1650 Green Valley Road

Awhile back I made plans with my Mom to fly out to California to help her go through her house for her move (across town) and to set up a garage sale.  My parents moved to this house in the summer of 1986 when I was 4 years old.  I vaguely remember the first house we lived in in Yuba City (on Bridge Street) but this house was my childhood home. It is a large house with two attics, more closets than I care to count and 30 years of memories and things. Most people who know me know that I love to organize spaces and and am pretty good at throwing things away.  As my Mom and I talked about me coming out my biggest request was that she have a dumpster ready.  The house she is buying is 1840 square feet.  The Green Valley Road house is over 3000.  I did my best to remember that these are important memories to my Mom and was impressed by what a good sport she was.  I have three siblings who live in or within an hour of Yuba City so I knew I would see them and my sister Susanna drove out from Idaho to help out too. It was really nice to have time with them at this house.  When we went out to YC for my Dad's funeral last summer I knew that the next time I came would be the last time it was to this house/neighborhood.  It will be really strange to go to Yuba City and not stay there.

I arrived in California late Thursday night and the next morning I got up and went on a walk around the "neighborhood."  I first walked down to Smith Road which is about a half mile away.  Davin, Susanna and I used to ride our bikes down there a lot in the summer and play in the ditch. We would catch tadpoles and straddle the tunnels to walk through them.  We were totally trespassing but didn't think anything of it.  Right now they have a lot more water in them but in the summer the water level went down and we loved being there.

Then I walked through the subdivision next to their house where I liked to go jogging in high school and stopped by Davin and Tara's house to say hi.  The weather was so cool and fresh and it was a lovely reflective time. That walk was one of my top three things of this trip. I had a really lovely childhood.  I clearly remember unhappy times but over all it was such a great place to grow up.  My parents loved me, I was always safe and all my needs were taken care of. When I finished my walk I sat down on the front porch and just looked out over the yard. So many memories.

After that my Mom and I cleaned out some closets. While we were cleaning out one closet out I came across some yellow and lavender silverware.  I looked at them and then looked at my Mom and said, "are these what I think they are?" They were, it was the cute silverware bundles she made for my wedding reception, almost 14 years ago!  It was so funny. We finished up and then headed into town. We first stopped at the Cookie Tree for treats for the week and then headed to In-N-Out Burger. This In-N-Out was actually built a few years after I left Yuba City so it was not a childhood memory but since they don't have them out East I'm really glad there is one there now.  What was there from my childhood were the chickens. For as long as I can remember there have been chickens wandering around the major highway and commercial zone in Yuba City.  We used to drive down 99 and see them on the West side of the Highway.  They didn't really cross over it but were always there by restaurants, grocery stores and business.  Its so random. I was happy to see them still pecking around.  After lunch we  went to Raleys for groceries. I loved going grocery shopping with my Mom growing up. Then I could make specific requests and was more likely to get them!  The same thing happened that day.

Once we got home my sister Katie and I started getting things organized for the garage sale.  After we worked for awhile I went to the spare room and brought out my wedding dress.  My Mom has been keeping it and 3 other wedding dresses at her house for the last 15+ years.  Hers, mine and both my sisters dresses have been in one of the closets in her house over the years.  I knew it was there and had decided that I would bring it back with me.  Since I found the silverware I decided a photo shoot was in order.  Mark and I had our reception in their backyard so it was prefect.  I sadly could not get my dress to zip up all the way but I'm good with it. It was such a pretty dress. I need to get it dry cleaned but don't think I want to get it in a special box, I want Lydia to play in it and maybe occasionally try it on myself!  My bouquet was lovely.

Susanna arrived early Saturday morning. It was awesome that she was willing to rearrange her schedule and come see us and help out.  My Dad hated the idea of a garage sale and they never had one at their house in all the years they lived there.  Susanna said she did not want to miss the one sale there and wanted to go shopping at it too. As soon as it was over we started filling up the dumpster with things that didn't sell and we didn't plan to donate.  Once the garage sale was cleaned up Susanna, Derek, Davin and I went up into the attic in the garage and started cleaning it out.  None of us had been in there for years and didn't know what would find.  The best find was my Dad's sombrero from his mission in Mexico circa 1971. I wish I could have brought it home with me.  My sister Susanna is super creative and one thing she wanted to take home was the piano.  She is very musical and spent countless hours teaching herself how to play the piano with it.  So she looked up videos online on how to take apart pianos and then did it!  This was after I left Sunday but she did it and loaded it up in her truck and drove it to Idaho!  She is going to reassemble it and make it a planter!

