Each Day Is a Gift

We had a WONDERFUL day yesterday witnessing the temple sealing of Clara to her parents.  Sweet little Clara is eternally joined to her parents, an older sister who was still-born and her younger sister born  7 months after her.  This is what the Gospel is all about...eternal families!

The visiting and celebration continued on today.  I spent the morning preparing and cooking food for the luncheon after the blessing of Clara (11mon) and Ainsley(4mon) Mitarai at church in the afternoon.  Such sweet baby girls blessed by a grateful father, caressed by a joyful mother, witnessed by proud grandparents, loved by so many!!!

Amidst all the family gatherings, my other niece, Seidi, had her baby girl.  Her oldest brother's wife had her baby boy on Monday.  Can't think of a better way to celebrate Mother's Day than seeing these young mothers experience the joy of bring new little ones into the world. 

On our way to the airport at 10:30pm to pick up Eric, my sweet hubby gave me a fat envelope.  He had secretly emailed all my children and asked them to write me letters.  What a JOYFUL SURPRISE!!!!  The BEST Mother's Day gift I have ever received!!!   I shall treasure them forever!!! :) :) :)

Ran with Karen.  Strong gusty wind, rain, sleet, mud!!! Cough...wheeze...cough...laugh...cry...home...freezing!!!

Trying to spend every minute with my baby.  Got his socks, shirts, pants labeled.  A steady stream of friends coming to say goodbye.  He went to the H.S. to say goodbye to his former teachers and Seminary building where his teacher asked him to bear his testimony.  

Cooked a nice Chinese dinner, his last home-made supper, for the family.  His bishop, brothers, Eric & Jeff assisted his dad in setting him apart as the missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Taiwan Taipei Mission.  Hugs and joyful tears...my baby is now Elder Lew!!! :) :) :) :)

AM:  Spent the morning doing laundry so Steven will have freshly laundered or new clothes in his suitcase while he wrote a letter to the graduating seniors for the Seminary Graduation that his dad will be speaking at.  

All week long he kept asking: "Are you sure you don't want me to take the bus to the MTC?"  "You sure you don't want me to take the bus?"  "I can ride the bus."  "Nope, you would need a companion to ride the bus; so we might as well take you!" :)

Went down to grandma's to have a nice hello-n-goodbye lunch.  Sarah and baby Charlotte, Seidi, Danny, baby Charlie and baby Mina (3 days old) also came.  Emi had so much fun playing with baby Charlie (they're the same age).  Stopped by Bryan's condo to look for the camera cord (no luck) and say goodbye to Ben. 

The SHORTEST, QUICKEST drive EVER to the MTC to drop off my baby (err Elder Lew) at curbside!!!  I held up ok...no tears until his back was turned as two elders whisked him & his suitcases away!!!  Then the tears flooded uncontrollably!!!  I won't see him for TWO years!!!!  He was so happy and ready to go!  I cried like a baby all the way home feeling happy and sad at the same time!!!

PM:  I needed a quick run to *let-go*!!!  It was very windy!!!  Running on Bull River was horrible, gusty dusty dirt-filled air, from the construction to build up the road and cover the canal.  Got a major headache!!!

Ran down 2600 N to railroad trail up to canal trail east on Bull River with Wendy & Carolyn.  EZ conversation run!  Beautiful day!

Played outside on the trampoline, swing & slide with Emi.   Walked/jogged to see the neighborhood's horses and animals.  Played some more outside.  Picnic on the deck.  FUN morning!!!

6.3 w/ 1.8 cough-wheeze-warm-up mile, threw in 6x100m strides the last mile w/ 0.3 cool down.  [I think I could have done 8 strides if I wasn't trying SO SO SO hard to chase my SSF down...she totally killed me!] :) :) :) :) :)  But she & Kathie also saved me by convincing me to turn back to the car to take my inhaler!  (hmmm, may be they were annoyed by my constant coughing and wheezing, hahaha!!!)  Nothing like having the harem run together...FUN FUN FUN!  

SUPER FUN and more giggles when we met up with Brooke for breakfast!!! :) :) :)

Another beautiful sunny day to spend outside playing with Emi!!!  My bum bum is sore from going down the bumpy slides a gazillion times!!  :)

Met Luz at 6:30 am to run the PRT.  She ran down the big hill from Timp drive looking AWESOME!!!  We waited 10 min for the others who actually started at the mouth of the canyon (2-3 miles north of where we started).  Nice morning, temp in the mid 50s, overcast sky, strong headwind going up the canyon.  

Lots of runners & cyclists on the trail.  It was like a burst of sunshine when we saw MacK, MichelleL and Josse floating down the canyon.  We ran for another mile or so and hooked up with Ericka coming down at my mile 6.25 (perfect spot to turn around).  Then the three of us ran down together.  What a fun easy chatty pleasant run with GREAT companies!  THANKS Luz & Ericka for running with me!  :) :) :) :) :)

Side note:  Last night Eric KT taped my right quads and knee (I'm his first guinea pig) and put moleskin and bandaid on my left foot blister.   He also showed me some quads isometric exercise.  Nice to be taken care of! :)  Wore the Elixir two days in a row...ball of left foot a little sore.  Wore them on last Saturday's 15 miler with the same soreness and some tightness on the plantar fascia.  Still debating whether to wear these shoes for Ogden!

Spent the rest of the morning playing with Emi outside.  Got silly dizzy doing lotsa crazy fast ring-around-the roseys on the trampoline! :)