Busy Bees!

The past few weeks have felt so crazy busy! I turned 28. I feel so old. Sometimes I think it would be fun to go back to being 18 again .... for like a day - maybe a week. I HATE the fact that in 2 years I will be 30! It feels like I should still be in my early 20's!

Ryder is just the smartest, most active kid ever and somedays I just can't keep up with him! Our house it doomed. There is no such thing as clean (as least not to my standards). I have been trying to get the floors cleaned all week. I got part of the tile swept yesterday and that was it. I am determined to get it all done tomorrow!

Ryder's class starts up again in the morning. I have seriously considered skipping it, but hate to miss the first week and we will be missing next week, so I feel like we should go. Ryder is going to be the ring bearer in a wedding on Saturday and I have not been able to find him any shoes to wear. I have nothing to wear and still need to get a gift too. Those are my goals for tomorrow. I really have no more time after that. Friday afternoon/evening is the rehearsal and dinner and then we will have to rush out of the house on Saturday after nap time (possibly having to cut it short) in order to get across town to the church. Saturday night we are staying at the hotel that the reception is at so that we don't have to worry about leaving early to get Ryder to bed. It's one of my longtime dance buddies, so a bunch of my dancer friends will be there and I want to be able to have fun with everyone! We can take Ryder to the room when he is tired out and my sister is going to babysit him (HOPING we'll actually be able to get him to sleep)!

Sunday we are celebrating Father's day early because Rudy will be off and has to work on the actual day. Hoping to spend some time by the pool .... and then we have to come home and PACK (and I need to go grocery shopping). Rudy has to work Monday but we've got to get the car all packed up that night because we leave bright and early Tuesday morning for our camping trip!!! We have been looking forward to this for months! We were originally supposed to go the week after my birthday, but Rudy was unable to get the time off of work ..... we were bummed but happy when we found off he could get the days off a few weeks later. And then ....

Pretty much half our state broke out in wildfires. I knew there were a couple, but hadn't really paid that much attention, until I realized that one was is the White Mountains (our favorite place for camping and where we planned to go). Upon further research, I learned that our exact camping spot had been evacuated (and has since been completely charred). Our plans were pretty much crushed at that point. Since then we have been trying to come up with a new plan. We picked a new spot - Mt. Graham. We've camped there before and it's nice, although we had quite an incident with a skunk last time. Weather was supposed to be 60's during the day, 40's at night. A little chilly, but would be such a nice break. Then they put the fire restrictions at stage 2: absolutely no campfires. And now that mountain is completely closed. So I have spent the past week stressing out and trying to figure out a new plan, keeping an eye on forest closures and restrictions. WE ARE GOING OUT OF TOWN. We need this so bad and right now it's really hard for Rudy to get time off of work since he is one of the only supervisors and it's hard for them to be without him. So, no matter what we are going somewhere - even if we have to drive to another state. There are still a couple of forests that are allowing fires and I am praying that it will stay that way. We have a couple places picked out and are just really hoping we can still camp and have a good time. We have talked about taking Ryder on his first camping trip since before he was even born. Camping was our "thing" before we got married, bought a house and life just got too crazy. We are determined to start going regularly again.

We are devastated because our favorite spot to camp was taken over by the fire. We hope to go back there but I'm sure it won't be the same. A LOT of amazingly beautiful land has been ruined by this fire and it makes me sick that it is at the hands of careless humans, leaving a campfire unattended. Praying they can get this thing under control like NOW.

SO .... more busy days ahead and then family time and relaxation!!! Can't wait!! When we get back I feel like I will have lots of catching up to do ... on everything!