Softball, Fresh Produce, and Unrealized Dreams

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Tonight… I play softball. I have never before played, with the exception of a few intramural games in college and, of course, gym class, but I have always suspected that had I played growing up, I could have been pretty good. Just a hunch. (A few years ago when I told Andrew about that hunch, he said, “I don’t know if you have the size necessary to be really good at any sport.” Dream crusher.)

Yesterday my friend Evan from work asked if Andrew and I would be interested in playing on our church’s team. In light of my unrealized dreams mentioned above, I gave him an immediate yes. Our first game is tonight, so last night Andrew and I headed to a local high school field to play catch–or, as Andrew probably thought of it: give Catherine a crash course in fundamentals so she doesn’t embarrass me tomorrow. 😉

But first, dinner:

Baked salmon with a Dijon mustard/soy sauce glaze, steamed broccoli, and brown rice. Quick, simple, delicious… and eaten outside on our new deck furniture, which made it taste even better!

During dinner we spotted a rabbit munching on weeds around the garden. We see them out there daily, and so far they haven’t touched anything in the garden; we are hoping the weeds will be enough to satisfy them!

Hey, bunny… get away from those tomatoes!

Speaking of tomatoes…

Ours are growing like crazy! In the photo above, the tomato plants make up the jungle on the left. Most have flowers on them, and the cherry tomatoes are starting to come out!

We also picked our second strawberry last night; last week we put netting around the plants to keep the birds out, so hopefully we will be able to harvest more than one berry at a time now 🙂

As we split the single berry in half I thought, “Vegetable gardening really does make you appreciate the work it takes to produce food.” You may be wondering at this point, “Is she going to post a picture of each individual fruit or vegetable they pick?” The answer is: possibly, leaning towards likely. 😉

After dinner and bunny-watching and strawberry-picking, we grabbed our gloves and a softball and worked on some fundamentals. As I suspected, I wasn’t terrible: I caught the ball far more than I missed it, I threw it fairly accurately, and I was only hit in the shin once by a close-range grounder… And once in the knee, at which point I immediately fell to the ground in pain. I now have a lovely bruise and pain to the touch. 🙂

“If that happens tomorrow during the game, you have to throw the ball before you can think about the pain.” -Andrew

Thanks, coach.

I am excited to play tonight and hope I don’t embarrass the team too badly 😀

Any last minute advice from you softball or baseball players out there?

Staying Active Without a Gym + Weekend Stuff

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Last week I did not go to the gym. Not once. And yet it’s Monday morning, and my legs are still a bit sore from the week’s activities. When we joined a gym a few months ago, part of me thought, “Why are we doing this? We don’t need a gym…” While the gym is very helpful in staying healthy, it is far from necessary, especially now that the weather is warmer. Here’s how we stayed in shape last week, outside the gym:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Weight circuits in living room (AM,) Spikeball with friends Michael and Lisa (PM)

Wednesday: Running- 30 minutes, intervals

Thursday: Weight circuits in living room (AM,) Ultimate Frisbee (PM)

Friday: Running-60 minutes

Saturday: Shopping with Andrew (his legs are twice as long as mine… I practically have to run to keep up with him ;-))

Sunday: Frisbee Golf

It was a week full of Andrew’s ideal workouts–those in which you play. I have grown to really enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee; it’s like a sneaky speed workout with lots of sprints over the course of ninety minutes. Plus, the game itself is a lot of fun, running aside. When I woke up Friday morning, my legs felt good, despite lots of prolonged sprinting the night before, so I decided to proceed as planned with my long run. I am trying to be disciplined about building up my mileage, and I did not want to change my plans for potential soreness. The run was a success, but as the day went on, my legs became sorer and sorer (<–is that a word? More sore?) Saturday, it was just embarrassing 😉

Friday night we went to dinner and played putt-putt with our friends Amanda and Diron. Andrew won, I lost by a long shot (or I guess, a series of short shots ;-),) and Amanda and Diron landed somewhere in between. We had a great time!

Sorry for the blurry iphone photo…

On Saturday we went on a quest; we’d been feeling the need for deck furniture ever since this happened back in April:

Kitchen chairs and TV trays… classy 😉

We checked a few stores before finally finding what we wanted at Target. (Is there anyone out there who does not love Target? I have yet to walk in the store and walk back out without spending at least $50. It’s a beautiful place.)

