Our home

We are officially back in Maple Valley, Washington!

This small community is in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, with some spectacular views of Mount Rainier.

 

 

(I like the how I captured the sunlight streaming through the trees...I will reflect on that photo when the sun gets covered up by clouds sooner that I want to think about...)





We have live in a quiet neighborhood on 1/3 of an acre, nestled up to 80 acres of forest and trails. The kids LOVE the forest. So much to explore...so much to build forts in...and so many blackberries to ward off with their landscaping machetes.  

                                                                  

We are settling in...with many boxes and artwork still in the garage or under the stairs. I want to paint the interior of the house, but that won't happen until September when the kids are back in school.

So nothing is up until that little beauty--of a job is done.

 

 

 

The yard looks pretty good this time of year.  Unlike many of our neighbors, I value my plants and so I water my lawn and garden.  Occasionally in the summer, you will see signs in a few yards with brown grass that say

--I am dormant, it's ok!--

 

I don't buy it. My yard is a huge canvas that I can put color here or there and move it around --any time I want to.  So we water...

May the sun keep shining on us!!!

 

 

 

 



{Less is More}

I have mentioned before that my High School Art class was probably one of the best classes I took.  I had really no idea what I was doing when I stepped into class as a Sophomore.



 My teacher didn't really lecture us about much.  She would show us techniques --like contour drawing-- and then let us go try it out on our own.  Carolyn Johnson had the best hair for loosing pencils in! She tended to have a couple stashed away behind her ear or in her bun. I remember this because as she circled the classroom, she'd fish for a pencil in her hair and if she didn't have one, she'd take yours and then demonstrate the technique for you for a time and then give it back to you. I liked this approach.  I like visual learning and to see her do it, pulled it all together. Contour drawing is unique because, you look at shapes and draw them, not looking at your paper, only the line of the object you are drawing. If you do it correctly, and not look at your paper or pull your pencil, the beginning line and ending line don't always match. You draw what you actually see, not what your brain thinks it should look like. It is an awesome drawing technique!



Another significant principle I learned was that when you make a 3D drawing, you need shadow. However, the shadow is not black. Black is not a primary color, or a color of the rainbow and if you look at a shadow, say on the backside of a leaf or something, more than likely it has read and blue in it.  Black is flat, adding other colors gives it depth.

Last, {Less is More}. Don't overdo things, let your natural eye fill in the gaps. Too much, creates confusion and doesn't let your eye rest on the painting/drawing.

So what?  From these three lessons I have found myself looking at life differently. When situations arise, I find myself pausing to look and trying to see it differently. To see color in the shadows. To not take my eye off the subject or my direction, no matter if I can't quite see the end result. To not clutter my life with stuff and with activities that keep me crazy busy. To look at the scriptures and lessons of life and see the color or meaning found in them.

The next time your kids ask you why they have to take music or do art...and they say they are no good in it. Tell them that is OK. You don't have to be good at it. You just have to do it and something may stick with you for the rest of your life. 

{Art} it has become part of my character and I wouldn't want it any other way.

comes to a close

Our year of {Colorado Adventures} has come to a close. We have moved back to the land of the green, Maple Valley, Washington.  It was a very difficult decision to make! Through prayer and a lot of faith, we feel like this is right place for us right now. 

 I LOVED the sunny days!

The wild, red, rocky terrain is amazing!

The big cerulean blue skies are  AWEsome!

I loved the thunder and lighten storms and the dry heat. 

Keno says I am solar heated, so I really liked feeling warm the vast majority of the time. 

I liked having snow and then liked when it melted.

I really liked the open feeling of the place. Probably because you could see the distant Rocky Mountains from just about anywhere.

 I caught a rainbow on one of my runs. I love it!

Beautiful!


We'll see you again at another time, Colorado!

That is a nice Boulder...

Since the house we are living in was on the market on Sunday, and showings come at any time, we decided to go on a drive to Boulder, Colorado. 

 

Since spring has sprung, the grass and leaves have come out and it is BEAUTIFUL in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 

 

Boulder Colorado

I am not going to lie to you, I like the area around Boulder.  I could live there. It is snuggled right up next to these huge mountains.  It is a college town...Colorado University...and it reminds me of several college towns that I have been to.  It isn't too big, but is has it's own Mall...so you know it has made some statement to have one of those. 

