garage cleaning down memory lane.

No, this isn't my garage. Lol. But someday. Yes, someday it will look like that and it will even have the Volkswagen that is in this photo too. That was a total fluke when I was looking for an organized garage photo on the internet for this post. (Not ready to share a picture yet of ours, since it's still a work in progress.) Damn....we have A LOT of crap.

I mean A LOT. A lifetime worth. It doesn't help that we moved from a 3 car garage in Phoenix, then had a basement to store it all in, in the two houses we've lived in before moving into this one. This basement at this house is finished and is actually our bedroom. So everything has to be kept in the garage.

It was hard enough to get all of the stuff we had before into there and then Mike made room for the van about two rotations ago. So I have been able to park in there all summer.

Ugh, but wow. Where do you even start? The two biggest clusters of junk were all of Mike's aviation stuff and my scrapbook stuff. I figured once we both weeded through all of that we'd at least have a plan ahead of us. We bought plastic storage boxes last week, and started sorting.

At least now about a dozen boxes of aviation stuff (textbooks, manuals, charts, uniform stuff and chart cases) are down to about 3 boxes. Not to mention the several boxes worth of weird wires that Mike has collected and saved over the years, have finally been put into one box marked WIRES. You have no idea. This is 20 years in the making. The wires have always been one of those "when are you going to organize this?" things every time we've cleaned out ANY garage we've ever lived with. Thank you Mike! But.....I do admit that there are times when I realize this box of useless (to me) assorted wires has come in handy and saved us a lot of money. It's nice when he's setting up some electronic thing and he says, "Oh, I have that!"

Then my scrapbook stuff. I kept going through it and wishing I had the thousands of dollars that I had spent on the stuff that I was now sorting through. Most of it I am giving to a friend who does a big monthly scrap event at her church. I just don't use it anymore. I've gone digital for the most part. I also kept thinking, "Geeze, I used to have a ROOM just for this stuff. A craft room." I don't miss the room at all....but that just puts in perspective how much of this crap had and still have.

But in between the stacks of paper (some I still saved because it is too awesome to get rid of. I still LOVE pretty paper.) all of the chipboard pieces, rub on letters, Prima flowers, etc....I would find things. Photos that I tucked into places. Little mementos that I picked up here and there. Like finding an In & Out sticker, Mike's first pilot license, photos of my grandparents, our dog Katie, and pictures of my kids when they were babies, or when there was a time before each one was born. It's so strange to look back at a photo of just Mike, me and Megan...and think that Trevor or Matthew weren't here yet.

So, I did get some work done, but I admit both of us would stop every now and then and reminise about something we were holding. There are so many stories to things that we hold on to. Even recipts, or take out menus from places on the west coast. It's all a reminder of how fast life really does go by. Light speed.

While I am thinking about how fast time has gone by and the changes made over the past FOUR decades....(ugh) I meant to post this photo that I had been keeping in a folder in my computer since last year. I planned on saving it to use as a photo for a post about our anniversary. I never posted about it on the actual day (September 1st) but then was kind of mad at myself for not posting it after saving it for so long. Happy anniversary...21 years!! <3

Somehow what we were doing today kind of seemed relative to the photo below. How fast time has gone by....

21 years ago Mike and I were married. We've had our ups, downs, struggles and all that. Lots of good times and traveling to a lot of great places together. Three awesome kids. Everything that comes with life. It has all shaped who we are and made our love for each other unstoppable.

I remember this photo was taken in a photo booth just outside Memorial Colosseum at the AZ State Fair in 1988. (I think I still part my hair on that same side. Maybe time for an update.) and man, how I loved that 80's acid washed denim jacket.

Love you Mike!

Introducing video......

I love my smart phone. I don't know what I'd do without it. It makes my life so much easier on so many levels, but was originally bought for being able to keep in constant contact with Mike when he's overseas. I can get emails as quickly as a text. Real time. It's nice. It makes our worlds not so far apart.

I also use it for a million other things. Days that I don't want to carry around my big camera, my favorite apps of sticky notes for the store, calorie counter, GPS on my walks, use as an ipod with all my music on it, a GPS for the car to replace my clunky box, among other things and games, and video camera. I need to utilize this much more. As much as I have always loved taking photos of the kids through the years, it always felt like it was an either/or type thing. If I was taking photos, I never took video. Now it's all in one small little thing. I love it.

So once I learn how to edit and post on here, there will more than likely be more video to come.

If you look in the lower right corner, in the grass but near the plant sort of....you can see one of the turtles. All of us were out front enjoying the weather the other day. Piper catches the ball in her mouth. She's running up the hill to our neighbor's house. That's what I love about the location of our house.....their yard is huge. - And super nice for us to look at. ;)

You can hear the kids out playing, birds chirping and the stupid cicadas that make it feel hotter than it really is. I hate those things.

With that, it's getting late and I'm going to bed.