Jared and BYU

This post is a little of this and a little of that.  I'll start with the this as it's more factual, and the that which is more pull-at-my-heart-strings, I'll save for the end.

The This:  BYU finally gave Jared a formal offer to come and teach in their Ethics department at the Marriott School of Management.  We knew it was coming because of all the phone conversations and emails that had occurred, so we'd already been reflective and prayerful as to what we felt was right to do for our family.  It was not an easy choice knowing that we could take the opportunity to live closer to all of our family members, ski when we wanted, attend BYU classes for free (me), be at the university where we suspect at least some if not all the boys will end up, finally have grandparents at piano and string recitals, birthday's and non-major holidays, but in the end it was clear that we were to stay here at UVA and continue with our life in Charlottesville.  So Jared declined the offer with BYU yesterday which turned out to be a great experience and they are now hatching a plan to have him out for a summer or semester of teaching at some point.  So for now life will continue on as we've expected and we'll wait to see what lies ahead.

Now for the that:

Those of you who know Jared would likely agree with me that this man is a talker.  He is known for going over in sacrament meetings when he is assigned to talk, he can start up a conversation with just about anyone, anywhere, and get him with his brothers and they just might spend the entire night into the morning in conversation.  I on the other hand am not a talker or at least not to that degree.   So when after a long Sunday that included church and a piano recital which required the boys to sit still for over 6 hours, Jared and I needed to have some quiet alone time.  So instead of making the kids get out of the car a mile before our house, which we were very tempted to do so that all the energy that was bouncing off the inside of the van could be released, we pulled into the garage, told them they had to hang up their church clothes nicely, eat something or not (we'd already had an early dinner), play anything but computer or Wii, and we'll see them in an hour.  With walking shoes on, we were out the door with a very excited Ruby, who likes nothing more than to be told we are going on a walk.  Then the talking, oh the talking, the talking, the talking began.  We walked to the entrance of our neighborhood and then out, passing the misting Blue Ridge mountains from the rain in the day and the evening light was just spectacular.  And as I'm taking in all the views that surround me I'm giving a pretty regular, "uh-huh", "yea" "right"  and every now and again I get in a complete sentence.  But this man's faucet had been turned on and when we got home I asked if he realized that he talked without stopping for 95% of our walk.  He laughed and said that he did but he was just so giddy to have my undivided attention that he couldn't stop himself.  That comment stopped me dead in my tracks as I never expected that sort of response and suddenly I was filled with so much love for this man who gets giddy when he gets to talk to me when I'm not involved in 10 other things.  I have always known I'm the lucky one here, but I was reminded of it again on this night.  I love you Jared.

Weekend in Review

It was a busy week, as they all seem to be, and as those weeks spill into months and those months into years and I say things like I did at FHE last night, "Jonah will get the Gift of the Holy Ghost in 1 year and 14 days",  I sigh with a sadness in my heart that my days with the boys are passing too quickly.

Before I get into the details of the weekend and because I'm feeling reflective, I need to record this image in my mind of waking up the boys. Most mornings when I go in to kiss them awake the are sacked out, unresponsive to the first kiss, and need a little more prodding to wake up. But then there are the mornings when they have already started to come to and when I pull back the covers and kiss them on the cheek, they smile with their eyes closed and it nearly melts my heart. I never want to forget those morning closed-eyed smiles or the time that I have with them as their mother.

Now for the happenings:  it was the first marching band experience we've had in the Harris home and Caleb walked those streets decked out in his uniform with pride. He was  a little bugged that he only got to play the cymbals (apparently 8th graders got first dibs on the other drums) and warned me that they sounded pretty bad, but I was still impressed. There was a lot of juggling to get him where he needed to be, Gavin and Jonah to their soccer game with Jared coaching, and Liam and I to stake out a spot at the Dogwood Parade.  Jared and the little boys (they hate it when I call them that :) )made it within seconds of Caleb marching by!

Before the parade ended, there was more juggling to get Liam to his game and Caleb picked up at he busses to get back to his soccer game. Caleb won his game, Liam tied, Gavin and Jonah who play together came off with a win as well.

Here is Caleb taking a shot on goal, that Jared said was a beautiful curve that missed by and inch.

