Archives for – brave girl daily

A Peek Into March Brave Girl Camp (it was soooo magical!)…and a little teaser announcement too :)

23rd March 2013 by melody under -- brave girl camp, -- brave girl daily, EVERYDAY BRAVE, featured post

I have to admit…the team was a little concerned about March camp because we have never had camp in March before…and we had forgotten that in March, the trees have not started to grow their leaves back yet…and the flowers are waiting til summer too…..little did we know…that the magic of camp can show up times a million no matter what the weather….and as it turned out…we had absolutely spectacular weather…and a kind of end-of-winter beauty that could not have been more perfect… (and before we go much further…there will be a few of you who know you just HAVE to come to camp NOW….so I will tell you now that every camp for 2013 is sold out except for 2 spots in May….so hurry and go HERE if you want to register)

Because…..love and care was still put into every washed dish…

and every color of paint…

and we had a completely restocked art barn with all sorts of new stuff that made our art making time even more other wordly…

all of the food, just like always….was made from scratch with love and care…right in the ranch kitchen….with grandkids as visitors on some days (this is Jeff and Kallie’s oldest boy, Jackson….Kathy’s grandson…we adore him and he sometimes comes to visit us at camp)

the art tables really did look this orderly before the beautiful mayhem began….

and we made sooooooo many beautiful, soulful, healing things in the art barn…here is Terry working on a new piece…

and every journal prompt book was hand bound differently by Sabrina…

We decided to remake all of the decor in the ranch house to match the gorgeous river rock fireplace……so it’s all earthy and heavenly chic in the ranch house and all happy color and bohemian in the art barn…..such a fun new makeover…

and guess what? Mother Nature showed up to show us all that March has its own kind of spectacular…we loved our evening walks along the river…

Walking back to the ranch house is always comforting….knowing there’s a beautiful meal being prepared while we are out on our walk….and seeing the ranch house at dusk is one of the most glorious sites to behold!

We love mealtime….and always try to make it an opportunity to show deep, healing love in every single detail….from the handmade placemats, napkin holders and flowers to the handcrafted soulfood that is lovingly prepared and served to the beloved brave girls who sit in these seats…

and then there are lots of dishes to do again……but done cheerfully and thankfully…..because dirty dishes around here mean that something wonderful just happened…..

and of course…..we do art, we make things, we build things, we collage things, we sew things, we mold things, we pound things…we create things….SOUL ART…each project done to seal in the lessons that we are learning each day at camp….

…and we take time to get VERY honest with ourselves…..about what is still hurting us…about what it is time to let go of…about beliefs that we have that are either expired or that never should have ever been a part of us….and we work very very very hard to identify and extract all of those things….and then we thankfully cheer each other on as we witness each other letting go of those things in the fire….

and then the joy comes…..and it comes BIG TIME….

and we make a commitment to continue to heal….and then to let our light out into the world…we make a commitment to try very very very hard to not hide in the dark, or contribute to the darkness by not letting ourselves shine…..but also to always always always light up every dark space, whenever we can….to send out light into this world…….because we all can…all of us…

and every camp plants a tree at Brave River Ranch to make a commitment to growing a beautiful new life……this time,we planted a mighty oak….

and I even got some projects done of my own….one of my new passions…STITCHING…and I’ve been stitching all over my clothes after Patrice taught me how…

I can not tell you how much I love the women who make camp happen. We have THE MOST INCREDIBLE STAFF and we are all so incredibly blissed out every time we get to welcome in a new group of our sisters at camp…….there’s always a lot of singing, dancing, and general goofiness…..all wrapped up in a whole lot of soul, meaning, and hard work to dig out the good stuff…

This is where love lives………all over this place…

Our hope is that everyone will be able to experience camp at least once in their lives……We love our March 2013 Brave Girls….and we love YOU.

So…here’s the announcement. We are working on launching a series of 1 and 2 day workshops here at the ranch so that more Brave GIrls of all ages can experience the magic here…so that we can do more art together…and so that there are offerings of all different time limits and prices so that everyone who wants to can come see us here…….no matter what, no matter where you are….no matter whether you are reading our blog or our truths…or taking online courses…or if you have come to the ranch to be with us…..YOU ARE ALL BRAVE GIRLS AND YOU ALL BELONG. And we do what we do for YOU and for ALL OF US. We are ALL SISTERS…….let’s be good to each other.

