Selfies and scenery

When I looked at the pictures I took this week, I saw that most of them fell under two categories: selfies and scenery. This is what life with older kids looks like: no more daily pictures of cute squishy cheeks building towers of blocks or jumping on the trampoline with wild hair and wide grins. I like taking pictures for my own memories, but lately it's been extra tricky to get pictures of my busy family, and I find myself taking more and more pictures of scenery and myself doing everyday tasks. We did have a cross country meet this week, so at least I got a few pictures of the kids there! 

The light puffs of wildfire smoke in the sky gave us extra pretty sunrises and sunsets this week. This sunrise filled the entire sky with the most beautiful warm peachy color!

Journal excerpts:

Monday, September 22nd: Jeff and Amber came out to the barn for a family prayer while I was on the elliptical this morning. It was silly of me not to get off the elliptical for a quick prayer, but my mental capacity for cross training is such that I knew I wouldn't have gotten back on again afterward. So Amber said our prayer while I was exercising. After my elliptical 35 minutes, I did a surprisingly hard 20 minute strength workout, including some new pull-up prep work that destroyed my upper body. My arms were so dead, I could barely wash my hair afterwards! 

My tendons were sore after my PT today, but they didn't stay sore all day, or at least I was able to mobilize them every time I needed them. They didn't bother me during or after XC practice either, although they got tight every time I stopped using them (aka when I sat down). And my ankle cracked twice today, plus a few other tiny cracks too! Yay. I know there's still a ways to go before I am fully functional again, but I'm happy with how today went. 

This morning I did an in person ministering visit! It was draining for my introverted-ness, but I was glad to finally make it out for an in-person visit--something I only do at most a few times each year. I'm proud of myself for ministering.

Right before I left for XC practice, I mowed the last wing of our lawn that the kids didn't get on Saturday. It was good giving myself the 45 minutes to mow right before I had to leave, because that way I didn't get tempted to do extra and waste my day on the lawn.

Our new assistant XC coach came to practice for the first time! His name is Baudelio Campos, and he's also the head boys' wrestling coach. He has two sons on the XC team (both wrestlers). His presence did just what we hoped it would: it got that traditionally lazy disrespectful group of wrestlers to listen and work hard. It was amazing! It's not perfect, but our practice today was so much more efficient with so much less slacking and trying to get out of running! It was waaaay easier for me to only have to deal with hurting/sore kids who were really in need of help rather than having a dozen slackers inventing problems and sapping my energy. We'll see if this lasts! It seems like it will last. 

Tuesday, September 23rd: My period finally started after lunch today, 3 days late. Ugh, it could be almost over by now if it had started when it usually does. But my period has become a bit more temperamental and moody lately, so I just have to ride the waves. It seems like we spend the first third of life learning how to master and control our physical bodies, and then the last 2/3 of life slowly relinquishing that control (and losing it) over time. Menstrual cycles, injuries, etc. Sigh. Mortality weighs heavier some days than others. 

This week so far, (2 days in, haha), I am doing better with how I feel about cross training and not running! I went for what was supposed to be a moderately easy bike ride today. It ended up being a bruising intense workout ride that wore me out! I rode up in the orchards and those hills are steep, rocky, and gnarly. Here's my Strava summary of the 12.34 mile ride:

A few gnarly climbs and rough downhills that were more intense than I remembered, but then again I am basically a permanent MTB novice! Full disclosure: I misjudged my gear shifting and had to walk about 20 feet up a super steep dusty hill. And I totally rode the brakes on two scary steep rough downhills. Biking makes me feel like a little baby! 

I talked with Laurs on the phone for an hour today. She is such a dear human, and it is an honor to be her friend. It breaks my heart and warms my heart at the same time when she tells me that I am her family, and I am one of the handful of people who help her feel loved and respected rather than judged and invalidated. I love my friend.

