My Reasons

My Reasons

This Is Where It All Begins

This Is Where It All Begins

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Too Little and Too Big

Lots has been happening around here. The thing is, that the events aren't quite big enough for their own blog post, but not small enough not to journal. So, I guess you get a little/big cluster of our happenings. I apologize for some of my lengthy blog posts. I don't have a ton of time to blog, so when I do, I have to get it all down. Thank you for still reading and supporting the blog. I will try to be shorter from now on. We will see.....

Last weekend we had a GREAT visit with JoJo and Papa. Ben's parents. They drove up to hang with us for the weekend. We visited, watched the kids snow ski (my first time this year) went on a dinner date with the adults (and William) and enjoyed each other's company. It was a great visit. Too short, but wonderful. We LOVE visitors.

The Crawler
William is officially crawling! It is the cutest thing ever! He looks like a giant beach ball moving all over the house. His favorite thing to do is to crawl to the entertainment center and pull out all of the dvd's.

He also LOVES to go to the bathroom and dump out the dog food. We are quickly learning to keep doors shut. He seems loads happier, and I enjoy watching him mug around and explore the house. He is so excited to finally be able to get to all of the things he has been looking at, but not able to explore. It is a very fun phase.


Jammies Saga
William is now in 12-18 month clothes and therefore can no longer wear jammies with footies!!! I am so bummed. We are still stuffing him into the ones he has left. It is like stuffing an over sized pillow into a tight pillow case. We literally hold them up and bounce him up and down in them. ;) I love those. They keep him looking like a baby. I have looked in several stores to find 12 month jammies with footies, but to no avail. However, around Christmas time, they seem to have them for adults...what on earth??? Rats! I guess it is two piece jammies for Will.


Two Good Things
We just learned that Mary's very first official, real deal, gymnastics meet (competition) is the exact same day and time as the 1/2 marathon that I am running with my mom. I am completely torn. Both are paid for, both mean a lot to the people participating, and I feel obligated to both. The marathon is a once in a lifetime event, as it is with my mom, on her Birthday, it is her first big run like this, and I have been coaching her through the training.
However, Mary has been in gymnastics for three years now, and has been so excited to be able to compete someday. That day will finally arrive, and she wants her mommy to be there helping her get ready, cheering her on, giving her hugs, and giving her courage. There is only one first gymnastics meet. Argh! I am so torn and almost sick about this.


pink eye
Pink eye is blazing like wildfire through the neighborhood, ward and school. The school has declared it a "school epidemic." We have just been waiting for our turn. Mary has it, but not to badly, and William and Sam got slammed. The poor kids wake up every morning with their eyes stuck shut. And that gooey stuff is like super glue! It is so hard to pry off! This may sound weird, but I really don't mind pink eye. It is simple, easy to treat, not painful for the kids, and not scary. Compared to other things we have experienced, if this is our sickness for the winter, I will be happy.
Oh, and at the Dr. appointment, William was weighed. 25 pounds!!! He is 8 pounds above average, but we were told it is just fine, because his frame is HUGE. He is not obese, just a big, giant, dough ball of a baby, all squishy and perfect. I think I will start looking into football.



Sam went from this. (small flare up)


To this...in a matter of about three hours.

This was after we pried his eyes open with a warm washcloth. Poor little boy. :(



St.Patty's Day
This day is always kind of silly and fun. The mischievous leprechauns put our chairs upside down, put the garbage can on the table, Mary's backpack in the crock pot, dinosaurs in the microwave and so on. The big surprise was opening the fridge to find that they had turned our milk green!!!! Woah. The kids thought it was great, and they got a little treat as well. We enjoyed the day of green.





Friends
When we were living the married life in Rexburg, Idaho, as we were finishing up our degrees, we were in a very awesome and unique ward. In our married life, out of the four places we have lived, we have experienced two wards/neighborhoods/communities like this. One in Rexburg, Idaho, and one in Colorado Springs, CO.
While in Rexburg, we made some friendships that we knew would never die. And we were right. The Darringtons are the kind of friends everyone should be able to have. They are loving, understanding, hilarious, easy-going, down to earth, accepting, and very devoted to our friendship, as are we. We feel very lucky to have them in our lives. We were SOOOOOO excited to get the phone call that announced that they would be staying with us for a few days this week. Oh, there is nothing like a visit with good friends. I would not trade it for the world. We talked and talked and talked and talked, and it was wonderful.

