A Precious New Niece

Megan and Mike's sweet baby girl was born last Friday at 10:56pm, weighing a healthy 8lb4oz.

Her name is Parker Joy, but will be known as PJ. How cute!  

Meg was strong and opted for an anesthesia-free delivery, though she said she was cursing that decision in the thick of her labor. But what a trooper, she did it! The dictionary definition of relief should have a picture of a mother's face immediately after pushing out a baby in the absence of an epidural. 

I totally forgot to take a picture of them when I stopped by the hospital. Oh well. Here are a couple of PJ's first photos (borrowed from Facebook).

  Meg looked radiant, and I love PJ's chubby cheeks!   

Taken the morning they brought her home from the hospital. What an adorable angel! I love how her bottom lip is tucked in.

 

The Best of the Rest of Sept.

I don't want to leave out some of the highlights of last month, so I won't. 

Our annual Lytle trip to Lagoon took place on the 15th. We drove down on the 14th and stayed overnight at the campground adjacent to Lagoon, spent all Saturday in the amusing park, tented it another night, then drove home the next morning. It was tons of fun, as we all assumed it would be.

All the littlest male cousins just before entering Lagoon.

Some of the cousins on the train. I'm too lazy right now to name names.

Oliver at the conclusion of his carousel ride.

There was an exciting new ride this year! 

The whole ride turns like a merry-go-round while the individual planes [attached to large propellers] rotate independently. They alternate gradually between upside down, sideways, and right-side up. I hope I'm making myself clear.

Get the idea? Yeah, it was super freaky. I can handle any roller coaster better than this ride. This one doesn't move very fast, so it gave me more time to contemplate the feeling of being held upside down, all the while fervently hoping the safety restraints would prove strong enough to keep me from being introduced to the unforgiving ground below.

The back of Malory, the front of Cora, and the left side of my hair. All waiting in line for the ride I just described. Jane and Ryan also dared to climb aboard.

 

Saturday the 22nd was the night I got to attend a splendid production of Les Miserables. [Broadway in Boise at the Morrison Center]  I went with Ryan, my mom, Erin, Megan, and Maren. It was spectacular!

I felt the need to photograph the cute assorted donuts I bought for the morning of that unforgettable 5k.

Donut they look delicious?

Here's the last highlight I will share before zipping my lip about September . . .

On Thursday the 27th, I went to dinner at The Creperie with my friend Kirsten. I had not seen her since high school. We met in the 9th grade when her family moved into our ward. We got along great and have lots of fun memories. When we finally got together after way too many years, we both wondered why we'd waited so long. She's one of those people who is so fun and easy to talk to. And it turns out she lives within a couple miles of me. It was so good to see her. I enjoyed the chicken artichoke crepe (sooooooooo yummy!) and we shared a caramel apple crepe for dessert (mmm-mmmmmm-mmmmm!!!).
Along with the treat of catching up with Kirsten, I finally washed my hands of something that had been bothering me since high school. When I was 14, I borrowed a large hardback songbook from her mom (with permission!). As high school came and went, I never got around to returning it, and after we graduated her family moved across town. As the years ticked by, I grew increasingly more embarrassed about giving it back after all that time, but it haunted me each time I looked at that music book. I didn't know where they lived.
Anyway, I took the book with me last month to the dinner date and surrendered it to Kirsten. She just laughed. I told her that when I asked to borrow it, they should have said no!

That's about all I had left to share of Sept.

I'm in the HOT choir!

HOT choir: Its members meet twice weekly within the confines of a spacious sauna (it's a big group) dressed in jewel toned turtlenecks, black slacks, and recycled choir robes. They sing crisp harmonies intensified by the stifling moist air, accompanied only by their own faint hand clappings. They sweat out their cares, cleansing their clotted pores in lilting unison, sharing together the joys of vocal expression and perspiration. It's a beautiful experience. Everyone with a voice and a heart should try HOT choir.

