Track

(I typed this a couple of weeks ago but then forgot to post it so it is a little late.)
Remember this runner?

Here he is 2 years later.

It was a rough season for him, battling shin splints and then what we thought might be stress fractures but turned out to just be more shin splints.  He only ended up competing in about half of the meets.  The good news is that by the end of the season he was healthy and able to train and run hard.

We got to watch B's last track meet of the season on Wednesday (May 8th).  He ran the mile and set a personal best.

He also ran the 800.  His first and second 200 were right on track for his goal.  As he started the 2nd lap and came past us I could tell something was wrong, he had slowed down.  He got a side ache and was hurting pretty bad.  The track is set up kind of strange so the start and finish is over on the far side of track.  As B rounded the last corner, I saw his hands open up into blades (he always does that when he sprints).  He took about three strides and then I saw his hands close back up...he had nothing left.   He'll try again next year.  We're proud of him anyway.

I tried to get a picture of him standing around waiting to run, but they were so far away, on the other side of the track, that I couldn't get one.  So, when he was in the stands with us, drinking his gatorade, I tried to get a quick picture but got this instead.

Later I was able to sneak one of him.

A Dance Recital (A.K.A. "P" gets flowers)

P has been taking a ballet and tap combo class all year.   Her recital was last weekend.

R and B both missed it as B had a track meet all day and R was busy playing the 2nd of 3 gigs he had on Saturday.

Here is P with C and R before the recital.

During the recital, her teacher sits on a chair in front of the stage and by hand motions, helps the class remember what they are supposed to be doing.  (Hence the black shadow in some of the pictures.)  P completely memorized her tap number though, and since we actually own the music she was performing to, she had fun performing her dance at home a couple of times before the recital.  I think she was a little nervous on stage as her showmanship was much better at home and her steps more deliberate.

Here are pictures from her tap dance.

And ones from her ballet dance.

She did a wonderful job with both dances and had fun having one costume that changed into two.

On the day of her actual recital, she was all about the flowers.  R believes she only wants to be in dance class because that way she can get flowers.  He may be right.  The day before her recital she said, "Mom, you better have gotten me flowers."  I informed her that her statement was not very polite.

I pre-ordered her flowers from the flower shop on post, and they bring them to the recital for us to pick up there.  As we walked into the school for the recital, there were buckets and buckets of flower bouquets.  This time P said, "Mom, did you remember to get me flowers?"

She was definitely thrilled to get her flowers, and has enjoyed having them on our dinning room table.

My new favorite song... Thanks B!

I love teenagers...  that deserves another post that I'll have to write some time when I feel like trying to put my thoughts into words...no easy task for me.

Back at the beginning of the school year, a couple of B's seminary classmates introduced him to a new band, Imagine Dragons.  At the time they didn't have much air play time and I had never heard of them.  B bought one of their albums on i-tunes and listened to it all of the time on his i-pod. He was always telling me how great their music is.   Since we are behind, tech wise, in our house, he had no way of sharing the music with me, unless I wanted to put one ear plug in my ear while he listened on the other one.  (He does that all of the time with his sisters.)

One day we were out driving and one of Imagine Dragons' songs came on the radio.  I loved it!  B kept asking me if I wanted him to make me a CD (you know, in that "I really want to share something I think is cool with you" kind of teenage way.)  Life is crazy though and a couple of months passed.  Finally, a couple of weeks ago, he was able to burn the CD for me so that we could play it in the van.  That is all I have listened to for the last 2 weeks when I am in the van.  One of their songs, On Top of the World (track 5), is my new favorite song.  I LOVE that song.  It always makes me smile and bounce.  Sometimes, because I can be one of "those" sappy moms, I even get teary because it makes me so happy.

Thanks B!!!

Why we've missed B.

Last week, while the girls were on spring break, B was all but absent from our home.  He left home each morning at 5:45 to go to seminary and returned some time between 9:30 and 10:30 pm each night.  Then on Saturday he was gone from 8 am until 11 pm.  Here is why.

Reason #1:
Track practice went from optional 1 or 2 day a week practices to mandatory 5 day a week practices that start after school and end at 5 pm.

