{sucky mother's day}

This mother's day is a sucky one. Real REAL sucky.

This last Wednesday my amazing mom had an aneurysm suddenly burst in her brain.

After being taken to a local hospital, they realized they couldn't do much of anything for her. Luckily they were able to get her helicoptered to San Francisco where she is now in an amazing facility. She has already had many procedures done, and remains sedated. Over the next few days they are going to slightly remove the sedation to see if she can follow some simple commands... "squeeze my hand", "wiggle your toes", "give a thumbs up", etc. I was by her side when they were doing this for the second time with her. I stood there staring at her hands wishing so badly they would do just as the doctor had asked. I talked to her, praying that she could hear me. Wishing that this was a terrible nightmare that I would awaken from at any moment.

She needs to remain stable, keep pressures down, avoid infection, respond more, etc, etc, etc.

One major milestone we are rooting for also is that she can avoid vasospasms. Essentially this is the constricting of blood vessels in her brain, that if not able to be treated, may lead to strokes. The risk of these happening reduces significantly after 14 days.

It makes me more than sick to my stomach to think that she has gone from this {on her birthday in April, visiting the farm, with her favorite little mister}...

...to laying in the ICU.

This is one hard thing to watch.


Please PLEASE pray for my sweet mom. We can really use all of the prayers, positive thoughts, etc. that you are willing to give. I know that they all help. Time to rally here peeps. It is going to be a rough couple of weeks, months, maybe years ahead.


Happy Mother's Day Mom. I love you. You are the MOST amazing woman that I know. Keep fighting hard.

{first things first}

First things first. I'm still sick. Swear word.

I fell asleep last night at about ten listening to the hubby laughing while watching Ax Men. 

1. I have not once laughed at that show. 

2. It is a rarity for me to fall asleep before 11:30.

3. Who gets sick three times in 5 months? ME.

Regardless of the sickness, our trip this last weekend was still fun. 

The first night we stayed with my hubster's amazing aunt. And this is just a wee bit of what we did.

{rock climbing}

{swinging}

{slide...}

{slide...}

{slide...}

{and more sliding... look at the pure joy on his face, mixed with some pure static electric hair = a picture that makes this momma smile}

{drumming}

{my little curious monkey wanted to touch every piece of tree poking through the fence}

{the hubs thought it would be funny to spin in circles...}

{and then set my precious ever-so-dizzy babe down to walk...}

{apparently he enjoyed it, because he went back for more}

{putting rocks down water drainage vents is real REAL entertaining}

{a little reminiscing}

We are leaving in two hours.

For a trip that we go on every year.

But, just decided last night we were going on for sure, because, well, I've been sick - again. Ugh.

Have you heard of Bloomsday? It is a 10k run/jog/walk that over 50,000 peeps participate in. And it is legit fun. Well... it's more fun when you are actually running it, and not crammed in the very back of the line-up with all of the walkers/strollers {you aren't allowed to run if you are pushing a stroller}. Seriously - you can hardly move. Last year, when I crossed the start line, I was creepin' along. Lame.

I was reminiscing back on all of the years we've gone. 

2003 was the first year that I went. Ryan and I were dating, and I wasn't signed up for the race, because, well, our dating life was pretty sporadic. 

{Hello arms, would you like to reappear on my body again? Thanks.}

Then, there was 2006. {Not sure what happened to 2004, and I was on a deserted island in 2005 - that's definitely material for another post.}

(I stole this pic from the Bloomsday website, hence the teeny tiny size. Not very blog friendly, sorry.}

These are the only pics I have of our 2007 trip. Don't ask... I swear we ran, and we WERE at Bloomsday.

2008:

Uh, the pics don't get any better for the following two years, so I'll spare you. 

However, last year the pics came back in full force. Brody's first year "running" Bloomsday. His little {big} three month old body mostly slept, while Ryan and I were beating people off of us left and right, just to get through to the finish. Can you tell I'm excited about it this year? 

And, because a lot of the pictures in this post were bad, no good, and unappealing, I thought I'd throw in these little gems of Brody the week after we got home from our Bloomsday trip.

I miss those little rolls. :)

Linked up today:

{let me just throw some sand in my face}

We live very near some sand dunes. In fact, Wikipedia claims that they are the tallest single-structured sand dunes in North America at 470 ft. And we all know that Wikipedia is legit right? Right.

