Well, we are still in the dog days of summer - with record breaking temps last week up to 98 and 99 degrees a few days. Just nuts. With these temps and school finally in session, my evenings have been less busy (read: we're not out every night playing in the mountains).

Doons is back at school and is completely submerged already. He is delivering a paper in London in two weeks, has constructed his comp. committee and is hard at work perfecting that paper, taking classes and is teaching "God Faith and Reason" again this semester. I think he is finding it more and more rewarding (my take, not his). He even ran into an old student of his in his department and asked her how her summer was and what she was doing there. She told him that she loved his class so much that she was officially changing her major to philosophy. Wow! The hubs is truly making an impact in the lives of his students - it's awesome. Now that the U is part of the PAC-12 i'm hoping he can hooks us with some football tickets this season.

Every year around this time i get antsy for Autumn. "Why can't you just appreciate things the way that they are instead of wishing they were different", the hubs asked me last week (or he said something very very close to that). I don't always wish for things to change, I really am content here. The only thing that kills me every year is August and September. With school starting it feels like it should be fall but in reality we are far from cooler weather. Last year we didn't get much of a fall at all, with the massive snow we had in October and the high temps in September. It was nuts. I'm hoping for some beautiful Autumn this year, but I certainly will not complain if snow comes instead.

I've been running a lot. Which I am loving. Really loving. And i'm trying to throw in quirky leg strength exercises so that my body can transition to the slopes a little easier and more quickly this ski season.

I was browsing my blog in the crafty section last week while I was looking for a pattern for something...and i missed the crafty part of my life. Once the evenings get dark, I will be inside and putting together some fun stuff, I'm hoping. But as long as the sun is shining, I find it difficult to abandon the day to the inside world. And, as you know, I love to share my crafts with you, so you should see some more blogging as the summer wanes. I know, I know, I keep telling you that I will have a presence once again in this good 'ol blog. And truthfully, the only reason I am writing this right now is because the husband practically made me. But he knows what is good for me. And he knows that I love it (and love you).

There are two things I will blog about in the next few weeks (see, i'm being realistic): My 10 year reunion - i know you want to hear about it! And some of our summer adventures. So that will happen. And I won't forget.

I had a talk with a friend at work last week about grace. "I've never thought to ask a religious person this question," she said, "what is your definition of grace?" This moved us into a discussion that was interesting for the both of us. My version of grace (undeserved favor) was pretty different from hers (an elaborate gift) but both compliment the other, especially in regarding the grace that we have received from God through Jesus Christ. It's amazing, that in my work culture  (agnostic/atheist, mostly), when I speak about my faith and my beliefs, I for the first time hear my own words unfiltered by the religions culture that I always took for granted. Faith means something completely different here than anywhere else I have lived. And every time I speak of it, I must start with very raw definitions - never taking for granted that anyone knows what I mean when I use religious language. Everything needs to be deconstructed first or else I am completely misunderstood. It's a challenge. But it makes me unpack my religion into it's segmented parts and survey and scrutinize everything at a very basic and raw level. I am grateful that I follow a God that is not packaged into religious terminology and heightened emotions of his followers. God remains completely God without me, without you, without music or tithing or philosophy or church or science or mountains or religious ceremony and experience. and I am nothing without Him.

recap:

Colorado. Backpacking. Dad. Fun. Turkey Vultures. Rock Climbing. DelGrossos. Babies. Beer. Fondue. Putt putt. Elk. Littleton. Hair Cut. TEN YEAR REUNION. Roxborough State Park. Mom. Fishing. Landon rescued a Horse. Columbine. Dogs. Janelle. Shopping. Running. Platte River. Road Trip. Landon. Relient K. Farmers Market. Memories. Coffee. Mosquitoes. Grandma. Clear Creek. I70. Buffalo. Picnic. Black Dress. Frozen Yogurt. Family Pictures. Buddies with Babies. Love.

I'm sure you've seen this. I saw it recently via the blog world and I thought it was awesome. It made me feel good about taking the little blogging break that I did. I love to blog. Simply because I love you and I want you to KNOW and feel that although we left you so very long ago, we still want you to be in our lives. Or, I guess, we still want to be in yours.

That's why i blog. My first blog, i began when I left CO 10 years ago for college in California. Then, for my friends in CA that I left behind, I blogged when I returned to CO. Then... well, you've maybe been following since we lived in Kenya, then CO, then Illinois, and now we are beginning our 3rd year in Utah. So, you see, we do a lot of leaving which translates to the never-ending blog.  Neither of us have lived in our home towns since we graduated high school and Landon has been especially far away from GA loved ones (which are now my loved ones just as much!).

So I do feel obligated to blog. But I also LOVE it because I so dearly love you and feel like this ties us somehow...

But sometimes.... I find myself enjoying something and needing to document it with detailed step-by-step pictures for the blog. Or, I  am in an amazing moment and without noticing, I realize I am drafting a post here on the blogosphere. How dumb. Life is not for sharing online to those you love and miss. Life is to live and love and enjoy and learn.  And i honestly sort of lneeded a few months of keeping every little thing to myself - everything non-consequential and everything brilliant. My thoughts were only for me and my life was something that I reserved for my husband and I.

And I missed you. Honestly, I did. But it was also good for me to just go out and live a bit (or a lot - we've been having a heck of a good time!) without writing it down.

I love you though (have I made that clear?), dear family and friends that we never see... We both love you.

New Dress a Day

So this woman is brilliant.

