April 19, 2009 It’s a Long One…

This is a small disclaimer…  After writing this week’s letter, I realized that if I had double spaced it, it was an eight page paper.  I just wanted to warn you…

April 19, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

What a fantastic week we have had! It has been simply delightful; there is no other way to explain it. We are so spoiled to have family here for so long. Monday was a slow day, B-man and I did some shopping so that E could grade papers and get some work done. That night after dinner we had FHE. It was so fun to have E here, we made her participate and it was fun just to have someone else to be involved in the process. For the lesson we discussed Christ coming to the Nephites in the Book of Mormon after His Resurrection.

Tuesday morning I had preschool at our house. B-man was so excited to have E meet all of his preschool friends. We were focusing on the lower case “a, b, and c” letters, and the color yellow. I have tried to push more of the lower case with B-man so he is doing pretty well with them, but it was slightly hilarious to see how some of the kids had NO idea what letters were in the lower case form. It was fun to feel like I was actually teaching! The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. I’m sure it was a lot of B-man following E around and making her play with him. That night M got sick with a stomach bug. The poor guy has not been sick like that around me ever in our marriage. He NEVER gets sick. I felt so bad for him! I felt even worse that I was so nervous about getting his germs that I considered sleeping in B-man’s bed. I just hate being sick anytime, but being so big (and pregnant) and sick would not be fun.

Wednesday M stayed home from work and let me take care of him. He was a very good patient and stayed up in our room for most of the day. He was feeling better, but not well enough to be around others. E, B-man, and I were going to go downtown to a T.E.A party, but with the rain and a few other issues we decided to wait and make sure that no one else was feeling sick. It rained all day and since no one else was sick so far we decided to head out to a closer T.E.A. party. E and I made fun signs that B-man then helped to color in the lettering. I was a little nervous to let him help trace the letters, but he so rarely wants to do that sort of thing that I decided I had to let him try. It worked out great in the end. After dinner we loaded up and headed to Reston for the “party”. B-man had even brought a sign that he had made himself. Our signs got lots of comments; everyone’s favorite was E’s that said “Save the Trees, Stop Printing Money!” When we got to the event we didn’t really know what to do. So we just started taking pictures of random people and making them hold our signs. We wanted to start some sort of a chant, but couldn’t think of anything catchy enough. We stayed and listened to a speaker, and then because of the rain and cold we packed up and left. We were really surprised by how many people were there, and by how different all the people were. There were only a few “crazies” in the crowd. Everyone else was just a normal person that wasn’t happy about something that the government was doing. It was a fun adventure! E dropped me off at the church for Young Women’s and then headed home. Cute M was feeling well enough to get B-man to bed and do the dishes from dinner. I felt so bad that he had been working while we were playing!

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day. Such a delight after the cold and rain we had during the first part of the week. After preschool we made sure to enjoy the warm weather by going to a park near by. B-man had a great time running around asking people to play with him. He also discovered those pokey round seed pods that fall off of trees. He and some other kids collected them all and made a big pile on my lap. It was very fun. E and I enjoyed sitting on a bench in the sun soaking up the warmth! That night after an early dinner Matthias was kind enough to let E and I go to the temple. We drove during the busiest rush hour, but we didn’t mind too much since we were together and not in a rush. The temple was wonderful, and it was great to be able to go with my sister. What a fun treat! We made it home late, and went straight to bed. M had a Presidency meeting with his counselors while we were gone. It was a much needed meeting that lasted longer than anticipated.

Friday I was up and going early to get ready to go on our fun adventure to Charlottesville, VA to see M run a half marathon. B-man helped me pack his bags. He has been talking about going to the "hotel" for more than a month.  He has even included it in a few prayers.  He has mentioned it to strangers that he is going to "go to a big hotel with Aunt E..."  He brought so much stuff. Several stuffed animals, his entire tool kit, etc… Not to mention that he wanted three bathing suits and two blankets, but I snuck in only one of each. If he likes something he wants to make sure that he has enough of it apparently! After some quick errands and tidying up M came home from work. We ate lunch, packed up the car and headed off. The weather was beautiful and we had no problems. It is only about a two hour drive to Charlottesville and we had a great time.