Thank you Darringtons for filling our home with the footprints of good friends once more.

As for here, in Utah, making friends has been a little rough. A lot of people have been here for a LONG time. They are all settled and happy with how their lives are, who their friends are, and there doesn't seem to be a need for a new friend. It has been hard to break through the layer that seems so thick. Very different from Colorado, that seemed to be waiting for us with open arms.
However, these past two months, we have felt doors opening in the way of friends. It has been so nice! The conversations are more frequent, the invites are coming, and I sit by people in Relief Society now. I am feeling more and more of a friendship with the women in our ward and in our circle. We also went to dinner last night with some very fun couples and have been invited to some after church "hang-outs" as well. It has been a lot of fun and very uplifting. We have made a vow to reach out ourselves and start initiating some fun friend dates. Friends sure make life a lot more fun, and I have noticed that I am walking a little lighter these days.

Of course, running.
I am officially in the hard core, thick of marathon training. It is going well. I am ALWAYS hungry and trying to find ways to not be snacking all day long. I have had to get used to a new pace as well. In order to reach my goal, I have had to run faster than my normal training pace. After two weeks of huffing and puffing, my body is finally accepting the faster pace, and it is actually somehow more comfortable. Now, if it will just accept the added mileage as well, I will be set.
We are getting assigned our legs for the Ragnar Relay this week. They are all brutal (as we will be running a total of 188 miles through mountain ranges), but some are better than others. I am nervous, but the team is awesome and oh so hilarious to be communicating with right now. It will be a good time for sure.

School
Mary did not get into the Charter School that we applied for. The lottery was HUGE and our chances were very small. I did just put in her in another lottery at another awesome Charter School though. I do find great comfort knowing that the 1st grade teachers at her current school are all very good teachers. They come with amazing recommendations from several parents. I love Midas Creek actually, I just don't love the track system. It could be so much worse, so I really am fine with how things are for now.


Decor
We are scheduling the carpeting of the guest room this weekend! I am so excited! The room should be all ready to go in time for my family's visit for the 1/2 marathon, and for any summer visitors. (hint hint) Wahoo!
We got the mirrors up in the living room, and it looks gorgeous. What a difference they make!
We are getting Mary's cute lamp this week. Fun, fun.
Our grass is turning green...under the skiff of snow we got last night. Boo!
Green grass makes me so happy I almost giggle..almost. I can't wait to mow it and smell the wondrous smells of spring.
I LOVE SPRING!

7 comments:

Heather said...

Childrens Place has footed pj's up to 3T. That's what we started buying after 12 months.

Lisa said...

I have found that the footie pajamas are a 'winter' pajama around here. Look now on sale racks, I just got some for Alex at Babies R Us for $7 each. You guys sound busy and happy! What a dilemma with the marathon and gymnastics meet. Are the times the same too?
Good luck with it all! You're awesome!

Erin Darrington said...

It was SOO great to be with you guys. I loved just sitting and talking with you, it was so refreshing. I told Jacob that I could do Utah if the Maynards were my neighbors. I was having withdrawals yesterday, love and miss you guys!

Erin Darrington said...

PS I had the Barbie Girl song playing in my head the whole day after we got home :)

Heather said...

Children's Place has the footed pj's year round, they just sell the fleece ones during the winter months. The other fabric is just a light cotton for the rest of the seasons.

Jenni said...

So fun! I am so sorry about the Competition/Marathon problem. I hope you get it figured out. Too bad that you can't freeze time for a little bit so that you can do both. And you guys are great people so I am not surprised that doors are opening and that more people are wanting to be involved with the Maynards! I truly admire you guys!

Adri said...

My advice, for what it's worth (which might not be anything, but here goes...)
I think you should run your race. And I think you should send Ben with the video camera to Mary's meet. She can 'talk' to you in the camera before and after she competes, and, of course, Ben can film the whole thing. When you sit down with her afterward and watch it together, I think you'll be surprised at how meaningful it be able to TELL you all about it as you watch.

We were out of town for Dallin's 1st grade program, and my parents filmed it for us. I think he had more fun telling us about it and watching himself with us, than he did on the actual program!

Hope it works out!