Lazy, I am not!

WOW! What's that saying?.... "Time flies when you're having fun!" :) LOL

Our Summer was amazingly busy and wonderful. Terry surprised me for my birthday and took me to Sedona! We had a great weekend hiking and site seeing. It was quiet and relaxing without the boys running around! Gabriel started his 2nd year of preschool and is really enjoying it. He has the same teacher and some of the same friends from last year. We had a bittersweet trip to Georgia in August to visit family. My father in law had a stroke, but has made an almost complete recovery (thank the stars!) and is already back to work! Then we headed out to San Diego/ Sea World for our family vacation. The boys loved it so much they still talk about going to Sea World like it's right around the corner.

The boys enjoyed Halloween. Gabriel was BumbleBee (transformers) and Tristan was Spiderman. We started the festivities on Thursday with Gabriel's class party. Friday, was a party at my office and then trick or treating Saturday night. For being a family who does not eat sugar the kiddos did pretty good! We all had a few treats, but they were okay giving up most it :)

Here it is already November and Thanksgiving is around the corner! We haven't started xmas shopping yet, but I have made my list. We're excited for our trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express at the end of the month. So far, no major plans for the holidays. Terry will be working Thanksgiving day. We're having dinner at my dad's on Wednesday night. More time to watch the game, I guess. We'll be home for xmas. Our home that is. Wish we could make the trip to GA... better yet they should all come visit us! My little brother, Kagan, might be coming to visit in Dec, but will be gone by xmas :(

Well, enough with all our crazy plans and non plans. My herbal studies are going wonderfully. I have found a fantastic website in which I'm using for most of my studies (www.herbmentor.com). I love them! Amazing people/herbalists! I will be making my 1st batch of my All Purpose Healing Salve next weekend. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

My photography is slowly but surely picking up. I did a session for one of the gals from work a few weeks ago. Their pictures turned out great (journeywithinphotography.blogspot.com). I learned photographing a 9 month old cocker spaniel can be more difficulty than children!

Terry has picked up a monthly gig at The Lucky Devil in Tempe. He's playing there the 1st Friday of every month. Still looking for some family friendly venues so we'll see what turns up.

Well, that's the latest on the life and times of the Clements Fam!

Happiness and Health ~M

Studying I am...

I finally started the creation of my Herbal Chart today. This is my way of studying, taking notes, and making a cheat sheet all in one! Sweet idea, huh?! I will be working on one herb at time; studying and learning everything I can about it, and then moving on when I feel fairly knowledgeable. I have started with chamomile as it is widely used for a variety of ailments. Any suggestions on my next herb?????

Bummer

WOW! I really suck at this whole bloggin' thing. I fully intended to post at least once a week. I didn't think that was too overly ambitious, but apparently more than my plate could handle. Fortunately I've gotten smarter. I'm using Google chrome and iGoogle, and have created a "shortcut" of shorts on my internet home page so I can post quickly and keep it open all day as I am doing now :) Pretty cool huh? Ah, technology... for the simple. LOL So here I go again in my attempt to start blogging. I will post pictures of the boys soon. But, you know, I had a thought- does anyone read this anyway???

Kitchen Witch... Almost

Well, I have been on here nearly as much as I hoped, but we're finally all back to full operating speed again. It was a miserable 2 almost 3 weeks of passing around a flu bug. Poor Terry had it the worst (and he NEVER gets sick!). This was my first real attempt to treat our family naturally. No trips to the doctor (even though we go to a naturopath). Just lots of good herbal teas and rest.
It proved to be quite a learning experience. Thankfully the boys are good about drinking their tea. We even ventured into some homeopathy remedies (from the herb shop) when my herbal teas were quite knocking out Terry bronchitis. I learned lots of good stuff and have better idea of what I need to have on hand. My limited supply of herbs was our biggest hindrance.
We made it through sinusitis, the flu and bronchitis without any antibiotics or trips to the doctor! YAY!
So much learned and so much more to learn! Thank goodness for the internet and good reference books! Now on to our daily tonics... so we don't get sick again!

To your health! M

Sedona

We finally made it back up to Sedona yesterday. It's hard to believe it's already been 4 months since our last trip. We went hiking at the same spot- Boynton Canyon Vortex. It's absolutely beautiful and the views are stunning. Well, I suppose they are stunning all around up there! The energy is fantastic too! We are definitely planning to go up there more often. I mean why the heck wouldn't we?! We're only 2 hrs away! Next time maybe we'll pick at different Vortex, but Boynton is an easy hike... even Gabriel makes it most of the way before he has to hop in the backpack :)

We hung out for a little over an hour at the Vortex point. The boys had a blast throwing rocks and building towers. Tinky and I took turns meditating on top of the "mountain". Well, he went to the top and I found a nice little spot about 3/4 of the way up. I could have gone all the way up, but wasn't too sure about getting down! Gabriel and Tristan even got to have a turn sitting on one of the ledges.

We are continuing to work with Gabriel on strengthening his intuitive abilities. We spent some time in our circle talking to the boys about their gifts. They are both brilliant boys and I know deep down they understand. Honestly, they probably understand more than we do. Gabriel is trying desparately to communicate, but continues to get frustrated with our lack of understanding. His speech/ language has come along way, and still has a ways to go. We do our best to help him get is message across. Tristan is trying desparately to communicate as well, and at only 15 months he does a great job jabbering!

After our talk we headed down to the car for dinner. We had packed all kinds of yummy sandwiches and snacks. We stopped at, where else but the local Starbucks on our way out of town. Gabriel and Tristan enjoyed their hot coco's. The boys fell asleep not long before we got back home. Tink and I relaxed the rest of our quiet evening reflecting on the day and watching a movie. The hike may be more of a walk and the trail not too long, but with 30 lbs on your back it's pretty tiring. A few more trips like this and I'll be ready to backpack the Grand Canyon! Who's with me?!

~ M

Ponderings of a wandering mind

YAY! I've finally set up our family blog! I also have a blog for my photography. For those who'd like to view it please go to: http://journeywithinarose.blogspot.com/. It hasn't been updated in awhile, but I plan to add some new soon!

So what's new? Everything and nothing. LOL

We had a wonderful Christmas. The boys were more excited about opening the presents then what was in them. We only lost 3 ornaments due to curious little hands. We never made it up to Flagstaff to cut our tree, but had a real one none the less.

We have started off the New Year fantastically. Gabriel is loving preschool and doing great in therapy. Tristan is talking up a storm, and speaking very clearly. Terry is still working part time at Starbucks, and working diligently on his music. Hopefully you'll see his 1st CD out soon! He's also planning on heading out to Germany to play football for a few weeks this summer. I've had a lot of changes at work, but still love my job. I've taken on a new hobby. I'm studying and "experimenting" with herbal teas and medicines... would love to go to school for it, but have neither the time nor the money.

That's the long and short of it :) I promise to post as frequently as possible. Please feel free to leave comments on our posts/pictures!

Love Light Peace, M