Lots of change

So, we're all moved out of our house. We will be here in San Antonio for another week. We head out on the road to California next Thursday. A lot had changed in the past few days. Lots of pics have been taken, but I'm waiting to upload them to our desktop (which is on the moving truck right now). Who knows when I'll get to post them, as we haven't chosen a home in California yet. Could be a month before we see our things again.
I just wanted to make note in our little family journal of some of the happenings of this big week of change. Monday and Tuesday the packers came and boxed everything up (not very well - there were a few cupboards they didn't even open!! Didn't find that out until after all was said and done. Plus they broke one of my crystal serving dishes before it even got to a box - smashed to a million pieces.)
While all this is happening, we're crashing with some great friends of ours, the Neilsons. Becca N and I took Maya and her best friend Emi (Becca's girl) to get their ears pierced on Tuesday. They were so excited to do this together. I have a whole picture montage: The excited before, the crying shock after the first ear was done, followed by don't make me get the other one done, I don't want my other ear pierced, followed by Emi saying "No way am I getting that done". After a little break and Maya walking around and calming down, Emi got hers done, followed by Maya getting her other ear done (mainly because the lady said it would hurt more to remove the freshly pierced one than it would to pierce the other ear.) After lots more tears, the girls were on a high and so glad they did it!
Wednesday, the loaders came and put everything on the truck. It was an all day process. Luckily another friend of mine took the kids for the afternoon. Such a big help. I was sad to walk through my empty house at the end of the day. We've had such an amazing time living in this house for the past 3 years.
Today we said goodbye to the Neilson family. They're headed on vacation. Luke said goodbye to his friends Jaike and Tyler and is just fine (I don't think he realizes that this was it.) Maya and Emi had lots of tears and broken hearts. Maya just needed to sit and cry for a while after they left.
We spent this evening cleaning our house and getting it ready for our tenants who will move in this weekend. Matt leaves tomorrow to Maryland to paint out townhouse out there and hopefully we'll have some renters in it soon. Lots of stuff happening. Not wishing our last days here in Texas away, but ready for all the craziness to be done.
Once we're settled in Cali, I'll post a big old picture montage of our adventures.
Over and out. . .for now.

Maya's Baptism Day

Maya was baptized on June 5, 2010

Here is her blog entry about her special day:

My baptism day was a very special day for me. When I got baptized the water was warm. I had 2 dresses: 1 for wearing in the water and the other for after. My Grandma Crop made my baptism dress that I wore into the water. I felt very very happy. I liked when my Grandpa Crop said the talk about baptism. And I also liked when my mom sang the song. My blessing was very special to me. I kept on smiling. It felt good to go in the water. I had to tuck my dress between my legs so it wouldn't float when my dad dunked me in the water. I had a french braid so my hair wouldn't float up. My dad had a very fun day probably too. It was a very special day for both of us. My cousins Grace and Jackson and Blaize were there and Aunt Jessica and Uncle Lance. Grandma and Grandpa Crop were there also. It made me feel like I was loved.

This is me in the dress that grandma Crop made me. It is the one I wore into the water.

This is me and my Dad the day I was baptized. I'm still wearing the one I wore into the water. (These are pictures we took before we left to go to the baptism.)

This is a close-up of me and my dad.

This is me and my friend Heidi. She got baptized with me. There were 2 other kids who got baptized too.

Me and my dad are taking some pictures before my baptism starts.

My dad is kissing me. Heehee!

Me and my friend Emi are best friends. She already got baptized.

Me and Grace are taking a picture together. We are good buds. She is a very good cousin.

My whole family!! There's me, my mom, my dad, and my 2 little brothers Luke and Seth.

This is all of my family together on my baptism day.

This is a picture of me and my mom. She is a very good mom.

This is a picture of Grandma and grandpa with all the bags trying to find the keys in one of them.

Smile for the camera!!

The family at Olive Garden. . .mmmmmm!

Now it's mom's turn:

Maya's baptism was such a special day. I didn't stand a chance of making it through the morning dry-eyed. We got everyone up and ready to go making sure we remembered enough towels and dry clothes and brushes etc. It was pretty crazy getting out of the house. We were surprised at the church to find Jess and Lance and the kids! They spent a lot of time and early morning hours in the car to get there for Maya's special day. We were so excited to see them. It's always a good time when they come to visit. We're sad that we're moving away and won't be able to see them as much.

