Smell Memory

I really love this little guy,

but, one of my concerns with having a dog, was the smell. I did not want people walking into my house and the first thing they smelled, was dog, yuck!

I can really get myself in trouble, when I make trips to Target. On Sunday, I new I would be walking out, with what some would say, were unnecessary purchases. But, to me, they were high priority. On the top of my shopping list was,

-things to make the house smell good, because of Luke!

I am very sensitive to smell, and I associate lots of memories based on scent. My Grandma's perfume is a perfect example. When I smell someone wearing it, all those wonderful memories, of times I spent with her, come flooding back.

I love the smell of Freesia, and it reminds me of a specific time off life, when we lived in NY.

Fruit punch chap-stick and Sweat Pea body spray from Bath & Body Works, reminds me of high school.

A certain smell, that I can't describe, reminds me of Erik's Honda and our dating days. It was something, mixed with new car air freshener, but that car had a specific smell!

Polo Sport cologne on Erik, was our engagement days!

I love the smell of my parents house!! When I walk in, I instantly feel safe, and snuggled. It makes me want to curl up on the couch, lay my head on my moms lap, while she rubs my head! Yes, my love language is touch!!!!

Vanilla, reminds me of the van we had in VA.

Chrome cologne was NY, but I love that one so much, it might extend many more years!!

I do not want people, having their smell memory of me, to be stinky dog!

So, for this season of life, I chose Cinnamon. I was mentioning the other day to my friend, how much I loved that her house always smelled like cinnamon. When I walk in to her home, it makes me smile! We are also heading towards the holidays, so it's perfect!

I purchased a Yankee Candle plug in, for the kitchen area

and a yummy cinnamon candle, that I can light when company is coming!

Right when you open our front door to come in, we have shoe baskets, also not a great first impression smell!

So, I snuck a cinnamon scented, reed diffuser, behind our entry way pictures. When you walk in, you are no longer greeted, with stinky feet stench, hopefully! I will have to test it out, on the the next intruders!

Wow, look at all that dust!

So, when you come over, be honest and give it to me straight!

When you walk in, do you get a good feeling or a not so good feeling?

update: Erik walked in last night and said, "wow, it smells really good in here!"

I eagerly asked, "like what?"

"like cinnamon"

Yeah, it worked!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Morning Date

Sometimes, it's okay to take a break from the everyday routine and listen to a different direction God is leading you! He knows what you have need of, and He knows how to fill you up!  That's why, yesterday morning, I didn't even think twice about having coffee with my sweat heart, instead of going into service!

We dropped the kids off at Sunday school and then made our way to the church coffee area, right outside of the sanctuary.  We still had our coffees in hand, from our routine Starbucks stop, that morning.  We couldn't take them into the the service, so we sat down to finish them, while we watched worship happening, on the lobby t.v.  

We sipped our coffee, talked, and enjoyed each others company.  We discussed the path of life God has brought us down and glorified Him for the amazing journey He's given us.  We shared how we were struggling and found ways we could help and encourage each other.  We laughed, told story's from our week, and of course, our offspring came up a few times.  Before we knew it, service was letting out and it was time to pick up the kids.

We didn't even know how much we needed that time together, until God gave it to us.  He knew what we were lacking that morning, and I am so thankful for a God who cares about our every need!


I told Erik, in the car after, how important that time was for me.  Time to remember, all the reasons I fell in love with him.  It is so easy to get busy, let everyday life creep in and rob me of the joy, our relationship can be.  Just talking and seeing inside his heart, reminded me how much I love him!

Girlfriends

When you get together with great girlfriends, you realize how important it is! No longer are you the only one on the planet who has been in sweatpants all day, or who only got out of those sweatpants because of this wonderful occasion, GIRLS NIGHT!!

Spilling a gallon of apple juice all over your kitchen floor, all of a sudden becomes a funny story, rather than just a melt down moment. You realize that your five year old that swallowed a penny, or your three year old that stuffs beads up his nose, is somewhat normal! The mounds of laundry by the washing machine is the same scenario, for many in the room. It doesn't matter that it was the third morning that week you missed the bus, because in the carpool lane, you see your girlfriend, still in her jammies like you, and you both are thinking the same thing, GIRLS NIGHT!

The reward for that days labor, is coming, in only a few short hours! GIRLS NIGHT!

You mean I am not alone, we all raised our voices today, when we didn't want to? You like me, ate high calorie foods you shouldn't have when the day got stressful, and you never got around to working out? Your dog peed on your rug today too?

The stresses of the day begin to fade away, why? Because it's girls night and we realize, we are all in this together!

