Last weekend Amanda and I ventured to a wellness festival in Jackson Hole Wyoming. Some of you may ask "a wellness festival?" What the heck is that and are you sick.? The theme of the festival was Pursue Your Purpose. Wow, have I been thinking heavily about that lately. There is something else out there that I am supposed to do. I am just not sure what it is. I think I am waiting for it to fall out of the sky and hit me on the head.
I have always been attracted to self help books. I actually remember going to a day of motivational speakers when I was 9 months pregnant with Amanda. I went with my grandma. It was a long day because I am pretty sure I was the size of a beached whale. But memorable and motivating.
This festival was similar. Only two days long, not just one. There were at least 3 speakers at one time so you chose which one interested you the most. Amanda and I were side by side attending the same ones. We listened to speakers on decoding your life's purpose with your finger prints, Access the Intuitive Wisdom of Your Body and many more. Gary Zukav, author of The Seat of the Soul and Linda Francis were keynote speakers on Sunday afternoon. I received a lot of insight into myself at this one. Things like I have a difficult time articulating my feelings. That we all have frightened parts of our personality that like to emerge, but we may not recognize them and what those frightened parts do to us and our ability to communicate. We came home with a lot of reading material. I am excited to get to them all. We made a pact that we would read the books together so we have someone to share our thoughts with about the material in the books.
My mom was supposed to go with us on this adventure but something personal kept her from attending. Amanda and I had a good time just hanging together, eating some good food, sleeping on incredibly HARD beds, and learning some new things about ourselves. We encountered snow and it was cold so we didn't do a lot of sight seeing or roaming the shops in Jackson. I hope to make this an annual event.

The fragrance of the pines filled the air. The sound of water dancing across the rocks in the creek bed set my mind at ease. It was a glorious day. One filled with challenges, laughter and memories.

We arrived at Snowbird and the TRAM loading gate with 10 minutes to spare. Amanda, Aiden and myself were on a journey to the top of the peak via the TRAM and back down to the bottom via our own two feet

I remember doing this with Blake and Cameron. Cam was eight and he struggled on the way down. Don't ask me why I thought a two year old could make it with ease. It didn't matter to me. It was something I wanted to do and however it turned out was fine with me. .

The peak has the steepest decent at the top. Thinking that giving Aiden some dried fruit for energy would hurry him along in fact slowed him down.

He would take 10 or so steps, sit down right in the middle of the road, fish out one piece of fruit to eat, get back up and go a few more steps and do it all over again. At this point in time Amanda is looking at her watch wondering if we would make it down by nightfall. Thinking ahead like I am the little planner, I brought a blanket that I thought we could make a hammock type carrying devise to assist Aiden in his journey. It didn't work cuz he wouldn't stay in it. Which is why we didn't have any other type of devise to assist. He does not like them and would prefer to walk. Except now. So we were forced to take turns carrying him. Or sleep on the mountain.

We stopped along a dry creek bed to sit on a bridge and have lunch with some squirrels. Lunch left a lot to be desired. Smashed and soggy sandwiches. Oh well...It was all part of the adventure. We ventured a bit further when this big dark cloud started appearing over the peak. This would have been just fine if it wasn't accompanied by thunder. Need I remind you we are closer to the top than the bottom. To look up at the road we had just traveled made me more tired than just beating it to the bottom. And that is what we did. Scurried like we had to be somewhere soon. I was not real thrilled with the idea of lightening that may soon show up with the thunder. Midway down the thunder subsided and we slowed our pace. It could have been because we were exhausted and couldn't keep up that pace any longer regardless of the looming thunder?

I was singing songs to Aiden and Amanda as we smelled the fresh air and took in the sight of the mountains and their glory. I love the high country. It was a challenge making it back down with him on our shoulders, but we laughed and shared together something wonderful and memorable. The memories of this day are worth the pain I have been suffering for the past three days. My hamstrings and quads are screaming at me but I would do it all again.

Cucumbers=Pickles

I love this time of year when the mornings and the evenings have a slight chill. It does seem it is a little earlier in the season than normal. It may well be just a tease for what is a head of us. With that chill in the air comes the smell of spices and vinegar from my canning efforts in the kitchen. Our garden has been very giving this year. Peppers, all kinds, and cucumbers a plenty. I have been busy making dill pickles, sweet pickle relish, corn & zucchini salsa and a new found taste for me, bread and butter pickles. I have never experienced bread and butter pickles, but I do like them.
Sunday I was picking zucchini and noticed that the plants were infiltrated with A LOT of squash bugs. TONS. We have had success with sprinkling epsom salts around the plants and keeping them under control, but we had obviously slacked in that department. Tons, did I say there were a lot.? TONS...Well..EL was not going to have that so he....decided to take care of them.....with the shop vac....yes, I said the shop vac.