We love you all so much.

Stay tuned for announcements about our workshop series…coming soon!!!!

xoxox

melody, kathy and our awesome team

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It was a wonderful night…..

23rd July 2012 by melody under -- brave girl daily, EVERYDAY BRAVE, featured post

Last week, Jess Greene came to visit us at Brave River Ranch…..she was so gracious to bring her awesome event to our sweet little town in Idaho……and we did our best to show her a good time…there’s Jess up there, working away old-school style on the back porch. We had a wonderful few days together and I got to hear the beautiful stories of her awesome adventure with her Jumpstart Creativity Tour…..make sure you look into it and follow her on her journey….support her in whatever way you can…she is a keeper for sure. Tonight she is in San Francisco area…she drives and drives and drives and then does these awesome events….so cool….

Here’s us going strong last week at our event at Rembrandts…..you can read about the details HERE and HERE …but we wanted to share some photos with you of the night…it was so much fun. My favorite part was typing out journaling and personalized poems for the children all night….it just filled up my happiness bucket. If you are in the area of Jess’s events…make sure you try to make it to one……

totally wonderful to finally meet so many of you who I have only gotten to know online…….great great great night.

sending you all so much love.

xoxo

tags: art for children, craft event, happiness, jess greene, journaling, jumpstart creativity, ranch, river

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Brave Girl Daily 7.18.12 – Trippin’ – Wild West Style……

18th July 2012 by melody under -- brave girl daily, EVERYDAY BRAVE, featured post

So…while we are getting all of the photos ready to tell you all about the awesome event last night we had with Jess Greene from SEEK YOUR COURSE as we were one of her 50 stops in the JUMPSTART CREATIVITY TOUR anyway…while we are working on getting all of that put together…….I wanted to tell you a little about what we were doing last week…….we loaded in the car and went on a roadtrip with our family….covering 5 states……..Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado and Utah…….it was amazing! It was inspiring, beautiful, relaxing, educational and awesome…and there were lots of cowboy hats, cowboy boots and of course….cowboys….

This all started because of my life list in SR2…..one of my top 5 goals was to see the Crazy Horse Monument in progress, and to see Mount Rushmore in person. (if you took SR2, you saw those goals in my life book…so I did it!!!) I knew this place would be cool…..but they were so much cooler than I even imagined…..the drive was beautiful and interesting, almost always….(some of it was looooong stretches of dusty-ness…it’s own kinda pretty) ….. I especially loved all of the old-school windmills that were out in fields, powering the little pumps that pumped the water for the horses and the cows…they were so very pretty all alone in flowery fields with a big blue sky as a background…

Marq and I were talking about how we live in the same house, we are together for lots and lots of hours working together every day, we are together every night……but that when all you do is work…you forget how fun it is to just BE IN LOVE and to just be together…….sooooo….we had the best time….we have not been alone like this, without working, in months and months and months…..definitely worth it…

We stayed in a really cool place in Keystone, South Dakota, where a historic old train went by several times a day….it was uber cool….we were there with all of Marq’s family and each of us had our own little log cabins…it was so secluded and beautiful……I hadn’t realized we were going to be deep in the mountains….but we were….the Black Hills……….

We had a big huge yard and a creek……it was really so awesome. Uncle Marq played with the kids and kept everyone busy…in fact, no one can really ever keep up with him….at this point…he was hula-hooping AND playing football at the same time…..(for reals)….

We had our meals together and night and it was super fun…here’s my oldest kiddos after dinner………(they are actually adults now…on their own…..)

Here’s the pretty little creek…:)

Ok…so if you have never been to Crazy Horse Monument…….you need to Google it and learn all about it and then go there….I mean it. It is one of the most beautiful and inspiring projects I have ever seen….in fact, I gained a few new life heroes because of learning about it…….so….really……go find out about it….it will be worth your time….I was in absolute awe the entire time…then I bought several books to learn more about it. One of the happiest things that can ever happen in your life is when you find yourself doing something that you have been dreaming of, wishing for and looking forward to for a long time…when you are standing there right in the middle of DOING IT!!! That feels really good…..especially when it turns out to be even better than what you expected it to be….