Once we all got back home there was some serious free time for everyone and here are the individual choices:

Jared: get out the lawn mower from last Mother's Day and see what prep it might need before mowing.
Caleb and Liam: tennis and basketball in the driveway.
Jonah: learn to ride his bike more confidently.
Gavin: help Jonah learn to ride his bike more confidently.
Jodi: 3rd ride on my new Felt bike from Christmas...it's amazing!

So being that I was gone when Jonah decided to take on the task of learning to ride his bike without falling over a bunch of times, here is the report I got last night from FHE when both Gavin and Jonah were talking about the best part of their week.

Apparently Jonah started trying to get around the house which included riding on bumpy grass and sloping sections of the lawn, and the driveway. Gavin would run along side Jonah and give him suggestions like speed up for this hill, get closer to the house, turn, pedal harder, etc.. Jonah said that Gavin ran with him for more than 8 laps!! Then the video camera came out and Jonah told Gavin that he didn't want him to say anything to him while he ran along side him, so instead, Gavin made up hand signals to use! Genius! The best part of FHE was getting a review of all the different hand signals used as well as knowing that for both of these boys the best part of their entire week was this experience of being together helping and being helped.

Gavin explaining the hand signals and Jonah.

Sunday came and we had to split up again with Jared speaking in Staunton, Virginia and the rest of us getting to church early for a meeting for Caleb and choir practice. We met Jared back home in the afternoon and after a quick bowl of cereal to tide people over until dinner, the boys were back outside soaking up the day, then back inside for coloring or crocheting, or just doing nothing but being together. We need this kind of day every week...we need a Sabbath.

Jonah riding on a newly mowed lawn from the day before! All that lawn mower needed was to get out of the box and filled with oil and gas. I love the Spring green color that is quickly filling up our world.

Gavin wanting me to start his next crochet project.....a covering for his night stand. He loves that hat we bought for his birthday when we were in Utah last summer and with his Snowbird hoodie I think he looks like a rock star :)

Spring Break Outing #3

Friday's plan was to spend time in the newly opened trampoline park in Richmond, but the only open time slot was at 9:30 pm.  So we opted for a family bike ride up in Sugar Hollow.  This was the ride that Jonah was reminiscent about a few months back on our little hike together.

So, for old time's sake, here we are at "butterfly rock" when Gavin was in preschool and Jonah was my at home buddy, circa 2008:

How many rocks can a boy throw you might wonder?  Thousands and thousands and thousands!  

Gavin deciding to take a dare from Jonah or himself, I can't remember, to get his entire body wet!

And ... here were are now, in 2013.  We loaded four bikes on the back carrier, crammed Gavin's inside the passenger area of the van, and stuffed the trusty old Burley trailer in the back, to pull Jonah and Ruby.  And we rode 10 miles!  The longest ride of any of the boys' lives.  Gavin declared it was the best bike ride of his whole life, which was Jared's ultimate goal after Gavin had come home from a previous 6-mile ride with a friends' family several weeks ago, reporting that it was (up until then) the best bike ride of his life.  But Jonah was the quickest to declare it was his favorite ride of all time.  For him it was a daydream come true, as this was exactly what he wanted to have happen after that recent day of remembering these old rides while on the hike.  He even found an old souvenir granite rock in the side pocket of the Burley, left over from our last outing, several years ago!

Starting point at the Piedmont Store in White Hall with Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.

We stopped on "Butterfly Rock" to have some lunch snacks and throw more rocks into the water.  The water level is high now, as it always is in the Spring, and the swimming hole looked so inviting.  We will happily return for a dip when the weather actually gets above 65 degrees.

I have brought all the boys here at some point....either getting pulled in the Burley in the case of Gavin and Jonah, or just driving up with all four boys on hot afternoons to play in the refreshing water.  But, this was the first time that we were all together, Jared included, so a family photo was in order and captured thanks to the Gorilla tripod Jared packed along.