I never learned how to play the piano growing up and was jealous of how much time my sister spent with it and how much satisfaction it brought her.  I was really happy when I went home last summer and could finally play this piano.  I made sure to play it some before she took it apart.  The silly thing is if I expressed any interest to play my Mom would have made it happen but I was too afraid I would be bad at it.  I'm so glad I am learning now.

My brother Derek went home to Sacramento after we finished the garage attic and Susanna, Davin and I cleaned out the inside attic. I loved playing in this attic growing up. I would take books, coloring sheets, stuffed animals and toys up there and play in it frequently. My favorite was when it was raining outside. I loved hearing the rain on the roof and feeling so close to it. My Dad didn't love this for various reasons so I mostly did it when he was gone for the day.  I was surprised when I climbed up there and saw how much stuff was up there.  It was well over 50 boxes!  I thought I only had 3 boxes up there that I put up after my first years of college but apparently my Dad went through our rooms when we were gone for good and boxed and bagged everything and put it up there.  So I had some fun surprises to go through. Like my whole (awful) high school wardrobe was in a bag up there!  There were books and a few toys that I was really happy to find and had wondered what had happened to them. Most stuff ended up in the dumpster or in the donation pile but I did bring back a suitcase full and my Mom is mailing box to me.

These pictures aren't even all the boxes! I definitely got my love of holidays and decorating for them from my Mom.  She had over 15 boxes of just Christmas decorations! 

I found my old Sunshine Generation costume and Susanna donated lots of her old dance costumes to Lydia.  Her girls are in dance and already have closets full of costumes.  I brought home a few kitchen things of my Mom's and my Grammie's (Maternal Grandma) and a series of Star War books I loved growing up.  I am sure Jared will love them and am excited for him to read them. I'm not sure if Lydia will like them but she is already pretty happy with what she got!

After Davin went home Susanna and I made a second run to GoodWill. I had gone after the garage sale and then we went together. I was so happy to get to spend time with them all.  That night Susanna and I brought box after box to my Mom to have her go though.  She was such a good sport!

The next day was Sunday.  My mom and I had planned to go to church but instead went on a picnic with Tara and her sweet girls.  Susanna and I wanted to get a run in together while we were in Yuba City and Sunday ended up being the day.  We ran to the park, 4.8 miles away from my Mom's house and it was a great run.  I had never run through Yuba City like that and loved doing it with Susanna. We stopped by my favorite yogurt place on the way back.  My friends and I used to go here for lunch in high school.  Super healthy right? When we got to California Yogurt I noticed it had a for sale sign on the window.  I sent a picture to Mark seeing if he was interested in buying it but no dice.

After yogurt we went home and packed up as much of the kitchen as we could.  We went through some more bookshelves and regular shelves in her home, packing up as much as we could.  Both Susanna and I will not be there to help our other siblings pack up and move my Mom so we really wanted to get as much done as we could. I do love organizing and cleaning out things and am really grateful I could go out.  We actually all went with my Mom to check out her new house (It was really nice of the agents to let us) and I know she will really love being there.

The last thing I wanted to do on this trip was see my Dad's headstone.  I hadn't seen it yet and drove out to the cemetery by myself.  Its a beautiful drive especially at this time of year. My Mom talked about coming with me but I really wanted to go by myself.  I miss him.  It makes me sad and a little mad that we didn't get more time, that Jared and Lydia didn't get to spend much time with him at all. I'm so grateful they at least got some time with him and am so thankful for the love and support he always gave me.  One other item I found in the attic was the Book Of Mormon my parents gave me when I got baptized.  In it he had written a note to me and I loved seeing his handwriting and feeing his love for me.

It was a beautiful California Spring day.  Some of the trees had already changed from flowers to leaves but I was grateful to see some orchards full of flowering trees. I felt a lot of emotions seeing his headstone and seeing my Mom's name on it too! I'm grateful for my parents and their love and support.  I'm glad that my Mom is staying in Yuba City even though I would love to have her come live in Virginia. It was really great to be able to go out and help and spend some one last weekend at Green Valley Road.