Crafty, on a budget, and with a thirst for style, this chica buys a dress from the thrift store for each day and makes it into something fashionable and wearable. And she shares it on her fantastic blog: new dress a day.

Here's just a taste:

before

after

Pretty inspiring. Don't know how she does it again and again.

Harry Potter is kind of a big deal around here

Doons and I were not two of the bazillion people to see the midnight showing of the final "Harry Potter" movie (we're way too old for that kind of thing these days!). But we do love the movies, and we saw it opening week. And in order to get us ready, I made us t-shirts of the Deathly Hallows.

(oopsie, dooney's is a little crooked)

 It was easy. I just printed out a Deathly Hallows symbol that I found on the internet.

Then I took FREEZER PAPER and traced the symbol onto it and cut it out exactly. 

Did you know that freezer paper can be ironed on to fabric easily? It can. It was my stencil.

I painted a couple layers of white fabric paint within my stencil and the next day I just peeled the freezer paper off of the tshirt. Very easy. 

Wait. 

Before you think I'm too awesome, you must know that I simply followed Dana's instructions. Her tutorials rock.

And that's pretty much the only craft I've done in the past two months. 

It's been a long while since I've been blogging. I've been busy working and having fun, honestly. And just feeling unmotivated because of my lack of blogging ideas and I haven't been taking pictures much this year.

so.... I'm going to try to do this again. No, no, no - i'm going to DO this again. But maybe just a few days a week instead of every day. And to start things off easy, I'm going to share some things that I found online that matter to me. That way I don't have to be too original just yet ;). But we'll get personal soon.

If you actually are reading this - YOU ARE AMAZING - for sticking with me. You truly are. THANK YOU!

Things I'm Loving Lately

Well, spring brings a whole new assortment of things to love. Here's just a few of what i'm loving lately:

Wearing White Eyelet

"Friday Night Lights"

I just started watching this show in instant Netflix. It's awesome.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

This has been one of my top five favorite books for the last five years and I thought it was about time to pick it up again. And I'm loving it even more upon the second reading.

Sleeping with the Windows open

Having home-grown (and birthday) flowers in the house

Seeing the birds come to life at the Aviary - chicks all over the place and beautiful mating displays. It's awesome. (photo by Anna McBrayer)

Riding my bike to work

Spring Skiing

For those who grieve...

I wanted to share this song with you today. I was in a band in high school that was formed right after the shooting at Columbine and God really used singing, the fellowship and the amazing fun with those guys as a huge agent of healing in my life. This song is a song we would do at our gigs. One reason I like it so much is that although it was written about and for students at Columbine, it is not written about the shooting itself, but about the process of healing and grief. After moving away, now several years later, this is the only song from that year in the band that I can remember enough to play.

Brick by Brick (written by Blair Thompson)

Brick by brick, tearing down the wall
Stone by stone, rebuilding it in its place.
Mile by mile, down a dark and drifting hall
Step by step, backwards into space.

It's like pouring salt on already aching wounds
Cutting back a flower that was just starting to bloom

And Oh Lord, is this the peace that I've been seeking
Just to know that I'm falling once again?
Is this the moment that I'm reaching
Just to know that I'm screaming at the wind?

Word by word, destroying the broken
Tear by tear, stripping them dry.
More and more, finding nothing can by spoken
Tear by tear, watching them cry.

It's returning to darkness when the light was just getting bright
Already losing without putting up a fight

And Oh Lord, is this the peace that I've been seeking

Just to know that I'm falling once again?

Is this the moment that I'm reaching

Just to know that I'm screaming at the wind?

The Faithful vs. the Reasonable

I've been wanting to blog on this for months now. And this will NOT even graze the issue, but I want to address it anyway.

Here in Salt Lake City, the religious vs. non-religious dichotomy is numbing. The religious culture and the anti/non religious cultures are the two predominant cultures here in the city. One is a backlash from the other. In Kaysville (where we lived our first year here), we lived in a town that was highly Mormon. I never even saw a different culture besides the religious, except that I felt that I didn't belong.

Here is how the two predominant cultures seem to view each other:
There are "religious" people (Mormons) who are seen by most as boring and judgmental and only care about money, trends, procreation, and each other. On the other end of the spectrum, there are the environmentalists - those who perceived as staunch atheists, a backlash from the Mormon culture who care only for parties, green living, and social reform. One group is "Faith" the other, "Reason", and there is no overlap without compromise and lack of devotion.

I am personally very committed to both faith and to reason and can not understand or achieve one without the other (not the "Faith" and "Reason" categories mentioned above, but actual faith and reason). I don't understand how the majority of the people here will pursue faith and reject reason or pursue reason without any compulsion to believe.

At work, a coworker and I were talking. She asked me about my cross-cultural experience. I told her I was a missionary. "But you have a nose ring," she said. "Are you still religious?" I explained to her that I was not on a Mormon mission. I told her that I believe in evolution, environmental stewardship, and a loving Christian God. "So in other words," she said, "you believe in a God with intelligence?" I was so surprised that my version of belief was so far-fetched to her.

Is it really impossible for people to see that there is the possibility of a Creator who loves us and whose glory is revealed in his unique and diverse creation of which we are made stewards? That he is the same in his love and forgiveness as he is in his power and justice? Is it too impossible to believe in a supreme deity that wants us to ask questions always, arriving at a true belief - one that is not blind or coerced? I do not believe in "blind faith". Our God is so real, that knowledge of him can be achieved with eyes wide open, with deep prodding questions. 

Neither "Faith" nor "Reason" should be clung to blindly in retaliation of the other.