Spring Break Outing #2

Our original plan for Spring Break was to drive to Ohio and make some stops along the way for a real road trip adventure, so when we changed plans, the boys were still wanting to have some kind of big trip that included a hotel stay because the pools are so stinking awesome ;)   So after the Natural Bridge, Safari Park day-trip, I started to plan the next adventure.  I presented the boys with some options:  stay in a great cabin in Gettysburg and explore that area, stay in a hotel in Williamsburg and spend a day at Busch Gardens and one day in Colonial Williamsburg, or stay here and make a day trip to the Zoo and maybe the Space Museum and then possibly to the trampoline park in Richmond.  They all quickly dismissed Busch Gardens (not warm enough for roller coasters they decided).   Jonah and Gavin had zero interest in taking a "tour" around Gettysburg or Williamsburg because, they argued, we just had a "tour" yesterday in the cavern.  They were apparently "toured out"!  Liam and Caleb were luke warm on Gettysburg, but everyone was totally on board with taking a day trip to DC one day and then two days later a trip to Richmond.  So after spending about 4 hours trying to locate a place to spend a few nights and finally coming up with what would have been a fantastic place in Gettysburg or Williamsburg, we slept in our own beds and took a road trip to DC with a plan to hit the Zoo and possibly the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.  

Highlights of this trip:

1. Waking up and having everything ready to get dressed and drive.  

2. Stopping at Bodo's Bagels for breakfast on the road and laying down the law for Caleb to eat at least one egg bagel before consuming the 2 others with plain cream cheese!  

3. For the kids: watching Tin-Tin on the drive.  For Jared: utterly frustrating that he couldn't synch the headphones with the DVD player so we could listen to music.  

4. Finding the parking lot at the Zoo closed because it had reached capacity already.....it was Spring Break, and this was DC mind you.  We found a "Service" spot at the entrance for Zoo workers where Jared parked illegally for one our before going back to move the van to a permanent spot.  It worked like a charm!

5.  Favorite sitings:  Giant Panda Romping around, an up close view of the elephant we saw years ago as a baby (we watched the video of his birth the last time we were there about 6 years ago), and the Tiger Roaring for 5 solid minutes;  he was amazingly loud for how little he actually opened his mouth.

6.  Voted favorite exhibits: Elephant house and Amazonia.

7.  Spending 7 hours exploring around.  This was by far a record for our family and shows what can happen when little people start to grow up.

8. Jonah's new stuffed Red Panda.  We all went into the gift shop so he could pick it out and I expected that the others would start asking for something they could get for themselves.  But to my delighted surprise they didn't make one single request.  Not one!  They were happy that Jonah got a new stuftie and that was good enough for them.  

9. Eating at Cafe Rio on the way home (only the 2nd time in our lives).  

10. Stopping at the Moo-Through for Ice Cream for the kids.  Even though I knew they were too full from dinner to really eat more, we were on vacation.  The Grandpas in their lives would appreciate this!
11.  No one complaining that we didn't make it to the Air and Space museum.  They actually never even mentioned it after we got the the Zoo which was great because we left at 5:00 and we were in Washington DC....the worst time to be in that city.

The only "lowlight" of this trip was that Jared had strapped to his belt the camera, and for some reason that I still find mind boggling, he only took these two pictures of the kids.  

Easter

Originally we were going to spend Easter in Ohio with friends, but bailed out earlier in the week when we ( o.k., it was just me, as I was doing 99% of the ward activity planning and follow through...and to be fair this stat was quoted from Jared, so I'm really not dissing him here) were feeling too overwhelmed.  I was sad to pull out of what I know would have been a great trip, but knew I'd never survive pulling together a get away on top of everything else.

Easter morning the kids came down to find their baskets (usually a Saturday morning event, but not this year) and I was so hoping that the socks, duck tape, new white shirts and ties and a Dove chocolate bunny would do the trick.....and to my great pleasure everyone was thrilled!  Who would have thought socks would be such a hit, but they were and they were very grateful to boot.

Gavin does not look overly thrilled here, but he was the first to get those socks on!

Our Sunday service was exceptional with meaningful talks about the sacrifice and eternal gifts of our Savior as well as our performance with the ward choir and Liam playing violin on the descant.  One sister talked about something that continues to stick with me as I had never considered the relevance of this one act.  She related the story of when the Apostles went back to fishing after Jesus was crucified.  After the Saviors resurrection he appears to them on shore and after having suffered physically, spiritually and emotionally to an unimaginable extent, there he was making sure that there was a warm fire and prepared food for those men.  Even after all the suffering he still managed to serve in such a thoughtful way.  That  has helped remind me of the importance of service even in the midst of suffering.  

After church, Jared got out the tripod for a family photo where I had to endure the the craziness of Gavin and Jonah who needed some neck squeezing from me to get it together because I for one was freezing my tail off!  I'm pretty sure Caleb is chewing on multiple pieces of gum packed in the side of his mouth which I didn't notice until looking at these photos.  Little stink!

