Spring Break 2018: Memphis

We hit awful accident traffic just outside of Memphis that added 90 minutes to our drive. Brutal. We stoped for the night in Germantown, and I I asked my friend Ardis where we should eat. She directed us to Corky’s and we were easily won by the giant neon pig on the building. Then we found “Soren” on the wall inside!  He said “what the heck?! Is that me?!” And the likeness was uncanny. 

Corbin ordered pasta with a side of pasta. E pigged out on the complimentary basket of fried pork rinds that no one else could stomach but she inhaled them like candy (and then punished us fiercely the next day with the worst road trip gas and blowouts you can imagine. Ha!)  we all ate fried pickles and pork until we could pop. 

Once Corbin was thru eating, he took advantage of the near empty restaurant (it was 9 pm, the traffic put a delay on dinner) and wandered over to watch a march madness. It was funny to see a little kid propped up at the bar. He was only there for the tv and has no idea he was kicking back with a bunch of neon advertising what’s available on draft. No one made him get down and he enjoyed a short break from having so many people in his personal space. 

It was after 10 when we checked into the hotel and got 2 pack n plays set up. Bedtime is usually very hard for the twins so we prepared for the worst and split our crew between 3 rooms. The boys with my parents. Q and Sloane with Aaron, Reese and the twins with me. The babies were out in minutes. Tender mercy. Everyone slept and it was wonderful. 

Spring Break 2018: prep

We have bed fostering an incredible set of 2 year old twins since Mid January.  When we found out in court a few weeks ago they will be staying with our family for awhile, including spring break, I knew we really needed a trip to the beach. One, I’m dead tired. These babies have so many appointments (three today, 2 yesterday, two Tuesday and one Monday. And then double the times each because there are two of em) and it’s eating me alive to keep track of all their commitments and places we need to be.  They’re so worth all of it..but mama needed a getaway. There’s no way to fully clear the calendar unless we just leave town and are forced to walk away from it. 

But where on earth could we take 7 children?! The beach was truly the best answer. One of our twinners is  a big time sensory seeker. The sand all day errrry day was a dream come true and my mans heart swelled to see such a delighted child, happily rolling aand rubbing and sifting sand through on and around and through every part of their body. Sensory Seeker heaven. So much to touch! 

I found us a townhome directly on a private beach. This was important to me so one of us could be inside with littles when they ran out of steam, and the other parent could be out with the bigssbd no cars or packing up would be involved. 

This was also our first big trip without a stroller. We probably could have used one in baytowne. But there really wasn’t room in the car. 12 seater with 11 passengers. We were “stuffed to the muff”. 

A couple years ago, we stopped in Memphis on our way to the beach but it was very short. I wanted more time. Give me my own road trip agenda and I will stop at every ridiculous roadside attraction for the sake of the adventure of seeing it. Inspired by a trip my mother-Hero friend Val took, I dreamed up a mini “drive thru” version of a civil rights tour for my family on the way to the beach. How could we pass up these great opportunities to give our kids such a rich sampling of history?  

 I knew I had to choose my stops wisely, because Aaron and the triplets wouldn’t last long ;) They were anxious to get to the beach.  But for a 13 hour drive, I figured we would need to make stops, anyway, so I simply chose Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and Montgomery for our pit stops there abd back. We made it to about 1/4 of them. But we made great time to the beach so it’s a fair trade to keep sand and sea loving Aaron happy. And the stops we did make were amazing. 

Prep: Ruby Bridges Goes to School, Who was Rosa Parks? Who was Dr Martin Luther King Jr? 

Audio: How Long? Not Long! By Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Memphis Streets by Neil Diamond (because duh, every good road trip needs a soundtrack) and Walking in Memphis. 

Movies: the Watsons Go To Birmingham, Remember the Titans, Hidden Figures, the Help (adults) 

And here is an “in progress” of packing clothing for 9 humans for 10 days. I ditched the suitcases and put clothes for all 9 of us in one big Rubbermaid tote. I also had a swimwear bag with all of our suits, and a shoe bag with church shoes and flip flops, abd my running gear because I had to do a two training runs while on vacation. Aaron’s laptop/electronics bag, an overnight bag with pajamas and clean underwear for when we stopped in Memphis (I made everyone repeat travel clothes. At least they got to wear clean chonies.) and a small bag with all of our sunscreens, meds, lotions, shampoo, etc that plus two pack n plays abc one giant sun hat (Aaron’s) and we were stuffed! 

Will She Eat It?

Quincy was the pickiest eater of all of my toddlers. She had a phase where all she would touch were bagels with cream cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, and rice. 

Now days, the “one food” she won’t eat is lasagne, and when preparing her own meals, she eats the most like I do. She is the only Willardson child who likes pickles, steak, cucumbers, avocados, mustard, or tomatoes. She loves snack plates like I do and will fix up a plate with salami and cheese and grapes, or hummus and pretzels and apples and peanut butter, or toast with cottage cheese and avocados and everything topping on it.  

