“We must take adventures in order to know where we truly belong”

Our adventures here in Daybreak have been fun.  We’ve simplified our lives and had some great times, but I don’t think we truly belong here.  So we are off on another adventure.  This one however, is taking us to Sacramento California. Or more exactly the smaller suburb of Folsom, California.

James has worked at Dental Select for the past 11 years.  During those years we had some good times and co-workers became friends with whom we had some great times with outside of work. However, the past few years James’s job has become increasingly more stressful. Just over a year ago, when we decided to simplify our life it was in an effort to help James reduce the stress in his life.  He had been experiencing some anxiety attacks as well as tremors in his left (dominant) hand, leaving him unable to grip things for a few minutes until he could relax and then with focus and deep concentration he could pick things up again.

About 3 weeks ago, we were on vacation, and James was still emailing back and forth with work about a project and he had another tremor episode in his left hand.  It was then that we realized that we needed to do something drastic.  We needed to remove the final stressor in James’s life. . . .his job.   So James turned in his letter of resignation and gave his 2 weeks notice. Unfortunately, some people are prone to drama and love power and position more than friends, and James’s exit wasn’t the peaceful transition we had hoped for.  Unfortunately, we were basically tossed out and lost any friendships we thought we had. I was completely devastated.

But things have a way of working out.  James now has a job with some great guys he has worked with for several years.  In fact, James moved to Sacramento last week and had a fantastic first week at his new job.  We are excited for all the adventures and success we know are in James’ career future.

We have an apartment all picked out, and mover’s all lined up and we are set to move into our new apartment in Folsom on August 24th. We picked Folsom because it has an excellent school system, a cute historic downtown, a lake with nature trails, and lots of fun restaurants.  It has a Mediterranean-like climate and James is most excited about the fact that it doesn’t snow there.  We will be close to San Francisco, Napa, Lake Tahoe, and lots of other exciting and fun places.  (Not to mention that flights out of San Francisco are much cheaper than Salt Lake so we can explore the world for cheaper now).

We are really excited for this new adventure.  We think we are at least one step closer to finding that place where we truly belong.  We hope you’ll keep checking back to follow us on this new and exciting next chapter in our lives.

“Falling down is part of life, getting back up is living”

Preface: Having worked at my children’ s school for the past few years, I am not that accostumed to receiving phone calls from their school, until moving here to Daybreak.  Now it seems that I often receive phone calls from Lauren asking me to bring forgotten items to her, or saying that she is not feeling well and asking me to please check her out for the day.  So yesterday when the phone rang and the caller ID displayed her school’s name, I inwardly groaned and thought to myself, “it’s only the second week of school how could Lauren possibly be calling to ask me to check her out?”

I never imagined it would be the school secretary stating that during PE. Lauren and another boy had collided into each other, then collided into a wall, when Lauren promptly fell to ground and blacked out.  She had been out for a few minutes before an employee was able to get to her and get Lauren to wake up.  She said that it had been recommended that an ambulance be called and for me to come to the school right away.  Thankfully I was at home and only 2 minutes away. I think I arrived in record time.

I entered into the school gym where a few adults surrounded Lauren, who was still lying completely still in a heap on the ground.  I carefully knelt down and picked up her very wet and clamy hand. I gently asked her how she was feeling.  The first thing I noticed was that not only was she still pretty white but her pupils were still dilated. She said that she was okay, that nothing really hurt other than some fogginess in her head.

After talking to the adults and Lauren we pieced together the following story.  Lauren was playing Capture the flag and she and the biggest boy in her class were both going full speed for the flag, in his attempt to get the flag he basically body checked Lauren into the glass wall.  Lauren only remembers putting out her arms to keep her from hitting into the wall then spinning and landing on the floor then looking up to see all of her class and some adults standing over her asking her if she was okay.  Thankfully, she hit the one small section of the gym with a glass wall rather than the brick wall, because there was a staff member who was sitting near the glass wall and heard the thud of someone  hitting the wall, she looked up to see Lauren against the wall and then her falling onto the floor.  This lady came running to help.  The door was locked and it took a bit for the students to realize she needed in and to unlock the door where this lady was able to wake Lauren up.  She was the one who recommended we call for an ambulance.

Because I am not trained at all in what to do in that kind of a situation, and with Lauren being a bit of a hypochondriac, I agreed and asked for them to call the paramedics. While we waited, I continued to hold Lauren’s hand and ask her question as to what did or did not hurt and how she was feeling, with eyes glistening, she whispered, “I’m scared” and it has hard not to cry myself as I reassured her that with a head and possible neck injury we just needed to make sure she was okay. We all talked to her and joked a little to keep her entertained while she waited. Lauren’s eyes went wide when she saw the 4 paramedics walking in with their backboards and stretcher but she remained calm as they started asking her questions.  She, however, HATES having her blood pressure taken and always whimpers when the cuff inflates and this time was no different, but the paramedics were so kind and gently talked to her and reassured her that everything would be okay.