The cousins all had a lot of fun together…we had a really great night at Mount Rushmore…we went late in the evening for the flag ceremony. It was very patriotic and beautiful. Mount Rushmore is incredible. (Crazy Horse is many times larger than it, though…in fact, the 4 faces of Mt. Rushmore would fit INSIDE of the face of Crazy Horse!!!) anyway….here’s the 6 faces of the 6 cousins who have grown up together…..my boys are the second and the last cuties.

I was SOOOOOO excited when we finally got there!!! Another dream come true to see it all!!!

definitely definitely definitely worth the trip……..

best part was all the time I got to spend with my kids and my sweet man……..the phones didn’t work very well there and there was no fantastic internet either….so we just had US…just our family….and it was soooo wonderful.

If you know my man…..you know that if we drive past a sign like this….he is gonna have to drive back to where it’s all happening and see it for himself…and we did….we got special guest passes and went to see how the Boy Scouts in South Dakota relate to the Boy Scouts in Idaho………they did pretty darn well and I was happy that he got to meet some more of his BSA brothers….

and you also gotta check out Wall Drug….I can’t really explain it………you’ll have to Google it and then drive there…it’s pretty legendary…

there’s some creepy parts….but………..entertaining……right?

and the boots……..oooooooooh the boots…I found a pair I wanted SO BADLY and if I could have found someone to buy my left kidney…I would have sold it to have them…but I am just gonna have to save up for a while I guess…:)

One of the best parts of the trip was the spontaneous stops to see friends that we have not seen in a long time……..we got to see our dear friends, Liz and James when we were in Wyoming….

And I got to spend a whole entire day with one of my most favorite people on the planet…………..a brave brave brave girl that I met through BGC a few years back…she is a doctor and she has helped our family so much through some tough stuff…I love her so much, I love her heart, her strength and her dedication to love and truth and all things good….she is one amazing girl……

AND she took us to her local gluten-free cafe and we actually got to have SANDWICHES which we haven’t had in forever……and they were so yummy…so yummy that I took a picture because I knew I would crave it for the rest of my life…….portabello mushroom, goat cheese and roasted red pepper on gluten free bread…yummier than you can imagine!!!!

I love this sign in her house….and she delivered on everything it said, for sure……….and may we ALL (I bet you do)

All in all…it was an awesome trip………next goal….California Redwoods….and it just MIGHT HAPPEN next month…wahooooo!!!

Dream even bigger, friends!!!!!! (it works!!!)

Hope you are enjoying summer and living the exact life you want to live….it feels really good and it’s soooo worth it…..

xoxo

melody

tags: boy scouts, cousins, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, crazy horse, family, flag ceremony, friends, gluten free, jess greene, jumpstart creativity, monument, mount rushmore, seek your course, south dakota

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Brave Girl Daily 7.16.12 – WE ARE HAVING A PARTY AND YOU ARE INVITED….(for reals)

16th July 2012 by melody under -- brave girl daily, EVERYDAY BRAVE, featured post

Ok….so here we go….Tuesday night we are having a big party. It’s a party where you can come for free…..and make art…with all of the supplies and all of the ideas ready for you…..we are having it at THE COOLEST PLACE. We are hosting it, along with our friends from Rembrandt’s Coffee House for Jess Green….and Jess Greene is a true Brave Girl….you just gotta read the story right here about what she is doing and why you need to come to the party….TUESDAY NIGHT at REMBRANDT’S in EAGLE IDAHO (c’mon…if you don’t live here, it’s worth the drive…) If you want to have dinner…….there’s a specially priced dinner starting at 6 and going all night….it’s $6.95 for adults and $4.95 for kids……or just come and make art with us!!! (there’s also all sorts of other amazing food and drinks)

Ok…so the party/get together/gathering/event is called JUMPSTART CREATIVITY EVENT……….(that’s Jess down there holding the sign…you are gonna have to come to the event to meet her in person)

This is a perfect little combination of amazing people…because the party we are having is at the coffee shop of our friends who started Full Circle Exchange….Mark and Jeanette Priddy…they also own Rembrandt’s and do a lot of really amazing stuff all over the world that they are too humble to let me tell you about….they are dear dear dear friends and I can’t wait to tell you their whole story…(if you want to know some of it now….read HERE) Here’s Mark in Africa, learning to weave one of the baskets that they sell for the women of Africa….

