A little goodbye party for the Nance family -- why does everyone keep moving away???

One Week Down

The first week of the training has come and gone so quickly!  There has been a teensy bit of drama, shall we say, with my family, but everything is working out -- the Universe is as is should be, right?  There wasn't really room to stay at my parents' house because of some unexpected guests, but Steve was nice enough to invite us over to his house.  Jessica is in China, Emily is in Estonia, and Jenny is on her mission so they have loads of room over there!  Phin and Archie love the playroom upstairs and get right down to business as soon as their eyes open in the morning -- so much so that Phin was not careful enough maneuvering himself around the ping pong table and was gashed!



But he soon recovered enough to show me his smooth yoga skills



We made it through the first few days of me being gone all day and then on Saturday the kids went with my parents to a time share up in the canyon behind Ogden.  I am so glad that they are able to spend time all together!  I know my parents are getting old so I cherish any opportunity that we have to make lasting memories.  I also don't worry too much about my kids being a burden because honestly, they are so well behaved!  And I'm not even being biased.  At all.

I was hoping to spend time with my Ella girl, who came down from Idaho ostensibly to see me while I'm nearby, but Rachel came with her and they were out very late on Saturday night with Joseph Clay, of all people, so I really didn't get to see her as much as I would've liked.  We did spend the morning together on Sunday.  Joseph showed up early to enjoy some of Jill's delicious orange rolls and then fell asleep on the couch, waking every so often to mutter something about the knot in my ball of yarn -- but I eventually got it!  I'm determined and tenacious when it comes to tangles!  



And I finished the assembly of this sweet little blanket for Bonnie Williams' soon to be baby girl





The training is going so well at the yoga studio!  I've enjoyed reading more of my chakra cards



And my favorite thing is leaning back and gazing out the high windows to see the tops of my beloved mountains.  It really is a gorgeous location, like a brick, ivy covered tree house.  It rains every couple of days and the hillsides are covered with greenery... so lovely!

Colorado!

Well, I've set off on an adventure! I'm going to Utah for my yoga training at Bodhi Yoga!  I was originally going to fly there -- and had even bought my ticket!  But then my parents suggested I bring the kids so they could go to a timeshare in the mountains with them.  I am all for the kids spending more time with their grandparents! This is the first time I've driven out west without another driver in tow!  I have the three youngest kids with me and so far they've been so so well behaved and great travelers!  We intended to do the usual 10 hour first day and stop in our beloved North Platte, but they were being such troopers that we just kept driving and driving!  In Ogallala I called Zach and Stacie to ask if they minded us plowing through and arriving at their house late that night.  They enthusiastically assured us that would be fine so we did just that, arriving to their house about 17 hours after we left ours.  Whew!  We added India to our little crew and headed up to Evergreen the next morning.  I was so happy that my trip coincided with the Rocky Mountain Retreat!  I was also very grateful that Jon was willing to watch my three and an extra for the weekend.  It was so lovely to reconnect with women that I had met last year and I was even able to room with my Fara ❤️ .  We drank a lot of mexican coke, spent some time at the hot springs, and even got a massage, ooh la la!  I can't believe that I didn't get any pics of the kids all together -- they got along so well!  It is truly a shame that we don't live closer...

Happy May Day!

I am quite sure that most people don't even celebrate May Day, but our neighbor happens to own a maypole, and if I was the proud owner of a maypole you had better bet your boots that I would use it!  We usually make a little craft with flowers to drop off at other neighbor's door steps and then we attempt to circle the maypole without getting too too tangled up -- it's so quaint.

Allerton Park

To continue our enjoyment of this delightfully sunny and abundant spring, we invited the Rowley family to join us on a little excursion to Allerton Park in Champaign.  Neither of our families had ever been there so it was fun to discover it together.  We had a little picnic and then hiked through the woods.  The path circles back around to the main house and who should we see lounging on the grass?  Sean and Jessa Mitchell and Sean's lovely new wife, Alecia!  It was such a nice surprise to run into them.  We also tried our hand at flying a kite on the expansive lawn.  Overall, a very fun afternoon!

Tea for 1

When my lovely friend Twila visited us in Spain, she brought the most exquisite green tea blend from Paris and left it with us.  It is loose tea and I always wanted more than just one cup so I decided that I absolutely needed to get a sweet little teapot with a diffuser in the lid.  I jumped on over to Amazon and found the perfect thing.  When it arrived, I remembered that I had a charming set of tiny tea cups from Japan that were still in the box.  They go swimmingly together, don't you agree?  Aaaaaahhhh, it makes me happy

Spring!

There is evidence all around that Spring has sprung and it makes me so happy!

But our friends, the McLaughlins, are moving which makes me so sad.  They were supposed to be the more permanent ones who kept us company forever! We were able to have dinner with them one last time and enjoy a little walk around their neighborhood.

A Friendly Visit

Our first visitors came on Feb. 25 and we had the most wonderful time!  The few days before they arrived were sunny and temperate, but the forecast for the weekend was only clouds and rain.  They had been in Paris and made their way down to southern Spain just to see us, so I wanted to make sure it was worthwhile for them!  I sent up many prayers to Mother Nature, but then it was out of my hands.

Friday, the sun peeked out for a little bit -- just enough time to have a sunny lunch al fresco, but then it hid again while we went for a long, windy walk along the Mar Menor

 Saturday was Lucy's birthday so we decided to take her shopping in Cartagena with the double motive of showing off our nearest Spanish city

I haven't introduced them yet!  Here are Jon and Twila, aren't they cute?

 We were able to see some of the Roman ruins and the nice view of the port from the old castle mount.

 Sunday we needed to take them to Alicante so we all went since we hadn't been there before.  We found the castle there and were able to enjoy some spectacular views of the sea and the surrounding area.  It was a radiant afternoon!

 The boys loved the "canyons"

 But then the clouds rolled in!

 I obviously couldn't get enough of the swiftly changing sky!

 And the swiftly running boys!  They're too fast for me.  We hurried up to the top and then ran back down, making it to the car just as the first, fat drops fell on us.

 When the rain stopped we looked for a place to eat and admired more of the city.  This is the most beautiful post office I've ever seen!

And then we had to say goodbye.  It really was the most marvelous visit!   Thank you, Warners, for going out of your way to see us!