We get together, encourage each other with nothing more, than sharing how similar all our lives our. After girls night, we are energized, refueled, and ready to carry on with the day to day!

Had to put this one in Heather, it's just too cute!!!

You will never see me missing a girls night, if I can help it, it's to important!

There is just nothing like GIRLFRIENDS!

Last Lesson, Not Just a Snapshot

Wow, getting this post out late.  It has been one of those mornings.  Well, first I chose to sleep in, it was hard to get up with Luke all cuddled up by my feet!  Then, on the way home from the bus stop, Matty throws up in the jeep, poor guy!  All he wants to do today is lay on the couch!

So this was the last week of the workshop I am taking online.  I've had such a great time, and I learned so much!

This weeks assignment was to capture moments of interaction, emotion, and expression!  We were to use our long lens, so we could step back and go unnoticed. Also, we were to convert those shots to black and white, without using a preset, only using Lighroom!  Then we were to create a picture essay, which I failed miserably at.  I didn't understand the gist of the assignment, and then, when I finally got the idea, I didn't have time to redo it.  So, I just had to turn in what I had.   We also were supposed to shoot with a high iso, to see our cameras ability to shoot in low light.  I thought we were supposed to shoot the whole assignment this way, but no, it was just supposed to be one picture, duh!!  So, all these pictures are shot with an iso of 2000 or higher!

I really thought this week was hard for me, I felt like I struggled to accomplish the assignment successfully.   Oh, well, it's a learning experience!

Here is what I turned in for my interaction, emotion, and expression shots!  I do love black and white pics! My favorite, to hang in my house, which by the way, I need to get some new ones up!  I was looking around the other day and I am ashamed at some of the pictures gracing my walls, time to upgrade!  

Yes, Luke has been the main focus in our house the last few days!

A boy and his dog!

The best little pup, already knows his name, hasn't kept us up in the night, crate trained, and doing great at the potty thing!  He likes to heard the kids, very funny to watch.  He is most comfortable, with them all in a group!  He also has to tuck them in their beds at night, so cute!!

Luke likes to keep Matty in line!  For the most part Matt likes it, but at this moment, he got a little scared! Luke was tugging in his sleeve!

I love these girls!  Just us doing what we do best, telling great stories and laughing together!  I can always count on Emily for a great reaction!  

So this next section is my lifestyle photography portion!  I went to the garage with the boys!  They were cleaning up the place and hanging up Daddy's banner, from his band days!! Again, I was supposed to tell a story and I don't think I succeeded in that, but I still captured the boys in their element, so it wasn't a total loss!

I do love these tire shots, I think they came out cool!

Happy Feet, Happy Paws

My tendency, when shopping for running shoes, is to go for the cute, on sale, stylish pair.  I recently started training for my first 1/2 marathon and very quickly came to realize, the wrong kickers were hugging my tootsies!   My knees were killing me from the 10 mile run I did on Friday, I knew I couldn't do that again.  The cuteness of my shoes no longer mattered.  

Yesterday after church I went to Runners Roost and got a running analysis done.  I ran on a treadmill for 30 sec while they took a video of me running.  He then showed me the video and pointed out how my inside ankle pronated over the heel of my foot, when I landed.  He brought out three different pairs of shoes and decision was easy, after I tried them all on.  These shoes were made for my feet!  I put them on, he showed me a fancy way to lace them and then he watched me run in them again, to be sure they were the right fit!  

I never would have picked Saucony's, but now, I am in love!  In case you were wondering, that little black tab, holds my nike + chip, to track my mileage!

I broke them in last night and at the end of my run, my feet were smiling instead of cursing at me!  I had some happy feet!

So the way I think is if the bill is already going to be large then why not throw something else in the total.  It will just blend in and you won't even notice.  So I also added a new pair of running shorts to the pile! Yeah, it's a twisted way of thinking, but it works for me!!

So, you might be a little confused with title to this post.  What does that mean?  If you have been following my blog, you will remember this post, point #6 to be exact!  Well, here is how the story goes.

While training and running long distances in wooded areas, I get a little scared.  Wild animals, weird creepy people, falling and twisting my ankle and know one hearing me.  I have been borrowing a friends dog, Gracie has been so great, love her!  I seriously wanted to clone her!  So I guess selfishly, I caved a little and decided it would be good to get a dog.  

I didn't want to wait until winter to get one, not fun to train a dog in the cold.  I also didn't want to do it as a Christmas present.  I know this might sound weird but I didn't want a member of our family to be considered a gift that we opened from santa.   I wanted the dog we got to be viewed as a special new addition to our family, not a present with a bow on top of it's head.  Does that makes sense?  I guess I'm not explaining that very well, but hopefully you get the point somewhat!  Plus, it would be very hard to keep a dog a secret until Christmas morning. 