At Sam’s Club yesterday, she was delighted to be offered a sample of sushi. I politely declined the offer, but Q jumped on board. “I’ve always wanted to try sushi! It’s so cool looking I already know I will like it! It looks just like my Barbie sushi!” 

And like it, she did. She tried a California roll and a spicy crab and avocado roll and raved about it so much, Corbin and I tried that one too.   Way to try new foods, Q! 

Changes

A new bishopric was called last week, so Aaron was released after over 3.5 years serving the Sugar Creek Ward as second and first counselor.  The Cude’s are moving to Idaho and will be missed!  Aaron loved his calling, and I know our ward was greatly blessed because of his service and love and loving service. In the past few years he has served with Bishop Cude, Ken Lanshe, Doug McCash, and Ben Ratsachack. 

Pictured above: 1st Counselor Aaron, Bishop Craig Cude, and 2nd Counselor Ben Ratsachak.  

Bentonville Race Series: Irish 10K

In late 2016, I signed up to run the Bentonville Half Marathon and the training program. Joining the program is fun because membership offers(among many other things) an organized group run every Saturday, and free admission into two other races in the bentonville race series: the Valentine 8K, and the Irish 10K. 

Then we got little premie Wren, and I was delirious with exhaustion and my eyes constantly burned from lack of sleep.  I put running on hold and deferred my training membership and race registration to a future year.  

They sent me an email in December 2017 reminding me that a spot in the training group was reserved for me and 2018 was my year to run the bentonville half! No turning back now! I started training out pretty rough, as starting over (and over and over again) is always a challenge. I stuck it out, and had a lofty goal of 10:30-11min pace for the half. My friend, Laura, is expecting a baby and needed to slow her regular pace down a bit so we have been doing some Saturday group runs together and it’s been great!

This was such a good race for me! Temp was perfect for running (49-50*). My time goal was to stay under 10:30 pace, which would be my fastest 10K pace and get me a new PR. I had to use the restroom right before the race started, so I hurried outside to the starting line only a minute before the gun went off. I searched but never found my friend Laura as I wiggled through the crowd, and figured she had started in the pack at front end of the chute and was way ahead of me. So I picked up my pace a bit to try to catch up and find her. Between 2 and 3 miles, I took off my sweatshirt, looked at my time and realized I was going pretty fast. Way too fast to sustain for 3 more miles! But I realized that if I kept it under a 10 minute mile, I could come in at under an hour! I was getting pretty tired so I ate a few gummy gu chomps and sipped some Gatorade and struggled through a half mile of uphill.  Still hoping to catch up and find Laura, I found some new strength the last mile and a half and maintained the pace I’d started the race with. 

57:50! Check out the victory look on my face in the finish line pics from the race website! Haha! Taking 6+ minutes off a PR is a pretty big deal, but just coming I under an hour was really a huge deal for me. I’ve always been a really slow “turtle” runner, so running 6.2 miles at a 9.20 pace really delights me and makes me wonder what I’d be capable of if I had time or energy to train more than squeezing in a couple short runs whenever I can. I’m still not sure a 10 minute pace is sustainable for 13.1 miles, but I’m going to try! Doing Fartlek and Progression speed training runs has helped and I think running those hills on Tiger Blvd with Kasey has definitely made me stronger. 

Soren’s First Lost Tooth!

Mr Saunchy came running to me crying, “Mom! I think my tooth is breaking!” 

It was wiggly! 

I asked if he wanted me to pull it out, and in Soren fashion, he shrugged, “sure.” 

So with a tug it was out and he is chuffed. 

The tooth fairy brought him 50 cents, in his shoe, because putting a shoe outside your bedroom door somehow has become a weird thing around here. Whatever! He has had us read Pete the Cat’s Loose Tooth book to him several times since. 

Chicken, Artichoke, and Wild Rice soup

I can’t get any drafts with pictures to post. I need to hire a guru to back up my blog and give it a makeover. I just found out like a month ago there’s an annoying cat icon image thingie in the middle of the screen. Well that’s annoying. And yet all three of you came back anyway. It’s probably for this recipe. 

I love me a pantry recipe! 

This is adapted from a recipe from Linsey G. Hers is almost the same but I omitted the cooking wine and added artichoke hearts. 

Now I am sure this soup would be out of this world delicious if I took the time to kick it up a notch and make a rue and add heavy cream and all that jazz. And I know y’all are raising an eyebrow at me as soon as you see condensed cream of chicken on the ingredient list, but listen, it’s good. And I’m a soup snob and still say it’s good.  And some night one of your two year olds might pour a whole bottle of glue on her head and then you might be glad you can whip this goodness up in a snap and let it simmer the 15 minutes it takes to wash her hair before it becomes a decopodge of hair and naughty giggles. Ha! 

Anyway, here we go. 

Chicken and artichoke wild rice soup

6 cups chicken stock

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped up

1 box Uncle Ben’s original recipe long grain and wild rice 

2 cans chicken (I know. I know! Cook up your own if you want, you’ll be better for it. I choose time with this one and it’s all good)

1 26oz can cream of chicken soup. 

Put everything in a pot and let it do its thing. 

A squirt of fresh lemon juice gives it a little zip.