Catching My Breath

Let's see. Looking at the calendar, I think I have might have two weeks, maybe three, if I'm lucky, to slow down and breathe a little before things pick back up again.

Baseball season is finally over. Jared finished his coach pitch team the second week of July. I forgot to sign him up for soccer this year, but he says he's okay with it. Adam's team did well in their baseball tournament. They took 3rd place out of 16 teams. Adam had fun and ended the season with with a single and an inning of playing 2nd base, after spending most of the season in the outfield. After winning the consolation game to take 3rd place, I heard him saying, "Best season ever!" It was good to see him enjoying it. This next week he will finish up swim team. He best times in the regular meets have qualified him to swim in the Silver meet at County. He is also talking about taking lifesaving and water safety instructor courses in the future, so he can prepare to teach swim lessons and life guard at the pool when he is old enough to get a job. It's nice to have our community pool is so close to our home. We get a family pass every summer and take as much advantage of it as we can. Adam and Ryan are both old enough to swim without an adult, so they head over there quite often to swim with friends too.

Ryan just started practices for his competition soccer team. I sat and watched them for awhile the other night, because the coach had asked parents to be there for a meeting. I was really impressed with him--his coaching skills, his knowledge of the game, and especially the way he interacted with the players. He's expecting a lot of them, but he communicates it in a very positive way. I think it will be a great experience for Ryan to play for him. Ryan is excited to start 5th grade in a few weeks. We got an email from his teacher, asking him to practice typing, cursive, and times tables each week until school starts. It's hard to think about school in the middle of the summer, but he doesn't seem to mind.

All the boys finished the summer reading program at the library. They've been reading 15-20 minutes a day, five days a week, since the first week of June. They'll keep doing that even though the program is over, but I'll switch to encouragement mode, rather than "you have to get all your chores and reading and piano practicing done before you can have screen time" mode. Now they just have to do chores and Adam has to practice piano.

There are lots of changes going on around here, some of which are nicely facilitating my "breathing time." I decided to step down from the Library Board in June, after 3+ years of service. It was a great experience and helped me get to know our community after we moved here. I enjoyed it, but felt like I needed to put more volunteer hours in at my kids' schools. With all four of them at different schools next year, I'm sure I'll be busy enough.

Then, last Sunday our stake presidency canceled regular church meetings and held a special stake meeting--to reorganize ward boundaries. Every single ward in our stake was shaken up, most pretty drastically. We were moved from our ward of four years to a new ward made up of parts of four old wards. Everyone who was moved to a new ward was automatically released from their callings, so I am no longer the Primary president. I will miss the kids and especially the wonderful ladies I served with in the presidency. We attended our new ward for the first time today--sacrament meeting only. Our new bishop and his wife gave great talks. They introduced themselves and we learned that they met in a "military ward" in Virginia shortly after he returned from the Viet Nam War. (Sound familiar Mom?) He is from Hawaii, originally. By way of introduction, his counselor told us that he likes to give hugs, and he loves luaus. Our first ward activity will be a luau in mid-August. This change is going to take some adjusting for all of us--particularly Adam, who was attached to his deacon friends and Young Men leaders--but it will be an adventure and an opportunity to grow. Jared was happy to learn that several boys he knew from school are in our new ward, and it looks like there are some Ryan's and Dallin's ages too. Hopefully Adam will find some as well. We are sad to leave the friends we made in our old ward, but at least this time we don't have to pack any boxes to do it, and we don't really have to say good-bye either.

I've decided my motto is, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold." We've made so many wonderful friends in all the places we've lived. We love keeping in touch with them. (And living in Utah, we get to see many of them when they pass through. We visited with one family we knew in Texas last week, and we're having dinner with with four different families this week--two we knew in Cincinnati, and two we knew in Texas.) For Family Home Evening last Monday, Jeff took us all to Provo for a little "family history tour." We ate dinner at the Malt Shoppe on University Avenue, then drove around and showed the kids all the apartments we lived while we were dating and first married. Then he talked to the boys about all the places we've moved to, the good friends we've made, the wonderful experiences we've had, and the memories we've made. Then we talked about the changes in our ward and how we have the opportunity to grow and make new friends, just like our family has done many times through the years. It was a fun trip down memory lane, and hopefully an effective lesson. At least it kept the kids attention and they weren't wrestling on the couch, like normal. :-)

