Sledding, Books, and a talk

Thursday morning Jared had the great idea to take Ashley sledding while Austin and Olivia were at school. He didn't have an appointment until lunch time, so we thought it was a good opportunity to have some quality time with Ashley. Since she is the 3rd child, she rarely gets that!

We drove just down the road from my parents' house to a hill. It was perfect. We only walked about 20 feet in the snow to get to the top of the hill and away we went. I bundled up Ashley as best I could (hand me down stuff from Austin). She was so funny. It was like she didn't love it or hate it- she was just void of expression.



We took turns taking Ashley down, then both went once or twice by ourselves. Since I grew up in Michigan, the perfect place for sledding, this was pretty pathetic to me. It was just right for Ashley, however. She didn't mind the spray of snow in her face at all. Luckily, we never wiped out or tumbled in the snow. I didn't want her reduced to tears due to the cold or snow. I wanted it to be a fun experience.



I took a few photos, which was difficult because of the cold (I hated taking my gloves off) and the snow (didn't want it on my lens). Jared took one of Ashley and I - the glare of the snow was so bright I could hardly keep my eyes open! It was a beautiful morning. I just love the snow and especially love the view of the mountains in the background.

That night bookclub went better than expected. Those of us who liked the book were apprehensive about what might happen, but we went into it sort of guarded and prepared to defend the book. It seemed like it was only me, Heidi, Britney, Shauna, and Rebecca (all of us who loved the book) were able to talk. The other 4 that obviously did not like the book (one finished, one started and didn't finish, and two never started at all b/c of what the first girl told them) didn't say much which made for a difficult discussion. The five of us who did like it were all one one side of the room, while the other 4 were on the opposing side. Coincidence? I think not. Ha, just kidding. Anyway, once the conversation got started it was ok. We had an interesting discussion and there was no fighting or finger pointing or anything. I was glad that we could all talk like mature adults and review the book. I think that whether you like it or not, you can still have a good discussion. If you hated it, just tell us WHY you hated it and that makes the discussion all the more interesting. Next month's book is These Are My Words. I talked them into adding Thirteenth Tale for May's book, even though I am reading it now for the blog bookclub. It's too good.



About my haircut, I haven't taken a photo yet, so I can't post, but I am pretty happy with it. I just had her bring the 'baseline' up (that's lingo from Lori). Although I was very hesitant, after talking to her I was comfortable having her thin it out a little bit too. This is usually where the others go wrong, so I had to trust. I was very specific in the way I described what I needed done. I explained what the other people usually do (using the wrong scissors, starting to thin it from the middle instead of near the scalp, cutting the top layer which leaves big chunky lines in my hair) that makes it go bad. Jamie, I totally forgot that you told me about cutting it dry. I might try that next time. Luckily, this went pretty well and I am happy with the cut. I was desperate to have it colored too. I had her make it darker (it had turned kind of reddish, which I didn't like) and add highlights. The blond highlights turned out too chunky for me and I wanted them closer to the darker color so they don't stand out so much- but it's not tragic. I can get used to it. It could have been much worse- I know!!