As the sun set, so did our love for all things Laguna. 

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Our adventure was worth it . We watched sunsets, saw high tide and played in the waves. The tide was so high, the waves unexpectedly swept our things out to the ocean, including my shoes. However, we quickly sprung into action and saved things. My shoes were brought back to me later, when two boys saw them come in with the waves and they ran out and got them. 🙂 We slept in the van, ate Tacos and gelato, and I bought toe rings. We saw old friends and made new ones. It’s a small world. We participated in a sunset candle light vigil for the people of the Las Vegas shooting. We each took a flower and walked out to the ocean and threw it in. It brought more emotions to the service than I had anticipated. My highlight was painting in front of the art gallery where Ashley has her art. There in Laguna beach, on the sidewalk of pacific coast hwy 101. The sunsets were amazing and I painted a picture of my representation of one 🙂 As the sun set, so did our love for all things Laguna. 

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Adventure on, even when it scares you …

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Today I’m cruising down I15 on an Adventure with my daughter Ashley to Laguna beach while she participates with her art in the art walk there . We are taking her big old van and sleeping in it . Pray for me I’m scared to death 🙏 and as always don’t tell Mom till it’s over lol.  I feel it’s fitting to blog our grand adventure. Life can be hard, so adventure on when you can, even when it scares you. 

With Grace she adorned her head with a scarf.

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With grace she adorned her head with a scarf and as customary she put on her best turquoise. It gives her not only beauty but protection as the stories tell. She was stoic and her smile was sweet and non assuming. Her tan skin was wrinkled from the years living and working hard in the sun, This very day as if young in years she would return home to look after her sheep and climb upon her horse. Why wouldn’t she it’s all she has ever known. It’s life. It’s Navajo. 

My adventure on the Navajo Nation mission trip with The sound of life foundation. We help people to communicate and connect for a better quality of life.

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This last week I was able to go on a mission trip with the Sound of Life Foundation over to Bluff Utah, near four corners, to serve the people of the Navajo Nation and document the experience with my camera. On the way we drove thru Monument valley as the sun was setting. It was an artists palette of colors. God must really love us to give us views like this. I felt very blessed with this last minute adventure. We were exhausted after 6 hours of driving when we finally pulled up to our rental, a historic house from 1892. I got to go upstairs and choose my bedroom. I was so happy and chose the perfect one. It had deep set Windows’s with beautiful views. When I laid down at night I could hear the sound of the crickets.  The next two mornings we rose bright and early and went to the Navaho senior center. Immediately the people started to arrive. A lovely Navajo woman offered me Navajo tea. As we started the process of checking people in we realized some had fears and some wondered what the catch was and why we were doing this. We had a great team though and we put them at ease and loved getting to know them and their culture.  The use of interpreters was much needed and we appreciated the ones we had so much. I made it my goal to make them smile and tell me how they felt now that they could hear so much better. I loved the smiles and the stories. They could now be a more active part of their families conversations and lives. The frustration for themselves and their families would be so much less. A lady said she would now be able to hear her grandchildren when they called on the phone. That was important because they lived far away. A man now had hope because he had lost his job due to hearing loss. A lady called a friend from home later and said now I can hear my sheep! Another was relieved she would now hear her door bell and could go to community meetings and contribute. The stories go on. I was in my element as I served these lovely people, taught them about their new hearing technology, took pictures and laughed with them.

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Our view on the way through Monument valley. The sun was setting so no filters needed. Just pure natural beauty!


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A lovely place to rest

 

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One of the first to arrive was Samson. He said he is looking forward to hearing more of everything around him. He loves to tame wild horses. 

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Starting the day with Navajo Tea

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Jeff Manwaring


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Eric Nillson & Justin Bateman

 

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Jacob Burrows


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Lucy helping us translate


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Arlene had 10 Children 

 

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Loved these two


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Lula showed me how she did his hair while they were waiting. We couldn’t speak together in english much but we could in actions.  