I feel like I'm rambling, but I'll finish up with this. We have a 16-year-old German girl coming in a few weeks to live with us and go to our local high school for the coming school year. She is the youngest daughter of a family Jeff first met as a missionary in East Germany. I'm not completely sure I'm prepared to deal with a teenager, or a girl, but we are excited that she got all the red tape worked out so she can come. It will be another adventure for us. Mostly I worry that she will get homesick, but I guess we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. In preparation for her arrival, we have to clean out all the stuff we've been storing in the guest room. So for the moment, I'm spending my breathing time deep cleaning my house, room by room, making space elsewhere to put that stuff. It feels good to dejunk a bit, and my house certainly needs the cleaning.

Fall Break (Yes, it's a post--don't faint!)

I didn't realize how crazy our Fall Break was going to be until it was over. We started about 7:15 a.m. Thursday morning with cold cereal and a talk about what had to happen to leave the house by 11 a.m. The kids were good about dressing, packing their bags, then going out to pick grapes. I snuck a quick shower before going out to help. At 10:30 I realized I'd put the chore off too long and we just weren't going to get all the grapes picked. So we filled the two boxes we were working on and started loading the van. Nine boxes of Golden Delicious apples. Four boxes of green grapes. Two smaller boxes of purple Concord grapes, courtesy of Jeff's parents. A juicer. A canner. A Victorio strainer. Two boxes of jars. Lids. Sleeping bags. Pillows. Backpacks and suitcases. Camera case. Cooler. Snacks. Full gas tank. Prayer said and on the road by 11:15 a.m. Phew.

Traffic was heavy, as expected. Four hours later we turned off at Lydie's Canyon, just in time to pick the cousins up from the school bus. Aunt Mercy was a little late getting home from her new job, so I started washing grapes while the kids played. Mercy came home and got dinner for us all. We kept doing grape juice until 11:15 p.m. Four juicers full. Nineteen quarts. Bedtime.

Mercy was up early Friday to get her kids off to a half-day of school. My kids woke me up at 7 a.m. and we started another batch of grape juice. No sleeping in on our vacation. Then we set up for applesauce. It's so labor-intensive that we like to start and finish all in one day and get it over with. We did eight canners full--55 quarts, a new record. Then we started grape juice again. Fifteen quarts total. In bed about 11:15 p.m. again. Sixteen-hour day. We were tired. My knee was swollen. Mercy's back was killing her.



Saturday we got more grapes in the juicer by 7:30 a.m. We got two more batches done before I had to leave for Cedar City. Mercy was planning to go too for a mini class reunion with some high school friends, but woke up sick and just couldn't make it. I felt bad leaving her with a sticky kitchen floor. Thirty-six hours and 99 full jars later, we were on the road again. Crazy.

We had 2 1/2 boxes of apples and 1 1/2 boxes of grapes left over. It was all worth it, but I think we'll plan for more time or less fruit next year. The kids had fun with their cousins, and Mercy and I enjoyed visiting while we worked. We're on our third year of this family tradition. It's a win-win thing we decided. I have apple trees and grape vines. I don't enjoy canning all that much. She does. She gets free applesauce and grape juice, and I don't have to can alone.


After a pleasant drive over Cedar Mountain through the fall leaves, I attended Mercy's and Jeff's mini-reunion Saturday afternoon without them. It wasn't too awkward though, as most of the people at the reunion were my high school friends too. I tended to hang out with people a class younger than me or a class or two older than me. It was fun to visit and reminisce and laugh with good people that I hadn't seen for awhile. My dear friend Charlotte hosted the get-together at her parents' home and provided some yummy soups to go with our salads and desserts. After feasting on food and friends, it was time to hit the road again. I dragged the kids away from the TV at Grandma's and Grandpa's house, and we made it home by 7:45 p.m., in time to get baths and get ready for church and our Primary program practice today. I feel like I've been running for more than a week. Tomorrow IS going to be a lazy day. Oh wait, I still have grapes to do. Argh!

Charlotte! What are you reading?!!!*

I hear birds singing. My lilacs are blooming. My lawn needs mowing. My seasonal allergies are in full swing. But I woke up this morning, May 24th, to this:


I hope my tomato plants don't freeze.

