You know what’s kind of crazy? Packing for a trip while you are unpacking boxes. I wondered why I was bothering to transfer stuff to a suitcase. It seems like I should have just brought a box.

We flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico for part 2 of the wedding celebrations for my youngest brother. Because he lived in New Mexico for all of his high school and some of his college years, he wanted to do a small open house reception there. Delta is the only airline that does direct flights to Albuquerque and the planes they use for that route are always pretty small. For those of you keeping track at home, you will remember that I have a lot of anxiety over flying. It doesn’t help that my travel buddy has even more flying anxiety than I do. But check us out here on the plane:

We are smiling because we are medicated. True story. It helped a lot.

It’s been an unusual year for my family with this wedding. I’ve actually seen my parents every month for 3 months in a row now. It was still nice to get to visit them. I love going to New Mexico and the scenery there is always amazing.

My parents have a beautiful home and it’s always fun to see what new decorating projects my Mom has been working on. She’s very creative.

The open house was lovely and so many nice people came. We decorated the tables with flower bouquets from Trader Joe’s.

My mom even thought to pick up some green cardstock (makes a Scrapbook Lady proud!) and we used them as “chargers” under the flower vases in the middle of the tables. We used tea lights and Hershey kisses to dress it up a bit. It was simple, but very pretty.

It was a great event!

We flew back home on a Sunday afternoon and then turned around and left on Tuesday morning for our annual vacation with my husband’s family. We stay in timeshare condos and I cook all the dinners so I had to meal plan and grocery shop for 6 dinners (for 11 people) in one day. We also had to unpack from Albuquerque (while we were still unpacking our house) and then pack again for a trip to Bear Lake. This time I really did just throw some of our stuff into boxes. We also used a few suitcases. We drove through Evanston, Wyoming to get to Bear Lake (seems strange to drive to another state just to go somewhere in your own state). When we stopped in Randolph, Utah for some gas, Alex started to have a meltdown because he thought we had reached our destination. He couldn’t believe we were going to vacation “out in the middle of nowhere!” My apologies to any residents of Randolph, but he just didn’t think this was vacation worthy.

He felt significantly better when we actually pulled into Garden City, Utah and saw that we would be staying very close to the actual lake. It was beautiful!

I loved taking pictures of the lake and also snapping photos of all the bear carvings around town. So fun to stay in a place with a theme – great for scrapbooking!

We went to the beach.

We ate raspberry shakes (Bear Lake is famous for their raspberries).

We went back and forth between Idaho and Utah since the lake is on the border of both states.

We saw a hilarious production at the Pickleville Playhouse. Such big talent in a tiny little town! If you ever get to go to Bear Lake, be sure to stop by. We saw Juanito Bandito Rides Again and we all laughed until our sides hurt.

We also had a great time riding ATVs. I drove a RZR with Alex as my passenger. Even though I was with a bunch of hotshots who had ridden many times, I held my own, which is pretty cool since it was only my second time on an ATV!

We pretty much just had a great time. It was especially fun that we got to hang out with family. The only cousins my kids have are on my husband’s side and they are quite a bit younger. This year was probably the best year for all the cousins to hang out together now that they are a bit older. They really had fun together!

We finally had to say goodbye to our vacation and come home and face all of our boxes. Now it’s time to get serious and really get settled. I’m disorganized and overwhelmed, but also very grateful for a new house and many wonderful travel experiences. I’m hoping to finally get into some sort of rhythm again and also to get back to a more regular blogging schedule. Thanks for being patient with me over the last month – it’s been a crazy one!

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I forgot to include a small detail in my May roundup – I now wear glasses. I’ve been putting off a visit to the eye doctor for quite some time now, but when I went to get my driver’s license renewed in April I barely passed the eye test. I didn’t realize just how bad my vision had gotten until I started wearing glasses and had to adjust to them. Actually, my vision is not bad, I just have a lot of astigmatism. This is a problem that has plagued me throughout my life.

I started wearing glasses when I was 9 years old and I remember being surprised at how different the world looked once I started wearing them. Leaves had definition! Everything was so much clearer! I never liked wearing them and of course some mean elementary school kids called me “four-eyes” and such. My glasses were always quite thick and I was sure that I would never be “pretty” as long as I wore them. Here I am with my Great-Grandmother and my paternal grandparents, wearing my glasses.

When I was 12 years old, I started wearing contacts and I wore them almost all the time until I became pregnant with my first child when I was 24 years old. The shape of my eyes changed so much (astigmatism) that contacts became uncomfortable. Out came the glasses again, and even though they were supposed to be thinner due to new technologies, they still were quite thick. I really hated them.