Aren’t those chairs fun?? Andrew was so excited to find a tall set. That evening, he went to a baseball game with a friend, so I had the night to myself and was eager to use the new patio furniture. Every now and then it’s good to have some “me-time.” For dinner I made bruschetta with french bread, fresh mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil from our garden, all heated in the toaster oven.

I have since decided I might live on this food combination for the remainder of the summer. 🙂

Dinner + new magazine + Mike’s Hard Cherry Lemonade in a wine glass to look more sophisticated (hah!)… excellent 🙂

Sunday afternoon we played Frisbee/disc golf at the University of Richmond. I’d played once before, but determined yesterday that this game is an excellent compromise for Andrew and me: it’s essentially taking a walk with a competitive objective. I don’t know the history of the game (and for the sake of what I’m about to say, I’m not going to take five seconds to research it ;-)), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it started when a wife dragged her husband on a long walk through a park; suspecting he might be bored, he brought a frisbee, throwing it as they walked. From there, the only step is adding a few targets.

We had a great time until a thunderstorm rolled in and ended our game early.

And, as usual, Monday arrived too soon. Have a great day!

How do you stay in shape without a gym? Do you ever incorporate “playing” into our workout routine?

Cape Charles (Memorial Day Weekend)

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

As we drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Saturday morning, I thought about the popular get-to-know-you question: Do you prefer the beach or the mountains? Then I thought, God bless Virginia, because I don’t have to choose. Mountains Friday, beach Saturday and Sunday.

Andrew’s dad and his girlfriend recently purchased a house at Cape Charles and have been working hard to renovate it before summer. The house is finally live-able, and this weekend we helped them move furniture from Richmond. Saturday afternoon, after moving all the large pieces into the house (plus lunch and a 2-hour nap…hah!), Andrew and I set off the explore the small town. Unfortunately, at 60 degrees with 20 mph winds, it was not a great beach day, but we were content to walk around in sweat shirts. 🙂

Cape Charles definitely has a small-town feel. There is only one street with stores–a few restaurants, a pharmacy with a lunch counter, a hardware store selling everything from paint to hula hoops to cleaning supplies that may have expired in 1987. Outside most of the shops, locals sit in rocking chairs, greeting passerbys. It was charming.

After dinner Saturday night, we caught a beautiful sunset over the bay:

On Sunday morning, I went for a short, easy run; my primary motivation was to snap a few pictures before too many people were out and about.

I saw an otter (that Andrew tells me is a muskrat…) swimming in a pond! Walking closer to the water I thought, “Either this is an otter (muskrat,) and this is going to be awesome, or it’s the biggest snake I’ve ever seen, and I’m in big trouble.” Thankfully, it wasn’t a snake. 😉

For lunch, Andrew and I walked to the Cape Charles Coffee House (where I had also grabbed a coffee at the end of my run :-D.) On Sundays they only serve breakfast, which suited both of us just fine! Andrew ordered the egg platter, with scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit (including local strawberries!,) and I ordered the Belgian waffles, which came with fresh fruit, whipped cream, and sausage links. The waffles were huge, and other than Andrew helping me with the sausage, I ate every bite. I was pretty hungry, and it was so, so delicious! I wish I’d taken a picture!

On the way to lunch we passed this pretty blue wall. This is what happened when I asked Andrew to model in his red shirt:

How did I get so lucky? 😉

After lunch we packed up our bikes and drove to the nearby National Wildlife Refuge, then Kiptopeke State Park. The NWR had paved or fine gravel trails, but not many of them, and the state park had lots of trails, but most of them were grassy and tough to ride through. Still, between the two, we spent about two hours on our bikes exploring.

The marsh overlook at the National Wildlife Refuge

The Bay Overlook at Kiptopeke State Park

I’ve said this before, but I rarely notice our height difference until I look at pictures… and then I think it’s hilarious. I look like a child on the bike. 😀

We ended the afternoon with some beach time at the park.

By the end of the day, we were completely exhausted. I think we were in bed by 9:30! It was an awesome weekend, despite the cooler weather on Saturday. We drove home early Monday and spent most of the day resting and watching Arrested Development on Netflix.

…And I continue to be thankful that I don’t have to choose between the beach and the mountains. 😀

What did you do for the Memorial Day weekend? Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?

