Reflections of a 40 year old

That's right. Two days ago I hit the 40 mark. Hard to believe. I had an absolutely glorious birthday filled with tons of love from my family and friends. I am happy to say that this 40 year old body was still able to get out of bed and go for a morning run..AND spend 6 hours gardening and doing yardwork. Mark offered to take me out for the day and wine and dine me...my preference was to stay home and wrestle with a rototiller!
My sweet husband knows how to lovingly make my birthday special. This years theme was 'cooking' . I received 3 wonderful new cookbooks that I am anxious to delve into and dazzle my family with mouthwatering delicacies! Mark signed the two of us up for a one night cooking class entitled, "A Romantic Dinner for Two". I will at long last learn how to cook lamb. Katie bought me the most darling set of espesso cups and saucers..and my boy Daniel picked out 4 of the cutest little tea spoons I've ever seen.
The second part of my birthday revolved around my running habit. Mark's parents provided the funds for a splurge on new running shoes..plus extras!! Mark also bought me..not 1..not 2..but 3 new running skirts! I have been wanting to try out the running skirts and am so excited about them!
So here I am...40. Happy to be here..excited for what lies ahead...and thankful to My God who has surrounded me with a family that I love!

It Might Be Spring

It's hard to tell for sure..there are a couple of tell-tale signs:
1) weeds are growing faster than the grass
2) grass is growing faster than we can keep up with (which tells you how bad our weeds are)
3) kids are wanting to wear their shorts
4) the sun is out..wait..it's gone..no wait..it's back..no wait..it's gone...no wait..it's back..no wait.....
5) Deanna had her yearly haircut..short..short..short.
6) bathing suits are almost completely sold out at the stores

Signs of Spring! 

Jenna waits for the kids to finish their schooling. 

Some form of lichen..not sure which. 

At the Women's Retreat 

Waters of the Row River 

Katie doing her 'thing' in "Comedy of Errors". Her afterschool Drama club has already started working on their next production to be performed sometime in late June or early July.

Katie, dressed as her character Luce, greets Daddy and Daniel following the play.

A beautiful day at the beach. We were all alone! 

Hanging out with Dad on some burnt out driftwood. 

Daniel races along the beach. 

Spring???

Did I say it looked like Spring? Okay..maybe Spring in Wisconsin. Today we woke up to about 1/2 inch of snow on the ground..with more expected tonight. It's just crazy! There are definitely some snow clouds milling around outside our windows. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to cancel school for tomorrow. They are not equipped to handle snow of any amount here..and pretty much refuse to put down anything on the roads..might harm the fish somewhere down the line ya know. LOL!

March!!

Beautiful March! The robins have returned. That is a sure sign that spring must be around the corner!! I can hardly wait to start working in the garden. The weather is warming up and I am really enjoying my runs! The kids are doing great. They have managed to stay healthly all winter. It seems we were really spared from sickness recently. Thank you Lord! Katie is getting involved with an afterschool drama club. They will be an independent drama 'touring' group. She also has a new babysitting job every Sunday evening at the church.

Mark is wearing a new hat these days at work. One of a salesman. He is such a gift of eloquence in speech and is really easy to get along with. The business has unfortunately been a little too slow and he has put some new things in place to try to increase it's profitability. We could sure use prayer support in this arena. We are praying that God would bless our efforts and desire to keep the business going. Mark is not at all excited about the prospect of returning to the corporate world and moving every two years.

Sunshine!

We are so thankful to finally see some sunshine around here. Although the weather has still been pretty cold. Mark and I ran in the Couple's Classic 5K on Saturday. It was a very chilly 20 degrees outside...with a feels like of 12. What were we thinking? We ran pretty well, despite the cold. We finished in a little over 30 minutes. Mark could have finished sub30..but he was very sweet and stayed along side me. Our pace was somewhere in the high 9 minute mile mark..which is a big improvement from our last 5k where we averaged more in the 11 minute mile range. So we are IMPROVING!! With some continued practice we hope to get down to an 8 minute mile pace!
The kids are doing well. They've been enjoying the sunshine and spent the better part of the weekend outside with the neighbor kids.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! To you and yours today. We woke up to a very light dusting of snow this morning. How strange. We have a 5k this Saturday..and they are calling for snow showers then too. Pretty bizarre since just 2 days ago the sun was shining and it was 60 degrees out!!!

California Trip

We had a very successful California trip! The trip to Long Beach was a blast. The trade show proved interesting..but the company made it all worthwhile. We had so much fun with our friends John and Michele. (wish they would move here!)

Mark received quite a surprise when we returned to Visalia and there was a houseful of people at John and Michele's waiting to wish him a Happy 40th! Thanks to Mark's Dad and Donna...and the kids..we were able to pull off this feat! It was so great to see so many of our dear old friends. It's amazing their kids are all growing up..but they still look like they did when we left. How is it that we don't age? :-)

Engine project

Assembling the pistons onto the crankshaft. (Does that sound right?)
Daniel and Mark had a great time with this project. The best part...no glue!!!

Engine Project

Daniel and Mark are assembling the engine that Grandpa and Grandma Donna bought him. It took almost 5 hours to assemble. It actually works! What a great teaching opportunity this was. Fortunately Mark knows a thing or two about combustion engines. The instructions were not always very clear. I even learned a thing or two!

New Year

So...Christmas has come and gone. What a flurry of activity we had here! It was just a blast! We so much enjoyed having Mark's Dad and Donna here, as well as Ross & Joal and the kids. (Okay, so they really aren't kids anymore)
Business is going well and we are excited about our upcoming business trip to Long Beach...maybe we'll even see the sun..goodness knows it hasn't been out here in quite some time!
Mark and I are getting ready for another 5k. This time locally. It's a couples race and should be lots of fun.