Mudders and Muddahs

Well, folks, it's that time of year again.  Yep, you guessed it, the 2nd Annual (at least for the O'Gwin Family) Emerald Coast Mud Run.  And what a day it was.

We started off at 7:30 in the morning with Chris running the Elite Competetive 10K.  And, since he's been training for a marathon in the fall, he rocked it!  Do you see him out there in the front leading the pack?  Well, he came in 16th out of a few hundred people.  Go Chris!!

(sidenote: Chris did get banged around a little bit during these runs.  As the ropes got muddy, they got slippery.  Chris ended up sliding down the other side of this wooden "mountain." OUCH!  But it's just a flesh wound people, just a flesh wound. ;)>)

Next it was on the the family fun run 5K.  We met up with our good friends and had a great time running along with them.  Here we are, nice and clean, in front of the looming mud pit.

And here we are after it's all over - completely caked in mud.  Chris, Aly, Lise, and I were on a team for the 5K and guess who rocked it?  Analise!  She was always out running in front of everybody and could easily do all the obstacles.  Plus, she was the only girl to do the single rope climbing event to the top. I guess all those core muscles she's developed from gymnastics really paid off!  I was the slowest of the group, but I didn't push myself and actually enjoyed myself much more this year.  And, look! - I'm the size of a beehive girl! :)

 Chris ran the 1 mile kid's run with Kate and he said she was an animal!  I guess all that tree climbing really paid off, because she was like a monkey climbing the rope ladders and doing the monkey bars.

And then there was Mother's Day, or, as Aly would say, Muddah's Day.

 The girls had each made me some cute cards, Chris got me a Kitchen-aide, and everybody helped to cook a delicious dinner, so the day was a huge success.  (I'm actually secretly hoping that my girls will get more use out of the Kitchen-aide than I will - hehehe.)

I love this picture of Analise - I often wonder what deep thoughts are going on inside of her.  

So that brings me to "Stacy's Philosophical Corner."  Whenever we are about to move, one chapter of our life ending and another about to begin, I tend to do a sort of internal evaluation of how our family has grown, where we've come and where we're going, that sort of thing.  We've been through a lot over the past 3 1/2 years - arriving with a baby and leaving with a young woman, 2 long deployments and multiple traveling on Chris' part, and a  tragic boating accident and loss of 3 precious people to our family.  And as I've been thinking about all that our family has experienced while living in Florida, the thing that keeps coming to mind is "The Given Good vs. The Expected Good."   I had an institute class in college where the professor was talking about how Heavenly Father always gives good gifts, even if it's not what we expected.  ("If ye then . . . know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much ore shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" -- Matthew 7:11)  I have seen that a lot in my life.  

Before I got married, I expected/desired to raise a righteous family with my husband by my side.  With a husband in the military and multiple deployments, that has not always been what I have been given.  Instead, Heavenly Father has given me to know just how much I am capable of with His help and wonderful angels and friends who lift and support me.  

There are times when I have asked for a trial to be removed, and I have been given patience instead.

And finally, with moving around a lot in the military and having to re-establish our family over and over, extended family have been an anchor to us.  I had expected that my Mom and Sister would be around to offer that support until we retired from the military and could move closer and reciprocate our support to them. But that was not what was given.  For awhile after the accident I would think, "Why couldn't I have had just 1 more year?"  We had a girls' trip in Florida planned and I had another deployment looming where Chris would miss yet another Christmas.  Couldn't He have just let them stay just one more year?  But even as I thought that, I began to see the tender mercies of the Lord.  This accident, mercifully, happened during a time when we were not about to move - to a city of strangers where nobody knew us or what we were going through.  Instead, the kids were well established in their schools and we had some of the best friends and support we've had in all our years in the military to come back to.  That was a good gift.  I've also learned that the ward family and His gospel are my home away from home.  I have been so grateful for the closeness that I have felt to members of my ward, friends, and additional family members who have offered support to our family through this time.   I wouldn't trade those relationships for anything.

I am so grateful for all of the gifts and Tender Mercies that the Lord bestows upon me and my family.  I'm grateful that He knows what is best for me and will give me the best gifts that I need, not necessarily what I ask for.

May We Cram as Much into the End of the School Year as Possible

As our move is getting ever closer, it feels like life is getting busier and busier.  At the same time I feel like I'm in denial, like it's not really going to happen at all.  Or maybe I'm just using all the end-of-the-year-fun as an excuse to procrastinate my moving to-do list.  At any rate, May has brought on a lot of fun adventures:

 First of all, Aly was able to go on her first youth temple trip.  Here she is with some of her friends at 6 in the morning, ready for a 4 hour road trip adventure!  I was able to go up with the youth and it was a really neat experience to be in the temple, watching Aly perform baptisms for the dead, thinking about how important those ordinances are, and feeling the peace of the Spirit to be found in the Lord's house.  It was amazing.

 The other awesome thing, was that the very next day, our stake was privileged to participate in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida temple dedication via satellite.  All worthy baptized members 8 and older were able to attend, so Chris and I were able to take Aly and Lise to participate with us.  I especially loved that during the 1/2 hour before the meeting, they had a slide show going showing the inside of many different temples.  I was able to talk with Lise about the different rooms and what ordinances  are performed there, the symbolism of the mirrors stretching on to eternity, etc.  It was amazing.

