April

We started April with a visit from the Easter Pirates.  The boys are great readers, so the pirates left a poem that had to be read aloud, in addition to the usual shenanigans.

 

Friends of ours invited us to go shooting with them (after a long discussion on gun rights...).  I went on a run that morning, and we were out all afternoon.  I have no problem waking up at 4:45 to go on a 20-mile run with friends, but ask me to touch a gun?  Turns out my fight-or-flight takes over--I'd start to hyperventilate, get sweaty palms, heart racing, dry mouth, etc., whenever it was my turn.  I couldn't get the gun to stop wobbling because I was shaking so hard, and I had to deep breathe to get my finger onto the trigger.  As important as it is to me to be exposed to new things, this is definitely not one of my things...

The next Saturday morning I went up to the U to take the CHES exam so rectify as a health educator. I took this certification when I graduated with my BS, but let my credentials expire, and it's been long enough I had to just sit for  the exam.  This one was much harder than I remember the last one being!--I took the full 3 hours and was exhausted and starving when I was done!  Phew--taco time!

Max and our cute neighbor Elle have become the best little playmates.  Their imaginative play conversations are hilarious to listen to!  One example: Elle was asking get Max's little character guy if he was leaving today, or if his meeting was tomorrow at 7?  Max replied "Um, I'm going to go fight now, because there are a lot of monsters out there."

One Sunday afternoon the boys and David built the computer together that Uncle Jon Erik had sent for Pace's birthday.  It plays a sort of Minecraft game, so it of course passes the test.

Max's class had an animal assembly to learn about animals and their habitats.  The demonstrator went around with every single animal and let the kids pet it.  Max always ducked down, and avoided petting or being touched by the animal, haha!  I think he did hesitantly reach out for one after I told him how soft it was.

The end of the month marked David's start on his two-week vacation from work, and I had a two-week break between semesters.  I imagined I would sit on the couch and read, catch up on my training and get some more weekday runs in preparation for Ragnar...But we decided to work hard instead.  Bishka offered to landscape the terraces of the retaining walls, and it became very obvious that we needed to finish the entire backyard at the same time.  So we got to work prepping the area so we could add sprinklers, sod, more retaining walls for garden beds, a playground, shed, continue the flagstone walkway, etc.  Of course when you get a huge pile of dirt, you get all the boys from the neighborhood over to play.

I think the kiddos were playing ghosts in the graveyard, or something like freeze tag here...

In celebration of David's two-week vacation kick-off, we got treats at the French bakery.

And, of course, my runs have to be documented somewhere!  April and May always have "bouncy" weather--you just never know what you're going to get.  So some runs were cold, windy, and rainy, and others were perfect running weather.  I did a few trails I didn't know this month, so it was fun exploring with a group of friends.

This on was only about 10 miles or so out in the Eagle Mountain trail network, we passed a handful of other runners and bikers.

This one was the 20 mile run before going shooting.  Started out dark and ended up sunny and hot!  We went to high enough elevation that we still passed through snowy trails...which meant muddy trails once it got sunny and warmer just a few  hours later.

This Saturday was not that long, only about 9 miles or so, but it was the hardest 9 miles of my life! Hard going up, hard coming back down, hard because we trekked through a bunch of deep, deep snow (post-holing--no fun), and I ran out of energy fast!  But of course we had to do planks at the end.

This was the night run, always an important run to incorporate into Ragnar training.  We went up and over West Mountain, from one end to the other, from the south end to the north end!  I'd don't he south climb before, about 3 miles up, and the north end up to the radio towers, but I'd never done the whole mountain trail from end to end.  The first two miles are steep, steep elevation--hard hiking-- but after that, you get trail running that was really fun!  A great night run!