They recommended putting her in a collar, getting her on the backboard and taking her by ambulance to the ER to get checked out and poor Lauren’s eyes got wide again.  I declined because by that point she was sitting up and turning her head and moving around.  She even asked the paramedic that took her vitals if she could give him a hug.  He grinned and said “of course, nobody’s ever asked me that before” and he gave her a great big hug.  (it was really sweet and I wished I would have gotten a picture of that). I signed some paperwork stating that I had declined to use the ambulance and put Lauren in my car and drove her to the ER.

By that time, Lauren seemed to be back to her usual self. She was talking and laughing with the admitting nurse who smiled and told me Lauren’s brain was definitely working fine. After getting all our info, we went back into the room to wait for the doctor.  When he came he gave Lauren a thorough exam and made her move her muscles all sorts of ways, including touching her nose and walking a straight line.  When Lauren was retelling her story, she told him “you know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and since I’m so small I just bounced right off like rubber.” The doctor laughed and asked how old she was because she sure seemed wiser and older than a regular 11 year old. Yup,  she was just fine and the doctor said he didn’t think there needed to be any further testing, so he sent us home with a paper on what to watch for and we were on our way back home.

Once home, Lauren was quick to pick up the phone and call her friends, she reassured them she was fine. One friend told her that the entire class was so mad at the boy who had run into her and Lauren felt bad for him.  So even though, she would have liked to have stayed home the next day, she wanted to go to school and let this boy know that she was okay and that it wasn’t his fault.  She was tired but was a little worried about going to sleep.  I laid next to her at night until she fell asleep before going to my own bed. I checked on her a few times and she was just fine.

This morning, Lauren is feeling a little stiff and tired, but otherwise just fine.  She was moving pretty slow and since her class is on the 2nd floor, I asked if she wanted me to help her walk up the stairs to class and she agreed.  As she walked up the stairs a boy from her class was coming down and he was excited to see she was back and asked if she was okay.  By the time she was near her classroom  her best friend saw her and came running out to hug her, and then pretty soon I could hear the class all excitedly saying her name as she walked in the door.  It was so nice to see everyone so happy to see her and concerned about her well being.  I’m sure Lauren is relishing all of the attention and that today will be a pretty great day.

Our One Year Anniversary

It was just over a year ago that I created this blog with the purpose of documenting our changing world, a world that was being simplified. It’s funny how you make plans to go in a particular direction then sit back and watch as your path meandors and twists and turns and the path you thought you had marked out and followed so well is not the path you actually ended up following. Ralph Waldo Emerson captured it correctly when he said “Life is a journey, not a destination”.

When we started this grand adventure last year, we thought we would be moving downtown and that we would homeschool our children. We never did end up downtown but in a charming planned community instead.  We felt that our girls really needed to be in a neighborhood filled with kids their ages. As for homeschooling, I really didn’t feel qualified and capable of teaching them everything I felt they needed.  And after completing an entire school year, I am very happy with my decision to send them to school.

Katelyn had a fantastic school year. She loved her teacher and had many friends. But her greatest accomplishment in my mind was her constantly working hard and improving in everything that she did. Lauren had a rougher year, she did well academically but she felt her teacher didn’t like her.  I am most proud of Lauren this year for doing her best and for making great friends and getting out of her shell and getting involved in new things.  She was part of her school’s safety patrol, she joined a tap dance class, and continued on with learning the violin.

So even though we didn’t end up where we originally planned, we did end up simplifying our life and enjoying the simple things.  We enjoyed our smaller apartment (less time cleaning for me, and no yard work or to-do lists), we enjoyed our community swimming pool, hot tub and movie theater.  We enjoyed the small shops nearby and for me especially the nearby lake. I enjoyed many mornings watching the sun rise as I ran around the lake with Stephanie, as well as my times with Katelyn biking around the lake, or taking the girls out on the lake in the kayaks. It has been a wonderful place for us.  We have had many incredible times here and we have accomplished the goals we set out for ourselves.  I think one of our favorite things ended up being year-round school.  We had 3 weeks off after every 6 weeks of school allowing us to have some amazing vacations. I am grateful for those trips and know I will always look back on them with fondness.Yes, I couldn’t agree more, life is a journey and not a destination.

Take vacations-go as many places as you can you can always make money you can’t always make memories.

I’ve been asked a few times for tips on traveling, so while I’m on a trip and thinking about it, I thought I would share my favorite tips and tricks.

1–Use a credit card to get started.  We opened up an American Express Sky Miles card because if we spent so much money within a certain time, we would earn a free domestic ticket.  (I am NOT endorsing getting into debt.  James and I have had a credit card since we got married and have never carried a balance. In our minds, it’s a debit card that gives us points for using.). Then use your free domestic trip to get miles. Of course, you need to set-up an account with whichever airline you choose to travel with. We actually have two, Delta and United. We have now switched to a Master Card because it lets us redeem our points as a travel credit.  We use our card for almost every purchase we make so that every dollar we spend is earning us points to use for our travels. There is a bit of researching to do to find what you are looking for, but it will pay off.

