Fourteen

I should be in utter shock that I have a 14 year old, but somehow I'm not. And while I'm keenly aware of the short 4 years I have left with her in my home, she views it as a long, tortuous 4 years that she is going to have to endure. Yes, this lovely young woman was sent here to help me learn the song of persuasion -- and the second verse to "Long Suffering." [See Elder Andersen's talk] No, you can't see a bit of that in these beautiful photos, and for that I'm grateful. She has an amazingly sweet spirit that just shines through.

She really wanted a birthday party this year. She started planning it months ago, so I was fine with her doing all the work. She made her own invitations, designed and printed out her own "happy birthday" bunting, everything! She wanted pizza for the party (but made me choose most of what we ordered), and she settled on cheesecake for her cake.

We started off playing "The Name Game" outside on the carport. She'd had grand visions of getting the yard just perfect so we could have her party outside. The snowstorm we got this week kind of put a damper in us doing much yardwork, but it was nice enough on Saturday to enjoy some time outside. After two rounds of the game we went inside for pizza.

The guest list changed almost daily -- no fault of Chloe's. In the end her friend, Emily, from our neighborhood came and lots of family (Jason brought Elsie and Archer, Grandma & Grandpa ended up being able to come down, and Lark).

She got a lot of fun gifts from everyone. She meant to put "please no gifts" on the invitations, but forgot so she just told people but they didn't listen. That's OK, she enjoyed being spoiled is grateful to be so blessed.

We played the game "Telestrations" at our friends house on New Years Eve and enjoyed it so much that she added it to her wishlist. G&G Nicholls got it for her, so that changed the party plans. We had to play it -- immediately. And it was just as much fun as the first time we played it.

Then it was time for cheesecake! It took her two breaths to blow out all those candles. Maybe she can still have her wish?

She got a kite as a gift, and the windy day was perfect to take it out to try. They made several attempts to get it up out in the field, but we thought it would be a good idea to take it somewhere a bit more open (and no power lines in sight), so they went to the park.

I went and met them at the park after a while because I was supposed to be getting some photos of Archer. That didn't work out as well, but the kite flying was perfect. They had a blast, and Emily was happy to stick around for hours. Everyone else eventually took off, but they spent the whole day with Emily. I'm so glad she was able to make it! At one point they were coming upstairs and I overheard Emily say, "this is the most fun I've had since..." And then she stopped! I told her I wanted to know since when?, to which she thought about it and then said, "well, since last summer." So, I guess the party was a success.

The girls wanted to walk to the library, but I pointed out that it closed in less than half an hour, so I offered to drive them there and then let them walk home. They called me on the way back to see if they could go to Emily's house, which I was fine with. They reported that in YW's today for "good news moment" Emily said "I got to spend 8 hours yesterday with Chloe and Sophie." Do you think she had a good birthday? I do.

And did you hear what she chose for her birthday dinner? I told her we could go out to eat on Saturday night or do something special at home on her actual birthday. She chose to stay home and have salad. Man, I must have done something right!

Really, It's About Easter

I was going to post all the fun things we've been doing in the last month+, but I didn't take many photos so I don't have a whole lot to show for it.

Lark moved out on the first. I think she was more than ready to be in her own place, but we sure miss having her around. One of her last days here I realized I needed something to show for her time here so I grabbed my camera when I saw them coming back from a bike ride.

I took Sophie to another STEM fair. I think she's had all the exposure to those she needs for awhile. It really is not her area of interest, so I think we'll focus more on things we know she likes for now. It was a 3 day event, so I was hopeful that the crowds would be a little more spread out than the last one, but no. It was very likely worse. Sophie was so frustrated with the kids who don't know how to be polite and wait in a line. We agreed that the public schools could do a little more training in the manners department, but they don't know how to fit that into a science, technology, engineering or math course, so it gets neglected :)

One of the girls favorite things about moving to Riverton is that they're not too old for Easter egg hunts. They have a teen hunt the night before the little kid one. They do it in the dark, and they have to bring flashlights to hunt for them. Here they are getting ready, all huddled in with the crowd, and then a photo of the field with the goodies spread all over. I wasn't able to get any good shots once the lights went out -- the kids were scrambling everywhere and it was very dark.

The next day we got to listen to General Conference. The girls dyed eggs while we listened, and during sessions they wanted to do their own egg hunt at our house. I just spread them all over the yard and let them go find them. Brandon worked on the garden during this, and I was worried he was going to come along and mow all the eggs I had just "hid." I don't even have to fill the plastic eggs, they're just happy to search for them.

