Les Mis

Mom and I had the opportunity to attend a production of "Les Miserables" at the Fisher Theater last night (Thursday) with some couples in the ward. It was a pretty decent production (Marius and Cosette were quite good and Val Jean was pretty good) and the scenery was very impressive. They had background scenes using pictures painted by Victor Hugo, the author of the book. They also created 3D picture scenes that moved, such as when Val Jean is carrying Marius in the sewer and when Javert committed suicide.

A special moment occurred during intermission when I was in the restroom. There seemed to be a lot of school age youth attending tonight; maybe it was school night or something. There were a couple of the boys talking in the restroom and one of the said to the other, "Dude, they are singing all the words. I can't understand a thing they are saying." Everyone in our group I repeated that to got a good laugh out of it.

All in all, a nice night out.

nothing new

I feel bad because I never contribute to this blog, but there really is nothing new going on in our lives.

 Lucy is big-18 pounds by our scale's calculations.  She has started talking the 2 weeks or so which makes it more fun to hold her.  She is figuring out her hands and toys and loves sitting in the bumbo we borrowed from my friend.  She'll be 4 months on Friday-crazy-and is sleeping all night long (knock on wood).

(this picture of Noah is at least a year old)

Noah is also huge.  We have started a quasi preschool with another little girl in our ward and Noah loves learning about the ocean and the sky and he is relearning the alphabet and numbers since the little girls doesn't know them.  He is a perfect big brother and loves getting outside whenever he can-whether it's cold or not.

Eric is in his 3rd quarter of 7 and this is going to be the hardest one of them all.  It's only 10 weeks long but it is packed full of classes and labs and tests.  He is really good about coming home and spending time with us, but you can tell that he is stressed out and will be so happy when June comes.  They have already given him the book on all the rotation sites that are available to us and we are already talking about where we want to go and what would be best...and yes, the Michigan sites are at the top of that list-but we won't know until October.

I was loosing weight and have now stagnated-oh well...we are eating healthier, but I treat myself too often I suppose ;)  I am almost done with my job in the spouse's organization-yay-and will be officially done at the beginning of May.  Eric made me promise not to run or volunteer for anything for next year so I will have less to do and be able to spend more time at home in the evenings...and I can honestly say I'm not too sad about it.  I can't wait until it's warmer so that the days don't seem so long.

Possible job excitement!

Good news on the job hunt! Jason had a Skype interview with a practice in Fredericksburg, VA on Thursday. He said it went well (although somewhat awkward being on Skype) but we weren't getting our hopes up. We sent thank you letters the next morning and anxiously waited. Well, we didn't have to wait long! Yesterday one of the doctors left him a message saying they'd like to meet him in person in the next 2-3 weeks and to call her back. Yay! Last night they spoke and she said they are going to be doing a "working interview." This means he'll be shadowing the doctors for part of the day, and then doing some basic clinical stuff on some of the patients, as well as meeting the staff, checking out the office, etc. She said it is mostly to make sure he wants to work there. It seems like, as long as their personalities click, they want him! Double yay! And, to top it off, they are paying for our hotel for two nights when we go up. TRIPLE YAY! This practice is awesome. As Jason put it, the reason he applied to do a residency was so that he could hopefully get into this type of practice...and now it's looking pretty good that he will WITHOUT doing one! And yes, I'm getting my hopes up! Currently the practice has three doctors, one wanting to cut back his hours now and retire in the next 2-3 years. At that time, they'll be looking to add another partner (aka Jason) as long as they all get along and he brings enough to the table. This is the absolutely perfect scenario. They're excited about having an associate with a family, because there is so much opportunity to network and bring in more clients if you have a family--people you meet at school, in extracurricular activities, etc. Two of the doctors are in their 60s and the young doctor is single, so they said Jason could fill a niche they haven't had. The practice is huge--5000 square feet! They have 23 employees (we've never even heard of an optometry office with that many employees before) with each doctor having his own tech/scribe. It's a medical model practice, with all the newest office equipment and bells and whistles. Exactly the kind of office Jason has been dreaming of! We feel so blessed, it's incredible. So, keep praying for us! We need this last hurdle to go perfectly, and then hopefully we'll be there! My race is April 9th and his interview is April 11th (Kurt's birthday!) so we may drive up right after the race. We'll see. I'm so excited!

Patriarical blessing

Lexi received her patriarical blessing on Sunday. It was such a sweet, wondering experience. I always knew I was blessed to have her be my daughter, but that experience just further confirmed the fact that she is someone special. I am so thankful to have been able to share it with her. It was neat to be experiencing it as a parent. So different than my own experience, but just as good, if not better.

I did 3 miles today!

So my post next to Jana's is not that impressive, but it's a start. :) And I'm proud of it, especially since it was so hard and my legs are like limp spaghetti noodles now. Yeah for running!

the big 10!

