Easter Fun In The Sun!

My mom would always take us girls out for an awesome Easter egg hunt in the beautiful outdoors. I have a lot of good memories of Easter and it has become one of my favorite holidays. I hope to create some great memories of Easter with my own family.

This year we went to Sedona with some good friends who have three young teenage kids. Their kids helped hide over 150 Easter eggs for our kids. It was a blast! Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather. A few of us even had enough guts to jump off a rope swing and land into the freezing cold creek. Myself was not included!

Road Trip

Arches National Park

Never ending open land

as far as my eye can see

Draws me in, and makes me wonder

is my soul as free

To stretch as high as a mountains top

and be as bold as a canyons steep slot

To run as swiftly and constantly

as a rivers flowing stream

Or to stand as strongly and unafraid

as the lonesome tree

It makes me wonder where I would be

if my soul was as free

as the land that goes and goes

as far as the eye can see

I was inspired to write this little poem on the drive from Flagstaff to Moab, Utah. Ever since I was a little girl I have been fascinated by the amount of undeveloped land in the Southwest. I love being able to drive for miles and miles without seeing one sign of human civilization.

My family decided to come with me to Utah to support me as I ran the Moab half-marathon. The trip ended up to be fun although we wished that we had one more day to play since the marathon ended up eating up a lot of our time.

When I first signed up for the marathon I was so mad at myself for doing it. I felt like I didn't have enough time to train and I decided that I didn't really enjoy running. In the end I am so glad I did it. I have found a new appreciation for running and it has gotten me in shape for all the other activities I enjoy in the summer. Not to mention getting my body ready for swimsuit season! I can also check off another one of my New Years goals which was to finish the race in under two hours. I came in at 1hr 56 min..

The trip to Moab was the perfect way to finish off all the hard work of training. The condo and friends we stayed with were amazing, the drive was beautiful, and my little Noah learned how to swim! He is so excited! Hopefully I can post some more pictures as my friends forward them to me.

Winters End

I know by this time of year most people are ready for the snow to quit falling and the sun to start shining, but this year I am sad to see Old Man Winter go. I think it's a combination of a few things. One is that I reached my goal of snowboarding six times, and the amazing powder has just left me jonesing for more. Also, because of the training I have been doing for a half-marathon my family has spent a lot of weekends in Sedona. It has been great to spend one day a week on trails without snow and parks where our kids can play. It has definitely kept the cabin fever away.

I am so grateful this winter has been good. Not only for the land which so desperately needed the moisture, but for me who couldn't be pleased more to not have been pregnant in a year where the snow has fallen generously.