2-When deciding where to go it works better if you are flexible.  Sometimes it works best to fly to the cheapest place overseas, then from there fly to your destination of choice.  For example, two years ago we wanted to go to Jerusalem, but it was $2300 from Salt Lake to Jerusalem (way too expensive).  However, if we flew to Istanbul it was only $700 and from Istanbul to Jerusalem it was $200. Much cheaper, so that’s what we did.  There is such a thing as “Hidden City” This is where your destination is a piece of a longer flight. You would have to book 2 1-way tickets.  For instance, if you want to fly Salt Lake to Paris non-stop and it’s $1500, looking around you might find that there is a flight from Salt Lake city to Amsterdam and the first flight is a non-stop from Salt Lake City to Paris and the whole flight is only  $900, you can book that flight, pack only carry-on and get off in Paris. On the return trip, maybe you can find a trip from Paris to Los Angeles with a stop-over in Salt Lake City that is cheaper than directly flying from Paris to Salt Lake.   (As in all things worthwhile, there is generally a lot of planning, researching, and waiting to accomplish your desired goal.  Just be patient, it will pay off).  Also,  If there is a destination that you really have to visit, use a website such as Kayak, and set up a “fare-alert” to let you know when your destination gets into your price range. There are many different websites to use, when looking for airfare, our favorite just happens to be Kayak.com

3–Now that you have a place to go, how do you know what to do while you’re there?  Our favorite website is Viator.com  You tell it where you are going, and it tells you the top things to see and do in different categories.  You can book trips right off the website, or it can just give you ideas of things to do on your own.  In addition, we usually purchase an Eyewitness travel book for our destination, because we love all of the walking tours, maps, and information these books contain. TripAdvisor also has a great wealth of knowledge on things to see and do, (with advice from people who have used it) and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER underestimate the advice of locals.  Once you get to your destination, I highly recommend you ask, the hotel clerk, taxi/shuttle driver what the top things to see, do, or places to eat are.  (We have had some of our greatest travel experiences by following the advice of the locals.) Sometimes there are also local guides and tour companies that you can bargain with for a good deal on a tour while there at your destination.

4–Where to stay? We have found that traveling overseas the hotel rates become exponentially expensive. Stateside you can usually cram as many people into a room as you wish, overseas you have to book a room based on the number of occupants with the most people in one room being 4 (but usually only 2)  If you have more, you must book more than one room.    Thus, staying in hotels is more expensive.  We have opted to stay in apartments, not only is it cheaper, but it is fun living like a local. We feel it is just one more way to truly feel like a local. Plus, we like how it teaches our kids to be responsible and clean up after themselves. (No maid service)  Our favorite website for apartments is airbnb.com.  (Also when looking for an apartment, sometimes reading through the reviews you will find that the apartment owner is also a travel guide.  That is how we were able to book our travel guide in Beijing, he was the owner of the apartment we stayed in. We were able to book his services for the entire week we were there. We let him decide what things we should see and do and we had a fantastic trip!)

5–Food.  We LOVE eating street food. Not only is it cheaper, but it is the food of the  locals.  We do however, like to eat at a nicer restaurant at least once.  Most restaurants overseas add a service fee when dining in.  (The cost comparison between eating street food versus restaurant food  is about the difference between Chic-fil-A and Olive Garden).    Apartments also help save money on food costs. We enjoy being able to go to the local markets and buy our own food.  We can store water/ drinks in our fridge, cook our own meals, and have plenty of space to store snacks.   We always travel with our camelback backpack. Ours holds 1.5Liters of water and is fantastic to have all that water available without having to hold bottles in our hands. The camelback also has plenty of room for kleenex/wet wipes, hand sanitizer, travel books, maps, bandaids, medicines, and snacks.  (You really will want to carry it with you everyday. Especially for the kleenex and hand sanitizer as lots of bathrooms don’t have toilet paper or soap.  The camelback is great on the airplane as a carry-on for keeping headphones, treats, and coloring books/games for entertainment.) We also use water bottles in our camelback as well as our flavored water packages to add to the water.  This saves on having to buy drinks with our meals.  You can get 10 flavored drink packets for just $1 (each packet can flavor a 16 oz water bottle) and a can of Coke or Fanta (12 oz)  overseas can easily cost $2.

6–Saving.  As much work as it is in finding airfare, a place to stay, things to see and do, and food to eat; it’s probably just as much work if not more in actually creating a budget and sticking with it to pay for this amazing travel experience.  If you are serious about traveling, then it takes some serious time going through your finances to decide what is most important and where you want to spend your hard-earned money. (I must admit that my having a job has given us greater flexibility and a slightly better budget to work with but I know that’s not always possible for Mom’s to work as well).  We have decided what our travel budget is for the year, then we have automatic payments coming out with every paycheck into our travel fund. We use a cash-based system for our food and household items. When the money is gone-it’s gone.  Using cash has really helped determine if something is a need or a want and whether we need it now or if we can wait until the next paycheck. Sometimes it just about going to the most basic and simple way of doing things.

