General Conference Weekend

As is tradition, our family spent this past weekend up in Northern VA with our families. It was General Conference weekend where for four two-hour sessions we got to listen to the Prophet  and his apostles and other leaders of our Church speak to the world about family, faith, and love. This happens every six months and is a wonderful chance to hear talks from our ordained leaders that encourage us to be better, do better, and increase our faith in Christ.

After Lance's soccer game, we drove to George's parent's house to spend some time with Aunt Colleen and Uncle Dave. I don't think I even have a picture of Aunt Colleen. Uncle Dave is George's dad's brother and he and his wife are awesome. We haven't seen them in over a year, so it was nice to catch up a bit. They were in the process of helping Mom and Dad Glass change out their countertops in the kitchen. Quite the undertaking!

Luckily, Eric was there to help out (Uncle Dave and Eric are cutting out the old counter).

Der and Dad Glass lifting out the stovetop. 

The boys kept busy while we were there. Jude love stuffed animals and whenever he finds one (or anything soft for that matter), he'll put his head down on it and say "ahhhh". So cute!

Lance had a great time playing their Wii. He gets pretty into the games.

We made it over to my mom's house to watch Conference later that afternoon.

Mason and Lance

Chad surprised everyone by renting a car and driving down to spend the weekend with us. It was so good to have him there!

We all thought Mason looked like he could be Chad's baby. What do you think?

Lance wrestling with his "favorite aunt". Aunt Amy had a special gift for Lance--a cool foam airplane she hand-painted for him. He looked at it and said, "I like this better than all my toys!" I wish I had a picture of it. 

[EDIT] Here is a picture we took of it when we got back to Charlottesville. Nice, huh?

After watching the afternoon session of Conference, the guys got together for dinner and then went to the Priesthood session that night while the girls hung out. We all went to Panera Bread for dinner and had a nice time talking and watching the (my) kids be crazy.

Apparently Jude likes cream cheese. He must be mine.

Amy, Mom, Laura, and Mason

Me and my crazy boys.

Our Panera group.

The next day, we went over to my aunt's house in Maryland to watch Conference with them. Everyone brought food and we ended up with a gigantic spread of amazing dishes like homemade 7-layer chip dip, hot wings, enchiladas, fruit and dip, pound cake, deviled eggs... the list could go on and on. Let's just say it wasn't just our souls that were being fed that day!

Lance was off like a shot to enjoy the four dogs, two cats, and a huge backyard. Jude found things he enjoyed, too.

Like Milo.

And Mason.

And Sylvester (the black cat by the car).

And more Sylvester...

The rest of us tried to listen to the speakers (and eat).

Aunt Linda helped entertain the boys. :)

Aunt Linda and Uncle Rob with Jude.

George keeping Jude occupied.

Lance distracting Jason, Kailey, and Chad.

In the time between sessions, Lance got to video-chat with his dad who was in California on a business trip. The best part? He also got to video chat with his California cousins!

Bethany, Kailey, and Jason playing a three-part piece called "Triple Dip".

Jude thought the piano was great fun and wanted to play, too.

So of course they let him. 

Enjoying the food!

 Chad and Mason talking.

We went for a walk by the Potomac river while we waited for the afternoon session of Conference to begin. The weather was quite nice and we had a good time together.

Lance being swung by my cousins.

Jude was exhausted and VERY ready for a nap.

Lance on the shoulders of his "favorite" Uncle Tyler.

Tyler and Lance saw something interesting, so Tyler jumped across to the little island...

If you look closely, they're looking at a deer skeleton. Apparently, Tyler told Lance that a "Sharp tooth" must have killed it and eaten it. Lance believed him 100% and has been telling people he saw a deer skeleton that had been killed by a Sharp tooth. :)

Our group on the walk.

Lance being Lance and finding interesting things to look at.

I like this picture of George.

 

Aunt Linda and Uncle Rob

Chad

Jude didn't make it the whole way. He passed out.

We had a great time with our families! After the last session of Conference, George and I got the boys and drove back to Charlottesville so George could be at the hospital early the next day for his current Neurology rotation. We are all pretty tired from the long, fun weekend we had. On again to normal life!

Soccer and Friends

We have great friends here in Charlottesville and are extremely lucky to be living so close to several of them. More often than not, these friends make their way over to our apartment in the afternoons and for a few hours we have complete chaos and fun. While it gets loud at times, I wouldn't trade it for anything and am so grateful my boys have such great families so close.

