Sister Update - It's been a while.

I think the last sister update happened about a month ago, which is no good. Here's to getting back in the swing of things! Also, please note the addition of Ana!! We're so glad to have you join us! (Side note, for some reason I can not turn off the italics at the beginning!! So the first two sections are italicized. Weird, sorry!)

Rachel

Last (Few) Week(s)

• Returned from vacation, returned Steve's car (thank you!!!!), got home and went to bed.
• Felt sick Monday (as I had since Thursday) but went to work anyway. Quickly realized that was a bad idea. Turns out I had strep & pneumonia. What the? I didn't go out for my morning stroll and get caught in a rain storm a la Jane Austen. Whatever. Ken got sick too which was really sad.
• Didn't go back to work all week. But a week off at home wasn't what I always dreamed since I mostly only slept. Which was boring.
• Had Jill over for dinner one night. So good to catch up.
• CZ popped in but mostly didn't hang out.
• The overhead A/C broke during the hottest week of the year which had me resorting to wearing a swimsuit in doors. It's fixed now, thank goodness! And they keep it super cold. We'll be bundled up all summer.
• Tried 5 new crock pot recipes, including Crock Pot Mac N Cheese.
• Spoke in sacrament meeting. It was scary preparing, but I think all my blog reading has helped me become a better story teller. I really had fun with the talk in the end.
• Finally changed my name!! New social security card, started the process at work. The new license will come eventually...

This Week

• Need to get back into the full swing of things at work. I feel so out of it.
• Go back to CrossFit. It's super intense. I hope my lungs are ready.
• We scored tickets to the US Open on Thursday! For those who don't know (aka me) this is a big deal golf tournament and we are super lucky to get the fancy tickets from a partner in my office so we are definitely going even though it may be very hot. :-)
• ANNEE'S COMING TO VISIT! Well, she's coming to go to a barn sale which I hope is worthwhile. Just in case, what else would make the trip worthwhile Annee?? Too bad she wasn't here for the super huge spring market Ie Li and I went to last month. Oh well, hopefully it's still good.
• Try not to be bored and blah. I can't remember what I used to like to do? I'm mostly just blah.

Ana

I am attaching one of the most recent pictures with me in it. Being pregnant I try to avoid shots where there aren't other people around to hide my girth. :)

Last week

• *Took lots of deep breaths and tried my best not to hyperventilate that we are moving across the country, leaving friends, have no job, will be losing health insurance while I'm pregnant.
• *Took lots of deep breaths and tried my best not to hyperventilate that we are having a baby this fall and I will never be well rested again.
• *Took lots of deep breaths and tried my best not to hyperventilate that I am actually using the phrase "We are moving in with family for a while until we find the right job" Ugh. That sounds so lame.
• *Took lots of deep breaths and tried my best to keep out of the house every day for a few hours so Zack could focus on his job search.
• *Went in for a follow up ultrasound. The baby is healthy and happy, but I still have complete placenta previa and need to take it easy and schedule a c-section.
• *Spent my first night alone in this apartment while Zack took Jack to his first Father Son Campout. They had a blast but Jack came home and immediately started dry heaving in the toilet. I wish he had inherited something other then my weak stomach from me.
• *Took Jack to his first gymnastics show despite the dry heaving episode. I may or may not have crushed up a small Zofran bit and forced him to eat it beforehand. He was one of the only kids in his class that didn't get stage fright and to top it off he didn't throw up all over the mats. I was so proud of him.