March: running, Pi Day, Richmond and Saint Patricks

Its been almost a month since I last posted on here which is a lot longer than I normally go without posting which means this is going to turn into a marathon post.  March has been busy and its not slowing down anytime soon so I need to get some information on here.

At the beginning of the month I ran the Sugar Hollow 10K.  This fits in nicely with my training for the Charlottesville 10 miler and I really enjoyed the 10K last year.  I drove over with the same two ladies as last year and enjoyed visiting with them.  The race happened to be hours after "Winter Storm Riley" with its 50 mph winds made its presence known in Central Virginia which was not helpful.  The first half of the race had us running directly into the wind.  At times I had to smile day eyes with my hands because I was afraid of getting stuff stuck in them. When I originally looked at the weather it said 13 mph winds but it was much more than that.  Traditionally there is a pancake breakfast after which I have not attended but this year it could not be held because the building did not have power.  We have friends who were without power for over 3 days it was some crazy wind! I felt good during the run and was especially happy to reach the turnaround point and therefore have the wind behind me.  I finished in just over 1 hour.  1 hour and 23 seconds by the official race clock.  That is a 9:43 average pace per mile which I was happy with.  My goal is 10 minutes per mile or less so 9:43 was great. Its a great race and I look forward to doing it next year.

I started training for the 10 miler back in January, the week of the 07th.  Training has gone really well. It was really exciting to get to weeks  7 - 10. Before this year I had never run farther than 6 miles so to successfully complete 7, 8, 9 mile and then a 10 mile run this past Friday was really cool!  Songs from "The Greatest Showman" have been my best running songs.  Specifically "From Now On",  and "The Greatest Show on Earth."  "Come with Me" by Karmin has been great too.  Its interesting to me how the songs that really pushed me last year are often ones I skip over this time. I have also loved listening to the podcast "StoryCorps" It's great.  The race is this Saturday the 24th.  It starts at 7:15 which is great for me, I prefer running as early as possible.  Right now there is rain forecasted but maybe it will hold off. I am nervous about the hills on the course. Charlottesville is not a flat city and I do not like running hills.  To try to mentally prepare I did my 10 mile run on this newer road near our house that is really hilly.  When they completed the road, (Berkmar) I remember being really excited because it has a really nice wide walking path but once I drove it and saw how hilly it was I figured I would never attempt to run on it or even ride bikes on it but I ran from my house to the road all the way down to the last roundabout and back to my house and ran it all.  It was hard and really satisfactory. I left my house at 6:20 (it was so dark because of daylight savings, like not safe dark, but I had to do it to get it in before work at 10:00! Luckily our road has like no traffic at that time of day) and finished in 1 hour 43 minutes. Because it was so dark when I left and we live on a gravel road that had been re-grated earlier in the week I was concerned about getting an injury and how upset I would have been but it all worked out great. I am ready for Saturday and feel excited/nervous: Nervousited.  There have been moments when I was tempted to register for the Charlottesville Half Marathon which is a few weeks after the 10 miler, whats 3 more miles?  But I looked up the date and its April 07th, the day we are supposed to get back in town so it wouldn't work out.  I think I'm glad its that date so I can just put it out of my mind, its decided for me.  Maybe next year, if I feel good after the 10 miler I'll attempt it. Today I saw this article and was amazed by this woman.   Talk about tough and dedicated.

The year was one of the first years I actually remembered Pi Day. Since I don't care for math the idea of celebrating a math thing is not always on my radar. I grabbed some individual frozen pie slices when I did my grocery shopping for the week and that was about it.  At dinner we did talk about Pi and had Jared and Lydia tell us the first numbers.  We did not spend any time memorizing as many numbers as we could.  3.14 is plenty and really I'm not sure when and what you use Pi for when doing math but our pie slices were delicious.  Key Lime and Chocolate Creme.