This morning I ran TEN MILES. I am now a double-digiter! And, even better, I feel pretty good!

well? well?

So, Hillary, how did the run go today? I can't wait to hear! I hope you're not too sore tomorrow!

Snow again!

Can you believe that two days ago was the first day of spring and here we are getting another snow storm?!?!?! Ahhhh! I can't wait for it to warm up permanently.

On a lighter note, we just finished parent/teacher conferences tonight and all the kids are doing very well. No complaints from any teachers. We are very proud parents. Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth our time even going to conferences. We sit with the teachers for like 5 minutes, just long enough for them to tell us how wonderful our kids are and then leave. Sometimes I wonder if the teachers think, "Why did you even bother to come?" But I do like hearing how good they are doing from some of the people who spend the most time with them.

Running

So I've been riding the exercise bike since January to help me get ready for this race that Jana and I are doing. I've known all along that I'd have to start running at some point because riding a bike and running are very different. I have not been looking forward to running, because I, well, hate it. But I went and bought all the things I will need to run and hopefully not be too sore, so now I have to start running. My plan is to start Wednesday. :)

niners!

I ran nine miles on Saturday! Woo woo! My legs were so tired the rest of the day, but today I feel fine. The other two girls I run with are considering doing a full marathon in December, but I've decided I have no desire. As much as I've enjoyed training for this race, every night before our long runs I get soooo nervous and the anxiousness is not worth it to me. I do want to keep up running afterwards, maybe three or four times a week. I really enjoy the time alone, or with friends, and feel so good afterwards. Anyhow, I'm babbling... Yay! I ran nine miles!

Jim Is Legal

Happy Birthday Jim. Enjoy the day, but remember to Return With Honor. I love you.

some of Addie's recent pictures

The first picture is her and Macie. If you look carefully, you'll see she's spelled Macie's name all over the page. My favorite part are the antanae looking things on the top of Macie's head, they are her pony tails.

The second picture is, hopefully fairly obviously, a PIG--spelled backwards. She even tried to draw the hooves correctly.

Jason is very proud because she's always quite concerned with getting the eyes correct on her people. Haha. She is becoming quite the little artist.

it's great to be EIGHT

This morning I ran EIGHT MILES. It was hard...so hard...but I finished! The last mile was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t mile I have ever run, but I didn't give up. I think I'm more proud that I ran the entire last mile than I am that I ran eight miles. It was so hard. Hopefully next Saturday will be better. BUT YEAH! This is the farthest I have ever run and I wanted to boast a little! Yay me!

Ingenuity

The other night, Harvey was eating carrots with his dinner. We usually give him some ranch to dip carrots in, because he'll eat more carrots that way, but I had forgotten to give him some. So after a couple minutes he said, "Dad, I can have some ranch?"

For a long time, whenever he asked for something without using "please", we'd correct him and make him ask again. That didn't seem to improve the situation very much. So we started telling him, "No, you can't have that because you didn't say please. You can ask again in a few minutes and say please." He always remembered to say "please" the second time, and it did seem to help in reminding him to use it the first time he asked.

Now we've decided to try flat out denial, no second chance. So when he asked, "Dad, I can have some ranch?", I told him no, because he hadn't said "please". He didn't say anything else, so I thought that was that. Apparently, though, he thought I meant to ask again later (probably because we've just started the no-second-chance thing), because in a few minutes he very politely asked, "Dad, please I can have some ranch?"

This time, I explained to him that he wouldn't be getting ranch, because he hadn't said "please" the first time he asked. He was quite upset by that, and had a small fit, but he calmed down pretty fast. He went back to eating.

A few minutes later, "Dad, I can have some ketchup, please?"

The big 34!

Yeah for Mom and Dad. Happy Anniversary you guys. Thanks for staying married for so long. :)

flat stanley

We got an awesome letter in the mail yesterday from Chelsea.  She sent us a little man (Flat Stanley) she had colored in school and asked us to keep him for a week and take pictures with him and have him participate in our lives.  Today we had some sun and a little warmth so the kids and I went to the lake to throw rocks and play with some friends.  I picked up Stanley and took him with me.  Here's a few pictures from the day.

We are enjoying him so far, Chelsea, we'll make sure you get some pictures at the end of the his week with us.  Thanks for sending him!

Starting already

I was getting Harvey dressed this morning, and pulled out a white polo shirt with little whales embroidered all over it. Very cute.

Me: How about this shirt?
Harvey: No, Dad. That's not cool.

Laughing, I pull out a t-shirt with the word HAWK written all over it. It's a hand-me-down from Oliver, so I'm guessing HAWK is a skateboard or snowboard brand.

Me: Okay, how about this one. It says the word "hawk" all over it.
Harvey: Yeah, that one's cool. Wait til Simon sees it!

My 3-year-old is already telling me what's cool and what's not. I guess I was naive to think I had a few more years before that started.