*The last time I complained about the weather, my friend Charlotte blogged me an apology, taking blame because she had been reading The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I told her she needed to finish it quickly and find a warmer book to read. Charlotte, you've got some fast talking to do to get yourself out of this one. :-)

Catching Up

I have some thoughts running through my head that I really want to blog about, but I have some catching up to do first.

Many thanks to Jeff's parents who took our kids for three days before Christmas so we could have an anniversary get-away. It was so nice to have some down time, just the two of us. We raced a snowstorm up Provo Canyon to the Homestead Resort in Midway. I shouldn't say we raced, because we actually drove very slowly and carefully, but it was a race to get up there before the roads got too bad. It snowed most of the time we were up there, so we just hung out at the resort and didn't do too much exploring out in the treacherous winter wonderland. Still, we really had fun. Since we moved back Utah County, we've gone back to some of the places that were significant to us when we were dating/newly-married. We've discovered that you just have to hang on to those memories, because it's pretty hard to relive them. It's better and more fun to make new memories. Our new favorite memory? Hot-tubbing in the snow! It was a blast!

I told Jeff I'd make a snow angel if he'd go back to our room and get the camera. I wasn't going to do it without a way to prove that I'd done it! He said he'd make one too if I would go get the camera. So I put my boots and coat on over my wet swimming suit and hiked back to room for the camera. It was worth it--and it was COLD! But then the hot tub felt better than ever!



While we were hot-tubbing in the snow, the boys were seeing the Christmas light display at Willard Bay, building a gingerbread train, sledding at Happy Hollow, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the snow. Thanks Grandma and Papa!



We had a nice Christmas. Santa was good to us, as were grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We enjoyed the gifts, but mostly we just enjoyed the family time. Jared wrote a cute note to Santa that I had to take a picture of:


He did get his robot. And here is Dallin playing with one of his favorite gifts:


Our New Year's was extremely uneventful, but we made up for it on the 3rd when Ryan was baptized. He and two buddies from his Primary class were baptized in the same meeting. After the baptism we hosted 30 family members for lunch at our house. I am so thankful to live close to family again, so that we can celebrate important events like this together. We are proud of Ryan for wanting to follow Jesus Christ, and for preparing himself well. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, and a great desire to do what is right. We are blessed to be his parents.


And finally, Jeff really outdid himself for my birthday this year. He has been reveling in the fact that he has set new birthday gift standards for husbands everywhere. :-) He says he hasn't scored this many points from my friends since he brought me flowers at work for no particular reason. I knew I wasn't getting any gifts because the camera I got for Christmas was for my birthday too. So I wasn't expecting the large envelope Jeff handed me, full of cards and letters and gifts from good friends, and the new blog he created for me, full of more birthday wishes and kind words from people I love. I was in tears reading them all. What a great birthday present! To all of you who participated, thank you, thank you! And if you are reading this now and feel bad because you didn't know about it, that's okay. Jeff contacted as many people as he could get in touch with, but he didn't have access to all my e-mail addresses because I hadn't finished updating my address book. (Now that my birthday is past, he's complaining that he's not getting any interesting e-mail anymore.) Still, it was overwhelming to hear from so many people, and to think of the many more dear friends I didn't hear from this time, plus the ones I've lost touch with (hopefully temporarily). I am rich with friends! Thank you!

Oh Canada!

When I was a freshman at BYU, one of my roommates in Heritage Halls was a very fun girl from Alberta, Canada. After two semesters of living with Jacquie, I knew what a garborator was, I knew how to say "eh," and I wanted to go visit Alberta and see if it was as beautiful as she said it was. Almost twenty years later, I finally got my chance.

Earlier this month, Jeff had an academic conference to go to in Calgary, and I tagged along. (Actually, I've been planning this for a year.) There were all kinds of good reasons. Jeff's hotel room and car were paid for, so we just had to buy a plane ticket for me. We were due for an overnighter without kids. I can only think of two we've had since Adam was born almost nine years ago. And we are coming up on our 15th anniversary, so I figured I could justify it as an early celebration. It was wonderful! We definitely need to have getaways like this more often. Jeff's parents were kind enough to tend for us, so I didn't have one worry about the kids (although I did miss them a tiny bit :-). While Jeff was in his conference sessions, I kicked back in the hotel room and read a couple books--something I don't get to do very often. I also explored downtown Calgary a little, although it wasn't much fun to do by myself. My favorite thing was the Devonian Gardens, an indoor arboretum above a three-story mall. And we ate several good meals, the best of which was at the Silver Dragon in Chinatown, about two blocks from our hotel.

