Lead Comp

Simone didn't do Lead last year.  She wanted to focus on Bouldering (her favorite) but with not making Youth Nationals for Bouldering, she decided she better do lead!

Last week was a comp at the Quarry in Provo.  She came in first and felt a little redemption.  Her top teammates were not at this comp, but she flashed everything.  So they probably would have all tied.

Simone has been so busy with lacrosse that she decided to quit team until bouldering season.  She is still climbing a ton with friends everyday, but this saves her from driving all the way to Millcreek so often.

This girl has the same outfit as Simone almost.  She got 2nd today.

Divisionals in Sacramento

These trips with Simone are so fun!  It was so fun to have my mom there too!  She met us at the airport in San Fransisco and we all drove to Sacramento together.  We got a super cute airbnb that we all just loved and there were some really yummy restaurants!  We loved trying Journey to the Dumpling especially.  Fresh Juice from Pressed Juicery.  And an Anthro nearby was fun.  Simone figured out how to do a Rubix cube in a minute or so and we all watched and loved that Beatles showYesterday.

Day 2 she was yawning while waiting to climb.  Thats not a good sign!

Simone coaches this cutie and She was so proud to watch
Simone get 4th on the first day.

First day she topped all but one.  And she flashed most of them.  She climbed so well!  Second day she seemed tired and the boulders were confusing and technical.  She placed 9th, so one spot out of nationals.  Darn!  She handled it well and I know she was disappointed but in climbing (and sports in general) some days are like that.  She's never not made Nationals since the first year on the team.  So definitely a bummer but we do have a really competitive division that doesn't reflect accurately on skill.  

The funniest moment was definitely in the airport going home.

We were going to the Clear line and this woman was reprimanding the workers there and at first I thought she worked with them cause she was dressed in a business suit and looked very polished.  But then they looked super annoyed with her and I could hear her saying she didn't have any food.

We had a bag of food leftover from our Trader Joes shopping trip that we didn't use and we were just going to carry in on the plane so I offered it to her.  All good unopened fresh stuff.

But she looked at me very suspiciously.  And asked "why would you give this to me, just out of the goodness of your heart?" and I was like, "we had extra, so yes if you need food you can have it" and she declined because she said it was the responsibility of the airport workers (in this case these Clear workers haha) to help her.  So I started walking away but could hear her complaining that ALL her bags were lost and she didn't even have her wallet or food or water.  And the drinking fountains weren't good enough.  And then she yelled, "I need you to get me a cup of water so I can wash my vagina!!!"  And I was like shocked at first and asked the worker who was walking with us, "did she just say she needed a cup of water so she could wash her vagina?" and the worker looked amused now and said, "yep!"

Wow.  I then knew we had a case of either drugs or mental instability.  And just felt bad for these poor people getting harassed by this lady.  San Fransicko is amusing even if it has gone way downhill.  Simone and I are going to laugh about that forever.  Weird.  haha.  

Running progress and some bumps

Last week I ran 7 miles!  I was very excited to get that run in.  Like I know it might seem overly dramatic that I'm excited to run again, but its hard to explain what this is doing for my confidence and mental health.  I'm not even fast at all, but I am still happy with where I'm at.  I started doing Orange Theory consistently in September.  And by February got some good results with my running outside.  I think Orange Theory is a really easy way to start running because you can go at your own pace and keep challenging yourself.

After Soren was born I had hip issues for a while.  I had that with other babies too, but with him it was painful to run and even to walk for awhile.  So I started biking and I did TRX and other classes and kinda convinced myself that running wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  Still I finished a half marathon when he was just 4.5 months old.  I was peeing my pants and my hips hurt so much!  It was miserable.  But I finished.  I did another half marathon when my dad died.  I didn't train well and I also was extremely sore but happy to finish.  Since then I've had various injuries with my hips and back and everything and just kinda derails me when I start to see progress.  It has been hard to get past that 5 mile mark.

I have really missed running!  Its helping me a ton to have Monet training me.  I often try to do too much too soon and then get hurt or so sore I'm miserable.  So its great to have her gradually moving up my long runs.  And I think of my kids when I want to quit.  Simone so focused and giving it everything she's got in her competitions, Miles grinding on his mission, and Elise diligently finishing her last semester with a baby.  Monet always has motivated me.  When I would see that look of misery at the end of a XC race I was like, okay I can crank it up too.  Sometimes I look down at my treadmill and realized she is running twice as fast as me.  Haha.

