Lake

To be filed under the category of: That Sucks/So Jealous/Man I Wish I Could Apparate, the entire family (except for me, the hubby, and DJ) spend the day here:

I don't know the names of those 2 islands in the distance, but the one my brother is standing to take this picture is Rognlie's Island on Flathead Lake in Montana.  My great-aunt and uncle bought this the island many decades ago and the extended family has had a family reunion here every 4th of July.  It's definitely one of my happy places, and I so wish I could have been there today.

In honor of their day here are some lake shoes:

 

None of them are Flathead Lake, but that's OK, they're still pretty cool.  I should totally get a pair with a picture of the island on them for the next time we go.  Except that white shoes on the island would be black in about 2.7 seconds.

Hope you had fun today, family.  You all suck and I kind of hate you now.  Hugs and kisses!

Ups and Downs

I've been trying to figure out what to write tonight.  I had a post planned (that I will most likely do tomorrow), but then I heard from my mom that my second cousin Howard died last night in a house fire.  I didn't want to do a silly shoe post when I've been so sad most of the day.  I'm not sure quite how to describe Howard except that he was kind of strange, and a bit of a hermit.  He was also hilarious and very, very nice.  We weren't close, I generally only saw him once a year on the 4th of July when my mom's family has a family reunion, but I don't have any negative memories of him.  He made me laugh and he was always nice.  I was a ridiculously sensitive kid, but Howard never once made me cry, even through unintentional teasing.  I haven't seen him in many years, and yet I will miss his presence in the world.  I'm just hoping he was greeted in heaven by his mother who smothered him in hugs and kisses (she was one of the sweetest people I've ever known).  I'm so sad for his father, Stan, who has lost not only his wife, but now 2 of his 3 sons.  A parent shouldn't outlive one, let alone multiple children.  Tonight I cling to the promises of the resurrection.

As happens with life, it wasn't entirely a bad day.  Today was Flower's gotcha day, which means that 9 years ago today my sister and brother-in-law finally got to go to the orphanage in China and meet the baby they'd been waiting for.  I mean look at this face:

This was after a million hours on a plane, and I can only imagine what was going through her mind at the strange turn her young life had just taken.  But don't you just want to smoosh those cheeks?  She is almost 10 now, and a total sweetheart.  We got to chat with her for quite awhile this morning, and she made my heart happy.

Life and death, joy and sorrow always walk hand in hand, and as sad as today made me, I still give thanks for the love and joy of my family.

Airport

I'm sitting in the Salt Lake airport, people watching. Well, shoe watching really. If I could take pictures I would, but that would probably be weird. As usual thereare some really cute, really strange, and really impractical shoes passing by me. Sometimes I want to say, "if you can't walk in them, don't wear them! Especially in the airport. Silly people. I didn't post yesterday yesterday because I didn't think you needed two posts in a row of being being totally sad about leaving Montana and my family.I'm happy to get home to the hubby but it sucks that I can't live closer to the fam. I will spare you all of the whining and crying and basic patheticness I am currently feeling. I suck at this long distance thing. I'm totally a sad shoe girl today.

PS...the hubby told me I wouldn't be an awesome blogger until I did a post on the Kindle Firehe got me for Christmas. Looks like I'm officially cool...

All in the Fam

So, my family is awesome.  I know I'm completely biased, but if you met them, you would be forced to agree that they are awesome.  The Bean told mom the other day that she wants to "be a shoe girl like Auntie."  This was after trying on 5 and 6 inch heels and strutting around Target in them.  I'm both proud and a little frightened.  She ended up buying some fur lined "practical" boots, while Double A ended up with these:

 

 

Mom said these have a cute wedge heel that's about an inch and a half.  Double A might not have my love of heels, but these shoes are for her upcoming play this weekend, and as I was also in drama in Jr. High and High School, of course I've decided she takes after me.  And she still has cute taste in shoes.

 

The brother posted this on my facebook page today:

 

 

If I haven't posted these before, I've posted something similar, and I'll say the same thing:  These are clearly for winter, where it is cold.  What in the heck are you doing wearing that much heel in the snow??!!  Hey, brother, I think you should buy these and rock them with your kilt...

 

The boots are a little crazy, but my 2nd cousin sent me shoes that blew right past crazy:

 

 

Why why why are these in existence?  Who would ever wear them?  I should have written this post earlier, because now I'm pretty sure these are going to give me nightmares...

 

 

 

Texts

My mom and my aunt both sent me shoe pictures this week.  My aunt was in New York City and sent me these:

 

I love the fact that she became a shoe picture taking ninja for me.  She said the whole outfit was quite odd and impressive, and she was fascinated that she could walk in those shoes.  They don't look that high in the pictures, but if you look at the angle of her feet in first picture, they look really uncomfortable.  The only time I've been to NYC, I wore shoes that were waaaaay more sensible than these.

 

On a very different note, my mom sent me this picture:

 

 

Much more practical!  These are Laughter's boots.  I have no idea what the rest of the outfit looked like, but I like how the pants are all shoved up so we can see the boots.  I also like that my family takes the time to send me pictures so I can share them with you.

 

On a completely unrelated note, if you have some time, go check out this slideshow.  Some of them are amazing, most of them are just crazy/hideous/weird.  Go on!  You know you want to!

 

Greeeeen!

