Run down of April.

Phew. Big deep breath. Welcome, friendly May. I'm so excited you're here and you brought sunshine with you. And last night I slept from 9:30 til 6:30 this AM. That's right, 9 straight hours of uninterrupted sleep. It's gonna be a great month.

April, you were good to us but more like in the tough-love kind of way. You pretty much kicked my butt. You were a little bit like a drill sergeant at a fat camp yelling in my face a lot but then you'd sneak me a snickers bar on the sly. Since you've passed I've been pretty much in a coma staring at the walls going, "ba ba ba ba ba" like Goldie Haun in that scene on Overboard. Ya know, when the boys are throwing grapes at her face? Great movie. April, I'm more than thrilled about the family time you alloted me but get outta here with your snowstorms and frigidness. Get outta here with the rigorous schedule you had my little family on. And get outta here Scarlett's croup and mine and Lucy's head colds. OUT OF MY LIFE!!

In April,

We went to St. George for Jason's triathlon:

My dear friend Tamra came to visit us for a week from Houston:

Scarlett and I flew to Arizona for four days to be at my beautiful niece Elyza's baptism:

Our little fam flew to Chicago for 5 days to be with Nessa and Sam and company:

Met Eve Sophia for the first time: Can you even handle her?? Can you?! I understand if you stand up and start flinging things around your house because she's so blanking adorable.

{Twas the most GLORIOUS 5 days. It was freezing in Chi-town. But there was enough love in that student housing apartment to keep us all toasty warm. See what I mean?

Especially since Jason, me, Nessa and Sam all slept in the same bed. Think Willie Wonka... sigh... This trip will get its own blog post soon enough.}

Met the Easter bunny:

Our family friend Sara flew into town from Mexico and my mom came down for the week and stayed to spend Easter, my dad joined us for that as well. The girls loved her. Was a wonderful week indeed! So glad you came Sara!

Started planting in our garden. Planted tomato plants, and they're still alive! I've been running around screaming They're alive!! They're aliiiiiive!! with my eyes bugged out and a big pulsating vein on my forehead. Think Frankenstein. You get the picture.

Had two cavities filled and enjoyed some good laughing gas while in the process. Nicely done Dr. Steven D. Smith! Note the glazed over look in my eyes:

Only the best dentists can produce that in me.

Threw a killer family birthday party for Cathy, Scarlett and Brinley Jean:

Taught some dance lessons to a couple little girls:

(Okay let's be honest this little one teaches me moves I've never seen before.)

And... on the very last day of the month, I ran my first 5K. See that snow? Yes. I woke up early that morn to see about 4 inches. And said to myself tahell with runnin' in that crap and crawled back into bed. I would NEVER have done it had I married any other man. Love/hate him so much.

My mom was down here for women's conference and popped in to hoot and hollar: (and had to immediately burst into tears when I finished. OH marmie of mine!! I just love you! I came through the finish line and had to put her in a head lock and start jumping around when I saw her being all emotional. The adrenaline just sorta took me over.)

I have always hated running. (And runners not to mention.) It started back in 8th grade. Went out for track just because my super athletic BFF Brandi did, and thought we could goof off together during "practice". And believe you me, I faked an ankle injury every single track meet so I never had to compete. I think I might have pulled a hammy in there sometime, too.

The double arm fist pump is what made it all really magical for me.

*P.S. My sister pointed out the blaring red clock in the video to me, and I thought I should tell you it's the half marathon clock. Fortunately I was able to run 3.2 miles in under an hour and a half, but I thought you should know at any rate since this is my very first and it very well could have taken me an hour and a half.*

Anyway, I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. I wasn't half as slow as I thought I'd be either, even though I was pretty slow. I still mostly hate running. But can see how people get kindof addicted to it. In a sick sort of way. And I will say that one of my favorite things might have been all the bagels and cookies and chocolate milk and other such loot spread out on tables just for me after I crossed the finish line. So I promptly started shoving things into my shirt and pants to take home. No pockets in these here runnin' pants.

Jason and babies were waiting for me at the finish line as well. Everything that matters to me in this life fits into this little 4 x 6 frame.

So there you have it folks. A whole month wrapped up in one itty bitty blogpost. Love/hate you April. Thanks for the good/hard times. So happy/relieved to see you, May. Peace out/see you next time ya'll. (Love you too, slashes. You're just so versatile!)

P.S. Is it just me or are we all a little down on blogging? Me and Ness were talking about it the other day... Is everyone over blogging? I haven't written anything worth much more than family history lately, so maybe it is just me. I'll try to be blogging back in full force soon enough. Let's all try together, eh? Whattaya say? We can save blogging if we unite. Or maybe you don't know what I'm talking about? Hmm.