Another thing that has been inspiring to me is how my kids work through their injuries and then get back to it.  I realized I have no good reason right now to not run.  Nothing is preventing me from running.  I'll say things to myself about how I'm too old to run now, etc.  But I think in reality those are just limiting beliefs.  Its bad training that is the problem.

Anyway, I have been getting emotional every time I go a little bit longer.  I know its weird to be like that but I feel like ME again and it just feels good.  Running is such a simple thing to put on your shoes and get a few miles in.  It takes only 30-45 minutes to get in a good workout and it just is easy.

Sadly this week I've been sick!  Last week I was getting out of the tub and I passed out and hit my head pretty hard and got a big goose egg.  I've had headaches in that same area.  So in the back of my mind I'm worried that I should be resting--isn't that what your are supposed to do if you have a concussion?  I don't even know.  But then I got some tummy issues and finally a major cold.  I got all these things separately so I'm not worried about the flu or anything.  But its always hard to know when you should rest.  Right now running isn't even something I could do without passing out.  So that is off the table.  

Luckily Soleil got it first so at least I don't have to worry about passing it to her.  I haven't been sick in sooo long so I guess I'm due.

Anyway I haven't run since last Saturday and taking a week off will be fine I know but I'm so anxious to get back to it!  

Also, my resting heart rate is so good these days.  The hard part about that is its really hard to close my rings!  One Sunday I walked 5 miles and still didn't close them and that kinda pissed me off.  I am happy to know that all this cardio is helping my body.  My skin feels better, its been awesome to see these benefits.

Spring Projects

May 3 of last year

In addition to watching cute little Soleil, and starting spring sports like Simone's lacrosse, we've had some fun projects this spring.

I'm following a lot of gardening accounts on Instagram and learning a lot actually.  I love this lady from @youcandoitgardening.  She makes me feel less guilty about not doing everything perfectly!  She's practical and I like that.  I used to feel bad if I left leaves and didn't do my fall cleanup.  Now I don't cause its good for the insects and soil.

After paying thousands and thousands of dollars in tree pruning and cleaning up the bushes I realized this isn't rocket science and I should just do it myself.  

So I learned how to use the chainsaw.  And cut down all my unruly butterfly weed and the backyard elderberries.  I still have 7 giant elderberries left in the front yard but our backs were tired and we will have to save those for later.

I pruned all my 15 rosebushes and filled my whole truck with thorny yard waste.  I really was worried about not doing it right but @youcandoitgardening makes me feel like even if I do it wrong, it will all be okay.

I also pruned the grapes a lot more than usual.  I guess the worst that can happen is we only have enough for us instead of having half of them go bad because we couldn't eat them all.

I cut all my Russian Sage down to the ground and pruned all my hydrangeas back too.  Look how beautiful this landscape is with all the texture.  I need to plant some grasses and more to fill in some of the areas around the Russian sage.  I love these inspiration gardens!  Lots of texture and color.  Someday I hope some of my big areas will look like this!  I have a lot of these plants and if I divide them I can replant in different places and not even have to buy anything new.

The raspberries to the ground as well.  And next I need to learn how to do the blackberries.  I'm a little worried about messing that up because I love our blackberries so much and freeze them and use them all winter.

I love this hedge laying.  Is this something I can learn?  It seems like one of those things that looks easy but isn't.  But I did sign up for a class to learn how to make an Obelisk structure out of my grapevines I just pruned off!

We rented a Uhaul to pick up Angelas table that she gave to Elise.  So nice of her I know Elise is so excited about that.  And we used the 20 foot truck to take all the yard waste to the dump where they turn it into mulch and compost.  

it was a lot of work gathering up all these prunings!

What is left of the raspberries.  Jared always worries they won't grow back.  They do!

It was a lot of work!  And it was such nice weather last week.  I'm a little anxious for it to get back to not being so wet so I can finish my weeding before Spring Break.  

The yard doesn't look better yet.  Everything is still brown and dead.  But it will look better!  I love looking at my phone pictures from April and May and anticipating how things are going to blossom in the next few weeks.   

I'm not sure how the elderberries will look since I've never cut them back that far.  But we will see!

They look pretty bad right now.  But they grow SOOOO fast and every video I watched said to prune them hard.  

Last fall my dumb dogs dug up all the tulips I planted.  So I replanted in pots and left them out front where the dogs can't get to them.  They are almost ready to plant!n I have a couple dozen left that the dogs didn't get to as well.  

And I also got a tiller and built a room to start flowers.  So I'm excited to get that going when we get home from spring break.

Porch pots for the cold snowy time in spring.

Leftovers from fall

New spring plants!  Pansies, ornamental Kale, Primrose, and ranunculus (not bloomed yet)