Once Upon a Time, the sequel

So the blogging was good and fun, visiting others was always interesting, and I was an avid commenter. Then my dear friend Heather conned invited me to join her at the Homeschool Blog Awards. As in to be a part of the team. She envisioned a site where homeschoolers could be encouraged, laugh a little, learn about great homeschool curricula, and learn about helpful resources. So naturally, I jumped on board.

I was later invited to contribute to another homeschool site. Which I also did. Then came the Twitter and the Facebook and ning groups. StumbleUpon, Delicious, BlogFrog, Tumblr, Flickr, TOS Crew, book reviews, 365 Projects, and Google+.

Somewhere along that crazy bunny trail, I blogged less and less and less.

I found myself missing the {yes, I'm really going to say it!} good old days of just blogging. I mean I love all the interaction and chatting with friends and staying current with the news and getting free things to review and on and on and on. But it all took me further and further away from my blog, as well as those that I used to read. And I like blogging. I like writing. I like interacting with other bloggers. But I sure do miss it.

{We interrupt this post to bring you a random picture of early morning fog shot at o'dark thirty.}


The other day I realized that I lament not having anything to write about {which isn't true - I've been jotting down notes and recording ideas on my iPhone for quite some time} and not having time to write {which also isn't true - I fritter away a ridiculous amount of time on FB and Twitter and G+}. And then Facebook changed the landscape. Not for the better, imho. But it was the kick in the pants I needed. It's time to extricate myself from so much social media and go back to bouncing around in the blogosphere. Oh, I'm not leaving FB and Twitter and G+ completely. But I'm working on some methods to minimize their hold on my time. So if you want to see what's going on with me, you can come check out my blog again. Actually, if you click on that little "Subscribe in a reader" button in the right sidebar, you won't have to pop over here all the time. You'll know when I've posted something. Which should be more often.

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Today's giveaway is actually two items. Well, five each of two items. I was privileged to receive When a Woman Trusts God by Sheila Walsh and Friendships for Grown-Ups by Lisa Whelchel from BookSneeze with the promise of a review and giveaway. I read them both, but somehow never got to the review writing and giveaway portion (sorry about that). But that means you now have the chance to them.

The reviews for these books can be read here.

Leave a comment below to be entered to win a copy of each book (5 winners total). Feel free to share on Twitter for another entry. Just be sure to come back and leave me the link to your tweet. This is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada (sorry to international friends). It's open until Wednesday, October 5 at 10:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

Book Reviews

It's hard to imagine someone as popular and sweet as Lisa Whelchel lacking for friends. But that's exactly what happened for a number of years. As an actress, there were plenty of people around, but no one with whom she had a close friendship. Over the years, Lisa built up a self-protective wall, relying upon her own strength. Within her self-sufficient barrier, she also found herself quite lonely.

In her book, Friendships for Grown-Ups Lisa shares her journey from being safe but lonesome to learning how to have close friendships. It wasn't always easy, but her ",...desire to experience connection was stronger than the desire to be safe." Her quest was filled with ups and downs as she discovered things about herself, others, and God's perspective regarding friendships. I really enjoyed this book as Lisa found the joy of godly friendships and gracefully shares what she learned in the process.

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Do you struggle with trusting God, others, and even yourself? In Sheila Walsh's book, Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God she "...opens wide her lifelong battle with trust and the moment-by-moment choices she made to follow where God led." She also includes the stories of ten people from the Bible who not only struggled, but also triumphed, as they discovered the beautiful things God did as they chose to trust Him.

I found Sheila's book to offer great encouragement. It's interesting to me that when we struggle with anything in life, we tend to feel that we're the only one, all the while assuming that everyone else has it all together. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Through her transparency, she offers hope and inspiration that you can learn how to trust the Lord and be freed from the bondage of fear.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

The book is also supplemented with a 12-week Bible study, which would be great to do on your own, with a friend, or a small group.

Disclaimer: I received the above books free from BookSneeze in order to review them. The opinions stated here are my own. I also received five additional copies of each book to give away. The giveaway is on this blog post. You have until Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 10:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time to enter the giveaway. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Wordless Wednesday - Wedding Chapel

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

P.S. - I'll be shooting a wedding here next month.

P.P.S. - If you're here for the giveaways, there'll be a new one posted tomorrow. You can still enter for The Busy Mom's Bible giveaway.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a girl {well, technically, she probably qualified as a woman} who found out about blogging because she read the blog of this other girl {also technically a woman} and she thought it seemed like a fun and cool thing to do. The first girl wanted to have her own blog {though she knew not why} but could never decide upon a fabulous name for her blog. So she just read the second girl's blog. And blogs that the second girl linked to. Times were good.

Then the second girl had a contest on her blog! One in which she was giving away a digital camera. Well. The first girl only had a film camera and she desperately wanted a digital camera. But in order to enter, she had to write a blog post. Gasp! She had no blog. She had no blog name. She'd better come up with something and she'd better do it soon.

She had been tossing around a few names, but none of them really captured what she thought her blog would be about. But somehow, this contest propelled her in a new direction and she arrived at a name.

It's true. Five years ago today, I started Bunny Trails. In hopes of winning a digital camera. Which I didn't. But I was able to buy one about a month and a half later. Which was very helpful for the blogging efforts.

Just like the rest of my life, it's been an up and down journey. Sometimes I post fairly frequently. Other times, my blog gets a little desiccated. Along the way, I've found some other wonderful bloggers, have joined bigger blogging projects, participated in memes, and had an all-around good time.

Oh. The other blogger who inspired me to join this craziness? That would be Sprittibee. Heather was my first blog friend ever. She was so sweet and helpful as I ventured out into the blogosphere. She even sent me html codes so I could tweak things a little bit. I still haven't had a chance to meet her IRL, but one of these days it's going to happen, right Heather?

