My new hero! His name is Nick Vujicic. He was born without arms or legs.

And he is happy.

And he jumps into a pool!

I found his story fascinating.

My issues seem insignificant compared to not having limbs.

I can hug my husband and my son.

I can walk my dogs.

He teaches how to be grateful. He teaches how to have faith.

I don't know him but I love him.

I made the Lego cake for the Lego birthday party! YAY!

First, I scraped the flowers off the top of a grocery store sheet cake. I tried in vain to smooth out the top where the flowers were. I think I had to add some chocolate frosting to help smooth it out. A cake perfectionist would have been apalled. Good thing I am not a perfectionist!

I washed Legos in vinegar and placed them around the cake. Lego shaped candles added to the red, yellow and blue theme.

To get the Lego guys to stand up, I put toothpicks in their feet and stuck them in the cake. They didn't even touch the cake.

I used premade cake letters and wrote our sons name in cursive with a little grocery store frosting tube. (I fogged his name on the blog pic for identity protection).

I was pleased with how it turned out!

We had a Lego Racing Party! A local company came and set up a racetrack and provided Legos for the kids to build vehicles.

I didn't have to do a thing! Except greet the guests as they arrived and get our lunch ready.

Thanks, Honey! He picked up the giant Subway hoagie and ordered the pizza!

The kids sent their cars down the ramp while the parents watched and talked. It was a great time for all!

One final run with every car on the track for the great finale! Yay!

We ate and played some group games. It was the best birthday we've ever had!!

Sometimes it is really hard to be positive about life.  Even though I avoid negative people, negative books, shows, music and movies, I still feel negative sometimes.  Life gets complicated.  I get in a blue mood.  Sigh. 

There.  I posted a picture I found from early summer that makes me happy.   

That was a happy evening of jumping off rocks in the backyard.   He was proud of himself for jumping off of really tall rocks.  

 I was happy that we were building confidence AND we didn't end up in the ER.  :-)  

Simple time.  Simple fun.  Let's keep it simple.  I am happier that way.   

Dogs and children live in the moment.

The past doesn't matter. Tomorrow doesn't matter. Messes don't matter.

What matters is enjoying the moment right now. Notice the sights, the sounds, the touches and the smells of right now. And have fun with it!

Sometimes I read Kandee Johnson's blog for a dose of her positive energy. kandeelandkandeeland.blogspot.com

Today I read from March 11, 2013, " Let's refuse to let the problems around us steal our joy...life is short and problems are many ...smile through the junk and laugh when it gets too hard...it will make you feel better, huge hugs..."

Ok, I will do better tomorrow. :-).

It has been a couple of years since we have visited the zoo. We were surprised by the changes! We liked the new areas.

We miss the playground and the bat cave!
It makes me heartsick to think of how our two-year-old used to run around the cave and feed the ducks and climb on the teeter totter. He could roam anywhere he wanted to go! It was our happy place!

We would even visit the zoo in the winter time in the snow because we needed a big place we could walk around. We would sit in the private back room of the Beastro restaurant to get warm and eat a pink cookie.

The zoo still is a happy place for us.

After thinking about what kind of collection to begin, he decided to start a rock collection.

After thinking about where we could keep the growing rock collection, we decided we could start a 'rock garden' under our fake indoor trees. (The fake trees came with the house.  And the designer and builders of this house put stinky dusty moss under the fake trees.) 

I was excited to have an excuse to get rid of the stinky messy dusty moss.

Yay!  A rock garden!  Let's get rid of the moss!

We had fun collecting rocks for our rock garden.

After church, we were excited to find a Hot Wheels car next to our garage. We knew immediately who it was from! Our dear friends lost their four year old nephew and cousin on the Fourth of July one year ago. It was a tragic accident.

From what I understand, the dad was taking pictures of a family in a cemetery in Park City. One of the kids was not smiling for the camera, so Carson was peeking around a headstone to make them laugh. At some point, a heavy headstone fell on Carson. It took the help of others to lift the headstone off of him. He didn't make it. A tragic story.

One year later, the family is spreading the joy that Carson was. They are leaving Hot Wheels cars for kids to find.

Their story makes me want to enjoy every minute that I have with my family.

Life is precious.

We walked for an hour this morning! All his idea! I was proud of his endurance in the heat! We stopped for a picture at our favorite fallen-tree-seat.

Last night he walked the dogs all by himself for the first time. I weeded in the yard while he went up the culdesac and down.

At first, Dashie got away and ran into the neighbor's yard. Then Hairy slipped out of her harness. We laughed so hard at the rough start to the walk! I helped him corral and secure the puppies.

The rest of the walk was great! He gave me a professional report: he gave them a drink of water; he saw lots of bees; a squirrel ran across the road; Hairy tried to lay in the grass but he wouldn't let her; they are tired now; he is a little tired now.

I was so proud of him! This walk was all his idea!

Later he said, "mom, you know that feeling when you are impressed?"

"Do you mean when you are proud of yourself?"

"Yes! When you're proud of yourself! Well I am proud of myself for walking the dogs all by myself."

I am proud, too! He was very mature about the whole thing.

After church we got caught in another rainstorm! This torrential downpour clogged the drain and made a pool of water outside the church door.

We used Friend magazines to cover our heads as we ran to the car. By the time we reached the car on the third parking level, we were soaked! We laughed at getting caught in a huge rainstorm again!

Quickly the storm cleared and we went for a walk to look for rocks. (After considering the different types of collections, we have started a rock collection.)

The sky was beautiful!                             It was a peaceful evening.

At the end of the hot day, we decided to run to the water park only ten minutes away.

It looked like it might be less crowded since the skies were turning gray.  We love it there on cloudy, empty days! Turns out two portions of the park were closed for repair, so it was even more crowded in the lazy river!  Too crowded for me!    I only watched.

After a few times around the lazy river, our favorite water-spraying song came on.  At the end of the song, it started to rain. We decided to go home.

By the time we collected our things and started walking to the car, a full on rain storm was pounding on us!   The wind was blowing branches out of the trees.  Huge drops of rain were blinding us. The towels sheilding our heads were soaked in seconds! Then hail started to pound us!  People were screaming and running for cover!

We made it safely to the car, laughing at the quick severity of the microburst.   I didnt even swim, but I was soaked!

As we drove away, it became sunny again. Weird!