Holy Ground.

You know life is good when you've got a film of dirt on your teeth from digging and gardening with a huge smile on your face.

I'm learning new things about myself while I am here... like the fact that maybe I've had a green thumb all this time and never even knew it.

I think part of this new love of the outdoors is the climate here. It's very much like Reno's climate, where I grew up. Dry (not humid), non-mosquito-y, hot during the day, but cool at night. Also- daily afternoon thunderstorms. You know... practically perfect in every way.

It's hard to love the outdoors in Oklahoma... Humid, buggy, muggy, HOT.

This morning I woke up, threw on some shorts and a sports bra, did a little yoga/exercise, and then spent some time digging up more rocks and making soft soil for the planter by the front porch. A girl could get used to this routine.

Tomorrow, we are packing up the camper and the dogs and the kids and going camping.

I look forward to many roasted marshmallows and lots of time playing in the creek. The campsite we're going to is near a tiny itty bitty town with an ice cream shop. So... you can pretty much bet where I'll be 80% of the time. heh.

We went on a short hike behind my parent's house yesterday to hunt for blooming cacti. It was a blast.

(Myer was enthralled, as you can see.)

Ezra found my old stash of MightyMax toys, and they've become his new BFFs. They HAD to come along on the hike with us.

Me and my boys.


The hidden treasures.

Aaaaand, the nightly light show over the canyons when we returned.

I feel like that last picture, with the clouds, is almost too ethereal to look at. When I look at it long enough, I can see a bearded face and a hand reaching out. Can you see it?

Not to sound too much like a weirdo who is claiming the Virgin Mary showed up in her belly lint or something, but this picture gives me goosebumps and then makes my limbs go a little numb. Then my tummy gets all squidgy. It just feels... holy.

This whole place feels holy to me. Like God likes to hang out here... likes to kick his feet up on the canyons and lay back on the valley grasses.

No wonder they call it Zion.