Christmas 2023

Christmas was only 6 days ago and somehow it already feels so distant! I think that means we thoroughly enjoyed our week off from the school day routine. We didn't go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary beyond continuing to get our new house in order and daily swim practices. I love that we don't have to GO and DO anything particularly special to have a wonderful, restorative, luxurious time on a school break.

Christmas Break Week 1

Christmas break came early this year! School was out for the entire week before Christmas, starting Monday, December 18th. We felt lucky to have the full week to ourselves in our new house. To use our time wisely and avoid completely vegging the week away, we implemented a loose structure:

• Sleep in or have morning screen time until 8:30am; must eat breakfast by 8:30am. 
• 8:30-9:30am: work around the house! We did unpacking, cleaning, and other projects around the house every morning.
• 9:30am: Amber and Jeff do a workout together in the barn.
• 10am: Jeff, Jay, and Rose get ready for swim practice.
• 10:30am-12pm: swim practice for Jeff, Jay, and Rose, and together time for Amber and Shaina.
• 12-2pm: lunch, complete unfinished morning work, and rest/quiet time.
• 2pm-4:30pm: screen time.
• 4:30pm-5:30pm: everyone prep and eat dinner.
• Evening: we had family scripture more than 50% of the nights, and we watched one disc of the Lord of the Rings series per night on 4 of the nights. Jay declared that Lord of the Rings has elves in it, so it's a Christmas movie. I declared that we had to at least match our movie watching nights with nights where we remembered to have family scripture 50/50.

We followed this framework for the most part, and it worked great. It was a simple but good week, and we got a lot done around the house while also feeling like we were resting from our regular school day routine. 

Repairs and Races

 Our week was kind of a grind on all sides. Jeff and Jay had lots of swim practices and a weeknight swim meet waaay out in Wenatchee. Jeff, Jay, Rose, and Amber all had five days of school. Jay had four days of early morning seminary. At home, I fielded a nearly endless parade of workers bent on finishing the last odds and ends of our house. Wednesday was the craziest, when we had a dozen different guys tromping in and out of the house for various reasons: 1 plumber, 3 electricians, 2 HVAC guys, 3 carpenters, 1 foreman, and 2 delivery guys. It was loud and our floors were covered in dirt tracked in. I found myself obsessively sweeping and vacuuming the floor twice in a three day span. 

Second Swim Meet

Jay's first ever high school swim meet was last week waaay out in Moses Lake, WA, so I couldn't go watch. This week's swim meet was in Yakima, a mere 45 minute drive from home, so Rose, Amber, and I were able to go see Jay swim. The girls and I went to Costco before the swim meet. We got a big rug and some winter boots and a coat for Amber and all kinds of foods. It was a lot. Rose was a huge help with  unloading the cart into the trunk. Then we went to the swim meet! 

Christmas Tree Week 2023

Part I: Cutting the Tree

The day after Thanksgiving, on Friday, November 24th, we got our Christmas tree from the mountains. We were all exhausted from the move and from Thanksgiving, but we made the 80 minute drive to get our Christmas tree on Black Friday out of pure tradition. It was cold (22°) in White Pass but not snowy. We found a nice a tall tree for our new house! It was actually one of our quicker tree-hunting expeditions. It took four of us to team-carry the tree down the steep steep hill to the clearing. Only Jeff in the front of our tree-carrying line could see anything, so it was like a blind trust walk through the forest with tree branches whipping our faces, tripping over logs and slipping downhill, all while carrying a 20 foot Christmas tree. 

Thanksgiving 2023

 Thanksgiving with the White Family! Journal entry excerpts:

Thursday, November 22nd: Exhausted. Utterly. Between 7:45am and 1:45pm the only time I sat down was on the toilet. We had our 17th Annual White Family Turkey Trot this morning. 27 people came! It was a fun easygoing run, although Jeff pushed it and ran an 18:40 5k. I managed a 23:47 with no warmup and on dead legs (36 hours after a 10x400m workout and after more than 2 days straight of moving/packing/lifting on my feet all day). Basically, I had no spring in my step.

THE MOVE

We moved into our new house! There were still some missing pieces inside the house, but school let out for the entire week of Thanksgiving this year and since we had that extra time to pack up and move, we took it. We needed it! The workers were still finishing up some items on Monday, so our moving day was Tuesday, November 21st. I did my best to pack beforehand, but we weren't certain we'd be able to move for sure until the day before, so I didn't go too crazy. This renovation process has been so unpredictable! More than once we've thought things would be done at a certain time, only to have dates extended yet again. So I couldn't bring myself to begin packing until I knew for sure we could actually move. Our tiny rental house did not have space for us to live around piles of boxes-- it was living space or boxes. Here are a few journal entries to round out the story:

Seattle and Boise

Over the weekend, our family was all over the place. Jeff took the kids to Boise for the Nike Northwest Regional Cross Country Meet, and I went to Seattle for my sister's baby shower. The Nike meet in Boise was an optional post-season non-school-sponsored meet, so parents were in charge of driving their kids the 5 hours to Boise and any coaches went as parents. So it was perfectly acceptable for me to miss this meet, even though I did experience a good amount of FOMO (fear of missing out) while I was in Seattle. Thankfully Nike had a super sophisticated timing setup which recorded every runner's times at every kilometer and posted them to a live stream online. While I was at the baby shower on Saturday, I had my phone out and one eye on the results as they popped up on the screen. Jeff, Jay, Rose, and Amber left for Boise at 7am on Friday morning (Nov 10th--there was no school that day due to Veteran's Day).

A beautiful autumnal street near my sister's house in Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

Birthdays and State

November 4th was Amber's 9th birthday, my 37th birthday, and the state cross country meet. We did our best to help Amber feel celebrated and special while sharing her birthday with her mother and the state cross country meet. I did MY best to help myself feel celebrated while sharing my birthday with my daughter and the state cross country meet. Doing our best was the theme of the day. Our boys cross country team did their best with what the day gave them at the state meet, which included rain, a slick muddy course, injuries, inexperience, and sickness. We finished 16th out of 16 teams, but Andrew Garcia, our number one runner, finished in 11th place and got All State honors, a personal recruitment invitation from the Gonzaga University cross country coach, and a sweet medal. All in the cold pouring rain. 

The October Finish Line

The last week of October careened towards Halloween. Here are some journal clips and anecdotes:

Monday, October 23rd: Amber as she was browsing our bookshelf: "I love getting lost into reading. Because everything is so peaceful and I'm so focused on something."