Dobie Mountain Hike + Peeing in the Woods

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

On Thursday afternoon Andrew and I made the somewhat last-minute decision to take the day off Friday and hike. We already had a three day weekend for Memorial Day and figured, why not make it four? Plus, we hadn’t been hiking since that bizarre warm day back in January, and we were itching for some mountain views. After a bit of deliberation–we wanted to minimize driving distance and maximize views–we decided on Dobie Mountain. The starting point of this hike shares a parking lot with one of our favorites, Humpback Rocks, and is less than ninety minutes from Richmond, but we had never done it before Friday. As it turns out, we didn’t know what we were missing.

The weather forecast for Friday showed us that we’d have a cooler hike (about 55 degrees,) and we dressed appropriately for the temperature, but what we did not anticipate was the wind: 25-30 mph! Thankfully, when we’d walked out our front door that morning it was raining, and even though I knew it wasn’t in the forecast for where we were hiking, I ran back inside to get my rain coat. Just in case. I definitely needed the extra (wind resistant) layer!

Aside from the wind, which wasn’t terrible once we entered the woods, the whole day was fantastic. We took a picture of the map in parking lot to use as our trail map:

Starting at the Humpback Rocks Parking Area, we went up the Albright Loop, onto the Appalachian Trail to the Glass Hollow Overlook, then back to finish the loop. The first half of the hike is downhill with a lot of rocks and switchbacks, then the trail ascends to the overlook and back to the start. It was a good workout, but not quite as strenuous as Humpback Rocks.

Braving the wind. My hair tells the story.

The views at the overlook were incredible:

Because it was a weekday and we were on the less popular of two neighbor hikes, we didn’t see any other hikers once we left the parking lot. Beautiful solitude… Together. 😉 We set up our ENO hammock and took a break for lunch.

PBJ’s on gluten-free bread, apples, tortilla chips, carrots (Andrew,) trail mix (Catherine; fine, I only ate the chocolate)

Also, despite using the restroom immediately before starting the hike and drinking less water than I probably should have, nature called. Guys have it so easy when it comes to peeing in the woods. Girls? It’s a little tougher…and not something I have practiced often. Here’s my advice: after finding a safe location (no poison ivy or people,) choose a tree, point your backside downhill, grab the tree for support, and squat as if you are water skiing with your butt very close to the water. That advice and mental image are free. You’re welcome 😉

Cool finds of the day: a log that looked like a dragon (I decided to ride it,) and… these green things:

The whole day was a blast, and we were glad we made the trip. Lots of quality time, beautiful views, and–one of my favorite parts of hiking–a workout that doesn’t seem like a workout. Seriously, if I lived within 15 minutes of a mountain, I would hike every day. Or at least a few times a week.

Do you ever use hiking as a workout? What’s your favorite hike/place to hike?

Active Dates

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

The way I see it, working out with one’s significant other accomplishes two tasks at once: 1. strengthening the relationship and 2. staying physically fit. You get all the benefits of exercise–lower risk of heart disease, better mood, lower stress, better sleep, etc.–plus the added benefit of spending quality time with the person you love and knowing they are reaping those benefits too. While we certainly do not work out together every day (Andrew does not share my passion for running,) we try to squeeze a few “active dates” into our weekly routine.

Yesterday afternoon we pulled the bikes out of the garage for the first ride of 2013 (with the exception of riding my bike to the start of the 10k last weekend, but that was for transportation purposes.) There is a great park a few miles from our house, so we biked there, cutting through neighborhoods to avoid the main roads. This particular park has a paved path as well as some dirt and root filled trails on which to ride–it’s a pick-your-own adventure park. 🙂 We opted mostly for the trails.

In some places the trail was so narrow and had so many roots that it was less of a ride and more of a “keep your hands on the brakes and your butt off the seat” controlled downhill. 🙂 To add to the adventure, it’s inchworm week! Okay, I don’t think “inchworm week” is a thing, but right now there are tons of those little green guys hanging from trees. As we rode through the park we’d have to lean one way or the other to avoid running into them, and we stopped periodically to pick them off ourselves. Hah! (And just in case you were wondering, our wedding occurred during inchworm week last year. As my grandmother often reminds me, “It was a lovely day… even with all those green worms everywhere.” Thanks, Grandma 😉 )

In just a couple of hours of biking yesterday, we accomplished great things for our hearts, marriage, and general well-being, which may not have occurred if we’d chosen to sit on the couch watching TV all afternoon.

