Oh What Do you Do in the Summertime:

The opportunity arose for me to help out a friend as well as a family who is investigating the church. Which means I'm babysitting a six year old named Summer for the next 4 weeks.

She's spunky with more imagination than I can keep up with. She's an interesting mix of very obedient yet extremely demanding. 9-6pm 5-6 days a week is pretty tiring.

Here are some of the positives:

1. Kindergarten is a beautiful thing.

2. Emma and Summer really enjoy each other for play mates.

3. Summer is very obedient. The only reason for me repeating myself 5 times is due to her age and active imagination (she's a little spacey).

4. She loves to go out, running errands is the best thing

These are Summer's shoes.

It's my Life and it's Now or Never:

Race day for the Ronald McDonald 'Run for the House' was on Saturday. Due to the kind of week we had we just walked the mile together. However, this race was rather large and there wouldn't be room to run (in my inexperienced and humble opinion). I think they said there was over 1,600 people there this year.

This picture was the best I could do to show some of the masses.

That being said, we got up EXTRA early to find a parking space, I think we left the house before 5:30am. Emma was a trooper, until 8am, so we finished breakfast and our festivities to go home for a nap.

This race was fun because we toured the Ronald McDonald House and the purpose of their fundraising was made clear.

Well it was my first public running event and I felt like it was now or never. Even walking was a thrill, and I look forward to actually running in more soon. Unfortunately most races are on Saturdays and Shane now works Saturdays. I'll just have to pluck up the courage to run myself and practice more with Emma in the stroller.

Oh and just for fun here is a picture of our romaine lettuce. We've had some excellent salads lately!

It's Too Late Baby to Turn Back Now...

The conversation I had with myself today:

Inner Self: "Why is Emma being such a brat? She is purposefully pushing my buttons. At least Shane is home today so he knows I'm not making it up."

Deeper Inner Self "Look at the facts Erin: not sleeping, not eating, grumpy, and bad diapers-she's teething. You should be nicer."

I.S. "I'm to tired to care if she's teething. This has been an awfully long week. Why won't somebody stop everything they are doing to think more about ME and be nicer to ME?"

D.I.S. "Erin you are so selfish! Stop acting like a baby and go take better care of your baby."

I.S. "I really am selfish. Well, at least I didn't post that sarcastic thought on Facebook about giving her away. Maybe I'm just really worn out. Yeah, I should give myself a break so I can be nicer to Emma. Where's Shane, I'll tell him we should go out to eat so I don't have to cook..."

(it's ok to laugh, I do)

Quickly turn it upside down and Smile that Frown Away.

We are a little bummed at this house. Turn of events have changed Shane's days off to Sun, Mon, and Tue again. We were pretty fond of normal weekends off. But alas, change is necessary for growth and blah, blah, blah (that's my pout coming out).

Well here are some pictures from the few and only weekends we had off last month:

Grandpa Steve came to Visit

Bolder City Jamboree (First Race of the Season)

hehe, I think this kid looks funny being so competitive in the first 50 yards of the race

it was pretty cold, so we put Shane's shirt on Emma.

Camping at Mt. Charleston

look at those dagger eyes (daddy gets chocolate and Emma gets banana cookies)

Put Your Right Foot in and You Shake it All About:

Well running has caused my legs to feel like jelly these past few times. It's almost crunch time as my first race is next Saturday.

I'm growing more comfortable with running and even growing comfortable with the idea of a 5k but recently I got my jogging stroller and I'm not sure I'm comfortable running with it yet. Emma and I go for walks in our new stroller but I haven't gone running with it yet.

I'll have to grow comfortable with that idea before the 21st. But in the meantime here are some pictures from our walks:

wild life near my house

Las Vegas Strip

playing at a park nearby

In My Daughter's Eyes...

Mother's Day has taken on new meaning the last few years, and new feelings too. They aren't always the best of feelings.

The perfect woman would probably say being a Mother has paved the way to pure joy and happiness all the time. The perfect woman would never hide in her room and cry while her kid(s) scream at the door to get more attention and suck the rest of your energy out of you. Not to mention, the perfect woman would multi-task 1,000 thoughts and events without a hair out of place.

I am not that perfect woman. I will never be that perfect woman in this lifetime. And let me tell you that Blasted Adversary likes to remind me how imperfect I am every Mother's Day (not to mention most days). So that new meaning of Mother's Day is one of overcoming guilt, and applying faith that God our Father provided a Savior to help me through my imperfections.

Now, that confession being said, some of my favorite things about being a Mother:

1. Snuggles

2. Laughing

3. Story time

4. Playing in the backyard

5. Calm, quiet nap time

Goals for this year:

1. Less yelling

2. More listening

3. More Outings

Yup I think 3 goals at a time will do.

This year Emma took me to the beloved Cafe Rio! She was kind enough to help me portion control by eating as much as I did :) We sat at the computer watching Rock-a-Doodle and eating pure yumminess.

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Ok so it wasn't night when I took these pictures but I think they are cute and the song title works, besides it's so sunny around here people have to protect their eyes even when it's 8 o'clock at night.

It's starting to get hot out here in Vegas and sunglasses are a must because the sun is brutal. Even Emma insists on some when we run our errands.