Finding our happy place.

Tonight, I'm resorting back to my old blogging roots.
Where I wait until everyone is sound asleep, I turn on some John Mayer on Pandora, and I load pictures until my patience is on the fine line of giving up..
until finally, I can write.
I'm still planning on following my book blogging- the 365 Health and Happiness Boosters, but this week, we found it all on our own.

Life is full of ups and downs, and frequently we feel like we can never catch a break, but we quickly remind each other that things could be way worse. And then we whip ourselves back into grateful shape.

There has been some downs.. my grandmother was back in the hospital, again..
Jason had a death in the family..
and some little downs like how I just spilled a glass of wine on the table with my camera sitting on it..
and Jordan discovering how much he likes to reach down there, when your changing a poopy diaper.

But life is always going to have to have it's downs, but you have to find the positive in them and then you will be up again, and being up makes us happy.

Grandma is back "home" again with my grandpa, which makes him happy and that makes all of his happy.
Jason's great auntie is in a happier place now after battling cancer.

And Jason and I, we have found our ups. We are slowly drifting into our happy place and we plan to keep drifting and make it a full time position.

I'm happy to say, we finally cracked.
I came home from work on Monday morning after a 12 hour shift, and said, that's it. GET UP. We're going to work out.
And, a very grumpy husband looked at me like I was crazy, but right at that moment, Jordan woke up and I was saved.

And as I softly carried my happy baby with messy morning hair into our bedroom, and plopped him onto our soft fluffy bed, Jason wasn't grumpy anymore at all. Not even a little.

So, we got dressed, and took the twisting car ride to Starkey Park. Where we put the babe in the stroller, stretched our non existent muscles, and jogged and walked. For 2.5 miles. And we were damn proud.

Jordan enjoyed the cool breeze on his face, while taking in the overgrown trees and the shade they provide.

And today, we did it again. We went to my mom's and ran and walked another 2 miles.
I'm sore.
But, we're so happy to be doing something for ourselves. To be healthier and happier.

You know what else makes me happy? My mom's gardening. About now, you're probably wondering about the flowers photos..
well this was our Monday night. After a much needed nap, Jordan and I headed our way to Grandma Joyce's where he was such a little explorer.

He found a shovel, and went to town. He was making sounds (we're pretty sure he was playing pirate and the shovel was his sword)..
and he played in the dirt.

Until his shoes were full of it.

And it was in his hair. And on his face. And in his pants.
It was making him happy, it was his happy place for the night.

And as he played, I snapped pictures, and mom watered her plants, and we were all full of endorphins and went to bed happy that night.

Our next mission: our house. I can only hope to be able to have such beautiful gardening talents one day.

Where Jordan will have a backyard to call his own..
where he can be a pirate, or a football player, or whatever brings him to his happy place for the day.

Where he can sit in the cool grass, enjoy the warm pool, or cause havoc on the back porch.

Even on the days that we have our downs, we will accept what it is, we will grieve, and we will change our outlook. Because outlook is everything.

Happiness is available to each of us in every single moment, no matter what else is happening, if we just make a commitment to it over and over again.

So, I lied.
I said I wasn't going to include my book, but I opened it and found this, and honestly, it kind of puts things into perspective, a bit perfectly, for how I feel lately.

Buddha once said that happiness is created by four things: "To be skilled, efficient, earnest, and learned in whatever profession one has; to conscientiously protect one's income and family's means of support; to have virtuous, trustworthy, and faithful friends and spiritual aspirations; to be content and live within one's means."

I'm so happy to say that we're buying a house. Although we really weren't sure that was really going to work out in our favor, it did.
And we plan to live within our means by being conscientious, and efficient in our profession. Fill it with faithful friends. And thank God.

If I were an ant, this tree would scare the shit out of me.

I think it's so pretty in person, but from this view, it's rather intimidating, ay?

Yes, he still has the shovel.

Enlarge this picture by clicking on it, to see the dirt collection on his face.

On our way home, this was the moon. It was massive, and glowing, and incredible.

And for some reason, blogger decided to place my 2nd picture of it at the bottom, although I didn't tell it to.
We'll roll with it.

Today, was one of those days where the clouds looked so incredibly white and fluffy you just wanted to lasso one and pull it to you and take a bite out of it because it looks like the best cotton candy created by heaven.

When the sun began to set, it had this glorious glow.

Goodnight :)