And here’s where we are having the party…..at Rembrandt’s…the most amazing coffee house/bakery/salad/sandwich/happiness establishment you have ever been to…it’s a renovated church…filled with an eclectic mix of the most amazing vintage furniture….original art all over the walls…and beautiful things to buy in their shop…and yummy smells and happy laughs and friendly chatter and just plain old goodness all over the place…it is ALWAYS packed with people….AND….they import their own coffee and chocolate (read about that HERE if ya wanna know more)

Last week we had the Priddy’s over for dinner…….my kids made dinner for all of us…..they have 6 children and we have 5 children…so it was a pretty wild night…here’s my son Brock and his fiance, Sabrina making dinner for all of us….

We had some great conversations about all of the amazing things that are going on with them and the work they are doing to help women in Africa and many other countries, and we can’t wait to tell you how Brave Girls Club is going to be a part of that in a big way (remember back when we were going to have a press conference….and the press conference was premature…well that’s what the press conference was gonna be about and what it will be about as soon as it’s time) anyway….so much awesomeness….say hi to Drake and Margaret who are our dear friends who were also in town visiting……we all had such a great time….

then we went out to the art barn with all of our kids and we made art…and we made art..and we made art….we mostly made leather bracelets…but we made art and we looked at art and we talked about art…and everyone had a blast getting super creative…..

this is Mark and Jeanette getting super excited over Brock’s longboard that he made and painted by hand….

and this is all of us working on leather……..

and then I showed them how to finish it and stain it…we just had THE BEST NIGHT….

so……come ON TUESDAY NIGHT to make are with us at Rembrandt’s coffee house…………and then………………..they are even gonna open up their beautiful new shop across the street for extra hours so you can come and shop….

and see beautiful things that women artists from all over the world have made…things that will help their families and villages to survive and take care of themselves and to THRIVE!!! Everything from the store is made by a brave girl from somewhere in the world…….this beautiful necklace is made by women in Ethiopia …melted down bullet casings into fabulous chunky necklace. We don’t have many of them so u better be first in line. Empowering women who are HIV positive and now have a renewed sense of dignity and hope. They are amazing artists.

here’s another necklace you will find…

the Infinity necklace – a stunning combination of prints, natural fibers and paper beads. Hand crafted in Rwanda by women artisans, each necklace provides employment for weavers, paper bead makers, and seamstresses. Straps may be tied to adjust to any length. Every purchase helps to empower women artisans in Rwanda to rise out of poverty.

and here’s the beautiful new store…….so much more to come about Full Circle Exchange and the amazing Priddy’s…..very big and wonderful things are happening that we want you all to be a part of…but for now…

COME TO THE PARTY ON TUESDAY NIGHT!!!!
ART….FOOD…..SHOPPING….AWESOME PEOPLE……what could be better?

We will be there to party with you!!!

Come and support Jess and her big adventure and come and support the Priddy’s and their big adventure and come and support amazing women from all over the world…..mostly, just come and have fun with us….let’s make some memories!!

can’t wait to see you!!!

xoxo – melody and brave girl team

p.s. here’s a little blurb from the invitation…

Are you a closet artist? Do you harbor secret dreams of writing? Do you have an urge to paint, take photographs, write or make stuff? We know how you feel.SO COME MAKE ART! Enjoy 2 hours of open-ended writing and art-making. There will be materials, projects and prompts but what you make is completely up to you!We provide:
An opportunity to make something. Choose between: a mixed media booklet, creative writing, or mail art. it’s going to be so much fun! come!!!

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Brave Girl Daily 7.13.12 – Special Delivery…a message from the brave flowers

13th July 2012 by kallie under -- brave girl daily, featured post

I have a message for someone. I don’t who it’s for – what I do know is that this person is deeply, deeply loved and that this message is right on time. I know this message is true because it keeps coming and coming and coming into my mind…it’s gentle and persistent and heart-swelling.

As you know I’ve been working at the Brave River Ranch while Melody and her family have been on vacation this week. There are hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of flowers at the Ranch, and before Melody left she asked if I would work on deadheading them.

Dead heading is when you pinch off the dead flowers, so that the new flowers can grow. Because plants (like people) only have so much energy, and unless you pinch the old flowers off…along with as much of the plant is no longer pretty, the plant keeps sending its energy to the dead parts.

When you get rid of the dead parts, the plant doesn’t have all that dead stuff to send its energy to, so it sends all the energy to creating new, beautiful flowers and full foliage.

