Hi.

Tonight, we have nothing- absolutely nothing- to do and it feels amazing. I have been so busy lately with work and other things that I've barely had time to breath. This evening is the first time in a few weeks that we have really been able to relax. We have nothing planned and nowhere to be (well, except the snowie shack, which is where Harps and I will be in about an hour) all night. Hooray to that!

I can't really complain about being busy, though, because life really has been good lately. Miss Nebo was successful and I'm really excited about our new titleholder (meet her here). She is a classical pianist, a medical student, a future cardiac surgeon, and gives back to the community through service. I like her so much already. It was really fun to see her win. Girls like her are the reason I wanted to be involved in the Miss America Organization. It's so exciting and inspiring to see them learn and grown in so many areas.

We took Harper out boating again over the weekend. She loved it even more the second time around and had a blast jumping in the lake (about 593 times, thanks only to her Papa Doug). She finally got comfortable with her life jacket and was able to swim around by herself.

What else? I have been trying to get settled in with several new children at my daycare. They are all darling and their parents are wonderful (seriously, parents make or break this job). I'm so grateful for my job and for the fact that I've always had the perfect number of children coming to me. It is always a little rough to adjust to new children, however, and I've definitely felt a little off my game the past two weeks. It's nothing that a good swim party won't fix, though. We are having one tomorrow. Harper and I are both pretty stoked.

Speaking of Harper... We finally did away with her pink tutu. I was sad to see it go (Harper has basically lived in the thing for nearly a year) but it was torn and worn out and had nail polish on it. We replaced it with a brand new purple one. Harper was tickled pink when it arrived (getting mail is pretty much her favorite thing ever).

Colt and I are training for a half marathon. It's in November so I have three months to prepare. I hope I can do it. I'm definitely not in very good running shape. I ran a 10 minute mile last night so obviously, I have some serious work to do. I'm excited about it. I'm ready to push my body to a new level. I am open to any and all advice you may have for me as well as good running song suggestions. I need a stellar playlist if I'm going to pull this off.


That's about it, I guess. In all honesty, busyness hasn't kept me from blogging. I've been in something of a slump lately and I don't know why. I need to snap out of it, though because I'm tired of feeling like a food stamp and I definitely don't want to be all slumpity slumpish on my birthday next week. :)


Anyway, here are a few photos from Miss Nebo and our recent boating trip. I hope that you are all well and happy. This summer has been good to us. I hope that it's treating you right, too. 

Harper got a little bored during the Miss Nebo interviews so we went for a walk.

By the end of the pageant, she was done for.

One of the other committee members held her so that I could take photos of the royalty.

Colty, if you didn't already know, is an avid fisherman.

Harper took a little nap in the boat.

She (and we!) were so proud of her swimming.