After a quick change into warmer clothes we prepped some contributions to the meal: fruit salad and veggies and headed to the Evan's.  After a great meal the parents were chatting in the living room, and at random times,  Liam would show up in various stages of dress up and quote something from Napoleon Dynamite as either Kip or Napoleon.  It was hilarious.  He's actually wearing Rich's glasses from middle school and being that this is a house with 4 girls the costume selection included a great deal of pink and Rapunzel-like wigs!

The moms all realized that in the busyness of everyones week, not one of us had managed to color eggs yet with the kids, so instead of a repeat egg hunt we would blow and color eggs.  The boys had never blown eggs, but they totally got into it despite gagging on the raw egg drippings.

Liam won the blow-out contest against Rich who actually had to widen his eggs hole before he could get the yolk and white out.  

We were the last to leave the Evan's and grateful for fun friends and a great Easter celebration.  

Spring Break Outing #1

On the first day of Spring Break we planned to head south to Natural Bridge and see the caverns and tour Safari Park.  The kids were excited to have live animals to feed out our car window but little did we realize this would be our experience:

By the end of the safari tour we had food spilled everywhere, and snot and other animal fluids on our windows!  It was an experience to be had and afterwards Jonah declared it the best road trip we have ever taken.....so of course worth all the slime I had to endure from those creatures.

Afterwards we made our way to the caverns which were cool, but not even close to the advertised "most incredible caverns on the East Coast".  We saw some neat stalagmites and stalactites and made three stops on our 40 minute tour that allowed us this photo:

The boys were excited to spend their money on souvenirs in the gift shop and came away with some great fossils and other little rocks.  We then made our way to the Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park to see some old friends from our University Park days.  The boys wasted no time joining in with the "bubble jump" at the play area and I got to hold one of their new twins  (Kincade) and catch up with Corinne while Jared and Clint swapped their own happenings.  It was great to see them all and see how awesome Corinne was at managing the lives of 3 big people and two very small ones.

The night ended with our first trip to Ruby Tuesday which was funny for me because I use them in my class discussion on eating out.  I tried to stay neutral to the fried shrimp and onion rings and hamburgers with cheese and bacon with fires so as to not spoil the evening with calorie counts and saturated fat content, but holy smokes it was hard.  Good thing I was tired by then and out of mental energy to convince them of better choices which I don't think they would have been happy with me for attempting.  I did manage to get them to eat their sides of broccoli with no complaint.  I had the salad bar and fish tacos thank you very much :)

4-H Speech Competition

When Caleb was in the 3rd grade his entire grade participated in a speech writing and public speaking competition at school, and then optionally in a competition through the 4-H.  Caleb wrote a great speech on Teddy Rosevelt and delivered it beautifully.  I remember the event with some sourness because when he presented it with his class for some the of preliminary judges from 4-H I had Jonah with me and he was not silent.  But, he was not overly noisy by any means either.  Despite sitting on the floor in the corner in the back of the room to both entertain my 2 year old and listen to my 8 year old I had a pretentious mom come up to me and say that the "parents" in the room wanted me to leave.  I was mortified!  Mortified and embarrassed and totally ticked off at this perfectly manicured and seemingly put together mom!!  So I stepped into the hallway in tears waiting for  Caleb to have his turn so I could sneak back in.  But, then the unfairness turned to a mild sense of payback when Caleb beat out her daughter in the final round of the county 4-H competition 3 nights later.  I never thought going in to that final competition that Caleb would be a finalist until I heard him give his speech compared to the others, then I started to think that he might just win after all!  He too was completely surprised when they called out his name!

Two years later Liam wrote a wonderful speech on Buzz Aldren for the same 3rd grade project.  Liam has long been a fan of the stage and never seems to lack any confidence in delivering speeches, reciting poems, performing musical debuts, or giving Sunday Talks.  In fact, I've been surprised at how much I find that he actually thrives in that environment.  The night of his competition he was stellar and walked away with the second win of the county 4-H competition for the Harris boys.

Fast forward yet another two years to 2013 and here comes Gavin's 3rd grade speech.  Now that both of the other boys had won the county competition, he felt the "pressure" of living up to that legacy.  Interestingly, this gave him a sense of confidence, especially because both Liam and Caleb were great about "coaching" him in preparation.  His chosen famous person was Galileo and his written speech was excellent and his delivery was spot on with clear pronunciation, interesting facts and a flow that you could follow.  In the end it came down to him and one of his friends, George.  Gavin was decked out in his suit which he said was his "secret weapon" and the two boys shook hands and told each other good luck before they delivered their speeches one last time.  Gavin won and the first two things he said were "I'm so relieved and now I feel sorry for Jonah!"

