Things that are the best

Body blast is the best. I’ve been going to a weights class 2-3x/ week at the fitness center and have made friends with some ladies in there. Maureen S, Cheramie S, and Cheri W are Bentonville stake ladies. Melanie B is mom of Corbin’s school friend Carly, Ali F is a friend from my ward, my neighbor Jenna, and some orchestra moms (hi jessica!) are often there, kasey joins me once a month, and today, Tiffany tried it out. The class is tough, but in a good way. Meeting Tiffany there today was so fun. I love her! 

Hungry teens are the best. This kid will clean out the fridge for me. Pre dinner snack= leftover roasted veggies, scrambled eggs, peanut butter.  Gross. He’s into it. 

Jill’s birthday lunch and finding Fancy’s twin are the best. No photos of the ladies but Danielle arranged for her Morgan, Michelle D, Jill, and I to gather at Pho 89 for Jill’s 40th. I gifted her a portable phone fan, some of my fave shower steamers, and favorite protein bars. Our server was Lance R’s future twin and it turns out he is Laotian as well! 

Heart hikes are the best. We went on two this week. They were short but the kids are getting good at noticing beautiful creations along the way.  Like this gorgeous giant mushroom hiding under a log. It looked fake! 

Love y libros is the best. Sometimes mothers pop in and try to sneak photos of their teenagers doing good things. Sometimes said teenagers discover they are being spied on and get a bit salty about it but are forgiving. Gen Z coined that feeling you get when you’re holding a baby that is so adorable you feel like you could gobble it up, or just explode with emotion as “cute aggression”. Thats exactly what I have when I see cutie Corbin reading in Spanish to these little niños. It is so cute I could explode, and it was enough of a dopamine hit to lure me into the building to peek in on him this Friday. What could I say in my defense other than, “hey a mother’s gonna mother.” 

Catching up with long time friends is the best. 

1) soup night! Sandy Short hosted a soup potluck night at her place in Bella vista. Kasey, Sue Remfry, Jocelyn Petersen, Laura Hayes, and I each brought soup (I took butternut sausage and wild rice and a pan of stuffed dates) and we ate soup from little muffin tins so we could try all the kinds. Brilliant. A night full of laughs and catching up on adult children and new career and travel adventures. 

2) I ran 11 miles with Jocelyn Peterson on Saturday morning. She is just the best. We kept an easy pace and just talked and talked and talked. It was the best therapy. I thought the past couple years that maybe I don’t enjoy running like I used to, but it’s really that I miss running with my people. I join Kasey for hikes on occasion and it fills the same void. Quality conversation with a bestie is peak. I also miss Chris for this, and still keep a laminated pic of her all decked out in running gear on my bathroom mirror to tell me “you’ve got this!” daily. Jocelyn and I set out as soon as the rain stopped, and ran from Blue Hole (by Walgreens in S Bella vista) to the intersection before Barker Middle school in Bentonville, then turned and ran back. We found the rush training group doing hill repeats at mile 4. Classic Mike Rush to wear his devil suit that day. He later found us around mile 7.5 or 8 and ran out of the library hollering to cheer us on from across the street.  The running community here is the best.

11 miles done and I felt GREAT after. I had tired/heavy legs for the last mile or so, but at that pace, I could* have pretty easily gutted out 2 more miles and done a half marathon. The Bentonville half is in 4 weeks. I won’t come close to breaking any personal records, but I’ll get it done and thatis a pretty great personal accomplishment. 

I need some brown/tan/nude church shoes to wear to Reese’s wedding. I just wear my salt waters or Dr martens with everything on Sundays, but Reese kindly suggested I branch out to something different and just a little dressier.  I took the little girls with me to the mall. We found no shoes, but had a cute girls date together. They definitely are not quite old enough to enjoy power shopping. They liked the escalator though. 😂

Date night is the best. Aaron and I dipped out for a late late dinner alone last night. The Number of children in our home is shrinking, but the overall parental guidance/presence demands have grown exponentially in the past year. We love parkside public because the music is great, the decor is nostalgic and funny, and we can hide away in a booth for an hour and scheme and dream without feeling like boring adults. We sat and caught each other up and laughed over a key and peele skit Corbin sent us, planned some of our spring break activities, did some housekeeping on car insurance and phone plans, and Shazam’d the songs playing at the same time. All with Adventures in Babysitting on the box tv across from us. I think maybe we like that it is just chaotic enough in there to match our life, but none of the chaos is our problem. The meatloaf sub and cheese fries were killer good to boot. This is the only photo we took. “Wrestling is real” on a metal chair hanging above our table. 😂

In contrast, on Friday night, we took the kids to the Lamb of God performance at the Bentonville stake center. Incredible. We sat by the Shaws and Bakers and missed our Metfield friends.  We need to be better about inviting other couples and families to get together for social things. We have a lot going on, but Aaron and I both have missed doing things with other couples or whole families. 

Lamb of God was wonderful. We took a walk a the temple with the little kids and got ice cream after. 

It’s springtime! This means extreme weather and a traumatized Sloanie panicked at the sound of thunder or sight of ominous clouds. She has been in our room a lot over the past week and the lack of sleep is catching up with me. I’m grateful to have physical energy, but when my little guys start fighting, my patience with them runneth dangerously low.

Free haircuts are the best. 

I lined up Neal, Noah, Hyrum, Ammon, J Capra, Corbin, Aaron, and the Anderson? Little Flock? I don’t even know missionaries last week. Rhett, Soren, and Bear are up this week. I fed them and enjoyed the sounds of a house full of rim reapers three evenings last week. 

Music lessons are the best. Maddie, they Austin’s dog, loves to sit and supervise Esme’s violin lessons. This week, bears piano lesson was canceled, so Maddie had someone to let her the entire lesson.Both bear and canine were happy. 

My days are so full right now. I feel like I’m working overtime. Tonight we had 23 minutes between track meet and basketball game with everyone home at the same time  for dinner. It was rare. But I was just so tired. Dinner was ready, I assigned 2 kids to set the table, then put in AirPods with rain storm sounds playing, set a timer for 8 minutes, and crawled into bed. I’m not a caffeine person, so power naps it is. Then we ate in the 15 minute window and were off to a basketball game. 

I had an SBO board meeting this week. I love supporting the kids, and the team is wonderful, but not sure in what capacity I will serve after Corbin’s senior year. 

Feeding the missionaries is the best. 

Haha Brody had Neal Hyrum, and Ammon sign the photos I had of them from a Sunday school activity and the boys have been passing them around like trading cards. 

The couples that duo friend streak together stay together 

Ryan going to the Intramural Playoffs is the best.