Whenever Shoe Box P--- puts up a picture that catches my eye I save it to my shoe picture folder for future posts.  Today I noticed that I had 2 pair of green shoes saved in there.

 

Since one of my very good friends, my mom, my sister, and AA all loooooove green, I figured I would do a whole post of green shoes (remember, if you click on the link you can go explore even more green shoes).  So here we go:

 

 

Love these.   Want them.  Could definitely wear them for the way-too-long green season  at church.

 

I've mentioned it before, but I used to have the pair in the top right corner.  I loved them, but they mangled my toes something awful.

 

I don't have green boots.  Hmmmm....

 

 

These are hilarious.  I want them for Halloween.  I could wear them with my striped socks and be completely frightening from a fashion perspective.

 

There you go, loved ones.  Hope you enjoyed all the green!

 

 

Grave Shoes

I was planning on a different post today until my aunt sent me this:

This is the grave of my first cousin twice removed (my grandmother's cousin), who died recently.  My aunt visited the cemetery today and saw these shoes, filled with flowers, sitting on her grave.  I have to say, as much as I love shoes, I've never thought about this. I find it both endearing and a little odd.  I kind of want to more.  Were these her favorite shoes?  Is this a tradition of some kind for their family?  Was she a shoe fan like me?  I didn't know this cousin, so I might never know the answer to this.  Makes me think I might come by my shoe obsession naturally, though.

 

 

Cute shoes.  I hope no one decides to take them.  That would just be tacky and rude.

 

 

Island!

So, my extended family owns an island on Flathead Lake.  My grandmother's sister and her husband bought it decades ago and proceeded to have a family reunion there every 4th of July.  Some of my best summer memories are there.  The hubby, brother seester, brother-in-law, nieces, auntie and I all went up for the day and had a fantabulous time.  The water was amazing.  If you've ever swum in Flathead you know that 95% of the time it is COLD.  We're talking turn your lips purple, chatter your teeth until your jaw aches cold.  The hubby didn't agree, but the rest of us thought it was fabulous and spent most of the day in the water.  I have the sunburn to prove it, even though I thought I was using a ton of sunscreen.  The 3 older nieces are total fish, and Laughter is pretty comfortable in the water, but also content to play on the edge and entertain herself as long as she knows where all of her people are.  It was such a good day.  Here are some of the shoes that got worn for the adventure:

 

 

Flower and Laughter sporting their sandals.  Laughter's are too big for her because she keeps leaving her other shoes places.

 

The auntie's cute, red Keens.

 

Laughter and the seester in their matching shoes!

 

 

I couldn't resist this one.  Men in white socks and sandals crack me up.  At least they aren't wearing black socks with their sandals...

 

I didn't get a picture of  the brother's or the hubby's shoes.  Brother was wearing Birkenstocks, hubby was wearing Alpines.  Neither were wearing socks.





The Fam and a Search for Beavers

We had a mini family reunion today, which was awesome.  My aunt is staying with my parents this summer, so we've been enjoying visiting with her, and today my uncle came over to hang out.  It makes for a total of 13 people, which isn't huge, but it's my family and I love them to pieces.  So we spent time chatting and hanging out.  Most of us went for ice cream after dinner.  The hubby, seester, brother-in-law, Flower, Laughter and I went on a beaver hunt this evening.  We didn't find any, but we saw a heron, a million deer, 5 cormorants, 2 osprey (and a baby osprey!), and 2 baby ducks.  Fun fun fun.  This is where I grew up:

 

 

No shoes tonight.  Just nature.  Nature is prettier.  And more natural.

 

Sunday with the Fam

This will have to be a short post because I am about to have a tea party with the nieces before we head to the airport.  Trying to post every day, though, so here you go.  Went to church this morning and got to worship instead of preach and preside.  I wore the shoes I bought myself for my birthday last year:

 

I have my tiara on and must now join the queen and other princesses for our tea party.  Hope you are doing something equally fun and whimsical.



Remembering

No pictures or shoes today, just a reflection.  My dad's oldest sister died yesterday.  It wasn't unexpected but it was sooner than expected, if that makes any sense.  She got sick in August, right before my wedding, so she wasn't able to make it.  The hubby and I were able to drive down to see her, thankfully, and we had a nice, if brief visit.  She started chemo shortly after and was actually doing really well for awhile.  She started going downhill again, though, and lost something like 50 lbs in a month.  My dad and one of his other sisters (he has 3, the third lives in Utah) arranged for hospice last week on Thursday.  I'm grateful she didn't linger and is no longer in pain, but I am sad, and my heart hurts.  Not just for me, but for my dad as well, and for all of my family.

 

I trust in the promises of the resurrection and know that she is now in a better place, but I still grieve her absense.  I will also celebrate her life, and the things that I loved about her:  She was my snuggly auntie.  As a kid I alwasy knew I could cuddle up with her whenever she was around.  She never missed birthdays or Christmas.  She would always start her cards and letters by telling me about the weather. :-)  I think she might have been a bit of a wild child, but I'm not sure.  She was the first person I knew to quit smoking.  I'm sure it was incredibly difficult for her, but I just knew that she quit and she was awesome.  She was strong and independent.  I know she had her flaws.  She was human, after all.  I didn't know her as well as I would have liked.  I hope to hear more stories of her from her siblings as they too remember and celebrate her life.

 

Rest eternal grant her, O God, and let light perpetual shine upon her.