Just Rocket and Me

As some of you know, I am back on training mode for my next marathon. I have every workout planned out weeks in advance, but sometimes we have to forget our plans and just go with the flow.

Yesterday, my planned workout was to run 5-7 miles with time to really focus on stretching. However, I received a phone call at 8am from my husband who called to tell me that he caught Rocket for me. Rocket is one of our horses. We purchased him after the sale last year; and until yesterday, everybody (including Logan) had rode him but me.

So when my husband was done with the morning chores, he took Logan and I left to get acquainted with Rocket. Now the last time I rode a horse was May of 2007, right before I found out that I was pregnant with Logan. So being out there and listening to the steady beat of his feet hitting the ground while galloping across the prairie was quite exhilerating!

Logan & JP on Rocket - 8.23.2008

We rode for hours, I closed my eyes and felt the wind rushing through my hair and on my face. I did not think of what I should be doing or of what needs to be done. I was in the moment.

I cued him to go faster and truly found out why his name is Rocket.

Family Time

In these times, most households require both parents to work. Children go to school and/or spend their days at a daycare, relatives house, etc. Between jobs, commuting, baseball practice, dance recital and so forth; when does a family spend time together?

I have often said that I have it easy out here. I do not commute to a 9-5 job, I walk out my front door and I'm at work. However, and I have mentioned this also, it is not all that glamorous either. For example, I walk out my front door and I'm at work. It's not a 9-5 job, but a 24/7 job. There is no getting away.

Some may think that because this is the lifestyle we live, family time should come easily, and in some ways is does. Everything we do out here is as a family. Logan and I spend all day together working and playing. His dad comes in to drop off information, chat when things are going well and getting done (and when they are not). All day long we see each other and sneak time in.

When the day comes to a close and it is time for dinner, we try to sit down together. This is where family time gets rough. For one, the day is never closed. Just last week, my husband was out AI'ing (artificially inseminating) a cow at 2:00am. Sometimes we are in the house at 5 only to have to go back out at 6.

When we are home for the night, we want to relax and unwind. Dad goes to the computer to play video games, mom to her sewing machine, the DVD player, or a book. Logan is back and forth between the two wanting to play. We all go our separate ways trying to get the day off.

Isn't it rather odd that we spend more time together while working than we do at home?

Reflection

Isn't it amazing how you make this little person out of practically nothing? As you watch him grow you notice all your past relatives in him. You see your brother's nose, your grandmothers curly hair, and your dirty looks...

Travel Bug

It has hit me again. The longing to go someplace exotic. I have been constantly putting my name in for sweepstake drawings...trips to Mexico, Greece, the Caribbean, and Paris; in the hopes that maybe, just maybe my name will be the one drawn.

Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved traveling. Of course growing up it was usually a trip to California to visit relatives and a couple of times a side trip to Anaheim to see Disneyland. Though those trips were memorable, I have always wanted to travel the world. To emerge myself in the cultures of places such as India and China. Get a change of pace and divulge in the city life such as New York and London.

What better way to teach a child about geography, different cultures, wildlife, and the world then taking him to those places and letting him be involved first hand? It is an experience he will never learn by just reading about it in some textbook.

Today I will be, with certainty, daydreaming of far off places.

30

Today, I am 30.

I always had this idea that my 30th Birthday would be some big shing-dig. A trip somewhere (you get in free at Disney parks on your Birthday) or a big surprise party with all my family and friends. Even as this day was approaching and I realized that there was not going to be anything I have mentioned above happening, I started thinking of other ways to celebrate. A day for me; shopping, having coffee, quiet time at the spa or a book store.

This morning I awoke and felt nonchalant, and a little blue, I admit. After all my 20's are over. I contemplated over what I have accomplished these last 30 years and found myself a little disappointed in the results. My husband says that I have accomplished more than so many others out there my age. But I feel like I should have done...more.

I have always heard that the 30's are the best years. This is the time when most have established thier career, bought their first house, are thinking about, trying, or have already started a family. People take you more seriously and you become more comfortable with who you are.

Today marks a new era for me. I know 30 is just a number, but I am determined to make this decade outshine the last!

First Steps

It is known that around the year mark, most little ones take that daring first step. They stand up, find some balance and boldly step forward. Some fall right after that first step, some are able to (if fast enough) take three or four.

Logan took a few here and there over the past week. However, it was while we were working in the office that he decided to become daring. I watched, my heart pounding in my chest as he walked the whole length of my office at work.

My immediate feeling was pride, followed by my brain saying "uh-oh." I always knew this day would come; when I would be walking by his side and chasing after him. In my mind I always thought of it as a way to get in an extra workout for the day. And then I think about how even less I will get done.

Even so, it is a very exciting moment.

Sloooowly Falling Behind

For the past week I have been struggling. Struggling to stay focused at work (it's just so much easier to play with Logan than input those data numbers,) struggling to get the energy to do all of my household duties, and struggling to comprehend what it is that I am doing and where I am.

Because of this lack of focus I have been slowly falling behind...on everything. Not just at work, but at home too. I went to make myself a cup of coffee the other day and realized that I had not one clean coffee cup or spoon. So I looked in the kitchen sink and it finally hit me. I had not washed the dishes in two days!

Now is the worst possible time to fall behind at work. With the next production sale quickly approaching my to do list has quadrupled. And yet, I have not been able to bring myself into focusing on what it is that I need to be doing.

My body has been going through the motions but my mind has been off somewhere else. I really need to find out what's been bothering me and snap back into reality!