Artsie Fartsie

The kiddos (and me) love to create art!

It was not question that we wanted to do some

craft / art projects this summer.

So we explored on Pintrest and picked a few we 

wanted to do & headed to 

Hobby Lobby.

The trick now is to stretch them over the summer

rather that do them all in the first few weeks.

We will add more pics to this post throughout the summer

Behold our summer art:

Geometric Canvas:

Foam Sculptures:

Time Well Invested

Our family enjoys volunteering when we can.

Especially when we get a chance to do something for our community!

 The GOAL Foundation 

has some amazing opportunities to enrich our
lives with service for our very own

O-TOWN!

The GOAL foundation has a stellar appreciation party for 

ALL of their volunteers at the 

Front Climbing Gym that is catered by local 

restaurants and brewery!

!!! GET OUT AND LIVE !!!

Thank you

G.O.A.L Fondation

 for experiences that allow us to enrich our lives

and the lives of those in our community!

Also the party totally "Rocked"

Breaking in the new Air Chair!

John's been raving about an air-chair

since we started Christmas in July at Lake Powell 3 years ago.

Well, good things come to those who wait...

and to sweeten the ride, fam got it for a sweet ass deal!

So a break-in ride was a MUST prior to Powell

(Johnny)

(Mikey)

They did pretty damn good for their first "rodeo"

(John)

(Mike)

The kids did not weigh enough for the chair

but they still had fun

(Jake)

(Jake)

(Isaak)

(Autumn)

(Rachel)

We got some boat, beach, SUP, famdam time

We may or may not have put the FUN in

Sunday-FUNday!

SUP Break'n In

Oh how I've longed for a Standup Paddle Board for some time.  

We decided to invest in two of them for our family back in January- JANUARY!  

They sat in my garage for 6 months until it was warm enough to take em' for a dip. 

It was well worth the wait!

The kids, dog & I loaded up and hit the road bound for 

Causey Reservoir& it was 

SPECTACULAR!

The kids,

Jack & I

Had SO much fun!

I have not been there since I was a kid & I somehow had forgotten it's beauty.

Truly my new happy place!

Spent with my kiddos!

Autumn has set the goal to do a headstand on her SUP 

before summers end- I think she'll nail it!

I even had the pleasure of sharing an unexpected cold brewski with the 

GOAL crew

The highlight for me was how much my furry baby loved

his time in the water- he was pain free and young,

even if only for a few hours!

I felt so at peace here, no boats, no phones, just peace,

nature, water and my loves!

2015 Summer Bucket List

Camping, / S'mores in yard, / Pick-nick, / Lazy day, / Weekly movie night, / Lagoona beach,  / Frightmares, / Stand up paddle boarding, / Boating, / Swimming, / Four wheeling, / Weekly Craft Project, / Avengers, / Timpanogas cave- reservation, / Aquarium, / Homemade bubbles -HUMUNGOUS ones, / monastery, / Lego building competition, / Climbing gym, / Volunteer, / Game day, / Lake Powell puzzle, / Drawing class, / Hansen planetarium, / sleepover with cousins,  / watch Fresh Prince of belair / Drive in Movie

The kids, Ma, Pa, Browski, Sista, nieces & nephew (my awesome in laws) loaded up for the 30th Annual McBride family Reunion in Exeter Nebraska.  Round trip was 29 hours in the car.  We visited, sang, drew, went swimming, played spoons and rekindled family ties!  In all, a very successful & fun trip ( did I mention I did not drive)!

Well it's been a long time coming, I've been at rock bottom for sometime now with my health, losing my military career due to my traumatic brain injury, cyst in my brain, & dealing with daily pain. I've gotten content with being miserable in my own skin.  Im in a weird mental place of not being lost but not being found- feeling like I have no purpose.  Im SO mad and embarassed to be here, ROCK BOTTOM again- a dark place I promised myself I would never be again.  Yet here I am, it was not a series of decisions I've made that has taken me here again but rather a lack of decisions I've made and I've proven once again- if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I've made a decision to no longer let uncontrollable circumstance define me, but rather hard work, constancy and discipline take over . I will do what I CAN do, rather than focus and continue with my mentality of: if I can't run a marathon I'm not doing anything. This has brought me nothing but further pain! Here are my pictures of accountability at rock bottom – stay tuned for the badass, happy Heidi to reappear. The photos in the striped shirt & dress are my goal pictures from 2010, I like the idea of using my own body as A goal rather than models as I know with hard work I can attain it – I've done it before and I will do it again!  To first steps, baby steps and every step in between!