Pepe's for donuts after practice one day! 

Cross Country District Championship

Thursday, October 26th in Wenatchee, WA was The Big Day. Jay was hoping to break 20 minutes in the 5k for the first time in the JV race. Our boys varsity team was hoping to qualify for the state meet as a team for the first time in 29 years. Spoiler alert: it all happened! The district meet is my favorite meet to be a coach. SO MANY emotions! It surprises me every year how much I grow to love the kids on our team over the course of a season. Each season is a little different with group dynamics, and this year we had such a fun core group on our team. The varsity boys were a delightful mix of playful and dedicated, the JV boys were exploring their abilities in exciting ways, and the sweet girls courageously worked toward their goals every single day.

Go Jay!

Building and Banquet

Last Sunday night, we visited our new house and saw the newly built closet shelving, the designs of which I had chosen and approved a few days previously. One problem: I didn't like the shelves in the master closet! And I was the one who designed/requested them! I had a pit in my stomach all Sunday night. What have I done? What's the point in a custom home renovation if I don't even know what I want? And this whole situation was so incredibly first-world-problem-ish, I almost just let the closet issue go. It was such an insignificant minuscule speck of a not-even-problem to fixate on in this world full of actual turmoil. Still, on Monday morning, I woke up at 3am with my brain in puzzle solving mode. After two hours lying awake in bed, I had cracked the closet code and had a new plan all figured out for the master closet. 

Weekly Rubble

My first few ideas for the title of this post involved the word uphill: "Uphill Week" and "Uphill Battles" were top title contenders. But then I thought back to the literal steep hills I actually ran up on my own two legs this week and I realized that after all of the physical therapy and strength training I've been doing, hills are not as formidable as they used to be. Having power coiled behind me in my posterior chain (gluteus and hamstrings) is a heady feeling! Hills used to be my nemesis--they felt like hitting a wall--but on Thursday, I found myself cruising up a steep hill with more speed and power than ever before. It surprised me and felt amazing! Running uphill still isn't exactly easy, but I can feel the newfound posterior power that I've worked so hard for, boosting me along as I tackle hilly challenges.

All of that to say: this week was full of trials and tribulations of many varieties (some on the amusing end, some on the scary end, some on the annoying side, some on the stressful side), but after working for eight months to strengthen my weak glutes and hammies, I have overcome more than one trial! Not only is my glute/hammy injury healed, the quest for that healing has led me to become stronger than I've ever been in my life! I can run hills now! There's a timely reminder tucked away in there. Just like the quest to heal my glute injury led me to strengthen all of my leg muscles which made uphill running less difficult, the quest to navigate through trials will make me stronger over time. With steady, consistent effort, my trials won't necessarily get easier, but I will be better able to handle them with newfound inner strength that I built along the way. 

None of these lofty moral lessons were comforting in the actual moments of impossibility this week, but it's nice to begin the process of pulling meaning from amidst the weekly rubble. Journal excerpts from the week:

Aug-tober

The high almost every day this week was 80 degrees, causing us to joke that this isn't October; it's August part two, or Aug-tober. We usually have one more burst of warm weather before full autumn takes over, but September was so hot straight through that I was hoping we'd miss that second summer this year. We had about two weeks of cool fresh fall weather and then hit the 80s again this week, right after I finally broke down and hung our fall leaf garland. I was not planning on hanging the leaf garland this fall since we thought we might be moving by mid-October, but this week our contractor said they need "about" four weeks to finish our house, which brings us to the beginning of November. I am mentally prepared for the house to take longer, but I sure hope it's move-in ready by Thanksgiving. (hopefully not later than that!)

Our bright cheerful leaf garland, hung for the last time around our rental house windows.

Infestations

Shudder. I've had better weeks, but I suppose I've had worse weeks too. I've just never dealt with so much... vermin in a seven day stretch before. We had three infestations in our house this week (house flies, head lice, and fruit flies), plus an infestation of a different type on the cross country team (a handful of lazy whiny pants), and another type of infestation in our new yard (gophers). 

Journal excerpts:

Two races and a visit

BUSY is the word! Piano lessons, home renovation decisions, early morning seminary, coaching cross country (Jeff and me), running cross country (Jay & Rose), waiting around at cross country (Amber), cross country team brunch in the barn after a long run on Saturday, a visit from family, cooler weather, and more! Here is a quick photo album from last week:

Amber was stoked to visit the library during Rose's piano lesson on Monday evening.

Flooring, Selecting, & Running

Another week has flown by in such a busy blur, it's hard to remember specific things that happened.

Our future backyard, grass pending.

Home Meet Week

Early morning seminary started on Tuesday! As a freshman in high school, it was Jay's first time attending the early morning scripture study class. It was also my first time as a parent of a seminary student. Our ward holds seminary Monday-Thursday from 6:15am-7:15am at the church. We joined a carpool with two neighbors, so each family will drive the kids to seminary for a week at a time. I took the first week, which was only 3 days of seminary due to Labor Day. It has been a long time since I consistently got up before 6am, and let me tell you, it was not easy! I joked with Jay that he and I both had to get up early, but only he got the spiritual boost from it by going to seminary. Jay and I both started going to bed earlier to compensate for our early mornings. Next time the carpool rotates to our family, Jeff will take a turn driving!

The other big event of the week was our home cross country meet. We hosted the First Annual Sunburn Invitational at South Hill Park in Sunnyside on Saturday. Hosting a meet is a LOT of work! In and around all of that, there was a whole week of running, cooking, working, planning, prepping, driving, and living. Journal entry clips:

Ultimook 2023

Ultimook, our first cross country meet of the season, was preceded by a busy week of grinding our gears getting back into the school routine, while simultaneously preparing for the overnight camping trip at the meet. 

We had a super moon on Wednesday night. Cell phone pictures of the night sky are rarely any good, but I had to try.