So after Runners Roost yesterday, I said something along the lines of, "we should stop by the dog rescue place... just to look!"  Erik must of thought I was crazy, but he just responded, "today?" He knew better than to start talking to much about it, I might reconsider!  So he just agreed and I called 411 to find out were one was. 

Yesterday they were having this huge dog day at the park, in town.  I mean, like hundreds of people all gathered, with their dogs.  Face painting, dog shows, doggie obstacle courses, clowns, balloons, little doggie pools, dog vendors, and all kinds of dogs up for adoption.  The lady on the phone said we had picked the right day!  

We get to the park and I am laughing, what are we doing here?  What did I say I wanted?  We had to park a good distance away, because of all the people and the whole time I am walking up to this event, shaking my head, laughing, "what are we doing!" I knew it was going to happen someday, but wow, it's all happening so fast. 

In the car, on the way, we discussed what kind of dog we might be interested in.  I said I didn't want a puppy (thinking of having a running partner for Friday's run), and I wanted a Border collie mix.  I didn't want a pure bread, but a mix with some Border collie in it!  We walked up to the first rescue adoption van we saw.  There were about five cute little puppies, in a fenced off area.  Not sure what they were, they were cute, but not the dogs for us.  I started chatting with the ladies there, while the kids oohed and ahed over the puppies in the cage.  She then said, "and we also have this little guy over here, he is a Border collie mix, and is just the sweetest thing."

I thought the little puppy she was referring to, belonged to the three teenage girls that were hovering over it.  At first glance of that little guy, I knew we would not be going home with empty arms.  He immediately stole all our hearts and we were locked in, there was no way we could leave without him!  He fit perfectly!  We did the paperwork and now, we are officially owners of the cutest little puppy ever!  We will train together, for next years 1/2 marathon!

Erik gets to pick him up today after work, he had to stay and get fixed before we could bring him home.  It's going to be one exciting night at the Wilt house!

El Cominos in our driveway and a dog by our side, we can truly say, we are mountain people and we are here to stay!

So, we had to come up with a name!  We tossed around a ton, but nothing fit.  Then I said, "I've got it, Luke!" Erik, looked at me and said, "yeah, that's it!"  We fell in love with Border Collies, because of some friends, we hold very dear to our hearts.  Luke, was the perfect name!  

Look at that cute little face!

He will not get a lack of attention in our house!

Luke has had a very sad start to his little life.  At two weeks old, he was found with his brother and sister, in a garbage bag, in an alley dumpster.  He was covered with parasites and lesions, he was in bad shape.  His foster parents nursed him back to health and gave him a second start to life.  We now get to be the loving family that adopts him!  

You will be seeing much more of this little guy!!

The Perfect Tea Party

On Sunday, the boys decided to go have some guy time.  They went to Lowes, Advanced Auto, and some other tool store that I can't remember the name of.  They stocked up on all those necessary things they wanted needed and that left us girls with a quiet house.  The perfect atmosphere for a lovely tea party!  The boys chugged their Mountain Dews, while we dined on delicate goodies with our pinkies up!!

It was the girls idea and they set the whole thing up.  They decorated the table and then we all contributed a little, with the food.   I made the pancakes, Abby made the fruit salad and Ella put the yogurt in cute cups.  We sat, giggled, talked about the week, and enjoyed us some girl time!!

My cute, sweet, spunky, little love!!!  As we are sitting, enjoying our breakfast, Ella says, while looking at her pancake, "I'm going to call my pancake dude, and boy this dude is yummy!"  Then she starts to make up a song about it.  I love Ella's one liners, I just never know what she is going to say.  

So I had to break out the video! Of course it would of been great if I had the original on tape, but she did a pretty good job of re-inacting it!  And the funniest part to me, is Abby's reaction to Ella's statement, "of course Ella!!"  Classic older sister comment!!!!

While we are on the subject of Ella, the other day she is rambling on about her boyfriend, to Abby. I say to her, "Ella, you don't have a boyfriend."  

She says, "sorry to say it mom, but I do, and I can't break it off."

Oh my goodness, this girl!!!!!!!!

 I just love the first grader smile!!  Abby's laugh is so contagious, she is such a Joy!!!!

Okay, so we didn't actually have tea, we felt more like Orange Juice that day.  But, we put the syrup in a teapot, so we could pour something out of something cute!!!

I love my girls, they are so precious to me and I am so blessed that I get do fun things like this with them!!!!  I just wish I would of been the one to think of it.  Thank you Abby and Ella for setting up our special date!!!