YES! YES! YES!

Yesterday was an amazing days of "YES!" an "OH,MY GOSH!" and "WOW!"

The first "YES!" of the day included an early morning trip to Les Schwab. I ended up needing to take BOTH vehicles in for servicing. Imagine my delight and surprise at finding our friend who is the manager there yesterday. He was more than willing to give me a ride back home to get both vehicles to and from LS. I am always impressed with our local LS staff. They always bend over backwards to give 110% service. Yesterday was no exception - they had both vehicles done and everything fixed and ready to roll in an hour. It was a HUGE help knowing what the rest of the day was going to be.
My first "OH, MY GOSH!" was seeing this in the stack of mail I pulled from my PO box.

We have this little local phone book come out every year - except this year it is WAY late - it should have been out LAST July. Anyway - When I saw it I just started shaking and screaming - right there at the PO! The front cover -the grand prize for a photo contest I entered 14 months ago - was showing MY work! I was in such shock I had to turn to the inside cover to confirm what I was really seeing. I had no prior notification at all - just all of a sudden there it was! I was so blown away I zipped through the doors into the main PO to show it to a friend who works there. I know he probably totally thought I had completely lost it. I just couldnt believe it. The very next thing I did was call Preston in TX and left a very animated message on his voicemail. The whole way to Salem I just kept glancing over at it on the seat, still not believing what I was seeing. Preston called me back just when I got to the shoe store and we shared a very excited conversation. I was so excited that he was so excited for me - he has been one of the main reasons I have been able to pursue photography to the level I do - because of his constant love, support, encouragement, etc I have been successful. I was thrilled that I had him to share this with.

This is the actual image that I submitted for the contest. It is fun to look at it and remember where I was and how I came about even getting this pict. I had gone down to the PO to check mail - and had NOT taken my camera with me - I ended up taking my not normal route home and saw this. I drove home immediately to snag my camera, hoping to beat the rain that was just about to start. I just parked the car and started shooting. I got some others that day that I totally love with the rain included, which actually added to them. This spur-of-the-moment shoot has included some of my very favorite Fall images. It makes it even more fun to know that this was also taken before I even knew about photoshop - this is what we call SOOC - Straight Out Of The Camera - meaning no tweaks. I have been just so excited I have been telling everyone and even had a ward member tease me about wanting me to autograph hers - that made me laugh. It has been another joyous piece of photography stuff that continues to fall into place through many blessings and gifts that I have been given by Heavenly Father recently. I know that He is the reason that I have this gift and the ability to share it with others. Without His help, guidance and blessings I could never do what I do. I am truly thankful that I have been given this talent and look forward to the next year and all the adventures that it will bring. Just as a side note, the local paper said that this local phone book goes to over 18,000 homes and businesses in 5 local cities. How crazy is that. As another side note, when I submitted this image to the contest I was still very ill and wasnt ready/able to get an add in the phone book (besides the fact that it would have been $700 to submit a tiny ad) It makes me kind of sad to know that so many are going to see my work, and not know that I have a business up and running. I will be saving my pennies this year though and will have something to submit next time!

My next "YES!" was at the shoe store. I needed new walking shoes, hoping to help contribute to faster healing with current health concerns. The sales gal was very helpful and I found out the shoes I was looking for were part of a "buy 1, get another 1/2 off" sale that had just started yesterday! I was able to get TWO pairs of normally very expensive shoes and 2 pkgs of new socks for an extremely low cost. It was awesome and just one more thing that fell into place.

My next "YES!" was at Dr Drew's office. He still beat on me pretty hard, but things were improved today and he even said that it should be pretty soon that he can release me to finish triathlon training. I may still be able to compete in all 3 events! Will keep behaving myself and working towards that goal.

The next "YES!" almost wasnt. I have been helping an inactive sister in our ward with moving this week. We were ready for cleaning yesterday and several sisters from the ward came to help. My friend had had a very hard morning, and having sisters in her house that she didnt know just added to vs relieving her stress levels. She has been so worried about everyone judging her about the condition of her house. Nothing I could do or say would alleviate her fears, concerns or stress. It seems that even I couldnt be a comfort to her. I continued to serve her throughout the afternoon and after the other sisters had gone (after doing a rockin' job on the apt) she relaxed a ton and really opened up to me again. We had some really good chats about the challenges of life traumas, having teenage daughters, and just life in general. By the time I left yesterday night, I was feeling like the service that I, and so many other ward members, had given really had been appreciated and very worthwhile. I will be making every effort to keep in touch with this friend and hope that I will continue to be a help to her through the coming weeks and months as she is making so many transitions in her life that are sure to be very stressful and difficult. I hope that I will be able to be the friend she needs. I love her and her kiddos tons and will miss having them close by.

I did lots better about eating/getting enough water yesterday than I have the rest of the week too. I was proud of myself for going to that extra effort. I also got plenty of exercise from cleaning and loading and unloading 3 more truckloads of stuff - and was good without having to do anything extra. By the time I did get home I was totally wiped. The big girls had also rocked by holding down the fort here at home and already had little people all settled.

Today I continued to serve in different ways, and have been completely exhausted. So glad that tomorrow is Sunday, I will need a day of rest and rejuvination for all the adventures of this coming week that will be filled with outings with the kiddos to make up for me being gone all this last week. Will be sure to post more soon!