I hope this has been an interesting read and gets you thinking about how and where you are going to travel.  I promise you all the work is truly worth it.   I’ve been bitten by the travel bug and I hope once you start, you will be bitten as well.  This world of ours is one amazing and fantastic place, so go out and discover!

 

To recap here are some of our favorite websites:

Http://kayak.com– for finding airfare and setting fare alerts

http://viator.com–tours

http://tripadvisor.com–tours

http://airbnb–apartment and perhaps tour guide

and don’t forget to sign-up for a credit card to start earning point/miles and set-up an account with your favorite airline (or 2) to start collecting those miles.

 

Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone. Don’t stress about the future, it hasn’t arrived. Live in the present and make it beautiful.

I really always enjoy looking back over the previous year and seeing all that has happened in just one year.  I always feel so incredibly grateful for the life I have.

I am so proud of James and how amazing he is.  I truly appreciate how hard he works for our family, how incredibly smart he is, and what an amazing dad he is. I am so grateful that my girls have such a great Dad who takes such great care of them and puts so much time into teaching them, playing with them, and loving them. I am so grateful James puts up with me and loves me despite and in spite all of my quirks and flaws.  He truly is my very best friend, my rock, and my world.

I love seeing how much Lauren and Katelyn have learned and achieved over this past year. Most of this learning isn’t represented on a report card  but rather in life lessons.  I have really enjoyed watching them learn how to deal with moving, how to deal with an entirely different and new school,  how to make new friends, and learning new talents like tap and jazz dance.

I have enjoyed my new job and making new friends as well as enjoying time spent with old friends. I have enjoyed conquering new goals this past year and am looking forward to another year of stretching myself and trying new things.

Speaking of trying new things, I am so excited for our upcoming trip to Jerusalem.  But even more exciting to me will be our stop-over in Petra, Jordan.  I am excited to see the famous mountain carvings and in doing so, we will get to stay in a Bedouin Camp.  That is certainly a very new and exciting thing to me.

When I look back over the last 10 or so years of traveling I have been able to do some really amazing things like: walk the path to the Acropolis in Athens that Paul, Socrates, Aristotle, and Pythagoras have walked; I’ve seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy (and been in the church next door where  Galileo realized the Earth was in motion);  I’ve seen the Eiffel Tower sparkling at midnight and seen Da Vinci’s the Mona Lisa (and the works of many famous artists) while in Paris; I’ve seen the tomb where Christ’s body was wrapped and laid to rest for 3 days before rising from the dead while I was in Jerusalem; I’ve stood in the Blue Mosque where Constantine  worshiped when I was in Istanbul; I’ve stood on the Great Wall of China in Beijing; and I’ve done some really fun stuff like parasailing in the Cayman Islands; gone snorkeling in Hawaii; played with Sting Rays, swam with sharks, and hula danced with the locals in Tahiti;  I’ve taken a dune buggy through the banana groves in Jamaica; and floated in the Dead Sea—–and as amazing as all of these things are—my greatest accomplishments in life are the 3 people who I experience life with every.single.day.  The happiest moments of my life are the times when the 4 of us are sitting around the dinner table talking, or sitting down watching a movie while all snuggled up together. I feel the most complete joy when I see my daughters talking and laughing together as sisters, and more importantly to me, as friends. I feel completely fulfilled when James looks at me with complete love ands says, “I love you.” These are the times that I would never trade.   And lucky me, I have experienced these most truly wonderful times several times a week.  I am so incredibly grateful for my wonderful life.  I really don’t take it for granted because each day is filled with moments, and it’s those moments that truly matter most and make up my incredibly wonderful life.  I hope you have a wonderful life, filled with all those moments that truly make you happy too.   Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!

Just a few of my favorite memories from this past year:

 

“Running is a road to self-awareness and reliance-you can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet”.– Doris Brown Heritage

This quote in the title so accurately sums up how I feel about running.  When I was younger, I HATED running.  All those times I had to run the mile in P.E. I thought I was going to die.  I have to admit, I liked the idea of running but I just thought it wasn’t something I could ever become good at or enjoy doing.  But I gave it another shot when I got to college when I signed-up for a jogging class.  Every Tuesday and Thursday morning from January until May I was supposed to jog 3 miles regardless of the weather. I have to admit, sometimes my roommate and I just jogged home when it was snowing.  However, Feb. 29, 2000, I jogged all 3 miles without ever stopping!  I was so proud of myself.   But after that jogging class, I never jogged that far again.