Tonight Jeff gave Rose a talk about having a crazy high IQ and how to live with those abilities. It was cute. Rose asked "am I really a genius?" YES. Jeff and Rose have such amazing genius brains. Sometimes I wonder how and why Jeff and his genius brain loves me and my more average brain, but I can also flip it around and wonder at the fact that Jeff and his genius brain chooses to love ME and my average brain!  

Wednesday, September 24th: It was a super plus tampon every 2 hours kind of day today. My legs are sore from my bike ride yesterday and my arms, shoulders, and back are sore from the pull-up workout that I did on Monday, so I went on a 30 minute walk this morning instead of more intense cross training. But before that, I went to the chiropractor. The back of my knee and upper calf have been bugging me for 2 weeks. I thought it was just a strained calf muscle from walking weird back when my ankle was tighter and more painful, but today I realized it should at least feel a little better by now and it still felt wrong. So off to the chiropractor I went, and my knee did need an adjustment. Figures. Let's go, right leg! Come back to me!

Thursday, September 25th: So tired. My gushing period woke me up at 3:30am, and once I got that taken care of, I couldn't quite fall back to sleep. I dozed a little near the end until my alarm went off. Periods are the worst. After I took Amber to school, I actually came home and watched a show instead of doing productive things. I needed to rest up for the cross country meet! Before I left for the meet at noon, I did put all the kitchen stools and chairs up, plus the ottomans, and closed all bathroom, bedroom, and closet doors, all so I could let the Roomba loose while I was gone. For some reason the Roomba didn't actually work while I was gone, but I tried!

The XC meet went well. Amber came to the meet even though it was a high school only league meet and she didn't have a race. I picked her up early from school. She climbed trees and played on the playground at the park where the meet was held.

Jay and Rose both ran varsity today. Rose finished #5 out of the 5 girls we had run varsity, with a time of 26:02. A small PR! She walked a few times and didn't have much power behind her stride, but she said "I'm glad I've learned how not to be upset after races. It makes it way more fun!" 

Jay finished #7 on the boys varsity team with a 19:07, tying his time from last week. He tried wearing his racing spikes without socks, since they are getting tight, but they must not be tight enough, because his feet were sliding all over the place, and his heels were raw and bleeding by the end. He said it affected his race.

My period was pretty heavy up until we left for the meet. I prayed not to have any awful leaks, and then prepared every possible thing: I packed myself little port a potty period kits. Inside a sandwich baggie, I put: 1 super plus tampon, 1 plastic exam/doctor glove, and 1 wet wipe. My leak-free prayer was answered. I was so relieved when we got home! Periods on the go are so uncomfortable, especially in port-a-potties. We went out to dinner after the meet and got home to our house by 8:30pm. 

Saturday, September 27th: We had XC practice at the barn this morning. It was a cool 48 degrees when we started at 8am! I was chilly on my bike for a while! It was our last long run of the season--we switch the team's training to more speed for the second half of the season. I was happy to be out with the team on my bike. After the run, we had a team potluck brunch in the barn. Amber made pancakes for the team, on a griddle in the barn. Our girls' team captain Kennedy also made a bunch of pancakes for everyone. Pancakes along with the various other items everyone brought made it quite the feast!

I cleaned the basement today--something that has been nagging my brain for months now. It looks so much better down there now--and emptier! I did a lot of consolidating, organizing, and picking up. After that, I spent the afternoon resting with a k drama. It was relaxing. Jeff went to stake leadership meetings for stake conference in his role as ward clerk.

Jay mowed the lawn with freshly sharpened blades today and it looks so good! 

[end journal entries]

Today (Sunday, September 28th), Jeff and I drove to Yakima for stake conference while our kids stayed home to watch the Zoom feed of conference from our Sunnyside ward building. One of the kids on our team left his running shoes at the cross country meet on Thursday, and Jeff arranged to pick the shoes up from the coach of the host school (Eisenhower High School), which is conveniently located around the corner from our stake center. Jeff was going to go alone, but I snagged the opportunity to have a Sunday drive date to and from stake conference together. It was pleasant having Jeff all to myself--a rare treat during the school year. 

