Spontaneous Saturday

After my run early Saturday morning I convinced my family that we should complete their marathon in a month mile in the morning instead of the evening and by doing that we could stop and get donuts for breakfast.  Run a mile, eat a donut makes perfect sense.  As they were running I realized that we had no real plans for the rest of the day.  Lydia had a birthday party at 1:00 but before and after that were wide open.  To some people this would be the ideal situation but I honestly felt quite a bit of anxiety about it. As we were driving back from picking up donuts I suggested to Mark that we go on a hike and we went for it.  I had to have something to do and be out of the house.

We drove over to Preddy Creek and enjoyed a 3 mile walk/hike.  About a year and a half ago we noticed they had put up a really nice bridge when we were there playing in the water.  Since then they have really developed the trails and are adding new ones.  Its only about 10-12 minutes from our house and a great little place to take an easy hike.  It was a perfect day for it and Jared and Lydia were such great sports.  As we were hiking Lydia commented on how she wasn't whining at all, hinting that she was enjoying herself and feeling comfortable, not too tired and we all agreed that it was very nice.  They are such great ages for such an outing.  If it was warmer we may have gone kayaking as Lydia suggested but Jared gets pretty wet in his kayak so I think it should warm up for him a bit more even though the temperatures lately would be great for kayaking. I am really hoping to find some new kayaking spots this summer.  It was the perfect morning outing.

Lydia got picked up for the birthday party which was really nice.  Regan, the birthday girl actually lives just up the street from us.  Maybe a 3 minute drive.  Her mom and I have talked about getting them together a few times at pickup since it would be so convenient and they are such a nice family.  Lydia likes this girl but its a funny situation where there is another girl in the class (also a very nice girl) that Regan is best friends with so Lydia kind of just lets them be which I totally get.  They do not leave Lydia out, in fact their friendship (Regan and Kitty's), from what I can see is a lot like Lydia's with Abby last year so I think Lydia sees that and knows that she liked that time with just her and Abby so she is letting them have it.  That may sound too mature or grown up for a 6/7 year old but I wouldn't put it past Lydia. This feels weirdly similar to situations in my own life. I can totally understand and relate to not trying to insert myself in a spot where two people are obviously really tight and close.  So even though I think they would be great friends she has not pursued it but made other friends which is great.  I just hope she can have some of these friends in class with her next year so she feels more excited about 2nd grade. I for sure wrote all about this in my class requests for next year.  Please just let her have some good friends with her!

Back to the party, they went bowling and shortly after that Jared ending up meeting up with Marcus to go miniature golfing.

Annelle, Marcus's mom sent me these.  Both our families are so happy that Jared and Marcus have each other.  We so lucked out with them just being a 2 minute walk away.  We never thought this would happen given where we live seeing as how its not a neighborhood at all.  It would be so convenient if Lydia and Regan really bonded.  I'm certainly not going to force it but man that would be awesome.  I feel bad that its so easy for Jared and Marcus to hang out, they can just walk though the woods to each other! Jared was thrilled and had a great time. 

I had really bad allergies this weekend so while they were out with friends I took an hour long nap which was so helpful.  Sleeping is really the best cure for me when allergies kick in so I was grateful I could rest.  Mark had a special recognition luncheon at the airport so he was gone too.  I was pretty miserable Saturday and Sunday and am feeling better today but only because I was so miserable.

We had planned to have roast for dinner Saturday night but forgot to take it out of the freezer the night before so we made a new plan.  We decided on nachos.  There was a particular brand of beans I asked Mark to grab at the store and he could not find them at either of the 2 stores by our house.  While he was there he ran into friends and after he explained how he couldn't find the item they kindly invited us over to dinner.  It was really thoughtful.  They were roasting hot dogs which was perfect.  It was a weird situation though because Annelle had texted me to see if they could stop at DQ to eat and I said yes and then I heard from Mark so I was trying to coordinate the two events without rushing Annelle or making the Charles wait.  We are so fortunate to have such great people in our lives.  Jessie and I went on a short little farm walk as she calls them and it was so nice to chat and be out there.  Lydia happily played with Dash and hoped tend the free while we were walking. Both Dad's were right there.  Jared had fun but sadly injured himself about half way through the evening.  There is a set of rings on their swing set and he was flipping and somehow let go and landed flat on his face and really put a lot of weight on one hand.  It is pretty bruised (his nose too) and he got a decent cut.  He says it still hurts but it does not look like anything is broken.  We had dinner with friends on Sunday (it was a weird weekend) and this friend is doing their residency here and said it looked okay.  I know it is still hurting him but he is using it more which is good. Still favoring the hand but doing okay.

