Dino"soar" Days

Mother's Day weekend was also Dino"soar" Days here in town! They combined some already fun things our community traditionally does this weekend (like the dino 5k/ half marathon and the fireman's breakfast) with some new events: hot air balloons, vendor/craft market downtown, chalk art festival, live bands, etc...) it was a fun weekend that I hope becomes a new tradition!

I started the morning by running the Dino 5K. I wasn't going to run it at all, but my friend had an extra registration her mother wasn't going to use. It was a free (for me) to run the race and I'd get a cool medal and a shirt out of the deal, so why not! Because I was running under someone else's name and age category, I came in first place in the 65+ division! It will probably be the only time I come in first place in any running event!

While I was running Blake took the kids to the fireman's pancake breakfast. 

Then I met Blake back at home and we headed off to the kids' soccer games.

We grabbed some lunch and went downtown to check out the vendor booths and the chalk art festival by the library. Blake's mom did this first one.

 My favorite chalk art was this one done to advertise the production of Into the Woods that our outdoor theater company is putting on this summer. Super excited for it!

 They had a spot for the kids to join in with their own chalk art creations.

 Blake's mom was asked to paint a dinosaur themed mural on the wall of a local business. This is her creation and we loved posing in front of it!

 We woke up early to see the hot air balloons launch. it was too windy for any of them to fly, but we loved seeing the teams of people working together to unfold and set up the balloons. It's a lot of work!

Sunday morning, the kids wanted to look extra nice because it was Mother's Day and they were singing in church. It was the first time all 3 of my kids got to sing primary songs in sacrament meeting.

 I love my kids and the joy they bring me. Motherhood is hard but so rewarding. I hope my kids always know how much I love them and how I'm trying my best to be a good example to them. I can definitely say I appreciate my own mother and all my grandmothers before me so much more for their examples and perseverance in making sure we all turned out okay!

Storymakers Conference

 I love the Storymakers Writing conference. I first attended 4 years ago and it's been an amazing experience going there and learning from professionals in the writing industry. I've always enjoyed writing, but it's been a passion that I've kind of kept to myself. Since I stopped teaching school full-time a few years ago, I've tried to make more time to write and have actually written 2 completed books. Going to the conference is a way for me to recharge my creative juices, being among others who have a passion for learning and writing like I do, and to connect and network with other writers. I've met some amazing new friends from attending this conference.

This year started off by me leaving my water bottle in my very first class. I sat down for lunch and realized I didn't have it. I ran up to the lost and found and thankfully it was there (I'm really partial to this waterbottle...it took me forever to find a good one I liked!). I loved how the person who turned it in was someone I talked to for 5 minutes before the class started and she remembered my name! Like I said: new friends!

 I got this necklace from another new writing friend. Reading and writing are the two things I love to do the very most!

My 17 year old nephew flew down from Alaska to attend the conference with me. It was so fun to have him here and to see his love for writing grow!

 Book agents and editors from around the country come to Storymakers and meet with aspiring authors to talk about what they're writing. The dream is to meet with an agent/editor and have them request your full manuscript. That 's just one (very big) step closer to hopefully getting a book contract and your book published. Because meeting with an agent is so desirable, if you want a meeting with one, you put your name in a lottery and the conference committee draws so many out. My name was chosen this year! I was really excited for the opportunity but also so, so nervous! During my 15 minute meeting with the agent, she would look at my query letter which describes what my story is about, and the first page of my manuscript. She'd ask me questions about my story and then either suggest some things for improvement or request to see more.

Right before my meeting I was panicked that as soon as I walked in to meet her that I'd forget what my story was even about. I was scared she would ask me questions and I'd draw a blank and look like an idiot. I went inside the room and the agent was so nice! We chatted for a minute, she read the 2 papers I brought to show her, and she requested my full manuscript!! I cannot even describe how happy I am about how well the meeting went! I had to act all composed and professional during our meeting, but as soon as I left I ran outside to call Blake and text some good friends who've read my story and helped me polish it. I don't know if anything will happen from here, but it was a huge confidence boost to have any agent like my story idea and my writing enough to request to see more! Even if this agent passes on it, I'm determined to keep going until I find one.

Saturday Ethan and I were back for round 2 of Storymakers!

Author Shannon Hale was the keynote speaker Friday night. She also taught a class on characters and signed books on Saturday. I was going to ask for a selfie with her, but I forgot, so I snuck one of her signing books instead.

Catina Haverlock and Angie Larson are another set of authors I met there. They co-author a series and I loved meeting them!

I'm always sad when the conference is over, but excited to get home and apply everything I've learned. I always get so much inspiration and new ideas for my stories that will hopefully make me a better writer.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend always brings fun activities for the kids. We met the Easter bunny at the local grocery store. Grant was a little scared of him at first, but when he saw the kids go right up, he got brave and went up too.

 The store also had a station where the kids could decorate their own cupcakes.

 Saturday afternoon there was a big community hunt at the soccer fields. It was kind of crazy and over in like 2 minutes. I'm not sure if we'll do it again next year, but it was fun to go at least once.

 We dyed Easter eggs.

 Then Sunday morning I got up super early while it was still dark to hide Easter eggs around the house. I thought for sure we could have this nice leisurely breakfast first and then maybe the kids would notice the eggs hiding outside. Nope, first thing they woke up and noticed them. We did our Easter hunt like at 6:30am

We spend the rest of the weekend watching General Conference and being together as a family. I love remembering what our Savior has done for us and teaching my kids about the atonement. I hope they will come to understand what His sacrifice truly meant for each one of us. My life is blessed because of Him.

Glenwood, Party of 2

The week after the kids had spring break, Blake and I decided to have a little break of our own. We love Glenwood Springs and have been a few times. The last time we went was when Grant was 4 months old, so we thought we were due for a trip back.

I loved spending time in the car with Blake on the three hour drive to our destination. We talked and laughed and even sat and enjoyed the silence!

Once we got to Glenwood, we parked and did a hike along Mitchell Creek. It's a 6 mile one way hike..12 miles roundtrip...yikes! You are practically hiking uphill the whole way so it was tough! The idea is that you hike to this peak that is supposed to have stunning mountain views, but after about 3-4 miles in, we reached a part of the trail that still had heavy snow on it, so we had to turn around.

I had a hurt shoulder the entire trip and hiking uphill wasn't making my shoulder very happy. Blake made me a walking stick that made hiking a lot more comfortable for me!

We didn't make it all the way to the top, but still got to enjoy some of the view!

After our long day of hiking, we ate dinner in town then went to the hot springs to soak our sore muscles! The hot springs are amazing and felt so nice!

The next day we hiked Hanging Lake Trail. This has been a trail I have wanted to do since we first started coming to Glenwood. It's about a mile and a half one way and is also pretty much uphill the whole way...we've always had little kids so we could never do it. This time I was determined that we hike it because I've heard amazing things about it.

The last little bit is VERY steep. People we passed coming down would say to us "You're almost there! The view is worth it, I promise!"

And it was! This lake was truly stunning. We did not expect something so beautiful to be waiting for us at the top of the mountain.

After our hike back down, we packed up and headed home. It was a short but fun and much needed getaway!