I flew out solo March 1-3 to meet Zoe. Ryan and Xiao are back in the states and stopped over at Mom's house in Smithfield before returning to Chicago. I jumped at the opportunity to snuggle me a baby before she's a toddler and completely fell in love. I was not the only one. The entire weekend she was surrounded by a circle of admirers. Zoe is curious and observant and pretty quiet. Every time someone new walked in the room she looked, and she usually greeted them with an upraised hand and a breathy, "Hah."
She did not love the sunglasses or bunny ears I got her, but the Easter bunny rattle was a hit, and Elise took over the rest of the gear with gusto.
I got to spend time with Ethan and Elise as well, and got in good visits with Scott and Caprice, Mom and Dad, Chris and Jodi, and both Grandma Holley and Grandpa Bingham.
On my way out of town, I got a tour of the house Scott and Caprice are building. They've got amazing views! It was hard to leave. I cried as I smooched Zoe one more time.
Jack was in the district spelling bee again this year.
Hazel's basketball team had their season wrap-up banquet. She was awarded Best Defensive Player.
Hazel had Trimester 2 finals and we were all relieved to say goodbye to her awful AP Human Geography teacher. That was a rough experience.
Todd and Jack took the young men up to the cabin for an overnight trip and the girls and I celebrated International Women's Day with a chick flick (Benny and Joon) and brunch at Denica''s.
We had dinner with the Dix family, but I didn't take any pictures.
Katie and I hiked Del Valle and soaked up the green hills. It was so gorgeous!
Hazel's been working on her summer tan every chance she gets.
Hazel invited her seminary buddies over for a movie night. It was funny to see everyone show up in pajamas. They're a cute group. We watched Leap Year in honor of St. Patrick's Day (because it's set in Ireland).
Laura came to visit Erika, so we joined the party. We brought our bikes to Erika's house in Alameda, rode the ferry over to San Francisco, watched part of the St. Patrick's Day parade, visited the farmer's market, and rode our bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Now, when we made this plan, in my head, the ferry let us off quite near the bridge. Not so. We had to bike about ten miles through the city just to get to the bridge, then cross it, and come back. Altogether we biked 22-25 miles, in heavy wind, sometimes in traffic, sometimes up and down some wild hills. My legs felt like jello. Everything hurt. I thought I'd crash that night and sleep like a rock, but actually, my legs hurt so bad I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep well. I took ibuprofen the next day and couldn't wait for the massage I had scheduled for Wednesday!
We all went to an Irish concert (Danu) at the Bankhead that night, too. It was a memorable day!
Gemma went to science camp at Camp Campbell from Tuesday to Friday. It was like a piece of my heart was walking around without me! I missed her so bad, but she had an amazing time and I'd send her back in a heartbeat. She talked nonstop for two hours when she got home and told me everything.
All the music program from Livermore High went to Disneyland to play in a competition and also have a fun trip. Hazel had a blast. LHS destroyed the competition, walking away with first place in basically every event. I think they brought home more than 10 trophies. Hazel enjoyed spending so much time with her friends and supporting her classmates.
Jack invited some friends over to hang out on a Saturday. They had pizza, played games, and walked to the boba shop half a mile away. They got caught in a sudden downpour of rain on the way home. We had to give them all a change of clothes and toss theirs in the dryer.
I made a big effort to celebrate Holy Week with the family from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. I had a devotional planned for each day that we discussed over dinner. I had fresh flowers in the house constantly from Ash Wednesday through Easter and made an excellent music playlist, too. I had a huge collection of pictures of Jesus I had cut out of church magazines and let everyone choose a few that resonated with them to hang up where they would see them throughout the week.
I made a simple Jerusalem dinner for us Thursday night. Next year I will buy unleavened bread. I tried two recipes and even though they were super basic and I totally know how to make bread, they were not awesome.
We had a Primary egg hunt Saturday morning. Gemma invited Lydia.
Todd has been feverishly preparing for an upcoming Survivor-themed youth activity. He is overly ambitious. It's endearing.
We went to a Lamb of God performance at the Temple Hill auditorium. While the music was beautiful and I'd happily make that an annual tradition, it was difficult to keep my eyes open when no one was moving across the stage. I meant to just listen with my eyes closed, but I did wake myself up with my head dropping down multiple times. Hazel caught me and Todd both nodding off.
Easter Day we went to church, made resurrection rolls, hid baskets, had an egg hunt in the backyard, had a sweet family devotional, and made a frittata with a gorgeous teal emu egg that we drilled open.
