Nothing too notable happened today. Continuing to try to reshape the idea of training at work into something more like reviewer development and support. I have a lot of crazy ideas. My boss is giving me free reign, so I’m just blazing through them. There weren’t any dance or tumbling classes tonight, so I used the evening to catch up on some administrative things like paying bills and trying to get my year in photos project up to date. I’m four photos closer! There is still a lot to do. I saw an armadillo on my run this morning. And that basically sums it up.
Category: June 2026
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June 29
Christina started surf camp today. She didn’t want to go when I dropped her off. I think she was feeling insecure and self conscious, which is understandable when you’re trying something new. But a very sweet girl noticed she looked uncertain and came up to her and invited Christina to sit with her until the class started. I swear some kids really are some kind of wonderful, and this one absolutely is. Of course by the time Christina came home, she was excited and now she wants to do it for another week. I’m a little jealous, to be honest. I’d love to learn how to surf. Maybe someday I will. For now I’ll settle for enjoying Christina’s happiness.
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June 28
I’m not a fan of Sundays. I did a lot today and very little of it was fun. Washed sheets, made the bed, cleaned the kitchen, got coffee, fixed the a/c (did you try turning it off and turning it back on again?), went food shopping, did laundry. I did go out to dinner with Lauren and Monica and that was fun. Something came up in conversation about a friend whose daughter stopped speaking to her but she never gave up trying to have a relationship with her. The night kind of went sour for me after that because the guilt I carry having put my own mom through that is still a huge weight on my heart. But I came home and had dinner with my family and made the most of what I’m very lucky to have.
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June 27
Christina woke me up at 8:40 this morning asking, “are we leaving?” She had dance class at 9:00 and I totally forgot. I took her in my pajamas with my crazy morning hair, teeth unbrushed, braless, and without even going to the bathroom to pee and we got there right on time. Later I took Robin to her tumbling class and then spent pretty much the entire rest of the day editing vacation photos. I’ve gotten through about 35 photos, which feels like a lot but is barely anything. I’m quite tired of looking at my computer, but the photos are looking great. I’m realizing just how little I understand Photoshop. I just try things and see what happens. I fear that what looks good on the screen may look completely phony once printed. Oh well. Today I also bought supplies to make something at Billy’s request. He wants a fabric wall hanging in the shape of the National Parks arrowhead logo to put our National Parks pins and patches on. I know about as much about making those (as if there are others) as I do about Photoshop, but I asked ChatGPT and if nothing else, it made me laugh. Time will tell, for the photos and the arrowhead.
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June 26
I spent the whole entire day building an Excel database for my training program. It’s not done, but the bones are there and I’m pretty proud of it. We went out to eat at a new to us Italian restaurant on Philips Highway and it was pretty good. I spent the rest of the evening reading. It’s now almost midnight. I need to finish this book because it’s taking over my life.
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June 25
Today I drafted formal procedures for the new training program I developed this year. I had a little help from artificial intelligence, I admit, but it had to get done by Monday, so a little cheating was necessary. Tomorrow I will work on building the documentation template to use as evidence of control effectiveness. It’s a little nerdy that I enjoy this. Otherwise today I grilled cheeseburgers about 12 seconds before a thunderstorm, worked on a Yellowstone jigsaw puzzle, edited vacation photos, and read more of my book. It is after 11pm, which means yet again I am not going to want to get up in the morning to go running. I really need to get out of this pattern because running is important to me. But so is sleep. And so good night.
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June 24
I caught up with Sarah at work today and it was like a breath of fresh air. I needed the reality check. It was otherwise a busy day with not much time for building, which is my new favorite pastime. Then it was therapy and the last NAMI class for this session. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to lead these classes, but it is always a relief when it’s over. It’s just so hard to fit it into the schedule. I’ve been reading The Calamity Club, which has been taking away from Becoming, by Michelle Obama. I’m a little obsessed with it – I’ve been staying up until ridiculous hours reading and haven’t been able to wake up in the mornings for my runs. Ok, well, that was just today, but still. I still regret lying in bed that extra hour instead of going for that 25-minute run. I will admit that it wasn’t just the lack of sleep that did it today; it was also the weather, which just isn’t appealing to run in. 76 is actually pretty reasonable these days, but still not appealing when I’ve only slept five or six hours. And so goes another Wednesday.
