I’m still struggling trying to think of interesting things to post…..so you get to read my ramblings!

I don’t really know where the time goes everyday. I feel like I am always busy, but I don’t feel like I really accomplish anything. I mean, here is is almost 10:00pm and I hardly got any of the things that I planned done today. I did get a recent photo shoot edited and the gallery ready–that was my main goal for the day, so I guess I did accomplish one thing. I ran around and did a few errands after I dropped Emma and Ian off and before I dropped off Nora. We went to the dry cleaners and then to the vet to pick up some medicine for our cat. Later in the day I went to Petco because we were out of cat litter.

I spent a good part of my morning designing my Christmas card. It took me awhile to get going, but once I got things figured out I made some good progress. I am always so fussy about my cards. I want them to be perfect, especially because I am a photographer. I think I am going to be happy with them this year! And since I had my friend Heidi do our family photos, I even have some with me in them!

One thing that threw off my day, but I really enjoyed , was having lunch with my mom. It is nice to have her back in town. She spend the spring and fall in North Carolina, and she just came back last night. It is fun to meet up for impromptu lunches and little shopping trips.

After that, before I knew it, it was time to pick the kids up at school. Then the mad rush of the afternoon set in and here it is almost time to get to bed.

Tomorrow I HAVE to get some of the laundry done!

I have had a really nice birthday. Scott and I had a nice flight to Las Vegas. We both got upgraded so we were excited about that. Since it is my birthday, we decided to celebrate by having bloody marys. I can’t remember the last time I did that.

We got to our hotel and were pleasantly surprised to find out that our room was ready early. We got organized and then went out to lunch and shopping on the strip. We had a great lunch together at Stripburger. We had lots of laughs and good conversation. Then we went shopping and I found the biggest Forever 21 I have ever seen! It was Huge! Scott was a good sport and shopped with me all day. Before we headed back to our hotel he wanted to go to the Apple store. He surprised me again and bought me an iPad!! I have been looking at them for a few months. I am so excited to have it. I think it is going to be great to have, both for my photography business and traveling with the kids. I’m having fun playing with it.

We came to Vegas with no real plans but we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We have planned a few things, but mostly we are just enjoying each others company. It was a great birthday!

This past weekend was the MS150 charity bike ride in Logan. This was my second year doing it and Scott’s third year. We had such a great time this year. My parents watched the kids for part of the time so we could just spend the weekend alone.

They have free camping at the Cache Valley fairgrounds. We went up early and took our motor home to get a spot. We met up with the rest of our group and got a great spot with hook ups. It was great to be able to use the air conditioner!

Scott and I spent most of Thursday and Friday just hanging out together. Most people came and got their camping spots early Thursday and then left until Friday evening. The campground was deserted. It was nice. I can’t remember the last time I had free time like that with nothing to do. I just relaxed and even watched some tv in the middle of the day!

The rest of the group showed up Friday night. We had a potluck dinner and then hung out around camp. We had such a fun group this year and it was nice to hang out with everyone.

Saturday the ride started bright and early at 7:00am. We rode together in a group this year and it was so nice. Everyone worked together really well and it made the ride really fun. It went by so quickly. The ride flew by and all of a sudden it was time for lunch. I felt great all day and really enjoyed the ride.

We spent the afternoon around camp and bedtime couldn’t come soon enough. I was exhausted! Everyone else went to the pool party and I went to bed. I was asleep by 8:15pm!

Sunday started again at 7:00am. We started out with a raging head wind as we headed up the canyon. It did not make for a fun ascent, but I just kept pedaling and soon the wind settled down. I was so happy when we got to the top. From there the rest of the ride was fun and mostly flat.

The whole weekend was great. The company was awesome and I really enjoyed myself. I am already looking forward to next year!

This was the scene at our house at 4:55am this morning.

Emma and Ian got up at the crack of dawn and made me breakfast for Mother’s Day. They had first gotten up at midnight, but Scott chased them back to bed. They got up again around 4:00am and started my breakfast of cereal, waffles, and cinnamon toast.

They came in to wake me up about 4:45am. I was so tired I didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t realize at first what they had done, but as soon as I did I knew I had to get up!

They were so cute. Emma had made me all kinds of cards and crafts. Ian was so proud of himself for making my waffle all by himself.

I sat with them and ate my breakfast while I read all of my cards. They made me feel so special. It was so sweet that they went to so much trouble to make my Mother’s Day breakfast.

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.

I love this song. I can’t get it out of my head lately. Even my kids have been singing it Today in the car Nora asked me to turn on the “Oh, Oh, Oh song.” How cute is that?

Last winter I got a flyer about a free skate ski clinic in January. I really wanted to try it. But January came and went, and I never did it. Then the same happened with February, March, and April and I never did make it out there.

This year I made it a goal to take a lesson and try it. Today I accomplished that goal and I took a group lesson with White Pine Touring. I knew it was going to be hard, so at least I went into it expecting that.

We started out just working on the skating part without poles. We skated back and forth practicing the push and glide. Once we got that down (Ha!) then we added the poles. I actually picked up the technique fairly quickly, but the balance and timing took more practice. We just kept going back and forth. Thankfully, we got to take a few breaks. I was exhausted about half way through the lesson. I could feel the sweat just dripping off me! But I was really enjoying it.

Once the lesson was over I thought I would try out the 3K track to practice what I had learned. I knew that I would be tired, but I wanted to try it anyway. It went even better than I expected. But I couldn’t believe how sore my arms were. They felt like wet noodles by the time I was done.

I am happy that I got out there and tried it. It is definitely something that I want to keep doing. There is a women’s group lesson starting on Tuesday for the next few weeks. I just might sign up for it.

Only three more days until I can enjoy this:

And this:

With all this cold weather we have been having, I really can’t wait!!

I made it another year! I don’t think my posts were as interesting as other years, but at least I was able to complete my third year of NaBloPoMo. Here’s to another great year!