Church calling updates, which I don't think I officially stated yet, for blogging purposes: Last month I was released from the Relief Society presidency after serving there for nearly seven years, with three different Relief Society presidents. It was bittersweet, letting go of that close service based connection with my dear friends in the presidency. I was called as a youth Sunday school teacher for the oldest class of youth, ages 17-18. I have taught twice so far, and it is so different having a Sunday-only calling! Far fewer mental burdens for sure. Right before I was released, Jeff was called as the ward clerk. So now our roles have reversed and he had more church responsibilities than me. 

PICTURES:

PIANO! I have been working a fiddly little Czerny exercise half to death and finally managed to play it without tangling my fingers up this week. Satisfaction.

Way too much of coaching seems to center on filling jugs and lugging water to various locations. This was after our workout in the park on Monday. I finally figured out how to hoist heavy five gallon water jugs in and out of the trunk of my van without ruining my lower back: step one foot into the van so I can lift the jug up and out of the trunk with my legs, instead of leaning forward and pulling it out of the trunk with my back.

The beginning of my bike ride, before it got gnarly.

The orchard road behind me doesn't look like a hill, but it was a grueling long grind of a climb. I was so out of breath!

The road back down (looking south) from the top of the orchards was looking extra crispy. I didn't take pictures of the steep hills on the north side of the orchards because I could barely hang onto my handlebars for dear life! 

I load our crock pot so full so we can have leftovers, that it always overflows in a icky mess. This time I put in a crock pot liner bag and then made it stick straight up, which prevented leakage! This little trick saved me so much scrubbing and irritation.

A view of our homestead from the other side of the canal during my walk.

Home sweet home, tucked into that cozy bend in the canal.

One more reflective view from my walk. The canal road is a very peaceful place.

Traffic jam in the athletic training room! I can't believe that there isn't a better water jug filling station. That blue wagon is our cross country water wagon. Everything else in this picture was already parked in this tiny space. Those two ten gallon jugs on the right were full of water too, so I couldn't easily move them when I went in to get water before we left for the meet. Somehow I had to park our wagon close enough to the sink so I could attach the short hose and stretch it over to fill our jugs (it barely fit). I also had to fit my own body in there somewhere. This doesn't seem like that big of a deal at first glance, but added on top of my daily grind of always filling and lugging water jugs, those extra barriers just made it harder.

The Big Nine League Meet:

Our cute varsity girls team--we only ran 5 girls in the varsity race this week because one of the top 7 was sick and the other had a college thing to do, and none of the JV girls were ready for a varsity race. Our top girl Kaylee (on the far left) finished in 10th, which puts her in contention to qualify for the state meet in a month!

Rose, running the first mile with her teammate Mia.

Rose on the homestretch!

The varsity boys team on the starting line--I couldn't bring myself to make them pose for a picture, haha. Jay is on the far left. Our top two boys finished 7th and 8th, which puts them in contention to qualify for the state meet! It was so fun to watch.

Go Jay! Eventually his teammates Damian and Ricardo passed him, but he hung on for dear life!

A post meet selfie with my Rose girl.

The bus ride homeward: Amber likes that I allow her to play on an old cell phone on team bus rides.

Friday was a teacher work day, so there was no school, and only about a third of our team showed up for practice. We had them play ultimate frisbee on the turf for their workout. Amber joined a team and played her heart out with the high schoolers. That girl is so adorably, impressively intrepid!

Saturday morning team run, with my bike shadow following behind.

Amber and Kenney, the pancake queens!

The only non-running picture of Jay that I took this week was of him mowing. The window screen gave this picture an interesting texture.

A Sunday morning selfie with my Amber girl.

Amber lost a tooth on Saturday night. I told her to hang it on the white board for the lazy tooth fairy. The lazy tooth fairy remembered to put out a dollar after breakfast the next day. I think Amber only has maybe one more tooth to lose! Sniff.

A rare in-person attendance at stake conference required a stake center selfie.