Reason #2
He was stage manager for the High School production of "The Mikado" and had to be at all of the final rehearsals and of course, the performances.  Here he is at the light board which he programed and then ran during the performances. 

Reason #3
Mock Trial is in full swing and their first competition was this last Saturday. 

 Last minute prep before the judge arrives.

 Conferring with his coach and team mate (the witness he will direct examine.)

 More last minute prep.

 

He did a great job as a lawyer for the defense, earning 5/5 for his direct examination and 4/5 for his cross.  He had the highest combined score of the 6 lawyers on his team, and helped his team achieve the first seed spot in the regional competition.  (Something they've never done before.)

We're glad he had a such a fun week but are looking forward to him being a little less busy now that the musical is finished.  The best quote of last week came from P at dinner on Wednesday night when she said, "Where, is B?  I haven't seem him for days."

He was missed.

What we didn't see in Stockbridge, MA last summer

(Mom, Dad and siblings...you are probably the only ones that will understand or appreciate this post.)

A couple of weeks ago when I was on the plane going to Utah, I was reading the Southwest Magazine and there was an article about a couple who travel the country visiting non-historical, historical places. One of the places they mentioned was Alice's Restaurant in Stockbridge, MA (from the Alice's Restaurant Song on one of Dad's records.)

I was so bummed to find out that we had gone all the way to Stockbridge (to visit the Norman Rockewell Museum and the famous Main Street from his Christmas picture) and didn't even know the restaurant, of Alice's Restaurant fame, was also in Stockbridge. I was even more bummed today when I did a little investigating. Turns out the restaurant is "around the back" of one of the buildings on Main Street. Here is one of our pictures of Main Street.

We walked in the general store (the white building on the right) that the restaurant sits behind. We even walked past the entrance to the alley (between the two white buildings).  If we would have walked West, instead of East as we did, we might have even seen the sign on the side of the General Store, indicating that what used to be Alice's Restaurant was just around the back.

And then, we could have taken a quick 12 minute drive to Great Barrington to visit the "used to be Church" (Now the Guthrie Center) that Alice and her husband used to live in and was the scene of the famous Thanksgiving Dinner that started the whole story/song.

Oh well. If we are ever in Stockbridge again, we will be sure to visit Alice's Restaurant.

B-ball Halftime

R and the band were playing the National Anthem and Halftime for the Women's Basketball game yesterday so we made a family event of it and went to the game.  We had a great time, as we always do at college sporting events.  Here is a photo journal of the event.

The band in the stands before playing the National Anthem.

 

The team warming up.  They wear pink jerseys in all of their February games every year, in honor of breast cancer awareness.

I have no pictures of the band playing the anthem because I felt that would have been disrespectful.  If I would have been thinking, I would have had my camera ready and snapped a quick picture before they started playing.  Oh well.

Here and P and C sitting in the stand with their Dad.  They sat with him the after the anthem and until the band had to get read for half time.

Here are pictures of half time.

Here we are having fun in the stands.

P was dancing during one of the time outs.

I tried to get a picture of B.  He wasn't cooperating.

So I enlisted R's help for some covert picture taking.  He was able to rest the camera on his knee and angle it up and snap a couple of pictures before B caught on.  Success!

And the final score 61-46.  Go Army!

Happy 12th B-day C

C celebrated her 12th b-day almost a month ago.  I'm a little slow at getting this posted.

This year, R and I were going to be out of town on her B-day so she had to wait to celebrate until we got home the following weekend.  The YW surprised her though and made her actual birthday one she won't forget.  The doorbell rang and she found this.

Since a snow storm was coming, she moved everything inside and decorated the stairs and inside of the door.

After R and I returned home we got to celebrate her b-day with presents... 

 

(Here she is trying out her harmonica)

 

 ...and cake.  She picked out this cake when we went to Costco the week before her b-day.   What we didn't know was that Daddy was in the city for a job,  the same day we went to costco.  He bought her a Junior's Devils Food Cheesecake at Grand Central.  She'd had this cheesecake as her b-day cake a couple of times before because it is one of her most favorite cakes.  She didn't mind having two birthday cakes.  We ate the cheesecake the weekend before her birthday and the Costco mousse cake when we celebrated her birthday.