After Jeff was done with his conference on Saturday, we took off on the Trans-Canada Highway up into the Canadian Rockies. Originally we had planned to go to Banff and Lake Louise, but one of Jeff's colleagues suggested a less touristy route, and Jeff was all for that. We ended up driving south through the mountains on Highway 40. The scenery was beautiful! We stopped several times and took as many pictures as we had battery power in our camera--I had three sets of batteries that all died, and two sets of rechargeables that weren't charged--argh! The last of our batteries and the light died about the same time, so we headed back up the road to find some dinner in Canmore. We had a simple but entertaining meal in the bar of a Boston Pizza. All the tables were full in the restaurant, and a Calgary Flames-Vancouver Canucks hockey game was showing in the bar. Since we didn't have kids along and we were hungry, we opted for an available table in the bar. Watching the game was fun, but watching the fans was even more fun. There was one guy at a table near us that talked hockey with another guy for at least an hour-and-a-half straight while they watched the game. (He reminded us of Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.) I don't think the two guys even knew each other. And I'm sure I didn't hear more than three words from their wives the whole time. (They must have been wives. I don't think any two guys would ignore their girlfriends so completely!) Anyway, we enjoyed our meal, our waters (the waitress was probably disappointed with our tip), and the entertainment, and I felt like somehow I'd had a completely Canadian experience.

On Sunday we got a nice little tour of Calgary in an effort to find a chapel where we could watch General Conference. I had a map to the stake center closest to our hotel, but hello--it was closed for remodeling. That particular bit of helpful info wasn't available on the Church web site. We found a phone book and I wrote down addresses for two more chapels that we thought we could find. We didn't have a very detailed map, so it was a little tricky, but we found them, complete with no cars in the parking lots and no satellite dish at either one. It took a trip back downtown to a mall with free Internet to figure out where another stake center was. We made it there in time to watch the Sunday afternoon session, then went straight to the airport for our flight home after a very nice weekend. My only regret was that we didn't have time to drive up there and back. I would have liked to have seen the Cardston Temple and Waterton Park (where Jacquie worked summers) on the way.

Brush with Fame

Here's a photo of one of my favorite fellow bloggers performing at the Logan Summerfest this weekend. I did know that this friend is a very talented person with a beautiful voice from a very talented family. I also knew that she was performing in this festival. What I didn't know is that my in-laws were going to the festival to hear her sing. And what she didn't know is that they would send me a picture of her to post on my blog. :-) They said she did a great job and they really enjoyed it. They also sent me a couple of samples of tracks from one of her CDs, which are wonderful. Charlotte is the best!

Baseball, Sick Kids, Cousins, Kindergarten Graduation, & Friends

I haven't caught up on baseball for a couple weeks. We've had several more rainouts, but the weather finally cooperated this week so we could make up for some lost time. Ryan had games on Tuesday and Friday. He was running a high fever Tuesday, so I made him skip that game. In Friday's game he got to play pitcher, the busiest position in teeball. I missed the game to stay home with the other sick kids, but Jeff said he fielded everything hit to him and even got one batter out at first base. Ryan was most excited about sliding into home plate. As soon as he walked in the door he proudly showed me all the dust on his pants. Adam played Tuesday and Thursday, and had a double-header on Wednesday to make up some rainouts. They won two of those four games, but I've lost track of their overall record--something like 9 wins and 5 losses. Jeff has helped me keep up with his batting average though. At the moment, he is 25 for 32, for a .781 average (20 singles and 5 doubles).

As mentioned, we've been doing the sick kid thing this week. So far the symptoms are just fever and headaches. All four boys had fevers yesterday, so I kept them home from church today. I might have to take at least Dallin into the pediatrician tomorrow, but I'm guessing this is a virus that will go away on it's own. I tend to be pretty conservative about taking kids to the doctor, as I hate spending time and money to be told, "It's just a virus."

