Coming Home M2B =) days 17 - 20

Here I am trying to play catch up again.  What else is new?  These happy pictures are from Sunday - Wednesday.

Sunday, we had to leave San Diego and come home.  While that was not the happiest thing ever, the weather on the way home made up for it.  We drove through a cloud for a long time.

Brian said the fog on the green hills reminded him of Switzerland.

Joe made me take a picture of the fogalanche.
Joe loves to ride with the window down (so do I).  This may be my favorite picture of Joe, ever.
The best thing about coming home was seeing this cute face.  He missed us.  Thanks mom for checking up on him while we were gone.
The best thing about Monday was the clouds.  Hey, I spared you this time and didn't post the picture of the clouds, which I DID take.  I will take the cold for as long as I can get it.  It will be a million degrees here before you know it.  

Monday and Tuesday nights, Brian made a fire.  There is just something so cozy about a fire in the fireplace.  I put a pillow on the floor, and put my cold feet right in front of the fire and watched the Olympics.  It was fantastic.
My favorite part of Wednesday was watching Ben's concert at his school.  In case you don't know Ben, he is the super cute boy in the middle, wearing the white shirt and tie.
He even got to play the drum for a bit.  Thanks Sheri for inviting me.
Playing more catch up tomorrow.

Happy Day!

Beach Day! M2B =) day 16 (Saturday)

Saturday was beach day, and what a perfectly glorious day it was.  Is there anything better than beach day?  I submit that there is not!  Mission Beach is one of my favorite places on the planet.

Being SUCH a beautiful day and all, the sailboats were out in full force.

Oh happy day.  Happy, Happy beach day.  I realize that Joe doesn't look super happy in this picture, but he was.  I just really liked this shot, so I had to include it.

And this one too.  The boy has an active imagination, what can I say.  It's one of the things I love most about him.

Here is my hole.  I know you wanted to see it.  It would have been deeper, except for the stupid carpal tunnel in my hand.  After digging this much, my right hand was completely numb. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  

Awww, it must be love.

There it is.  "My town, my street.  Give me peace of mind that can't be beat."  We always drive up the hill to get the full view of San Diego.  You can see downtown on the far left, all the way to the beach on the far right, and everything in between.  I love this place.
The view from our hotel room on Saturday night.  Awesome.
Saturday was the bestest, happiest day I have had in a long long time.   I loved every minute of it.

That's it for today.  More catching up tomorrow.

Happy Day!

M2B =) days 14 & 15 (last Thursday and Friday)

So, I am behind again.  What else is new?  Anyway, Thursday I didn't take any pictures, but I took more than enough to make up for it on Friday.

Thursday what made me happiest was packing for Joe when he was at school.  He didn't know anything about the trip this weekend.  We were sneaky and packed his clothes and the car while he was at school.  It made me happy thinking about surprising him.  He loves San Diego as much as we do, plus he got to miss a day of school.  

Friday's happiness in pictures:

Normally I don't think of the desert as being pretty.  It's just not my thing, but for some reason this trip, I really saw the beauty in it.  It made me happy. 

This smiling face in the back seat made me super happy.  He was just so surprised and so excited.  It was the best when we made him get ready for school and then drove right on by it and onto the freeway.  He was confused.  
Sea Port Village.  It is a MUST every time we are in San Diego.  
Seeing a chicken at Sea Port Village.  We've been there tons of times, but this was the first time I've ever seen a chicken there.

The super cool rock sculptures.  I don't know how the guy gets them to stay like that.  They are completely balanced.  No glue or anything holding them together.  We got to watch the guy making them.  It was cool.

Brian was inspired by this statue to check.  You never can be too careful, you know.
Joe just made me so happy on Friday.  He was happy all day, and he even told us a few times that we were the best parents ever.  Sorry to the rest of you parents out there, but we are #1.  
I loved hanging out with my men.
The beach at night - fabulous.
More from the trip tomorrow.  I didn't want to overwhelm and post everything at once.