School Begins Again

School started a week earlier than usual this year. The first day of school was Wednesday, August 23rd. The first day of official cross country practice was Monday, August 21st. Jay is in 9th grade (high school!!!), Rose is in 7th grade, and Amber is in 3rd grade. 3 kids, 3 schools, let's go! It was also Jay's first official week on the high school cross country team, and Rose's first week on the middle school cross country team. Since it was the start of my 6th season of assistant coaching high school XC, Amber hung out at somewhere around her 400th cross country practice (give or take a few days). Jeff began his lucky 13th year of teaching HS French and 7th season as head high school cross country coach. Ready or not, the busy days are back! Journal clips from the week:

The Last Week of Summer

This week was the last week of summer break. Jeff went back to work at the high school on Thursday, August 17th, so it was actually only a partial week with the true summer feel. Wildfire smoke rolled in from Spokane yesterday, and we went from a clear, single-digit air quality index (green, or "healthy") to an AQI of 209 (purple, or "extremely unhealthy") in a few short hours. We've been hovering between 191-209 AQI for over 24 hours now, and it's giving me a headache. To keep it simple, here are some bland journal excerpts from the week:

19 years of friendship

In August 19 years ago I arrived at SVU as a freshman. The first person I met was my randomly assigned roommate, Lauren. We immediately discovered that we share a birthday and over the next few months, we became best friends. We are still BFFs that talk and send messages to each other weekly. I got to go visit her and her family in their new house in St. Louis this week! It was a quick four-day trip: I got up at 4am and flew to St. Louis on Wednesday, August 9th and flew home on the evening of Saturday, August 12th, arriving home after midnight. I made the most of those four days! 

Gnocchi, Dinner, Hike

We had some good QFT--Quality Family Time early this week: we made gnocchi together for dinner on Sunday (August 6th), had the family over for dinner on Monday, and went on a hike together on Tuesday. Whenever I ask my kids what they like about our family, they almost always say "I like that we love each other." It is true, and even though there are always some disagreements in the mix, we love spending time together. Jay is about to start high school next week and I am starting to really feel how short our time is living as a family of five. I want to do our best to make the most of it!

Talk: The Importance of Love

I spoke in church today! To get into a religious mindset, here's a pretty mountain picture that I took from the Pacific Crest Trail in Chinook Pass earlier this week:

I am a type-it-word-for-word-and-read-it-at-the-podium speaker, so here's my talk:

Weeds & Walls

 Weeds. Walls. Walls of weeds. Walls in our house--drywall! Weeds and walls pretty much sum up the last two weeks at our house. It turns out that weeds grow whether we are there to see them or not, and the weeds around the yard at our future house grew alarmingly tall during the almost-four weeks we were away in July. There were walls of weeds all over the place! It took us two backbreaking, sweaty weeks to get the weed situation almost under control again when we got home. 

The crew put up drywall on the inside of the house this week! Having actual walls up really gave us a feel for the space that we helped redesign, and it's a relief to find that we love how it looks. Walls make the whole project feel so much closer to finished. The contractor told us that he thinks it will be done by mid-October at the latest! Jeff and I slip away almost every night to go on a date-walk across the street and see the progress on the house. Remodeling a house is never something I thought we'd do, but it's fun!

Parental Week

After our trip to France, Jeff flew home with the kids and I got to stay in Denver to spend 6 days with my parents! As the second of five kids, I treasure my one-on-one time with my parents. I have exceptional parents and I loved my time with them. We didn't DO any extreme or earth-shattering activities during my visit, but we did enjoy chatting over dinner every night, just the three of us. 

My Dad and I went on a run together. My Mom and I did our daily artwork together, and one day we even went to a local art show to view Colorado artists' submissions to a competition. 

On the night when Mom was gone teaching her ESL class, Dad and I sat on the couch and talked the whole time she was gone. I felt like a total celebrity, soaking up all of this quiet one-on-one time with my parents!

Paris Walk

After a restful Sunday along the Mediterranean and snoozing in our Airbnb, we took the train back to Paris. The 5 hour train ride from Perpignan to Paris was long enough to require us to spend the night in Paris before flying out the next day. I wasn't sad about it! 

The train window said "Laissez-vous faire rever" --Let yourself dream. That's exactly what I did on the train ride!

Le Lac des Bouillouses

Saturday, June 15th: The weather forecast for where we were staying in Millas was in the mid-90s for Saturday, so we decided to head to the mountains. When we talked with our Airbnb host Antonin on Thursday, he recommended Le Lac des Bouillouses, but later we couldn’t remember the exact word to attempt a Google Maps search. When we stopped for pastries and a gift for our mothers (artisan soap) in Villefranche on our way home Friday evening, the soap shop owner also recommended Le Lac des Bouillouses. He was super nice and wrote it down on a piece of paper for us before we even asked. We looked it up and discovered that it was only an 80 minute drive from our Airbnb, and since two locals highly recommended it, we decided to go!

Abbaye de Saint-Martin du Canigou

Friday, July 14th: adventure #2 of the day wasn’t exactly an adventure, but we did park and walk into the town of Prates to a kebab shop for a quick filling lunch before embarking on adventure #3. The kebab shop was bustling, with half a dozen groups sitting in shaded tables out front. While we waited to place our order at the counter inside, a cute little French girl (age 6 or 7 maybe?) was twirling and playing while her mom paid for their food at the counter. She looked at me with big eyes and I said “bonjour” quietly, and smiled at her. She came up really close to me and looked up at me with bigger eyes and half-whispered something in French. I did not understand what she said. Jeff told me she had asked “what did you say?” So I told her bonjour again. Jeff explained to the girl “nous sommes Americains. Parlez-vous anglais?” The girl nodded, so Jeff switched to English “what is your name?” She answered! I forgot her name, but it was adorable. By this point her mom was done paying and joined us. Jeff asked her how she learned English, and the mom (in French) told him she started learning English when she was pregnant with her daughter. It was a fun little interaction. Kids are always the CUTEST when they speak non-English languages.

Eus

Friday, July 14th: La ville d'Eus (population 377, pronunciation conflicted) was not on our radar until we were on our way to another site and happened to see it from the road, snuggled charmingly into a hillside. "Let's go there!" we said, and turned off the main road. It was a very worthwhile detour, easily my favorite village we visited on this entire trip. 

Lagrasse et Carcassonne

Thursday, July 13th, continued: After Queribus, we kept driving northeast. The roads were narrow and curvy just like before, but we had an hour and 45 minutes before we reached our next destination, which was the restored castle at Carcassonne. The countryside was rugged and beautiful. Scooching to the very edge of the world/road to let giant vehicles pass us head-on was not so fun. But the views! The flowers! We saw half a dozen other Cathar Fortresses dotted along the tops of other hills as we drove. Officially they’re called chateaux, but come on. Versailles and Chambord are chateaux. Cathar country—le pays de Cathar—has fortress ruins. Due to our late start in the morning, we were starving long before we reached Carcassonne.

