The past month

 We just had the best month!  Maybe perfectly opposite of last January/February!

Here is what we've been up to:

1.  Hawaii!  Was so fun to get some sun.   We loved celebrating all the birthdays there.

2.  Running again!  Monet made me a training plan and has been keeping me focused on the right things.  Usually I would try to increase my mileage too quickly and get hurt.  So this was helpful to build my base slowly and I've been seeing some progress with my speed getting to a more normal pace.  It feels so good to run again.  I'm a little sore.  Having all the extra weight is hard on my joints but hopefully I can also lose some weight and that would help.

3.  I'm feeling so good! No vertigo since Hawaii and it was just one day while we were there.  I haven't felt this good in years probably.

4.  Got new-to-me furniture from my sister Angela and I'm sooooo excited about it.  Elise still refers to our old leather sofas as "medieval."   haha.  Really though I thought they looked okay for 17 years old!  And wipeable leather with dogs and kids was clutch.  

5.  Jared and Simone and Soren put up the climbing wall in her room.

6.  Ordered some seeds and am going to till the area in the fenced animal area and use that for flowers.  I also created a seed starting room with fluorescent lights.

7.  Had some nice days to work on pruning

8.  Watching Soleil while Elise and Ethan are at school.  I've been taking photos of her with my new 50mm lens and I love it.  My old one was broken so I finally got a new one and I'm so glad I did.  Takes great portraits.  She got two new teeth.  She is so fun and adorable and loves us and that is the BEST.

9.  Karate Tournament and Basketball for Soren.   Lacrosse, and rec basketball for Simone.  Climbing divisional for Simone in Sacramento.  It was a bummer because for the first time she didn't make nationals.  But it was super stacked this year.  Multiple transgender females in addition to our already competitive division and she was one spot out.  Darn.  On a normal day she would have had it.  She came in 4th the first day but in finals didn't have the greatest day and was 9th and they took the top 8.  We are hoping they will in the future give additional spots for each transgender female athlete competing.  If there was one in the division it wouldn't be an issue but each year there are more.  Its a tricky issue.  But from what I've observed USA Climbing is going to need to address this soon.  She's worked super hard.  But that's also just how sports are and I'm super impressed with how she has learned to handle these disappointments.  

10.  Orange Theory.  I'm doing 3X/week and adding a mile at home.  Then doing my "long run" (can 4 miles even qualify as a long run haha) on Saturday.  I've loved my hikes too but I am also just taking days off as needed a couple times a week for recovery.  So last week I didn't hike.  My legs are tired!  I got some new shoes to help me not overpronate.  Fingers crossed.  

27 Years!

 

27 Years ago we got married!

We've come a long way since then.  Still learning and evolving.

Something cute that happened this week.  There was a big snowstorm and we needed to clear the driveway and sidewalk.  I saw Jared putting on his snow stuff to go take care of it.  And I said, "I'll come help!" Cause I was just laying in bed doing nothing.  And he was like, "No I got this."  And I really thought that was sweet.  I spent a lot of years shoveling snow and I love that he wants it to be his job now.

And here's another funny story about how far we've come.

We moved into our first apartment before our wedding day.  I wasn't a super patient person so I wanted to move my bed over and Jared didn't really want to help me at the exact moment that I felt like doing it.  So I dragged the mattress and boxspring out to the car and put it on top and drove away myself.  I didn't tie it down because I was just sure that we didn't tie it down when we moved houses a year or so earlier.

I don't know what I was thinking because even for a 19 year old, that should have been obvious.  But the mattress made it a few blocks before it flew off and landed somewhere on the side of the road on Highland Drive.  We looked for it but didn't see it.  My sisters were so nice and later went back and found it was placed by a nearby dumpster.  So from then on, our mattress had road burn on it.  Haha.  It wasn't very pretty even before that.

Bob, the guy who lives across the street from Jared's parents keeps tabs on everything going on through his front window.  He used to watch us a lot when we would leave from our trips to California and he would often comment about how I was always the one packing the car. 

The truth is, I loved packing the car.  Jared takes one look and would say, "there is no way that is all going to fit" and for me it was always "challenge accepted."  ha.  He would be shocked that I got it all in.  I used to drive the most, but now he's the one that always drives.  He packs the car.  It isn't such a game of Tetris anymore since we have a truck instead of a Corolla.

Jared always makes sure things are very securely tied down.  And he gets us to the airport hours before our flights.  He's packing all the extra chargers and making sure we have plenty of supplements, oils and a diffuser always.  

He's the big dreamer.  I'm the planner and the details person.  I keep us organized.  I'm a little more pessimistic.  I worry more, is that a female thing?  Cause I keep telling him it is.  But you know,  we need each other and balance each other out quite well.

And I love that.