I have had the idea for this blog in my head for about three days now, so bare with me as it may go all over the place. I actually took the title from a lululemon bag, which is safe to say they are not the actual ones who came up with this saying, which concludes with..Success is determined by how you handle setbacks. The bag was sitting in my truck for the week staring me in the face as I seemed to be behind for everything and just felt like I was going no where fast. I managed to make my daughter cry when I reacted to her spilling her breakfast on the floor and having my new puppy lapping it up in a uncontrollable manner. This was after I had asked her at least three times to be careful and sit still while she ate her breakfast. So why was this such a big deal? Well I sent her to her room, waited for a minute to cool down, pulled my dog off and cleaned up the mess before I went in to see her. As I opened the door my little girl was crying so hard that she could barley catch her breath, in that instant I sat down took her into my arms and started to cry uncontrollably. I calmed her down, said I was sorry and continued to cry. I am sharing this with you because at this moment I was done, ready to shut down and crawl into a hole, call in sick and keep the kids home. Why? Because one of my biggest struggles is being patient and having a short temper. I know, you would not have guessed that I have actually had to go to counselling to help work on this very negative character trait. It has been over four years since I have felt this anxious feeling that made me react to my daughter this way. In that moment I knew I had to do something so I called my husband told him what happened and instead of saying it was my fault he told me to walk away from everything, and calm down. He reassured me that I was a great mom who perhaps has taken on a bit too much, instead of blaming yourself take the time to sit with her and eat. That's it? Yes, I had a moment, a set back, now how was I going to deal with it? In the past I would have just continued to let everything pile up and become negative and lash out, but I am a mom..first and for most and that is not acceptable. My goal for this week wake the girls up a bit early and have breakfast together, start the day off with a positive message. I will ask for a bit more help instead of resting it all on my shoulders and stop and think before I react. We will all have setbacks in life, try not to dwell on them, make a plan for improvement, seek support and move ahead.

I have been holding on to these pictures and the story behind them since Christmas day, you know how it gets busy and you kinda get side-tracked. As my oldest daughter came home on the last day of school before her Christmas break and handed me a small scrap piece of paper with a list on it. She asked if we could get everything on the list for her to make a recipe she had copied out of a book in the library. So as I checked it over I saw we had most of the ingredients but we needed raspberries to complete the recipe. As we rushed around getting ready for Christmas she again reminded me to pick up raspberries so she could make this recipe for us. On Christmas morning she asked if she could make us all breakfast, of course I was excited by this request. So together, with the help of Madie, we went over the list and gathered everything we would need for the Berry Pile Up. Next she asked me for the paper that she gave to me with the list on it, crap..did I throw that away in the pre-Christmas tidy up? I casually looked around, under piles and thank goodness I found it. I handed it over to her and she turned over to the back of the paper. I asked her what she was doing and she showed me that she had actually drawn pictures of each step, just like in the book, pretty clever. As she washed and cut the strawberries and raspberries, Madie and I got out the clear glasses, honey, yogurt & spoons. At this point she showed me the order in which the ingredients were to go in to the cup. I asked if it would be ok for me to add some granola, I like a bit of crunch, and some melon that we had. So one layer at a time she put each ingredient into each of our cups...berries..vanilla yogurt..touch of honey..granola(in mine) and repeat. Simple yes and delicious! Let me tell you this is not what we would usually have for breakfast on Christmas but it meant the world to me that she wanted to prepare it for us and she explained that it was very healthy for our bodies to start a special day of family fun. Sometimes I forget how much we influence our children, but that morning I knew she is a mini version of me and I was so proud. Now I have to work on Madie who would rather have candy for breakfast!

As I sit down to write this blog I have so many different ideas in my head that I am having trouble getting started. Today was to be my first day back to the gym for the New Year but I ended up on the side of a mountain with my puppy working out in the great outdoors because it was +11. Seriously, January 4th and no snow and plus temperatures, so with that and the huge guilty feeling I had when I drove in and saw Rudy sitting on the deck waiting for me to return, I geared up with my Camel Pack on my back and Ipod in hand! No big deal, a change in plans right, happens to us all the time. Let me tell you that I had the most amazing workout that I have had in some time. I felt recharged and refocused, which is exactly what I needed after having a few detours in my overall plan for the New Year.

I was also extremely excited to see that they have built a look out at the top of the Sunset Trail! I have been running and working out up there for the past few years and have always had the goal to host some circuit classes up there and now I will make that happen. It is a beautiful spot with a nice hike up and as you can see, more than enough equipment to put on a challenging class.

I am so happy to be getting back to teaching classes next week, I have loved the time off with my family but I am ready to get back into my routine.