Besides running a good amount, I went down to Richmond to attend a women's devotional with Elder and Sister Renlund and Elder and Sister Dudley.  The Renlunds are really funny.  I had no idea.  Mark told me that it had been 11 years since a member of the Quorum of the 12 came to this area specifically, Charlottesville which was why they were given the assignment. They are holding a stake conference in our church building tomorrow, hopefully we get seats. I dropped Jared and Lydia off at Mark's school where they had a great time playing in the gym while he played basketball with some teacher friends. We don't go to his school nearly as much as we did in Colorado because its much farther away and the office staff just don't seem as welcoming so they were happy to play there. I had plans to drive down early with some friends to celebrate Julie's birthday so it worked out great.  We went out to eat and then over to the meeting.  Elder Renlund started his message by simply saying, "Thank you." Unbeknown to me there were 2 talks we were encouraged to read before the fireside.  Both were by President Nelson, "A Plea to my sisters" and "Joy and Spiritual Survival".  I will make sure to read them this week.  One part of Sister Renlund's talk discussed the three words used to describe Relief Society.  They are: Faith, Family, and Relief.  She talked about how it seems that sometimes we skip the first one and focus so much on the other 2 but that strengthening our own faith deserves so much time. The talks were enjoyable and I was grateful to attend and have the hour + drive with some great ladies.  We didn't stay to shake their hands but headed out.  We  stopped at Sonic on the way out for a birthday treat.  I meant to take a picture of Elder Renlund on the screen but forgot. I did snap some really quick at the end.  Funny thing is a friend of mine had just given the closing prayer so she's there. I'm not sure if that is highly frowned upon but I did it.  I emailed these to her which she probably thinks is weird but she is very kind and will probably still talk to me.  It was a nice evening.

When I got home last night I worked on some Saint Patricks Day festivities.  All year (since Saint Patrick's day 2017) Jared made demo Leprechaun traps and planned how he was going to catch a leprechaun. Last night he surprised me by making a rest stop instead.  We had talked about he and Lydia sleeping in the basement since that was where the set the traps previous years and they were sound asleep when I went to check on them.  I was surprised they stayed there all night.  Their rest stop was really cute.  There was a Barbie cup of water and a Barbie cookie tray with mini chocolate chips on it and a felt blanket.  They even left a penny for him in case he needed it.  Jared wrote a funny note to the Leprechaun letting him know it was not a trap.  It was sweet.

"This is not a trap. I Pinky Promise. True"

The green is the reply.  Since they did something nice they leprechaun payed it forward by cleaning up their rooms and the basement for them and heart attacking them with green hearts. There were gold coin trails to follow to gold candy and a rainbow treat. I stopped in a grocery store for St Patricks donuts but they didn't have any specifically for that but had rainbow sprinkles which was close enough.  Mark had to be in Richmond for most of the day for training with the Renlund's and others (he shook his hand as I knew he would).  He left just before 11:00 and got home after 6:00.  After he left we watched the Chicago river being dyed green (now we all want to fly out there next year), a few Irish dance performances, bagpipes in parades and celebrations throughout the world of famous icons being lit up in green. 

We did at least have green smoothies today so some healthy foods were consumed amidst all the delicious treats. 

We had our traditional Saint Patricks day drink (sprite and lime sherbet) and I made a layered brownie desert with mint ice cream, chocolate ganache, crushed Oreos, and cool whip flavored with peppermint and dyed green.  It was fun. I was out of town last Sunday and some friends kindly invited them over for corned beef and cabbage so they had a pretty great time celebrating Saint Patricks this year. 

Jared and Lydia also passed the time today by building a mansion fort and setting up "shops."  It was pretty cold and gray most the the day and these were both great activities for a day like today. I loved that they came up with and did them all by themselves.  

Mansion Fort

Jared's Ball Shop: 

Other offerings:  signed autographs by him, ball rentals and basketball exhibitions. He always likes basketball and sports in general but I think March Madness had a play in this.

Lydia's Jewelry Shop.  She also offered dance performances. 

Lastly: Why does Jared look so old in these pictures? My goodness. And Lydia lost another tooth this week.  I think it was Monday.  She has quite the hol-ey smile but the two teeth on top are coming in.  Almost caught up! 

1 year down 4 to go?

Today is February 20th which means Mark has been serving as the Bishop for one year.  I can't believe it has been a year.  Its exciting how fast it went and crazy.  I am so thankful for the many people who work hard fulfilling their callings so Mark can fulfill his and for all the support they give him.

