I am blessed to have such a full life

Today, I feel full in so many ways:

...I feel full of gratitude for many great moments of fun so far this summer

...I feel full of dirty laundry that needs to get washed today if we are going to have clean clothes to wear this week

...I feel full of sports from proud hours watching the boys playing baseball and soccer

...I feel full of friendship when I think of the great friends I've made over the past months

...I feel my dishwasher is full of clean dishes from when I ran it on Wednesday night, but haven't had a chance to clean it out yet (it's only Sunday)

...I feel full of new opportunities with my work

Over the past several days, I've been irritated by this fullness and having too much going on. Today, as I've caught up on laundry and the dishes, I had a chance to really reflect on it.

I am blessed to have such a full life.

Over the next few weeks we are going to switch gears and slow it down. I'm excited to see how rich and blessed our not-so-full life can be.

Savoring Our Summer: Our summer of slow..

Wow, how did the calendar fly to June already? My boys are done with another year of school and time keeps moving faster and faster. I feel a strong desire to slow this summer down, be more mindful and savor it all....the good, the bad and the ugly.

Here's what I'm going to do.

I decided to spend this summer thinking less about my to-do list and more about what I'm doing at the moment, whether that is for myself, my kids or my spouse. I want to savor our summer.

But it may be tough as we lead a busy life. This blog is going to journal our summer, track our progress, help keep me accountable and if anyone else ever looks at it, maybe generate some discussion.

I've been thinking about some rules I'm going to follow to make is happen.

• Minimize technology:: I love information and learning.Reading blogs and links from twitter posts is so much fun, but I feel the need to minimize technology to keep my mind in the moment. I'm going to make some rules around when I get on the computer, iPad, phone, etc.
• Spend a lot of time in nature:: Most of my favorite family moments are times that we were outside. We live near a forest with wonderful lakes, trails, campgrounds and many opportunities to be in nature. 
• We'll continue our regular activities:: Our family includes two parents that work outside the home and two active grade-school age boys. We'll continue with baseball games and other plans we made for the summer. 
• Always have supplies on hand for campfires and smores:: The boys love to have campfires, but I'm always quick to way no, frequently saying that we don't have the supplies, but here will be no excuses this summer.

Join us on our journey, here we go!