Maya looked so precious in each of her dresses. We couldn't find the dress that I (and subsequently my younger sisters and nieces) had been baptized in. So my mom made a new baptism dress that Maya was the first to wear and each of my other nieces in turn will get to wear. What a special thing to have and share.

As Maya said, 3 other children were also baptized that morning. We couldn't fit everyone in the primary room so we moved over to the chapel so there would be plenty of room. My dad gave the talk on baptism and then I went up to sing a song that has been special to me since Maya was an infant: What Heaven Sees in You. I cried like a baby - at least I made it to the 3rd verse before I did. After I finished singing/crying I went to sit back down and found Seth had pooed through his clothes so I ran to the bathroom to change him, worrying that I was going to miss Maya actually being baptized. Luckily it was a quick change and Jess and my mom came in to rescue me and send me to watch.

There is not much in this world that is more special than watching your child get baptized.

The rest went smoothly with Maya being given the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed a member of the church. I tried to write down as much of the blessing as I could so that Maya will have that to read whenever she wants. She was all smiles all morning.

After some pictures we headed out to lunch to celebrate and then spent the rest of the day goofing off at the pool and playing with family for the short time that we had them with us. Time always flies way too fast when we're having fun as a family.

I'll post again in a few days about the other happenings of the weekend (ie., Matt's residency graduation!!) Till then....

My First Triathlon

On May 22nd I competed in my very first triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon: 400 yd swim, 13.5 mile bike ride and a 3.3 mile run. I had such a great time! I've wanted to do one for the past couple of years but between pregnancy and recovering from pregnancy it's taken until this summer for me to be ready. A friend of mine here in San Antonio did a couple of them last summer and she recommended the Rockin R triathlon up in Gruene (pronounced "green") near New Braunfels. I wasn't worried at all about the swim or the run. I don't own a bike and haven't ridden one for more than a block or two since college. I borrowed my friend's husband's road bike for the race, having only ridden it around the block twice the night before to get used to the old school gears. Aside from a very sore backside after all was said and done (those bike seats are killer even with a gel pad) I had a blast. Here's my experience told with pictures.

Here are Becca and I at the start of the race. There were 350 participants this year. We're getting our caps and goggles on and psyching ourselves up to jump into that river.

The river this year was 65 degrees and had a strong current. (It's been a cooler wetter spring this year.) It was cold enough to be wetsuit legal - I'm a newbie. I do not have a wetsuit. So I'm just telling myself I'll swim even faster cuz I'll want to get out of the freezing water as fast as I can. Because of the strong current in the river, they also shortened the swim to 275 yd. Each age group had their own color swim cap. I'm in the blue cap below. You probably need to click on the pic to enlarge it to be able to see me. All those bright orangey/red caps were the younger age group that started ahead of me. They had us start by twos. It felt so good to fly by half of them no problem. You'll notice in the pic a lot of orange behind me. Yeah baby! I hadn't been in the pool to swim laps since last summer. Not too shabby, huh? In the picture below, I'm breaststroking to try and see where in the river I am and to make sure I didn't swim into anyone. Everyone was trying to swim as close to the bank as possible to avoid swimming straight into the current.

Luckily someone warned me before the race that I would probably be dizzy upon getting out of the river. They were right. I guess the combination of cold water and swimming fast/breathing hard can lead to hyperventilation. Luckily they had people helping all the competitors out of the water. I was pretty dizzy for a few seconds. I chose to leave the picture of me getting out of the river off this post. It's not a pretty sight. I am proud to say that in my age group my swim time placed me 4th - less than 1 second out of second. If I would've known. . .

Below: Here I am coming back from my 13.5 mile bike ride, running my bike back to it's place in the transition area.

Here I am coming out of the transition area after the bike portion. My quads are jello and do not want to move, but this is a spectator area of the race, so I make myself jog out of there so I don't look like a pansy. Once out of the spectator area, the first stretch of the run is uphill - ouch! So my friend becca and I walk for a little while till we can breath again and move our legs.

Here I am coming into the finish. I actually felt really great for the last part of the run. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for completing my very first triathlon. (The little black thing around my ankle is the timing chip.)

Matt had me flex for a few shots - you know, show off my buffness. . .HA!

I was definitely on a high after the race. I had so much fun. Here are Becca and I goofing off a little and celebrating.

A little love for Matt and the camera. Like I said - I was on a high and feeling pretty goofy.

I had such a great time and can't wait to do another!

Rock on

Future star in the making?