Jude and BoBo--best buddies!

Jude and Killian, our next door neighbor and Lance's best friend. He's a "baby magnet" as we like to say. The little ones just flock to him, as you can see.

Lance loves Killian, too, and they're always playing together with Kendall (Killian's twin sister) and their other good friend Jabrien.

Jude and Bobi again.

Bennett, Lucy, Jude, and Lance

 Jude, Lucy, Bennett, and Lance in our backyard (no, this was not my camera...)

We LOVE living here in Family Housing and if George ends up matching here at UVa, we'll probably opt to stay right where we are. 

Lance even started soccer with Killian. This past Saturday was Lance's first practice/game. It's every Saturday but Lance missed the first week because he was up in Fairfax with his dad. Oh well. It's a beginning program that's really supposed to show them soccer is fun so I think it's okay he misses every other practice.

Jude was so excited to see all the other kids there and running after the balls. He constantly tried to get away and join the fun by running directly into the middle of the field and kicking the first ball he found. Stinker!

I brought his own tiny soccer ball, but when he saw the "real" balls, he couldn't have cared less about his ball. He wanted the big ones!

Lance getting some one-on-one with the coach (he was the first one on his team to practice).

Lance and Killian

Lance and Killian

After 30 minutes of drills and running around, the teams paired off into games. We only had 5 players so all our players played the whole time. It was so fun to watch these kids have a ball (literally) on the field.

Can you tell Lance was loving it? (You can see his smiling face peeking out from behind the orange player in front). The kids never really stopped because when the ball went out of bounds or they made a goal, the coaches would just throw another ball into the field and the game would continue. 

It was hard work.

This is where Jude ended up because he kept trying to get the ball from the players. We had a great time! Right after the game, the boys and I got in the car and drove up to Ashburn so we could watch General Conference with our family. George was already up there attending an Emergency Medicine event at George Washington University so we were extra excited to get up there to see him!

Two Wheels

About 10 days ago, Lance officially learned how to ride a two-wheel bike! His dad (Scott) bought him an awesome little bicycle perfect for learning and they had been practicing the week before. When I brought Lance up to Fairfax for his weekend visit, I got to go along and watch as Lance and his dad practiced in the basketball court right across the street from Scott's house. 

They also have tennis courts and Lance showed me how he is learning to "play" tennis. I thought he did a pretty good job.

Jude thought it looked fun and kept trying to hit the balls, too. Sorry, buddy. I think you either need to grow a couple feet or we need to shrink that racket. Being the same size as the racket isn't really great for playing.

After tennis, it was cycling time!

Lance and his dad worked for almost an hour together on balance, steering, and braking. They did a great job and Lance made some huge strides!

Jude was "helping"Lance learn how to steer by running toward him and trying to catch the bike. Poor Lance had to stop so often to keep from running Jude over. 

Getting the hang of it...

Father and son.

Look, Mom! No training wheels!

We have yet to try this in Charlottesville because the past week and a half have been either freezing or wet, but I'm sure with the nice weather coming our way we'll be out and about on the bikes soon. So exciting!

March Madness

I did it!

With one hour and 51 minutes to spare, I officially read the entire Book of Mormon in the month of March! It's been my goal for the past three years and this year I actually did it! I have to give a hand to my iPod that allowed me to listen to the scriptures while I did things like drive or wash dishes. Honestly, with about an hour of reading each day, I didn't know where I could fit in the time, but somehow it all worked out.

It was a very neat experience powering through the scriptures like that. I feel like I got to know the people much better as I read whole accounts in one sitting. It helped the scriptures come alive for me and I came away with a better understanding of what the Book of Mormon really is: a testament of Christ and his divine power.

Today is the first day in a month that I haven't read 10-20 pages of the scriptures and it feels... wrong. I feel like I'm missing something important, kind of like I just said good-bye to a good friend. It's unrealistic to think I can read so much all the time, but if I've learned anything from this experience, it's that the scriptures are important and I can and should make reading them a priority every day.

And on that note, I think I'm going to go listen to the scriptures while I wash the dishes. 

Just for fun... Jude has started smiling for the camera. He'll actually point to the camera and say either "cheese" or "smile" and then give a big cheesy grin.

This little guy and his big brother keep me laughing every day! I can't get enough of my boys!