California in Winter

I think going to California in the winter once a month is a really good plan.  But unfortunately either driving or flying runs the risk of winter storms.

We had another little trip planned for Cathy's 70th birthday party that we were really looking forward to!

We were supposed to fly in the night before, but then everything went wrong.  Storms, delays, a crew that didn't show up etc.  Our flight got delayed by 6 hours.  So we kept getting updated by email and decided since it was  in the morning to try to wait it out in the car in the parking lot at the airport since we still had so much time and there was some uncertainty.  

We went to check in at 2 am (90 min before projected flight) and TSA was closed!  They closed a half hour ahead of schedule and just went home.  So we had to be put on a flight for the next day.  They didn't have room for all of us but little by little the gate agent got us tickets.

We went home finally after trying to figure out solutions with the nice gate agent and slept at 3:30am and then came back at 1pm that next day for our 3pm flight that got delayed again until 8 (something about the plane hitting some birds?).  And then Jared had been opening packages with a knife that he stuck in his pocket and forgot about so he had all this TSA stuff.  Miles and I were standby at that point.  So we had to wait and wait.  And not know if we would get on.  Finally we arrived at LAX (the worst airport aside from CDG) and we had to wait a full hour for our bags.  It was pouring rain out and we finally got the Uber to get to the party when we got stuck in LA traffic.

We didn't get to our hotel until about midnight.  It was such a long marathon journey but a bit of a comedy of errors.  We were bummed that we missed the party and the fun stake dance all the teenaged cousins were going to go to together.  But at the end of the day there are a lot of worse things than being stuck in an airport.  We were just tired.

The next morning we were in the car ready to go to Coby's homecoming when the car battery was dead!  We raced around to find someone to jump it quickly.  It was cute to see how Miles enjoys knowing all about these kinds of things.  I had to snap a photo of Miles getting his face somewhat shaved by Jared.  Soren looked on in amusement and I just had to relish the moment.  Instead of telling him to pack church clothes, I packed them in my bag.  And I bribed him to shave with a burger.  I think it was a good move he looked handsome and no neck beard yay.

We still had the best Sunday and we got to see Coby's awesome homecoming talk and hang out at Aaron and Kristens for awhile with the whole family.  He just returned from Cameroon!  Its so cool to see how much these kids grow and mature on missions.  A few of us left after a couple hours cause we didn't bring good clothes for the cold weather.  But the boys stayed longer and had so much fun.  Then we went to Crystal Cove and looked for beach glass and played a couple rounds of our new favorite game (thanks Angela!).  

Simone had to leave Sunday night to make it back for lacrosse tryouts!  Monet and Carson had to go home for school.  I was so glad they came!  They are so busy with school and work that its hard to get a good amount of time with them.  They had flown into SNA Friday so they had a little time there with Nana and Papa which was so fun.  And they got to go to Nana's party.

Monday we just had Soren and Miles with us.  I gave them lots of options of things to do:  Knotts Berry Farm, San Diego Zoo, Disneyland, Beach (it was rainy), etc.  But the option that sounded best to them was the La Brea Tar Pits!  I thought that was hilarious that all the boys were so excited about the skeletons of the tigers, wolves, mammoths, etc that were trapped in the tar pits.  I am seeing a little shift with Soren and Miles.  Soren really understands Miles's humor more and they kinda stick together a little more.  Like they'll watch basketball and Soren wants to do what Miles is doing.  So the boys all went to Papa's to hang out with him for the evening and I stayed back and read.  Sometimes its good for them to all have some uninterrupted guy time.

Tuesday we went to the Beachcomber for breakfast and the boys went to the beach for the first time just for an hour or so and we found more beachglass.  We were about to leave when we decided to see tide pools.  Miles didn't really want to do the tidepools but as soon as he saw how interested Soren was he wanted to go too.  I thought that was sweet.

We dropped them off and then had two days to ourselves.  Its funny to add on days to a family trip.  Because I pack completely differently for trips with just Jared than I do with family trips.  We spent a very rainy day binge watching Outer Banks (which isn't my favorite wish it was a movie instead of a whole series but honestly fun for teens who it was made for).  We watched Game Night and that was a funny one!  

We went to dinner at Pelican Grill which was so beautiful.  And just kinda relaxed!  We stopped at some places at Lido Isle later.  Lots of cute shops and brunch at Malibu Farms.