It wasn’t until I was in my early 30’s that I decided to give running another shot.  I had a lot of friends that were runners and who loved it.  So one summer day I was talking with my neighbor, Angelina, and she mentioned that she was running 1 mile every morning. So I invited myself along.  It was rough.  But after a while it started getting easier and we started going further, until the weather turned too cold and we stopped for the season.   When spring came I decided to see if I could still run a mile.  To my complete surprise I still could.  So I started running further.  One day I decided to really push myself and see if I could go 3 miles, after all, I had done it once I could surely do it again. . .  and I DID.  I DID IT!  I ran 3 miles.  So of course, I had to brag about it on Facebook (like any normal person, right?)    To my complete delight, my friend Stephanie, asked if she could join me.  (I was pretty intimidated  especially because she had been doing 3 miles on her treadmill all winter and I had just barely run 3 miles once, but I knew she would motivate me to continue) and so we started running 3 miles together. It was the beginning of a very wonderful and rewarding friendship that I would come to cherish more than I could have imagined.

Being spring, the weather was sometimes really harsh and being new to running it was really rough, but I am SO grateful Stephanie kept me going.  Not only that, but she encouraged me to do more and to push harder.  In June our neighborhood held a 5k so we agreed to run it.  Not only did I finish it, but I came in close to the front and under 30 minutes. I was super excited!

Stephanie and I kept pushing ourselves and kept increasing our distance. Over a couple of months three miles turned into four and four turned into five miles.  Then in October, Stephanie  convinced me to run a 10k (6.2 miles).   I have to admit, I was really nervous about running not only because it was the first official race I had ever run, but also because I had never run that far before and was a little uncertain I could make it that far.  But the day of the race arrived and being nervous I started out too fast and started having a rough time. I really felt like giving up so many times.  There were times while running, that I was the only one I could see and I was really tired, but I kept telling myself I could do it.  Just one more step. Just one more step. Until finally I could see the finish line and hear the announcer calling my name and then I gave it everything I had and ran as fast as I could across the finish line.  What a mix of emotions, complete excitement for finishing, proud of myself for not giving up, but extremely tired.  I came home from the race and posted a picture of myself in my running t-shirt with my finishers medal stating, “I just ran my first and only 10k”   And I was right. . .I have only run one “official” 10k.  I didn’t know then what I was getting myself into.

Stephanie and I continued to run while the weather was nice until the winter forced me into hibernation.  But come Spring, we were back out running again.  Thankfully 5 miles seemed to be our happy ran and we continued to run our 5 miles twice a week.   During my winter hibernation, my brother convinced me to sign-up and compete in a really awesome Triathlon.   It’s called the Lunatic Triathlon because it is held at night under a lunar moon and the order of events are out of order: run, bike, swim.  So in June, I participated in my first Triathlon.  It was also such a mixture of extreme emotions as well.  I did well on the 5k run and really enjoyed it, the bike was miserable. And I mean miserable—I took an emotional beating for sure. (Come to find out, I had the brakes set, so yes, biking with the brakes on is rough, especially up hill).   The swim portion was something that I wasn’t sure of, but since it was held in a pool, I knew I could catch my breath at the sides and work my way through it.   I was completely elated to cross the finish line, hug my supportive family members, and receive my finisher’s medal.  I was grateful I had finished it, but so disappointed with my performance that I knew I would have to compete the next year to prove I could do it better.

Stephanie, being the amazing friend that she is, kept encouraging us to run more, push harder, and dig deeper.  She convinced me to run a half marathon and so we put our training into overdrive.  We started running 7 miles, 8 miles, and  two weeks before the race we ran 12 miles.  I couldn’t believe it. . . me–the non-runner had actually run 12 miles!  The day of our 1/2 marathon finally arrived and I was nervous beyond nervous.  We woke up in the ridiculously early hours of the morning to catch a bus to take us up the mountain to wait until the race started.  It was still dark and very cold—being October in the mountains it was near freezing. The reason we had chosen to even run a half-marathon was because this one was 10 miles down Big Cottonwood Canyon and then 3 miles of basically straight running into the city center.  The race starts and we started with our pacer and kept a nice pace. The scenery was breathtaking, the day was perfect, and Stephanie and I were having a great time chatting!  I actually had such a fun time running this race!  When I crossed the finished line with Stephanie I was Euphoric!  I had done it, I had just finished running 13.1 miles!!!  That race was my absolute favorite and one I was tempted to run again just because it was so much fun.

The weather turned cold, and Stephanie moved indoors to her treadmill and I just hibernated until spring.  This year, Stephanie was able to join me for the Lunatic Triathlon and our training began again.  It wasn’t until I “tried” riding with Stephanie and her sister, that I discovered my bike (that had gone untouched since the last triathlon) had the brakes very firmly applied.  After, taking off the brakes, life was SO much easier.  So we began swimming twice a week, and running and biking weekly. It was during this time that James and I decided to simplify our lives and decided to move. (Thus creating the need for this blog)  Stephanie and our training sessions were vital to my sanity during this move and transitional time in my life; it’s what kept me grounded.  However, there was a running trail close to my new apartment and I discovered just how much I enjoyed trail running. I came to need and depend on being able to “hit the trail” at least once a week.

