I took Driver’s Ed when I was 16. I remember:

~Andrew, the guy I sat beside, flirted with, became friends with, and eventually dated (I would later break up with him because I met my now-husband)

~Lisa, the girl who could turn just about anyone’s words into an innuendo, and frequently did so

~The day I sat through class with my faced numbed up and gauze in my mouth because I’d just had four teeth pulled in preparation for braces

~The checklist we had to follow every time we got behind the wheel, which always, always concluded with fastening our seat belt before we even started the car. I didn’t always wear my seat belt as a passenger, but I have always worn it as a driver, thanks to getting the habit so ingrained so many years ago in Driver’s Ed.

We spent today off-roading in Sedona, and I’m thinking of Driver’s Ed not because we were driving in places like this…

but because tonight I was reminded of the importance of a checklist, and of getting into good habits.

I’ve blogged before about my new camera, and of the fact that I’m still trying to learn to use it (without relying on the automatic mode) I have had moments of extreme frustration, to be sure, but I finally thought I was getting the hang of it, and starting to produce more keepers than not. So tonight, when I uploaded my 200+ pictures from the day onto my laptop, I was devastated to see that with very few exceptions they were all blurry, soft, and various other degrees of “off.” After a brief moment of mentally berating myself, I realized that my error was simple… it was on the wrong setting (and I then began berating myself anew) Mike had changed a setting when he was experimenting last night, and he’d never changed it back. And I never checked it when I started snapping today. I’m relieved that I’m not in fact just the worst photographer ever, but I’m oh so frustrated with myself that I made such a stupid mistake. And I’m disappointed that I missed on out some amazing photographs of an amazing place.

Next time – and every time – I will check my settings first.

Fuzzy pictures aside, we had a wonderful day, the kind that makes me glad I’m alive, and glad I live in Arizona. The whole thing was Spencer’s idea:

It was a trip he’d been wanting to make for months now. We planned on going on his birthday, but got rained out. We rescheduled for another day, but, alas, we got rained out again. Today was our day, and it didn’t disappoint.

We did some good rock-crawling, enjoyed some amazing views, had a picnic in the middle of red rocks, and watched the kids climb, jump and play.

Yup, ’twas a darn good day, made even better by the fact that we capped it off with gelato.

And next time I’ll check the settings on my camera.