Jump for Joy!

Today is a double post. So if you're coming to my blog for the movie review, look for the post below this one. I had soo much on my mind today that I am blogging twice! ;)

I am finally starting to feel somewhat better! I have been sick for over a week, and yesterday was the first day that I didn't have a fever! :) So far I have been on two different antibiotics, an inhaler, and now steroids! lol

But that is not why I am jumping up and down in this photo! lol Last night in bed I had an "Aha" moment or an epiphany of sorts!

Last night someone told me that I am no longer the fun person that I use to be. I was also told that I am miserable and anti-social! lol I am laughing so hard now because that is so far from the truth, so unwarranted, so random, and totally out of left field!

Laying in bed last night I was self-reflecting when I had this epiphany moment and I instantly wanted to jump up and down on my bed with joy! I actually wanted to start jumping up and down singing the song: "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, YEAH, down in my heart to stay!" LOL Obviously I couldn't jump up in down last night because Chris was sleeping next to me. I did however want to capture this moment in a self portrait. I've always wanted to do a jumping photo, so here is my first try! I had such a permanent smile on my face today!

I am so thankful that I was confronted by this person! I know it seems odd to be thankful for someone who is being negative, but it really made me look deep within myself! I have always had low self-esteem in the past, so normally something like this would really upset me. But this totally had the opposite effect on me!

This person is right, I have changed. I got married, had kids and I grew up! I use to be a miserable person. I was a very jealous person, and that all equaled to living an unhappy life at that time. I made fun of people at their expense, and I didn't think about anyone but myself. But that has all changed and they are right, I'm not that way anymore. I am not proud of who I am, but I am very proud of who I've become!

I told this person that I am abundantly blessed! And I am very lucky to live the life that I have! My life dramatically changed once I met my husband. He and I are such a perfect fit and he is my total support and we really balance each other! After we were married I became more spiritual and have discovered that life is too short to worry about the little petty things.

I focused on my family and helping others, and that alone truly transformed my life! I am the type of person who would go without just to help someone in need. And seeing the bigger picture of life has made me truly happy in my heart! :)

Anyway I have come to the conclusion that if someone has the opportunity to be my friend and passes on that chance, it's their loss! I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm one cool chick! :) lol

Some great quotes of wisdom from the Dalai Lama:

"It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance."

"I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life."

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."

Side note: Ben saw this photo tonight as I was blogging and when Chris came home he said: "Daddy, mommy was jumping on your bed today!" lol Apparently he thinks that because he can't jump on the bed, I guess I can't either! lol

Movie Monday-Shall We Dance

This week's movie review is of the movie "Shall We Dance" from 2004. This movie is about an estate lawyer named John Clark (Richard Gere). Every night on his way home he sees a beautiful woman, played by Jennifer Lopez, gazing out of the window of a dance studio. One evening he acts out of impulse and jumps off his train and rushes into the dance studio. He reluctantly signs up for classes only to find out that Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) isn't teaching the classes!

Paulina seems to think that John is only taking classes to try to win her over. She tells John not to come back if it's because of her and not because of dancing. John soon discovers a love for dancing and is entered in a big dance competition.

Because his personality is changing and because of his absence at home after work; John's wife Beverly, played by Susan Sarandon, becomes suspicious and hires a private investigator. She soon finds out that he is in love with dancing, and not another woman. Will it change their relationship?

I will have to admit, this is not one of my favorite Richard Gere movies. It's sort of in the bottom middle of my RG movie list. I don't know why I feel this way? Maybe it's because this is more of a comedy than a romance. And you all know how I love RG romance movies! lol

Here are the things that I loved about the movie. As I said above, John is entered in a big dance competition. Paulina is the one who ends up teaching him because she used to be a professional dancer. The chemistry between the two of them in this movie is unbelievable! Here is a clip from the movie of their dance together! Just remember to turn off my music player on the right so you can hear the clip!

I also love the scene in the movie where John is dancing with his wife Beverly in the kitchen! Soo very sexy! lol However, I do not like the match of Susan Sarandon with Richard Gere. For some reason the two just don't make a match in my opinion. Maybe it's because she is a few years older, I don't know. Or maybe it's because it isn't me?! lol ;)

The one scene that brings tears to my eyes is towards the ending. It's the scene that is pictured below where John comes up the elevator into the store where Beverly is working. And the following dialogue takes place and it always makes me cry!

Beverly: "Why aren’t you at the party?"

John: "Oh, it’s a dance…to dance you need a partner. My partner is right here."

John: "Beverly, dance with me."

Beverly: "I don’t know how."

John: "Yeah, you do. You’ve been dancing with me for nineteen years."

Beverly: "I don’t know the steps."

John: "I’ll teach you."

Beverly: "Here?"

John: "Right now."

I remember one time my husband was watching this movie and I was upstairs and heard the music to it, so I came down to watch the ending. I sat on the couch and said to my husband I think I am desensitized to this ending because it doesn't make me cry anymore. Well wouldn't you know it...RG comes up the escalator and tears just start streaming down my face! lol

Favorite Quotes:

Paulina: "The rumba is the vertical expression of a horizontal wish. You have to hold her, like the skin on her thigh is your reason for living. Let her go, like your heart's being ripped from your chest. Throw her back, like you're going to have your way with her right here on the dance floor. And then finish, like she's ruined you for life."

John: "The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life, is that you're happy with me. If I couldn't, if I couldn't tell you that I was unhappy sometimes, is because I didn't want to risk hurting the one person I treasure most. I'm so sorry."

John: "We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet..... I mean, what does any one life mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things..... all of it, all the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness."