It was a fun trip with lots of family!  Again, we got lots of rain and it was 50 degrees even when it was sunny.  But that beats Utah right now.  We are all a little burned out of this extra long winter. 

Back in the Saddle

I'm finally back to my normal self!  December and January were tough months and I basically didn't work out more than a handful of times in December.  I joked to Jared that I was going for a solid month of no workouts and honestly it almost happened.  I felt so weird.  I had good days in between vertigo episodes but even then I didn't feel great.  Not like my normal self.

February I made a goal just to get to Orange Theory twice a week.  My goal for March is 3x.  And we will see about April maybe 4x but I'm not sure because by then it will be nicer outside and I don't want to get ahead of myself and get hurt like before so we will play it by ear.  Different workouts like bikerides will be easier then too and less impact.

I've been cutting back a lot on my salt intake.  Basically I can have one mg of salt for every calorie I eat and that puts me in about the right spot.  Its interesting how much better I feel when I'm not super puffy all the time!  I don't know why I'm so sensitive to swelling, but it is what it is.  If it saves my good ear it will definitely be so worth it.  I was so discouraged about my hearing loss in January and the vertigo especially.    But maybe it was the kick in the pants I needed to make some changes.  

I'm feeling stronger and its amazing how much happier I am when I get a good sweat in.  But I am wiped! I always feel so tired after and its hard to be productive the rest of the day, and I'm hoping that will improve.  I did have this same feeling when I was doing Orange theory 2 years ago.  

I averaged about a 10 min mile for 2.6 miles today (even with walking recoveries).  That is actually (sadly) very hard for me  but I can tell I'm improving and have to work harder to stay in the orange zone.  So I don't understand why that is happening exactly.  I've always had such a high heart rate that I'm in the red for most of my workouts.  But lately I have that perfect little pyramid they want you to have so that is good but I am wondering how that changed so much?  I honestly think it might be my low sodium diet.

My workouts have for years all looked like this:

And now they all look like this:

Kinda wild!  I'm excited though.  They should be more like this.  I have to push myself to stay out of the green.

I've been struggling with feeling guilty.  I don't know if that is the right word but I feel like I can never just relax without feeling like I should be doing something else.  And often midmorning I have to remind myself of all the things I've done that morning because I feel like I "got nothing done."   I get up at 7, help the kids get lunches/ Jared helps with breakfast, then I get Soren to school, we do scriptures (on a good day) and I'm doing a million little things like taking out the trash, helping with homework, tidying the kitchen, starting the laundry, making appts, planning meals, planning vacations, church calling stuff etc.  But nothing feels significant.  Especially when I'm working on my computer or my phone.  It feels like it doesn't count.  It's ridiculous.  I don't know how to stop doing this maybe just awareness.

What does feel significant is running errands.  Even if I'm browsing Target, somehow that feels okay.  I think because its tangible.  I have something to show for it immediately.  Doesn't make sense!

Happy Valentine's Everyone!

 Yesterday was Valentine's and Annie got shaved again.  And look what a perfect Valentines Surprise:

And on that note, Jared and I were sitting in his office crying laughing about this photo and sent it to our kids on our family text thread.  And then laughing at each other.  And you know, that is why he's my forever Valentine.  We have lots to work on.  But he makes me laugh everyday.  And we have a good time together.  I love him and I'm so glad he's mine.  We went to Sundance for dinner.  And we picked out gifts for each other at the gift shop.   Then came home and watched a couple episodes of Modern Family.

I was remembering all the cute Valentine's Dinners we used to do with our kids. While we were out,  Soren was hanging out with his Valentine.   She is in his class and apparently all the kids in his class asked each other to be Valentines like a month early (almost like they were asking to a dance).  He was very excited to get her a gift.  We will have to do our Valentine's Dinner on Sunday cause yesterday all our kids were with their friends!

Todays Recap

 Today was fun!

Simone had Divisionals here in Salt Lake.  She did great.  Topped 2, and was SO close on the last two.  One of them she just didn't stick the last hold for a full 3 seconds and didn't have time to redo.  She's heading back tomorrow for finals.  Top 6 make it to Nationals.  There are a few climbers who are "foreign nationals" meaning they also compete for another country, so they don't count against the 6.  Our Division includes Northern California, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and part of Colorado.   So its pretty tough to get to Nationals.