The night of the Triathlon came and it was a beautiful night to run.  Stephanie, as usual, was tough to keep up with but she took pity on me and we finished the run together and hopped on our bikes,  we kept up a great pace and I was so very very grateful that she was next to me for the entire 12 mile ride.  (I had been having too many flashbacks to the loneliness and uncertainty of riding new terrain at night in the middle of the country from the year before.) Then came the swimming portion and thanks to Stephanie and all of our practice, I did much better on my swimming.  When I crossed the finished line this year it was a much sweeter victory!

Of course, with plenty of time in the running season left, and plenty of different races to run, Stephanie convinced me to join a relay team with her.  We would be running different lengths of runs at different times of the day and night.  We were running the Grand Teton Relay and there were 12 of us on the team, each taking turns running different sections of the run continuously for a total of 180 miles.  So we continued training and upped our milage to 8 miles to prepare for the relay.

When race time came  it was  a girls road-trip adventure and I was excited for this new adventure.   Stephanie and I drove up to Idaho for a pre-race meet and greet dinner. It was fun to meet everyone and get to know them a little before the race started.  The race was nothing like I expected, we hardly had any sleep, didn’t have much to eat, and the weather was so hot the first day and then started to rain in the evening. My first “leg” of the run was pitch-dark, in the rain, on a trail in the middle of the woods. It had a little of everything, some flat, some uphill, and some downhill but overall I felt like it was a good run.  My next leg was just before sunrise and up a steep hill with switch-backs.  It was both physically demanding yet serene looking out over the beautiful towns or the majestic Grand Tetons as the sun came up.  My last leg was 5 miles of straight and flat running in the scorching heat of the afternoon.  Thankfully, another teammate, and now-friend, Keagan ran with me.  He kept me going when I wanted to walk and our talking kept my mind off the seemingly endless miles stretching before us.  Crossing that finish line with my 11 teammates in our costumes was fun.  The entire 2-day experience was something I will never forget.  I ran in all kinds of conditions and weather with basically no sleep and little food.  It was a tough experience, but one that I treasure because of the friendships I made and the experience I gained.

Another year of running is nearly in the books as the weather is beginning to cool, but I am reflective on my running career and the many great experiences and lessons I have learned through my running. The biggest of which would be that I have met and conquered challenges that were intimidating to me but I was able to prove that I am more capable than I thought. It has given me so much confidence and I have been able to enjoy the simpler things of life as I run outdoors.  So even though I haven’t lost weight (rather the opposite), or become addicted to running, I have come to truly enjoy running!

Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child’s eye – it is very beautiful. Kailash Satyarthi

I think if our family was to be known for anything it would have to be known for food.  We LOVE food!!  We are constantly watching food shows, making our own food, and going out for a nice meal.

Lauren and Katelyn are pretty good about trying new foods and enjoying all kinds of different foods.  They love being able to help and sometimes even want to make an entire meal by themselves.   This past week the girls have been off-track so it has been fun for them to be able to create food.  Katelyn had written a recipe for tomato soup and wanted to try it out.  We went to the store, purchased all the necessary ingredients, then came home and she made the soup all by herself.  It turned out really great and we enjoyed having her tomato soup for lunch.  A few days later, it was Lauren’s turn and she made tomato soup and chicken wings.  Sometimes, it is just so fun to all be working together in the kitchen making a meal together, then being able to sit down and enjoy eating that meal together.  There is something so simple yet satisfying about the whole experience.

Katelyn’s soup recipe

Katelyn and her soup

Lauren made Salt and Vinegar potato chips–yummy

I had to try making Oatmeal cream cookies for dessert

James has always enjoyed fountain pens.  Ever since he was a child he has loved them and has collected many different kinds over the years.  He has gotten Lauren involved in this hobby and she has been able to collect a few for herself as well.  Some Saturday mornings the two of them get out James’s colored ink and create their own color of ink and fill a fountain pen with that new color of ink.  I think James enjoys the old-fashioned way of hand writing letters.  Unfortunately for James, being left-handed, he never did have the patience for developing his handwriting.  However, typewriters are a great old-fashioned alternative to hand writing a note.  James has been looking into getting a typewriter for a while now.  Just this past weekend we were having lunch downtown at a cute little deli and as we were walking we happened to pass a cute little antique shop called Hobnob.  James noticed they had a few typewriters and decided to go in and look closer.  Thankfully, they had quite a nice selection and some really well-preserved models and James was able to find the exact one he was looking for in perfect condition for an incredible price.  He was SO excited about his wonderful find.

James and Lauren mixing ink colors to find their perfect new color

Lauren is fascinated by the typewriter

James tries out his new typewriter

It was fun to show Lauren and Katelyn how the typewriter works and to watch them discover for themselves this simple old-fashioned machine.  In fact, while we were downtown we stopped in at Trolley Square Mall and went in to Tabula Rasa to look at stationary.  However, we found the hand crank music boxes and the girls were simply amazed and delighted at how simple yet fun these music boxes were. I think they stood there turning the crank and humming along with their music for about 15 minutes.  It was definitely a day of enjoying the simple pleasures of life, of remembering simple times gone by.

