Recent Happenings

You know when life seems so smooth and easy going then you hit that big hill in the rollercoaster of life? Well I'm chugging up the hill. Slowly. Nothing bad has happened. There's just millions of things always happening at once and sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode. I've had to take a step back, analyze and let go of things that were easy for me to do before. I firmly believe everyone constantly goes in and out of "yes" phases and "no" phases all the time. Yes, you can take on serving someone in need, volunteer in the classroom, make serious time in the gym, etc. Then there's other times when you are depleted and you just have to say no. It doesn't mean you're not willing. There's times when you just can't and shouldn't. I feel like I'm in that phase. It's time for some self evaluation so I can get back into the yes phase. What am I spending my time on? More importantly, what am I wasting my time on? So if it seems like I've been a little M.I.A. That's where my head is at right now.
Three little kids is HARD. I'm teaching Carter to do things on his own because he's getting to be a big kid now and while it's a relief it's also frustrating. Jaxon is in the in between baby and pre-schooler stage. He is officially potty trained and will occasionally skip a nap although the result is sometimes deadly. June is usually sweet, but sometimes moody especially if she doesn't take a good enough nap. She's also attached to her mama. While I am forever grateful and blessed beyond reason to have such a beautiful family this phase of life is tiring.
I've let the house go. The dishes and laundry will always be there and it's okay. It was such a relief to have my mom here last weekend. First off I had to clean before she got here then she helped me everyday just clear the dishes and fold laundry. Mom, you're hired! And you're the best.
I've let my gym time go. After the first two kids I always made time for myself at the gym everyday. Now I go around 3 times a week, but that's about it because my body is just too tired. I also can't keep up with my kids if I'm constantly sore.
I've let social media go quite a bit which really isn't a bad thing.
I've let cooking go. I cook legit meals maybe 2-3 times a week otherwise it's just quesadillas or mac and cheese type kids meals while I eat a salad.
I skip the shower now which used to be a huge no no for me.
Basically, I'm just trying to find the balance and let go of things that aren't all that important. Nothing is as satisfying as a loving family and a loving Heavenly Father and that's what I'm after in life.
Anyways, I'm done with my rant now. Time for some pictures!

In March Don and I ran our first Ragnar. What an experience! Don cursed my name until we crossed the finish line then asked, "When's the next one?" I bugged and bugged him for months to train, but no. He definitely learned the hard way! But how many people can say they ran 13.6 miles without training? We ran with basically a bunch of people in our ward. Our van was awesome and we had some good runners. We were the most impressed with Jade. He ran in an ultra team before and was running 8 minute miles (sometimes less) barely breaking a sweat. Van 2 got an hour behind due to it being so deathly hot that weekend, but we were able to make up that time loss which was pretty amazing. I luckily had all my legs in the morning and at night. Night running was a whole new experience. I ran so fast I surprised myself, but almost tripped on the sidewalk a few times because my depth perception was so off. I ran a total of 15.4 miles. It was a lot more comfortable sleeping in the van than on the high school gym floor. At one of the high school gyms we showered in a circle shower with tiny little shower curtains that left little to nothing to the imagination. Every time a woman dropped her soap, which was a lot, we got a show! My favorite run was my last leg around 5:30 in the morning. It was in Surprise, AZ. The scenery was gorgeous and the sunrise was unreal. The picture does it no justice. Our team was so supportive of each other and that's what I loved most about the race. You really get to know your van mates. I could go on and on about what a fun, hard and crazy experience it was, but I'd do it over and over again. We definitely earned that Ragnar bumper sticker on our car.

Shortly after the race June and I went on our annual Thompson girls trip to Gammage. We saw Finding Neverland which is the most underrated show ever. It was such an amazing show with really good music that tugged at your heartstrings. And of course I ran into one of my fellow besty musical theatre nerd, Marilee. The best part of the trip was when we surprised Carol by picking up Ruth.

We've been enjoying the sun rays this spring. June wearing her watermelon swimsuit for the first time.

This is how we pick up Carter from the bus stop up the road.

She has the duck lips down.

The kids scored on Easter candy this year. I wish I could upload the video of them coloring eggs. Jaxon was annoying Carter adding new eggs to the dyes when he wanted to make multi colored eggs.

We've been doing a lot of house projects lately. We're hoping to start building next year so we'd like to upgrade this one and hopefully up the value. In other words, we'll finally get this house the way we wanted just in time to move.

Last week I put on my first violin recital. My kids did well and I absolutely LOVE teaching. 

This week Carter had a field trip to Brown's fish farm here in Pima. I decided to take the kids and tag along. They raise a bunch of different fish to release into the local ponds and lakes. They had one tank full of minnows and scooped them all together so the kids could touch them. Jaxon LOVED it. Carter put his hand in once and called it good. We even gave June a fish to hold for a second. Jaxon even took a sip out of the water. Gag!  

At the end they gave all of us nets to catch goldfish with. It was Carter's favorite part.