 

 

I understand that is it a liberal town.  Maybe more than Seattle! More of a Portland mentality. Kinda hard to think about, actually. 

But I liked the old craftsman homes with big trees lining the streets

{yah, those homes are in the 2.4 million range.  Anything with a point in the sentence is big, and out of my range.  But it makes a great atmosphere I a town!}

 

On our way back, we went through the Rockies to a town that just appears.  One bend in the road, no town, the next, a Casino town.  Pretty much that is what goes on there. It is called Central City.  It has an old part of town that is pretty genuine updated - old west looking.

Central City, Colorado

Sadie was pretty done with the whole car thing by the time we left Boulder. So we put MegaMind in the DVD and here are their mesmerized expressions.

{I am pretty sure Kaleb could quote 85% of that movie - it's a talent}





 Not a bad Sunday afternoon drive.  Keno is nervous about our upcoming road trip to Nauvoo and Kansas City.  I told him he just needs to lower his expectations a lot and it will be fine. 

{Not to mention using his noise cancelling headphones!}



16...15...14...

Countdown!

It just hit me that we are on a serious countdown now. 
We have had many faith promoting/testing events here in Castle Rock.
Our family has grown closer together and each one of us has learned something about ourselves and about getting through difficult things.

 

We love so many things about the great state of Colorado!

 

However, we feel that we should return to our home in Maple Valley Washington.

That is where the countdown comes in. 

I just realized that 15 days is not very many days.

Especially when your house needs to look like this...minus Sean sitting in the chair.

 

And I need to be doing a lot more of this:
 

 

Our rental is on the market right now and we have had quite a few viewings. And as always, they come at awkward times.

 So yesterday, we did this...waited in the car for Joel...even Guster:

and then went to the store.

I better get a move on...but where to start...

 

 

3 mile loop

Monday's run was 3 miles.  Nice and easy... I felt good until the last hill, but it ended well.

same hill -- up



up

This is a huge hill, about 1/2 mile. 

It "did my legs in" a few weeks ago.

Now, not too bad! 



down then up

next subdivision over

This is the next turn. 

Run to the next sub division. 

 Nice rolling hills.

 

 

 

Down.  Whew.  My friend and I ran sprints up this hill in March. Why do I torture myself?

This hill should be the last hill, but it isn't, just another long run.

It is just at the right angle to push your muscles to scream. 

Mine did...I heard them...really...

Final hill, back in our subdivision. Much steeper than the others. 

 Starting and ending point. Falling Star Place. 

If you were wondering if we lived on a hill, well, now you know. YES!

 

So when I went to bed that night my legs ached.  Not the hurt of a new sport, but the ache of a 'can't-get-comfortable-enough-to-sleep-ache.  It was not a good night.  It lasted through the next day, too. It has happened several times recently.  If you have any insight as to how to avoid this,{other than not running the hills} I would love your thoughts!

 

Oh...did you notice the beautiful blue sky? I can't get enough of it...




 

Goal: 5 mile loop

This is a 5 mile loop that we have taken with our bikes.

 It has some good hills and some classic scenery for this area. 

It is mostly dirt and some pavement.  Prairie dogs live in their little mounds on either side of this road.  They were chirping at me and wagging their little tails...

Please notice the color of that sky!

I ran out of time this afternoon, so I only got to mile 4.  I felt pretty good at that point.  The hardest hill is the end hill.  You can see a little sliver of it in the picture below.  It must be nearly a mile of just enough incline to make my muscles scream. 

And yes, they do that every now and then.

The scrub oaks have not leafed out yet so they look kinda scrubby and drab. However...

Can you see the green in the hillside?  Yes, spring is here and I don't know how long that green will be there during the summer.  Now, those of you from the Pacific Northwest will be

pshaw-ing the color I am claiming to be green. 

It is greener in person and we take what we can get here!

My goal is to run this loop the other direction...

huge hill that is not pictured...

needs to be conquered...

by me.