Mark and I are about to leave on a backpacking trip and the annual Anytime Fitness conference, which, if you remember from previous posts, we have so much fun! It takes quite a bit of time to prepare for a backpacking trip, and this is our first cold weather one, so it is much more time consuming as we have quite a bit of researching and purchasing to do.

I have a very busy week lined up so I am working hard to make sure I have time to fit it all in.

Here's my to do list/meal planning:

Saturday:

Leave house at 7 for Sherman 5k

Bring Susan get well gift

Finalize backpacking meal list

go grocery shopping

Laundry

Cook meal for family - surgery

start dehydrating

start prep for other food for backpacking

clean kitchen

clean bedroom

Dinner:

Stuffed chicken, peas, pasta with olive oil, fresh herbs, capers

Sunday:

finish laundry

finish loading backpack with everything but food

write out lesson plans for the next three weeks

Bake Creme Brulee with boys for school project on France

continue dehydrating

Dinner:

left overs into chicken pasta, canned veggie

NEED TO CALL INTERVIEWEES

Monday:

Work out at 6 am

Spend all day in Florence conducting interviews.

Tutor does school with kids

Mark takes Raeley to yearbook

Mark takes boys to Boy Scouts

Raeley finds ride to Venturers

Dinner:

pizza (I'm sure they won't want to cook two days in a row!)

PICK UP T SHIRTS ON WAY HOME

Tuesday:

Spend all day in Meridian, stop through in Starkville to implement new system in club YAY!

Tutor takes Cameron to dance lessons

Friend picks up kids for cross country

Dinner:

pork loin in crock pot, squash, rice

LEAVE LIST OF ITEMS TO BE DEHYDRATED!

Wednesday:

Push workout to 7 am unless I wake up with Mark.

Finally a day at home to have school with the kids

Finish all packing

Oversee kids packing

Raeley to dance

Boys to church

Package food for backpacking with food sealer

Weigh packs with fingers crossed!

Dinner:

baked fish, purple hull peas, sauteed leftover veggies that were not dehydrated

UPDATE DRIVERS LICENSE!

Thursday:

Book club meeting at 7

School abbreviated - teacher led school work - accomplish as much as possible

Science class at 1

Phone conference for new system in club at 2

Visit with Tupelo clubs individually instead of group staff meeting

Spartan practice

Last minute packing

Dinner:

Breakfast - maybe omelets and biscuits

CHECK OVER CHECKLIST FOR OVERLOOKED ITEMS!

Friday:

6 am work out

Drop Rae and Robert off at a friend's house

Go to Florence with other kids. Work with staff

Dinner:

Probably fresh veggies and cornbread by my mother in law!

GET TO BED EARLY!

Saturday:

Leave 3:30 am for airport

Arrive in Bozeman, MT at noon

Buy mace (for bears) and fuel for cooking at REI.

Stop by a grocery store for cream cheese (which doesn't have to be refrigerated for 72 hours if sealed), bagels, tortillas

Start on the trail no later than 3 pm! Get to first camp site 3 miles in.

HOPE ALTITUDE DOESN'T SLOW DOWN BACKPACKING TOO MUCH!

Stay tuned for our backpacking agenda.

Lindsay's Wedding

This is a post from back in August of my niece's wedding:

We recently went to Texas for my niece's wedding. It is very neat to see my nieces and nephews as they grow up, come into their own as we say, and fall in love. She is the first niece to get married, and I think that made it extra special. We felt more a part of the wedding being on the bride's side of it. I adore her husband as much as I adore my nephews' wives - which is quite a lot.

Her wedding was such a special event. She wanted all of her cousins on our side of the family to have a part in it -which is quite a task since my parents have 16 grandchildren. But she did it! The boys passed out programs, Raeley did an awesome job reading a passage of scripture (1 Cor 13 of course!) and Cameron was a flower girl. Daniel (the groom) has a great family and it was fun getting to know them and know that he has such a good background. His mom had a stroke a year or so ago and I was shocked to see her walk down the isle. It was such a great way to start the wedding and a very special moment. And yes, I bawled. I really didn't think I could make it through the wedding, but I did regain composure. I can only imagine how hard she worked to be able to do this. It was a beautiful ceremony. The bride looked absolutely stunning. She outshone everyone with her beauty by far that night!

Let me just say that the food was delicious and I only wish I could have sampled every piece of chocolate at the chocolate bar! I was miserably full so I headed out to the dance floor. Mark asked me tonight -aren't you glad our boys like to dance with their momma? Indeed I am! The dance floor was full all night. The band was incredible -really in tune with the crowd. You know when the crowd forms a circle and people can dance in it? I couldn't believe it when my mom danced across the circle with Lindsay's other grandmother. A long time friend, Gregg Jones, pushed my dad out, and he was hilarious! Mark broke a move in the middle (which didn't surprise me, I know he's still got his moves!). It was very entertaining!

The night went by oh-too-fast. The finale was the

m driving off in an antique Rolls Royce. I was standing next to my sister (Mother of the bride) when Lindsay stopped to hug her mom goodbye. Denise said, "Oh, you're really leaving!" It was a sweet moment.

A few things on my mind...

Here is a photo I stole from Mark's facebook page (that's why it is so small!).

It is us working at Angelina River Lodge.

I thought I would take a moment to post since it's been so long.

Things have been busy getting into the school routine and there is a big campaign this month with our business in honor of National Childhood Obesity Month. It has kept me busy getting everything ready for it! Check out the Coalition of Angry Kids - A very timely message!

The campaign tugs at my heart as I strive in my business to really help change people's lives - especially moms who are tugged in so many directions, taking care of their kids but not themselves. I have realized how far I have gotten from that as we have opened so many gyms. My focus is on keeping things running, and getting the staff to perform their basic tasks. It seems to stop there and I really want to take our gyms to the next level of customer service.

I also want to take our homeschooling to "the next level" as I seem to have slid into the checklist mentality of making sure we are checking things off our to do list rather than focusing on learning.

So, how do I take both to "the next level"? For starters, we hired an Operational Assistant to help us (mainly me) out. For starters with school, I am not so worried about how much we cover during the day or even covering everything on the agenda, but doing the work with my kids and focusing on them, not work, not cleaning the house.

This had led to me giving up tv in the evenings (the little bit that I did watch) and reading books. Sunday is now a prepare for the week day. There were a few leadership opportunities I was going to take this fall, but those have been tabled. Hopefully I will be able to manage everything more efficiently as the weeks go on. Hopefully I will add in reading again.

With work, I am going to attempt to set expectations with the staff more clearly and require more of them, keeping closer tabs on them which means more meetings and more consistency.

These are just a few things that have been on my mind lately. They've also been keeping me from blogging!