The first two weeks of August have been a time of decompression for Lix and the kids. They were away pretty much all of July, so they enjoyed sleeping in their own beds and getting back to their normal routine of going to the gym, playing with Kenna, pool days, Costco, and all the other mundane regular things that you complain about having to do.
Jarom had been training for his first (and last?) half marathon, which he ran with Nate on the 12th. It is billed as the “Hottest Half”, and thankfully it didn’t quite live up to its threatening moniker. On race day it was an unusually cool morning, somewhere in the mid 80’s. It warmed up through the race and was certainly plenty hot, but it could have been worse. Jarom and Nate did their training mostly at 9:30 miles. They figured they might slow down a little from that, but were planning on finishing in 2:10 or so, which is a 10 minute mile pace. The race went around White Rock Lake in Dallas, and was extremely crowded for the first few miles. That’s something neither Jarom nor Nate was ready for, as this is their first real race. But things were going pretty well at the midway point. They were just under a 10 minute/mile pace and Jarom felt pretty good and was about to ask Nate if he wanted to pick it up a little. But before he could do that Nate started having a really bad day. We aren’t really sure what happened. Maybe it was because he didn’t eat any breakfast, or the stress of having a wife in the hospital ready to have a baby, or the pressure of his new job (Nate is now Jarom’s boss…ish). But whatever it was, his body began rejecting the half marathon. Jarom wasn’t really concerned about posting a great time, so he did some run/walk with him for about 3 miles until Nate told him it wasn’t getting any better and to just leave him behind. Jarom figured it’s not like we’re marines in Iraq or anything, so he took off. The rest of the race went well and he crossed in 2:25. He’s pretty pleased with it, and what’s even better he wasn’t overly sore afterwards. Hopefully the positive experience won’t entice him to do any more of these. Nate trickled in a little while later, and then laid on the ground for a bit, stood up and walked 20 feet and then laid back down, repeated over and over. He threw up some PowerAde while Jarom went and got the car, and then crashed while Jarom drove him home. Word on the street is that he made it as far as the foyer of his house before collapsing and taking a nap. I don’t think Nate will be trying this again.
The other big event happened this past Tuesday during a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning struck very near to the house. At first the only thing that Jarom noticed was that the internet was down due to a fried modem. But the next day he found that the toaster was a little screwy. Later Lix found that the TV upstairs wouldn’t turn on and the Dish wasn’t getting a signal. As she was leaving to go to the pool she found the sprinklers on and called Jarom at work to try and get them to turn off. After that, they thought they were okay. Lix did notice lots of water running into the street from our yard, but just figured that it was the neighbor’s problem (always a good assumption, although I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to her to go over to the neighbor’s house and tell them about it.) The next evening Jarom was taking a shower when someone rang the doorbell. Alixa was sitting downstairs watching TV, but of course didn’t answer the door. Instead she scampered up the stairs to ask Jarom what she should do. Jarom offered what he thought was a practical solution to her problem- answer the door. But this was not acceptable. Even though Jarom didn’t agree, it was quite obvious to Alixa that the only person who would possibly be ringing our doorbell at 9:00 at night was a murderer, or possibly a group of murderers. You might think that murderers aren’t so courteous as to ring the doorbell of their victims, and might even try to use an entrance to the house less visible than the front door which can be seen by all the houses on the street, but you would be wrong. Lix has unsuccessfully faced this fear many times in the past, leaving friends and neighbors and even her visiting teachers (who had a scheduled appointment!) waiting outside the door while she cowered in fear. Sadly, there is no hope that she will ever answer the door unless she knows exactly who is there, and she won’t go look out the window because then the murderers will know that she is home, because they can’t see the lights and hear the TV that she keeps loud enough to hear outside anyway.
By the time Jarom finished his shower the killers had moved on down the street and nobody was there. The next morning Lix found out that it was in fact not a homicidal-but-polite maniac, it was our neighbor. He had also noticed the water and instead of ignoring decided to investigate, and found that it was coming from our house. It turns out that the lightning strike busted some sprinkler piping and created a moderate leak. So Lix spent the morning calling the city and plumbers to get water turned off and back on and get some valves fixed. At the end of the day we got things taken care of, but it was a lot more hassle than it needed to be. My question to you readers is this: Is it acceptable to deduct lightning repairs from our tithing bill? It only seems fair that He should be responsible for those expenses.
The good thing about this whole mess is that it will allow Lix to get a new toaster, which she wanted, and a new TV upstairs, which she wanted, and we got rid of the entertainment center the old TV was on, which she hated. Now we just have to find the money for all that stuff.
The kids are hilarious and entertaining as usual. Bo loves to follow Jenna around and do whatever she is doing, even if that means wearing her nightgowns. They are both turning into little fish and have a great time at the pool. Jenna has started swimming without any flotation devices, and can make it about 15 yards before she needs a breath. She isn’t great at getting her head out without help yet, but she’s improving. Bo likes to float and splash and blow bubbles in the water. Jarom got an iPad for his birthday, so most nights he and Lix can be found sitting on the couch playing igames on their respective idevices. With any luck they’ll never have to actually speak to each other again. It’s great how apple has brought us all closer together.
While we were in Utah, we went to our favorite photo studio. Its called FotoFly and they take the most amazing pictures and they are so reasonably priced. So, I thought I would share some adorable pics of my super cute kids. Enjoy!
The month of July was not spent in Texas, at least not for Lix and Jenna and Bo. The month started in Texas, with a visit from the Bleyls, one of the Winns favorite families from Richmond. They have a few boys playing in a national volleyball tournament the week of July 4th, and they were kind enough to spend their free time chasing little kids around. Jarom took a day off from work to go play golf while Lix and Courtney took the kids swimming. The Winns drove downtown to watch a volleyball game and enjoy a nice lunch at Chuy's afterwards. And the group also took a tour of Cowboy's Stadium together. Then Lix took the kids out to Utah for 17 days. They spent a week stationed at the mission home, taking day trips to the water park and the dinosaur museum and the mall and other fun places, and then spent their nights with Grandma and Grandpa. Lix got to see her old roommates and friends and their kids and had a generally swell time. Week two shifted base camp to Aspen Grove where the PJ side of the family was having a get together. Jenna and Bo had counselors and all sorts of fun activities to do during the day while Lix hiked and rappelled and played walleyball and shuffleboard and badminton. The nights weren't great because Bo was getting a handful of teeth and cried a lot and everyone was in the same room. But other than that everyone had a great time. Now Jenna will spontaneously shout "I said a boom chicka-boom" and then await your response. She does a bunch of other cheers as well. It's like we just got her back from girls camp.
Jarom was sad and lonely without his family, so they came back and unpacked, and then repacked and hopped in the car to drive to Gatlinburg, Tennessee via Memphis. Another reunion, this time for the Nancy side of the family. They stayed in a cabin in Pigeon Forge over looking the Smokey Mountains. Jarom got to play some golf with cousins and uncles and stuff, Lix got to do some shopping at the outlets, everyone got to spend a great day at Ober Gatlinburg, and they did some hiking through the state park. There were lots of card games and visiting at night, and lots of their favorite people were there to play with. It was especially nice to see Kip and Carolyn, and they are hoping to see them more often in the future. Everyone had a great time, except for the fact that it took 15 hours to drive each way. The kids actually did really well considering. The fact that there was a puppy dog waiting at the mid point certainly didn't hurt, and there was a lot of singing along to the music. But now everyone is back in Dallas and trying to get reacclimated to a normal life of the gym, and work, and the pool, and Kenna, and very high temperatures. Enjoy the photos.
