Enter to win the #outdoorfamilies giveaway!  Simply share a picture of you and your family doing an outdoor activity on Instagram and use the hashtags #OutdoorFamilies and #ThankfulForFamilies. Contest runs from November 19-26, 2013. You can share one photo daily (up to 7 total photos) and winners will be chosen at random and announced on…

It is still and dark. The clock ticks 5 a.m. and I cannot sleep. I pull out the coffee. Moving slowly, not wanting to wake my exhausted crew still breathing deeply in their beds. Even the dog is curled tightly on the pile of dirty laundry we’ve discarded in the middle of the floor. I…

The sunlight turned orange this morning, behind hazy mountains, and navy blue clouds. The sky was a swirl of indecision. Lightening. The smell of rain. An unsteady breeze. The colors outside were alive. Somehow, the world I see everyday looked new again. The same black topped streets, the cracked sidewalks, cookie cutter houses all displayed…

I have to be purposeful at most things in life. Now, if you know us, you also know that we are quite spontaneous. I am not diminishing the beauty found in sudden acts of whim. But most of life, rather most of what I want out of life, only happens if I am purposeful. Like…

And all I have to say is… This last week was sort of gut wrenching. It wasn’t just one call, one email, one Facebook post. It was many. Cancer and depression and heart problems…hard pregnancies, hard marriages, hot fires. Where are you wife? Chris questioned the vacant expression that accompanied me most of Saturday. I…

The other day Alyss and I were talking about the ‘fear series’ (surely there can be a cheesy / corny series name for this) and the topic of ‘change fear‘ came up. This is probably the most common form of fear that I’m susceptible to. Here is what I mean: You see, I generally (well mostly)…

So last year I was asked by my yoga instructor to come up with one word that describes something I want to pursue, change or experience during the up and coming year. To set an intention, so to speak. Last year my word was “tranquil.” This made sense to me. We had a lot of…