I grab my cup of coffee and sit as warm air from the fireplace wraps around my legs. I open my journal, an old leather cover I’ve recycled over the years, wrapped around a cheap notebook. But who would know? Truthfully, I haven’t written in a journal in years. Who has the time for that?…

I am going to start this post with a bit of raw honesty. I am a hypocrite. The last few days have been, well, interesting. Instead of skiing away New Year’s, sledding in the new snow, or celebrating with friends, we’ve been inside the house for three days straight. The flu has been passing through the…

Mom! She won’t stop swinging the princess in my face!” He yells from the back seat. “Stop swinging it in his face, daughter. I glance in the rearview mirror to see her energetically swinging it over his head. Didn’t I say to stop that??” “Well, you said to stop swinging it IN his face, not OVER…

We head up to Snowbasin Resort. The sun shines (a little too hotly for January) and the car is a roar of excitement. Today a few friends are coming up to ski with us, and my son and his friend have a morning lesson with the Grizzly Cubs. They have a fantastic morning but later…

In case you are not well acquainted with the term “dirt bagger” or “dirt bag climber,” here it is: 1. Dirtbag Climber A glorified bum, who spends all of his/her time begging for food, drinking PBR, and climbing. They live the traveling life, taking to the road year-round in pursuit of adventure. Often in a van….

It is still and dark. The clock ticks 5 a.m. and I cannot sleep. I pull out the coffee. Moving slowly, not wanting to wake my exhausted crew still breathing deeply in their beds. Even the dog is curled tightly on the pile of dirty laundry we’ve discarded in the middle of the floor. I…

It was mile 75. Dark had settled into the woods and there would be no strong moon to fight it back tonight. Chuck’s hands were numb, hardly working. Things like peeling a banana, tying shoes, removing or adding layers of clothing were increasingly difficult. Chris handed him a hand warmer. Chuck dropped it. Chris picked…

The sunlight turned orange this morning, behind hazy mountains, and navy blue clouds. The sky was a swirl of indecision. Lightening. The smell of rain. An unsteady breeze. The colors outside were alive. Somehow, the world I see everyday looked new again. The same black topped streets, the cracked sidewalks, cookie cutter houses all displayed…

Today, I want to introduce you to Dave from 14ers4kids. In case you don’t know, a 14ers is commonly know amongst mountaineers as a peak topping out at 14,000 feet above sea level. And Dave’s story inspired me because he took something he loves, summiting mountains, and is using it to help orphaned children. Last…

I promise I’ll never give you fake. Consider it a personal goal I have never to be fake. But sometimes it happens on accident, doesn’t it? Especially with bloggers. See, everything is going along fine and then wham! You get hit by something. And if you are like me, that something takes me out of…

It’s that damn pricker again. You know, the one that has left the faintest sliver of a thorn lodged somewhere in the threads of your sock. You stop. You remove your shoe and feel around on the outside of the sock.  Nothing. You take the sock off. Wipe free your foot. Put it back on….

A few weeks ago I wrote a post that created quite a stir. You can find it here: The Battle Cry of a Stay-At-Home Mom. And since then I have received numerous emails, Facebook messages, and Twitter comments that echo the cry of my heart in that post. It has been so encouraging! But there…

I sit cross-legged in the middle of my living room. Two worlds colliding. “Do you want any of this sewing fabric?” My husband asks. “No.” We are cleaning the garage. Getting rid of the old junk and making way for the new junk. Suddenly he turns to me and says, “I feel like I am…

I like simple. I like quiet. I like still. I have three kids. So life is rarely simple or quiet or still. But I love my life. Add into this the fact that we home-school our oldest daughter, run this blog, write, photograph, are committed to a local church and cannot sit still when there…

Confession? If you’ve recently posted on FB or Twitter, “what are your 2013 resolutions?” Then I have quietly and systematically ignored you. (Chances are I am offending everyone here, cause my news feed yesterday was nothing but that resounding question…) The truth? I am not really a resolutions type of girl. It is either the…

I ran slow. The snow fell fast. Light and heavy at the same time. I ran for quiet. I ran for thinking. I ran for peace and resolve and purpose. I ran for answers, I ran for wonder. I ran. Step after step. Beat after beat. Beat. Step. Beat. Beat me up. These times… the…

But we think it should be. Don’t we? I wrote a few weeks ago, “It is infuriating to go through each day and feel as though you are not winning in any area. In motherhood, in fitness, in finances, in healthy eating, in laundry, in cleaning, in schooling… I often wonder if I can ever…

I have to be purposeful at most things in life. Now, if you know us, you also know that we are quite spontaneous. I am not diminishing the beauty found in sudden acts of whim. But most of life, rather most of what I want out of life, only happens if I am purposeful. Like…

A word to myself: Resist busy, Alyssa. Resist. I enjoyed quite this afternoon [thanks to the husband]. I escaped to some lone rock, up a not-so-lone canyon to watch the sun rays dance off the rock faces, read and journal and talk with God. I forgot a pen. And I forgot my Bible. And my…

We have a new bad word flying around our house. “I can’t!” “I can’t,” officially became a punishable bad word a few weeks ago. I guess I never saw that coming when the pregnancy test first showed positive! It goes like this: The boy is running around the soccer field warming up for the game….