This week

• *Finally booked a moving company. Too bad we were so slow that our best quote went up $1000. Ugh.
• *Finally booked a car transport company. After hours or researching reviews of car transports on line, we decided to go with a company one of the moving guys recommended, and realized only after we had given then our credit card number and been charged in full that we never actually bothered to check their reviews. Turns out they are awful. Like total loss awful.
• *Finally booked our Palmyra/Niagara Falls trip. We have been hoping to get to Niagara Falls and Palmyra since we moved here. We figured our last full weekend on the east coast would be the perfect time for the road trip. I hope it goes better then our 15 hour drive home from North Carolina went two weeks ago. Highlights included me being ill the entire day, and Jack throwing up all over the gas station floor.
• *Pick up medical records for the entire crew (minus Zack, he never gets sick).
• *Realized a huge error had been made at work by someone else which has created a ton of extra work for me this week. I hope to finish up by our Niagara trip so I don't have to miss out on any of the fun.
• *Find a time to get to the temple before it closes for summer cleaning.
• *Saw my doctor after my ultrasound and got permission to fly to San Diego which I am so happy for since the fore-mentioned weak stomachs could not have stood up to a week long cross country drive.
• *Say goodbye to our dear friends the Whitaker on Friday and help Jack adjust to life as a single child with only one family again. I am so not looking forward to them leaving.
• *Zack made some good progress on his job search. Nothing finalized yet, but fingers crossed I might be able to deliver this baby on regular health insurance and not government assisted Medi-cal. (Another phrase I never thought I'd utter)
• *See what creative meals I can come up with to clean out our fridge, freezer and cupboards and save on groceries before we move and have to throw it all away.
• *Try to participate in the Sisters Update again next week.
• *Take lots of deep breaths and NOT hyperventilate.

Christine

Last Week:

• Left the beach which was a sad day, I really loved being there with everyone and basically just want to live at the beach forever.
• Spent a couple days in Chapel Hill with the Earnests and Wileys before they headed back to Utah. I was happy for a few more days with family.
• Got my bags all ready for my Israel trip and ran any last minute errands.
• Flew to Amman, Jordan!!

This Week:

• Spend a day in Amman, a couple days in Petra, then cross the border into Israel where we will be for a week. I'm actually updating my blog! (Or at least trying to.) So check there for the more detailed updates.

Ie Li

Last week:

• Revived our geraniums after our absence. The wind had blown one of our hanging baskets to the ground and it landed upside down. It's starting to grow the right way now. Plants are amazingly resilient.
• Moved our cantaloupe and green bean plants to bigger planters. They probably should have been moved two weeks ago, but I think they'll be okay.
• Blogged about beach week.
• Turned my $6 XXL striped maxi dress from Target into an Ie Li-sized maxi skirt. I like it much better now.
• Hemmed the curtains in the kids' bedroom.
• Decided that I am going to run the Richmond half marathon in November. Steve's going to do it too. I'm still not sure about the Ragnar Relay. I don't know why I'm so hesitant. I've done it before, I'll be training anyway, what's the big deal? Anyway, there will be a registration price increase on July 1 for the Richmond races, so does anyone else want to do it?
• Made our first trip to the pool. We had to walk home in a downpour.
• Organized our storage. There is more work ahead, but I'm so pleased with the progress we made.
• Celebrated Mei Li's birthday on Thursday.

Next week:

• Sew a couple of skirts for gifts.
• Swimming lessons for Mei and Stephen
• Finish unpacking from beach week!
• Move some watermelon and cucumber plants to the backyard garden bed.
• Have dinner with the missionaries.
• Start planning a friend birthday party for Mei Li.
• Start running again.

Sarah

Last 3 weeks:

• ON VACATION!!! NYC, Boston, Chapel Hill & OBX


Successfully navigated party of 6 through 5 airports, 7 airplanes, 6 places to sleep, 2 rental cars, taxi, ferry, bus, DUCK boat, jetski, and subway rides, museums, historical markers, famous sites, interesting sites, cultural experiences, countless restaurants and public restrooms and souvenir shops, seeing old friends, strangers, extended family, and best of all plenty of togetherness and happy memories.


RECOVER from all of the above


Start summer vacation! Seven peaks, cub scouts day camp, baseball games. Better freeze some otter pops
• Laundry, unpack, grocery store, back to baseball, back to work.
• catch up on rooftop concert series finances - need to reimburse and pay people for the June 3 show I missed

Next week:

• new round of swimming lessons at the pool that does swim team - it's a step
• update blog
• plant window boxes and garden. major weeding


Meet with planning committee about the next rooftop concert on July 1st
• get Brenden ready for "Camp Bigsprings" next week (Provo's version of Wrightwood)

Annee

I just can’t seem to remember how to do this. I don’t know what my problem is. Perhaps it feels like all the weeks and days have blurred together into indistinguishableness. But, here we go, trying to distinguish and remember...