Happy day!

M2B =) days 12 & 13

Well, Tuesday was a bad bad day.  I was tired and I felt really really sick all day long.  Looking back I'm not sure I felt a whole lot of happy that day, but I did feel grateful.  Brian came home and made dinner so I could just lay in bed.  I was extremely grateful for that.

Wednesday was much improved.  I was feeling a lot better and I finally started the book for book club.  I have to say, I was kind of putting it off, because I didn't think I would be all that interested in it, to tell the truth.  Also, I'm reading another book at the same time.  Anyway, I finally started and I am enjoying it immensely.  I'm about 5 chapters in and I love it.  It made me very happy today to have time to read.  It is one of my favorite things to do.

M2B =) days 6-11

So much for daily posting.  Here's the last week.

This was last Wednesday at 1:00 in the afternoon.  Woo hoo!

Also, Wednesday.  Sorry, I just can't help myself with the clouds.  I love them so!
Wednesday night I got to see this kid try ice skating for the first time ever.  Wednesday was a good day!
Thursday:  Joe and I working on our blankets (service project) while watching American Idol.  

Friday:  Baking and baking and then more baking of the cookies with Joe.  We were so busy baking.  I forgot to take pictures.

Saturday - flowers from my sweetie.  Also, staying up late and "heart attacking" Joe's room while he was asleep.
Sunday - spending the day with my two favorite guys.

Monday - No school.  Went to see a movie.  
I love love love these books.  The movie changed the plot - A LOT.  Not happy about that, but I could tell from the commercials they weren't going to stay true to the books.  All that aside - I absolutely love who they picked to play Percy.  Joe and I loved him in the movie "Hoot".  We thought he did a great job!

And that's the happiness for the week!  

Happy day!

LAST CHANCE!!

Last chance to order Valentine goodies from this cute face:

While being supervised by his mother, Joe does all of the baking himself.

Choose from:     Cinnabon cookies, frosted sugar cookies, or cupcakes.  All just 50 cents each!  Ready for delivery or pickup by Saturday afternoon, February 13th.  Just in time for Valentines day!

Thanks to all those who have already placed an order!  He is super excited.

Barnes & Noble: M2B=) day 5

ahhh, the smell of books and coffee.

Happy Day!

M 2 B =) Day 4

I don't know that this made me feel truly happy, but it did make me laugh out loud.  When I came home from the library I found Bob asleep like this.  Cats are weird.
Xander called me this afternoon.  He is doing a report on Salvador Dali, and had to ask questions about this painting: "The persistence of memory."  He had to ask people if they liked it or not, what they saw and how they feel about the painting.  I studied art in college (for the 2 years that I went), so this made me very happy.  I love surrealism and I particularly like this painting.  It is one of my favorites.  It was fun to think about art again.  I realized how much I do love it, and I miss learning about it.  
We babysat tonight for these cute kiddo's.  This picture didn't capture it, but I loved the look on Joe's face when the kids wanted to watch a movie and both of the girls insisted on sitting by Joe.  He was a little surprised and nervous.  The girls were happy to have him "girl trapped."  
When we were leaving, he asked me: "Why do they like me so much?"  I told him it's because he spends time with them and plays with them.  Joe really would make an excellent brother.

M 2 B =) Day 2 & 3

Saturday I started the day off with some work and with some service.  I have to say that there are no two better ways to get over feeling bad than to do some work and to do something for someone else.  It was even better that I had Joe with me.  We got up early and went down to help clean the church.  Joe and I were on window duty.  I think we make a good team.  After an hour we went to my mom's to work on baby blankets for a children's hospital.  Fun and productive at the same time.

Later that day, as Brian and I were coming out of Target, I liked the way the trees looked against the sky.  So, I took a photo.  Nature always has a way of making me happy.
Sunday I got to spend the evening with these people at Family Home Evening (Addy and Ro are performing a song here):
They are loud, talk over each other, and are a bit crazy, but I love them all.  