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Our Team


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A view on the way home 

Intermountain Audiology, Southern Utah deaf and hard of hearing, Precision Hearing

 

Lavender Fields, small towns and going home.

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I was heading up north on I15 to see my Mom and family with my oldest daughter and we saw that the Young Living Lavender farm was in bloom. We are always up for an adventure when roadtripping, especially because we get so bored in the car!  We pulled off the highway to go check it out.  We found a good area and got right down in the dirt. We took in the smell of lavender and of course took pictures 🙂 Where did you adventure to this summer ?

Strolling down hwy 101

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We were visiting Laguna beach area for the first time and fell In love with it. As we were walking down to the art studio where my daughter just recently got to put her art we passed this house. It makes my heart sing to see Porches pots, and succulents, oh my ! I love quaint cozy spaces and color !  I see why artist love it there, my creative juices ran wild. I love my #Cannon but I wanted to travel light this time so I used my #Iphone7+  as we walked some of the paths I paused to take pictures of the succulent and flowers. I picked 3 flowers shown in this bottom pic and smashed them in a book turning them into the art project in my previous post. Other than that I promise I left the other flowers to grow and bloom for everyone else to enjoy ! My daughter in heaven by her art at the studio #mysticarts 🙏❤️The big beautiful ocean shots I got that look like a postcard . No editing required . I want to go back to my salty adventure 

A Sea Side Adventure 

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We walked down the path to the beach again and rather than take my #cannon I took my Iphone along for the convenience of my #Iphone7+ camera. Which I love!  I was focusing in on a picture and my phone died. I about threw myself in the sand and had a tantrum.  I guess the universe decided I wasn’t being present enough. It was a tough time. I missed a large rock with green algae sitting on the beige sand with the big blue sea in the back ground. A sail boat, just a neutral colored sail boat in the distance slowly moving along against the pale blue sky. I missed shots of a wonderful bird, the biggest waves I’ve ever seen at high tide and bunnies, live bunnies, munching on grass on the trail. There was a man singing and playing his guitar to a small group. Telling this story will help me remember. I took a zillion pictures overall. I captured the sun going down over the ocean our first night along with Mike’s first time ever to play in ocean 💦 water. Over the next few days I captured many flowers 🌺 and succulents with my camera on the trail. I picked a few flowers and pressed them into a book. I captured the waves breaking on the 🌊 beach. I got pictures of the sun setting and pathways, stairs, architecture, birds, sand and sea. A seal named freckles sat on a rock he visits everyday and posed for us. It was a buffet of colors and smells. I ran around on that beach gathering treasures, playing in the waves and climbing stairs till my calves screamed at me in pain. I got pictures of me and my love and pictures of my daughter and her art featured in a #Laguna art studio for the first time. #Proud mom. I savored every minute of it and can’t wait to go back. 

Got a little Tahoe in my soul…

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Just playing with my Tahoe pics and wanted to post them on the blog. I have been so lucky to visit so much this past year and hope for another couple summer trips before its over !

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My husband stole the camera and captured my joy of being in my natural habitat 🙂

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I was sitting at the edge of the water with my feet dug into the sand grounding my self in nature when i turned around and saw that someone had stacked the rocks just for my picture, or so I like to think.

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Going back to this one for sure!

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Zephyr cove

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Spring fever in Southern Utah

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Here in southern Utah it feels like spring this week. It’s only February but the sun has come out to play for a while so I took my camera and headed to one of my favorite places.  Snow Canyon is like a crayon box to me and a photographers dream. You experience every color there from Deep red to orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. This is what I came up with. Enjoy!

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This area down by the base of the massive rock walls has a nice cool temperature. I would imagine this was a nice area for the pioneers and or the indians to rest and cool off. It is near where the Pioneers that settled the area wrote their names on the rock walls with wagon wheel grease. The one massive wall is covered with bits of moss and runs up against another deep red wall. There were rock climbers scaling the wall nearby.

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Peace in the desert…I loved the tree…

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A piece of snow Canyon Wide Angle