Friday, October 28, 2011

The Last Days...

 The Fall has taken us by surprise and given just one more weekend of Summer this year.  We didn't take it for granted for one second!  Just weeks before we were covered in a cozy blanket of snow and ice, our fireplace blazing... my hair smelling of ashes all day.
When the temps started to soar down south, we jumped out of the mountains and landed in a new found swimming hole.

We were excited just to have the hot sun baking our backs, but soon we saw this place had a lot more...

Yep, a boogie board.  You don't find that around these parts much.  Just lying there on the rocks.  We dunked it in to the icy snow melt and went for it!

Sometimes certain pictures capture this feeling that I have, that I really am so fortunate.  There is truly not a day that goes by that I don't remind myself of this.  Just two short years ago, I was facing one of the most challenging and stressful times I have ever faced.  I felt as though my entire life was on the rocks.  I know it wasn't and people face FAR worse circumstances then I'm sure I could even imagine.  But, it jolted me.  And I definitely needed a good jolting.  I needed gratitude and not just when things were awesome and not for all of the "things" we had, but for the smallest things.  Things I wouldn't have counted then.

I think this might be one of my favorite pictures of my little Sory.  So pensive.  I love this guy.  I feel like I'm finally starting to see who he is.  A thinker, an artist, intensely caring and creative.  A bundle of unconditional love.

Another amazing find on our journey was this rope swing.  The boys went crazy.  Especially this one.  Screaming at the rope "come to PAPA!!".  Had us in stitches.

Grandma and Grandpa were the launchers.  Daddy played catcher.

It was SO icy cold.

And so beautiful.

And so crazysillyexciting!

Our little pixie hopped along the edge and let her toes in.

This will probably be the last swimming hole day for a while, but plenty more adventures are in the forecast.  When the snow and ice returns, we will always be grateful for our little getaways down the hill, for Grandparents who always know just where to take us, for Daddies who find the best treasures and for Mamas who sit quietly and breathe it all in.