Happy Day!

M 2 B =) Day 1

So, I've learned that as soon as you announce to the universe that you are "going" to do something.  You will immediately be tested on it.  For example:  A while back Sheri did an excellent post about praying for more patience and then the next day being given all kinds of opportunities to test her patience.  Or, if you decide to be more kind, you will immediately encounter someone who makes you want to yell and scream at them.  So, I guess I should have seen this coming.

I announced that I was going to try this "mission to be happy" thing.  And my first day (yesterday) really tested that.  It WAS NOT a happy day.  It was more like a crappy day (I apologize to my mother for using such language).  

Anyway, as I looked back over the day, I did find some happy moments.  And I think that is the whole purpose of this thing anyway.  To find the "happy" always, in any given situation.  While I didn't take any pictures, I did think of a few things that made me smile and made me happy.

1.  Reading Teresa's post on her blog yesterday.  It put a smile on my face.  She reminded me to not get caught up in the things I don't have, but to be grateful for the things that I do.

2.  When I clicked on my blog "Supermassive Black Hole" came on.  I love that song.  It makes me feel like dancing.  Music ALWAYS has a way of pulling me out of a blue mood.

3.  I caught a re-run of Gilmore Girls.  Love it!

Check out Joe's blog

Hey everybody out there in blog land.  Joe updated his blog and really, really, really, wants you to check it out.  He is making valentines treats to sell this year.  Too busy to make treats for your valentines?  Let Joe do it for you!  Thanks!

Inspired to be Happy

Ok, settle in, this is going to be a long post, but hopefully my LAST long post for a while.  I have been inspired.  I've fallen into the pattern of not blogging for a while, and then posting a ton of pictures all at once.  I don't like it because I put off blogging even longer, knowing that it will take me a long time to do.  Also, I kind of miss doing the photo a day thing.  It forced me to take a lot of photos, which I haven't been doing so much lately.  

So, I was reading the other day and I came across Michael McLean's blog. (For those of you may not know him, he is a LDS singer/songwriter).  He was talking about his "M 2 B =)" (his "mission to be happy.")  He revealed that he is middle aged and clinically depressed and has struggled with happiness, a lot.  He said he always thought "I'll be happy when....." but wasn't finding joy in the moment.  So he decided to actively search for the joy in everyday things.  It is his mission to be happy.  So, everyday, he posts about something that makes him happy that day.  

Happiness is something that I've struggled with for a while, especially this last year.  So, I decided to embark on my own mission of happiness.  I'm going to combine it with the photo-a-day thing.  Every day I will try to post a photo and a short entry about what made me happy that day.  I say "TRY" because you all know my history with blogging, so I make no promises.  

Anyway, to kick things off, I thought I would blog about things that made me happy within the last few weeks:  

Clouds:

Clouds that block out the sun and keep it from glaring in my eyes:
Clouds at night (do you notice a theme here?)
Rain - woo hoo! 
A girls night out with Sheri, Tricia, my mom and dad.  Yes, we let my dad tag along on girls night out.  He just doesn't like to be without my mom.  It's really kind of sweet.   We saw leap year.  I liked it.  It was a cute movie.
This girls baptism.  Sadly I didn't get even one photo of her at her actual baptism.  Maybe I'll have to steal the one off of Sheri's blog.

This guys birthday.  It was the same day as the baptism.  We all got together that afternoon at my mom's house.  Good times!

This photo of Alex.  
This girls gorgeous eyes:
My new place mats from IKEA.
Girls night out at Oregano's with some friends.  I think the photo says it all:

A play date with these two handsome guys:

And finally, a visit from Deadly Nightshade:

All in all, it's been a great couple of weeks with a lot of things to be happy about.  Let's hope I can keep this up!  See Ya!