I Feel a List Coming On

Today swept me up and tossed me around like I was riding a giant ocean wave. I admit it was a thrill ride at the time. But, it has left me tired and my head hurting. I am giving myself a little treat for all I have accomplished called -- finally taking the time to sit down and update my blog!

1--Big news at our house. HUGE news. Brian started a full time job with the G.O.A.L. Foundation on October 1. If I made a list of all the things Brian loves and turned that list into a full time job -- this would be that job! G.O.A.L. stands for Get Out And Live. They are a non-profit organization created after the 2002 Olympics to continue that spirit in the Ogden community of, well, getting out and living. They do cool things like organize the Ogden Marathon and Xterra events. Brian gets to be their marketer which means he will use his photography and design skills to promote his favorite passions -- running, biking and otherwise testing the limits of the human body. He will travel around from time to time promoting G.O.A.L. at expos (this man has an inexplicable love of running expos) and while he is there I am sure he will run whatever marathon is associated with said expo. Did I mention he is trying to complete 50 marathons by age 50? Perfect.

2--Sophie absolutely loves her new school. Her creative writing class is just the right fit. For language arts, she gets to travel by FrontRunner once a month to Salt Lake to see a matinee by professionals at Pioneer Theater Company. Her drama class recently returned from the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. The other night we stayed up late and she told me about the cool science experiments she gets to do in biology. I can't say enough about how great this school is for her. She is so happy. It makes me so happy!

3--Ian has seamlessly made the transition to junior high. I got to go to his (and Sophie's) parent teacher conferences two weeks ago and it was an absolute pleasure (both times) to get to go from teacher to teacher hearing about how awesome and smart my kids are. I don't usually like to brag but here I am saying it -- straight A students! The news that Brian got his new job, the delightful parent teacher conferences and the news that Ian earned first chair in band all came in the same week. It was a good week. Here is a story about Ian -- he has always been such a good kid about practicing the piano. This year, he decided he would like to play the drums in band so he signed up for 7th grade, or beginning band. Right before school started, I realized he would be bored. Even though he has never played the drums, he is very good at music and I knew he would do what he had to to get caught up. The school messed up his schedule so while they were fixing it I asked them to put him in advanced, or 8th grade band. They really didn't want to, but then they did it anyway and, BAM! First chair on his first test and all the other drummers have had at least one more year on the drums than him.

4--More good news. About 8 months ago I asked a performer in Ogden who is super talented if Sophie could take voice lessons from him. He put her on a wait list. Last month he had an opening and Sophie got the spot. I am so happy for her to get this opportunity. She is glowing when I pick her up after her lessons. She also worked up the courage to audition for a part in a Christmas show at the Ziegfeld, a local community theater. She got up and sang with so much confidence and beauty. She even got a call back. We haven't heard for sure, but I don't think she made the final cut. I am still so proud of her for going for it. There is so much talent in our community. The competition is stiff. It's difficult even to get a call back. Way to go!

5--Life is so busy. Ian plays on two soccer teams. The games are usually about 30-minutes away. My mom thinks my life is crazy busy. But, everyone I know is busier than me and -- I don't know how that is possible!? Last night, when Ian's soccer game in Brigham City ended at 7:30 p.m., it was all I could do to think of getting home, feeding the family and putting everyone to bed while the parents all around me were talking about how they were headed next to take their boys to basketball practice at 8 o'clock at night after we had all devoted three hours to a soccer game. On a school night! I digress. Life is busy and I suppose that is how it is for everyone. Shuttling four kids to three schools is busy enough before adding in all of the extras. I don't know how many times I drive right by a park and Katie and Isaac beg me to stop so they can play and I can't because we have to keep going to the next thing and the next thing after that and the next thing after that. Today, after I picked up Sophie from school, we drove past this really awesome park we call the spider web park. Katie and Isaac asked if we could play and I said "yes." We dropped off Sophie at home, took Ian to his piano lesson and headed back to the park to enjoy the most perfect park weather and the playground for 45-minutes. It was superb. It was just what I needed.