Soccer ended for the season just before Memorial Day. The girls love playing soccer and it is fun to watch them play, but it is always nice to regain our Monday nights and Saturday mornings.
Our early mornings have been some combination of running and/or biking. I run (most) every day and the girls run with me a couple days a week and then they'll bike the rest of the days so I can run longer distances on those days. Sadie will run her first 5k on July 4th and she has been training hard, slowly building up from her 2 mile base. She is at 2.5m now! Avery asked to run the 10k this year, but we told her she can only run as many "k's" as she is years old :) She is an ambitious athlete, which I love, but we also want to be careful. Next year, we'll let her run the 10k if she is still desiring to do so.
We've had quite a few friends get married this spring. Seems like some years the weddings fill up every weekend. Unfortunately, we'll miss as many as we'll attend this year (many of those being out-of-state weddings), but it is great to see friends entering the exciting world of marriage.
My garden is flourishing with all the rain we've had the last few weeks and we're enjoying eating all the fresh veggies. Avery can't get enough of the radishes. I've been pulling out all my spinach recipes. I had the opportunity to use bunches and bunches of our cilantro in salsas, etc. that I prepared for Micah & Lara's reception a couple weekends ago. The strawberries are just coming ready and we're all hoping to get a few when Avery isn't hoarding them all. I love having fresh lettuce available at my every whim. Over the past month or so, I've been getting landscaping fabric down in all of the front flowerbeds, we've worked as a family to fill them with mulch, and the girls and I have been adding flowers to them bit by bit. Doesn't look as nice as the back garden, but we'll get there slowly.
Yesterday after mom's group, the girls and I hiked to the Ogden Canyon Overlook, up by Snowbasin. It was beautiful with the wildflowers blooming on every hillside (definitely a different view than the last time I hiked it in the snow!). The girls did a fantastic job, despite the fact that the biting flies were out in full force. Not sure what it is they like about me, but I was definitely their favorite meal of the day. An older gentleman on horseback said, "Hello ladies, seen any bugs out today?!" As we were a half mile or so from reaching the overlook, Avery's attitude started to sour. She wasn't complaining to me, but she started to drag behind and mutter to herself about the horrible bugs. At the top, the bugs were even worse and we didn't stick around for long because if you stood still, you'd get eaten alive. So after we turned around to start back down the mountain, Avery commented that she realized that having a poor attitude about something just makes the experience worse and that it is better just to choose to have a good attitude even when you might not be happy with the circumstances (she actually stated it pretty eloquently, but I can't remember now how she said it). I told her I was thankful that she could have that insight, it certainly is wiser to choose to have a good attitude/perspective. Choose joy.
Another hiking conversation that I appreciated: Sadie asked me "What do you think is one of the most difficult things to understand?" After I answered, I turned the question back on her and she clearly had been thinking about it because her answer was on the tip of her tongue. She had decided that the trinity was a very difficult concept to understand. Agreed. Some things are seemingly impossible to wrap our human minds around. I was impressed with the way she explained it though and glad that she was able to vocalize that it isn't an idea that is simple to comprehend.
Okay, I guess I better get ready to go because I think my partners in crime are waiting on me. We're off to the library, then our first trip of the summer to the swimming pool, followed by a photoshoot this evening up in Huntsville. Summer days....so much fun to be had!!