Here’s the thing though….if you don’t know about flowers you might be scared to deadhead. You might be afraid that the flowers will never come back, or that the plant will never be beautiful and full and lush again. Maybe you’d let the dead flowers stay…because you’d rather have wilted flowers than no flowers at all.

But if you get brave and start taking off the dead parts…little by little you’ll start to see hidden things….

Signs of new life under all that deadness….and stunning growth where you hadn’t been able to see it before…and beauty where you didn’t expect it…

Deadheading these little yellow flowers was thrilling. They look so dead, but if you look really REALLY closely, you can see the tiny new vibrant yellow buds.

If I hadn’t started to go through this plant and take out the old, dead flowers, I would never have seen the new little promises of life underneath.

So you get it, right? I mean we could be talking about flowers or cool-whip or life.

You and I only have so much energy. There are only so many hours in a day…only so many things we can give our energy and our lives to. Is there some deadheading we need to do in our lives? I will be more bold than that, since I know this message is for someone out there. I am telling you, there IS something in your life you need to cut out. Something unimportant. Something dead. Something that is no longer making your life more happy, more beautiful, more meaningful and more full.

Let it go, sweet girl. Let it become what it needs to become. Dead flowers go back into the earth to nurture in other ways….

Thank them for the beautiful things they’ve shown you….then let them go…

It takes a lot of work to build a beautiful life. Whether you’re deadheading your garden or deadheading your soul, you’ll sweat and cry and you’ll ask yourself WHY it takes so long, and why it’s so HARD and why it can’t be EASIER and why SHE doesn’t have to go through this (she does though, just like you). Do the work. It’s worth it.

If something is not spectacularly beautiful, then nourish it back to life or let it go. Don’t live with wilted flowers because you’re afraid of not having flowers.

Trust the truth, sweet Brave Girl, there is all kinds of goodness waiting to come into your life the second you let go of the things that are holding you back…

the lies you tell yourself, the limits you put on yourself, past mistakes, past failures, suffocating relationships, what you believe about your circumstances, what you believe about your finances, what you believe about the world….

So…what do we do about all that? It’s easy to deadhead in the garden. Not so easy to deadhead in life. Not easy, but not impossible.

You can do it. Get quiet. Listen to that teeny tiny voice inside of you…the one that is telling you to let go. Trust that there are itsy bitsy buds inside of you that are waiting to burst to life as soon as you give them the energy they need…as soon as you stop sending your energy toward dead, wilted, life-less things.

You can do it, sweetheart.

xoxo

PS I didn’t start out with Soul Restoration 1 (our online class) in mind, but just thought of it…Seriously seriously SERIOUSLY, if you want help making boundaries and cutting out the dead parts of your life, and making room for more incredible life, take it. You’ll love it. Details are here.

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Brave Girl Daily 7.11.12 – Inventory

11th July 2012 by kallie under -- brave girl daily, featured post

Our little Brave Girl Shoppe is still young – only about a month and a half old…

Like everything else that’s worthwhile, the Shoppe has been a delight and a challenge. We’re still working out her little quirks and kinks. Jeff and Amy do a great job keeping everything in order.

Today they spent the day doing inventory…not the most glamorous job, but somebody has to do it. They are so willing to do what has to be done around the clubhouse. We’re lucky to have them.

In case you’ve never met them……Meet Amy:

And Jeff:

And if you haven’t been to the Shoppe yet, stop by! There are so many lovely things….

I am in love with this painting. In the Shoppe they sell super high quality prints of a LOT of Melody’s art. It’s called “Happy House” – such a perfect name, right?

Another favorite of mine is the “Restore” CD. I seriously never get sick of it. The music is so soothing and loving and fresh. Check it out, you’ll love it.

Okay…you just better head over to the Shoppe yourself. I keep looking for things to show you and getting distracted by all the loveliness and forgetting what I’m even doing there. So check it out, you’ll love it.

Hope everything is going well for you, sweet brave girl….

And remember…

xoxoxoxo

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Brave Girl Daily 7.10.12 – “Big Blow” Miracles

11th July 2012 by kallie under -- brave girl daily, featured post

I don’t know where the phrase “big blow” came from…maybe other people don’t call it that at all, but that’s what my grandparents call it, so that’s what we call it. In Idaho (and probably other places too) big blows happen in the summertime…almost every day when it’s super hot. In the late afternoon, the sky darkens just a little and the wind blows really reeeeeeally reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hard. It usually doesn’t last long, but the wind is strong enough to send you running inside.