Congratulations Gavin to a job very well done!  I love you!

With Mrs Straume his teacher and fellow finalist George

Award time.

The Best of Charlottesville

Yesterday was a pretty typical Saturday with the exception of one soccer game that was cancelled due to low numbers of players from Spring Break.  Jared and I split up: I had Caleb's game, he had Liam's, and Gavin and Jonah got to entertain themselves at home for the 10 minutes during the cross-over.  Caleb's game was played at Crozet Park where we have spent many, many hours in either soccer, swim team, or baseball and it sits at the base of the Blue Ridge offering some of my favorite views.  Yesterday I sat in the midst of 3 other families I carpool with, two are Presbyterian and two of us are Mormon.  We talk about everything from Spring Break outings, where to find the best skiing on the East Coast, and how next Saturday the two Mormon boys will be helping out the two Presbyterian boys in a community service project.  I then spent about 20 minutes talking to another parent/friend whose winery has become a big success out in Free Union, one of the most picturesque areas in all of Albemarle County.   I told him that I'd planned to bike by his house that afternoon if the weather warmed above 55 degrees and he invited me, as always, to stop if I needed anything.  

Caleb and I headed home after a great game....they won 3-0 against the team he was on the in Fall, and left because the team was really falling apart.  We watched most of the first session of General Conference  and then it was time for that ride.  I haven't taken my bike off the trainer in more than two months because I'm a whimp to cold weather biking, but it was finally 60 degrees and I was more than ready.  The day was picture perfect and I didn't realize how much I had missed my rides along rolling pastures of open space dotted with livestock, vineyards, the swollen creek, and the beauty of riding along the base of the Blue Ridge  mountains.  At one point I stopped to stretch my back and the only thing I could hear was the wind blowing gently, birds chatting, and one idling car or tractor or some other motor off in the distance.  Then I thought back to those soccer conversations and realized as I have many time before,  how much I love living here in Charlottesville.  Not only is it one of the most beautiful places I've ever lived, I love that my children learn about what it means to be a good person from the many friends of different faiths they have.  I love that they know that good people come in all varieties and that even though most don't show up with us on Sunday,  they can be found in their own places of worship.  I love that those same friends can ask questions about Mormonism and that the boys know what to say and never shy away from what their religion means to them.  I also love being friends with people who supposedly make great wine and that I can keep pestering them about making a nonalcoholic version!  I love that last summer when my bike shoe lost a vital screw, two people stopped to help and a third drove back to his house to retrieve a screw and a driver to replace the one that was suddenly missing and that he ended up being the brother-in-law of the man who was at my house 3 days before pumping my septic tank!  I love seeing "regulars" at the small town grocery store that has surprisingly good finds, and more than anything I love that when I asked Caleb if he was interested in doing a community service project for several hours with his Presbyterian friends he is thrilled!  

Charlottesville is where I wanted to raise my children and where I wanted to wake up every morning years before we actually ended up here, and I feel extremely grateful that my dream came true.  

5K Fun Run for Charity

Being in charge of a ward activity was not something I was expecting to be asked to do four weeks ago.  But being that I was (and then requested that the Bishopric memeber ask Jared as well so that I could have some support), I went for it.  We had donated bagels from Bodo's, donated race numbers from Ragged Mountain Running and then the many people who stepped in to organize post-race food, the egg hunt for the kids afterwards, marking the race course, sign making, and the organizing of the food donations, manning the water station, and much, much more.  It was exhausting to put together, but so worth it as the photos will tell.

We started off the events with a 3-4 year old race.  They were so excited and only a few of them went off course!

 We then began the 5-6 year old race...Jonah won and was thrilled!

Team Harris....we all completed the 5K under 31 minutes with Liam in the lead at 26 minutes and Jared coming in just under 31 minutes.  Gavin and I were buddies and came in at 29 and 30 minutes respectively (I told him to sprint at the end even though I knew I'd never keep with with this Discovery Dasher) and Caleb came in about 28 minutes. 

 Liam's running buddy McKenna

The start of the Egg Hunt

Checking out the Loot