We now have church at 11:00 and this past Sunday was the first time this year he made it home before 3:00. Middle of the day church is probably my least favorite.  Mark often has meetings in the morning and then since church gets out earlier more people want to meet with him after church.  When you finish church at 4:30 everyone is ready to go home and eat, not so with church ending at 2:00.  Its also hard to find good times to do the things we want to do on Sundays.  So we are still figuring things out.  Over the past year Jared has become much more interested in paying tithing. He loves giving the envelope to Mark. Im not sure if he has ever given it to one of his counselors.  He hasn't actually had any tithing he needed to pay since Christmas but is finding other ways to get to hand Mark an envelope.  One Sunday we were looking at the tithing slip and he asked what the other categories were for so I explained each one and the past 3 times he has paid he has given to the humanitarian fund twice and mission fund once. I love this.  We were talking about it this Sunday before Sacrament meeting started and I was sort of trying to see if he got anything out of it besides just getting to turn it into to Mark and he told me that he feels the spirit when he gives and it made me really happy for him.  As predicted, Lydia has been the one who has taken this calling of Mark's the hardest. Well her or Mark?  She is fine but she often talks about missing Mark and when we get to church always rushes in to find him in the halls or on the stand so she can give him some hugs and kisses. We are all fine.  He is gone a good amount and there are many meetings and things he is tying to feel inspired to do but he is working hard and doing a great job. We sure appreciate him.

Last Fall we went to our first ever cub scout planning meeting. (Well Mark had been to many but I had not) At the meeting I volunteered to organize the Blue and Gold Banquet.  Having never been to one before I tried to gauge the level of crazy this ward did.  When you look online at LDS and non LDS troops you can see that this can be made into a really big thing.  I talked to a few people at a committee meeting and started planning.  The pack had picked a Western theme which is pretty easy and I found some cute ideas online.

For the evening we would do the awards and then there would be  square dancing, making a stick horse, horse races and root beer floats. There were so many people there!  Originally I planned to have everyone make their horse at the same time but there is no way that would have worked.  So we had about 12 kids (out of 38) go make their horses and the rest came to learn some square dance moves. I had found 6 or so simple videos online and had the plan to hook it up to a TV and then do the dances.  Sadly the TV had really low volume and it is a large room so you couldn't hear very well at all.  So I watched the videos and called out the moves.  Another sister and I had demonstrated them before we broke into groups.  It was fun and chaotic.  I didn't really get to square dance and was actually kind of disappointed.  I took square dancing as a PE class in College and think its pretty fun. I wonder if I could round up a few families to have a square dancing party with?  After awhile we switched groups but clearly there were more people coming from square dancing going to stick horses so it was crazy but worked out. There were 2 sisters there to help out and lots of parents who helped their kids too but it looked pretty wild.  After they finished horses I had them all line up on one of the lines in the gym and we did horses races 6 kids at a time. It was cute and fun. Then we did root beer floats. It seemed like a really great turnout.  Lots of people helped out the night of and before and there were no real injuries which is amazing considering we had large sticks and 17 scouts plus their families.  As we drove home Mark got a text from the YM president who said that his son said in the car home that it was the best pack meeting ever!  He has 2 older brothers so he has actually probably been to a few so it made me happy.  (@Jessie: good old Eli!) I'm glad it all worked out and am happy its done.

These wanted posters were fun.  I went and took pictures of the Scouts in a cowboy hat and bandana at two different meetings. Then I had the parents send me a "cowboy" name and the Den leaders choose some of the scout attributes to say what they were wanted for.   Everyone seemed to really like them.

For Jared I did: Jared" Money Eyes" Spencer.  His leaders said he was wanted for being obedient and kind.

I loved how these turned out. 

I originally planned for 4 long tables but we ended up setting up 8 which was great but I should have planned for more cacti.  Each table just had one instead of 2 but it didn't matter. 

