Home Owners for the First Time!

It's official! That beautiful home that I've been dreaming about for the last two months is now ours! We couldn't be more excited to move in and start our new life.

We want to thank everyone who has helped us throughout this whole process. A BIG thank you goes to Dad Dastrup who has had to put up with a lot from us as his pickiest and most opinionated clients ever. Thank you so much for helping us make this dream a reality! We also want to thank Mom Dastrup for all of her help in the home search as well. We know you put in long hours on our behalf too-- THANK YOU! A huge thanks goes out to Mom and Dad Groneman as well for babysitting for days on end while we searched for the perfect home and for doing our walk through.

There are others who have helped us with a down payment. You know who you are. THANK YOU. You've made our dream come true!

Now let the happily ever after begin!

First Tooth Lost!

No, it wasn't Benjamin-- it was Jacob! When he was coming off the bus today, he had blood running down his chin. I thought he'd bitten his lip and was going in for a closer look when he reached up and pulled a tooth out of his mouth! Benjamin is NOT going to be happy about this. Apparently he is the only kid in his class who hasn't lost a tooth yet, and he's been imagining wiggly teeth for months. This is going to be some serious salt in his already tender wound.

Blessings-- Some in Disguise

Lately I can't help but see all of the ways in which we are blessed-- there are so many!

Jacob had his very first playdate this week. Some of you already know the story, but a couple of months ago I was out to dinner with Brigham, and I asked Brigham if he thought that Jacob would ever have a real friend. He said he didn't know. About a week and a half later, a girl I didn't know ran up to me in church asking, "Are you Jacob's mom?" I said I was, and she told me, "My son, Jack, is in Jacob's class, and I just had to tell you that Jack LOVES Jacob! He tells me all the time that Jacob is his best friend, and he wants to know when he can have a playdate with him." Of course I cried.

My second blessing this week came in disguise. Brigham and I finally got to go to the temple on Friday, and I was really looking forward to it. We were almost there when I realized that in the rush to get Ty to the babysitter, I'd forgotten my temple recommend. I was so bitterly disappointed! I dropped Brigham off at the temple and then rushed home to get my recommend, hoping to get back in time to be able to do SOMETHING. I'll admit that I cried again-- this time in sheer frustration. It's not easy to line up a babysitter for 3 hours.

When I got back to the temple, I asked if I could do some initiatory, but the lady said they were full for the next 20 minutes or so (that never happens here, but it was a stake temple day), so I could wait in the lobby. I went and sat in the lobby-- disappointed, but trying to get my feelings under control. You can hardly imagine my surprise when a minute later my mission president came walking into the room! I gave him a hug, and he asked if I could wait for him a minute. A minute later he came back and invited me into his office. I was so confused and asked what he was doing there. It turns out that he is our new temple president! I'd heard that we had a new temple president named Shumway, but I had no idea that it was THE President Shumway! I had a wonderful visit with him and his wife, and the next day when I took Jacob and Benjamin to their temple tour, I was able to introduce them to President and Sister Shumway. We plan on having dinner together sometime soon. So all is well after all!

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.