He was actually also in a lot of pain on Wednesday too.  We went to the orthondonitst and he got his expander in.  He was so excited to go and not have to use his retainer but he quickly changed his mind.  The expander was so tight and hard to get it.  The poor kid was sitting in the chair as they worked to get it in and just had tears coming out of his eyes.  He was really tough but so sad.  It was awful.  I hate all things oral and dread these and dentist appointments.  I quickly put Mark in charge of doing the turning for it.  It is not hurting him now but that first 48 hours was rough.

In less fun news the bear is back. I walked out of the house today to go running and saw our trash can tipped over.  It certainly made me more hesitant to walk out to the car!  I know the bear was probably there hours ago but still.  We sadly cannot find our bungee cords to put on the trash can and will have to go get more.  Its so gross picking up the trash and to add insult to injury, it pooped on our grass!  As I was sitting here typing this I heard the trash can get knocked over and rushed to the door to get a picture.  It looks bigger this year.  I would not be surprised if I drive down our street tomorrow and see more trash cans knocked over.  When I opened the door tonight he looked at me for a bit then took off running.  Previously this one, or other bears have just stared me down.  At least this one had the decency to run off.  He came right back but it is what it is.

 

I would never describe myself as spontaneous but for this Saturday it worked out pretty well!

Marathon in a month, Cheerleading clinic, and the last of the nice weather

Marathon in a month is going really well this year.  We completed our 17th mile today.  We have run most of them at the lake at Forest Lakes and have been lucky to have pretty decent weather.  Lydia got most of her 13 miles in by riding her bike.  Jared always runs and is pretty comfortable right around 9 minutes which is a good pace.  A few miles ago Mark took them to run while I finished dinner and he had Lydia run the first lap and then she could bike the second.  She did so well.  She did this for a few days and then today she ran the whole mile and loved it.  I was really happy for her. I am still running 3 mornings a week so I don't typically run with them but walk one lap while they run/bike.  As we passed today she had the biggest smile and said, "this is so fun!"  I asked her how she felt once she finished and she said she running felt so great.  I am really so pleased that she has had these positive experiences with running.  They may not last but its great to hear her enjoying it.  Jared has been a fan of running from the very beginning but I can not say the same for Lydia which is fine she doesn't have to like it because the rest of us do.  Its just really great to hear her wanting to run and liking it.  When we get to the lake early enough (we typically go after dinner and Come Follow Me) we like to hang around and climb trees and read for a bit.  Its been great that the weather has been cooperating for the most part.

Friday night I took Lydia over to Albemarle high School for a cheerleading clinic. One of the girls I work with is one of AHS cheerleading coaches.  She had told me about the clinic and thought it could be fun thing for Lydia to do.  I casually brought it up earlier in the week to gauge her interest.  At first she didn't seem too excited but when I bought it up later on in the week she decided she really wanted to go so I took her.  It was from 5:00 - 8:00 which was pretty long but she loved it.  There was only 1 other girl there and she loved the one on one attention.  Our family is not known for our rhythm and coordination but considering she wanted to go back for the Saturday session I won't rule it out of her future.  It was great she could try something new and I liked that I knew one of the adults who would be supervising.  Jen texted me a few pictures and mentioned how fun she thought Lydia was.  I agree she is fun! Lydia has a pretty decent vocabulary, which Jen noticed and texted me about.  She told me Lydia said, "This is so satisfactory."  Not cool or fun, satisfactory.  She cracks me up.  She will often start a sentence with. "Wherefore... I am going to read in my room now" Wherefore is one of her more frequently used words.  I'm not sure where it came from but I am a definite fan.

