Kreativ Blogger Award

I'm so flattered that Naomi of, Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried 

tagged me with the Kreativ Blogger award to write seven things I love. Here is my list in random order.

1) Sunlight. Sunlight that makes me happy, that nourishes my body and soul. Sunlight through my family room window, and my kitchen window, through leaves on big old strong trees. Sunlight, ever changing, that feeds us, that keeps us balanced. Sunlight that kisses my face and shines on my beautiful sweet girls. I love sunlight.

2) The Rocky Mountains. Sigh. I think if I live here my whole life, I will never get tired of those big awesome mind-blowing mountains. I love them in the morning, when the low rising sun showers them with a pink and orange glow. I love the mountains at sunset, when the sky changes from blue to pink and purple, lighting the mountains from behind my view, casting them in a cool blue shadow, towering above and behind everything else. I love that every time I get in my car and turn west, the mountains take my breath away, as if I am seeing them for the first time. 

3) My girls, Zoe and Ashley. The way they teach me how to live, how to appreciate the simple pleasures of life. The way their eyes sparkle with pride when they learn something new. How they giggle and laugh - contagious. The power of the love we feel for each other. Unconditional, unmistakable, irresistible. 

4) My love, my best friend, my greatest companion, who I can't get enough of, my husband. The way he drinks tea all day long. How he dances when he's happy. How he loves food, though you'd never know it by looking at him :-) I love our time alone in the evening, after the girls are in their bed. I love our weekends and trips together as a family. I love how we've grown and changed together through good times and bad. I love my Andy.

5) I love to cook, but even more I love to eat. :-) I love the smell of food in the dehydrator, the oven and the stovetop. I love the texture of food, the way it feels in my mouth. I love the smell of coffee, and going out for coffee. I love how food brings people together, how it comforts, how it nourishes. I love to read, research and photograph food. 

6) I love to read and write. Books, blogs, fiction and non-fiction. I love to read with my girls. I love when they ask me to read to them. To get caught up in the stories. When the characters become like close friends. Pagoo, Alice, Dr. Dolittle, Laura Ingalls, Eloise, Max, Hubert Horatio, Louis, Mr. Popper... I love the vocabulary Zoe and Ashley acquire from great books, the lessons books offer in writing, in history and science, imagination and make-believe, integrity and quality of character. 

7) I love art and the environment. I love how my passion for the two merge together in so many ways. The beauty I see in nature, in the elements, in light and reflections, texture and color, in people and animals, big and small. I love to capture the emotion in photography and mixed media. I love to experience the art of others, to take the girls to museums, to talk and share our feelings. To appreciate art and the environment, to be inspired to protect what is important.