I have to confess ... most of the above paragraph was made up. All except the words 'HOT' and 'choir'. The truth is, 'HOT' is an acronym for Hymns of Thanksgiving. It's a non-denominational community choir (and orchestra) that performs a program of inspiring music each year at the CenturyLink Arena the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The truth is, I get to participate in it! In this, its10th year, I finally remembered to sign up before it was too late. Yay! It helps that my friend Judy is one of the section leaders for the 2nd altos. She told me to put her name down as a reference, and it worked like a charm. =)

The rehearsals are biweekly, another fact among my fictitious first paragraph. Sunday and Thursday evenings at Borah High (Ryan's alma mater). It's a colossal choir, like a couple hundred people. It's so fun being a part of such a large, lovely sound. As an added bonus, it's dotted with familiar folks from my past; one of my seminary teachers, a bunch of former Capital High goers, etc. I love choirs! (I should specify, good choirs.)

So, mark your calendars for a sure-to-be HOT evening of grateful song, November 18th, 7:30 sharp. Or if you don't want to go out in public on a cold, dark night, I believe the program will be televised. I don't know those deets yet. Stay tuned.

Hooray for choir!

Not Your Average 5k

This year Maria and I decided to give the Women's Fitness Celebration 5k a chance. This was the first time either of us had participated in it, and it happened to be the race's 20th anniversary. How special!

Due to a knee surgery and pregnancy, followed by the birth of her baby boy this summer, Maria had not done any running for a couple of years. Due to lack of interest mixed with sheer laziness, I've only ventured out for a run 10-ish times since tackling the half marathon in 2010, none of those being in the last few months. Both of us waited until the week of the 5k to begin "training". In preparation, we each ran about 2 miles, twice. Not together. Every time I run I'm reminded that I really don't like it. =)

It wouldn't have been like us to wear something normal for the occasion. We decided to pair the provided snazzy blue tees with our choice of "running pants".

Maria donned this kicky gray jumpsuit, and I opted for my prized pantaloons.

I actually had a lady turn around and tell me they were cute (she wasn't sure what to call them) and asked if I made them. I could have lied and said yes, but I figured she'd ask for my phone number so we could arrange a sewing day together, and I wasn't up for that. 

Moments before the race began, we came up with the plan to skip for as long as we could manage, because, why not?? We thought maybe we'd be able to keep it up for a few minutes, or at most a mile. We skipped our way down Capital Blvd. When there were no distinguishable mile markers, we continued skipping up the hill, past the Train Depot (where volunteers mercifully offered cups of water). This was the only point in the course where I very briefly broke my skipping stride, so as to not choke on my beverage, but Maria was a few trots ahead of me, urging me not to delay.

We bounced past the glorious homes along Crescent Rim, enjoying the distraction. We were getting very tired at this point, but by then we'd wordlessly committed to skipping the entire 3.1 miles. Neither of us wanted to be the quitter. Realizing it wouldn't have been all that impressive to say we skipped for a portion of the race, we knew what had to be done.

One lady told us that she'd skipped the duration of a race before, only to be disqualified at the end! What?! Don't they know it's harder to skip than it is to run? It's double the footsteps! We did discover that our mode of movement was slower than jogging. But we had to finish what we started.

A photo I unearthed from one of the news/radio websites. I have to admit, we weren't skipping very enthusiastically for much of the time. It's trickier than it looks. Anyway, I'm mad the photographer didn't get Maria in the shot with me. =(

Anyway, I'm not lying about skipping the whole way. The photographer just caught me in a weak moment. It didn't help that most of the way it felt like there was gravel lining the insides of my shoes.

 

We'd agreed to link arms as we crossed the finish line. Don't we look just darling?

After the race, we gathered our consolation snacks at assorted sponsor booths and loitered as we ate. Our feet felt like bloody stumps. I was surprised to learn later that I hadn't even broken any skin. Just a couple of blisters to show for all that hard skipping.

I'm so glad for friends I can be silly with. Whoever said "normal is boring" was right. I would have appeared sillier in the posed pictures if they hadn't been snapped by beady-eyed strangers. And I didn't know the action shots were being taken, so I couldn't prepare. I'll add again that we were in the process of a strenuous workout, so of course we looked pained. I admire Maria's ability to be at ease with herself and not worry about what the lady behind the camera *might* have been thinking. Maybe someday I won't be so timid.

Anyway, in case anyone scrolled through it all to the last line, Maria and I skipped for 3 miles straight, in public! What a special triumph!