365

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postaday2011

So this is it. My last post on my family blog for 2011. My goal was to post every day this year, and though I missed a few days (41 to be exact), this is my 365th post since January 1, 2011.

I’ve learned a few things along the way.

1. Some days you are just too busy living or too tired from living to make a blog post. It’s ok. Especially if you have company. And we have a lot of company. It’s also ok if you have a wedding. Or a baby.

2. Going back through my year of blogs this week was eye-opening. It was clear to me that I was either getting bored with my camera or just frustrated with it. My photography picked up in quantity and quality after May 1st when I got my new camera. I never want to stop taking pictures again, even if I outgrow my camera. I think I missed a lot and I’m kinda mad at myself for that.

3. I’ve thought a few times in the last month that I’m tired of blogging and I feel like quitting. But the truth is it’s become a habit, something I look forward to…most of the time. I’ve decided that it’s not blogging that I’m weary of, but maybe just the way I blog…

4. …there is a tension in blogging between telling the truth and telling the WHOLE truth; telling too little, telling too much, and telling just the right amount of information about your life. At least for me. I want to be authentic and paint a true picture. But I don’t really want you to know if I’m mad at my husband or feeling completely insecure; I don’t really need you to see me without my makeup, or see the laundry piling up on the sofa waiting to be folded or that I have dust bunnies in the corners of my bedroom. At the same time, I don’t want you to think that our lives are all roses and wine and music and hearts and sunshine. The great thing about having my own blog is I get to show you what I want you to see. I get to publish pictures of my kids and grandkids that make us look like the Waltons (my kids don’t even know who that is), but I won’t tell you if an evening ended in an argument or I said the stupidest thing that hurt one of my kids. I get to write about Rick and my date nights and excursions but leave out the long days of uncertainty and the struggle we have with faith and church. We can put together videos of Rick’s cooking but I get to cut the parts that we snapped at each other…

5. …and that’s not a bad thing, the leaving out the dirty laundry and posting the best photos, but I think I’d like to be more authentic here on this little piece of space on the internet that I call mine. Rick and I have weathered a few storms and we’ve both grayed nicely from them. I think we have some wisdom to offer from our lives together and maybe it’s time we start sharing some of what we’ve learned, and what we are learning along the way. I think I want to be more intentional about what goes here. It might mean I will blog less often, but hopefully it will evolve into something more meaningful, more sincere, more authentic.

Thanks for following along on this little journey and for being interested

…in this life of ours.

How We Spent The Last Day Of 2011

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new years eve, postaday2011

I won’t recap November and December of 2011. It’s all pretty fresh. I do have to mark the big event of the year though, as Rick told Josh and Abby tonight, the highlight of 2011 was by far the birth of Evelyn.

It’s hard to believe that she is only one month old tomorrow. It seems like she’s always been here!

She is such a little bundle of goodness. At a month old she is still smaller than any of my babies were at birth!

Here is how Rick and I have spent the last day of the year:
First, we slept in til 8:30. I know…decadent. Then we stayed in bed and drank coffee and surfed internet for a couple more hours. Truly indulgent.

After my P90X workout (finally back at it for a week after a couple months off) and showers we headed into town.

A stop at Starbucks for coffee and hello to Caleb, then to Josh and Abby’s to meet up for a walk with them and Evie.

I’m sleeping

I SAID I’m sleeping!

Don’t even think about it. Not opening my eyes.

After 9 months of carrying, Abby decided it’s Josh’s turn. She’s smart like that.

This picture’s kinda blurry, but I love how they’re both making that face they make when they’re oohing and aaahing over their baby. So cute.

We found a great backdrop for a photo.

You can barely tell that Evie is in there, in Josh’s coat!

After saying goodbye to Josh and Abby we headed back to town and met up with Joey and Abbie for Mexican food.

After a few tries, I got a couple cute pictures.

And to end the evening and ring in the new year, Rick is watching an old war movie, Battle of the Bulge, and I’m doing what I’ve done almost every evening for the last year, Blogging.

It’s fitting.

Part V: October

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postaday2011

Fall Flowers

A visit with my sis to Mom and Dad’s

With a stop at Multnomah Falls

Baby shower for Abby

And help with my camera from my girls

September and October were very fun months!!

Year In Review Part IV

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boundary bay, postaday2011, rehearsal dinner, sunflowers

September was a big month for us. On the first we had Josh and Abby’s rehearsal dinner. I posted this video.

It stopped raining long enough to enjoy our deck and twinkly lights.

And then, of course, the wedding

My friend K’Lynn came

And My Dad

And Tim and Anna and their babies

And my sis

The rest of the month held evenings at Boundary Bay

A maternity shoot

Sunshine and sunflowers

To Be Continued…

Year In Review Part III

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postaday2011

In July:

Flowers and Butterflies

Dad came for a visit and we took a bunch of group shots…

…I’m using this one cuz I like it the best of myself. And this is my blog.

