Race

I ran my half-marathon yesterday. My goal was to run the whole thing, which I was able to do! I'm pretty pleased with myself considering I don't consider myself very athletic. My family wasn't able to get a picture of me running because of different circumstances. However, this is me within minutes of finishing.

Here is me with my sister and sister-in-law. All three of us were able to run the whole thing!


We had a great time, and I'm glad I was able to have this experience with my awesome family!

Making faces

Richard and Audrey like to make silly faces, and Marie watched them and learned how to do it herself. Silly girl!

Proud

A couple more reasons why I LOVE this kid!

I usually have CDs in the car to listen to, but I have recently emptied out my player and haven't resupplied. So, in our silence, I could hear Richard in the back of the car saying, "Ohhh... We're halfway there... Livin on a Prayer! duh duh duh make it I swear."
Ah, nothing like brainwashing your kids at an early age!

Second, I planted some things in my garden today. Richard was concerned we would forget which plants were the broccoli plants, and we only had one tag from the pack we bought. So, he made another one! He is so concerned about the little things!

He makes me smile.

Perspective

My sister convinced me to run a race with her. So she, my sister-in-law, and I are training. While I was at my parent's house, I didn't want to miss a day. So, I got on Google Earth and measured out the 7-mile distance I had to run. That's how I've been figuring my routes out around my home. I can create a circular route around my home. At my parent's house, I had to wander through the neighborhoods to get the same distance! When I was growing up, the distance to the high school seemed pretty far. It was the other side of town! Then I was measuring and realized it's less that 1.5 miles away. Hmmm.... Somehow the town I grew up in shrunk.

Easter

We want to wish you all a Happy Easter! We are grateful for the atonement and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the example we all strive to follow. We feel so blessed to have a knowledge of His restored gospel. We celebrated the day by listening to the leaders of the church teach us during general conference. What wonderful counsel and testimonies!
We did the traditional Easter baskets. I don't believe the kids need a huge amount of loot, and so I kept things simple. They each got one gift and then some candy. Marie and Peter were oblivious to the presence of candy in the grass, but I figured they ought to get a basket as well.





I then did an Easter egg hunt in my parent's back yard. We had thought about doing the city hunt. However, we heard it was a madhouse and that it wasn't worth it. I figured my kids could get 30 eggs and not cry because they only got 1 and that we wouldn't have to walk forever since there was no place to park. Win/win! They had a lot of fun.




We also colored Easter eggs. I was lazy and the kids only did 7. However, when we were at my parent's house, my sister had brought 12 eggs each for her four kids to do. My mom was wonderful and boiled some eggs for my kids to do so they wouldn't feel left out. Richard wanted to play video games instead of do eggs, and so Audrey did them all. She had a lot of fun.

Swimming Lessons

The kids started swimming lessons again. We are going to the same place as we have the past couple of years, because it is indoors. I think that's important, because I don't want my kids too cold to be cooperative in the water. The teacher is an adult and not a teenager, and so hopefully that will make a difference as well. I couldn't get good pictures, because the building is not well lit and was very humid. The poor camera just couldn't figure out what to focus on and condensation kept collecting on the lens.
She said that Richard is trying really hard. That's all I can ask!



This is Audrey's first time doing swimming lessons. She was really excited after seeing Richard for the past two years! The teacher also said Audrey is doing well and trying hard. Audrey hasn't totally figured out how to balance in a life jacket, but her teacher is confident she'll catch on soon.