We hadn't taken Brody yet, even though it is mere minutes from our house. So, recently, we went. And it just so happened to be windy. Wind? Idaho? Yea... it's ALWAYS windy. Sand and wind aren't the best mixture, fyi. But we are cultivating a little mind here peeps, so it was necessary.

{He was SO intrigued by the sand between his toes when we first set him down.}

{Another walking stick... much like one of the pics in this post.}

{Gunner came along also... he put lots and lots of fresh tracks in the wavy sand.}

{Check out that mullet blowing in the wind!}

{Love.}

{It might only look like I am inches off of the ground, but it is all perspective. I was real REAL high :)}

{Getting sand in all sorts of crevices.}

{Let me just throw some sand in my face.}

{Baby prints.}

{Hi mommy. [Note the haze at the top of the dune... that's blowing sand.]}

{Hiking along.}

{Love, love, LOVE them.}

{Gunner barreled down the dune. And he was happy. The end.}

{hey hey}

Holla! Happy May Day y'all. 

I'm so happy to be guest posting on The Mrs. and the Momma today. 

I didn't want to leave all of you out, so I'm sharing the same post with you{minus a bit of the intro}. Woot woot.

Today, I'm sharing with you a hot little trend that I'm sure you're all aboard on... chambray and a tad of color blocking. Seriously, this belt, shirt, and scarf are my go-to's. They go with absolutely everything. EVERYTHING. Word. 

{shorts: j.crew, belt: j.crew, top: j.crew... am I sensing a theme? scarf: anthropologie, shoes: similar}

If you don't own a chambray shirt, get on it. You won't regret it. I promise.

I've also been loving the colored denim this season. These shorts aren't denim, but still a fun pop of color. What do you think? 

My next venture is floral jeans!

On a completely different note, I JUST discovered Bon Iver. Have you guys heard their music? Probably. Where have I been? I'm in love. 

Thanks for hanging with me for a short time today peeps. You have been most pleasant. :) 

Now go hang some flowers on your neighbor's door... it is May Day after all.

{may day}

Do you know what May Day is? 

Cause, my hubby didn't. When I started to explain it to him, he thought I was making it up. 

Here is a little info about the holiday, straight from the trusty ol' internet:

May Day, on May 1, is a traditional spring holiday in many cultures...Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets and/or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbors' doorsteps.

I remember making paper May Day baskets in school when I was young. I loved it. I guess I can get down with anything arts and crafty though. 

This year while I was thinking about May Day, I thought I'd get a little more creative than the classic paper cone basket. Here is what I came up with... tin can May Day "baskets".

This is super duper easy, and I think they are pretty darn cute too.

{Peel off the paper of ANY tin can.}

{Using a drill put two holes, opposite each other, in the can. [You could probably use a nail and hammer if you don't have access to a drill?]}

{Decorate however you like...maybe with twine...}

{...or some bright colored ribbon.}

{Fill your can with some rocks for stabilization, water, and whatever flowers you like.}

{Deliver to your neighbor and make. their. day.}

Let's make this "fading" tradition come back to life. Put together some May Day baskets to give to your neighbors tomorrow. I'd love to hear/see what you do! :)

Linked up with Jillify It.

{$50 to pottery barn}

Yea, that's right. You read the title correctly. FIFTY buckeroos to the PB. Pretty sweet huh?

My awesome and hilarious friend/neighbor is having a little.. uhh... BIG giveaway.

She and her farmer hubby recently moved into their brand spanking new house that they built together. It is fab-u-lous! Seriously. She's working on getting it stocked full of wonderful goodies from Pottery Barn, which just so happens to be her fav store.

She also recently reached 50 followers, meaning that it was time to do a giveaway to, of course, Pottery Barn. If you click here, it'll take you straight to the glorious page where that magic happens. Follow all of her instructions at the bottom of the post, and whaaa-la - start looking for what you're going to buy.

Awesome, right?

Y'all should really go and follower her, especially if she's giving away fifty dolla' for her FIRST giveaway... you never know what the future holds for you as one of her magnificent followers. You won't regret it. She truly is fabulous. AND I mean look at how ridiculously good looking her and her farmer are:

Okay peeps, get your buns over to her blog and win some monies. Word? Word.