La Ville de Lagrasse

Le Château de Quéribus

Our first foray into the remote southwestern region of France was the Château de Quéribus. 

France Date!

 Jeff and I went on a week-long date trip to southern France! It was our first international trip in four years, and it was everything we hoped for. After the Brown family gathering, we left our kids in Denver with my kind parents and flew to Paris via Chicago and Dublin (not an ideal two-connection journey, but we survived). We left July 10th and got back July 18th. Jeff and I took a total of 760 pictures on our trip (about 30 pictures were Jeff's, haha). The bulk of my pictures from this trip will have to be divided between several posts over time, but here's an overview of the trip with a few photo highlights:

Brown Family Gathering 2023

The annual Brown Family gathering (also known as the Browncation) was held in Denver at my parents' roomy house during the first week of July. All of my siblings and their families converged on "the chateau" as we lovingly call the house for a week of fun chaotic family bonding. We spent the week hanging out together at my parents' house. We aren't an excursion family. The kids played all kinds of games, swam in the pool, rode scooters, watched shows, and played Nintendo. The adults played games, talked, watched the kids swim, and ate. We all admired the newest member of the family, one-week-old baby Andrew who was adorable. The big kids, parents, and grandparents went to the temple. It was a classic low-key Brown family gathering. 

Trek

Our Yakima Stake youth handcart trek was Wednesday, June 28 to Saturday, July 1st. Jeff and I went as a Ma and Pa leaders over a "family" group of 9 teenagers; Jay and Rose went as youth participants. Amber had an adventure of her own the day before the trek, when she flew out to Denver all by herself to stay with my parents while the rest of us trekked. Jeff took Amber to the airport on Tuesday (June 27th) and got her all checked in as an unaccompanied minor. Amber's direct flight was about 2 hours and 20 minutes long, and my mom picked Amber up at the Denver airport--she got a pass and went through security so she could be waiting at the gate when Amber arrived. Amber is a confident kid. She said she chatted to the guy next to her in the plane and played Nintendo on the flight. Then she had a fun 4 days in Denver with Grama, living her best life with fun activities while the rest of her family trekked into the dusty wilderness.

Jeff sent me this picture of Amber at the gate, about to walk out to her plane.

Jay's Talk

Jay gave a wonderful talk in church on Sunday! (June 25th) It was a treat to hear his perspective and thoughts on the gospel. His topic was "what has the Savior done for me?" Jay asked Jeff to look over the first draft of his talk, and Jeff's only feedback was "make it 600 words longer." So Jay did. On Sunday morning, Jay was nervous. He did a great job giving his talk in front of a much larger congregation than usual. (Two massive family reunions increased our ward attendance drastically enough for folding chairs to be set up all the way back in the gym!) On Sunday evening, Jay generously emailed his talk to me so I could save it and savor it here in the family archive. It is a joy to watch my son learn bit by bit and grow his faith stronger and stronger. I love my Jay.

Lemont to Sunnyside

The journey home from Pennsylvania came far too soon, and felt far too long. Before we left Lemont, however, we squeezed in a few more activities. Even though I would rather have gotten more much needed sleep, I awoke far too early (courtesy of my husband's snoring), so I read the entire Come Follow Me lesson and corresponding chapters and then went on a glorious run through the countryside. While I was gone, Jeff got Dunkin Donuts for the kids to try for the first time, since they are an east coast delicacy. He got me a jelly filled donut and I was transported back in time with the first bite. How do they taste exactly the same as they did 20 years ago? Jay and I decided that we like Krispy Kreme best.

Mt. Nittany

After the backyard memorial on Saturday, June 16th at 11am we did the White family hike up Mt. Nittany! We all started at different times and places, so it wasn't a large group hiking up the trail together, but we did meet at the top to watch Dan (Grampa Dan/Jeff's dad/the youngest son of Hal & Stevie White) scatter his parents' ashes. The trail up the mountain was steep and rocky, and about a mile long. Plenty of time to work up a sweat. I hiked with Amber and after I helped her find a walking stick, we admired the beautiful white flowers growing all over a grove of trees as we climbed. 

Maggotfest 2023

The White Family Reunion, also known as Maggotfest (in honor of maggot-like childhood sleeping bag races among Jeff's cousins), was held in Lemont, Pennsylvania from June 16-19th. It was a backyard gathering of 60 relatives who hadn't been together in one place in over a decade. The White family is an eclectic group of people, and I loved talking with all of the fascinating family members over the three day reunion. The reunion was organized to fulfil Grandpa and Grandma (Hal and Stevie) White's last wish of having their ashes scattered atop Mt. Nittany. Family members gathered from all corners of the country (WA, CA, FL, UT, NH, etc.), and it felt good to be together, even though I don't know these cousins very well. Every single one of Hal and Stevie White's living children and grandchildren attended the event, with a large number of their great grandchildren present as well. 

Running in Central PA

After a brutal night of travel, running in Central PA aired out my very SOUL. Our Airbnb was on the corner of Branch Road and Boalsburg Road. I studied Google Maps in detail before selecting Boalsburg Road for my out and back run on Saturday morning (June 17th). It was cool and humid when I set out around 7am. My legs were cranky thanks to all of the travel, but soon they loosened up and I was able to bask in the bucolic scenery. Rustic stone cottages and barns and creeks and hills and even a baby Clydesdale horse! I ended up running five miles because I didn't want to stop! It reminded me of running in southern Virginia, and my heart was happy.

Red Eye

Traveling from the countryside of central Washington state to the remote countryside of central Pennsylvania is a long process. The White family was having its first full-blown reunion (lovingly known as Maggotfest) in 10 years, so we made the journey via a red eye flight from Seattle. The journey began on Thursday, June 15th (the second-to-last day of school). Jeff, Jay, and Rose had a scant hour to shower, pack, and eat dinner between school/cross country practice and the time we had to leave for the airport. The many legs of our journey included:

1. Drive 3 hours from Sunnyside to the Seattle Airport.
2. Fly from Seattle to Chicago
3. Fly from Chicago to Pittsburgh
4. Rent a car in Pittsburgh and drive 3 hours to Lemont, PA

8th, 6th, and 2nd: Finished

Today (Thursday, June 15th) was the last day of school for Jay, Rose, and Amber! It seems like the entire country gets out of school before Washington State schools, haha. This year I didn't mind the late release day. Instead I savored the last few days in my quiet clean house while I could. Of course I was busy busy busy during each school day too, but the house stayed clean and quiet while I bustled around making phone calls, sending emails, doing housework, etc.