The most exciting part of our week though, was the visit of my brother, Enoch, and his family. They decided to do a Texas family vacation this summer, including two days and three nights at our house. It was fun to catch up with them and play with cousins. Will especially fit right in with our light-saber and superhero loving boys, and Adam and Ryan were a jealous of his Gameboy. We were a little hard-pressed to find things to do to entertain them, but they went with us to Adam's baseball game Tuesday night, then on Wednesday we took them downtown to Eggemeyer's General Store, to Kings Kingdom Park and the Concho River where we had a great time feeding the ducks and turtles. In the afternoon we went bowling and Will beat us all with a score of 114! Their time in San Angelo will probably be the most boring part of their vacation (compared to San Antonio and Dallas), but we're glad they came to see us. Thanks for fixing our gates too Enoch!















And finally, Thursday was the last day of school and Ryan's kindergarten graduation. I'm proud of Ryan--he had a great year and learned a lot--but I think kindergarten graduations are kind of silly. It was a nice, short program, however, in the hot, crowded elementary school gym. The 102 kindergarteners looked great all dressed in little red caps and gowns. They sang four songs, including a very cute one called "Move Me Up to the First Grade," sung to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." I got tears in my eyes when they played the Edward Elgar graduation march song, but then I almost always do. I think I associate it with change (something I've always struggled with) and with leaving a chapter of life behind that can never be returned to. Anyway, I wasn't emotional about kindergarten graduation, but that song got to me anyway. Ryan was emotional for an entirely different reason. He didn't even want to go because he said he was afraid of getting up in front of so many people. I tried to reassure him and calm him down, but he was still visibly upset. I wasn't sure where that came from until I talked to his teacher afterward and realized she was afraid of getting up in front of so many people too. It's amazing how impressionable our little ones are. Ryan was fine afterwards though, so hopefully he realized it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

Speaking of changes, we are really going to miss our good friends, the Townsends, who moved to Wisconsin this week. One of the benefits of moving around every few years has been all the wonderful, wonderful friends we've made. The hymn, "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good," has been playing in my brain this week.

Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord.
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow,
What greater goodness can we know
Than Christ-like friends whose gentle ways
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

When such a friend from us departs,
We hold forever in our hearts
A sweet and hallowed memory,
Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name,
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise they goodness, Lord above.

Thank you friends, for truly being blessings in my life!

Dallas Weekend Adventure

Okay, here's a long story about our short weekend last week.

During the summers of 2003 and 2004, Adam took swimming lessons at the Oakley Pool in Cincinnati with two friends, Peter and Ross Lohrisch, who lived in our neighborhood. At the pool we met and became good friends with two other families, the Sellas and the Russells. When we moved away from Cincinnati, one of the things we really missed (in addition to Graeter's ice cream) was hanging out at the Oakley Pool with these friends. Last summer, the Lohrisch's also moved to Texas and bought a home in Plano. Maryann called me a couple months ago to let me know that John Russell was coming to Dallas in April to guest conduct the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. John, better known to us as "Jack and Alma's dad," was the associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra while we lived in Cincinnati. So we made plans to travel to Dallas last weekend to visit my brother, Adam, and his family, to play with the Lohrisch's, and to see John conduct the Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert with the Von Trapp Children, great-grandkids of the real Maria and Captain Von Trapp of "Sound of Music" fame.

Last Friday we planned to leave for Dallas as soon as Jeff and the boys got home from school so we could get to the cousins' house around bedtime. I ran around all day like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to get all my errands done and get packed and ready to go. I almost made it, but best-laid plans failed again. We got a late start and didn't get to Dallas until about 10 p.m.

Saturday we drove up to Plano and spent several pleasant hours visiting, eating lunch, and swimming with John and the Lohrisch's. Three-year-old Jared provided the first excitement of the day by falling into the pool. Jeff had brought his swimming trunks but hadn't yet changed into them, so when he went in after Jared he soaked his wallet and clothes. Jared was fine, but scared. I'm afraid it's going to be a challenge to get him anywhere near a swimming pool anytime soon.

The second incident of the day occurred as we left Lohrisch's to go back to Dallas. The back tire on the driver's side of our van was completely flat. It took five men and at least a half an hour to figure out how to release the donut from underneath the van and get it mounted. Not wanting to drive too far on the donut, or to have to deal with fixing the tire on Sunday before we drove home, we pulled into a tire store five minutes before they closed Saturday evening. Fifteen minutes and eight dollars later we were on our way again. We made it back to Adam's and Paula's house with about an hour-and-a-half to eat and change before leaving for the concert.

