Pictures are better than words, so here is what life has looked like the last several months:
This is Roo, my parents' new dog. She loves to hang out at Granny's, although the days of her getting in the bed are probably limited.
Aaron and I are super proud of our 5 nieces and nephews. Anytime we get to see them is a blessing. Here is Mati, Roo, and Granny.
My sis-in-law sent me this pic of Urijah from California. She said he didn't want to take the helmet off. Good boy!
A few days ago Laura and Urijah had a layover in DFW on their way to North Carolina. We met up with them for a brief visit and some fun on the escalators.
I haven't met this precious little one yet. This is Marlee. My sister and her family are in the process of adopting Marlee and her little brother Jett from Haiti. We are so ready to see them!
My mom has been getting her work-out on! Here she did a run/walk 5K where people throw paint on you all along the way. Looks like a lot of fun.
About a month ago, I went with my dad down to Junction to help his parents "mark goats." I wish I had a video of this process. A high school boy and myself had the job of catching baby goats and holding them while my grandparents and dad vaccinated, castrated, and marked them. It took about 4 hours. That was right up there with the toughest physical jobs I've done. The only evidence I have is my boots. After we were done and I took my boots off, I noticed I had a double blow-out.
These young ladies are what occupy a large part of my heart. Our basketball team had a great year. They were district champions and lost in the state semi-final to the eventual state champions. It was a heart breaker, but overall they had a tremendous year. I already miss the seniors:(
Scouting report.
Pink continues to be a theme I love. One of our seniors' moms was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall. Even though she was in the middle of chemo treatments, she continued to be one of our team's biggest fans. We hosted a pink-out day to honor her. The girls sold T-shirts and raised almost $3,000 for the Susan G. Komen foundation.
One of my students made this. He is donating half of the proceeds to SGK foundation. I am hoping to partner with him to sell more of these to raise money for the upcoming Tour de Pink...
Some of our moms served the basketball girls lunch and gave them blessings before our big final four game. The lunch was in my Spanish classroom, so here is a look at the other part of my job, teaching young minds the wonderful language of Spanish.
Although there isn't as much time to get to the trails and road bike as I'd like during basketball season, I try to get in workouts when I can. Our weight room at school serves as a good place to squeeze in some crossfit exercises. North Richland Hills opened up a new rec center this year that is amazing. I discovered that you can do a killer workout on a spin bike. Although I prefer the outdoors, it was kind of nice to listen to Pandora, watch T.V., and spin away without worrying about wind, cars, or rocks.
Aaron took a trip down to Austin to hang out with his brother. This is from the Greenbelt. I can't wait to get down to Austin and ride some of these trails.
Picture from the Northshore trail in Grapevine. It's one of our favorites. They keep adding trail and making it even better.
I got lucky and was able to participate in an event called the "Superman" ride. The original date fell on the weekend our basketball team traveled to Midland/Lubbock for district games, but the event was postponed due to rain. Alicia and I decided to ride in it together and use it for a good training ride. The race consists of riding at Sansom trail, hitting the Trinity gravel connector to Gateway trail, then taking the Trinity back to finish up at Sansom. We went slow, but I'd say 57 miles and over 5 hours on the bike is a good day in the saddle! It was actually a milestone in distance and time for me on the mountain bike.
Another of my favorite trails is Big Cedar. This picture is part of the new Emerald Lake trail addition. You actually ride through this long tunnel.
So now it's Spring Break and Aaron and I are chilling and recovering from a crazy few months of work. My plans include getting ramped up for the TMBRA series. (The series is the best 8 out of 14 races spread over this spring and next fall. I've already missed out on 4 of the races that happened in February. This weekend is race #5 in Abilene, and will be my first of the season.)
Yesterday, Aaron and I headed to Solavaca trail in Glen Rose since the trails around here were still wet. We rode about an hour, but since I had decided to go over my handlebars going down this little juggernaut, my body wasn't up for much more. I landed on my hands and right shoulder and face. My shoulder is a bit iffy. So as I sit and type, I'm hoping it is good to go for Abilene this weekend. Guess we'll wait and see. Just when I thought training and racing was in the forecast, life threw a little curve ball.
I'll just learn a lesson from this fellow. No reason to let a few burrs get in the way of enjoying life and the sunshine.
Scouting report.
So now it's Spring Break and Aaron and I are chilling and recovering from a crazy few months of work. My plans include getting ramped up for the TMBRA series. (The series is the best 8 out of 14 races spread over this spring and next fall. I've already missed out on 4 of the races that happened in February. This weekend is race #5 in Abilene, and will be my first of the season.)
