Idaho Adventures

Spencer, Cooper and I visited mom & dad over our Mid-Winter Break--not Spring Break, that's the end of March, but mid-winter break because you can never have enough breaks from schooling in the Seattle Public Schools. Anyway, we flew from here to Boise, rented a car and drove to Pocatello where we were able to spend a little time with Karen and also, bonus, Celiac! It great to spend time with both. Monday we drove from Poky to Mackay and spent the rest of the time with mom & dad. The boys played in the snow....
Went sledding down the Mine Hill almost every day, often accompanied by Kendra, who is a little speed demon on the sled!

This is me just moments before my sled flew out from under me and I landed, really hard, on my tailbone after only going about 1/2 way down the hill and on my first run no less--ouch. With tears almost coming to my eyes, I slowly made my way down the rest of the hill and that was the end of my sledding escapades for the trip. My tailbone is still trying to recover!

The day after the sledding "accident", Randy took the boys & I snowmobiling up Pass Creek. I rode behind Spencer and Cooper rode by himself. I think both boys were pretty proud of being able to drive the snowmobiles themselves. It was a beautiful day and a really nice ride despite my sore tailbone.

All and all it was a fun trip and a nice visit. I am glad we made the trip!

(Sorry we missed you Amy. I was mixed up about when our flight left Boise and we had to leave sooner! See you this summer though)

Budding Photographer

As you can see by the name on each of these photos, they were taken by Spencer. This is what he has been doing in his spare time lately. All of these were taken inside the house. He takes them and then goes on Picasa or this other website and maniupulates them. These are just a few from the last couple of days. I think he has a really good eye for someone who knows next to nothing about photography other than point & click. I think they are really clever and interesting, but then I am his mom I guess. I am hoping to find some kind of photography camp for him this summer but so far haven't found anything online. Will keep looking since it apparently is something he is very interested in. I definitely think he has potential!

On a completely different note, I guess the romance is over. Tucker informed us tonight that he broke up with Caitlin. Didn't seem too cut up about it. Says he wants to "focus on school right now". Whatever.

Lethargy vs. Motivation

I have been thinking that maybe I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder). You know the one where you get the blues when the weather turns gray. (Like that ever happens in Seattle--ha). In thinking about it, it seems like every year around November I start to get blue, lose motivation to do anything (and I mean anything). It generally seems to last through January and some into February. Now I don't know for sure, but it seems pretty suspicious that I get this way nearly every year.

This year I was cruising with going to the gym. I could get my sorry behind out of bed at least 3x a week for serious exercise. My main motivation was that I would say to myself "You're going to Hawaii, get your butt out of bed" or "You're going to Hawaii you don't need that cake/brownie/candy, etc" This worked really well until I actually WENT to Hawaii in October. After I came home I had nothing to tell myself for motivation, but managed to still get to the gym at least twice a week and still 3x sometimes. Then November hit and it got worse and just kept going that way.

It's not just the gym, it's getting out of bed, leaving the house to go anywhere, doing any kind of housework. I just want to curl up in the chair with a book or worse, just lie on the couch doing nothing. How pathetic is that.

It's not like I wasn't seeing results from going to the gym which has sometimes been the case with exercise things I have done. You feel like you are working your butt off and no butt is coming off!! I was actually seeing some butt coming off (not to be crude but there it is). I WAS seeing results and feeling good about it all. Then came November, then December and January.

So here it is February, the weather has been really nice here in Seattle. Still rather gray, but the days are getting longer and we are seeing some sunshine. My gym membership is up for renewal and I am hesitant to renew it in case this lethargy, inertia, whatever it is continues. Or maybe that's just the motivation I need. (That and the fact that I can tell I am totally losing what I worked so hard for all last year!)

SAD, well who really knows but it seems mighty suspicious to me that my motivation seems to be going up with the lengthening of days and improvement in the weather!

(Not my picture BTW, just one I found when I googled seattle weather pictures)