He was going to suck the little pests right up. And he did....Tons of them. Now let me tell you that the neighbors already think we are strange because we have been seen mopping and sweeping our garden and now we vacuum? But WAIT I can explain our madness. We have 10 mil plastic covering the ground to keep the weeds under control. Inevitably this gets dirty or needs repair so you must clean before patching.. Well you do. So there you have it, the anal retentive neighbors that sweep, mop and vacuum their garden. But boy does it produce and the tomatoes haven't really began to ripen. I will be busy into September I am sure.

The wonder of a child

We were blessed for seven wonderful days with Aiden. I remember why we have our children when we are young and full of energy. I was pretty much on his trail during his wakeful period and by his side while trying to get him to sleep. I had only a few hours in between. As you may know about the "crib fiasco", he found a quick and reliable way out of his crib. For a couple of nights I would put him back on the makeshift bed he had while here. That was about 15 times of "its time for bed" and march him back into the bed. By the second night I decided this was not so easy and put him back into the crib. However, because of his wonderful ability to throw his leg over the rail and be out of the crib before I could get to the door, I stayed in the room until he fell a sleep. We found that to work for both of us.

I was excited to pull out the blow up swimming pool I purchased for his stay with us. It was not to happen. The weather was not going to play along. Puddles do make for good laughter and he found them. Is it a boy thing to go directly to puddles, whether water or mud. (Wait, I cannot say that. I have a vivid picture of Amanda and two of her friends deep in a mud puddle.)

He found some wonderful places to explore on the ponderosa. Chairs, doors, animals, lawnmowers and tractors, along with puddles and push up pops. He tried all the chairs out. Did not stay long on any one of them. Just tried to get up on it and then move on to the next adventure. This usually ended up in the detached garage checking out all the good stuff in there to play with and on. He would open the door and say "wow" as his eyes widened and his head turned up to the ceiling and around the room. He found the riding lawnmower to be quite entertaining. He liked the tractor too, until Grandpa had it running and then he did not want anything to do with it. There would be no riding of a running lawnmower or tractor......NOPE. No riding of the dog either. Yep, grandpa tried to get Jazz to take him for a ride.

Boys and their toys.....

We had a couple of play dates with Rozalyn (Tracy's niece) at the park. Both were pretty shy with one another. Nevertheless there was interaction with each other.

I am really liking this push up pop grandma......We love you little man.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade

About three weeks ago I made a choice to do "The Master Cleanse". You ask what is "The Master Cleanse"? It is a cleanse that

1. dissolves & eliminates toxins that have formed in the body
2. cleanses the kidneys and digestive system,
3. it purifies the glands and cells throughout the entire body
4. it eliminates all unusable waste & hardened material in the joints and muscles
5. it relives pressure and irritation in the nerves, arteries and blood vessels and
it builds a healthy blood stream to help keep your youth and elasticity regardless of your years.
No having said that who wouldn't want to do The Master Cleanse?

I feel we are a society of quick fixes and I want it now. The reality of my back pain is it took me a while to get this way and it is going to take some time to heal. So what better way to start but from the inside out. I started thinking, how well does a car engine run if you never change the oil and filter.? Pretty sluggish, if at all after a time.

I am ready to accept responsibility for the MISUSE of my body. I guess that kind of hits you up the side of the head when you become ill or have some chronic pain that won't let go. I have used and misused my body mechanics for many years. Especially the past two to three working on rental properties. One day I woke up and my back said. No more! It did, it actually screamed at me. So here I am at 49 thinking, "I'm only 49 and I certainly cannot feel like this for my remaining years". So I am searching for alternatives into a holistic approach to healing my back. I believe.

The Master Cleanse consists of water, lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. (Lemons are an awesome source for minerals and vitamins.) It is a drink of all of these ingredients for 10 days. Yep, that's all you drink for 10 days. You can drink as much as you like but should drink at least 6 to 12 glasses a day. Ten days later and 13 pounds lighter I feel pretty good. During the 10 days I had plenty of energy and only a headache for the first two days due to caffeine withdrawl. When I was finished with the Master Cleanse I moved right in to a liver and gallbladder cleanse. This cleanse is much easier for those that feel deprived if they don't get to eat. You can eat lightly for 6 days while drinking 32 oz of apple juice a day. The apple juice softens the stones that get built up in the liver and gallbladder. On the sixth day you drink some other concoctions and the next day...behold, stones, many....about 85 for me over a 15 hour period.

So that is what I have been up to the past while. The jury is still out on how much this has helped my back. I am going on to another couple liver cleanses and then hopefully the liver will be able to do its job more efficiently and the rejuvenation period will be begin and I will start to feel better.