The last day of school always calls for pictures:

Second to Last Week

The second to last week of the school year was just as busy as ever, with concerts and awards ceremonies and cross country pre-season practice and irrigation and yardwork. Here are some journal excerpts:

Monday, June 5th: Busy busy busy. I'm too tired to relive it all. The irrigation almost watered without a pipe problem today, but Jeff and I think we forgot to glue one side of the connector to the pipe when we fixed a riser on Saturday, soooo that popped off and I need to cement it back together tomorrow. Rose had her orchestra concert tonight. Her 6th grade orchestra played 2 songs. Jeff took all 3 kids out for ice cream afterwards. I went home because my eyes were having an allergy itch attack.

Birthday, Band, and PVC

Jeff's high school track season is over! It ended on Saturday, May 27th at the state meet, 10 days after the middle school season ended. Jeff was in survival mode all week as he began the process of coming down from the three month intensity of being head track coach for over 100 high schoolers. It's not like Jeff got a week off of work to stay home and recover; he was still teaching high school French every day all week.  Each day this week, Jeff became more like his normal self, and by the end of the week he was cracking jokes and playing his trumpet after school again. Yay! Of course, on Tuesday Jeff was already in cross country coach mode and organizing pre-season conditioning runs after school every day. I went to run with the team on Wednesday and was immediately reminded of HOW MUCH MORE I love cross country than track. I love the kids, and I love the sport--how everyone is training for the same race. Cross country just feels more unified and family-like than track. 

Leaky Pipes

 We have been trying to water our new yard all month. Yard seems like such a tame, tiny word for the vast fields that are under our care. We have about 13 acres to take care of this summer while we wait a few months for the boundary line adjustment. We weren't planning on jumping into full on irrigated Yakima Valley farm life so abruptly, but here we are! It's not bad; it's just overwhelming. I know very little about irrigation and there isn't exactly a how-to manual on it. We don't have a map of how our irrigation system works. We do have a brother in law who's a farmer, though. BLESS HIM. Jasen came twice last week to fix broken valves and pipes so we could start watering. And he made it look easy. 

Willow Tree House

 It was a four day weekend for Memorial Day, and Rose and Amber took full advantage of the time to put the finishing touches on the tree house they've been "building" in our favorite willow tree down by the irrigation ditch behind our rental house. (I have to differentiate between houses right now--strange.) The girls started working on this tree house earlier in the week, then spent hours and hours out there on Friday and Saturday. We finally got some more acceptable May weather, with highs in the 70s and plenty of sun all week long. It felt mild and mellow after the dual heat waves we suffered through earlier in the month! I love it when kids are so happily and busily engaged in playing outside that they only come in briefly for food, water, and toilet needs before heading back outside again. Even though there was no school on Friday, it was a very quiet tranquil day around our house because the girls were outside for most of the afternoon and evening, and Jay was at a friend's house during that whole time. 

Jay Day

Jay turned 14 last week! His birthday was on Sunday, May 21st. He is 5'10'' and counting. He hit a low G during a hymn at church today. He starts high school in less than three months. Ever since Jay's birthday, I have been residing in that narrow space between denial and awe at this amazing human being who is my firstborn son.

Jay opened his 3 birthday gifts before church: In bag #1, he found a $20 bill. In bag #2, he found a $20 bill. In bag #3, he found the new Legend of Zelda Nintendo game. He was so happy! The other part of his gift was permission to play the game all afternoon, which he took full advantage of after church. 

The Last Week of Track Season

 It was the last week of track season! Middle school track is over! I can hardly believe it. The week started off shaky with only a discouraging 50% of the team attending Monday's practice, but the truants came back after Monday and we made it to the end of the week and the season with most of the team intact. We had our fifth and final meet of the season on Thursday, May 18th. It was also Jay's last middle school meet!

Under a merciless 85 degree sun, Jay ran the 1600 in 5:54, finishing less than a second behind his friend and training buddy Jordan. It was a good end to his season. It was a total sweat fest the entire afternoon, from the time I left my house at 2pm to the time we got home at 8pm. I checked Amber out from school early at 2pm and brought her and Rose along in the bus to the meet, since Jeff was at the 2-day high school district track meet. Usually on middle school meet days, Jeff takes care of Amber after school, but he was at a track meet too, and since my track meet was closer and shorter than his, I took Amber. Next year I refuse to have any middle school meets on the same days as high school meets. Anyways, Amber is experienced at entertaining herself at meets of various kinds, so she was content. There was a lot of dust and dirt near the track, and she made good use of it. Billowing clouds of dust practically followed her around wherever she went. My assistant coaches got a kick out of Amber's affinity for dirt. That girl is like Pigpen from Charlie Brown, haha. 

Mother's Day with My Mom

I got to spend Mother's Day with my Mom! She and my Dad planned their visit through Sunday, May 14th so we could be together on mother's day, and it was my favorite way to spend that day. I have the best Mom of all time, and it felt so special to have her at my house on mother's day. This was my favorite mother's day in years! Due to the busyness and stresses of track season, my husband and kids don't really do mother's day. They wait till sometime in June and we have Shaina Day then, a day all to myself where my family showers me with love and presents. Usually mother's day itself just annoys me. Stupid calendar, making me wish my family would just ___ for me without being asked on one day of the year. Hah. This year I was too busy to even build up any pre-mother's day angst. I simply didn't think about it until it came suddenly upon me. 

Demolition Week

It seems fitting to call the week of Mother's Day Demolition Week. Mothers are involved in demolition of so many kinds: the physical demolition that comes from pregnancy and childbirth, sleep demolition from babies and young children, the house demolition that comes with messy young children, and the withering verbal demolition from pre-teen and teenage angst. (Not that my preteens and teenager are particularly angsty in general; they're just opinionated with a splash of hanger and/or irritable angst every now and then.)

Beginning on Tuesday, it was demolition week at our new house. They removed the kitchen, a wall, and the remaining floor, and various other cabinets from the main floor of the house in preparation for the renovation (all that's left to rip out is the basement carpet and bathrooms). Each day on our way home from track practice, we stopped at the house to see the progress. Since the house was already pretty empty and torn up inside, it wasn't as drastic of a demo, but it was still fun to see what looked different each day. 

