On The Home Stretch

After getting home from our vacation to Florida and the US Virgin Islands we put it into high-gear to finish off the home stretch of school projects, reports, and extracurricular obligations with the kids. I knew that once May came it would all be downhill from there.

In March Chandler and I finished his 54 page autobiography. We put hours and hours into it and it sure paid off. Chandler and I (and yes I mean “I”) got an A+ (528 points out of a possible 450 points.) WOW! Extra credit for our extra effort. But what is even more awesome is that Chandler wrote a wonderful record of his life that he will have forever. (I’m so glad that’s over.)

Ashtyn and I finished her bibliography and oral presentation on Walt Disney, which was due the same day Chandler’s autobiography was due. Then there was the painful preparation for Chandler’s school spelling bee. We studied and restudied words for six weeks. I honestly don’t know how many hours we put into it. The night before the spelling bee we could study no more. We had run out of time and were unable to study the last 200 words. The spelling bee was on April 16th and I just hoped that Chandler would make it to the top 10 so he would feel it was worth all his time studying. As Jason and I watched the spelling bee, one by one students got out. Chandler made it to the top ten and kept going. When he was part of the top five I thought there would be no way he would beat the other four kids. They knew the words well and seemed to be on a roll. Before I knew it Chandler was standing with a 6th grade boy, duking it out for first place. I had to laugh. Word after word was given. I told my neighbor sitting next to me, “Don’t worry, this won’t go on much longer. In five more words there will be bacteriology and that is the last word we studied.” Chandler spelled bacteriology and then he tried to spell accolade, which he hadn’t studied and got wrong. Chandler won 2nd place and could not have been happier. He won a trophy that he wouldn’t let leave his side for two days. The studying was worth every hour we put into it. Chandler knew he did well because of all his hard work and the blessing he got the night before to help him remember what he had studied. (I’m so glad that’s over.)

At the end of March I took a day and painted Chandler’s blue bedroom a different color blue, because the old blue was “lonely and uninviting”. Now his room has three walls of “happy, warm, and welcoming” blue and one gold wall to go with his white ceiling. (Well obviously, because those are BYU colors.) But since I painted Chandler’s room it was only fair to paint the girls’ pink room a different pink. What was wrong with the old pink? "Not dark enough." So I painted one wall dark pink and added dark pink polka dots to another wall that was already light pink. Why not? (I’m so glad that’s over.)

A few days later, after working all night at the hospital, Jason came home and instead of sleeping spent the day putting together a bunk bed for the boys. There is nothing worse then putting furniture together. Now Ethan is out of his crib and on the top bunk. It is like he is still in a crib because he doesn’t know how to get down. I get him out of bed when I am good and ready.

Amidst the chaos we went to Moab for spring break. I love Moab. Each time we go we always try to do the typical things as well as something new. We always go to Arches, the sand hill, and drive up the Colorado River. The new adventure this trip was jeeping and watching the jeep safari culture. Way fun.

A week after spring break I ran my first ½ marathon and honestly had so much fun. A few days before the race I worried a lot about getting injured and whether or not I was ready. I’m so glad I decided to do it. My friend Amber signed up at the very last minute to run with me. She helped pace me and I owe it to her for having a fabulous time.

I can’t believe May is almost here. It seems like just a few weeks ago school started and we were revving our engines up for the many school and extracurricular activities that lay ahead of us. Now that the school year is almost over, looking back I have to say, we got a lot done. But I hope at the end it might be said of us that “their activities did not distract them from the path leading to eternal life.”