A Sunnier Version of Sweden

We visited Grand Canyon National Park as a family about a year and a half ago, spending Spring Break 2017 in Arizona including several days marveling at a true natural wonder of the worl d. As just one stop on the family vacation, we did some day hiking, heading down the South Kaibab trail to an overlook with a spectacular view. As much as I love our family photo, there isn't a camera in the world that can capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. As with many of my vacations and experiences, when I came home I wanted to know more, so I checked out books from the library. I read about the geology and the formation of this incredible part of the United States, but I also read about the hiking and backpacking in the area. The small spark of an idea that had begun on this trip, when I snuck in one more short walk down the Bright Angel trail so that I could hike a bit more of the Canyon, began to grow into a flame, then eventually into a fire in my heart: I wanted to try to hike R

Several years ago, I set a goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states. At the time, I could count all of my 26.2 accomplishments on one hand, but that didn't deter me! Dream big, go all in, shoot for the stars, all of that... as part of writing my bucket list down , I gathered a list of goals audacious and modest, outlandish and realistic. After several years of ticking state after state off the list, I think this goal is somewhere in between the extremes. It's been fun and miserable, depending on the day and the race, but each one has brought its own sense of accomplishment, which ultimately is why I keep doing it! Mr. Lincoln at the Expo! This past spring I completed the first of my endurance events for the year, laid out in my New Year's resolutions for 2018 . Shauna and I had chosen the Illinois Marathon on April 28th as a somewhat in-between spot, and trained through the winter to be ready to go. Mary joined us, too, and Whitney came in from St. Louis t

Here it is Labor Day weekend, and I'm going strong with my cooking one new recipe each week! I'm not sure anyone is more surprised than I am that I've been able to keep up with this resolution, but here we are in week 39 and I've definitely earned the title of "capable cook!" What I realized as I sat down to write about my last few weeks is that I've also developed the habit of assuming there is a recipe out there for whatever it is I'd like to make, and turning to cookbooks or a couple of my favorite internet sites to find it. New recipes and defaulting to homemade have become a way of thinking for me when it comes to food, and that has been fantastic! As I've made my way through the summer, I haven't kept up with all of the blog posts for my cooking escapades, but I have at least captured each of them on my New Year's Resolution list . With a little bit of extra time on my hands this Labor Day, here are the last three weeks' worth o