We had one of those yesterday. I didn’t think much of it until this morning when I went to the Brave River Ranch to check on the chickens and water the flowers and garden (since Melody and her family are out of town).

As I drove in, the first thing I saw was this tree – you can see it straight down the lane when you’re coming up the long driveway…it had fallen down. Do you see the awesomeness though?? It fell down, but it didn’t hit Marq’s enormous lawn mower OR what you can’t see in the picture, which is our sweet Brave Girl Bus that was parked right next to it. The sweet little thing fell over peacefully out of the way. What a miracle! It could have done a LOT of damage.

Next I went to check on the chickens. They were happy to see me, since they’d eaten every last bit of their food. It seemed like business as usual in the chicken coop.

Next to the chicken coop is the Army tent…the beautiful place we use during Brave Girl Camp. It’s in the middle of the forest….between all the trees. It’s all covered in pretty lights and it’s so magical that even the birds seem to sing for it.

Well during yesterday’s big blow, a tree fell down on top of that sweet tent.

So we spent some time today cleaning her up and getting the limbs off her. We were worried that there would be another blow today that would hurt her more, but there wasn’t.

Are you ready for the miracle though?? First of all it should have been worse. ONE tree fell on the tent…lots of others fell, but only one tree hit it. The BIGGER miracle is that out of ALL those pretty lights that were hanging EXACTLY where the tree fell…Only TWO of them broke!! Some of the lights were UNDER the tree and didn’t break. WHAT A MIRACLE!!!

We’re not sure how our little (read: enormous) tent will fare, but she’s a Brave Girl, so it will all work out perfectly. We are happy and thankful that only a small amount of damage was done.

Also – as we were cleaning up, I caught a glimpse of this sweet message in the forest:

I am sure that one of you needs to hear this right now, so I thought I’d send you the reminder:

You truly are deeply, DEEPLY loved.

xoxo

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Brave Girl Daily 7.9.12 – Kathy & Kurt’s Anniversary

9th July 2012 by kallie under -- brave girl daily, featured post

31 years ago, Kathy Johnson married Kurt Wilkins…today they are celebrating all those years and the accomplishments that they’ve made together.

They met at church where Kurt heard Kathy sing and knew she was an angel. (He was right.) On their first date, he asked how old she was and choked on his water when she told him. He’d guessed she was young, but not THAT much younger than him. No matter – they are a perfect match. They married in Logan, Utah and had a reception in the backyard of their Boise, Idaho home.

Here they are with Grandma and Grandpa (Kathy & Melody’s parents). If you’ve been to Brave Girl Camp, you know Grandma and Grandpa. If not, watch the video in the post from earlier this morning where they sing their love song to each other. It’s lovely.

In 31 years, they’ve built a pretty great family (I should know).

As the years go by, the family grows and grows…This month, Kurt and Kathy are expecting their 11th grandchild!! (We can’t seem to keep the family picture current.) :)

Their love is inspiring…they’ve been through a lot together.

CONGRATULATIONS, Kurt and Kathy. Here’s to many MANY more years together!!!!

xoxo

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Brave Girl Daily 7.5.12 – Grandma on Parade Day and My Weird “Costumes”….

5th July 2012 by melody under -- brave girl daily, EVERYDAY BRAVE, featured post

Well, Parade Day was as awesome as it could have been………and our mother drove the red mustang convertible…..and my aunts rode in the back…and of course, our dear beautiful grandmother was honored and rode in the passenger seat….as beautiful as can be…..

Before they all got in the car…..we stood beside it while I read what the sign said to her…..

“Grandma,” I said….”Listen to this……..do you ever think about this…? This is amazing!…4 children, 28 grandchildren, 103 great-grandchildren, 17 great-great grandchildren…..grandma, wow!”

she starts to laugh….giggle…

and she says “Yes, wow.”

And then she has a very funny conversation with me about my “outfit”…..or as she usually calls it…my “costume”……..I will tell you more about that at the end of the post…

anyway….