And my favorite from that weekend, Dad reading to Nora.

I adore this girl!

Orange Happened.

Ended July with yet another Abbie post:

August:

We said goobye to Marty and Bridged in July, but I posted this in August:

My friends Jayena and Louena visited, and apparently we partied…

Not really…I just broke my wine glass

We also showed them around town

My rose bush bloomed

And Grandpa finally got some help in the kitchen!

I skinny dipped for the first time in my life:

(Oh my gosh, did I really have to bring that up again!?)

…And then the wedding preparations began.

To Be Continued…

Year in Review, Part II

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postaday2011, year in review

May 2011:
The last photo in my post from yesterday was actually my first photo ever taken on my new camera:

These I also shot that day, the afternoon we buried my Grandmother.

And then this one the day we got home to Bellingham, still trying to learn my new camera:

May brought some sunshine and my new camera brought me new inspiration!

Little Punkin

Gerbera

My Beautiful

Taken in April, but rediscovered in May

Family Dinner

Engaged

In June:
My deck was almost finished!

Married

Peonies

One of my sister’s favorite shots from her daughter’s wedding

One of my favorite shots from the wedding

It’s a Small World Afterall

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distant cousins, family, postaday2011

So, a funny story.

A couple months ago Abbie ran a card for a customer at the coffee stand and noticed his last name is the same as ours. She commented that she’d never met an Atkins she wasn’t related to. He responded that he’d never met an Atkins that he WAS related to. They small talked and she found out he’s from Eastern Washington.

Last night Abbie was relaying this story to Rick and I. Rick asked Abbie if she realized her Grandpa is from Goldendale, which though technically is South-Central, people like us, on the coast, consider it Eastern…She immediately sent Michael Atkins a facebook message asking where he is from. You know where this is going, right?

Turns out Rick’s Dad’s cousin Terrance who has a winery in Goldendale is Michael’s Dad’s Uncle.

What a small world.

Welcome to the family Michael! We’ll have you over to dinner real soon.

In Review

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favorite photos, postaday2011

I had this idea to do this week, and then wouldn’t you know? My good friend Miz Booshay already did it! So now it will look like I’m copying her.

But…truth be told, we are not actually friends, she doesn’t even know who I am, I just stalk her blog.
Daily.
My point…though it appears I am copying her, I am not. I had the idea all in my own head. I made it up myself! (name that movie).

So, Starting in January, my favorites from 2011:

It snowed:

This sweet thang:

In February:
I left early one day and stopped along the lake to snap the sunrise:

(Sadly, I took very few new pictures in February)

In March:
Josh and Abby asked me to take their engagement pictures.

It was fun.

Nora and Maggie bonded

and Nora discovered what you have to put up with if you love your dog.

hair.

Crocus Happens

In April:

The sun came out!

and flowers started blooming!

I went to the zoo. Alone.

And fell in love with flamingos.

And that was the day

my Grandma died.

And the next week at her funeral I met this little man

my nephew, Oliver and I fell in love again.

It was my first photo with my new camera.

…to be continued.

There’s Been A Slight Change Of Plans

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changes, postaday2011

A year ago today I didn’t know that we would be burying Grandma Tate this year.

Last year at this time Josh was in Nepal.

I knew he’d be married by now, but…

…How could I know he’d be a father too?

A year ago I worked at a cardiology office. Today I work at a community health center.

This year:
Caleb started a business.

Rick started a business.

Josh had an accident.

Abbie had an accident.

Nora turned 2 and Evie was born.

I’ve learned a thing or two.

Mainly that stuff happens, plans change, and life goes on.

I won’t pretend to know what next year holds for us.

But, I bet it’s gonna be exciting!

Postaday2011 Project Report

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postaday2011, postaday2011 project, reflections, wordpress

Last year around this time I joined the WordPress Postaday 2011 project. I missed 41 days, but made up most of those posts the next day or the next weekend. Today, with 5 days left in the year I have posted 355 blog posts for the year. This is my 356th.

So, to finish out the year and achieve my goal I need to write/post 10 more blog posts in the next 5 days. I know you could have figured that out, but I just needed to verbalize the math for myself.

It’s been quite a year, here at our house, in our family, and it’s been fun and scary and therapeutic to share it here on my blog with you. I have appreciated your comments and emails, even your late night text messages saying you can’t go to sleep until I publish my post for the day. (I’m not making that up, two of you know who you are).

I have a couple favorite posts, and a couple favorite pictures. I have a few favorite comments that have been left as well. So, Please bear with me as I take the next few days and take a look back at our year as a family.