Double Triple Threat

Last week might have been the busiest week of my adult life: 

• Monday: housework, track practice, kids piano lessons, grocery store, 6th grade beginner band event for Rose, I had to submit middle school track meet entries online, and parent teacher conferences till 7:45pm for Jeff. 
• Tuesday was our "easy day" of the week: demanding physical therapy appointment for me, housework, cooking, track prep and practice, and nothing else! We had dinner together as a family for the first and only time all week on Tuesday.

The Steep Hill

When I was eleven years old, my family moved into a house in the middle of the woods in west Tennessee. Our driveway was a half-mile long bumpy gravel road with a steep hill in the middle. Plumbing the depths of our creativity, my siblings and I named it The Steep Hill. It wasn't a particularly long hill, but it was steep enough to steal my breath both ways: going up and coming down. Us kids squealed as our stomachs dropped when we drove down the hill in the family mini van. It took me months to get my courage up enough to ride my bike down The Steep Hill. Riding a horse down the steep hill was next-level stuff. I huffed and puffed some of my first daily runs up that hill. 

The Steep Hill is a vivid childhood memory of challenge, courage, and stomach dropping speed. When I looked back at my week, it reminded me of The Steep Hill of my childhood. Every day this week had a Steep Hill of a different variety, and each one tested a different aspect of my mettle.

The First Middle School Track Meet

Another week of April, another track-centric week. This week was different, though, because on Monday, April 17th, after four full weeks of practice, we finally had our first middle school meet of the season! It was also my first track meet as head coach! It went relatively well. From the time I left home to the time I got back home was just over 6 hours, so not too shabby. The actual meet went from 4pm-7pm. Not too bad, although it did get colder than I expected it to. I had two jackets and a coat on by the time I got home, and I was still freezing. The team was cute, wide eyed, and enthusiastic about being at a real track meet. I did a LOT of explaining and question-answering and heat sheet-shuffling to get kids where they needed to be. At the meet, I lived off of peanut butter pretzels and a granola bar and had reheated pasta when I got home at 8pm. 

Track-Centric Week

It is a very track-centric time for us--not anything new for mid-April, but definitely busy busy busy! The first week back from spring break always hits a bit harder than I'd like, but we made it through with minimal fallout. It was just a super busy week! How about some journal excerpts to sum it up: 

Monday, April 10th: Time is marching along. How are we already a third of the way through April? Spring break is over, and it's the homestretch of both the track season and the school year. We still have 5 weeks of track left, but still. It was a bit of a shock to the system, getting back into the routine today. Track practice felt jumbled because I wrote down everyone's uniform sizes while taking roll, and then I talked to close to half of the team individually again, about which events they want to do. All of those 1-on-1 conversations left too many kids at loose ends. It had to be done, but I still didn't like it. Anyways... my next track project is to rearrange the training groups. Also, prep a pre-meet day practice routine. And then upload and enter kids into their events for our first meet, which is a week from today! Also, organize and hand out uniforms.

Hosting and Clerking

Saturday, April 15th was the first home track meet of the high school season. It was the 2nd Annual Crowe Classic JV Invitational, which Jeff started in memory of Dustin Crowe, the former Sunnyside High School head track coach who passed away a year and a half ago at age 41 from aggressive brain cancer. It was a great event in his name. Jeff was the meet host, announcer, and timer (normally there are 3 separate people for those jobs, but we had nobody to spare). Jeff volunteered me as tribute to be the head clerk. I didn't even know exactly what that job entailed, but I was willing to help. The night before the meet, Jeff told me "the clerk is the person with the clipboard telling runners were to go." It sounded simple enough. When I arrived at the meet, Jeff sent me to the infield with directions to "get the volunteers going." Whatever that meant! I knew Jeff was working on at least 15 different things at the same time and he wasn't trying to be difficult, so I tried my best to be helpful with no information.

Queen Anne

 A few weeks ago, my sister Mel and brother-in-law Braxton bought a house in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. We we planned to visit them during spring break. Their new townhouse is a 2 hour 50 minute drive from our house in Sunnyside, so it seemed doable to go for a one day visit. Jeff was pretty worn out from all of the coaching and house planning that we did all week, so I encouraged him to stay home for a low-key rest day while I took the kids to Seattle. It was a benevolent wifely sacrifice to do six hours of driving by myself, but it was worth it for Jeff to catch up on rest and for me to see my sister! 

Spring Break at Home

Spring break was only a week ago, but it already feels like a distant speck in the rearview mirror. As a teacher-family, we are always on the school schedule, and once spring break ends, we enter the long, almost unbroken 2 month homestretch of the school year. It is also the "meat" of track season, which ramps up the intensity of that homestretch! Before I go on about all of THAT, let's drift back in time a few days to the blissful week of semi-relaxation we enjoyed during spring break during the first week of April.

I went to a chiropractor appointment and a physical therapy appointment during spring break. Jeff and I also coached a combined middle school-high school track practice at 10am every weekday morning of spring break, so it wasn't all complete relaxation. 

We made a family goal/plan to play a game or do an activity together every single day of spring break, and it was just right for our needs and energy levels. Family time is always at a premium during track season, so it felt extra special and decadent to just BE together in a leisurely way, playing silly games or doing other activities. 

The canals are full and life is returning to our valley. Yay for springtime!

The House Across the Street

We're moving across the street! Yes. After renting our skinny little house for almost six years, we have taken the plunge back into home ownership once more. When we sold our house in Grandview and moved to Sunnyside six years ago, we thought we'd rent for a year while looking for a house to buy. When we bought that mythical house, it would be our last move--the place we'd live forevermore. Over the next year, two things happened at the same time: none of the houses for sale were right for us, and we fell in love with our little rented corner of countryside. Over the next few years, we came to love living right next to the canal more and more, with the sweeping vistas and bucolic peace of the Yakima Valley. We didn't want to move back into town. But country houses out on our gorgeous road are notoriously out of our price range, so we continued to rent our little house and share that one bathroom with the whole family, and we were happy. 

Marched

 March has marched away already. Here are a few excerpts from my journal at the end of March:

Monday, March 27th: Today was a good day. I felt way more at ease all day before track practice than I did last week. I didn't feel like I was overly preoccupied with the upcoming track practice, and I was able to have a much more normal day at home. It felt good to have some room to breathe. Tomorrow I may even try making bread for the first time in a few weeks! 

