yoga

Yoga on YouTube.

The best at-home stress-reliever

EVER.

I'm still working on finding a backyard that looks like this.

Back to bloggy land...

Deployment is just days from being over. 

Over.

OVER.

OVER!!!!!

(just in case you missed "over" the first time.)

current obsession:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acvIVA9-FMQ

I love it when songs fit perfectly. :) Enjoy!

Wedding Time...

I went to Seattle a few weeks ago to celebrate Ben and Amanda's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful and a perfect celebration of love. Here's a few pictures. 

The bachelorette party spread... YUM!

Oh and the beautiful bride!

the flowers were wonderful... so pretty.

I, of course, forgot my camera for the actual wedding, but take my word for it. It was AMAZING.  

Short depth of field

I've been taking photography this summer for a number of reasons.

1. Ryan is gone. What else would I be doing on a Wednesday evening?

2. I really like taking pictures. ALOT. And I have a nice new camera. 

3. I like going to Austin once in a while to regain my sanity from living in the army ghetto of Killeen. Plus I get the excuse to stock up on my organic groceries while I'm done there. (Bad for the billfold; good for the heart.)

So I've been taking a class. So far, the only thing I think I'm any good at so far is taking up close pictures with a short depth of field. I think in the future, that's all I'm going to take from now on. Here are a few examples. 

Crisp Sheets

There is something magical to me about a clothesline and freshly hung sheets. After putting some sheets out to enjoy some (ridiculously hot) summer sun, I found myself reflecting. My mother always hung out her sheets and there was something so comforting and peaceful about that.Their smell and their crispness always brings me back to my childhood. While I don't have hardly enough time to be half the homemaker she was, I do try to hang out my sheets to dry. 

Our first child...

Meet the newest member of the Yoke family. 

We like to call her Beastie. 

A favorite picture.

I took this picture the day Ryan left for Iraq. I just happened to see this outside of my house and just randomly snapped it. 

(Oh and I think I'm turning my blog into a photo blog.)

Beach Photos

I went to the beach recently and worked on my photography with these two. The little boy is really really hard to take photograph. He never looks at the camera and hardly smiles... very typical of a 3 year old! I gave up trying to get something posed and just took some candids. 

Too many things, not enough time.

Yesterday was my first wedding anniversary. Although we spent the day separated by nearly 10,000 miles, it was still fun. One quick picture to leave you is Ryan eating his wedding cake. Even though it was molded, he still ate his bite (a little mold never hurt anyone).  Oh and we all agree that the mustache is a disaster (my mother commented that he looked like Hitler) but Ryan is trying to fit in with the locals. :) 

Up on the next post: an expose on "swine" flu...

Exhausted.

5 reasons why I am tired.

1. I worked a 16 hour day yesterday (two shifts back to back)

2. I've been only getting about 5 hours of sleep per night (read number 1).

3. I am having trouble adjusting to the heat (it was 95 today).

4. It is almost month 5 of the deployment... enough said.

5. I've worked the last 8 days straight.

The weekend can't come soon enough.

(More positive things to blog once I get some sleep.) 

What I did today...

I spent the afternoon trying to find something similar to this:

I had images of laying in my backyard, enjoying the Texas sunshine, and getting nice, golden brown.

Instead, I found these:

They also look like this up close:

While I have quite the plethora of fire ants, I still have not found a reasonably priced chaise lounger. 

Texans have quite the ego...

I came across this a few days ago, and couldn't help but laugh. Apparently, Texans are the only state that can decide to leave the Union if they feel like it. Hmm...

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1319632.html

Read it and decide!

Coming back to life...

Okay...

I know very few people actually read my blog, but I have given careful consideration to blogging, and decided to give it another go. We'll see how diligent I am to it, but at least trying is better than ignoring.

A quick synopsis of life at the Yoke's from the last post (6 months ago... oops.)

- We took a wonderful trip home for Christmas to Washington. Food, fun, and skiing were enjoyed by all.

- Just a few short days from the bliss of Washington, Ryan left for Iraq. It was quite a hard few weeks, but God is good, and adventures were continued, both in Texas and in Iraq.

- While Ryan trekked from Kuwait to his current duty station in Mosul, Iraq, Leah travelled from Boston to Arizona, to Colorado, and of course, all about the state of Texas.

- 4 months into the deployment! God is good. That's all I can say.

More to come! (For reals, this time...)