Fall Baking

Now that my favorite season has arrived,

I can get started on a few of these...

That Kind of Day

There are those

gloomy days

when you just need

some pretty flowers

to make

you

smile.

In My Heart and On My Mind

Yesterday marked one of those anniversaries

that you don't mark on your calendar,

but somehow insists on creeping in

and parking it front and center of your mind

year after year.

Yesterday marked four years since I said, "Goodbye" to my mom:

four years since I've seen her face,

four years since I've held her hand,

and four years since I've heard her voice.

The time has passed in an instant...

Another of God's little gifts to those of us who grieve.

50 Miles

I am a runner.

I am not a cyclist.

But, when you are continuously being plagued by injuries, you realize maybe it's time to change up your workouts.

And, so I took up biking.

Biking is far more complicated than running.

A runner laces up her shoes, turns on the Ipod, and goes.

A cyclist must gear up: get into the spandex and shoes, put on the helmet and sunglasses (must be over helmet straps...some cycling unwritten rule?), and fill your jersey pockets with phone, tube, flat repair, gels, and bars.

You must check your bike, fill your tires, and load up your bottles.

Then, there is the application of chamois cream, but I'll spare you those details.

It's just a lot of prep work- not what I'm used to.

Then, there's the high.

Oh, the high.

Runners know all about it.

You know when you feel it and I've felt it on many runs.

I've yet to feel it on the bike, but I'm not giving up.

Today, I set out and accomplished 50 miles.

No high,

but I'm pretty darn proud of myself just the same.

Back to School

Braces

I could barely coax him out of bed this morning.

He DID NOT want today to come.

But, after I told him he looked like a teenager, he decided to embrace his new look.

Basketball Camp

Max has been waiting for months to go to the Suns' Basketball Camp.

It was his dad's birthday gift for him back in February.

Well, we got him packed up and prepped him for 4 nights away from home.

We drove him up to Prescott and dropped him off with a lot of really rowdy little boys and VERY TALL grown men.

He was so excited!

Then, came the phone call in the middle of the night.

The stomach flu has really bad timing.

I jumped in the car to rescue my heaving boy.

There's always next summer.

Countdown

"We spend the first twelve months on our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up."

-Phyllis Diller

I am relating to the above quote, which tells me that it is time for the kiddos to get back in school.

My three sweet angels have had a little too much together time and are ready for a much needed separation.

Only 11 more days.

We can make it.