Raspberries

I just ate a huge handful of raspberries from Costco. Yum, they are so delicious! Definitely one of my favorite fruits! Every time I eat them they remind me of being a kid at my grandparents' house in Utah. They used to have a large raspberry patch in their backyard and every summer when we were there, we'd get to pick raspberries! I remember eating the sun-warmed raspberries right off the plant. Yes, I picked it off the plant first, but I didn't wait to wash them inside first.

Although, it might be a good idea to wash them first. This one time I was out in the patch picking and eating berries, when I was supposed to be collecting them for everyone to enjoy, and I started to chew this one. It was so gross, a little crunchy and very pungent. Yeah, there must have been a bug on that berry. If I would have washed it first, that bug probably wouldn't have been on there. That didn't stop me from eating them right off the plant though. After that, I just double checked to make sure there weren't any bugs on them before I popped them into my mouth.

Does anyone else love raspberries? Damien doesn't love them because of all the seeds. I was telling some girls at work how much I loved raspberries and they couldn't believe anybody actually liked them. Up to that point, I was under the impression that a lot of people like raspberries. I mean they sell them in huge containers at Costco. People have to be buying them for Costco to keep carrying them.

The Big Peach 5k

Damien and I ran our first 5k of the year. We had a lot of fun running it! The weather started out in the 50's but warmed right up! It was a fairly hilly course, but I think that may have helped our times. We set new personal records of about 26:30. Damien beat me by a few seconds but that's just because he saw the finish line before I did.

After completing the race I felt so good, like I could run another couple of miles. That was a really great feeling. I still remember the first 5k I ran while at BYU. When I finished I felt like I was going to die. I never had plans to run another 5k at that point, but I guess things can change. I'd trained more and had been eating healthier and it made all the difference! I'm even thinking about running a 10k in the fall. We'll see how it goes. Damien told me there is no way he's running it with me. I guess I'll just have a fan to cheer me on then.

Dane

My brother-in-law, Dane, just got back from a 2-year church mission to Honduras on Thursday. We were really lucky that he had a 3 hour layover here in Atlanta on his way back home! He made it through customs okay, even though he had two machetes in his luggage, and we got to spend about an hour and a half with him.


We got dinner with him at the airport and it was fun hearing him try to speak English again. He was having a hard time staying in English mode. A few words and phrases kept jumping out in Spanish, but we usually knew what he meant.

When we were ordering our food, Dane tried to order the Bella sandwich. He told the order taker "beya" though, because in Spanish, two L's make a y sound. The person taking our order was a little confused. We soon figured it out and were able to translate for him.

We are so glad we got to spend some time with him. He has matured quite a bit since we last saw him, even looks a bit more grown-up, but he's still the Dane we know and love!

San Antonio

Once a year, Damien's company has an annual general meeting with all of their employees at a resort destination. They invite the employees' families/significant others along for the trip.

This year the destination was San Antonio, Texas. It was a quick trip full of lots of fun activities! Here's what we did:

Saturday
For dinner the company set up a street fair just for us with 15 different food trucks. They had Indian food, cupcakes, BBQ, corn on the cob, deep-fried Oreos, etc.

For entertainment there were men carving ice sculptures with chain saws, a stand where you could get henna tattoos, and men playing African drums. While this was all going on they also had a high school marching band come through and a group of people on Harleys.


Sunday
They held a picnic-style Mother's Day brunch in the morning where we received really nice insulated bags full of food.

That evening they held a black tie dinner for all of the adults outside on the lawn. Following the dinner they had drinks and dancing at a club there at the resort with a DJ and drum set.

The Atlanta project crew

Monday
Continental breakfast in the morning where they had steel-cut oatmeal, which I loved! Damien had meetings until noon, but we got to enjoy the lazy river, pool, and 3 water slides that afternoon.



That evening we enjoyed Texas-style BBQ that was absolutely delicious. They had activities including mechanical bull riding, armadillo races, a live bull, caricature portraits, and the live band Reckless Kelly.




Tuesday
We enjoyed a nice breakfast and headed back to Atlanta.

We had a great time and were able to relax a little bit too!

This Week's Happenings

A few fun things that happened this past week:

1. Damien baked me my favorite chocolate chip cookies and they were GREAT!

2. We went for a run today outside and the weather was gorgeous!

3. I got my sewing machine cleaned and serviced. It runs like a brand new machine. (You're supposed to get your machine cleaned once a year and I'd never had it done. It had been 8 years since I received my machine as a gift. A little embarrassing!)

4. I played an April Fool's joke on Damien today even though it isn't April first. It's better when he isn't expecting it!