On Saturday we drove up to the DC temple for the last time for the foreseeable future.  The temple is closing March 03rd and will be closed for the next 2 years or so. We knew it would be crazy busy but were glad we went.  We did the same child care set up as last time. We dropped Jared and Lydia off with our friends the Leavitt's and then while we were in the session they drove them up with their kids.  We met them in the visitor center after we finished and then they went in.  While we were in the visitor center we ran into a friend of ours from Egypt (Perla).  We knew Perla was living in DC and loved getting to chat for a bit.  We also met a couple who drove up from North Carolina (Duke students) and the husband actually had been to and possibly lived in my hometown, Yuba City. (I wasn't sure if he did live there)  We are really far from Northern Ca so its really fun when that happens especially so this time since he is a cousin to my best friends (Kim and Becca I met your cousin at the DC visitors center!) growing up, the Halls. He and his cousin (from YC who is younger than me) are currently students at Duke and we know people who just graduated from Duke (Nancy if you're reading it was Tod and Kaitlyn Hall but they said they were in a different ward it seemed).  We talked about how much we both love Dames Chicken and Waffles and they said if we are ever there again we need to try out "The Parlor" for ice cream.  So, small world it is always fun to have those things happen! Last month it was weirdly warm when we went to the temple so we played at the church up the street almost the whole time but that was not the case this time.  We brought up board games and cards to play with them in the visitors center.  We found a corner on the lower level so we would be out of the way and had a good time.  All the kids were disappointed when Mark and Rebecca came out because there were having a good time which made us feel good.  We are really grateful the Leavitts' were willing to switch with us. I think we did it 3 times?  They are actually moving this summer and we will miss them.  Its been nice to get to know them. I know of 3 strong families leaving our ward this summer so I hope some new families move in too.  While we were in the visitors center there was a beautiful snow storm outside.  The flakes were fluffy and coming down really well. It was so beautiful to watch. I'm really glad we could see it and really glad that it just melted as it fell. We of course stopped at Moo Thru on the way home.  I knew of some other friends who were going into DC that day and we actually passed them on the drive home.  We told them we were stopping for ice cream so they did too. There is no indoor eating there so we just did the drive thru but it was a much needed pick me up. Jared and Lydia were really on one for the ride home. Its already a long drive but add in the snow and kids being obnoxious and it felt even longer.  Thank goodness for ice cream.  We will miss the DC temple but are really looking forward to visiting other ones and taking Jared and Lydia to the open house when its time. 

Valentines

A few weeks ago Lydia saw a sign at school about a Valentines Dance.  She asked if we could go and I suggested she ask her Dad to go with her.  So she did and they went on a little date and had a fun time.  Lydia informed Mark that she wanted him to wear a white shirt and black pants and a tie.  It was cute.  They did very little dancing, Lydia claimed she was too shy to dance in front of everyone but made some valentines and decorated cookies.  Since Lydia asked Mark I told her that she should take some money to buy him a treat so she did.  Good memories.  Jared and I went out too.  He wanted an icee so we headed to Target for an icee and came across a small LEGO set for $3.00.  We bought it and then made it together at home.  All four us had lovely evenings out.  We are again attempting to go on monthly dates with Jared and Lydia.  We were really pathetic last year and hope to do better this year.

We had a nice Valentines day here.  Jared and Lydia put out their mailboxes each night from Sunday - Tuesday and I had little surprises for them.  After Christmas I found a mermaid and shark snuggie on sale at our local grocery store so I grabbed them to save for Valentines day.  Jared and Lydia were really sweet and appreciative which was really nice.  I also decorated their doors with hearts with notes on them.  We had some yummy themed food and Mark brought Jared and Lydia to work last night to heart attack my car.  It was fun.  Lydia and Jared both kind of gave it away so while I wasn't too surprised I was very happy to see it.  They did it last year too. Weird that I worked last Valentines Day and this one.

Also Trader Joes flowers are back!  I will now go there once a week to snag some of these.  

10 Stems for $1.49!

Red Velvet waffles with cream cheese icing.  

Lydia was not impressed but everyone else enjoyed them. 

I felt really creative coming up with these breadsticks.

Cherry 7 Up Floats.  

We make some variation of these each year.  Last year I picked some Strawberry soda and it was so sweet and gross. (Food Lion brand) Even Jared and Lydia said it was too sugary.  So I played it safe with the Cherry 7 Up.  I wanted Strawberry Crush but our store only had grape and orange. 

Mark's favorite Mint Brownies.  

Mark and I decided to make this year a no present year.  We would rather save that money for any trips we want to take.  It was actually really nice to not try to come up with a good present.  We both thought so.  Jared's teacher's favorite treat is brownies so I had him take a plate to her. 

They love me and I love them. 

In non Valentine news, Lydia learned how to do a cartwheel.  She has been trying since she saw lots of kids doing them at school last August and it finally clicked.  It was kind of magical.  She was so excited.  I'm proud of her for trying so hard.  I took a slow-mo video of it and its really fun to watch. Its not loading on here but I put it on Instagram.  I'm happy for her, she wanted to know how so badly and no matter how many times I demonstrated she wasn't quite getting her legs straight and just sort of fell to the ground half way around.

