In the Spring of Things

We’re having some rainy, gray weather right now—very uncharacteristic of Utah. But just in time for track season (right, Mom?). It’s keeping me inside and giving me an opportunity to finally update this blog. It’s been awhile!

First things first, we found out that we’re having a baby BOY! We’re very excited to meet our little guy in about 3 months (and nervous about all of the things we need to do between now and then). Everything is going smoothly with the pregnancy. He’s very active and seems to be moving almost constantly! Our nursery is slowly accumulating things. We purchased some used furniture—a crib, rocking chair, and dresser/changing table. I’m hoping to start decorating soon and will share some pictures then.

Ultrasound at 19 weeks

We are excited to have three other couples from our small group Bible study who are also expecting—due in May, July, and September! Since we’ll all be first time parents, it’s been great to navigate pregnancy and planning for baby with these friends.

In late February, we were able to spend some time with high school & college friends. Brian Odegaard, our teammate from Calvin Cross Country, was in town for a Neuroscience Conference. We spent an evening in downtown Salt Lake City with him. Jeff & Lindsey Lombardo, Todd’s high school friends, were also in Utah for the weekend. Todd, Jeff, & Lindsey competed in the US National Snowshoe Championships at Powder Mountain Ski Resort. They did a 10 kilometer race in snowshoes at 9,000 feet! 

Beautiful day at 9,000 feet

Todd & Jeff at the start

Todd, Jeff, and Lindsey

Just a few weeks ago, we traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii for a babymoon!! We are so grateful we were able to take some time to enjoy being the “two of us” before we become the “three of us”. The Big Island is beautiful! Before getting there, I had no idea how much variety in landscape I’d see there. The island has 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones. Since we drove across the island several times, we were able to see many of these different areas—coastal, desert, rainforest, alpine, etc. We spent most mornings relaxing at the ocean or pool, and went on hikes or rented gear for water sports in the afternoons.

Pololu Valley

Rainbow Falls

Baby Bump at 24 weeks

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens

'Akaka Falls

Waipio Valley

Glow of the lava at the Halema'uma'u Crater

When we returned from Hawaii, we got to spend several days with Grant and Allison. They were in Salt Lake City to ski for a few days with friends, and stayed a few extra days to hang out with us. Unfortunately we were busy with work and track during their stay, but we gave them a tour of the athletics facilities at the University of Utah and of Olympus High School. They had the privilege of seeing Olympus Track & Field in action at the Utah Valley University Invitational as well (for 11 hours, yikes!J). As always, it was great to spend time with family in Utah!

Olympus Track & Field has had some great success already! We place 7^th out of 38 teams at our first big invitational and 4^th out of 23 teams at our invitational last weekend. We’ve had many state qualifying marks already—in the girls shot put, discus, 3200m, 1600m, & 800m and in the boys 200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m, and long jump. We’re hopeful that we could win region on either the boys or girls side this year!