The running game I invented for track practice today WORKED! It was fun, the kids were engaged, and they ran more than if I had just told them to jog for 15 minutes. I put them in their 3 training groups and gave each group a baton. The groups had to run in a line, with the last person running up to the front of the line and the front runner passing the baton to the person coming up from the back. They could only walk on curves of the track, and the challenge was to see how many baton passes each group could get. I joined in with the girls group and ran with them. Everyone was happy, and the running time passed quickly for them. Success! I feel so happy and satisfied that my idea worked. 

Middle School Track and Field, Week 1

Good news: I survived the first week of practice as middle school head track coach! It was a lot--it was good, but it was a lot. While my five years of experience as a high school assistant cross country coach were immensely helpful, I quickly learned that being an actual Head Coach is very different from assistant coaching. Being in charge, the decision maker, attendance taker, practice planner, workout writer, and the MC of every practice takes a lot of preparation, wits, brainpower, courage, and raw energy. But I did it, and it was fun! Using my mini voice amplifier was key.

Music, Sunshine, Projects

The week began on Sunday with my brother Brad's annual March Madness email. Every year Brad writes an ode to March Madness and invites the extended family to create NCAA basketball brackets and join the family competition in a private group online. I am not a basketball person. This year I felt especially uninspired to fill out a 60+ team bracket--my mental capacities were already maxed out by the impending track season and my Relief Society responsibilities. Jeff felt similarly. He said "I'll sit out of the Brown Family March Madness Throwdown this year if you do!" And I fell even more in love with him. Sweet freedom! Not wanting to impose our own anti-basketball-ness onto our children, we gave them the option to join the family competition with brackets of their own. Jay and Amber decided to do it. So on Sunday night, they chose screen names, made their picks, and locked in their brackets, representing the White family in the competition. After the first round of the tournament, AmberQueen was in first place out of the entire extended family! 

On Sunday night, we played a family game of our most competitive current favorite card game: Cover Your Assets (the game involves stealing money cards from each other). It is worth noting because Amber did not cry at the end when she lost! Jay defeated all of us soundly, and we took a family selfie to commemorate the evening. I took so few pictures last week, and I LOVE my photo memories from past years so much that I was determined to take more pictures this week.

Haircuts, Volcanoes, Track, PT,

The clock is ticking down toward the first day of middle school track season. Tick tock, tick tock. Even when I'm not actively making plans and lists and spreadsheets about track practice, that clock is ticking and the gears are turning in the back of my brain. It wakes me up before dawn frequently, demanding that my brain Figure Out More Details Immediately. The incessant mental ticking also makes me feel extra busy, like a time crunch--get as much done as possible before the time is up! It is maddening. I just want the season to start already so I can stop wondering, prepping, and worrying about it! We have one more week to wait. In the meantime, I try to limit myself to an hour or two of track prep per day and I am doing my best to also take some total mental break time each day where I don't let myself think about anything. K-dramas to the rescue! Some days this week I only managed to watch a few uninterrupted minutes of an episode, but it was still a necessary break. 

Track and Cold

March blew in on a strong cold wind this week. The first day of high school track practice was on Monday. As planned, I helped out at high school track practice every day this week. It was exhausting, both physically and mentally! Seeing 100 new teenage faces each afternoon caused my brain to freeze up with information overload, so I could only manage to learn and remember one new name per day. And then there was the weather. It was in the low 40s, calm, and partly sunny for the first two days, but I did not dress in enough layers. After practice on Monday I was nearly certain that I'd never feel warm again. I dug deep into my wardrobe after that pre-hypothermic experience and wore thick merino leggings underneath fleece lined wind pants, with a wool shirt, a merino-lined windbreaker, and a down coat on top and thick gloves plus a hat to track practice for the rest of the week. Track coaches have very few opportunities to run with the team (to generate body heat), and as my friend sagely commented, "it's pretty much impossible to wear enough layers to stay warm while standing around out in the cold." After this week, I concur with this statement 100%.

February Album

 February is somehow almost over. High school track practice starts tomorrow. It all feels so sudden. Ready or not, track season is upon us! I still have a few weeks before middle school track season begins, but that hardly matters because Jeff asked me to help with the high school team until then, so it's full steam ahead. The high school has been unable to find a 6th assistant coach. (which does not bode well for me getting an assistant on the middle school team...) I agreed to help out at the high school practices for three weeks until my middle school season begins. Hopefully spending time with the 130+ kids on the high school team will help me get used to coaching track, as well as maybe make my 41-person middle school team seem more manageable when the season starts. 

17 Hearts

Valentine's Day always creeps up on me unexpectedly. This year, I didn't remember to get valentines for Amber's classmates at school until the night before February 14th. I learned that Valentine's Eve is a scary time to be at the store in Sunnyside. I absolutely couldn't face a trip to Walmart, so I went to Safeway, which is the closest store to our house. The parking lot was jam packed with cars, and inside the grocery store was a chaotic explosion of red heart-shaped balloons and bouquets of flowers covering every surface. I walked around in shock searching in vain for a box of school valentine cards. There were none, so I settled for a bag of Hershey's Hugs (the Hershey's Kisses were sold out). I stood in line, paid for the waxy chocolate, and got out of there as fast as I could. 

Two Heads

Are two heads better than one? Time will tell. We now have two head coaches in our house. I have a new coaching job! Actually, I have a second coaching job. As of Tuesday, I am the head track and field coach for Harrison Middle School. It seems so sudden and intense, but this has been in the works for a while. 

It all started a year ago on the first day of the high school track season. It was Jeff's first day as head track coach, and one of his six assistants was out with a back injury. I reluctantly agreed to come help. I lasted part of that first practice before crazy air quality circumstances caused the schools to pause busses, which left Amber and Rose stranded at the elementary school waiting for a parent to pick them up. When I got that phone call, I left high school track practice early and never went back. My kids needed me! How could I ever be a track coach and a mom? I make it work during cross country season with great effort, much planning, and a solid dose of difficulty. But why would I want to do that twice in one year?