Here are some other ideas for active dates that can easily be incorporated into your week (especially now that it’s warm outside!):

-Taking a walk after dinner

-Hiking on a Saturday

-Throwing a frisbee in the yard

-Kayaking

-Taking a yoga class

-Playing tennis

-Swimming in the river/lake/ocean (whatever is nearby)

-Rock climbing

-Exploring downtown

So many great possibilities! Whatever you like to do, just get out there and move with your sweet thang 🙂

Do you have any active dates planned for this week?

Race Week Workouts + Thoughts on Yoga

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Tomorrow is race day–time to see if all my training has been enough. To be honest, I am not feeling entirely confident I can achieve my goal of breaking 50 minutes for the 10k. I know I put in some great training runs, but I started a little late, and my legs have felt achy in the last week. I’m going to do my best to push the doubts out of mind and just go for it tomorrow! I can break 50 minutes. I can break 50 minutes…

The week leading up to a race is tricky in terms of workouts. I try to strike a balance between working out enough that I don’t lose any physical fitness, and resting enough that I don’t wear myself out before the race. Here’s what my week looked like in terms of workouts:

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Run- 30 minutes, easy

Tuesday: Weeding the yard (Don’t even try to tell me that’s not a workout. It’s like doing squats for two hours [we had a lot of weeds ;-)] )

Wednesday AM: Run-30 minutes, easy

Wednesday PM: Yoga- 60 minutes (more on this later)

Thursday: Walk-30 minutes

Friday: Rest

In the few days leading up to a race, I’m pretty sure resting is more beneficial than any workout!

About that yoga. Andrew and I have started taking a class at our gym on Wednesday nights (we’ve been about five times so far.) Prior to this, I’d taken a few yoga classes here and there but always preferred a good 30-minute run to an hour of thinking about breathing and trying not to laugh. A few years ago, in an attempt to be proactive about relaxing and controlling stress, I bought a yoga DVD. I did it a few times in my living room, but I’d always fast forward through the 5-minute “warm-up,” which consisted of lying on my back, breathing, and thinking, “I don’t have time for this…” In retrospect, I think I may have been missing the point. 😉

Recently we decided to give it another shot (Andrew had never been to a class or fast forwarded through a DVD.) After a few weeks of consistent yoga, it turns out we really enjoy it! That doesn’t mean we are good at it (we are not,) but we do find it rewarding, and it actually is a very good workout.

While we are becoming more comfortable with yoga, we still have a long way to go–I know; it’s not really a destination, but we’re definitely newbies. Inevitably during each class there is at least one situation that makes us giggle. It usually happens when the teacher gives an instruction that, whatever she meant to say, arrives at my ear sounding like this: “Lifting your right leg to the side, wrap your left arm around your ankle twice, right arm on blue, left foot green, and lean back. Breathe.” 😉

Without fail there is also always some instruction given for which I think, “I must have missed something; it’s impossible to look at the ceiling from my current position.” I come out of the position to look at the instructor and discover that, yes, yes it is possible to look at the ceiling from that position.

Additionally, Andrew and I are potentially the two least flexible people on the planet. This week in class we did a lot more stretching/flexibility positions than usual, and it was painful–not so much physically, but painful how bad I was! (I know, that’s not really what yoga is about.) At one point she instructed us to sit with our legs in a wide straddle and lean to the right. I thought, “Lean to the right? Or lean over my right leg? For you it’s the same thing, but for me the two are very different. I have like a 90-degree angle going on…” I was thankful that most people in the class could bend over and touch their faces to the floor so they couldn’t see me essentially sitting up straight. 😀

The verdict: We are sticking with it. At the very least, it is a great means to improve our poor flexibility!

With that I am off to rest…well, not workout, anyway. I am going to the race expo this afternoon with my friend Gabe to pick up our numbers and race packets (and get free samples! Gotta love race expos :-D)

Anyone else racing this weekend?

Weekend Highlights

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

We had a very full weekend here, and while I know this post is a little late, I wanted to write about some of the highlights.

Thursday Night–(I know, not technically the weekend… but close enough.) Andrew’s church league basketball team progressed to the championships last week, and the final game was Thursday night. The guys played well…and won!

