"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you." (‭Psalm‬ ‭139‬:‭1-18‬ NIV)

Mrs. GrumpyPants was totally me this morning! I woke up tired, irritated, snappy, and all around pathetic. As soon as my hubby got up and came down stairs I told him the great news. Poor guy! I told him that it was probably best that he go out, have fun, and enjoy the beautiful day without me because all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole, cry, and throw myself a pity party with an extra large chocolate brownie until I passed out from exhaustion. What he did next is why I love that man with all my heart. He came over, gave me a hug, and said "let's go to the lake, take Pete for a walk, and we can even take the van. That way if you get tired or want to hideout you can hangout in the van and take a nap (actually one of my favorite places to nap) while Pete and I walk around the lake." Yep! That is why I love that man! So, begrudgingly, I agreed to go. When we got there, got out of the van, and started walking, the weight lifted off my shoulders. I looked around at the beauty around me and just sighed a sigh of content.

The leaves - gorgeous; the company - understanding; the fresh air - soothing. It was exactly what I needed.

Here are some of the pictures from our walk. I pray that they take you to a place of peace and relaxation. Because for me - it was a great reminder of how Amazing our God is and how creative and magnificent his creations are. And on a bad day where all I want to do is hide, he is there - as a huge ray of soothing sunlight!

This week has been a week of ups and downs for me with exercise. My ups were when I just threw out my self conciousness and just enjoyed the beauty around me. The downs were when I was struggling with the drastic elevation increases on the hikes - those were slightly embarrassing when I was the one at the end gasping for air and crying my eyes out because I was so out of shape. But all in all, when I look back at this week I am grateful that I accomished the miles, that I didn't pass out on any of the hikes, and that no one had to carry me back to the car.

One of the best things about hiking in Sun Valley, Idaho this time of year are wildflowers. It seemed like everywhere we went there were beautiful, colorful, fragrant flowers. I am still trying to figure out what each one is called. I had fun taking pictures of all of them. Plus their beauty is so distracting that I forget that I am actually exercising. :)

Best of all I got to do all this with my favorite guy - the one that doesn't make fun of me when I am struggling, the one that encourages me and celebrates with my small accomplishments, and most of all the one that kisses me ever so softly to calm me when I feel like giving up.