Wyatt and Hank just got new shoes and Wyatt wanted me to take a picture of his favorite cars shoes before I threw them away. Well I couldn't take just one picture. These boys are so adorable. Their feet, their shoes, their crazy hair. I love everything about them.
Check out my photo blog if you want some more of their cuteness.
I finally set up a home office. Everything was under $100 until I eventually buy a huge cinema display (screen to hook up to my laptop). The desk is out of Hank's reach and neither child can get into the chair. I can stand and work at the computer, which I often do and I have a great view of the back yard. I already feel more organized and productive.
Today we ran 11 miles and about 2.7 of it was uphill, the rest flat or downhill. That 2.7 was hard, I must say. I had great energy today. I think it was a combination of me sleeping 7.5 uninterrupted hours last night (very rare) and eating the magic combination of half a banana and a no bake cookie. I felt so good. I started to feel a little achy in my knee the last half mile.
Now several hours later, I feel tired. I took a quick nap and I'll probably be a little sore. But with the half marathon approaching, I'm glad today went well. I just need a few more miles in me to enjoy race day. It was so pretty this morning. It was above freezing and only a few patches of ice.
I shot some more jewelry for Leslie Lewis. Here are a few more things I learned.
1. White is a hard background to work with. It takes some extra editing to brighten it and a smooth white would be easier to work with than a textured white.
2. Setting up to shoot in front of our front door to get the light from the storm door, makes it hard to open the door when someone stops by.
3. That dark grey rock above is so round. I mean really round. I'm so glad I lifted it from Devereaux beach in Marblehead. The rock on the bottom is so flat and from the same beach. Willie and I would spend hours walking up and down that beach looking at and stealing some great rocks.
4. I think I need some more equipment if I ever get into this kind of photography. I was using a disposable casserole dish as a reflector and it's kind of uneven. I think they probably make something that works better. Also, using the music stand to hold the background is a little tippy.
I'm trying to recount our experiences through pictures on my blog instead of facebook but I'm not sure if I just went totally overboard with pictures. It's so hard to choose. So we went to Utah for a long weekend and had a great time. The two pictures above where on our drive out of town.
A new road trip hobby is to take pictures with my iphone and use apps like camera bag and Lo-Mob to play with them.
Amy and Brian bought this condo in Midway. I knew it would be nice but I had been too busy to internalize just how nice, so I was overwhelmed with excitement when we got there. It's the lap of luxury. We are so lucky that Amy and Brian are so generous.
Poor Hank started to get sick on Sunday and just kept getting worse. Today we found out he has two ear infections and a small pneumonia in his lung. It is so rare that Hank sits still and he just wanted to sleep on us and cuddle. We ate at Calder and Starr's house and Willie and I went to Ikea to get a bed for Hank and pick out my new home office.
David took Wyatt skiing for his first time. He loved it and can't wait to go again.
Two of the local hotels in Midway have ice formations. I spent some time taking pictures of them as the sun was going down.
I took so many pictures of Stella. You can see them at sallydefordphotography.blogspot.com
Here are a few great things I didn't take pictures of:
Watching a ton of 30 rock with Willie.
Running 8 miles with my good friend and Moab half running mate, Cary
A wonderful dinner with friends at my mom's house
A visit from with my Dad and Jewel
Relaxing and hanging out with family.
Yesterday we had a pleasant surprise. Our good friends from law school dropped by on their way back from Boulder to Orem. Of course my house was a disaster, but with drop by friends, you have to not let it bother you. I remember when we were first becoming friends with the Waites back in Boulder, Willie and I dropped by their apartment unannounced, and we realized that our friendship had moved to a new level: we were now drop by friends. These are the kind of friends you wouldn't hesitate to call in the middle of the night if something was wrong.
They were only hear for a few hours but with old friends you start right where you left off. We really miss living close to them. I have so many memories of hikes, talks in our apartments, church activities, miscarriage scares, miscarriages, hospital visits (we both had preemies), playing guitar and so much laughter. Here are some pictures of their family. Please note, all three of these beautiful children were in-vitro babies. What a miracle!
Becca's name was drawn first so she can choose which star she wants then I will choose randomly for Starr and Abby. That was fun. Thanks to everyone that wanted a star. Maybe I'll do this again. I do love making them, though I burned my finger on the soldering iron the other night and it hurt so bad.
A long time ago, maybe even a year ago, I won a beautiful photo print off of Emilie Campbell's blog. You could only enter the give-away if you vowed to do your own give away. So in order to be true to my word, I'm giving away these three stars.
Here's how it works. Leave a comment with your name. Then I'll write your name on a piece of paper and my beautiful children will draw the three names. Then I'll send it to you in the mail. Anyone can enter, even if you already have one of my stars. I won't require that you give anything away on your blog, but consider it. It makes the world a better place. You can hang the star in a window, give it away, save it as a christmas decoration, etc. We'll draw names tomorrow evening.
I started working out with a trainer around Thanksgiving and it is so fun. Donnie Homles, otherwise known as Coach, is my trainer. He is one of the football coaches at Mesa state and a former NFL football player and competitive body builder. He works us so hard, but is very positive and encouraging. He does strength training with us M, W and F and we are responsible for our cardio. He has me on a high protein diet (that's a post for another time, yuck) I took a few pictures today. It was hard to take great pictures and work out, so these will have to do.
This is the only action shot I could get because I was on a weight machine and when you are on bands you have to do 8 extra reps. So I had an 8 rep break to snap a picture. I like how Donnie always acts like it's hard for him too, when he doesn't have any weights or bands. He just wants us to feel him right there with us.
Behold the water bottle and protein powder. I always have a lot of water and I take the protein powder right after I finish weights. You can also see my ring in the picture. Sometimes I forget and wear rings and it really pinches when doing pull ups and holding on to bars. I thought a picture of the treadmill would be appropriate. This is where I do most of my cardio. I've run 7 miles on one of these treadmills, but I don't prefer to run long distances on it. I prefer to watch The Daily Show, E! news or Las Vegas (classy I know) and run about 4 miles. On weight lifting days I walk uphill and stay in my fat burning zone for about 20 minutes before I go home. I also like spin and kickboxing for cardio but since the Moab half is coming up, I just run, which I enjoy.
Some people think women get bulky when lifting heavy weights. Donnie says that only happens if you are eating to gain mass. One of his sayings is, "if you eat like an ox you'll look like an ox, if you eat like a bird, you'll look like a bird." Genetics plays into it also, some women bulk up with certain muscles. Thankfully, my muscles don't bulk up, they just get stronger.
Here's the gang. Helen is on the left. She is probably my age, if not younger, and has a few young children. Mo is next. Her oldest children are a little younger than me. She and her husband own several restaurants in Grand Junction and she just got back from Hawaii. Jody is to the right of me. Her youngest child is my age. She is a mountaineer and often climbs fourteeners with her husband. She is going to India at the end of the week. Crystal is next. She has elementary age kids and grew up in Grand Junction. These ladies are super strong!
Here is Donnie instructing. He uses the timer around his neck, always has a typed out schedule and clipboard for us and threatens to bring his whistle if we are moving too slow between stations. Here are some of his favorite sayings:
Don't cheat yourself, treat yourself.
Last set best set, it's the set that will make you grow.
No pain, no gain and your body remains the same.
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