Little Rock

Dustin and I have been so busy these last few weeks - so I am going to backdate a lot of these posts, so that they will fall in place where they truly deserve. And I will start with our trip to Little Rock.

In the middle of May, Dustin and I went to Little Rock to celebrate my cousin Josh's graduation. He graduated with degrees in Spanish and International Studies. He has one more class to go this summer that he will complete in Taiwan - taking a class in Mandarin. After that the world is his oyster... or something like that?!?!?! We know that he will be going on for his Masters degree - the complicated issue of where he will get his Masters is the question. Complicated because we all think he should come back home to AZ - and he thinks differently. He is throwing around the idea of going to school in Colorado, which would be absolutely fine by me. So much closer than Arkansas!!

We enjoyed our time in Little Rock much more than we ever expected. It is a beautiful city with a lot to do - and a lot of history!! Our weekend started out by visiting the state capital.






As you can see Dustin was not so thrilled that I made him take a picture next to President Bill Clinton's portrait. He was positive that I would post it on Facebook and make it his profile picture!! I am sticking to my promise that it would not go on Facebook and utterly embarrass him in front of all his conservative friends ;o)






The next day was Josh's graduation ceremony. I love the picture directly above.  This picture is of my dad, his brother bill, and Josh and KC (my dad's sisters boys).  This picture just makes me smile so much  :o)

I didn't get any pictures from the bbq that happened that evening at Josh's house - but the memory will never leave me. After all of Josh's friends had left, it was just the "McFarland family". My parents, my dads brother and his wife, KC and Shannon, Josh, Dustin and I. We sat around telling stories of my Poppy and Nonny (my dad's parents) and my aunt Judy. We laughed so hard at times I was sure that I was going to pee my pants, and there were moments when I really wanted to cry because I missed all of them so much! But having such a wonderful family to share stories with made their memory even brighter. As the night grew on and we were all exchanging hugs and getting ready to go, the song El Paso by Marty Robbins came on. This was my Nonny's favorite song, and all of us knew every single word. We sat on the porch and sang together. It was as if they were sending us a sign from heaven that they had been watching us all evening long and were laughing and crying along with the stories too. Such a perfect ending to a wonderful day!!

The next day before we left back to AZ we did some sight seeing. Our first stop was to Little Rock Central High School. This is where the story of the Little Rock Nine unfolded during the civil rights movement. Stepping foot directly into such an amazing piece of history was almost surreal. We thought it was incredible that the high school is still an operating high school that is attended by more than 2,000 students.








We went to downtown Little Rock and attempted to see the "little rock". But apparently it had been moved as they were re-doing the area for tourists. I'm not completely sure I got that one right - but regardless downtown Little Rock was pretty cool. After that it was back to AZ!!

Kaelin Danae

Last Thursday, before we left for Little Rock (post and pictures of that coming soon) I spent the morning with Maile and Kaelin.  We ran a few errands and then went to Chandler Mall and let Kaelin play in the play area outside of Barnes & Nobles.  This little girl is FEARLESS!!!  Watch out mom and dad, because she is going to be a climber and all about adventure!!  She didn't care at all that she was half the size of most of the kids - she just wanted to play!!

Here she is trying to get up the slide (instead of going down it!!)



This next video is from early April.  As you may remember from this post, Dustin and I took Kaelin to the farmers market.  After we were done shopping we got some food and listened to their little country band play.  Every time the music started, Kaelin started dancing!!  Maybe she will be an incredible dancer like her mommy!!

Where to store it all...

So after Type 1, we have bought a lot of strange things from Whole Foods and Sprouts. Things that were never in our house before. We have more nuts than you can possibly imagine: cashews, almonds, peanuts and macadamia nuts! Then we have all the seeds: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, and hemp seeds. And if that isn't strange enough we have green and red lentils, quinoa, red quinoa and almond flower. So here's the question I kept asking myself... where do we put it all? I saw these glass storage canisters that had a chalkboard front on it, in some home decorating blog. I thought it looked simple enough, and here you have it!! I am super impressed with the way they look and how nice everything fits. We still need a few more canisters, but for now this will do!!

Supplies Needed:
Glass Canisters
Painters Tape
Chalkboard Paint
Chalk

Mans Camp 2010

Just a little look into Dustin's weekend at Man's Camp with our church!!  Lets see if you can spot him, Robin or Zak, Matt Bialy or Matt Kline in any of the video!!! ** They are easier to see if you click the button that makes this video full-screen ** Here are some hints... they played 7 games of paint ball. And in the scene where there are people in boxes running around, Dustin and Zak are in the box that has spray painted yellow stuff on it! And look for Matt Kline in the scene where he is catching stuff in the middle of a field (just him and another guy). Dustin said last night that he was thinking of writing a post about his weekend... so keep your eyes open for that just in case he gets inspired!!


