I remember reading a blog a while ago where the writer compared life to the Kentucky Derby, what she wrote has stuck with me. Basically, her analogy was that each horse in our race represents something that we value or important things that take up our time. We put our best horses in the race, but the fact of the matter is, when one or two horses are in the lead, it means that others are falling behind.
There are heaps of responsibilities that come along with being the mom and running a household. Thankfully, there are also outlets that help refuel us when we're stretched to the limit. Blogging has been one of those outlets for me at times, but as of late, my blogging horse has fallen behind. My house cleaning horse has taken the lead a few times (very briefly, and usually only when I know company is coming), only to be passed up by more enticing horses like crafting, reading and downtime with family. I've thought a lot about all of this as the new year has been upon us. It's a constant struggle to keep up and make time for everything that is important in life. When I make time for things like reading or exercising, the laundry and dishes inevitably fall behind. This time of year is especially challenging with the onslaught of birthdays, holidays and basketball games. It's all a delicate balance that is forever shifting, and I never feel like I can quite get it right.
Like most of the world, I made my list of resolutions for the new year and, surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), catching up and keeping up the blog was nowhere on the list. However, my girls have been gently reminding me that they love to read it and that it's time to wrap up 2011 and order a new book. Somehow, I need to rekindle my passion for blogging our family memories because I know they are fleeting and if I neglect to record them now, they will fade and be forgotten. So, while I attempt to play serious catch-up on here in the coming weeks, I'll be crossing my fingers that no one stops by unannounced to see my mountainous laundry piles and the hazardous state of the playroom.
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Labor Day weekend (after Owen's birthday and the accident), we had ourselves a little camp-out at the ranch. I'm using the term camp-out very loosely here, the only people who actually camped-out were Chris and Grace since they were the brave souls who slept out on the trampoline that night. The rest of us slept snugly inside in nice warm beds in rooms with adjoining bathrooms (doesn't exactly qualify as camping out).
I feel the need to preface these pictures with a disclaimer stating that we had a bit of a traumatic weekend. We were run over by the drunk Friday evening, we stayed up all night Friday shook up and watching kids sleep to make sure their head injuries didn't become severe. We had family over and celebrated Owen's birthday Saturday, we also met with police Saturday and they took more pictures related to the accident. I stayed up till 2am Saturday night writing a detailed statement for the police, taught my young women's lesson Sunday and met again with police after church. After the meeting with police Sunday night, we headed for the ranch. The girls packed their own clothes, I packed Owen's clothes and somehow completely spaced packing any clothes for Ava so she wore Owen's clothes and looked like a little orphan child.
Those magic ranch trees didn't disappoint on Monday morning.
After breakfast in the trees, Emma blew bubbles for Owen and Ava to chase.
They played in the sandbox for a bit....
(I'm not trying to get fancy with the black and white here, this shot was just really overexposed and I was simply trying to save it.)
Thank you, Lila, for sticking your big black head in my picture.
After playing in the sandbox, we headed over to watch the menfolk pull tree limbs out of the creek.
Lily found a cat.
Emma found a ladybug.
Grace found a toad.
We all got a lesson in proper toad holding technique. If you hold them gently (so as not to squish them) by the tummy, they can't jump away.
Then we set him free.
This is the neighbor bull. He made me question the strength of the fence when he kept eyeing us.
The next adventure of the day was a ride in the back of the Bryce's old Scout down the the fish hatchery. Ava snuggled Grace along the way.
We got a VIP tour of the fish hatchery led by my mom. She worked there when she was a teenager, and is quite the fish expert.
I'm taking a breather (because 30+ pics in one post is already overkill) and will be back with the rest of the pics from our ranch camp-out tomorrow. Please try to contain your excitement until then.
