Derek

Two little known facts about my husband:
1. He is a real estate junkie. He gets on different MLS listing sites several times during the week and looks at homes for sale all over the place.


2. He likes to watch Antique Roadshow on PBS. I still don't get it.

Last week Derek was called into the bishopric of our ward as 2nd counselor. I am still not sure which light in which to view this development. Is this a good thing? Is this a punishment? Why us? Why NOW? Don't we have enough going on at this stage? Seriously?!?


In my mind, I have always viewed my family as being Moderately Mormon, occasionally tip-toeing into Jack. I am comfortable with this level. I have half-joked that I want to skate along on the fringe in order to avoid any major callings. This, by the way, has not worked for either one of us as we have still held rather weighty callings (I will remain in the primary presidency until after the program), but it still seems like a good theory to me. After he was put in as a counselor Derek informed me we might need to update our status to Mostly Mormon. Sigh...


I also quickly realized Derek and I have two different reactions to this. My immediate thought was of the enormous amount of time this would now occupy, as well as what in the world I was going to do with the kids during sacrament meeting. Derek's thoughts were somewhere along the lines of how can I do this and what will people think? I will be interested to see if the way people interact with him, or us, at church is different now with this calling. I suspect it might be.


When I found out about all of this I cried (and then I had to rush out of the room to go teach a Sharing Time on eternal families, where I was a total train wreck). When they asked if I'd support Derek in this calling I told them "No, but if I go home and pray about it I know what the answer will be, so I'll say yes now and deal with the rest later." Basically, I just want Derek's time and attention for myself and my kids. But for now, I guess I can share and I really am grateful for the quality man that I married (dang, I was smart).

Triathlon

I did my first triathlon last weekend. It was so fun! But it was also so so so HOT outside! The heat index was over 100. The swim and the bike part were OK, but the run was miserable.

My stats:

500 M Swim Time: 14:56

13.5 mile Bike Time: 55:15

3 mile Run Time: 31:37

Derek and his dad came to cheer me on. I loved having them there. When I registered I put my swim finish time as 12 minutes, because that's what I do in the pool. But guess what - swimming in open water and swimming in a pool are two different things. So I ended up in the first heat of swimmers. You know, the fast heat, where the winners are. Oh my. But it actually worked out great because I hung to the back and wasn't crammed in the middle with everyone else like I would have been in the 2nd heat. I was VERY pleased with my swimming finish time. I started swimming in February to prepare for this, and I've never done lap swimming before, but I really enjoyed it and felt very confident in my swimming for the race. Midwest lakes aren't exactly the best out there. They're disgusting. This water was so murky that I couldn't see my fingertips, so when I'd reach forward and hit some one's leg, I couldn't see it. Ick. Some people have problems swimming in it because you are bound to swallow some, but I've swam in enough lakes that it didn't bother me at all. When I got home my sports bra had a layer of green algae in it.

I am somewhere off to the left in the mass of bodies.My friend Trinity loaned me her road bike and it was so awesome! I loved it! I know this is impossible but I swear the entire bike course was uphill. I felt good while doing it, but I was very happy to get off that bike.

I had been dreading the run and it was the worst part. It was so hot. There were 4 water stations and every time I grabbed two cups of water - one to toss towards my mouth with half dripping down my front and one to pour over my head. Super classy, I know. Half way through the run my co-worker Niki caught up with me so I started running with her and that was really good motivation for me not to stop.

My goal time was 1:45 but I would have been happy with anything under 2 hours. My offical time, once transitions were added in, was 1:45:51! Heading towards the finish line I saw the clock ticking towards 1:46 and had to push to make sure it didn't flip before I crossed over. I finished 45th out of 86 females and 12 of 21 for my age group. It was a well run race, a great experience and really fun.

Found: Pictures!

I found an old SD card (a 32MB haha) that had a few pictures on it that I'd forgotten about.

Judging by the clothes Bryce is wearing I'd say he was almost 2 1/2 in these pictures.

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium over spring break when Derek was in b-school.

They have all kinds of animals - both land and water. The building is a big spiral and you start at the top and work your way down.

I think Chase looks like a light haired Bryce.

And at the very bottom is a big aquarium and they have Manatees!!! I love Manatees! They are my favorite animal. In high school my friend Tracy "adopted" one for me for Christmas one year. Someday I'm going to go Scuba Diving with them.

It was fun to come across pictures of a trip I'd forgotten about. What a happy surprise.

Party in a Box

Derek's mom recently sent us a "Party in a Box" so we could celebrate ALL of our birthdays together, on her.

It was a huge hit with the boys.Presents, party hats, and cupcakes out of the blue.And in case the three pictures I posted of Chase eating a cupcake at his first birthday weren't enough for you, here's one more.

Thanks Grandma, we loved it!

Field Day

This is so sad that I am just now posting field day pictures - school has been out for almost a month!

But here's the story - when Derek was in elementary school field day was his favorite day of the year, perhaps "glory days" for him. He's regaled us all with stories of his victories over the other kids in his class, over and over again. So Bryce was pretty pumped up for field day...and then it was pouring rain and postponed a week.


The second day of field day he was heading out the door when he turned around and said, "Mom, are you coming to field day today?" I was a little surprised he wanted me to go honestly. So I scrapped my plans for the afternoon, woke my baby up from a nap and went to watch Bryce. After all, isn't this why I am a stay at home mom?Bryce was surprisingly accurate with the football, considering we've never shown him how to throw one and all three of his landed in the "end zone". Since then, we've had many nights playing catch in the backyard. I had no idea he'd enjoy football so much. My dad and brothers will be so proud.

Little show off.

Did I mention he's pretty fast, too?

With his teacher. I was able to help out in the class room this year and really enjoyed getting to know his teacher and the other kids in his class.

One thing about field day I just didn't know how to take was that some kids ran around with their friends but Bryce was perfectly content to be by himself. He has friends, he just didn't feel the need to travel in a pack. I just don't understand this! I always had my little group of friends with me, so to see him so independent boggles my mind. I think it's great, I guess, it's just so different.