Spring Break in Utah

AKA The Perfect Week for Snow!

Actually, I'm really happy that it ended up snowing while we were there. Lily was able to play in the snow, and Mike and I were reminded that we LOVE Houston weather! We drove to Utah and it was the worse 25 hours of our lives (I'm sure the littles feel the same way!). We won't be doing that more than once a year. While in Utah we:

Said goodbye to Dane, who left to serve an LDS Mission in Latvia for the next two years,

 

 

Visited the Living Aquarium,

Celebrated my 29th birthday,

Played in the snow,

And went hiking in the mountains.

We had such a fun time with family while we were there. I'm so thankful we were able to see Dane one last time before he left, and also Hal and Samantha who may be leaving for the Peace Corps in June.

Pushing 30 ... almost.

Lily drew my portrait. Notice the "blah-ness" of my expression?

My upcoming birthday has made me reflect on this past year and boy, I'm not liking what I remember. I feel like my body, brain, and emotions have all betrayed me. I don't want to go into specifics, because who wants to come to my pity party? No one, not even me! I know aging is something we all have to deal with, so I am looking for ways to cope. I'm trying to eat better. I'm trying to exercise regularly. I'd like to be sleeping better (dang James, still nursing at night!). I'm trying to feed my soul with the scriptures. I want to learn to do new things (doll-making and wood-working and home-schooling and gardening and knitting and this secret handshake) to get my brain working again. Of course, trying to learn all of those things at once will surely send me spiraling into a never ending black-hole of "I can't do anything right", so I am trying to prioritize.
Sidenote: I love to prioritize and make lists. More than I actually like to *do* things. Maybe I should work on that too.

Attack of James buddy

So please, send some encouraging thoughts my way. I know I'm too young to be having a mid-life crisis (I better live past 58!), but I'm having a hard time talking myself out of one.

At least I'm not this guy. Poor middle-aged latino man riding a chicken :(