March Happenings

A couple Fridays ago the teachers had a teacher work day, so I made the kids all go hiking with me again!  Just for old time's sake, I grabbed Sydney and Beth, too.  We did Ragged Mountain and had a great time (except for one child who spent half the hike acting like he was going to die)(and who will not be named, but if you look in the group photo, he's the only one ominously standing in a shadow...)!

Kendra was very nice about giving Beth a piggyback ride for a bit!

This picture cracks me up

Having a good time!

I can't figure out how long this hike actually is.  The map and mile markers very clearly say it's 7 miles long, but my little odometer tracker on my phone insists I only walk 5.5 miles when I do it.  So who's right???  That seems like an awfully big discrepancy!  I'm inclined to think the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but I doubt I'll ever know.  I did learn that when you tell your kids it's only 5 or so miles and then we keep walking past the bench marked Mile 6, they get pretty angry with you.  Oops?

That night, Craig and I went out to dinner, which is one of my favorite things EVER to do.  His eyes have been getting worse since he turned 40, so as he was squinting at his phone, I suddenly realized who he was reminding me of and had to take a picture...

"However, she mistook the 'drowsy eye' alcohol warning for a 'winking eye' alcohol suggestion."

Oh, Craig makes me laugh!

On Sunday we had a neighborhood get-together, where Zevi was without a doubt my best friend there! 

Preferring a 2-year-old's company probably isn't a ringing endorsement for me, but I do like knowing that I'm at least a very good babysitter!  But then I had to leave that early so I could participate in a FaceTime baby shower for my baby sister, Rachael! 

It was very fun hanging out with all the Bentley women for a bit!

I'm still taking my turns leading FiA, and was pleased with this photo, mostly because it was finally getting light outside as we exercised (no more, since Daylight Savings) AND I managed to take a selfie without giving myself extra chins!  Success!!!  This was on a rare warm day, and it felt so great to not be wearing so many layers AND to not be swatting at mosquitoes-- we get so few days where both of those things happen!

The other day after school, Camille spent quite a bit of time making counterfeit pennies.  Should I be worried?

And Ryder got to play basketball in YMs and had the happiest time of his life, so that made me happy, too!  It was nice that the big kids let him really participate, even though he's quite a bit younger than all of them.  (I think it helped that Bentley was gone that night.)

He came home absolutely BEAMING because he'd made several shots!

Now this is super random, but it's not long enough to have its own blog post, and it's my blog, so I can talk about this here if I want to!  Ha!

Anyway, I was chatting with my sister Tracy the other day, and she told me that she would be moderating a Zoom meeting for the stake, where one of the guest speakers was the woman who coined the phrase "Well behaved women rarely make history."  DID YOU KNOW THIS CAME FROM A MORMON HARVARD PROFESSOR?!?!?!?!?  How did I not know this?

Anyway, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.  I need to know more about her.  And I need to actually read A Midwife's Tale: the Life of Martha Ballard, and probably a bunch of her other stuff, too, but this is the one I'd heard of because we talked about a lot in my Historian's Craft class a long, long time ago (and which was taught by another brilliant professor, Jenny Pulsipher).  So much learning to do!