When the wonder of lasik eye surgery came about, we saved up our money so I could have it done. I was the perfect candidate for the surgery because of my extreme case of astigmatism. That was in the year 2000 and I was told that I might have to have the surgery redone a few years later and that I would still have to wear glasses once I got older. I felt lucky to get 12 full years out of the surgery without any complications or relapses. My eyes have been very healthy and I have loved every day that I did not have to get up and put glasses or contacts on. It’s a gift to be able to see clearly from the moment you open your eyes each day. I was sad when I knew that gift was ending. I figured that I might just be getting “old” or that I would need another lasik surgery. I was surprised when my eye doctor said that neither was the case. I’m still not at all farsighted and I’m not really nearsighted either – just that darn astigmatism thing. He also said that another surgery would be more complicated, more painful, and have a longer healing time. I’m not interested in any of that so I just decided to come to terms with wearing glasses. The good news is that now my prescription is very mild and I can wear nice thin lenses. In fact, my current pair of glasses is rimless, wich is something I never could get away with in my earlier years.

A lot of people in my family wear glasses; my dad, my mom, my brother (pictured above), and my son and I think they all look great in their eyewear. Why should I feel any different? I’m finally comfortable with how I look in glasses. It does mean that I have a few new challenges when I’m getting my picture taken, but that’s no big deal really, I’m just glad that I can see.

You know what’s really funny about the whole thing? Hardly anyone has noticed that I’ve been wearing glasses again – not even some of the members of our immediate families. Does anyone remember the episode of Friends when nobody realizes that Chandler got new glasses? I’ve been giggling about that in my mind.

It’s ok though. I figure that just means they look natural on me. lol!

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Wow! There were so many great comments and entries for the Hello Story Workshop giveaway. I really wish I could pick all of you! So many of you are feeling like story is getting pushed aside in your memory keeping, I can really see a need for this workshop and I know Ali will be the right person to lead us all in this journey. Since there is no way I would ever be able to choose a winner, I relied on random.org to pick a number from the 159 comments and it came up with #85.

Congratulations to Linda Farrow!

One theme that kept popping up over and over again in the comments was from people who are actively recording their memories already in formats such as Project Life, or even traditional layouts – they feel like they are not really getting to the story. I love that people are longing to include more of this type of journaling. It’s soooooo important! Even though I feel like I’m pretty good at including a lot of real story details on my pages, I am also anxious to learn and practice more. I can’t think of a better opportunity to focus extensively on these goals. I’m excited for the challenge and I hope to see many of you in Ali’s workshop in just a few weeks!

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I’m so excited to be all signed up for Ali’s hello story workshop that begins next month at Big Picture Classes! I’m a longtime fan of Ali’s and I’m lucky to call her a friend after I’ve been able to write a few guest posts for her blog, visit with her on The Digi Show, and even meet her in real life back in January. Not that this was any surprise, but she is just the real deal. Ali is authentic, kind, and a lot of fun. I really admire her for many reasons and I know I will enjoy learning from her in her new workshop. The last workshop I took from her (Yesterday, Today) was one of my most favorite learning experiences I’ve ever had!

When I read the description for this new course, I knew right away that I wanted to join in.

12 weeks of creative storytelling techniques with Ali Edwards.

Are you ready to discover (or rediscover) the fun that comes from the interplay of design and words? By the end of class, you may even enjoy the writing process just as much as you love taking photos and playing with paint and paper!

Hello Story includes:

• Inspiring weekly videos from Ali

• Colorful instructional handouts with step-by-step instructions for each lesson/project

• Printable digital elements in PNG and PDF formats that relate to the weekly storytelling technique

• Supply list with live links to product resources—each weekly handout will include a list of supplies used on the example pages

• Welcome notes from Ali in the classroom

• Class syllabus and pre-class welcome video

• Reminder emails when the classroom is updated with new materials

• Message board to share your thoughts with your classmates

• Private posting gallery to share your work and view the work of your classmates

• An interactive video chat with Ali

• Email access to Ali

Hello Story runs from July 8 – September 29th and is $99. If you are concerned about how to keep up with a class during a busy time of year, don’t worry. You can always access the materials and lessons on your own time schedule. I have some trips during those time frames so I will be doing that as well. I love that I can go back and watch videos and read through lessons any time I want to. That’s helpful even if you don’t miss a week.

I’m already signed up so you will see me in the virtual classroom if you decide to join in. I’m also going to give away 1 free spot in Ali’s Hello Story workshop (a $99 value!) to one lucky winner! I will pick randomly from all the comments on this post. If you want any extra chances to win, you can pin, tweet, facebook, or include a link to this blog post on your own blog, then come back and leave me a comment with the link to where you posted. I always love to hear from those who enter to win, so leave me a comment telling me why you want to take this class. What do you hope to learn about incorporating story into your creative projects? Or you can just say “hi” - that’s ok too!

I will announce the winner on Wednesday, June 12th here on my blog.

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