Spring is upon Us

It's 86 degrees here today and my flowers have been up since mid-February! I'm loving the warmth but I hope this doesn't mean we have a really long, hot summer to look forward to. 86 in March?

We've been heading outside to the Botanical gardens! I LOVE this place. So pretty.

So I guess for right now, I'll just enjoy the days and not worry too much about tomorrow.

It's been a while...

I can't believe how time slips by. Well, yes, I can. It's been doing it for years. Erika got a leopard gecko for her birthday yesterday. It eats crickets. Do you realize how much I love this girl? Yes, I let her get a pet that eats crickets. sigh.

Summer

We spent most of this summer in Utah and Idaho, visiting family and friends. While there, we attended: The Hardman Family Reunion in Cour D'alane, ID and the Lindsay Family Reunion at Bear Lake, the Don Lindsay Family Reunion at Kings Hill, ID, and my sister Heidi's wedding in Salt Lake City! We went down South with Julie and had fun at the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point (and earlier, in Ogden!) and went to the art museum in Springville. We attended church in almost all of these places and by the time we came home, I was SO ready to unpack my suitcase and stay at home for a while.

Cassie Stallings, Olivia Black, Brooklyn Hardman and Olivia Lynn sitting on Heather. Abbie was none to thrilled to share her mommy! But we returned her just as good as new a few minutes later.

In Idaho, we did SO many fun things. One of these was going to tour a gold mine.

nerd.

We played at the amusement park in Athole, ID. Say that name out loud. I do. hehehe

A Brief Note of Thanks

My thanks all of our friends and family who prayed with and for us during the April 27th tornados and the aftermath. We are all doing very well although I still jump whenever I hear a siren go off. (Even when it's the playskool toys!) Our neighborhood was safe from the worst damage and while some lost trees or had minor damage, it was nothing compared to the areas that were most devastated. I have some pictures to share and some more thoughts to organize and share, as well. But for now, we are just grateful to still be here and to have been so blessed.

Heywood Banks Pancreas.wmv

Awww, the pancreas. Such an important and oft-overlooked organ. This is from my favorite song-writers on the Bob and Tom show!

Spinning

So the other day I tried spinning class. Class description: stationary bicycling. Pretty much, a skinny little instructor tells you when you should turn the little dial of torture to make the biking harder and harder. I've tried and failed before. I was determined to finish the whole class this time. This is roughly how it went:

8:30 - I start up, 3 petal strokes in, so far so good. I like the instructor.

8:35 - It's getting hard and that was supposed to be the warm up. Ouch.

8:39 - Oh sweet mama, it's only been 4 mintues? I think about giving up; decide not to just yet.

8:43 - I think that it might have been a dumb decision.

8:45 - Yep, dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb. But I've stuck to other dumb decisions so I'll stick to this one.

8:50 - My quads scream despite the fact that I'm going about 1/2 the speed of everyone else.

8:46 - I hate everyone else. (except Emily who, bless her heart, thought I could acctually do something this hard)

8:50 - I think mean things about the instructor. This gives me a surprising boost of evil energy.

8:56 - Evil energy wanes.

9:05 - My legs go blessedly numb.

9:08 - I realize I need heavens help to get through this class so I think 5 good things about the instructor (but I still don't like her.)

9:09 - I. am. going. to. die.

9:10 - Instructor announces cool-down time.

9:14 - I start to like people again, in general. I forgive the instructor for her sadistic tendencies.

9:15 - Done. Stretch. Endorphins have a chance to catch up with me.

Do I plan to do it again? Yes. That was brutal but I burned a TON of calories. So even though I might wimper a little, me and my jelly legs will be there next week when I hope it will be a little easier. (oh, please let it be easier!)

School's IN (let the angels sing)

Today was the first day of school for my children after a full week of snow days. When you include weekends, that's 10 days off. So, they went back to school after Christmas break for 4 whole days, then got a week off for snow and then Monday for MLK Jr. Day. I tried to pretend that I loved having them home for that long like some of my friend did. (actually they didn't pretend, I think they really liked it) But I can't pull it off.

There were parts I liked. Like, not having to get up and get them ready for the bus by 7:00. That was great. Whole days in PJs? Super! Cereal for dinner? Sure! And we did a few things that were fun (like snowball fights) but mostly, the boys experimented with new ways to make each other crazy and Brooklyn added...maybe two decibels to her things-are-not-going-my-way-scream. And I decided to remove her binkie this week too because apparently I'm sadistic like that.

But today.......today I willingly got up at 6:00 AM and joyfully bundled them up and cheerfully waved them goodbye. I spent the day alone with Brooklyn and was actually SO happy to see them when they came home. So my conclusion? I am a better mom when there are not so many snow days in a row so lets keep things warmer, huh?