Running the Race

A few weeks ago, I taught a Relief Society Lesson focused on a talk by President Thomas S. Monson entitled "Enjoying The Journey." I studied and prepared quite a bit for that lesson and I feel like I'm still growing through it even now. About once a year, okay - twice a year, I have a melt down. It happens because I love life! I like taking on projects, spending time with Bryan, spending time with my kids on their field trips, volunteering in their classrooms, teaching and reading with my kids, running them around to their activities, hosting playdates, cleaning and organizing my house, taking care of my chickens, yardwork, home remodel stuff, caring for my roses and plants, working out, running, spinning, lifting weights, eating healthly, meal planning and shopping for my family, blogging, taking dinners or flowers or eggs to friends that are under the weather or have just had a baby, writing for the IDEA League International Family Network newsletter, being Isaac's Den Mom, visiting with my sweet friends, visiting family, reading in a hot bath, reading for and attending book club, playing guitar, playing in the park with my kids, taking Bay Area fun day trips with my kids, going out to "girls' night out" with my friends, going on dates with Bryan, running the family's finances short term and long term, saving money for kids' college & retirement, managing the family's healthcare and dental care especially Noah's medical insurance care management, designing meals and preparing Noah's Ketogenic meals, meeting with specialists and school study teams to assist in Noah's care, helping families with Keto kids either by phone or on the Keto Yahoo group or through my Keto blog, helping with my high school 20 year reunion plans, attempting to pull together a 40th anniversary drill team reunion, and smaller things like decorating for holidays, Christmas cards, birthday parties,.......

But.........Today I'm saying - "I'm tired of running through my life as if it's a race!" It's not a race! It's a journey!

I go through phases of really being able to Enjoy the Journey of my life and appreciating the smiles, laughter, challenges and moments of each day. At other times, like right now, I feel like I am just running through my life trying to get to the end of the day, feeling like I have taken on too much and not doing anything 100%. I feel like I can't keep my head above water. So, I've dropped a few things, regrouped and trying to take my eyes off of getting to the next thing and look around. I'm writing in my journal about things that make each day a little brighter. Much of these things absolutely cannot be dropped so I'm just trying to experience them at a slower, more relaxed place. It seems to be working today since I actually sat down to write about it.

Whew!

Bry's 40th Birthday Trip

This post has to be divided up only because Bry's 40th included several different facets of fun! I've waiting for a long time to be able to write this blog about planning and implementing the 40th.

We've been married 16 1/2 years and buying gifts for him is not a fun thing. First, he is picky. Second, he always guesses and I'm not a good liar. Third, it is just hard! I will say that over the years he has become a more gracious recipient. Nonetheless, I can't stand buying him gifts because he pretty much takes everything back and gets something else. I just gift card him most of the time or I give him a choice of two gift ideas that I know he wants. He researches the specifics, prints me out a description and location of the item to be purchased. Ahhh - so fun. So planning and preparing just the right thing that would surprise him and make him happy was my ultimate goal!

I began planning his 40th in August. Our friends Lee & Linda from Portland stopped by one afternoon in August. Bry wasn't home and so I just laid it out to them. Any ideas? Lee immediately says - "Stay at our beach house and buy him a tee time at Torrey Pines!" That was it! I had to get Bry to Torrey Pines!

In November, I booked a tee time on Bry's birthday, Feb 17, for Bryan and his golfing buddy and good friend Alph. Yep... November for a Feb time. The great news was that the Buick Open was scheduled for the week before they would be golfing. So, the course would be in amazing shape.

Kudos to my kiddos for keeping the secret until the last minute. I arranged with Bry's boss to give him the vacation days. Eventually I had to tell Bry the dates I needed him off work because he was trying to schedule producer stuff during that time and couldn't figure out why his boss was not working with him on it. Ha ha!!

I told Bry the night before we left that we were going to San Diego in order to get him to pull out the correct clothing for the trip. It also helped that he thought he and the boys might be able to find a muni course and hit a bucket or go golfing. Little did he know that I had the perfect muni course planned! I packed the family and we headed out on 2/13 - a Friday. About an hour into our trip, the boys decided to watch a movie but Isaac said - "No. Let's wait and watch it with the Wise's." Bry pretended not to notice and Griffin and I ridiculously tried to cover it up. "Oh, ya, when we get back we could invite them over to watch it." Nice.....

I made a card for Bry before we left. The center page was a printed picture of Torrey Pines with the announcement of his tee time with Alph. BRY WAS COMPLETELY SURPRISED!!! Yay!!! He had no idea and was so excited it was unbelievable! Originally, Bry wasn't supposed to know the Wise's were coming to the beach house with us until they got there. I also wasn't going to tell him about golfing until his birthday. But, Alph wisely councelled that the anticipation is as much fun as the golf. And so......... the cat was out of the bag and he was ecstatic!

Below are some photos of our trip. The weather held most of the time with only one truly rainy day. We hit the beach and found gorgeous shells several times. Our rainy day was filled with crafts using shells. Amy is brilliant on the craft ideas! The Bird's beach house was perfect, beautiful and tons of fun! We hit Legoland & the kids were thrilled. We enjoyed yummy dinners including steak and potatos on Bry's birthday prepared by Amy & Alph. I took the fixin's for the traditional yogurt cake. Bry loved that! The golfing was phenomenal. It poured on them for the first 2 holes but at the 3rd, the signature hole, the sky cleared and it was amazing! He broke 100 for his round! The Wise's headed home Tuesday afternoon. Our little family took off for sushi! Griff & Isaac dared the sushi and loved it. Griff really dove in ordering and eating everything Bry ate. "Just don't tell me what it is until after I eat it." Those were Griff's terms;> Isaac ate California roles with me and tried an Ebi role as well. Everyone loved the Miso.
(*Side note - Once we came home to Lafayette, I designed a new meal for Noah with shrimp and cream cheese. We call it "Noah Sushi." Not only does he like it but he also feels as brave as his brothers.)
We spent Wednesday playing tennis and touring the San Diego De Alcala Mission established by Junipero Serra. It was beautiful. I've tacked a few of those pics on too. We finished the day with yummy Mexican food in Old Town San Diego and a trip passed the LDS San Diego Temple. The temple is amazing. Just walking the grounds was a spiritual experience.
Our last day was filled with packing and beachin' it. Bry rented a surf board and wet suit. We watched from the beach and played. It was sunny and warm that day. Our drive home was uneventful but just being next to Bry and seeing his excitement from the trip was worth every minute of planning! Great surprise! Stay tuned for 40th Surprise Party news.