A Mothers' Windowsill

I imagine that all mothers' window sills look something like this. Am I right? My kids have always brought me flowers (usually dandelions or the neighbor's flowers they are not supposed to pick) and asked me to put them in a cup with water. I'll leave them in the window as long as I can and then secretly throw them out. Well, now that my kids are a little older (little being the key word here, as they still bring me weeds and stolen flowers--except now some of them are actually from my own yard!) they put them in cups with water by themselves and surprise me with them. They are SO excited to watch me discover them and tell them "they are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen" and that "I'm so lucky that I get to look at them everytime I do the dishes"! I'm sure this is one of those things I'll miss when my kids are all grown up and my house is spotless and stolenflowerless/weedless! Oh, and I'll miss these precious little faces too. . . .
Now I'm just wondering if I'll miss them getting out of bed 10 times after I've tucked them in?!

Camping. . ."the Johnson way"!

OK, seriously--who needs the mountains? My kids and Colby were thrilled with our backyard!we roasted marshmallows and made smores over a little camping burner (much easier--and safer--than a campfire!) we had all the blankets and pillows we could need/want and the kids slept great!Dave, Danny, and Doug made us all breakfast on the burner and the grill!and we ate it on the back porch (Mark wanted to go inside to get warm, but we insisted he stay out and eat because, after all, we were camping!)Then we went fishing. . .at the Trout Farm where you're basically GUARANTEED to catch a fish! And CATCH fish, we did!!! Kyra caught the biggest one at 5 LBS! Darci caught the first one (with grandpa's help), Mark caught the most (3) and Colby had the most bites that got away, but also caught the last one! Yay, everyone came home happy!Our catch totalled over 20 lbs of trout! Check out the size of these fish. Whew!We returned home and cooked some of the fish. The kids loved eating what they had caught. Kyra especially wanted to make sure she was eating the fish she caught!I'd say our first "campout" was a success! I'm sure we'll do it again. Special thanks to Doug and Evelyn and Danny and Colby for joining us on our campout and grandpa Mark for coming fishing with us. We loved having family to share this with!

Some misc. Funnies

So, I downloaded a full gig worth of pics and vids tonight and came across a few that made the kids and I laugh and laugh, and LAUGH--these are usually things the kids come to me and ask me to take a picture of or to record, so I forget about them until I download and edit everything. Darci wanted to know why I was crying and I had to explain to her that sometimes things are so funny that they make you cry--she REALLY didn't get that! Anyway, just thought I'd share them with you, I'm still laughing, and it probably isn't really that funny, I'm probably just tired, but whatever. Enjoy anyway. :)

my little rockers!root boost trial gone bad! hee hee (sorry Irene)

OK, so this was after working with it, not too shabby! She's adorable, right? :)

don't even ask about this one, because "I DON'T KNOW?!!" (whose kids are these anyway?) lol BTW, it's even funnier if you watch it about 10 times in a row!

Yes, that is me...(I guess I may have to take a little credit for the silly girls above) running the 5K last weekend (and maybe being a little too excited about it)!

Here's how Darci and Elizabeth do the slip-n-slide:

OK, so on a "not so funny" note, my dad and Mary gave us a kitchen table that they couldn't use anymore. I LOVE IT! Here's our kitchen--from DRAB to FAB!! (I know I'm corny)

Change. . .What brings it on?!

So, I've been jogging about 3 miles a day now and I'm loving it!! Yes, you heard me right. . . JOGGING--ME--3 MILES!!! (yes, this is Liesl writing this post) Who knew I could/would ever get out and jog, let alone LOVE it? I'm not sure exactly what got into me, but one morning I woke up and announced to Dave "I think I want to try running this morning". (I wish you could have seen the look on his face. . .it was awesome!) I didn't know what to wear, where to go, or how far to run, but (with a little confused encouragement from Dave) I headed out. Next thing I know, it's been a month and I've been doing it almost every day since my first urge to try it! I cut some old capri's into shorts, dug out a few T's from my drawers, bought a new pair of running shoes that I transferred my inserts (made by my awesome bro-in-law) into, and Wah-Lah. . .I have something to wear! I love going out first thing in the morning while the kids and Dave are still in bed. But what I love the most is going with friends! Anything is fun when you have someone to chat with, right? Well, maybe that is the key for me. . .I have actually gone a few times by myself, but I've mostly been lucky enough to have friends who can go with me. The only problem I'm having is my knee is swelling/hurting a little. I learned quick that I really need to warm up before and after running. That has helped a bit, but. . . ! I hope it (my knee) won't stop me from being able to jog! So, what changed? How did this happen? I really don't know, but I'm really glad it did. . .I just hope I won't wake up one morning and decide to quit! lol No, but seriously--has this ever happened to you? I mean, with trying anything new? Do you just wake up one day and "feel" like doing something you've always despised? I'm just curious what might happen next. . . !

So, over-all, I've been more active this year than I have in the past 10 years (since I had my first kid)! I've gone skiing again, started running AND working out with my sisters every day (arms or legs), AND I just went hiking for the second time this spring AND I LOVED THAT TOO! What has gotten into me? Is it just that I CAN now that my "babies" are older? Is it that I just turned 35 and realized that I'm not getting any younger? Is it that I'm going to Fitness Ridge in June? I suppose it's a little of everything. . .whatever it is though, I just want to make sure it doesn't go away as fast as it came! Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm surprised that I'm being active--I've always loved playing lots of sports--it's just the activities that I'm choosing to do now! Running, hiking, and weights/intervals? What the. . .?! Anyway, if you're still with me after all that rambling, I hope you enjoy the pics of my (5 1/2 hour) hike today. . .IT WAS AWESOME!

Here we are just heading out

it got pretty steep in some places

Hawk and Hunter were troopers--they ran circles around us for the first half hour!

We had some great views of the valley.

And some gorgeous views of the hills!