It's May!

What a whirlwind few weeks it's been! Despite Parker's increasingly busy school schedule (the end of the semester is coming fast), we've managed to cram a lot of stuff into our days. A few highlights:

***On Monday, April 27, we took Richard (a deaf man in our ward) and his translator, Sis. Sparks, out to Smash Burger for FHE. Hamburgers are Richard's favorite food, and when Parker found that out, he decided right away that he needed to try one from Smash Burger. We had so much fun getting to know both of them better. Richard is so inspirational. His life is difficult, but he is always happy and warm and interested in others. Parker inspires me too; he has been quick to befriend Richard and has a goal to learn sign language this Summer.

***May 1st came so quickly! I feel like March and April were here and then gone in two blinks. Crazy. We celebrated our anniversary a couple days early and made hamburgers for dinner, then we went to see the new Avengers movie. It was better than I thought it would be. We had to leave our sweet little Gage with the Hansens, and I'll admit, I had to wipe a tear or two away as we left their house and drove to the theater. But he did great. And it was so fun to be together, just the two of us. When we came to pick Gage up, we brought the Hansens two cherry cheesecakes. Earlier this week, Matt had asked Parker for the recipe, and Parker mistakenly told him it called for 3/4 c. lemon juice instead of 1/3 c., which resulted, as you can imagine, in very lemony cheesecake. So we felt like we owed them. 

***The next day, I gave a short presentation about my mission for the primary's "Mini MTC" activity. The kids were cute, and it was fun reliving some of the experiences I'd had in Paraguay.

***May 3: Our 2nd Anniversary! We're not very good at celebrating those. Maybe someday when we have more funds. But I am certainly grateful for the kind, smart, adventurous, funny, spiritual, sensitive, positive, talented man that I married. Parker is my best best best friend.

We also had a special stake conference on this day because a few general authorities were in the area for meetings. Elder Ulysses S. Soares of the Seventy spoke to us. It was excellent, of course.

***Robin and Tanner came to visit for a few days. It was fun having them here. We ate chicken carnitas for Cinco de Mayo, played Boggle and Settlers of Catan, watched Cosby, and did a little exploring of St. Louis. My personal favorite was our stop at the Basilica, which I'd never been to before. It's an architectural wonder. Very neat.

...Another huge catchup.

I haven't been very consistent with this blog. Lame of me, I know. But we've had a few very big months! Parker started his second year of optometry school at UMSL at the end of August and has been doing really well (no surprise there--he excels at everything he does). He was also recently called as Young Mens President in our ward, so between school, his calling, and his little family, he keeps busy, but he is always happy and upbeat, even on the days when there is more to do than there are hours to do it all in. I love him more all the time.

Gage is growing . . . slowly. He's still a little guy, and he probably always will be. No teeth yet, but last month (October), he finally figured out how to move around. He gets up on all fours and then drops forward onto his belly, and then does it all over again. It looks awkward and funny and adorable, and it gets him from point A to point B, so it's good enough for him! He is such a big eater. He loves spaghetti, bread, sweet potatoes, mandarin oranges, and oatmeal and bananas. He is such a goof sometimes. He loves grunting at us and waiting for us to grunt back at him. When we do, he just grins--it is so entertaining to him. He loves books, playing peek-a-boo, playing on the shaggy bag, jumping (with Mom's help) in front of the huge mirror in the front room, and making toys of things that were not meant to be toys. We love our little Gagey-Boy.

In October, I accomplished one of my goals for this year: I ran a half marathon! The conditions weren't ideal (I had been sick for several weeks leading up to the day of the race, and after a doctor's appointment the week after the race, I discovered I had pneumonia), but the memory is still a sweet one. We had such a wonderful time with some of our very good friends from the ward. We all pulled into Nauvoo on Friday night, October 9, and played games and ate pizza and shared some good laughs. The next morning, the racers left for the starting line. Julianna Posey and I were the only half-marathoners. I'm so grateful she was there with me. She pushed me further than I would have pushed myself, and so I owe my decent finishing time to her entirely. After the race, we all cleaned up, had lunch at a park, and visited a few of the Nauvoo sites. Some left for home after that, and the rest of us stopped at Carthage before heading back to St. Louis. It was a fast, wonderful weekend.

We just got home a couple of days ago from a weekend trip to Kansas to see Tanner perform as Nathan Detroit in Manhattan High's performance of "Guys and Dolls." He did such a phenomenal job. I knew he had a great voice, but I didn't realize he was such a great actor. He was so fun to watch, and so convincing in his role. I was an embarrassingly (for him, anyway) proud sister that night. Poor little Gage was sick the whole weekend with an earache and a high fever, so we mostly just sat around and cuddled him and talked, but it was a wonderful weekend nonetheless. Can't wait for Christmas!

Another big happening for our family was Mom and Dad Pratt leaving for their mission in Mexico City at the beginning of October. They have already had such amazing experiences; it is clear that they are on the Lord's errand and that He is with them. Dad is working for the church legal system there, and Mom is working as a legal secretary, a role she never imagined she'd fill, but she's doing a great job and is working hard to learn the language. We're thankful for their examples. And we're also thankful for e-mail and FaceTime, which lets us feel connected to them, even though they're far away.

A couple new babies joined the family this Fall as well: James Pratt Low was born to Robin and Tanner in September, and Paxton William Pratt joined Brooke and Christian just three weeks ago. We're excited that Gage has so many boy cousins to be buddies with.

We're thankful we've had some visits from family these past few months. Mom Knapp came out for a few days to see us (Gage was the main attraction, of course). Mom and Dad Pratt came out a week before their mission. And Dad Knapp has made a couple trips out here, once with Tanner, and once with Hunter. Very fun. We love them all. I'll try to upload a few pictures when I'm on a faster computer . . . perhaps at the library on Saturday.

HUGE CATCH-UP