Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

It's beautiful out -- it seems that spring has finally arrived. The sun is shining and the trees are starting to bud green, the grass is getting green, flowers are blooming and weeds are shooting up. Yard work time is here, too. I can hear my neighbor mowing his lawn and last Sunday I helped Erik rake up the dead grass in our yard after he thatched. I'm so happy its finally nice and not all grey and gloomy. Its still cool at night which is great, I love the balance and it helps the snow pack melt slower, which prevents flooding and helps hold off the fire season a bit longer.

I was able to run outside yesterday and it was perfect -- I actually did 5 miles without keeling over! Going outside is great anyway, I love having a view and around here there is all sorts of "wildlife"--yesterday I saw prairie dogs and a big ol' water crane. I went into the run w/ the goal of running 30 minutes out, then turning around to run about 30 back, I also had a distance in mind and was hoping I'd make it that far but wasn't betting on it. I got out there to my distance marker and was right at 30 minutes, and then the way back I didn't get too terribly tired even though a good portion is uphill. I started to think that maybe, just maybe, I can run the half marathon and actually enjoy it because I really did enjoy my run yesterday. This is huge for me, I've always dreaded the long runs mainly because I didn't have the confidence that I could do it, but that is changing and I really like it! :-) My legs are definitely tired today and a little sore, but not bad and my shin splints are nonexistent, which is a big deal for me too! I think I might actually be able to fulfill my half-marathon goal this summer! Yay!

Even though its beautiful out, this is what my kids are doing right now, lol...

Thats okay with me, we've had a busy week and they deserve some down time. Friday night we had a Cinco De Mayo party here -- we had five couples besides ourselves and all their kids here so it was a full house but it was really fun and surprisingly low stress for me. I think everyone was so low key and it was nice out so the kids mostly played outside which helped a ton--when the kids are all inside and being wild I can barely handle it! The food was wonderful and the company was great, so it was a good night.

Then yesterday Erik was home, which is unusual, so we tootled around the house a bit and then finally went downtown to this big play area called Dragon's Hollow which is right next to the Carousel. The girls love playing there and we met up with one friend and her kids and then ended up running into another couple we know there as well. It was good catching up, we hadn't' seen them in a while. Erik and I decided after that to drop the kids off at Lil Griz and then we went to dinner just the two of us. It doesn't usually matter where we eat, but the opportunity to just sit and talk without interruption or having to help a kid eat is a welcome break! Our dates aren't super exciting, either, before we ate (which was Outback, gotta love their steaks) we went to REI to buy some new plastic water bottles since I pretty much cleaned out our stock after reading about the health concerns with the #'s 3, 6 & 7.

Then after dinner we picked up the kids and came home to hang out a bit as a family. After the kids went to bed we watched "Into the Wild". I had read the book back in college and was really impressed with how well done the movie was. Its kind of a sad story, how he realized that happiness is only real when shared but it was too late for him to share it. Erik kept commenting about how selfish the kid was, leaving his family like that and not even contacting them, and I'd have to agree. Anytime you put yourself first to the harm of those around you, it is selfish. True, he had a lot of hard feelings towards his parents, which is understandable, but he still acted pretty selfishly.
Okay, so my girls have been asking me if we could re-do their rooms. Kera's wish I understand--right now its very much a baby room, decorated to the theme of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and she had no choice in the matter, obviously. But Lindsay wants hers done too, because it wouldn't be "fair" if Kera's was done and not Lindsay's (insert eye roll) but her room is already geared to a little girl and I don't have a huge desire to re-do it, so I'm not sure what to do. I also need some ideas---I don't' want to have to redo bedding or curtains unless it means dyeing them a different color (I don't sew and don't want to have to buy new stuff when the old stuff works fine) so I'm kind of limited to painting the walls and/or furniture. I need to go to the paint store and just get some samples to bring home to have them help me pick out a color, but there are a couple of trouble areas....
Lindsay's room -- she has this little cubby hole area, which right now is all purple while the rest of her room is only purple on the lower half with a cool white chair rail my dad put in. So I'm thinking I would just paint over the purple with a different color that is still in her bedspread and then just match it to the ugly yellow dresser (or I could look for a new one or better used one) and her little tv table & chair. I am really hesitant to put in two colors, above & below the chair rail...what do you think?



















Then there is Kera's room: She's got a little window seat area which is painted a dark blue with yellow stars stenciled over it. Her curtains are dark blue and her bedspread is alight green. She also has yellow stars stenciled all around the top part of the wall, but the yellow is light, it would be easy to cover. She'd like a princess/garden room, which the green comforter totally matches, but the blue curtains feel a bit dark for that, but then again I'm not sure how I'm gonna cover the dark blue in the window area. Plus the pillow in the window area is all stars and yellow, I'd definitely have to recover it. :-( So any talented decorator friends have any ideas for me? lol













Well, today is an exciting day, our first church service in our new location. We're renting space from a Baptist church out on Blue Mountain. Its a beautiful location, closer to us (lol) and a gorgeous new church. It will be a refreshing new start of sorts. We've had to change our service time to evening, though, but that's fine with me, more time to play or camp on the weekend and still get back to town in time. (Like right now Erik is snowmobiling, taking advantage of the snow before its gone). But I need to get a few things done before that, so I'll close out for now. Phew, I'm a bit long winded today, huh? :-)