life as of late

hello fellow people


It's a Monday morning. Ingrid is on nap number three already. I've had my coffee and now am enjoying relaxing in the bedroom with the windows open, listening to birds chirping, and reflecting. Mondays right now are sweet but sad for me. A whole week has to go by to get Davis back from work to spend a full day together. My free Mondays are dwindling however. Last Thursday I was offered a as needed position for same day surgery at one of the hospitals in town. The hospital is actually called LDS (Latter Day Saints) Hospital but it is a part of the much larger Intermountain Healthcare system. Funny though, I had not actually been to see where the place was until yesterday. The interview was at the employee services center south of downtown. Honestly, I am not sure what I want to do in nursing. My job search primarily consisted of looking for normal hours. So, I can pick up any number of shifts but will never have to work weekends, holidays, call or nights. That was the selling point for me. Today is nurses day and maybe all week is nurses week. Hugs to all my fellow nurses. It's kind of odd being in between jobs during this week.

So this past week, I finished painting the red room blue. I love the color. It seems classy and antique. I picked "dutch blue" due to my personal connection to it plus it's down right pretty. Once I get everything in order I will put up more pictures of the transformation. Though, that may take a long time, so here is one until then.

it's in progress still :)

While painting, I had a lot of time to listen to sermons. It was so good for my soul to be encouraged in the gospel. Lately, I've been really thinking about living fully and loving where you are. Back in high school, I probably would have called myself a more radical christian. Only because I wanted to and felt the need to go live in a hut in Africa, forgoing all earthly comforts, in order to be an awesome Christian. It's really easy to place those who are called to a life less mundane in a higher category of christian awesomeness from us who work at medical device companies or hospitals. One can certainly feel guilty or less for not living so radically. It is great if you are called to that and if one day I am, I'll happily, although terrified, go. There have been several sermons, articles, and books lately that have really encouraged my heart to be serving God and loving neighbors where I am. And to cheerfully support those who do go.  Let's be honest, I am not very good at it now, so why do I sometimes think shipping me off to another country where I don't even know languages or cultural customs would make me a better witness and a more holy Christian? Davis and I have been praying lately to be salt and light in our community, where we have been given jobs, a roof over our heads, and so many people around us to love in the day to day activities.  Saturday, we spent the day working in the garden and the flower beds. Driving to pick up more seeds, I read this article: new legalism and was very encouraged. It is crazy though how sinful our hearts are that we can turn so many good things into idols. I often turn exotic types of Christian living into idols. So, as we picked out more vegetables than we could ever eat, we became very excited to hopefully harvest plenty to give away. Sunday, the pastor preached on Matthew 28:16-20. He really emphasized the fact Jesus tells us to go and make disciples. That doesn't mean you have to move to the far reaches of the earth to do this, though it is an option. Most encouraging, God is with us to the very end. Maybe I am just new to this mindset, but I am so encouraged and my eyes have been more aware of my surroundings when I realize God has redemption plans for everywhere.  TMeaning, wherever we go and whatever we do, we live for Jesus not ourselves.

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Last Friday I spent the afternoon making shrimp creole for Davis the real way, at least according to this lady on the internet. It took awhile but Davis said it was delicious. I have no idea if it tasted like the real thing but lots of love went into it.

homemade shrimp stock

I even made the shrimp stock from scratch and have some left over. I am really excited to see what else I can make with the left overs.

lots of wandering to do, who wants to join us?

Saturday we picked up these books. We want to fully enjoy all the beautiful creation around us. It's also a great way to meet people. One book has a section for hikes with dogs, so yesterday we picked the closest and Ingrid friendly hike for the afternoon. It was a super easy, beautiful walk that starts literally in a park downtown and then all the sudden you are up in the mountains. It was just a few miles from out house.

state capitol building... looks familiar, eh?

We started across the street from the capitol building and headed down into City Creek Canyon/Memory Grove Park. You can go quite a ways up into the canyon but with Ingrid's bum knees (and I needing to callous up for chaco season) we only went part of the way.

Tulips at an events building in Memory Grove Park

Davis and I are both obsessed with all the tulips right now. Their colors are so vibrant. Also, the lilacs are starting to bloom. They are a personal favorite of my mine. I added a little lilac bush to the backyard on Saturday, just couldn't say no.

cooling off in the creek

The walkway follows a creek. There were lots of dogs and people enjoying the beautiful weather and sunshine. Ingrid enjoyed jumping in the water to cool off. She doesn't stay in long, just enough time to be refreshed. I climbed in the creek with her and froze my toes off. This southern girl still has to get used to cold mountain water, it's not like the bathtub lake water around Augusta :)

see the tiny capitol?

We ventured off City Creek Canyon onto Bonneville Shoreline trail. Before we knew it, we looked behind us and the city seemed so far away.

the great unknown ahead of us

To be only a mile or so from the heart of downtown, it sure felt like the wilderness, except we shared the trail with a dozen other sunshine seekers and mountain bikers.

the best friend

Davis loves these kind of walks. He does not enjoy when I take him wandering around neighborhoods to look at old houses. Love that man.

the mountainside was half alive

Spring is still in progress here. The farther up the canyon and higher in elevation we went, the less spring had made progress. We are in no hurry for all the blooms to disappear and summer to be in full swing. These long days with cool evenings and flowers galore are precious and few.

After we returned home, we debated about dinner. I coaxed  Davis into a quick trip to trader joes for some salsa and chips. We had to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, right? So, we ate chips and salsa for dinner with some Utah beers on the front porch. It was a lovely evening. That salsa verde is yummy! While we enjoyed the front porch, we met some neighbors. The wife is a nurse and the husband and engineer! We agreed to enjoy some front porch beers in the future.

happy cinco de mayo

Now, back to Monday. Have a lovely day friends.




ps. it's my favorite when ingrid wags her tail while she is napping. happy dreams?