Man Camp 2010 from NoBoxFilms & NoBox Productions on Vimeo.

20 in 2010??

What started out as a very noble goal, to read 20 books in 2010, has fallen by the wayside. In the wake of Dustin's diagnosis and our search for a natural and God-patented cure, there seems to be very little time for reading. Unless of course you the countless articles on Type 1 in relationship to wheat and dairy allergies. Or maybe you would be so kind as to count the number of hours I spend searching the internet for a DF recipe (DF is my new term for Dustin Friendly, or maybe it could count for Diabetic Friendly or Dustin Friedman). Regardless, the idea of reading for pleasure hardly seems to exist anymore. Outside of the Type 1 whirlwind that is our lives, Dustin is busy in his first semester at school and I am using every free moment not at work post-processing images for the fabulous Cristi Owen. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day ;o)

BUT... I have managed to read three books so far in 2010. And they all have been SO good!!

Most recently I read The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
I had to check out this book since the movie is out. I don't really have any desire to see the movie, but really wanted to check out the book. I love Nicholas Sparks' books, even though they seem to all be written in a very similar formula. This book was a heartwarming story of teenage romance, and the struggles between a daughter and father. It was heartwarming and made me cry. But by no means do I think that this was one of his best books. Overall, I would categorize this more as a young-adult book









Prior to that, I read Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand.
I must confess that I originally bought this book to take on our honeymoon.  I saw the cover with three women and their feet in the sand and it looked like a good beach book.  And I wasn't wrong... unfortunately I read it from the comfort of my own home long after our fabulous honeymoon to Kauai.  This book is about three women who are trying to escape from different areas of their lives by taking a summer trip to Nantucket - with two small kids in tow.  One of the characters was recently diagnosed with cancer, and chooses to undergo treatment in Nantucket instead of in NYC where her husband is.  She takes their two kids with her and her friends, because she is coming to the reality that this may be her last summer.  The next character is a English Lit professor and is fleeing from a tarnished reputation at the university she teaches at.  And the last character is taking time to get her life in focus after she learned that her husband has been having an affair.  This book does a phenomenal job of intertwining all the characters into an incredible story of love and friendship.



The other book I read in 2010 was Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
Words can't even begin to describe how much I loved this book.  If you do read this book, be ready to have the way you look at life and faith absolutely transformed.  Shane Claiborne does a phenomenal job of showing what it means to live as an ordinary radical while walking in faith.  After all, Jesus was quite the radical and challenged almost everyone's way of thinking.  This book made me realize that sometimes we get so caught up in the political and legalistic views of what it means to be a Christian, that we forget Christs first commandment to us... to love!!  I can only imagine how the world would be today if we as Christ followers loved the world in the way that God intended us to!!  Talk about transformational!!   And for anyone who thinks that the idea of social justice can not go hand in hand with Christianity, please read this book!!  Maybe I will send Glenn Beck a copy  ;o)






And there you have it.  3 down.... 17 more to go!!

Farmers Market

A few weekends ago Dustin and I went to the Gila Rivers Farmers Market with a dear friend of ours, Kim Brown, who is walking us through this Type 1 Diabetes journey. She has shared sooo much great information with us and has really been the main reason that we haven't starved to death. She has been more than willing to share with us how to shop, what new veggies we should try and has even shared with us some incredible recipes. Kim asked us if we wanted to go to the Farmers Market with her and her daughter and one of their friends, Melissa, who happened to be a photographer. Kim is in the process of documenting thier type 1 journey through pictures so that she can share her experience with others. And on this day, we were lucky enough to be with her and have our experience documented as well. We snagged up my cute little neice, Kaelin, from her parents so they could have a peaceful morning and headed to the farmers market.

Dustin and I got so much fabulous produce - and it was really the first time that we did the majority of our shopping at a farmers market. I wish I could share with you a picture of our fridge because it was STUFFED with veggies. All the processed and sugary garbage was gone - and the color green was exploding from every inch of our fridge!! Hope you enjoy these few pictures from our day. If you want to see more, just click here.







Oh yeah... just in case you can't see in the picture below, Kaelin is holding a piece of Spinach. She absolutely loved it and didn't let it go the entire day :o)

Greece

Dustin and I just booked our 2010 trip to Greece!! He has about a bazillion frequent flyer miles, so we were able to get our tickets for almost nothing. Finding the dates we wanted was a little more challenging, but it all worked out!! We are headed to Greece on Wednesday, Sept 29th and return late Tuesday, October 12th. Our goal is to spend some time in Athens but spend A LOT of time on the Greek Islands!! I am so excited I keep giggling!!! YAYYYY!!!