I love all these wonderful times with my family.  Of trying to take life and enjoy each moment as it comes.  While we can never know what to expect or how to prepare for tomorrow, we can always appreciate today and the moment we have now.

It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” ― Dale Carnegie

Life is pretty fantastic!  I think we are getting into a nice daily groove and are quite happy!  I know people move all the time and most of them move because they have to, but it felt like a pretty big risk to just up and move after 10  years of living in the same house and neighborhood just to try something else.  (After all, I brought both of my daughters home from the hospital to that house, and they learned to crawl, walk, and hit every other single milestone in that house.)  However, it was a lesson or reminder rather, how unimportant things are and just how truly important my family is.   I know for certain that I can live happily anywhere as long as I have my family.

It has been heartwarming to see just how happy James truly is here.  It seems as if the very house itself was a huge burden to him, and having sold the house that burden has now been lifted. He is so much more content, happy, and relaxed. It has been worth the move for that very reason.  (Being able to hot tub every night has some advantages as well)

My ghost walking on water. It’s a blury picture, but I thought the purple sky was pretty.

Thankfully, Lauren and Katelyn have had fun discovering what school is like for “regular” kids.  Switching from a charter school to a “regular” school has been enlightening for them and a little exciting as well.  It is fun to see them excited to choose their clothes everyday rather than just grabbing their uniform. (Although, I really did LOVE how cute they looked in those uniforms! not to mention how much less laundry I had to do). They LOVE being able to eat school lunch and to be eating in a cafeteria next to whichever friend they choose.  It melts my heart to see what good friends they are making here. Lauren has a really close friend, which is unusual for her.  Lauren is such a sweetheart (typical of being a Valentines baby) and is friends with everyone including boys. Most of Lauren’s friends up to this point have been male. Although the first week of school I was not surprised to hear a boy from her class shouting goodbye from across the playground. But it is nice to see her making a really close girl friend. This Friday they met up with another friend (that also lives in the same apartment complex as us) to play and it was so cute to see them hugging and jumping up and down squealing with delight at being together and playing.  It’s just such a girl thing to do and it melts my heart to see Lauren experience it.

Lauren and her friend playing with the hamster

Katelyn has made friends as well.  She is still in the stage of having a lot of friends and most of them being male. She has two boys that she plays with everyday. These are really nice boys who are a good influence on her. When she asks if they want to watch tv or play on the computer they say, “no, let’s go play outside”   It is so nice having her back outside and running around with friends again.

Katelyn riding bikes with her friend

Both Lauren and Katelyn have been able to participate in a dance class of their choice.  Lauren chose Tap Dance and is absolutely loving it.  She was in the beginners class for just 3 weeks, when she was promoted to the Intermediate class which was really exciting for her. I was able to just recently find another violin teacher for her so she can continue with violin lessons. She is really excited to have so many fun things happening in her life right now.

Katelyn chose to take a Jazz dance class and has had a really fun time. It is fun to have the girls show me what they are learning in class when they get home from each practice.  Even though Katelyn likes the other girls in her class she invited one of  her friends from school last year to join her and hopes she can join the class.

I am enjoying life here as well.  I am really enjoying my morning runs around the lake after dropping the girls off at school.   The highlight of my day however, is picking the girls up from school.  Each day, I park across the grassy playing field and walk to the playground to wait for the bell to ring. As soon as it rings, I know it’s only going to take about a minute before Katelyn comes out and I watch her face as she sees me standing there, she smiles, and then yells “Mom” and comes running to me and gives me the biggest hug and tells me she loves me.  It’s the greatest thing ever.  It melts my heart completely and the fact that it happens every single day makes me love it even more!  She gives me her backpack and I give her a treat and she runs off to swing while I wait for Lauren.   Lauren is usually one of the last students out of the building, but I don’t mind waiting because she is walking as slowly as she can enjoying the time to just be with and talk with her friend.  It’s so cute to see them chatting and walking out of the doors together everyday.  I give Lauren her treat (it’s something small like a Jolly Rancher, a sucker, sunflower seeds, or popcorn but it’s always a surprise and one I think they look forward to as much as I do) and then we all walk across the field together talking about their day.  I LOVE it.  For those brief 5-10 minutes it’s complete happiness.

Katelyn and Lauren walking across the field after school

It’s also been really great to be so close to James’s Mom and her husband Ted.  We try and get together every Sunday night for dinner. Sometimes we make the meal together, sometimes we watch tv afterwards or play a fun game of Croquet. Whatever we do, it’s nice to spend the time being together.

Yes, we are very happy and content  and everything has worked out well.  Life is good!  Very good.

Lauren doesn’t seem to know the difference between croquet and golf.

“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France

When we moved into our apartment here at Daybreak, part of the deal was that we would get hamsters for Lauren and Katelyn. They have been wanting pets for years.  They really wanted a dog or cat, but we would have to put down a pet deposit and make an extra monthly payment for pets and not just that but when we go on vacations we would either have to board them or have someone take care of them so we made a deal and settled on hamsters.  They are small enough to live in cages and we could have them in the apartment without having to pay extra for them. Not only that, but we can leave them for a few days at a time and they will be fine and hopefully not treat the girls any differently when we return home.