Right move, wrong leg. Story of my life, sorry Lydia.

She was a definite fan of the snack options and Jen let her have 

quite a few since there were so few girls there. 

Last week we were gifted some great patio furniture for our back deck. It will help us enjoy the last of the nice weather for the next 4 months.  A sweet family in our ward put their house up for sale and it sold really fast so they had a lot of great stuff they were giving away.  They are actually moving to Colorado Springs which is funny since we came from there.  We shared some good tips and hope they love it.  We actually stopped by to pick up some items and they offered us their patio furniture.  Patio furniture has been on our list of wants for a good while but it always gets bumped down. We love it and are putting it to good use.  I know I will take a break for the next few months once it heats up but we will enjoy it while we can.

 

Easter

We had such beautiful Spring weather for Easter this year.  On Saturday we did Easter baskets and a small egg hunt in our house before heading over to Chris Greene Lake for our ward party.  There was a very casual brunch and an egg hunt.  The day before had been fairly stormy (they actually released school half way through the day because of flash flooding and tornado warnings but none of that ended up happening here) which means that Saturday morning was clear and beautiful. I can't remember if I felt this way other places we have lived but here in Virginia the day or 2 after big storms are so refreshing.  I was actually a little chilled at the park and had to keep finding places to stand in the sunshine which probably made me seem like a bit of a loner but it was worth it.  There was a family visiting who are potentially moving here and I did enjoy visiting with them.  I even left the sunshine to introduce myself.  There was a really good turnout and it seemed everyone had a good time.  That afternoon we dyed Easter eggs. I am always conflicted with dyeing eggs.  I know we aren't going to eat them so I feel bad wasting them and don't buy more than a dozen to dye but then we all feel shortchanged and wish we had dyed more.  I just need to not worry about it.  

She accidentally found this egg. It's under the clock. She happened to be facing the wall and spotted it  which she thought was hilarious. You can tell Mark hid that one. 

We hid two large eggs like this, one for each of them and there was 3 dollars in it.  We only hid 2 other eggs for each of them each with a dollar in them.  So 6 total, 3 for each of them.  We knew they would get plenty at the activity and had some candy ones in their basket. Mark and I really didn't try to hide them in tricky spots but both Jared and Lydia talked about how hard it was to find the eggs.  It took them way longer than we expected. 

I felt that this year we did a really good job preparing for Easter spiritually.  The Come Follow Me outline had some good lessons and I found some different stuff online.  Lately I have been interested in traditions of other religions for these religious holidays.  I read a lot about Holy Week and tried to incorporate some of those teachings into our studies.  It was really enjoyable.  For as long as I can remember I have wanted copies of the old GAK pictures that have the summary on the back.  Last year Mark's sister Cathryn kindly passed her set on to me so we took out a corresponding picture for each day of Holy Week and talked about them on that day then displayed them all week. It was wonderful.  For my own personal study I read a lot from these sources which was very helpful in helping me focus and learn some new ideas and background. 

Eric Huntsman I especially like that he included different religious songs that I haven't been exposed to much. 

Mercy River They had lots of ideas for kids.

Church of Jesus Christ.org I was pretty impressed with all the resources on the church's website. 

We got an unexpected visit from a friend both Mark and I had at BYU Idaho.  She and her family live in upstate NY and were in Virginia for their Spring break. I saw some pictures she has posted on Instagram at a site just over an hour from us.  I commented on that picture and then she asked us what ward we attended because they decided they were going to stay the night in Charlottesville.  We offered our basement to them but they opted for a hotel.  I gave a few suggestion about our favorite things and then moved on.  The next morning shortly after we sat down in church someone came up begin me and it was her.  It was great to catch up with them. We ended up walking the Monticello Trail with them which Mark always wants to do but it never works out so he was thrilled.  Then we had them over for dinner at our house.  They are easy nice people to visit with.  Jared and Lydia got along really well with their 4 girls who are 11, 10, 8, and 6.  They both want to go see them in NY.  We met Karen in various history classes and all 4 of us love to travel and really try to travel with our kids so it was fun to share ideas with them. It was a great visit. 