Rose by the dozen

Rose turned 12 years old this week! Her birthday was on Tuesday, but we began celebrating the Sunday before with a big family dinner. Four cousins, two grandparents, an aunt, and an uncle came to Rose's Sunday birthday dinner. We had Rose's favorite homemade creamy macaroni and cheese with pulled pork and salad. Since our kitchen table capacity is eight people, we ate in shifts: the seven kids ate first, followed by the six adults. The kids chowed down so much mac that the adults had to scrape a few spoonfuls off of the sides of the pot to get a few bites! Thankfully the pulled pork held out and everyone got enough to eat.

Rose and Amber used up the rest of our paper streamers to decorate the family room for the birthday dinner. They also blew up several balloons. It was a very chaotic festive family evening. I think Rose felt celebrated. 

Slow Week

 My week was a slow motion battle with my body: a slow four day recovery from last weekend's sickness, slowly easing back into physical activity, a visit to the chiropractor wherein my shoulder and hip were put back in place and we discussed the slow process of healing from the lingering side effects of these malignments. It was all very slow and maddening.

The kids had a regular routine school week. Rose did unintentional battle with the mean girls in P.E. class, and after a rude hurtful confrontation from them which later involved a stellar teacher, the mean girls left Rose alone for the rest of the week. Jay ran five miles with his friend after school one day and felt the endorphin rush. One day after school, Amber reported that "my friend freaked out and stood on the desk and started throwing crayons, and the teacher had to wrestle him down. Our class was evacuated." A few weeks ago, Amber's teacher told me how sweet it is that Amber is friends with the "hard kids" and genuinely likes and helps them. My heart was warm when Amber described the situation in her class as something her friend did--no judgement, just events. It is so Amber to see through to the heart of each human and I hope I can help her cultivate that kindness. 

A few minutes

If you can't tell by my last post about my invisibility cloak, it was a long week. It was parent teacher conference week at the high school. Jeff and I barely saw each other for a few minutes per day all week. Monday and Tuesday were parent teacher conferences until nearly 8pm. Wednesday night was youth activities from 6:30-8pm for all three kids at the church, with a Relief Society presidency meeting for me during that time. On Thursday, Jeff coached another swim meet way out at Moses Lake High School, and didn't get home till 9:30pm. This series of events came right after last week's Thursday and Saturday far-away late night swim meets, so we were already in "together-time-debt" when the week began!

We were all settled in for family movie night on Friday when Jeff's phone rang and he had to take a 15 minute call from a sports therapist who's been trying to reach him for weeks. That 15 minutes was the ultimate test of our endurance. The kids and I all had to resist the strong urge to go latch onto Jeff's limbs and demand his attention, haha.

The Invisibility Cloak

I have an invisibility cloak. 

On Tuesday morning, Amber prayed for me "to have a good day relaxing at home." On Thursday morning, Jay prayed for everyone else in the room but forgot to pray for me at all. Both kids' prayers outline the invisibility of a good mom. One one hand, there's the assumption that I spend all day relaxing at home while my family is working and learning and living. On the other hand, there's the complete lack of notice. These two attitudes weave together to create the fascinating fabric of my invisibility cloak.

Four Sunny Days

We had four sunny days this week! January is usually so dreary, it was a JOY to have the sun shining for more than half of the days this week. I went on two runs wearing shorts! It was only in the 40s, but with the sun shining, I was able to pull off wearing shorts and long sleeves while running. Everything is so much easier and more interesting and happy when the sun is shining. 

Our week was in no way perfect. I started the week in a cranky grumpy irritable hormonal funk that took three days to lift entirely. Jeff was recovering from a nasty cold and at lower energy than usual. Jay came down with Jeff's intense cold and it lingered all week. He missed some school for it and probably should've missed more than he did. (I will resist the mom-guilt! I will!) Jeff had two high school swim meets to drive to and coach at this week, so on top of his post-cold recovery, he was gone more. 

Thick Week

We had a thick week. The fog was thick for a good portion of every day. We were in the thick of school, work, church, and life. Writing on this blog is tricky because I prefer to only write about past events online, so it feels like a whole lot of the things that I am working on and that are occupying a lot of my brain power aren't "blog-ready" yet. It's not that I am waiting for perfection before I share; some possibilities simply haven't gotten close enough to becoming realities yet and it feels pointless to write about them here until they are really happening. Ugh, I don't like how cagey and sneaky and tantalizing that sounds--why even say anything? 

But there are so many Things on My Mind, it feels too hard not to at least mention the fact that there is a lot happening off-blog right now. All good things! Just a lot of things all at once, from coaching jobs to real estate to travel plans to Relief Society service. Suffice it to say that there is a lot to consider, in several very different categories, all while continuing forward through the usual busy thick of things. So far I'm keeping my head above water, but maybe not always my chin, and some days my mouth definitely dips below the surface too... 

Advancing

It's a new year, and my three children took that as an excuse to continue growing as relentlessly as ever. That's not true; they ramped up the intensity like they're determined to be full grown by the end of January or something. All three kids have grown an entire INCH in height in the two months since November. Jay actually grew close to an inch and a half in 2 months. Jay is now almost 5'10''. Rose is 5'7.5'', and Amber is 4'7''. No wonder I have had to double our grocery budget in the past year! 

As startling as the kids' height gains are each time we measure (and we need to measure more often), they do not feel as sudden as the advancements that the kids underwent at church in the new year:

• Jay became a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood since he's turning 14 this year. 
• Rose graduated from Primary and moved up to the Young Women's organization since she's turning 12 this year.
• Amber moved up a class in Primary since she's turning 9 this year. 

2023 Intensity

2023 began with roads too slick and fog too thick for Jay to travel to his first stake dance, the New Year's Eve dance. None of us were very sad about it--Jeff because he was a driver, me because Jeff was a driver, and Jay because he's an introverted 13 year old. So all five of us stayed home together and did our traditional New Year's Eve activities: snacks for dinner, games, movies, and special sunrise drinks. Staying up till midnight was a beast for me, so I spent the last few minutes of 2022 brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed so when the clock struck midnight, I cheered with my family, hugged my kids, kissed my husband, and then went straight to bed.

On New Year's Day, I wrote this in my journal: "Why does life have to be so busy? It's hard to slow down long enough appreciate the little everyday moments when schedules and calendars are blasting along full steam ahead. And it's not just my kids' schedules; it's my Relief Society calling... and keeping up with family and close friends and doing our monthly budget, planning, buying, and cooking enough food for the teenage appetites in my family, keeping our house in relative order, staying on top of family scripture study and other quality family time, being a dependable, intentional parent, pursuing my own interests, etc. etc. etc. It is a lot!"