Slushy skating

We heard the Herriman Ice Ribbon was closing for the season, so we decided to go one last time. It was fairly obvious why they were closing it, the ice was melting. :) The kids fell a few times from hitting soft patches, but we still had fun. Afterwards we went to the park next door and played. I love spring! (Ignore the scowl on Sarah's face, she had fun, she just had to concentrate really hard.) ;)

Puzzles are so much "fun"!

My parents came to visit and I thought it would be nice to put a puzzle together. I'd had a 1000 piece puzzle I hadn't opened, so we decided to give it a try. What we found after starting is that the picture on the box is not only missing a bunch of the pieces, but it was also in the wrong order. It made putting it together more challenging. We finished it right before my parents left, as in morning of.

Having my parents over means the boys can wake up early and hang out with my dad. (or play electronics) They had fun building a "book bridge" and card castles. Best part is that I didn't have to help with the cleanup. :)

Mike the loser

I'll admit, this isn't a very flattering title, but I promise it fits. At times Mike needs to be...humbled. ;) Since Mike stands by the statement that's he's never lost at Monopoly I have to continually show that he does. :) Adam is quite good at board games and taught Mike a valuable lesson in finance and real estate investing. Hopefully Mike learned his lesson. ;)

Salt Lake Track Winter Series

Last year my friend Emily (pictured) told me about a winter race series where you run a 5k, 10k and 15k to prepare you for the spring half marathons. The first up was the 5k. It had been a long time since I've ran a 5k, so my previous PR was 26:11 from a race I did right after moving to Mississippi. (Oh how I miss running at low altitude) I was hoping to beat that, which I did. My time was 23:57 which is 7:39/mile. I was happy with it. (Emily beat me like always)

For the 10k, I didn't really have expectations. My previous PR was low 50 mins and I knew I could beat it, but it was really cold, really windy, and I'd gone skiing the day before so my legs were tired. I came in at 50:46 for an 8:07 pace, which I was happy with as well. I never caught up to Emily and she took 2nd in our age group.

She and I were both set to run the 15K, but I found out shortly before that I was pregnant and I didn't want to take any chances. (I plan on sitting on my behind for nine months and worrying about the weight after) ;) I messaged her to ask if she was going, and thankfully she wasn't, so I didn't have to spill the beans yet. I'm going to run it again this next winter and I'll push Audrey in the stroller. (It's June and I'm 19 weeks along, so we know it's a girl)

Meet Julian and Lizzy

We have come to the conclusion that we shouldn't own snakes, so we decided to try our luck at lizards. I had some growing up and their maintenance seemed easy enough. We went to Petco and found this cool looking Jeweled Curly Tail lizard. The kids named him Julian. We got him some things for his tank including his own Chichen Itza to climb and bask under the light. He (she?) is a good looking lizard.

A couple days after we got him Steven wanted to hold him. In the process, Julian tried to escape and lost his tail. It was traumatic for all involved. ;)

When I went to buy him crickets a few weeks later I asked how his cage mate was doing. The worker said it basically stayed in hiding all day. We didn't tell the kids we got a new lizard, and waited until they noticed. Julian hid most of the time so they only saw the new lizard. When Steven finally noticed he exclaimed loudly that Julian had almost instantly regrown his tail. He then mentioned a few subtle differences he saw, like markings and spots, but figured a regrown tail was the only logical explanation. We laughed and told them the truth. They seem to be happy to be back together and Julian finally came out again. The new lizard has been Christened Lizzy Lizard. (My childhood nickname)

Adam's field trip

I had the opportunity to go on a lot of Adam's field trips this year, which was fun. The kids in his class think I'm cool. ;) We went to "This is the Place" park up in Salt Lake and it was unusually cold that day. I brought extra hats and gloves for kids that might have needed them and all were used. Adam got to volunteer getting "shaved", which everyone thought was super cool.

Happy Valentines Day

My kids have inherited my nonchalance towards crafting, so none of them cared very much about making a fancy Valentine's Day box. I was volunteering in Adam's class, and he decided to care at the last minute, so we turned a Minecraft pig box he'd made with Mike into the coolest box there. One of his beenie boos even caught a ride on it. 

The Jazz were running a Valentines special, so Mike and I ditched the kids and went to the game. It was a good season for the Jazz.