…then my dad says…

“it’s time to go to the parade!!!”

and my aunts and my mom help her into the car….and my dad helps them into the car….

and they were amazing and beautiful and radiant in the parade…..and every one of those of us who were standing by were so proud to be in HER family…what SHE and my grandfather started soooooo many years ago on a dirt farm in Melba, Idaho….(I miss my grandpa every single day, by the way….he’s been gone 22 years…..died just a few months before I got married…he was one of my very best friends….)

OHHHH…AND When we were getting them lined up in the parade, and they had to wait a while……they started to sing….they have been singing all of their lives in harmony….so I recorded it…I hope you will take time to watch the video at the end of the post to see their sweetness…….

and it was a beautiful, all-American small town parade….charming, simple….old school……awesome. By today’s standards…..there weren’t any light shows or special effects…..it was just hometown, homemade, heartfelt and awesome. Goodness all around……the kind of goodness you just yearn for day in and day out…ya know?

and no hometown parade is complete without the rodeo queens….

or the Elvis impersonator….:)

And of course…we had MORE family in the parade because we are 5 generations in Melba………here’s my cousin……Micky….

Ok….now I will tell you about my something that my brothers and sisters and cousins and nieces and nephews and even my kids think is soooo funny……..ok…well, I think it’s funny too….and it happened again yesterday as soon as Grandma saw me. Grandma is 95 years old and I am 1 of hundreds of her progeny…….well…….it would make sense if she would ever forget my name or every detail about my life, but she NEVER has…………but yesterday…I thought she might have…..she took my arm and said in a very ladylike way….

“Now, honey…tell me who you are again….”

and I said

“Grandma, it’s me, Melody…”

and she laughed and said…

“NO, I know that…(and she laughs again) but I am wondering WHO YOU ARE DRESSED AS TODAY”

and my daughter and I laugh…………..because she has done this many times….I am a bit of a “unique” dresser……I just am…I always have been……and sometimes….she will see me and say…

“now what costume is this…what are you wearing today? Is this a gypsy costume???”

and I always say the same thing….

“no Grandma…these are just my clothes…this is just how I dress…….”

and she says…

“well, it is very fun…” (or something equally charming)

so then Malary asks…..

“what do you THINK she is dressed as today??”

and she says…

“Well, I don’t know…maybe Little Bo Peep???”

so….here I am, my friends, dressed as Little Bo Peep for 4th of July….

Ok…here’s the thing….I was NOT going to go out to Melba this year…it is a long drive from where we live now & we were going to chill and sleep in and have a lazy day….but then we found out that Grandma would be getting honored and thought….”how many times could this happen again?” and……she is 95….how many more days will we EVER have like this…..

totally worth every single minute of being there.

I think one of my happiest moments ever was seeing how happy they were as they drove by………..and seeing how people clapped and cheered for them all the way down the road….

it was just a very very very good day.

thanks for sharing it with us.

we love you all so very much….thanks for understanding and relating to this simple but very good stuff……..it IS the good stuff in life.

we love you so very much.

xoxo

Ok…here’s the video…..you will have to turn it wayyyyyy up…it’s kinda quiet!!

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Brave Girl Daily 7.3.12 – Grandma’s Parade….

3rd July 2012 by melody under -- brave girl daily, EVERYDAY BRAVE, featured post

Well………….I shoulda known it…..that the fun and fun and beauty and beauty and awesomeness of all of these thousands of flowers at the ranch would yield some serious work…pretty much nonstop. Now…don’t get me wrong..it is totally worth it…….but the flowers KNOW they are loved around here and they grow and grow and grow and they bloom and bloom and bloom and then they say…..it is time for deadheading! It is time for pruning! It is time for thinning!!! (these are all new words that I am an expert in….google ‘em if you want to know more!) But…truly it is worth all of the work it takes…..just today these are the pretty remains from the last week of blooms in the pots…..

So….tomorrow is the 4th of July….and we come from a very small town where there is a traditional small town 4th of July parade…and TOMORROW….my 95 year old grandmother is going to be one of the stars of the parade…….so we made a sign for her today….we will make sure and take lots of pictures……she will be riding in a red convertible and she will look fabulous like she always does. We inherited her adoration of all things beautiful and lovely from her. She still does her hair and makeup every day and puts on beautiful jewelry every day…..I am sure she will be the picture of elegance and loveliness in the parade tomorrow morning and we can’t wait!