lately

We've had some pretty awesome adventures lately, and while I have photo-filled posts and stories that I'm dying to share, I just haven't gotten around to it yet... but I will.

So before I forget, here's a [brief] list of some of the things we've been up to lately:

Brans was invited to participate in the National Model Arab League in Washington D.C. this spring through the University of Utah. The competition started the day after my birthday, so we decided to make a little vacation out of it and I went with him. We were there for the a.m.a.z.i.n.g. cherry blossoms, saw so many awesome monuments and museums, and spent a day at Gettysburg. And I may or may not have taken 2000 photos...

My plague of MRSuck was on and off again until the middle of April. I was actually quite miserable up until the first day in D.C., but since then, I've had no signs of it returning. After a few crazy months, some pretty extreme regimens to eradicate the bug, and lots of pain and frustration, I feel much better. I'm still easily worn out, but so, so, so much better. And my voice is back. Isn't it about time?! My voice was pretty much gone from Christmas until just about a week ago when I woke up to a normal voice one day. Super weird, but I'll take it. After our D.C. trip, I saw a few more doctors just as follow ups, and met with a specialist about my voice. The good news: There was nothing medically wrong with me or my voice. The bad news: he wanted me to go to voice therapy for a few months. The great news: my first voice therapy appointment was supposed to be this morning... but I cancelled the appointment. Happy day!

Last weekend, in sort of a last-minute-everything-aligned-so-we-could way, we packed up and drove to San Diego with Chad for a few days to welcome Blake home from his mission in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was such a nice trip. We are so glad everything worked out (between school and work) for it to happen. It was fun to hear his stories, see photos from Harold and Shannon's trip to pick him up and to eat lots of chocolate (obviously) and real German gummy bears. I'm in love with them. We ate more Mexican food than we should have [but seriously, how can you resist?], stayed up way too late every night and had a blast.

Branson was offered an internship in the Special Collections Library up at the U this summer, which is great experience for what he wants to do in the future. This is his first week, and he's super jazzed about it. It's a great opportunity for him. With the internship offer, he decided to defer graduation until the end of the year. The end is in sight! He'll graduate with his Bachelors in History and Middle East Studies. He's worked so hard over the past few years. I'm truly so proud of him. He's one of the smartest people I know.

I've been super busy at work. Are you surprised? I feel like I'm always busy at work... but being so sick for so long and missing so much time has made it even worse. Some days I feel like I'm such a slacker because I basically missed two months this year already, but I'm grateful for my understanding boss and my team not giving me a hard time about it. They're great. So now, I'm still just trying to get my bearings and catch up on everything. Stressful. But fine.

We recently decided to expand the Larson Family Farm and add turkeys and ducks to our flock, bringing the total animal count to two ducks, two turkeys (named Thanksgiving and Christmas), nine baby chicks, fifteen hens and two dogs. Now we just need a goat and an alpaca... And some sheep. [Maybe someday] Ha ha Who knew I was made to be a farm girl?

My baby sis, Pie Face competed in the State Debate Tournament last month... and WON! As a 4th grader. Debating affirmative for Nuclear Power. Amazing. When I was in 4th grade, I'm not sure I even knew what Nuclear Power was... Good grief. She's brilliant. Apparently, after Pie Face and her partner Lena gave their presentation, their teacher congratulated them on a job well done, but told them that they could probably leave and not stay for the awards ceremony at the end of the night. No 4th graders had ever won, and the odds were certainly not in their favor. Lena's family left, but my parents decided to stay... And were so surprised and glad they did! The girls got a trophy that's about as tall as they are. We're super proud of Pie Face. She's the smartest Ashcraft, I'm convinced.

Now we're getting ready for two twentysomething boys to live in our house for the summer. Both Blake and Chad will be staying with us until the fall. So we've been cleaning and reorganizing and making room for them. It's going to be a party. Chad and I have already declared it to be the Summer of Smoothies. I can't wait. Though I'm going to have to figure out how to keep up on their apple juice intake. each of the summers that these boys lived with us before (separately) I swear we went though gallons of apple juice a week! I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with their drinking habits. [grin.]

...So for how crappy and miserable our year started off... This spring and summer are shaping up to make up for it.