Nag, Nag, Nag

OK. Fine. I'll post something.

Of course it's probably be totally random drivel, but it's a post, right?

So, May has been very busy so far. Our poor calendar is suffering from burnout and looks like a freaking RAINBOW from all the different colors of pen, pencil, and marker used to help us keep track of everything we have going on!

Maren finished up her soccer season and started a new physical adventure--track! She's joined a Hershey Track group and has her first practice meet on the 30th. We were doubling up track and soccer practice for a couple of weeks, but now that soccer is over things'll settle down just a little. I think she'll be really good at track--especially as a distance runner. A very good friend of ours (a nationally ranked miler during her high school and college years) thinks so too. She can't wait for it to be warm enough to try out her new swimsuit in the sprinklers. Today might JUST be the day.

Hannah is working hard to finish up school, study for the ACT, and get her high school Fiddle group ready for a few performances. They've played three times so far this month, and still have at least one performance left before school is out. She's also reading (recreationally!) The Aeneid. She loves epic poetry--Beowulf, Chaucer, Dante. Go figure. Hannah is very excited for summer and the potential of easing some of the stress that inevitably comes with a school year. Plus she's begun to explore her options for colleg, looking right now into taking distance learning courses from BYU. She's leaning toward literature study, maybe a minor in music, with the goal of fiddle school and applying for a Nauvoo Music Mission next summer.

Ian is also working hard to finish up school. He's already been told that if he doesn't get it all done he won't be getting his learner's permit next month. Threats. I love 'em. He is also involved in the fiddle group (he plays penny whistle), and actually built his own Low D Penny whistle from copper tubing and a wooden dowel. He's working on his second one now. He's also getting excited for marching band to start up again next month. They'll be marching in parades on the 4th and 24th, plus band camp the end of July. He's working hard mowing lawns this summer in hopes of earning himself a new bike--he wants a Trek 7300. But he also wants a new clarinet, and a compound bow, and a shotgun, and a .22. and....

Suzanne is mostly busy keeping track of everyone else's lives. Isn't that the way it is? In between she's been reading LOTS. Her editor has gotten behind on sending stories out, so he's been making up for it in a big way. She's read something like 60 stories in the last week or so and has about 120 more to read, with more potentially coming. She's also joined a Book group comprised of published writers and professional editors. It's been loads of fun, but that means more reading! This week she'll be holding a recital for her piano students, and Friday will be teaching a workshop of writing flash fiction at a sci-fi/fantasy convention. Plus singing in a senior citizen's branch in our stake Sunday. And somewhere in there she needs to find time to get the garden planted.

Darin is busy working hard to take care of all of us. They've been slammed at work lately, mostly because of some recent firings (a couple of guys were caught falsifying records) and the acquisition by the company of a smaller independent company. We're truly fortunate if he's home from work by 6:00. This week he gets to take charge of sprucing up our yard. As we speak there is a huge dumpster sitting in front of our house waiting for the PILES of trash we've accumulated due to various yard projects and a few years of junk accumulation. I think he's really looking forward to Memorial Day--when we can all sleep in and take a leisurly day with no obligations and nothing to do but whatever in the heck we want! He's also been involved in a fitness challenge at work. They're supposed to walk at least 5000 steps per day. Everyone in the office got one of those pedometers. Darin's isn't working anymore though. He gets plenty of steps on the days we go jogging. One jog piles up more than 5000 steps, then he probably averages 3000 steps on top of that during his working day.

We all participated in the Komen Race for the Cure on the Zan Vincent Team. Darin, Ian, and Suzanne ran it, making a pretty good time of just under 34 minutes. That's 3 or 4 minutes better than our last 5K time. Our goal is 30 minutes, which we hope to achieve by the end of the summer. Hannah and Maren walked it with Darin's sister and their young cousins. It's a fun race, mainly because the attitudes of the participants is so upbeat and there are SO MANY people! They said at the beginning of the race that 18,000 people were registered as participants! That's a lot of people to run with! At the first mile marker, we were able to look ahead of us and see a sea of people AND look behind us and see a sea of people. Pretty incredible!

There's our SURVIVOR: 14 years!


Weary feet:


The crowd just before the start of the race: