my gurl

HaPpY 24th BirThDaY to my niece KaYLee ~ the best niece on earth and my favorite girl in the world!!!

and COnGraTuLaTioNs on her recent GrAduATioN from college ~ I am so proud of my girl!!!

Kaylee is no stranger to hard work. She has had up to 4 jobs during the summers to save for school. Not to mention she is a smarty, earning scholarships for her excellent performance. She's already started grad school :)

When Kaylee found speech therapy and audiology, she took off running. A girl of many talents, like many fellow students she was stressing about her college choices. She had declared a music major and graduated with her AA degree when a summer job she happened upon opened up a whole new world to her. She knew she had found something interesting, something she could really excel at - and a way she could make a difference in this world.

It is still so easy for me to remember this sweet little happy girl. Always a little ray of sunshine - she still is.

And you can take the girl out of California, but you will never - and I mean NEVER - take California out of the girl! Kaylee will always be the ocean/beach/sand/sunset/warm weather lover that is everything California :)

One thing Kaylee got used to early was being the only girl cousin on the Walker side. Whether she was always surrounded by stinky boys doing stinky boy things, or all of those boys endlessly clamoring for her attention..... 

..... she was always able to hold her own, and do it in style :) She could even make hunting clothes look good.

She even put up with their endless teasing because she quietly knew she was the higher species - heheh :)

It has been a joy to watch Kaylee grow up and do all kinds of wonderful things, and have all kinds of exciting experiences. She has been a youth counselor and an amazing example to many, many young adults. She has worked as the head lifeguard, swim instructor, and swim team coach at her hometown pool every summer, so there are many people counting on her. She studied abroad and got to tour all over Europe (the above pic being one of my faves). She has made more friends all over the place than you could possibly imagine. 

I love this photo of Kaylee because it's not only a beautiful picture of her, but it looks like it's been kissed with sunshine. And every time I think of sunshine I think of Kaylee. When I hear the song "You Are My Sunshine", that song is Kaylee. She makes everyone happy when skies are gray.

I love this photo too, because my oldest son Daniel and his cousin Kaylee are only 6 weeks apart and are still the closest of friends and partners in crime. They will take time to spend with each other, talk on the phone together, ask advice from one another, laugh together until their sides hurt, and buoy each other up when it's needed. It just warms my heart and makes me so happy to know they have each other and such a special relationship.

Kaylee, I think this is probably one of my favorite pictures of you, even though I know we were just goofing around that day. I love it so much because after so many years of seeing you work so hard to accomplish all your goals, and seeing how strong you really are, you really do embody this photo. I love and admire you so much!

YOU ARE MY HERO!

Last but certainly not least... the Mouse was able to transfer this onto You Tube for you. I had to put it on here 

so everyone could see it because it's just TOO CUTE to not be seen and enjoyed sweetie! And so I present:

~ Kaylee 'signing' Michael Jackson's Thriller ~

xoxoxoxo

here comes the sun

Joy and rapture. A few days' break in all the pouring rain we've been having has been nice. Not that I haven't enjoyed the rain. I like pretending that we have seasons here in southern California whenever possible. And I love cold weather. But I like sunshine too, and the blue sky it brings along with it. My drenched and confused plants were particularly relieved. Look how happy this little trumpet vine is to have finally found the warmth of the sun!

Oh, do I love a turquoise sky!

These plants were the happiest by far - being used to the hot, dry, (revolting), weather we normally have here. If you listen very closely I think you can actually hear them singing. Not for long though - I hear another storm is on it's way. Which means I need to get out the buckets for my family room again, since it rains in there too.......  :/ 

Spring

When I was a child, Joan Walsh Anglund books were near and dear to me. I think I had nearly all of them. So simple, so sweet. So reassuring. I still keep them tucked away, as they are every bit as precious to me now as they were then. Perhaps even more so. The one above is entitled Spring Is A New Beginning. A lovely little book.

We have had several days of rain here in southern California, which has actually been very nice. But today when I woke up to a cold yet sun-drenched morning, it seemed like heaven had hit the earth. When I arrived home from driving the junior high carpool, I noticed the sun was hitting the little pots of soil where my bulbs are just now beginning to stretch forth their leaves toward the light. It stirred something in me, so I had to take a few pictures. I hope it will stir something in you too. 
Maybe just a little bit of hope.

Warm Thoughts

I have some really dear friends and loved ones living through some f-f-freezing temperatures right now. Some of those temperatures are pretty scary actually. I want to let them know that I am thinking warm thoughts for them - and that spring really will come. When I took this photo the other day, the first thing I thought of was sunshine (okay - that and a fried egg). So here's a little sunshine for them today, by way of the California poppy on my front porch :)

Good Morning & Porch Challenge

Good morning from California :) After my youngest went off to school I stayed out front for a bit to take some photos of the sun just starting to hit my front porch. I'm loving these morning photos.
It's 9:30 here, and I've already got 2 loads of laundry going, started the dishwasher, read my scriptures (I'm not allowed to do zip until I do that - one of my few rules I actually won't break), checked my e-mail (Jerry Seinfeld is coming to Santa Barbara! Thank you Lisa! We are SO going!), contemplated pi, and made sure the planets were all in alignment (I just hate it when they're not). I would have saved the world too, but I'm thinking God probably has his own agenda on that, and who am I to interfere.
One thing I did discover though, was how dirty and tired and shabby - with an extra emphasis on SHAB - my front porch has become. Holy Moly. I'm big on front porches and entry ways because they're the welcoming factor to the entire house. For guests of course, but most especially for the family that lives there. You've already seen my tiny entry way, but here is my also-tiny front porch. 
Covered in dead leaves and dust and cobwebs and ashes from recent fires (yes, our neighborhood still smells like it was barbecued). Even my poor front door is sun bleached and screaming for help. And I don't even want to know how many black widows are lurking under my little bench! (LOVE spiders, HATE black widows - that's another post)
So I have decided to do a front porch challenge. You are all invited to do it with me. In fact, I would love that - the more, the merrier! I will consider these photos my "before" pics. Stay tuned to see the "after" pics sometime tomorrow (Friday). 

Oh NUTS - my washing machine's making that awful I'm-unbalanced-so-I'm-going-to-knock-down-this-wall sound. And if you can believe this, someone just this second knocked on my front door while I'm sitting here in my underwear. I'm totally serious! Gotta go!