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June 23
It was a pretty typical day. I managed to take care of some tasks that have been sitting on my list a while – getting Robin registered for high school, getting the kids enrolled in their respective camps, scheduling car maintenance and doctor’s appointments, rescheduling the cleaners… I still have more to do. But we played Yahtzee after dinner and I started editing vacation photos. I’ll get to the bills soon.
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June 22
Back to work today… luckily it was a slow, easy day. I will take it. Took Christina to dance for the first time in what feels like forever. I finished paring down the photos from Yellowstone. I started with 783 images and narrowed it down to 94. That may be as low as it gets. Next, editing, and then printing and putting them into an album. Billy didn’t even know we had an album from Shenandoah, so we took that out tonight and looked through it. Yellowstone will be bigger. Both trips were pretty epic. Those and New Orleans are my top three family vacations. It’ll be tough to follow this up, although Robin said she wants to go to Monaco to see the F1 racing museum. That could be fun too.
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June 21
Today was a day for chores and tedium. Unpacked, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, went food shopping. Every time I thought I’d have a minute to look at vacation photos, something came up – laptop battery was dead, nail polish wouldn’t come off, needed to cook dinner for Father’s Day (french toast, yum). I did finally manage to get everything off my phone and camera onto my laptop, so now the arduous task of picking favorites and editing. I hate Sundays.
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June 20
We had a pretty smooth trip home, but I felt sad the whole time. I already miss the mountains. I guess I’m also glad I get to see the pups again, though. I missed them too.
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June 19
I really did not want to leave. I looked for any excuse to stop and see just one more thing. Everyone else was ready to go. We did at least make it back in time to get the sticker I’d seen when we first arrived to the park, and that made me happy. And even just driving through Yellowstone without stopping is pretty special.
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June 18
We fit almost the entire Tetons into our day today. We started with sunrise at Oxbow Bend, then Schwabacher Landing, Mormon Row, Craig Thomas Visitor Center, an ill-advised stop at Jenny Lake, a drive up Signal Mountain, horseback riding at the hotel, and a sunset drive in search of wildlife. Teton is a gorgeous place.
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June 17
We crossed into Grand Teton National Park today. We stopped at the fishing bridge and Lewis Falls before getting there. We were disappointed not to see any wildlife at the fishing bridge since the guide books all said it was a really good place for it. Robin is getting tired of driving and seeing the same thing over and over again. But the Tetons are beautiful. We stopped by Colter Bay and then since everyone was tired, we drove to the Willow Flats overlook and played Five Crowns in the car until it was time to check into the hotel. Christina beat the pants off us. I’m excited to see everything tomorrow.
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June 16
We learned a lot about geysers today, and we saw quite a few of them too. It seems a little trite to say my favorite part of the trip so far was seeing Old Faithful when that is probably the only thing I’d heard of (or all most people think of) before we came, but it really was very cool to watch. We stopped at some other mud pots along the way, which I had NOT heard of but were also cool. We had early dinner reservations at Old Faithful so we didn’t get to see Grand Prismatic Spring, which was the only other thing I’d heard of besides Old Faithful. I was a little bummed, but made up for it a little with the huckleberry ice cream cone I had, which had about a pint of ice cream in it. There was so much ice cream in the cone that the cone literally couldn’t contain it. We debated when we ordered whether to get one scoop or two and decided to keep it light with one since we had that early dinner. I cannot believe what I ate was one scoop of ice cream. But it did taste good.
Year in Photos 