Merry Christmas!

Well, our festivities are pretty much over. Joe and I are winding down already. We spent Christmas Eve with my wonderful family (my son and my mother). We made a humble (yet delicious) Christmas meal, we opened gifts and then played the game, "Apples to Apples". So fun! And then this morning Joe and I opened our gifts for each other. My favorite one? See the pics above!!!! Woohoo!

Really, though, the best gift is always having the ones you care about nearby and celebrating love and togetherness. And this year that was especially important for me since Austin will soon be joining the Navy. This could be the last Christmas he gets to spend with us for awhile.

Hope you all are having a very beautiful and meaningful holiday!

Railroad Pass Trail

I went hiking today with Austin and my mom at this really cool trail overlooking Lake Mead. What makes it so cool is that it used to be an old railroad track long ago. The track is no longer there but the tunnels are!

{{Full set of images here}}

Unconditional Love

Listening to This American Life, a show I love listening to on public radio in the car when I remember to tune in, and before I got Sirius! Jordan of Oh Happy Day made note of the Unconditional Love episode and thought I'd give it a listen. As a parent, it hits home for me pretty hard.

One of the quotes that struck a chord for me in the "Love is a Battlefield" segment is...

If you're the kind of person who actually needs love, really needs love, chances are you're not the kind of person who's going to have the wherewithal to create it. Creating love is not for the soft and sentimental among us. Love is a tough business.

As a much too young single mother, I probably needed more love than I had to give and tough is one thing I've never been. I hope one day my son will understand this and know that I have always loved him with my entire being. He was always my reason to keep trudging along and still is.