Happenings 9/1 - 9/7

This morning J.J. had ward council meeting, so I had to get the girls bathed and ready since they didn't get baths Saturday night. But they didn't wake up real early, so we were somewhat rushed. After Claire's bath, I told her to get dressed while I got dressed, and she did. We got to the church and as we got out the van, she stopped and said, "Did I put underwear on today?" She didn't. I took them in, gave Rachel to J.J. and Claire and I went back home for panties. (Claire came walking into Sacrament meeting with a big grin on her face and said, "I forgot panties today!" and we both got to giggling. So Paul took her home for the important items we all sometimes forget.)

It was a pretty good week for us. On Monday I went on an 11-mile run with a friend of mine from church, Chad, and two other guys. Chad is training for a marathon with another guy, and asked if I wanted to run with them on some of their long runs. Since I had been running 6 or so miles lately, I thought I would give it a try. I felt pretty good running that many miles, but it was hot and humid even at 6:00 in the morning, which made it a little harder. I was sore the rest of the day and into Tuesday though. But the 4-mile run on Wednesday and the 7-mile run on Saturday sure seemed easier. I'm thinking that this might be the year to try a marathon. I can't do the one that Chad is doing in December, but there is one in Nashville in April. I'm enjoying running, and I've never ran as many miles as I have done lately, so I should probably do it while I feel this way.

Later on Monday we had lunch at the Eubanks' house, enjoying good steak and bacon-wrapped venison, and Claire had a great time playing with their boys.

The rest of the week was pretty routine. I only disappointed a few students who wanted to switch sections because they didn't like their teacher. I didn't feel that their reasons justified the trouble it would cause and encouraged them to work it out with their teachers if they could and if not, I would be happy to meet with them together. I think I had 3 of those students this week.

Thursday evening we had some friends Matt and Abigail and their son Hunter, who is Claire's age, over for dinner, and enjoyed visiting with them. They both work in J.J.'s office, and the kids love playing together. Claire told us, while they were here, that she was going to marry Hunter when she grew up. Uh-oh. (Hunter let everyone know that they would "get married, and then they would live together and kiss each other on the lips." I told them just remember it needs to be in that order. :) Don't worry, since then, she has reverted to her old plan of marrying "daddy", but now she told me that when she does, I will need to find someone else to marry.)

Friday I played tennis with Thomas early in the morning, but we didn't have much of a set because it was misting when we started, which was fine, but then it started to sprinkle and the court started to get slick. We stopped our set and just hit for awhile so that we wouldn't do anything to strain a muscle. After playing I had a productive day working on a couple of articles that I want to submit to journals soon. I had to stay until 3:30 because there was a meeting for all tenure-track faculty, so J.J. took Rachel with her to Claire's dance class. When I got home, Jessica, the girl who has stayed with us and went out to Utah for the summer, and her friend here in our ward, Meghan, came over to visit and we ordered pizza for dinner.

Saturday, after my run, I worked on cleaning some of the house, then watched tennis while Rachel napped and later went grocery shopping. I saw highlights of the BYU game and was glad they won but hope they win more convincingly next time so that miracle finishes don't need to happen. That evening, Jessica, Meghan and her fiance Robert came over to watch Rachel, and Claire went to Katy's house, while J.J. and I went to the English Department party. We had a good time there with some good food and conversation, and it was nice to be able to eat and talk without worrying about the girls. (It is so much more enjoyable to actually get to eat and really have a conversation with someone.)