Our good friend Kevin, who lives in Dallas, was in town for a meeting that day, and he was able to make it to the game and cheer on the guys. We enjoyed visiting with him for a while after the game!

Friday–My alma mater, James Madison University, played their first and only game in the NCAA tournament. They got their butts whooped, as expected, but I was still excited that they made it to the tournament. There was a small part of me that held onto hope that maybe, just maybe, they’d be the first #16 seed to beat a #1 seed 😉

I was really excited, okay?

On Friday night we took a youth group trip to Jumpology–a new indoor trampoline gym in town. It. Was. Awesome.

The room was essentially wall-to-wall trampolines, plus areas for basketball, dodgeball, and a foam pit. It was quite a workout!

Saturday– Yesterday I recapped the 5k I ran with my brother; you can check it out here. The short version: we kicked butt.

In the afternoon, our friend Andrew came over to watch the VCU basketball game. Unfortunately, no havoc was wreaked.

Later in the afternoon I helped with a youth group service project. Once a month we help wheelchair-bound adults with disabilities (residents of the Virginia Home) enjoy an afternoon of bowling.

Everyone–youth and bowlers–had a great time! I love to see how excited they are, not only when they do well, but simply to be there bowling.

When I arrived home, I found that Andrew had been hard at work in the yard and made some awesome progress on the garden:

Doesn’t it look great?? We cannot wait to start planting.

Saturday night our friends Amanda and Diron came over to watch some more basketball. With JMU out of the tournament and VT not in the tournament to begin with, we were not particularly interested in any one game other than for the sake of our brackets, but we had a great time hanging out! Amanda and I have been friends since college, and for a long time would say, “We need to go on a double date!” When the four of us finally hung out a couple of months ago, we realized just how similar we are, and now we get together often. We laugh a lot, although I think it often centers on how neurotic Amanda and I are 😉 Regardless, we are very thankful for these “new” friends in our lives!

When Amanda and Diron left, we continued watching TV, and I fell asleep on the couch, as often happens (I think I inherited this ability from my grandmother.) It doesn’t matter what time of day it is or how interested I am in what’s on TV–the couch + the sound of the television are my personal recipe for sleep. Andrew finally turned off the TV, and the instant the sound was gone, I sat up straight, opened my eyes wide, and said, “We should go to sleep!” Andrew started laughing and said, “Oh you think we should? You think we should go to sleep now?” 😀

Sunday– We had a pretty typical spring Sunday until the evening when…it snowed?

It started sticking to the ground in the middle of youth group, so I decided to send everyone home early just to be safe. I know everyone is saying this, but I am very ready for spring to actually be spring. Snow is great–in January–but I am so ready for warmer weather.

Even so, a blanket of white was not a bad way to end a great weekend!

Elliptical Interval Workout

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

It’s 8:15 p.m., and you’re at home. The gym closes at 9. You’re still planning to honor your commitment to squeeze in a workout before going to bed. By the time you arrive at the gym you will have no more than 25 minutes to workout. What do you do?

High intensity interval training.

HIIT is essentially a workout in which you alternate bursts of intense activity with periods of less intense activity. The benefit? Greater fitness in less time. Perfect for such a night as described above.

That was last night for Andrew and me. Here’s the workout I did on the Elliptical machine:

Now, I should note that the levels are all relative. While level 16 for me means I am working nearly as hard as I can and my heart rate is way up, that was Andrew’s warm-up level. He literally weighs 100 lb more that I do, and gravity helps move those pedals! Because it can vary so much person-to-person, focus more on how you feel than the number on the machine. You should be breathing heavily on your sprints and feeling your heart rate come back down on the “easy”s.

I have no idea what the 24.2 speed means. I wasn’t going 24.2 anything.

Thumbs up for a good interval workout and a sweaty face.

Now, gather your belongings from the locker room, and walk out the door at 8:59 p.m. to avoid receiving the stink eye from any and all gym employees.

A Week in Workouts

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Each week I have a general idea of what and when my workouts will be; I make a plan, but it’s a very flexible plan. This is what I typically aim for:

Monday: Run (30-45 minutes)

Tuesday: Weights (30 minutes) + Walk (30 minutes)

Wednesday: Run (30 minutes, speed work)

Thursday: Weights (30 minutes) + Walk (30 minutes)

Friday: Long run

I can usually count on doing something active with Andrew Saturday or Sunday–hiking, taking a walk, biking, tennis, yard work, etc.– so I don’t plan a workout. If we end up doing nothing, that’s okay too.

