Our family spent most of April on the tennis court or soccer fields. 

I love that the girls enjoy playing a sport and making new friends through the games they play.

Caroline and Chris spent a week closely watching a men's pro tennis tournament...including skipping school one day to watch matches! 

These photos were taken on the day of the finals - do you see her excitement?!? Two of her fellow competitors were also at the match and joined her in the picture below. 

Cate loved her second season of soccer, and Dad the Coach did, too. Cate had a meltdown when she realized the season was over! 

I'm re-posting this from my Facebook page. Forgive the duplication.

For a while I wondered how I would handle losing my dad. Now I wonder how his absence will affect every day moving forward. My heart hurts the most for my girls and for my nephew coming in June, whose time with him wasn't enough. I hope C + C can savor the American Girl Doll trip to Chicago, campfire s'mores by the pond, the piñata birthday party in Mexico, volleyball in the pool on his shoulders, singing "Fins Up!", pool-slide races in Aruba, riding the tractor on the farm, and mixing up all the cereals on the Saturday mornings they would stay with him.

What I do know is I am absolutely grateful for my old friends, work friends, NLR friends & neighbors, Memphis friends, Leadership Ark colleagues, my cousins, the amazing family God put me in, and my unbelievably wonderful husband - who all offered unlimited support. I appreciate all of you enormously.

But I couldn't have survived watching the painful decline of Dad without my brother. He is bolder, braver, and stronger than me, all traits I admire. Traits I can't wait to see in my baby nephew come June...as life goes on.

Wow! February flew by! I looked back through my phone's photos and wanted to share of the memorable moments February brought.

I had an early morning meeting that allowed me to watch the sunrise over the new Broadway Bridge.

I stood in awe of what a great Sunday school teacher my husband is for the elementary kids at our church. (I'm just the class hall monitor.)

I also stood in awe of how many ribs Caroline could eat at our favorite BBQ place, Central BBQ! 

We took a family trip to Memphis, visited the Civil Rights Museum, and talked to the girls about the importance of this history. 

I spent some time exploring OKC, including getting a 'backstage' pass at the Thunder Arena.

I visited the greyhound adoption center at the dog track in West Memphis and learned this track is not only a vital economic center for Arkansas but it is the most profitable dog track in the country. 

I discovered that cheering on the marathon runners is just as fun as running it!

While I don't think all my nights away from home are ideal for the girls, I know its the best for our family right now. However, I do wonder what they think especially since our family structure is our 'norm'. I found this worksheet in Caroline's homework stack sometime this month...it made me not feel as bad about doing what I do because I hope it inspires her to find a job that she loves to work hard at. 

New year. More miles.

Every day I can run is counted as a good day in my book. I am thankful for the ability - physically and mentally - to run.  Last year I clocked 576.8 miles, but had some really good runs, including the 200-mile, 33.5 hour Outback in the Ozarks with my awesome Garver teammates!

Chris and I had two really great hikes (that I turned into trail runs) - Whitaker's Point in NWArk and Camelback in Phoenix.

Here's to hoping 2017 holds many beautiful mornings to run!

On the 7th day of Christmas...

I realize I am almost a month past Christmas, but the energy it took for 7 family Christmases has taken me a bit to recover from. (Plus two birthdays!) But since the blog is my virtual baby book, I didn't want to not include these photos of the girls to remember 2016.  

Happy 2017!

He only gets cuter with age! Happy birthday, Chris!

Celebrating Dad's 60th birthday with a surprise party!