Don't Blink

There is a country music song called "Don't Blink" (I know the country haters are wincing at this reference, but I can't help my love of country any more than Joel can help his love of Def Lepeord.). So, the song is about how fast life goes and I am finding it so applicable right now. The last couple of months have been action packed. Some highlights:

• At the beginning of March I went to Las Vegas with some of my friends from the neighborhood. It was amazing to get out of town and get warm with such a fun group. Joel watched the kids and was so great about getting mommy to Vegas. Can you say carte blanche? Joel can. Here is a picture of me and my girls at Phantom of the Opera in the Venetian. Good times.
  
• The day after I got home from exciting times in Vegas I had the immense pleasure of tending the Hale boys for a couple of days while Gretchen and Marc took a well deserved vacation. So, life with 8 kids is wild in a way that Vegas could never comprehend. This was truly a "don't blink" situation because if I did blink I think one or all of the kids would have hog tied me. It was truly Lord of the Flies around here. The picture on the left is the kids dancing to Neil Diamond one morning and the picture on the right is Lincoln and Cooper being the adorable babies they are. This gives a pretty good snapshot of life at the Mills residence at that time.
• Tyson and Emily moved. Tyson had a great job opportunity open up in Seattle and those guys are now there. Can I just say that I hate Seattle for taking those guys away from me and I will hate it for the rest of my life. I feel like I blinked too much while those guys were here.
  
• A few weeks ago Gretchen got us off our tails and into the Salt Lake Marathon. Ok, let me be quick to say no one here ran a marathon. Running for 4 or 5 hours straight is just not in the cards for this girl. Gretch and I ran the 5k and the kids ran the 1k with Joel. This was my first organized race since high school track and I must say I loved it. It was so exhilerating to run the streets of downtown Salt Lake City with such a huge mass of humanitiy united in the common goal of not passing out. Gretchen and I run at about the same pace so we were able to run all of it together and that was fun. The girls ran the 1k and also loved it. Their common goal was to beat as many boys as possible. Joel ran it with him and scored his best 1k time ever. Can I just say he is such a great dad. So here is a picture of him w/ the girls at the end of the race on the right and on the left is Brandon and Linc during the race relaxing and having snacks.
  
• Spring. Can I count that as a highlight? I love this time of year. It is so wonderful to see the earth come back to life. I love that my kids are playing outside again (being inside for too long turns them into little fire monsters). I love all of the spring flowers in their brief but dazzeling glory and I love that none of the neighborhood hooligans have beheaded my tulips this year. It just feels like anything is possible this time of year.