Last Week:

1. It was the last week of school! That involved two days worth of field days. A 5th grade dance. A whole day worth of kindergarten graduation activities. A board game day for Jane. Buying last minute thank-you gifts for all the teachers. An awards assembly for the boys, followed by 5th grade graduation for Henry. I mean, does all of that count as number one? Should I have spread that out over numbers 1-4? I just don’t know. It was madness.
2. One week ago today the Wileys flew back to Utah. We hosted them for just two nights after our week together at the beach. We took the boys one day to one of those crazy laser tag/indoor fun type places. I hope they remember how nice their mothers were that day! Then we met up with Darin, mom and Christine for a UNC campus tour. We had to keep the campus tour brief. We were all at risk of melting in the heat!
3. George played his final baseball games of the season. Though they played with lots of heart all season long, they never managed to win a single game. But they were still allowed to play in the first round of the play-offs. We were certain it would be their last round of the play-offs, but to everyone’s great surprised, that round was also their first big win! Including a great base hit from George, which also got at least one runner home (or was it two). We were so, so happy for him!! To top it all off, his cousins, grandma, and aunts were all there to see it.
4. On Thursday before mom left to go back to Utah, we snuck away for the entire day to go to the great furniture Mart in Hickory, NC. It was so much fun to feel like we had the entire day to just wander and roam at our leisure. Mom had a specific brand of furniture in mind. Which was actually a very helpful strategy in a place like that. It would be so easy to get lost and overwhelmed by all of the furniture offerings. We found a few great pieces! It was a really fun day. One of the highlights was a stop we randomly made at a Starbucks on our way home. Mom introduced me to some frozen double chocolate chip, non-coffee drink. She bought us two of the largest size they make. It was so incredibly tasty, I’m still thinking about it!
5. Laundry. I feel like the washing machine and dryer ran none stop throughout the weekend. Literally. Not a joke. I think I finally just unloaded the very last basket of folded clothes into the children’s bedrooms tonight.

This Week:

1. After last week, I kind of didn’t want to do anything. Literally. I wanted to sleep in everyday, and do nothing once I woke up. That hasn’t actually been working out that well. In the end, I actually like to try to stay busy. So I do have a few goals.
2. We switched over at long last to morning swim team practices. We like this schedule SO MUCH BETTER. The practices are so much less crowded, the weather is agreeable. I go in my running clothes, while the kids swim, I run around the neighborhood. It’s lovely. We’ll have perfect attendance this week. That’s the goal! We are 2-0 so far. Way to go Earnests!
3. Run 5 times. I sadly realized that my secret dream of running the San Francisco marathon on July 31st was indeed only a dream. There are not enough weeks left to get in enough long runs. Since it’s been nearly four years since my last marathon, I need to do a good job training, and I’m at risk for injuries, so I have to do careful build-ups. But still, I never take these sorts of realizations lightly. A fall marathon will takes it’s place. I still hope to find a way to make it out to San Fran in the nearish future to see best friend Liz’s new baby!!
4. Get reunited with my sewing machine. Since Liz is about to give birth, she will go on maternity leave from the sewing blog. I need to have a bunch of material ready to show forth, to keep the blog alive while Liz is gone. It’s the least I can do for her! I hope I won’t fail. I have so far made one dress. Thank goodness it’s only Tuesday. And thank goodness there doesn’t ever seem to be a shortage of ideas of what to sew!
5. I’m going up to DC for a super fast weekend trip. Every since Rachel has been talking about these furniture barn sales, I’ve been dying to join her for one. I think the stars have aligned, and I’ll finally get to be there this weekend. She’s probably over them by now, but she’s being nice enough to be excited about taking me :)