Jared was so outnumbered, but he did great. Lydia was right in between their 2 youngest for ages and loved playing with them.  In fact we covered all ages from 11-6 between our kids.  

We enjoyed our traditional Easter treats and food, dyeing eggs and even a few art projects. It was a great Easter season. 

 

Bunny buns. I love this recipe so much.  An absolute favorite.  Karen saw them on the counter and mentioned that they always make them too. 

And these Cadbury Egg cookies. I forget how good they are until I make them for Easter.  

Jared's 3rd grade school musical and school updates

At Baker-Butler the third grade classes study a lot of ancient civilizations.  They happened to be studying Rome when we were in Rome which was fun.  We had Jared send a few Marco Polo videos while we were there and they sent some back to him with questions.  It was a fun exchange.  Ancient Egypt was another one they studied and to go along with that the third grade musical is about Ancient Egypt.  At first Jared was not that excited but he ended up loving it.  He really enjoyed a lot of the songs and really got into the choreography they taught them.  Nothing complicated but it was cute.  He was happy to do both performances and did a great job.  He had a short speaking part which he quickly memorized and really participated in the songs.  His class was assigned to be mummies which he thought was great. I don't remember him being as excited for his previous school musicals so I was surprised he enjoyed it as much as he did.  It was fun to watch him enjoy something different than his usual interests.

Jared and Marcus

I recently contacted both of their teachers to get some feedback about class placement next year.  Their last day of school is June 07th which is only 45 days away and those aren't even all school days. I actually remembered to check their report cards within a few days and loved reading what they wrote about each of them.  It will be fun to share them with them especially Jared.  He and I both love those words of affirmation. I am very proud of them both.  

Lydia's teacher replied:
I know that Lydia will do very well academically in any 2nd grade classroom.  She has very solid skills in all content areas.  She will thrive in a classroom where academic and behavior expectations are clear but she has the freedom to make choices about her learning-one size does not fit all.

Lydia Report Card: 
Lydia is quiet and hardworking, yet there are many times when she enjoys working with others. She has done well consistently throughout the school year.  It is a pleasure getting to know her and  discussing the things she is interested in.  

Jared's teacher sent me the following: We love Jared and have just been so excited to see him thrive in our space! Jared loves his freedom-he has thrived in a space that he can move about.  Jared is great at managing his time to complete his independent work- so it doesn't make sense to micromanage where and how he works. He loves research projects and open ended tasks. I hope his next classroom has a maker space for him to keep up with his creations.  He really values leadership and responsibility.   

Jared Report Card: We love Jared's clever humor, he's hilarious and so much fun (he has the best laugh) its no wonder other students have discovered how awesome he is and want to be with him.  We are very lucky to have him in our class.  He is reading on a 5th grade level and meeting all our expectations for math he is very successful in his math group.  He is just below the benchmark for work study and could benefit from practicing his patterns at home. (yeah we never look at them... so we should do that sometime) 

It is interesting to read how different the teachers are, Lydia's teacher seems so formal and Jared's so young and fun.  Both have been fine for each of them but I have loved these two teachers for Jared.  I was really unsure about this style of classroom when I found out he had been placed in it.  He has done very well and had an excellent year.  I definitely feel like they use too much technology which was one of my biggest concerns but he certainly hasn't minded it.  He told me tonight that Mrs. Shafran is actually taking over for the Gifted teacher position, which is her dream job.  I didn't really care or try to get Jared in that class but with her in charge next year I would actually be really happy for him to go in there.  Oh well.  Jared fits the public school mold really well so I think he will do well in most situations.  Lydia too. I am sad that she has not loved first grade and hope she can have more fun and feel less bored next year. 

Spring, Marathon in a Month, .5 cent cone day

Spring has officially arrived in Charlottesville and it is beautiful!  And sadly getting warmer each day.  I know I am in the minority here but I have such a hard time enjoying Spring.  It is so very beautiful here with all the flowering trees but it just means bugs, humidity, and hot weather are coming.   I have loved my walk to work each day just enjoying the cool mornings and watching things turn green again.  I make Lydia and Jared ride the bus home on Mondays which they do not love.  Last week I surprised them with some fresh lemonade for when they got home.  I really enjoy doing things like this and feel like it works better when they get off the bus so it doesn't happen too often.  It helps keep it a surprise!  I don't have any pictures of the beautiful dogwood trees (they are white, pink, and yellow and so fun) but I did take some of Lydia on Sunday after church.  Purple is her favorite color and Mark, Lydia and I all love these redbuds.