Also, some sweet friends of ours volunteered to watch Jared and Lydia for us last Saturday so Mark and I could go out. We hate paying for babysitters. So much. I mean most of the time we go out after 7:00 and our kids are in bed by 7:30 so it just rubs the wrong way to pay someone to sit at our house while our kids sleep.  And lucky for us our kids are super easy so we are paying them for not doing really anything at all.  They read them a book or two and then are done. Anyway. It was really kind of them.  We talked about a few things we could do but none seemed quite right.  We didn't want to spend a lot of money (again, trying to save money for the many, many trips Mark wants to take with his flight benefits) and it was cold and rainy. Finally I had the idea to go to Panera.  The Panera here has a fireplace so we snagged those seats and enjoyed eating soup by the fire and talking about world events.  The idea was to go to BBC.com and look up headlines and talk about them. This sounds like something we should be able to do at home but there are too many projects and distractions.  Although Mark kept getting distracted looking up trip ideas.  He has it so bad!  I am not sure why but when we lay down to go sleep at night I all of a sudden have tons of things to talk about.   It is unfortunate because we really should be sleeping then.  Or for example, we are driving the 2 hours to the temple and could be having really nice conversations and I end up falling asleep.  This worked out great.  We would totally do it again.  We sure are thankful for thoughtful friends.

Freezing Rain and other January events and thoughts.

January is a pretty long month for me.  Not a bad one just long, yet when I get to the end of it I think, wait, a whole month of the new year is already gone!  It feels like there aren't as many fun events to attend in town and its just cold. I for sure prefer cold weather to hot but it's still cold outside.  Someone told me this past week that February was forecasted to be a very cold month too, but maybe it will bring us more snow.  We got this weird freezing rain Sunday and 2 of the 3 wards that meet in our building actually cancelled church.  Our crazy bishop decided meeting would be fine.  Maybe its because we aren't from here and haven't quite acclimated to the idea that things shut down here whenever there is cold weather and any moisture.  Jared hadn't been feeling well most of Saturday and fell asleep at 9:45 Sunday morning, almost exactly an hour before we would be leaving for church. I was completely ready, jewelry and all and then ended up missing church. He woke up around 11:30 but by then I had found someone to help out in Nursery for me only to find out that numbers were low enough and the rain was really turning to freezing rain (I still don't quite understand how that happens) that there was only going to be Sacrament meeting that day.  It sounded like a really good meeting and some families I really love from our old ward attended since their meetings were cancelled so I really wish I could have gone. Oh well. The nap really did help Jared which made me glad. On Saturday he talked about feeling achy so I was nervous it might be the dreaded flu but he didn't feel as achy Sunday so we were pretty sure it was just a cold.  We had plans to go to a friends house to enjoy some super bowl treats while not watching the super bowl but we are mean, old school parents and if Jared wasn't well enough to go to church he was not well enough to go visit friends.  The weather was really weird Sunday and since this is Albemarle County school was canceled today. It was a 2 hour delay at first but then it got canceled which was fine with me. In the school districts defense the roads were actually quite icy.  Because it snowed Sunday morning for about an hour and we didn't shovel any of it (because it wasn't even an inch) our driveway was completely iced over.  Fortunately we had parked our cars at the top of the driveway near the road and could come and go as needed but we still didn't go anywhere today until well after 11 to make sure the roads were clear.  At the end of January Mark was complaining about the school calendar and how since they took Presidents Day away to make up for the snow days in January they wouldn't have a day off until Spring break, the first week of April.  Lucky for him he got the first Monday in February off so he did get one extra day off.

Two weeks ago we attended Jared's first Pinewood Derby.  Jared really enjoyed making his car.  He chose a money theme (no surprise there) and had an amazing attitude going into the races and at the event.  As I have mentioned his desire to win and be the best often drives me crazy but at this event he was totally at peace with the idea that he probably wouldn't win. It was weird.  He actually reminded me a lot of myself. I rarely let myself get super excited about things. If you keep your expectations low enough then you aren't disappointed.  You can just attend an event and enjoy it. Some people may think that sounds sad but it is not sad at all to me. It has actually worked really well for me the last 20 years or so. Its not to say I don't get excited I do, I just don't let it take over things.  So he had a good experience. Would he have enjoyed winning more? Yes.  But he handled it so well.  I loved seeing him approach an event like this.  There are 4 lanes so each car races 4 times switching lanes each race.  He got 2nd place the first time then 3rd all the others. We didn't bother to enter Lydia in the sibling race and she really didn't mind or even seem to know there was a sibling event.

