Highlights of the Day

1. Watching Ty open up Brigham's deodorant and then take a big ol' bite. Had I realized that he was going to eat it, I definitely would have intervened, but usually he just likes putting lids/caps on and taking them off. His face was hilarious, though.

2. Watching Jacob get a handful of sand out of the sandbox, walk over to Ty, and deliberately dump it on his head. Ty bullies Jacob a lot, so I'd have to say that justice was served. It was just surprising since Jacob pretty much ignores Ty unless an interesting toy is in question.

3. Watching our next-door neighbor come into our backyard and take the broken pool that we've been trying to figure out how to get rid of. He didn't ask-- he's a very shy man-- but he must have seen us trying to fit it in our garbage can and known that we don't have a truck to put it in. So he got rid of it for us. What a wonderful act of service! Had I not seen him in our yard out the window, I never would have known what happened to it.

Nothin' Much

We don't have much to report around here these days. We are almost completely absorbed by our upcoming move and are putting most of our energies into move-related activities. We've finally emerged from underneath the mountain of paperwork related to our mortgage (apparently recent events have made what used to be a simple process a nightmare, but I guess it's all for the best) and are now packing and trying to sell off our particleboard furniture and other junky items. What is married life without particleboard? I'm excited to find out.

Benjamin finished off his Albuquerque soccer season on Saturday with a good game. He really has come a long way with his sports skills! Yesterday he beat his dad and the missionaries we had over for dinner at a game of Around the World on our little basketball hoop-- and Brigham wasn't trying to let him win!

Jacob is really into turning on lights and closing doors these days. I feel bad for Benjamin because every morning when Jacob gets up, first he turns on their light and then he slams the door shut-- usually multiple times for good measure. He's also very into getting into the fridge these days. He usually just likes to drink any milk in sippies and then play with the drawers and such, but Ty thinks it's awesome--he'll unload it while the door's open. This morning I got out of the shower and walked out of my room to find the open mustard bottle lying on the carpet-- the dynamic duo in action once again.

Ty has got to be the cutest little boy on the planet right now. He is just bursting with personality. He likes my ring tone and dances every time it rings. He also adores his big brothers. Even though Jacob shuts him in the door or shuts him in a room on a fairly regular basis, Ty still gets geeked out of his mind every afternoon when he sees Jacob getting off the bus. Ty positively adores Benjamin. He loves to try to play ball and wrestle with him. In fact, Benjamin's name is one of Ty's few recognizable words. It's adorable to see the big brother worship in action already.

How fun it is to be a family! It's not always fun or easy, but it's awesome!

From Cute kids

Albuquerque Half Marathon

Yesterday Brigham and I ran the Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Half Marathon-- our first and last race in Albuquerque. It rained all night before the race, but like in Camelot, it cleared up with the dawn. We were grateful for that because the forecast called for rain.

The race itself was interesting. As we all lined up at the start, the first words out of the race official's mouth were, "This course is well marked." I think most of the runners would disagree because about 200 yards into the race the leading pack (including Brigham) took a wrong turn and ran the wrong way for about a tenth of a mile before figuring it out. They came thundering back just in time for us all to get bottle-necked at a 2 person bridge that went over a little stream. We literally had to stop and wait in line to cross the bridge! On the other side of the bridge was what should have been a beautiful walking path, but thanks to the rain the night before was a muddy wallow. The next two miles of the course we were running through the mud. It was pretty awesome. Mud was flying everywhere, people were sliding into each other, and each foot felt like it carried two pounds of mud on it. The mudslide ended with a steep little hill onto the blessed pavement where I very nearly ended up on my backside-- eliciting sympathetic remarks from the runners behind me (who carefully avoided following in my footsteps, I'm sure). The rest of the course was actually quite nice. I did well until right as I was passing mile marker 5 when my right knee suddenly seized up. It was very painful and I felt like I couldn't straighten it out. I didn't know what to do. With a big relay race coming up in June should I pull out to avoid further injury? I limped along for about 3/4 of a mile and then it finally started to relax again. It still hurt, but at least I didn't feel like like I was dragging my leg along anymore. I started to get back into a groove around mile 9, but was seized by a murderous side-ache around mile 11. I continued to propel my sorry self forward, and when I got to mile 12 I saw that my goal (finishing under 2 hours) was still attainable if I pushed myself. So I pushed and crossed the finish line at 1:59:34. Brigham on the other hand, had the race of his life-- in spite of running the wrong way, getting stopped at the bridge, and running through the mud. He kept surprising himself by running faster than his goal mile splits. He kept waiting to burn out, but he never did. He took third place in his age division with a 1:36:49! It's been all he can do to escape the media, choose from potential sponsors, and decline speaking engagements. He actually did have someone offer him a coaching position at a junior high! Watch out Boston, here comes Brigham!

Happy Easter!

Between General Conference and Easter, it was a great weekend around here. Jacob and Ty didn't really catch the vision of gathering Easter eggs, much to Benjamin's benefit. Ty did discover that the foil-wrapped carmel eggs were tasty however, which was a huge oversight on the Easter Bunny's part as they were definitely a choking hazard when stuffed into his mouth whole. Although he wasn't interested in gathering eggs, he was VERY good at finding the chocolate eggs and popping them in his mouth on the sly.