What actually ends up happening most weeks? One of the runs turns into a walk because I’m tired, I hit the snooze button and only have time for weights on Thursday, my “long run” becomes a “not-so-long” run, etc. And again, that is okay. I think it’s important to have a plan, but also to allow yourself some grace. Discipline is great, but rigidity? Not so much.

I mentioned in my last post that we recently joined a gym. At first I was hesitant– if you can stay in great shape without paying for a gym membership each month, why would you pay? About a year ago I remember thinking, “If I never step on another Elliptical, that will be just fine.” However, so far we have thoroughly enjoyed our gym. While you certainly don’t need a gym to stay fit, it helps ward off boredom and eliminate the “it’s too cold outside” excuse to not exercise.

The gym has also changed my weekly workout plan. Here’s what this week looked like for me, in workouts:

Sunday: Elliptical trainer (35 minutes, with Andrew)

Monday: Yard work/hauling wood (youth group service project)

Tuesday: Walk (60 minutes, with my friend Kate)

(We walked to Maymont and got to see the goats… I. Love. Goats. I ask Andrew at least once a month if we can get one. So far he’s only been opposed to the idea.)

Wednesday: Cycle class (45 minutes, with little bro Ross)

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Treadmill run (40 minutes, intervals + warm-up/cool-down)

Saturday: Weights (I’m planning to, anyway…it’s only 8 a.m.)

Looking back I had lots of social workouts this week, which is rare for me, but I definitely enjoyed it. I’m also really feeling the group fitness classes at the gym–being surrounded by other people is good motivation not to cut a workout short!

Clearly my weekly exercise plan is changing with our gym membership. I am looking forward to shaking up my routine and trying new activities… though running is still my first (fitness) love. 🙂

Do you prefer to workout at a gym or at home/outside?

Family, Flowers, and Yoga (Valentine’s Days)

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

We spread our Valentine’s Day over a few days this year, and every component was awesome. Here’s what the last few days entailed:

Andrew and I have no problem celebrating events not on the actual day, so our plan was to celebrate V-Day on Wednesday the 13th. The primary reason? We just joined a gym, and they offered a yoga class on Wednesday night, and I really wanted to try it! Andrew agreed to go with me, for Valentine’s Day. If that’s not love as I described in my last post, I don’t know what is 😉

First, we grabbed a quick dinner at Whole Foods.

Then we made our way to yoga– Andrew’s first time, and my first time in years (and maybe fourth time ever.) Despite being the worst in the class, we both enjoyed the experience and will probably do it again. At the beginning of class the instructor urged us to focus on how we felt as opposed to how we looked because everyone looks different during yoga. Throughout class I was glad she clarified that because with my eyes closed, this is how I felt:

When I opened my eyes and looked in the wall-to-wall mirrors, this is what I actually looked like:

Minus the nakedness and excess body hair, of course.

On the 14th, we received Valentines from each of our Mamas (thanks, Mama and Donna!) That night Andrew had a basketball game (he plays in a church league,) but first, he brought home flowers.

Now, when I say to Andrew, “Don’t get me anything for Valentine’s Day,” I mean it. I really do. If he gave me absolutely nothing, he would not be in the proverbial doghouse. However, I do love flowers, and every year I am thankful when he gives me a bouquet anyway 🙂

Andrew played very well in his basketball game (they won,) and I had some quality time with the other wives and kids in the bleachers.

Sinking a free throw.

Later that night, my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces spent the night with us on their way through town. It was late when they arrived, and Kendall and Lauren were in that funny, tired-but-silly-and-about-to-crash-hard stage. Exhibits A-D:

Their hair in all its car seat nap glory 😀

The next morning, we awoke to the sound of children who do not yet know the beauty of sleeping late when possible, and we quickly discovered how child-unfriendly our house is (“Where’s your swing set?”)

Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay long, and they packed up soon after breakfast… But not before squeezing in some quality time with Uncle Ross:

(Please note Lauren’s wet, tangled hair in this photo. When Whitney began brushing it, Lauren frowned, covered her eyes with her hands, and said, “Tell me when it’s over.” :-D)

Family, flowers, and yoga… I could not have asked for a better Valentine’s Day(s!)

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

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