Ever since Emma started school at Jeremy Ranch, she has been eating school lunch. I was excited for her to start school lunch. I was really looking forward to not having to pack her a lunch everyday. And I couldn’t believe that it was only $2.25 per day.

But lately I have been feeling guilty about it.

The food they serve is so unhealthy. She comes home and talks about corn dogs and chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. I know that she loves those things, and I am OK with my kids eating them once in a while. But I am really not happy that Emma is eating those things every day.

I have been thinking about starting to pack her lunch. I am already packing a lunch everyday for Ian, so it really wouldn’t be hard to just pack two. Then I saw this post with a great giveaway and I think I am convinced.

I HAVE to have these Goodbyn lunch boxes!

They are adorable and would make lunch preparation so easy! They even have a 3 week menu plan complete with shopping list that you can download.

I’m hoping that I will win one in the giveaway, but even if I don’t I think I will order them.

Healthier lunches for my kids can only be a good thing!

Ian lost his first tooth today at 6 years and 2 months old!

One of his front bottom teeth has been loose for quite a while. A few weeks ago I asked him if I could check to see if he had any loose teeth. Emma lost her first tooth right around this same time, so I thought I’d see if he was close. Sure enough, one of his bottom front teeth was a little bit loose.

We ordered him a pirate tooth pillow so that we would be prepared.

Today was the day. When he came home from school it was literally hanging by a thread. He couldn’t keep his hands–or his tongue–off of it. During karate he came running out and he had it in his hand.

He is really excited for his first visit from the tooth fairy!

I am taking an online photography course right now and we are working on shooting in different lighting conditions. This assignment was supposed to be shot in full sun (gasp!) using backlighting. This is usually a situation that I avoid like the plague, however, this technique worked great. I had fun with her and I think these turned out great!

Nora has been taking ski lessons all winter. This is really her first winter skiing. Last year we took her out a time or two, but she mostly just walked around on the flat in her skis.

This year, at three, she was old enough to do the Deer Valley ski program. All of my kids have learned to ski in that program. But Nora has been the first one who resisted going. Every week she cried when I dropped her off. All week long she would talk about her instructor “Connie” and tell me how much she loved her.

“Mom, did you know Connie is from Argentina?”

“I love ‘the magic’ Connie!”

“Mom, Connie is a princess.”

But as soon as we got to the door to drop her off, she would take one look at Connie and burst into tears. Every week I would reassure her and then just leave her crying. Each week when I picked her up they told me she was just fine as soon as I left. I saw her skiing on the magic carpet a few times. A few other times she was just sitting in the snow. I really didn’t think she was getting much out of the program, but I kept sending her every week.

Every Saturday Emma and Ian ski in a ski program all day at Park City Mountain Resort. This weekend Scott and I decided to take Nora up and ski with her for a little while. I was expecting it to be a ton of work and a lot of skiing with her between my legs. Boy was I wrong!

She was skiing like a champ on the first run. She could ski totally on her own and in control, make turns in both directions, and stop whenever she wanted to. I was SHOCKED and really glad I kept sending her to the Deer Valley ski school.

We had a great time skiing with her. Skiing as a family is looking like a real possibility now!

Check out this video:

I have been a Brownie leader for the past year and a half. Emma started in a Brownie troop at the beginning of last year. It wasn’t going the way I was hoping and so a bunch of us decided to leave the troop and start our own. I decided to become the leader. It has been fun and I think all the girls enjoy being in my troop.

This last month at our service unit meeting, the head of our service unit asked if any of us had been Brownies. Quite a few had, but none in the room could top me. I was a Brownie here in Park City, and my leader is still a leader and was at our meeting! She still has a scrapbook filled with photos from my troop. They also asked for photos of us as Brownies. As soon as she asked, I knew that I had a great photo of myself at my flying up ceremony. I just had to figure out where it was. I dug out my baby book and I found it!

I think this was at the end of third grade. I was probably about 9, so I am guessing this was about 1981. I can still remember so much about this day. I know that it was at Parley’s Park Elementary School. I remember that they had a little bridge that we walked across. I was excited to be “flying up” but disappointed that there wouldn’t be a Girl Scout troop for me to join. I REALLY wanted to sell cookies. In those days Brownies were not allowed to sell cookies, so I never got to do that.

Anyway, I have always loved this photo and thought I would share it with all of you.

Wow, sorry for the long delay in posting! We have been busy around here Actually busy, but not so much around here.

The weekend after Emma’s birthday Scott and I headed to California for one of his childhood friend’s birthday parties. It was a so much fun to see a bunch of our old friends. The kids stayed home at my parent’s house. We just spent the whole weekend relaxing and spending time with friends.

Then last weekend we headed back to California–without kids again! This time they stayed with Scott’s mom. One of our dear friends turned 70, so we went out for the party. I got to do a little photo shoot for some of our friends, as well. I got some really cute photos! I can’t wait to get them all edited so I can share them. It was also Scott’s birthday, so we had a little surprise party for him. It was awesome to see old friends. People came to Scott’s party that we hadn’t seen in years!!! The only unfortunate part of the weekend was that we both came down with strep throat.

Besides traveling, we have just been busy with our usual family things. Ian has been playing hockey. He has had a few little scrimmages in the past few weeks. They are so cute! It is so fun so see them out skating around. They all look so tiny. Often there are more of them laying on the ice than there are playing the game. He also started a skating class last week. Emma is still taking ballet, and she loves it. She is also taking an after school art class. She can never get enough art! All three kids have been busy with ski lessons. I, however, am happy to see the ski season winding down. I love that the kids are learning to ski, and loving it, but it makes for a lot of running around for me.

This time of year everyone starts looking forward to spring, and I am no exception. I have been enjoying skate skiing, but I am ready to start biking. Scott and I signed up to do the Cycle Salt Lake Century in May. So now I have extra motivation to start getting back in shape. Last year I wasn’t quite ready and it was a tough ride. I don’t want to repeat that again!

That is about it for now! I’ll try not to wait so long before I blog again. I have been better about keeping up my photography blog. If you haven’t checked it out you might want to pay me a visit over there: http://kerrysundahlphotography.com/blog/