March 2014 - All At Once!

The Phoenix Marathon was on March 1. Ironically, the Phoenix Marathon begins in and finishes in Mesa. This year Ryan ran the full and Lilly ran the half. We went to to show them support. The night before my girls slept at Angela's and the race path went pretty close to her house. After we picked up my mom, trying to make our way to Angela's was rather tricky. But we made it... and then we just had to make our way to the race which wasn't quite as tricky, but we had to go pretty far out of the way. We watched Lilly finish and then went to go get breakfast while we waited for Ryan. We got back just in time to hear them announce Ryan's name (mispronouncing Melzer) and see him cross the finish line. I'm so proud of these siblings of mine. I've never had much of a desire to run in a long distance race, but standing at the finish line and watching the sense of accomplishment and pride on the racer's faces made me think maybe I would like that. It really was a cool experience. That day it also rained. A LOT. My girls had fun playing in the rain and we were all so grateful for the moisture. It had been several months since the last recorded rainfall. I made potato soup, bread sticks and chocolate covered strawberries for dinner. I love soup on a rainy day. The culture celebration for the new Gilbert Temple was that night and it rained and rained and rained the whole time. I laughed a little that after so long of not having rain, we had rain on a day with a lot of big events around the valley, but I didn't hear any complaints. 

Daniel and Ashley in town ::: sisters on scooters ::: wild child ::: little Miss Studios ::: I ate my first Sprinkles cupcake (and didn't think it was that great - I prefer my homemade cupcakes) ::: Clara helping with dinner - Hazel said, "Good job sissy for not cutting your fingers off" ::: Hazel and her friend snuck behind the chair and were pulling every single piece of paper of multiple sticky note pads ::: Angela, Beth, Violet, Margo and Ames came over for lunch and Hazel got a bit muddy

My mom does a cousins sleepover once a month. I LOVE it so much. There's nothing like having a night where you don't have to pay a babysitter and you don't have to be home by a certain time AND you get to sleep in. It's awesome. One night we got to my mom's a little early and Clara and Hazel were catching rolly pollies in the yard. I love my bug-loving Clara. They also found the butterfly pictured and Clara was going to take it home but at the last second decided to let Elsa take it. She's old enough now that I don't make her be nice, so it always makes me happy to see her choose that and see her recognize the joy it brings her.

Hazel running (when the weather is nice, we walk/run/jog/shuffle a lot and every now and then she decided she doesn't like the stroller) ::: Elsa and Clara missing their top teeth together ::: vegetables are so pretty!! (and delicious sauteed with noodles) ::: Jason has a mild obsession with Henry Weinhard soda - I told him we're going to name our first boy Henry (because I actually do love that name) ::: orange trees are so pretty ::: family piano practice ::: Clara was insistent that she do everything at Target when she used her own money to buy something ::: and Hazel was insistent she ride on the bottom of the cart ::: Karen gave me some preserved lemons and I made chicken with them and it was delicious. I liked it so much I made six more jars or lemons ::: Clara still loves to hold my hand

Margo turned 2 in March and she had a art party. Hazel had a party with her ice cream cone.

Crazy bed head ::: pizza popper things I made that were delicious ::: sisters conversing in the windowsill ::: I bought a grape vine and it sat in this box unplanted for months. I finally planted it and so far, it's still alive! ::: a princess and her rings ::: we hadn't had asparagus for a while and it turns out Hazel LOVES it ::: I started playing wally ball and I kept breaking blood vessels in my thumb. I loved going and it was seriously good therapy for my wrists that hurt when I work too much. Unfortunately, I didn't go in the summer, but am hoping to start back up soon. ::: March madness at Kevin and Chrystie's... boys ::: Clara pretending Hazel is the horse - ha ha.

I got a new roll recipe from Kathryn. It is SO good! I decided to make them for the missionaries and clearly my bowl wasn't big enough. But I had enough to make a ton of rolls and I used the leftover dough to make cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning. Both were delicious. It's my new favorite roll recipe.

Clara got to spend the night with Lucy and Elsa the first night of Spring Break. It was Sunday and I figured it'd be about a 1.5 mile walk to their house, so we decided to go on a family "stroll", Clara's suitcase and all. Turns out it's over 2 miles each way and took us a LOT longer than we thought. But it was really fun and the weather was nice so I'm not promising we won't ever do it again. ;)

Lucy and Elsa got to spend a day with us for Spring Break. They painted rocks and explored in the backyard. Later that week, Lucy, Elsa, Leta and Annie went to the park with us while Ryan and Kathryn went to a wedding. After that, I went to a gardening class with Kathryn and my mom. I really liked it, but I feel like life is busy enough without a garden. Maybe when work slows down.

Another day of Spring Break, we went exploring in the mountains with Angela, Margo and Lilly. We found a cabin, saw beautiful scenery, found sand, had a picnic, played in a little patch of snow and drove my car where a minivan doesn't belong. :) I love the mountains and exploring. It was a fun day.

giant laundry basket (aka guest bed) ::: bags are packed ::: we got to go to quite a few of Jason's basketball games. I'm glad there were other kids to play with and that I had someone to visit with. ::: Hazel helping me stir ::: often we'll go out each quarter for Clara's good efforts, but this time she wanted me to make pasta, so I did. We threw in some Martinelli's and had a fancy dinner. ::: snack time on the grass - cookies, milk and mini lemon meringue pies that were way too tart ::: a flower on our pomegranate tree - yay!

Clara made lunch ::: Hazel acted like she was one playing in the toilet paper ::: just my cute girls ::: home from "work" and doing my more important work ::: I laugh every time anyone gets in these ninja costumes ::: Hazel jumping on the tables ::: Hazel wanted to fill out her own tithing slip and did. She's in this phase where her writing looks like Hebrew and makes me laugh ::: My van became a part of the 100K miles club!

Goodness I love these two little sweet girls so very much. I especially love Clara' obedience of being still and smiling in the picture and Hazel's wild personality and the expressions she can go through from picture to picture. I also love that they love each other. They fight, but usually they don't. They are also always comforting each other and worrying about each other. I'm glad they have each other.

And that wraps up March. I'm not even going to take the time to proofread...