 

I gave my first talk since Mark was called as Bishop on Sunday.  I was admittedly surprised to be asked.  I figured the other Bishopric members would not ask me but let Mark ask me.  They each take a month at a time and I thought I was sort of being saved for a back up in case he couldn't find anyone.  Not because I am so great at speaking it was just what I thought would happen.  My topic was how the new Come Follow Me program looks for our family and what blessings we have seen from it.  This was an awesome topic for me.  I enjoyed preparing and even giving my talk probably more than any other talk I have given. Definitely in the top 3.  I actually felt that I had personal experiences to share and really felt strongly about the topic.  It was one that I felt I really understood which is often not the case.  I ad really try to apply it to my life and my family.  I reached out to quite a few friends and family members to hear how it worked for them and loved reading their replies.  It was such a positive experience and I think it was relatable and helpful to people.  I was worried that my talk would be too long with the new Sacrament meeting schedule but the timing was right on.  It was really interesting to hear the other speaker's talk.  From what I understood we had really similar topics but we approached it so differently.  It was great to hear two very different talks.  It would also be great to go another 2.5 years before speaking again!

Last week was our first week for Marathon in a Month. So far Lydia and Jared are doing great.  We are 7 miles in. When I brought it up with Jared he was incredibly excited to do it. I thought we might skip it this year as we were well into the month and neither of them had mentioned it but no, they still want to do it which I love.  We have run around one of the lakes at Forest Lakes, the new track at Baker Butler and the little track at Broadus Wood.  Lydia has run three miles and biked the rest which is fine.  We made a goal for her to run twice a week and I hope she will do more.  I am still running 3 times week so I have only ran with them once.  I do cheer them on while they run though. I signed up for the midnight race in Iceland on the Summer Solstice so I have to somehow stay trained until mid June.  It will not be very fun.  I am running 3 times a week and doing 3 miles, 4 miles and 5 miles.  I am signed up to run the 10K for the race which is my favorite distance but it will be a struggle with the weather getting warmer.  

Mile 1! Before

After

That first mile can be brutal.

Monday was .5 cent cone day at Kohrs Brothers.  We love this day!  This year we went to the store off 250 which is a solid 25 minutes from our house.  The other one is off 29 an only 9 minutes from our house.  The line was so much shorter at this store and never got very long while we were there.  Its hard to even call it a line.  We were just outside the door and got our ice cream in less than 5 minutes.  We drove by the store off 29 later in the day and the line was super long.  I am not sure we saved any time driving over to that store because it is far away but we did not have to wait for our ice cream so it either even out or we did save some time.  They are really fast at the one off 29 but it was nice to not have to wait around.  Mark was able to join us which was great.  I looked through the last 5 years to see if we had gone each year and we have.  5 consecutive years.  We are loyal .5 cent cone goers!  It was fun to look over the pictures and hard to believe that we have been here for 5 of them.  I was aware that we would reach 5 years in Charlottesville this July and impressed we have made it each year.  Traditions, I love them!  We will see how long our streak lasts, I am feeling pretty good about our chances. 

2015

Lydia is 2 and 3 months and Jared is 5 and a half. 