I give this a Richard Gere hotness rating of about an 8. I like a man who knows how to dance! ;)

And a man in a tie is always sexy too! ;)

Scripture Rocks

On our camping trip we stopped by "Scripture Rocks" in Brookville, PA. I have been camping in this area for 32 years and never knew this place existed until I read about it on an online blog! lol
That is the wonder of the internet! You can find almost anything on here! I'm going to give you a little background on Scripture Rocks before I share the photos with you.

In the 1890's a young school teacher by the name of Douglas Stahlman got in a fight with a man behind a local tavern in Brookville, Pennsylvania. The fight left him with part of his skull crushed.

In a medical procedure that was quite risky back in the late 1800's, doctors patched Douglas' skull with a metal plate. Whether it was the plate pushing on his skull or his near death experience, Douglas became obsessed with the scriptures that he read.

He took to the woods in the Brookville area and carved 500 individual scriptures among the rocks! Which is about 15,000 individual letters! It is truly amazing!

In the 1920's he was placed in a mental institution in Pittsburgh, PA. He remained in there until he died in 1937.

Thankfully the owner of the blog I read gave me detailed directions and the gps coordinates to find these rocks! If it wasn't for his help, we never would have found them!

We had to park on a back road, walk up the road a little, up a hill, and onto the remains of these railroad tracks.
We walked the tracks for several yards and came across the "Death Rock."

Here is a photo of the boys standing next to the rock, it gives you a little comparison to it's size. Ben was a little scared at first...he said "I think this place is booby trapped!" lol I think he plays way too many Indiana Jones Lego games on Wii! ;)

The moss covered rock is my favorite! I love how the moss grows in the letters! Sorry that this image and the next are sideways. They were not like that originally when I uploaded these. I'll have to leave them like this, because it's too hard to re-upload here on blogger.

Here is a close up of the rock with moss.

Locals have weeded the area to make it more accessible to visitors. Well sort of. It was really grown up in places when we went. We actually had to walk through weeds that were above our knees! I was a little nervous, especially since I was warned that the place was crawling with snakes! Luckily, we didn't run into any on our hike!

Here was a cross that someone made and erected among the rocks. It's a dedication to the man that hand carved all of these rocks!

This was a huge rock that my boys climbed. Can you believe that they actually climbed this all by themselves? I was a nervous wreck, because it was nearly a straight up slope! You can't really tell from this photo, but there were several verses carved on many different angles on this huge rock. And it's amazing how uniformed each of the letters are!

This rock is dated by Douglas. At the top it says: "July 30, 1913." If you glance at the lower left hand corner of the rock it is numbered on a yellow splotch of paint. Each piece that he carved is either numbered on the rock itself, or on the tree that is right next to the rock. They are all numbered and I would have loved to have went and found every single one, but I was soo sick that day. It was 90 some degrees, I had bronchitis, I couldn't breathe, and it was sooo humid in the thick woods. We stayed for about an hour and I just couldn't handle it anymore, so we left. I would have loved to have gotten better photos and stayed much much longer, but I just couldn't take it!

This photo I made black and white and increased the contrast, so you could see the different angles of scriptures. I would like to go back in the Fall when it is much cooler and take some paper and charcoal and do some stone rubbings!

We found a heart shaped stone on our hike! I had to keep it, I LOVE heart shaped stones!

Lastly, I had to include a photo of my happy little hiker Alex. Both boys did so well on this hike, and it wasn't easy! They walked through weeds almost as tall as they were, and climbed rocks and a steep hillside in 90 degree weather! And they never complained at all!

I also had to include this photo because my parents bought the boys these t-shirts with these funny sayings on them. Alex's says: "Don't look at me, that smell is coming from grandpa!" lol

We really enjoyed our trip to Scripture Rocks, we just wish we had more time to explore. It was so peaceful there and truly amazing, I hope to go back soon!

Summer Fun!

I'm back! I went on a camping trip this past week, so that's why I was MIA! No modern conveniences...no cable, no WIFI, and no running water! I happened to be really sick as well, which did not help! It's been a whole week and I'm still really sick, so I'm headed back to the doctor today. Hopefully they'll be able to figure something out!

Last week before we left on our trip we took the boys to the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh. It's one of my favorite places for kids! My husband's cousin was in town so his family and ours spent the day in Pittsburgh! The boys really had a great time! Here they are sitting on Mister Roger's porch swing! With this many boys it is sooo hard to get a photo with them all looking at the camera! lol

Here's Ben, Alex, Cooper, and Brady! Aren't they sooo cute!

There is soo much to do at the Children's Museum and I literally have hundreds of photos! But here's a little sampling of the activities, since I can't upload them all! :)

Here's Alex building with shapes in the Curious George exhibit.

Here's Ben dressed up as the doorman from the Curious George cartoon!

Here's Brady playing with trains! Isn't he soo precious! It really made me want another baby! That was until I remembered how much work a small toddler is! lol Brady doesn't just walk...he runs! I forgot how energetic little ones are!

Here is handsome Cooper playing at the water table! I think the boys enjoyed this exhibit the most! Good thing for the extra change of clothes, cause they were soaked!

Here are our cousins: Kristin, Brett, Cooper and Brady! They are such a great family and I soo wish they lived closer! Texas is just too far away!

And here we are after a long day at the Children's Museum! A big thank you to our cousins for spending the day with us! We had a blast and can't wait to see you again next year!

This week has been so chaotic! I will share more photos with you tomorrow and the next day, and the next day! lol We packed so much into our week long trip, so I have a lot to share! Hope you're having a great day! Hopefully mine will get better once I go back to the doctors!