The plan was to take Adam and Ryan with us and leave the little boys with a babysitter that Paula had arranged. I thought I had prepped Adam and Ryan well for the concert by buying the DVD of the Sound of Music, which they enjoyed in the van on the way to Dallas on Friday. However, they were tired from the late night Friday night, playing hard in the pool, and getting pretty bad sunburns--I forgot to apply sunscreen. The third incident of the day was one of those ugly parent-child power struggles when they both threw a fit about wanting to stay home and play video games with the cousins instead of going to the concert. I had actually considered letting them stay home with the babysitter until they started throwing tantrums--especially over video games! Then we were in a situation where we couldn't give in. So we got them dressed and into the van against their will, and we were off into what is known as the Mixmaster--downtown Dallas freeways. We only got turned around once off the last exit and made it to the Meyerson Symphony Center on time. The Meyerson was beautiful--can you see the Starship Enterprise in the lights on the ceiling?! The Von Trapp Children had amazing voices for teenagers, and John was fantastic--fun and energetic as usual. Adam and Ryan settled down and enjoyed the concert, as I thought they would. It was great experience and we really appreciated the tickets John comped us.

After another late night, we enjoyed a relaxing Sunday morning with Adam and his family. It's been so nice to live relatively close to them and get to spend time with each other fairly often. Our boys love playing with their cousins. Family is the best! We went to sacrament meeting with them in the afternoon, then headed home, again hoping to make it by bedtime. Our final excitement of the weekend happened when we stopped for gas in Sweetwater, TX, about 75 miles from home. We noticed that the tire we had gone to so much trouble to repair on Saturday was flat again. Grrrr. And it was pouring down rain. Jeff had no desire to put the donut on in his Sunday clothes in the rain. And he didn't feel good about driving home on the donut in the rain and in the dark either. Fortunately we were in a town big enough to have a truck stop with a service area that was open on Sunday evening. Unfortunately they didn't have the right size tire for our van. Fortunately they were able to refer us to an auto parts store that, amazingly, was open until 8 p.m. on Sunday evening and did have the right size tire. I still can't believe that. Unfortunately, the auto parts store wouldn't mount the tire for us. Fortunately, the truck stop service area did mount the tire for us. We saw some awesome lightning on the last leg of the trip, making it home 7 1/2 hours after we left Dallas, again about 10 p.m. (It's normally a 4 1/2 to 5 hour drive.) I let the boys sleep in Monday morning and took them to school late. When the secretary asked why they were tardy, all I could say was "hard weekend." Hard, but fun. And we got six new counties. :-)

Hobby #2--Yoga

Another hobby that I spend some time on is yoga. I was first introduced to it by my sweet friend, Patricia, four or five years ago when we lived in Cincinnati. She did a class on it for homemaking meeting at church once and shattered some of my preconceptions that it was a weird Eastern religion thing with chanting and all that. (Originally I'm sure it was just that, but Westerners have adapted it and many practice the physical aspects--Hatha yoga--simply as a form of exercise.) My interest was piqued, but when I checked out some classes they were more than our student budget could handle, so I didn't pursue it.

Then last spring my friend Stacie, a sister in our current ward, needed to do ten hours of volunteer yoga instruction to get her certification to teach it at a local health club. She offered to do a beginning yoga class twice a week as an Enrichment Activity. I jumped at the chance and I've really enjoyed it. She's kept going long beyond her ten hours, which has been a great service. In return, we've been lucky enough to be her guinea pigs as she's learned new things and practiced them on us before teaching them at the gym. In addition to yoga we've done some Tai Chi and some Pilates, but I still like yoga the best. I've tried to figure out how to describe what kind of yoga she teaches. She often calls it "yoga-flow," but as near as I can tell it is equivalent to Power Yoga and is encompassed by vinyasa yoga and Ashtanga yoga, which are more general terms. I enjoy the sun salutations and balance poses most, and I struggle most with the warrior poses.

I still need to find a way to work some cardiovascular activities into my life, but yoga has been great for flexibility, strength, relaxation and stress relief. I did it all through my pregnancy with Dallin, and although there were a few positions I couldn't do as I got bigger, I really believe it made for an easier pregnancy this time around. I also think one of the keys to aging gracefully, besides a good attitude, is staying active. My Grandpa Seegmiller started doing yoga several years ago and still does today as an 86-year-old. I hope I'm still doing it when I'm 86 too!