2019

UVA National Champions

Now that I work at UVA I feel much more connected to the school.  It was fun to go to work during the tournament and hear people talking about the games.  They really had to fight hard in their last 3 games.  After their humbling and embarrassing defeat last March not many people really believed they could make it to the championship but they pulled it out and actually won!  It was really fun to be here while it was happening.  The game was broadcasted at John Paul Jones Arena which is just down the street from my parking garage.  I flipped back and forth between channels during the first half of the game and then ended up watching all of the 2nd half and overtime.  It was so great to see them win!  A lot of people at work were kind of complaining because the school in Texas had canceled classes from 5:00 Monday though all of Tuesday but not UVA.  Personally I applauded them for not canceling class.  I am well aware that winning is a big deal especially given their circumstances and that is was the first time but would they close down school if the women's team won?  The tennis team and baseball teams have won national championships and the school didn't close to my knowledge.  I also feel like, its a university; not canceling class shows that while sports are great and good they are not the most important thing.  It made me proud of UVA.  I also loved how students and community members reacted.  There were many articles talking about how calm and just happy everyone were.  There was no looting or real vandalism.  Two couches were burnt which is weird but apparently a long standing NCAA college tradition for wining or losing teams.  I was so happy for positive press for this town I love so much.  Way to keep it classy Cavaliers and company!

The next day I showed up to work at 8:00 my scheduled time and it was so dead.  I saw almost no one for the 1st 3 hours I was at work.  It was so boring.  I was happy to leave at 12:00 but still glad classes and events went on as scheduled.  I am sure some faculty throughout the school canceled classes but there was no formal announcement from UVA which I think is appropriate.  I knew there was going to be a welcome back celebration at JPJ Tuesday afternoon but the thought of driving down there and finding parking was just too much for me.  As I was driving home I passed by the airport as I always do and saw the cars parked for the charter airplanes.  I had a burst of inspiration, we could see the team at the airport!  Its 4 minutes from our house, has tons of parking and no traffic.  We met up with a group of fans and watched the plane land and cheered for them as they walked off.  It was perfect.  I, like many females I know around here think Coach Bennett is quite attractive and seems like such a good, humble guy I was happy to cheer him on.  Lydia was not really interested but Jared and I had a fun time.  Jared had them going to the championship and then losing to Duke in his bracket.  This was one time he was pretty happy to be wrong.  It has been great to be here for this event.

Their buses are waiting in the background. We didn't know where they would land/exit exactly so we waited in one spot and then heard from an airport person that they would be at a different gate so we ran over there and had fun watching them exit and cheering for them.

That is Coach Bennett! 

Wahoo-Wa! 

Spring Break in AZ conference in VA

Mark took Jared and Lydia to Arizona to visit his sister Kristi for most of their school Spring break. Since I mistakenly took off UVA's Spring Break I did not go with them.  I enjoyed 4 lovely days here in Charlottesville. I actually ended up working 2 extra hours each day which is good because I need to build up my time bank again.  I had a great time and so did they.  They spent most of their time playing outside in Kristi's big level, grassy yard.  There was some swimming but it was actually cooler out there than expected so they didn't last long in the swimming pools.  Lydia and Jaselle, Kristi's oldest are just 4 months apart so it was fun for them to have some time together.  They went to Jaselle's horse riding lesson which Lydia thought was great.  They also spent a mon=rning at Chuck E Cheese which is not a place we frequent.  Jared and Lydia have only been once before and it was way back when Lydia was not even a year old so she really had no memory of it. They loved it.  Mark enjoyed visiting with Kristi and other family members, meeting up with one of his very good friends from Turlock for brunch, and attending the temple.  They were able to fly out of Charlottesville so I dropped them off Wednesday morning before I went to work.  Sadly all the flights getting back to Virginia were over sold or had long standby lists so they had to fly into Regan which is not as nice to drive too.  I went and picked them up Saturday afternoon.  We were relieved they made it back on the day they planned on and happy to be together again.

While they were gone I made our conference cinnamon rolls and cleaned our Jared's room. I ended up with 2 full garbage bags mostly from under his bed.  The amount of sticks he had under his bed was pretty ridiculous.

It was a mess but I thoroughly enjoyed organizing his room and getting rid of stuff. 

As part of our FHE before they left we had made some temple predictions and made a list of topics we thought they would cover in conference (to use for our treats).  

I was really excited to hear about Budapest.  It's a place I still really want to visit. 

I had mentioned Japan to Mark but didn't write it down, too bad. Japan is also a place I really want to visit. 

I don't often set a fancy table but I really should more because I really enjoy it. 

Jared opted to stock pile almost all his snacks until the end of the session.  

His bowl was overflowing by the end. 

We were really happy to be together again and enjoy General Conference together.