Four Weeks of FUN!!!

Hello friends. I was just looking at a friend’s blog, and saw on the side column that it has been 5 weeks since I last posted on my blog. FIVE WEEKS! My goodness, there is quite a bit to catch up on.

First of all, the girls and I enjoyed a glorious two weeks in UTAH! On April 17th, my dad the Salt Lake City Marathon, his FIRST MARATHON!!! I am so proud of him. He is truly an inspiration to me. What a great example of setting a huge goal, followed by many little goals, and then putting in a whole lot of hard work to accomplish something that only 1% of all the people on the earth can say they have accomplished. Way to go, Dad! That same morning I ran the SLC 5K. I know, it doesn’t sound nearly as exciting or magnificent as running a marathon, but I had fun. I ran it in 27:29 which was a personal best, and I tied for 19th place out of 232 women in my age group. I felt pretty good about it, I’m not gonna lie. I’m training for a half marathon in September. I ran seven miles last night, my furthest yet, and I about died. So we’ll see how these next few months go.

Here we are waiting to see Dad run by.

And there he goes…

After the race, the girls and I stayed in Utah for an extra two weeks. Yep, two whole weeks. We loved it. Most of our time was spent with Grandma and Grandpa Call. It was so much fun. I was also lucky enough to get to see some old friends. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see everyone that I wanted. Maybe I’ll take a trip back soon.  

Here is a sum-up of the two weeks.

And here we are on the way home. I was pretty terrified about taking the girls on the plane alone, but they were ANGELS! Many prayers were answered.

The day after the girls and I made it back home, one of my best friends in the whole world, Stephanie Hansen and her baby girl, also named Avery, came for a visit. It was last minute, but it was great timing. Sean was SO busy with school, so Steph kept me company. I wish she could have just moved in for good!!! :) We did a lot of nothing, but it was fabulous. Every day was filled with laughs. Not just haha chuckles, but real-live belly laughs. I’m terrible at taking pictures. In fact, I really don’t think that I took a single picture while she was here, but I have a few from when we hung out in Utah!

So that is what’s been happening around here. The BIG news is… are you ready?…

ANIKA IS POTTY TRAINED!!!

Yep, it’s official. My life is suddenly much easier. It took an evening of torture, which Sean was willing to navigate, and then one morning of one clean-up job, and that’s it! She’s potty trained! It’s really miraculous. Really. It has been almost three weeks since her last accident. She doesn’t even need pull-ups when we go out in public, or when she goes to bed! My baby girl is FINALLY growing up! YEA!!! I really am so proud of her. There have been a few times when I have asked her, “Anika, are you stinky?” She looks at me like I’m crazy and says, “No, Mom. I go on the potty!” Oh yeah, I almost forgot! :)

Avery is getting big too. Her vocabulary consists of the words “mama”, “dada”, “papa”, “no”, “mine”, “ball”, “bubble”, and that’s about it. She no longer drinks from a sippy-cup. She much prefers the big-girl cups, and she does great with them. She reminds me of my brothers when they were teenagers, in that she is eating us out of house and home. That girl can really pack it in, but she is only the 1%. Yep, she’s a little thing, just like her big sister.

I guess there is nothing left to blog about! Sean is doing great in school. I am thrilled with how much he is enjoying his classes. The girls and I are looking forward to a fun summer. We have a family vacation coming up next month, which Anika can’t stop talking about. (We’re going to Disney Land.) And life is just good!