This is Jared with our friends the Farnsworth's little boy Ethan.  Jared has never been one of those kids who loves other little kids. So when I saw him letting Ethan sit in his lap I was really surprised. It was cute. Ethan is in Nursery so every Sunday when I see him he says "Where Jared? Where Lydia?"  Its kind of our thing. 

In other Cub Scout news I volunteered to be in charge of the Blue and Gold Banquet last Fall and have been working on some projects for that. Our pack chose a country western theme and there are all kinds of fun ideas  online to go with that theme.  At the last committee meeting I tried to get a gauge on how involved our ward was since I had never attended one here and made sure to scale it back quite a few notches from the events online. I think it will be a fun event.

We also went out to JUMP one night with Baker Butler. Once a year the school rents out the whole site and so once a year we pay the money to take our kids to JUMP.  Its nice to go that night since they are sure to see friends there.  They had a great time. Jared was thrilled to get to wear athletic clothes out in public.  He wishes I would be a cool Mom and let him wear clothes like this all the time but I haven't given in yet! I'm not sure why I haven't?  Maybe I'm just being stubborn? A lot of it is that we spent money or were given other clothes so buying just athletic clothes seemed like a waste but next time he does need new clothes maybe I will consider it. He wishes he could wear athletic shorts and shirts every day.  Doesn't he realize we live somewhere with 4 distinct seasons?

 

And on one of the snow days in January we had some cold fun inside.  For preschool I had set up an ice rescue activity to go with our polar animals theme and when Jared and Lydia saw that I had done it they of course wanted to do it too.  We seem to always do it at least once in the Summer and Winter but I think they would be happy doing it once a month.

 

We also had a fun Brazilian food night.  There are quite a few people in our ward here who served missions in Brazil.  One family suggested getting everyone together and having each family bring a favorite Brazilian dish.  Mark made Brazilian Stroganoff, Limeade and Pave.  We used to eat Brazilian stroganoff fairly often in Colorado but then I realized that I don't actually like it that much and Jared and Lydia think its like the worst dinner ever (and I have made a lot of bad new recipes).  I don't actually know how many times Lydia ate it in Colorado but she is not a fan at all.  It was fun to get together and I know they all enjoyed reminiscing about Brazil.  Mark's limeade was a big hit.  Our kids do love it.  Mark has always wanted to go back to Brazil but with his job at the airport it has gotten bumped quite a bit higher on the list.  We will see when he plans that trip.

I was talking to a friend the other day and mentioned how happy I had been just spending time by myself, which actually made me feel a little rude.  I have been thinking about it a lot since school started in the Fall because it has surprised me how much I want time to myself.  I think it has little to do with people (there are quite a few people I would love to just hang out with) and more to do with this idea that I have had since early motherhood where once my children were in school I would be getting together with people all the time.  As I thought about that conversation more I realized that it wasn't exactly that, it wasn't that I didn't want to be with people so much as that I want time to myself while Jared and Lydia are in school after I finish preschool.  But on weekends or after school I am happy to get together with people. I may not be seeking out quite as many opportunities as previously but I do enjoy getting together with people. The hours in a school day just go so fast.  Preschool ends at 12 and after I make sure everything is ready for the next day, eat lunch, read scriptures or a talk and try to practice the piano my "free" time is down to like 45 minutes.  Which is still awesome but it never feels like quite enough time to get together with someone or I want to just read a book or I need to run errands. I also just like the idea of having this little segment of time all to myself. At the same time I know I would enjoy being with other people.  I think there are times in life when you are ready to initiate things and do it a lot and other times if it doesn't happen its just fine.  Maybe I got a little burnt out. It was such a goal of mine when we moved here to be super involved I think I peaked and am retreating a bit now.  I should probably try to work on more balance in my life though. I think once it warms up some I will try to get out on walks with people. But if I don't its okay too. It also doesn't help that I work at Kohl's every Friday so that day that could have been a totally free day is take up. Anyway, balance.

So while January is a long month it was a good one and we really did have some fun.