The books for those of you who would like to inquire are
The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs and
The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse by Andreas Moritz

Happy Trails
Cindi

Easter

Easter is sort of like Christmas for me in that it is a lot of preparation and its over so quickly. This year I got a wild “hare” and decided to make the kids a stuffed bunny. Not because I didn’t have anything else to do, it is just something I like to do…make dolls that is. So about two weeks ago I started making 10 stuffed bunnies. Often referred to as the “bunny brigade” and as luck would have it I was out finishing them up on Easter Eve.

We had a wonderful time. As usual I made enough food for an army. Better to have too much than not enough. That's my motto. Mother nature did not feel like cooperating on this fine day. She decided to hand us some cold winds. So for the most part we gathered in the house. However, the weather did not get the best of those who were going egg hunting.... Older kids in the front yard hunting for money filled eggs and the smaller ones in the back yard hunting for eggs filled with prizes.




Aiden was running in the backyard trying to keep up with the boys and did a head dive into the ground. He ended up with a goose egg on his head. Ouch! He was not a happy camper after that. Hunting for eggs was not on his list of things to do that day. Here he is with his grandma Barb. Notice slight discoloration on his forehead.... :(


We missed several of our family and friends. Hopefully they will be able to join us next year as this has become an annual event.

Until next time.

Road Trip

Those of you who know EL know that when in the car and heading from point A to point B, it isn’t about a dining experience or bathroom breaks. It is about the distance between A and B and how fast you can get from A to B. I think it is a guy thing. (According to Tracy this would be classified as an "Ellisism"). Well okay, I may be exaggerating just a bit, but just a bit. He is good to ask if I am hungry and if I need a bathroom break I speak up.

I packed us a lunch, connected XM radio, threw our belongings into the Escalade and off we went on a road trip that would cover about 1300 miles in 3.5 days or 84 hours or 5,040 minutes.

It truly is not about what you do as much as it is about just hanging with someone you want to hang with. I am glad to have someone who likes to see the country. At times I may want to experience some of the country as opposed to just seeing it, but I would not trade the time I have with EL for anything.

Having no predetermined destination, we were at the mercy of where ever we ended up at the end of the day. Day one we made it to Bluff. Had wonderful accommodations.

We saw some beautiful landscapes. Monument Valley reflects the west as it is portrayed in so many western movies. Ones imagination can take you to the days of the wild west.

Next stop would be Cameron Arizona. This is a store, restaurant, hotel and post office just to the east of the south rim entrance into the canyon. Not bad accommodations either. I like rooms with a view.

We ventured south to Flagstaff before heading east into New Mexico. While in Arizona we took in Sunset Crater, The Petrified Forest National Park and The Painted Desert National Park. The Petrified Forest is in the desert…..No living trees, just huge petrified ones scattered around and about.

New Mexico license plates read “land of Enchantment”. I’m not so sure. Next stop was going to be Shiprock NM. However, we could find no accommodations in Shiprock so we went on to Cortez. Didn’t want to stay in Shiprock anyway.

Last day out and coming home. We chose a route through Colorado that was sure to be Colorado at its finest. And it was. Back home again. Until next time…….

Happy Birthday

It is a beautiful spring day. I had a list of things to do today of which some got done and others did not. I have had many wonderful calls from friends and family giving me birthday wishes.

Aging gracefully.....I don't believe I have had the experience of looking in the mirror and having some horrid feeling of how old I am looking or the birthday that sends you over the edge into a midlife crisis. It has been more subtle. The crows feet just sort of made their way to the corners of my eyes. The grey hair has been hidden for some time. Well maybe I was able to conceal it to some degree because of the color of my hair. It is now concealed on a regular basis. It reminds me of a story....the kids and I were at the store. Blake had a pair of binoculars and from across the store he proceeded to tell me (from across the store) how great they worked because he could see my grey hair. Thanks Blake, could you say that a little more quietly......Remember this was some time ago. And I am pretty sure I didn't have gray hair at that time. He was just being witty...It does make me laugh. Okay, maybe I am in denial.
I truly believe you are only as old as you feel. Of course at this time I am feeling a bit older than I really am. Life dealt me a hand I was not expecting. But I am working on getting healed up and back to my "energizer bunny" self. Thanks for all the wonderful thoughts and gifts. I am very blessed and thankful for all that I have.

Feet first

Dear friends and family,
I have decided to take the plunge into the blog world. One of my goals for the year is to expand on my creativity. I really enjoy visiting the blogspots of the kids. I think it is a fun way to share photos, experiences and thoughts, creatively, with friends and family. I have put this off for some time, not knowing where to start or what to say, so here I am. Visit me at cindiwithanipierce.blogspot.com.