Eat Pray Love

I went over the weekend and saw the movie, Eat Pray Love, with my friend Karen and this is so the movie for me! There were so many great parts, words that touched my heart and soul. I'm going to have to go see it again just to remember a couple more of them.



"You have been to hell, Ketut?" He smiled. Of course he's been there. What's it like in hell?" Same like in heaven," he said. He saw my confusion and tried to explain. "Universe is a circle, Liss." He said. "To up, to down -- all same, at end." I remembered an old Christian mystic notion: As above, so below. I asked. "Then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell?" Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell, you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss." He laughed. Same-same," he said. "Same in end, so better to be happy in journey." I said, "So, if heaven is love, then hell is.. " Love, too," he said. Ketut laughed again, "Always so difficult for young people to understand this!" — Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)



"The problem, simply put, is that we cannot choose everything simultaneously. So we live in danger of becoming paralyzed by indecision, terrified that every choice might be the wrong choice." — Elizabeth Gilbert (Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage)



"Real, sane, mature love—the kind that pays the mortgage year after year and picks up the kids after school—is not based on infatuation but on affection and respect." — Elizabeth Gilbert (Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage)



"When you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face first out of the dirt-this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight." — Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)



"In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices." — Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)

Once in a lifetime.....

What I'm about to share with you now is an amazing, once in a lifetime story. You have to read this post, even if you usually don't read any of them! I'm not sure how often this really happens but for me, I would imagine that it NEVER happens. Hold on to your seat....here it is.........



So, let me begin by telling you the premise for our being here taking pictures on the train tracks. My mom and I decided to go visit my Grandma Alice with my two children, Mckelsie and Jayden. During our quick day visit, my Grandma Alice needed to rest for a little bit after our lunch trip out. My mom, the kids and I decided to go get icecream to allow quiet for my Grandma to rest. After getting the icecream we drove around the small town while my mom pointed out various places of her childhood memories. We drove by one house and now I can't even remember who my Mom said it had belonged to at one time. The house was tattered, worn and pretty much dumpy. At the end of the road just past the house was the railroad tracks. We decided to drive down so that I could take some pictures of the kids on the tracks as I've always wanted to do that. We pulled over and Jayden and I got out of the car. Mckelsie didn't want to take any pictures (no surprise there....). Jayden and I walked over to the tracks where I proceeded to take some pictures of Jayden on and near the tracks.

While snapping a few pictures we realized that there was an approaching train. We could hear the whistle and see the distant light on the front of the train. I told Jayden we would stay so we could watch the train sail by. We backed just far enough way that I knew we'd be safe and wouldn't freak the driver out.

I took a few photos of Jayden as the train approached.

As the train came upon us, it seemed to be going quite slow. The driver's hand waved out from the small window on the engine. We both waved back in wonder and excitement as neither of us had ever been so close to a moving train. Jayden and I wondered if it was going to stop because it was going to slow. We stood and I remember watching the huge wheels going slower and slower. IT STOPPED!!!!! Right in front of us! No lie! I was shocked! Again we saw the driver's hand out of the small window wave us over to the front of the train just feet from where we stood. I told Jayden to run and I followed. The driver INVITED Jayden up onto the train. Yes, INVITED him up! I couldn't believe it!

(This is where I wished I would've gotten more pictures....)

Mckelsie ran over from the car to join me at the side of the train. The driver yelled from the little window beckoning Mckelsie and I to climb the huge steps on the front of the train up to the cab to join Jayden. It was so cool! They stopped just for us, let us up in the train, showed us all the gagets, computer systems and told us a bit about the train. It was carrying 117 cars behind it! There were two guys and they both were so kind!

I didn't want to overstay our welcome and so probably rushed out sooner than they would've shooed us away. We thanked them many times over! I got a picture of Mckelsie and Jayden going out of the door on the front of the train. I'm sure all of us had the biggest smiles while getting off and walking away from the train. We waved and stood still in awe of what just happened.

Side note: If I had been able to think more clearly, I would've asked one of the guys on the train for his number or tried to ask him more questions. He was a young guy and was so cute! Dang, that would've been a great story to tell people how we met!

Delta, Utah - Visit to Grandma Alice's

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this beautiful sunset.

I wished I had a nice camera!

We should've left this doggy home!

Jayden in front of Grandma Alice's house. It was actually a very pleasant

summer day in Delta. Windy as usual but enjoyed a bit of a rain storm.

As my Grandma Alice would say, "Three generations..."

My mom Sharlene, my Grandma Alice and me.

Jayden, Grandma Alice, Rebecca & Mckelsie

(Maggie, Grandma's dog in the front)

Whose feet are bigger?

Grandma Alice & Jayden

You see alot of the next few pictures here in Delta. I don't particularly think it's a very pretty place. Apparently this particular shack was, years ago, the home of a good family friend "Emery" as Grandma Alice and my Mom call him. The Spor's took him in and invited him into their home and family.

Delta Utah Cemetary:

Jacob is my cousin, son of my Uncle Kim and Aunt Ginny. He was just three years older than me. I've heard many stories of the little guy. I stood looking at his headstone and all the other's around in awe. How much loss we deal with in this life with no guarantee of what is to follow this life. It's all upon faith that you believe in living beyond this earthly experience. When someone dies, especially your child, how it must ache. Jacob was an adorable boy.

My Uncle Kim

My Great Grandparents on my Mom's side. I hadn't noticed before but they died within a few months of each other. Apparently my great grandfather said that since he and his wife were married they had never been apart at Christmas time and he wasn't about to let that happen after all those years

(according to my Mom).

Boondocks 2010 - Wells Fargo Summer Party

I think every year as my kids are getting older I miss the "little" stage of innocence, curiosity and genuine surprise except on days like this. We went to Boondocks for my work summer party. It is so much fun to see my kids be able to be independent, run around playing laser tag with them(I was SO dead by the end of that game), racing on the go cart track and throwing down a game of ski ball. My kids really are so much fun to be with on days like these!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

My brother John recommended this book, actually he gave it to my Mom for a gift. I began reading (listened - audio book) and it actually seemed a bit hard to get into at first. Once in, the author takes you back and forth between his childhood memories of the 1940's to his adult life in the 1980's...40 years difference. A love story which meshes with my heart and mind wonderfully while shadowing real places and times in history that I find extremely intriguing. I throughly enjoyed the book and would recommend to anyone.

Jayden

Mother—that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.

~T. Dewitt Talmage

-

Before you were conceived I wanted you,

Before you were born I loved you,

Before you were here an hour I would die for you,

This is the miracle of life.
~Maureen Hawkins

-

Son, you outgrew my lap,

but never my heart.

~Author Unknown

24th of July

Allison, Kara & Mckelsie

Adam & Jayden

Allison

Kara

Teaghan

Allison, Dan & Christine

Mckelsie

Teaghan, Corbin (Jayden's friend), Jayden, Adam & Allison