The girls have LOVED having hamsters.  They just love to hold them, or put them in their little bubbles and watch them run around the apartment.  In the very beginning poor Lauren’s hamster had “Wet Tail” a disease that required us taking him back to the pet store to have the veterinarian treat.  It took 2 weeks for her little hamster to be well enough to come back home.  Poor little Lauren cried the whole way to the pet store when we were taking him back and with tears in her eyes she looked up at me and said, “Mom, if he’s going to die, I want to be there with him until the very end. I want to make sure he has a good life for as long as he has left.”   It about broke my heart.  She is such a sweet girl.  Thankfully, all turned out well and she has loved having her “Yodel” back home.  She considers herself a Mom and me a grandma.   (Who’d have thought, me a grandma already and a grandma to a hamster at that!)  🙂

Katelyn has been beyond thrilled with her hamster. She named hers “Pipsqueak”.  She is constantly playing with him and has had to learn some lessons in how to care for a hamster the hard way.  She loves her little hamster more than any toy or anything else we could have given her. She seems happy and complete in having her own pet.

These two little hamsters, Yodel and Pipsqueak, have really changed our daily lives these past few weeks. The girls have loved them with all the love possible, cried for them, been happy and excited to see them each day after school, and have kissed them goodnight and goodbye each day.  All in all, I think they’ve been a good addition to our family and our life experience in raising children.

Yodel eating his food

Pipsqueak wants to eat

Lauren and Katelyn saying goodbye to Yodel and Pipsqueak to go off to school

“An educated man should know everything about something, and something about everything.” –C.V. Wedgwood

And since I do not know something about everything, I decided I really just can’t homeschool my girls. They deserve SO MUCH more than what I think I’m capable of teaching them.  Not only that, but this summer has been really crazy and they haven’t been able to make many friends yet, so I really felt it was in their best interest to attend a public school, the local public school in fact.

I knew I needed to get the girls registered and thank goodness I finally looked into it when I did because last Friday I discovered that school started on Monday, yes in 2 days they were going back to school.

Katelyn took the news the best and was pretty excited to go to school and make friends. She really is a pretty happy-going girl and not too much really phases her.  Poor Lauren took it the hardest.  It was a pretty rough weekend honestly.  She was SO mad at me and felt like I had completely betrayed her.  She was disappointed that we didn’t move downtown and now she was not going to be home-schooled.  She really felt like we were taking everything away from her.  Thankfully, I had done school shopping earlier, but we took them shopping for new school shoes, backpacks, and school supplies and she seemed excited and happy, but when she noticed I had seen her smiling and happy she quickly frowned and said she was still mad at me.

After being in a charter school for 5 years there were a few differences in our new school.  First off, our new school is a year-round school.  We are looking forward to longer breaks during the year.  Next, the girls were SO excited to not have to wear uniforms. They were very happy to be able to wear “normal” clothes each day. I think truthfully being able to eat in a cafeteria (instead of their classroom at their desk), was almost just as cool and exciting as wearing normal clothes. Every day on the way home from school, the girls love to talk about what they ate for lunch that day. I’m always interested because I didn’t have to make and pack it for them–so much less stress for me too!  Another plus, is that their school is only a 3 minute drive or an 8 minute walk.  It is really nice being able to walk to and from school (the girls aren’t as excited about that as it is still pretty hot outside. I’m going to drive them until it cools down a little and then we’re back to walking).  One drawback is that in the charter school they were constantly changing classes and teachers and it made the day go by very quickly, at this school they are in the same classroom with the same teacher all day.  Lauren’s biggest complain is that the day drags by so so slowly.  They are enjoying the more laid-back atmosphere  and basically having no homework each night.  I am really hoping that the education is still great and that they are not missing out or stagnant in their education. I think it will be good for them to get to experience a year at a “regular” elementary school. (It is really crazy for me to realize that Lauren only has one more year after this one in elementary. I can’t believe how quickly she will be in a middle school/junior high school.)

Our first week went pretty well and I am happy that we are one week closer to our first break. (just 5 weeks left) I do think in all honesty there were some good times. Here are a few pictures from the week:

Katelyn at her new desk. I had forgotten how fun and cute regular classroom look!

Lauren at her new desk. She even managed to smile for me! 🙂 (even though she refused to do something cute with her hair)

Discussing what they had for lunch while walking home.

Happy to be finished for the week!

Lauren and her friend walking out of school. (Lauren makes friends quickly and I’m not surprised to see she has friends already—including boys that say goodbye to her)

Walked the few blocks to a local restaurant to dinner to celebrate our first week. Katelyn wanted me to take a picture of her “stretchy cheese” on her burrito.

We took a stroll through the neighborhood trails to the park and Lauren picked me these flowers.

James and I sitting on a park bench watching the girls swing.

Enjoying a beautiful summer night after surviving the first week at school.