Happy Five Year Blogiversary to me!

And if you stuck with me this long, how about a giveaway? Like all the things I have to give away that have been sitting here waiting for me to post them. I'm scheduling a number of posts {complete with randomly unrelated photos}, so there'll be a new giveaway each day. Feel free to enter just one, a couple, or all of them.

All giveaways will be open for one week. So check back daily to see what goodie is up next for winning.

Today's giveaway is The Busy Mom's Bible

I reviewed this Bible last year and while it's great, I'm just kind of attached to my favorite ever, highlighted, written in, used to be rose colored, but is now recovered in purple duct tape Bible. So this lovely has been sitting on my shelf. It's like new, as I didn't read it more than long enough to review it.

If you'd like a chance to win this, leave a comment here, along with what works for you to set aside time to be in the Word. If you'd like another entry, tweet the contest and then come back and leave a separate comment to let me know.

This giveaway will be open until Monday, October 3rd at 10:00 p.m., Mountain Time.

Wordless Wednesday - Morning Dew

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

Wordless Wednesday - Airsoft

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

Young Love by Mat Kearney

We have been Mat Kearney fans since we first heard his music, so I was excited to have the opportunity to review his latest CD, Young Love. Young Love combines quite a few upbeat, fun tunes with his mellower, ballad style. It opens with a catchy song called Hey Mama, which had me hooked from the first time I heard it. I'm singing this one all the time. Which is okay, because it's a really fun song. Whether you're a Mat Kearney fan or haven't even heard of him, I highly recommend this CD. Check out this totally cool, interactive graphic: ps- sorry for the weird alignment of things - apparently I'm having issues with the groovy, interactive graphic. Get the CD, though. It's awesome.
Disclaimer: As a member of the One2One network, I was provided with a free copy of this CD in order to review it. The opinions stated here are my own.

Wordless Wednesday - Seriously

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

Glenwood Springs, Part 1

{Completely unrelated - I'm rather vexed by Blogger's new posting pages. Nothing that you're seeing, but it's kind of messing up the mojo on my end. So if the mojo seems a little off to you, it's Blogger's fault.}

After the fun we had in Breckenridge, we headed farther west to Glenwood Springs, our final destination for our mini vacation. We had a great home away from home at the Hampton, complete with friendly, helpful staff. Since we rolled into town a little late, we got settled at the Hampton, then drove around looking for some vittles, er dinner. Supper to some of you. The only place we could find with decent parking that we knew would be open late was Village Inn. So yes, we drove hours away to eat at a chain restaurant that's close to home. Oh well. Getting some nourishment trumped the desire for something unique.

On Saturday, we had originally thought we'd head to Hanging Lake in the morning and then go to the Hot Springs later that day. Turned out that Saturday was going to be the hottest day and hiking to Hanging Lake takes some effort. Expending that effort in the heat didn't seem like such a great option. We checked out other local activities - of which there are many - and settled on renting some tubes to float down the Colorado River. So we made a quick phone call to one of the adventure companies only to discover that the river was too high and they weren't renting tubes that day. How about white water rafting? That looked promising - hubby made the reservation and we scrambled to get ready.

We made a quick jaunt over to Target (needed a couple things, as we hadn't planned on rafting), grabbed some fast-food lunch (oh joy), and headed downtown to the Glenwood Adventure Company. Downtown Glenwood can present some parking challenges and we were getting very tight on our timing. As we drove past the company, with its four parking spaces, we're looking all over the place and finding nothing. Our son said he thought there was a place in their parking lot. As if! But after going around a couple of blocks, we drove up and discovered that there was ONE place left. Apparently the Angel of Last Minute Rafters had saved it for us. Hallelujah! That got us there right on time.

We checked in, got fitted with vests by our guide, Mark, and attended the Everything You Need to Know About Rafting seminar hosted at the patio furniture out front. It was presented by a humorous Irishman. Because the Irish are so well-known for their mad rafting skills.

Then we all piled into a ratty old van, the company's transport vehicle, and headed upriver.

There were only two parties heading out that afternoon, which was rather unusual for such a warm, perfect afternoon. We had already told the boys that we'd be on a raft with a number of other people, but the four of us could sit together. Turns out that was only half right. The other family went on a different raft while the four of us joined Mark on our raft. It was nice in some regards, because it was a little more laid-back with just the four of us and Mark. But that also means that we were the only paddle power for the raft.

Once the raft was unloaded and we had all the appropriate raft safety gear, Mark gave us the All The Safety Things You Need to Know as well as the Listen to My Commands and Know How to Implement Them speeches. It turns out there was a reason we had to seriously know this stuff at the beginning of the ride. All the good rapids on this particular run happen just about the time you get into the water. No time for practicing. No time to try it out and get a little correction. Just chuck you and the raft into the rapids and hope you paid attention to the onshore speeches.

Fortunately, John & I have done some rafting in the past, so we weren't complete newbs. Therefore, the boys did not volunteer to ride up front. And since there were no other people in the raft, except for Mark, who has to ride in back, that left those positions to John and me. You know, the face-first-into-the-rapids-and-waves position.

Other than the first set of rapids, in which were not quite in sync (no Justin Timberlake), we managed pretty well. After that little spot o'uncoordination, we pulled it together. The second portion of the run was fairly mild. But it gave us an opportunity to enjoy the amazing scenery in Glenwood Canyon, visit with Mark, who just happens to have grown up where we live, so we had a lot of commonality there, and just relax on the river.

Mark was a silly raft guide.

It was a great day.

Oh yeah, it's a good idea to wear waterpoof mascara when you're rafting. Or none. But since it was a last-minute adventure, such things never occurred to me. Until after the first set of rapids.