Elise and Ethan slept over.  Jared, Miles and Ethan woke up at 6 to play basketball at the church.  Jared was smiling from ear to ear because his back didn't hurt and he was shooting really well.  He came into our room and he made a comment that sounded something like "I was ass cookin today."  I sat straight up in bed because I thought my husband swore in an attempt to shock me and make me laugh.  But no, it was just my hearing loss!  HA.  I WAS shocked and kinda excited it was a bit of a let down honestly.  

I thought it was so cute to come in the kitchen this morning and see them all talking about the games.

Elise and I went on a walk, which was so fun.  Its like such a happy thing for me to have my daughter who wants to ask my advice on all things pregnancy, health, etc.  I love it.  She and I have similarities.  She's got so much homework these days, but was happy to put it off for a bit.

After Simone's comp we went to Soren's rec basketball game.  Which is fun and comical and all the things!  He gets really excited for games.  Their team is mostly brand new players.  They aren't winning many games and today they would have easily won, but they had to share some players with the other team.  Soren was really bummed to have them forfeit and really wanted a chance to actually win the real way.

Miles went shooting with some friends.  We have loved watching his rec games too!  So many great former LP basketball players and they are so good and fun to watch.  We are missing Monet who was working.  She has a really tough school schedule again.  Her last full semester!  And she's working as well as a CNA.  Coaching lacrosse, and has a boyfriend (Cute Carson who she dated when she was 16).  She's also on like day 42 of the 75 hard challenge.  Which I tried to talk her out of because its the dead of winter and she has to do one of her two daily workouts outside, but she loves a challenge.  She was recruiting family members to do it with her, but we were all a no-go.  Jared said he was up for the 75 medium.  He's been loving his new resistance bands and I can testify they are really working.  We are always so happy to see her on Sundays.  

Elise and Ethan had a Valentines Party to go to so she made bread to bring.  It has been so long since we made bread.  So that was really fun.  I've been mostly gluten-free (as well as sugar-free, chocolate-free, caffeine-free, soup-free, artificial sugar-free and low sodium) this past month as I've been trying to figure out my ear stuff.  But I had a slice and it was delicious.  

Had an appointment recently about my hearing.  Sadly, the new dr said hearing aids wouldn't help me because my accuracy is only about 48 percent even when the sound is within the frequency range that I need it to hear.  Last year my accuracy was a lot higher so that's a real bummer.  But I've realized that every dr tells me something different.  So I'm going to just set up a bunch of appts with different ones and find someone I really trust.  Maybe even someone remote.  

First Ultrasound

 Elise and Ethan are having a girl!  It was very fun to see the first ultrasound photo.

During the ultrasound their baby girl was moving all over the place.  That's always so good to see.

She is 15 weeks and feeling pretty good.  She's had some food aversions but those have cleared up now.  And she's pretty thrilled to have a little bump.  She has had some headaches this past couple weeks.  I got those too.

She's keeping busy with 16.5 credits in school and figuring out her internship.  Coaching Orems new high school lacrosse team, and dreaming of baby clothes and baby names!  

They are pretty sure the baby will be named Soleil.  It means "sun" in French and with a summer birthday I think its really cute.  I don't know how we ended up with all these French names but I just like them and I think my girls do too. They aren't sure about the middle name yet.  I think Elise would be perfect.  Since Elise and Ethan's mom have that name.

We are thinking they should come stay in our basement apartment so she can get her last semester of school finished up and so I can watch their cute baby for a few months.

They have loved their cute old Victorian triplex they live in, but having a washer/dryer/dishwasher and tub is helpful with a new baby.

Ethan's sister is also expecting a girl and his mom got them the cutest matching Patagonia jackets.  It will be so fun to be little cousin friends. 

It is Finished

Well, hopefully this isn't sacrilegious, but I decided to help Miles do his laundry.  And the first thing that popped into my head when I was done was "It is finished." haha.

It was his birthday this week and I decided that was a good present (he also got other things).  And I've noticed he is down to basically nothing clean.  I've been out of commission a lot this past month, which means no nagging mom reminding him to get his clothes washed.     

Wow.  It was like at least 10 loads when all was said and done!  He never gets rid of anything and he somehow has amassed sweatshirts and things for free.  I had to spot treat, and then re-wash so many things because of the engine work he's been doing.  

I kept thinking how is this kid going to live on his own soon?  But then I remembered that missionaries aren't replacing engines and he will have to pack everything he wants to bring in suitcases so that will help him to limit the amount of stuff he has.  

Hallelujah.