the holidays with special events.

It was the first big field trip we took out of the house when my third was just a week old.

In order to let the other two explore.

Here's a little trip down memory lane....
Sorry I couldn't help myself, but trust me when I say it could be waaaaay worse.
I didn't even break into the pretty nature pics.
But at least you'll get a tour of some of the grounds.

To say we love it here, is an understatement.

It holds special memories.

Memories that I love we're still creating.