 Next on our line up were Analise and Kate's field days at school.  Due to the excessive amounts of rain our area had and the cancellation of school, field days were postponed.  However, when we showed up the next week, it was bright and sunny and the kids were ready to go!

 Lise and Chris rocked it during the parent/child 3 legged race!

 Kylie was happy as can be walking on all the colored balls and cheering her sister on!

 The Leaky pail - the kids favorite, and so much better on a sunny day!

Kate was super excited to have us come cheer her on for her field day.  And for good reason too - she rocked it on the three legged and potato sack races!

 Look at those muscles! ;)

Since 4th Grade is the year you study state history, Analise was able to take an amazing field trip to the state capitol, Tallahassee and see some awesome stuff.  They saw the capitol building, a old Mission building, among other things.  (Lise said she liked hanging out with her friends on the bus ride the most - go figure).

The girls have also had some concerts for us to come watch.  Aly's Spring Concert was amazing, as always, with serious music, fun music, and sing along music.

 Analise had her 4th Grade recorder concert where she (and 1,000 other 4th graders) were privileged to display their talent along with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra.

And yes, as May came upon us, the temperatures have also risen to where we are now back into swimming season.  Here are a few pictures taken at the pool - one from a day when we were thwarted from going to the beach because it was a double red flag day.  Bummer.  The kids didn't seem to mind though.

And, after all this, we aren't even done yet!  May is not even 1/2 over.  We've still got a couple more field trips, a play, a mud run, and a cruise before the month is done.  Stay tuned!

April Fools, Foolishness, and Fun

There has been a lot of karaoke and made up songs going on at our house lately, so one night for family home evening we decided to capture it for posterity's sake.  Here are the highlights:

Analise and Kate made up this beautiful song. . . 

I'm sure you all have your own Elsa at home.  Here is ours . . .

Since Easter was so late this year, April was all about the bunny.  And we had quite a lot of hopping going on at our house. 

I loved how my kids embellished on the Easter decor.  It was nice to have Barbie keep the lamb company so he didn't get lonely. ;)

Kylie loved going to the Easter Egg hunt with playgroup.  I think she liked her friends as much, if not more, than the candy!

Kylie was also able to go to a fun Easter themed birthday party.  Super fun and cute.

A fun family Easter Egg Hunt with friends . . .

Also, this Easter, Analise took charge of family scripture study for the week and had us read about Christ's final week leading up to the crucifixion.  It was nice to make that more of a focus and to talk about the Savior and his sacrifice for an entire week.

April was also the month for surgeries.  One of Kylie's ears didn't heal up from when her tubes fell out, and Kate needed some exploratory surgery into why she keeps having so many bladder infections.  So, nothing too serious, but it's always good to have it over and done with, and I can't wait to be done with the 1 hour drive to Pensacola for all the follow up visits!

April also brought on the famous "Evening of the Arts" at the  girls elementary school.  And we've got a couple of amazing artists at our house, so we got to see some masterpieces!

Kate's artwork is on her desk behind her, and this is also the cool campfire she made.

Analise did some neat artwork based on other famous artists' work.

Aly was also able to participate in Evening of the Arts as her chorus group performed for the event.  It was so nice of her to come back to her "alma mater." :)

As the girls are getting ready for school to be done, the moms that I do preschool with and I are also losing momentum - not to get together and have fun, mind you, just to have a formal preschool.  We've had many preschool days at the park and the beach, which is actually fine with me.  I just did my last day and we put together a Mother's Day present/questionnaire for the moms.  It's always best to get it from a child's perspective. ;)

This month we've also had a couple critters visit our home as well.  

Interestingly, it was Kylie who discovered the snake.  She came running inside upset that "there's a snake in my way blocking where I want to run outside!"  We could never figure out if it was poisonous or not.  It hung out at the back of our house for a couple of days, but when Chris tested out the sprinkling system, he decided to move along.

The main thing I've been working on this past month has been to finish my first ever Shutterfly book!  I was doing it for one of my 10 hour projects for young women's, but it ended up taking more like 100 hours.  Oh well, it was totally worth it and I have a great sense of accomplishment getting it done.  See how happy I look? (below)  Now I just need to wait for a great sale on Shutterfly to print it . . . ;)

And now for a few funnyisms:

Chris - I love you Kylie!
Kylie - Don't jinx it Dad!

Me - Kylie, your hair is getting longer.
Kylie - Why? Oh!  I know!  Because I was Rapunzel as a baby!

This is Analise's usual hang out spot and position . . . 

I did want to capture a visual of Kate's math homework and how she marks her right answers - doing anything BUT filling in the bubble.

Kate's quote of the week, "Blood tastes delicious!"
Me - when have you tasted blood?
Kate - when my teeth fall out and your mouth is bloody; it tastes delicious!

And finally, a story to go with this picture.  Kate broke the mouth piece off her water bottle on the way home from school on the bus one day.  She was breathing into it the whole way home - very loudly -  and Lise came into the house complaining that Kate was being, "Darth Kater."  An appropriate nickname on many levels.  Anyway, Chris is trying to convince Kate to be Darth Kater for Halloween.  We shall see.