We were remembering that the last time we made the drive B-man had just been potty trained and so we had several unplanned pit stops on the side of the road. We first checked into our hotel early, and then headed off to get M’s race bag from the race center. All the race info was located at the start of the race in downtown Charlottesville. It was nice to see where he needed to be in the morning before we needed to be there at a certain time. We then used a little map in the race materials to find our way to Monticello. Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home) is only about twenty minutes from downtown. We first visited the brand new visitor’s center. They had a short movie and a great hands on area for kids. B-man had a blast running around touching everything, and then settled on a fantastic block set that he built with for a while. E and I played checkers, and M relaxed and took pictures in a comfy chair. We all loved the different things they had in the kids’ area; the information was perfect for adults too! Did you know that Thomas Jefferson invented a “copy machine” that he used every time he wrote a letter? He had over 9,000 copies of letters that he had written when he died. After leaving the visitor’s center we then caught a shuttle bus up to the house and grounds. He certainly built his house in a beautiful location. Right on top of a little mountain with beautiful views and trees all around. We had to wait for our tour of the house, so we spent the extra time by exploring the grounds. The tulips were all in bloom and were spectacular! The weather was amazing and we kept   commenting about how we could not have picked a better day to come. It was so wonderful! Eventually we had explored the gardens enough and went to wait for our tour of the house. B-man had a great time being outside and even adopted a little ant as his friend while we waited. After about twenty minutes we were able to tour the house. We could only tour the first floor (fire rules apparently) but it was still a treat. Thomas Jefferson certainly did love to learn, and he used all his knowledge to make his life better and easier. It was all very fascinating. I want to read a book on him now and find out more about him. After the house tour we were all wasted, but we walked anyway to the family cemetery where Thomas Jefferson is buried. We got lucky and a shuttle bus made a stop just for us to see if we wanted a ride back to the visitor’s center. We were all happy to not have to walk. B-man loved the shuttle rides the best. At least that’s what he told us. We made one quick visit to the gift shop and then we drove back to our hotel. We stopped for dinner on the way and had a fun dinner. We were all really hungry so we were easy to please… When we got back to the hotel B-man had a shower and then went to bed. Everyone was tired though, and so by a little after nine we were all in bed asleep!

Saturday morning M and I woke up early to get him to the race. Originally he thought he could just get a ride since it seemed like a waste to be there so early, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought. It worked out great though since B had woken up early (he was so excited to be in a hotel). I took B with us, and then E could sleep a little longer. We got M to the race with just enough time to do a very brief warm-up. The other great thing was that B-man and I were able to get a good parking spot very close to the start of the race. We walked to the start and found a great spot. We then waited until the start of the race and took pictures while cheering M on. It was so fun to see all those runners going. Everyone started at once and there were several thousand participating. There were only two race options, a half and a full marathon. We then went back to the hotel to eat breakfast and get E. We ate breakfast and headed back to the race. It took us a little longer than we had thought it would, but we got there and found a place to park and stand. We had been waiting for probably twenty or thirty minutes waiting for M, when I got a phone call from him at the finish line!!! I was SO SO sad. I won’t go into detail, but it may have   made me cry a little to not be there when he finished. I was so happy to have been there at the start at least. He looked so great and we were so proud of him for finishing and doing it so much faster than he thought he would. We only missed him by a few minutes. His time was 2 hours 15 minutes! He thought it would take   him well over three hours since he hadn’t been able to train as much as he wanted with the traveling and a pesky leg issue. It was so fun to be there and cheer people on. We even got to see the marathon winner cross the finish line. He was very fast! Apparently the Charlottesville course is a very well respected course in the running community. It has a lot of big killer hills. M said the course was beautiful, and that the energy at the start of the race was amazing! He also said that all of the honking and cheering really did help him. (Too bad his own wife wasn’t one of them!) After being at the finish line long enough for M to get his fill of food and water we then headed back off. We stopped first at a fun local shop that we had heard was great called “Feast.” They sold lots of fun local foods (cheese, deli meats, etc) and had so many fun things for us to look at. We all fell in love with the store. After making some fun purchases we headed back to the hotel so that M could shower and get ready. After checking out at the hotel we headed back to downtown to look at the University of Virginia campus. They have an old section that was designed by Thomas Jefferson. It was very fun to be on another campus and compare it to BYU. The campus is beautiful, but since we were all very tired from being pregnant or running thirteen miles we didn’t walk more than necessary. We stopped off at the bookstore on campus and we all found some very fun items to remember our trip by. We then started the drive back home. The drive was fast and uneventful. B-man  even fell asleep for a portion of the trip.

After we got home poor M had to cut the grass. I kept saying I could do it, but he wouldn’t let me. (Keep in mind he could barely walk after sitting in the car…) While we were doing the grass E got ready and left to spend some time with our cousin in Arlington. After finishing the yard work we then had dinner, put B-man to bed, and then stayed upstairs so we wouldn’t have to walk up and down the stairs. We had another early night, but it was a great day! It was a great weekend!

Today has been a slower day. M had meetings in the morning and I worked on my lesson. The morning went very smoothly and then we were able to get to church extra early so that M could work on some things. After a fantastic church we then came home and worked on dinner. We were happy to have E back. She and B-man played fun games while we worked on getting dinner ready. After dinner B-man went to bed, and then E and I made cookies. As I was writing this letter L arrived too! We are going to have a full fun house this week! It’s going to be great!

We love you all!

R, M, and B-man