On Sunday they woke up to find their baskets filled. Chloe must have been worried her mother wouldn't buy any junk food (I have been known to do that), so she went out and bought everyone her own gifts. No junk for me -- I got a new whisk! And yes, Brandon got a mop bucket. I know, I spoil him too much!

Chloe got her cast off! The doc said it healed perfectly. He was showing me on the x-ray how he can tell from her bone positioning the she is not yet done growing. I found that fascinating. And a little worrisome; well, not really, but aren't moms supposed to freak out at their babies getting so big. But then again, she's not a baby anymore, is she?

We got to go take Eli's baptism pictures. I thought we could go a little early and take some of Chloe for her birthday pics, but the lighting wasn't right that early so we just had fun walking around temple square.

The girls got to spend Lark's birthday with her. She took them to Tracy Aviary and then to get gelato. She sent them a "thank you" card afterwards (for spending the day with her), but they were a little confused -- they thought they were the ones who got the special treatment. Either way, I'm glad they could all have fun together.

Alfred Carl

I have been dying to meet my new nephew, Alfie, so when I heard they were going to be in Tooele on Saturday we made plans to go join them. Melanie directs the USU color guard and they had a performance. We actually met at Jason's house, where Sophie hogged Alfie and I didn't get to hold him at all, and then we all headed over to the high school for the show. Ross led us astray and had us park on the side the staff goes in, so then we had to walk all the way around the school (and of course we took the long way). It wasn't too bad, but we were concerned about making it on time since USU was the very first performer. We made it just in time, and got to see her "freaky" show (it was called Cirque de Freak).

I tried to get a group shot of us at the performance, and loved this one where Nigel was the only one who seemed to have a clue what was going on.

Then Melanie was able to come join us for a bit, so I had to get another one with her in it. Alfie is there, sitting in his carseat. I should have had Ross hold him up, but that thought came a little too late. That's ok, though; I got lots of other shots of him.

I was trying to get a photo of Alfie and Ross, but I was at a crazy angle on the bleachers, and Melanie leaned in to kiss him, so I got this adorable one instead.

This photo is for Lark. She needs this shirt. Her shipper didn't have room for all her stuff, so she had to leave some behind in California.

Here's Sophie hogging Alfie some more.

We only stayed for about an hours worth of shows. The thing went on all night long, so we went back to Jason's to hang out. My girls sure love their cousins.

Lark finally got to open her Christmas presents. They had been shipped to Tooele, thinking that's where she was going to spend Christmas, but then her car broke down and she had to stay in California all alone.

Chloe finally decided she would hold Alfie. I think she was a little nervous with her cast, but I helped her set a pillow up on top of it that he could rest on.

I finally got my turn. I had to wait for him to get fed so he would be happy for me.

Emergency Room

Most of you have heard about our fun adventure a week and a half ago, but I still need to get it recorded. Lark had come home from work pretty late, so the girls were fairly wound up. They were supposed to be getting ready for bed, but when they get like that I find it better to just go in my room and shut the door -- and let Lark deal with their noise! I guess Lark had done the same thing, though, because she was locked up in her room when Chloe decided to go get her pajamas on. The girls had moved my ottoman over by the stairs so they could do burpees after getting pj's on, and Chloe was trying to jump over the ottoman to get into her room. She didn't make it and fell on her wrist (bending it backward), and somehow smacked her feet on the stairs. They got a little bruised up. I wasn't sure if she had broken anything, but when her arm started swelling up really fast, and then she started running a fever we thought we better take her in. It was almost 8:30, so we took her to urgent care. They x-rayed her and confirmed it was broke, and then sent us over to the ER to get it set.

That was mostly just sitting around, waiting for all the experts to come in and give their opinions. One physician thought they might be able to do a hematoma block, which is a local anesthesia and would avoid having to put her to sleep, but when the orthopedic surgeon came he realized she had bent the wrist the less common direction so it probably wouldn't work on her. Finally at midnight she got an IV, they knocked her out, and took about 2 seconds to reset it. Then she got all bandaged up. We made it home a little after 2 AM.

The doctors were all very funny. They may not teach them much about nutrition in med school, but they apparently have some comedy classes. They teased Chloe about all the secrets they were going to get out of her while she was under the medication, but unbeknownst to them she was just typical Chloe (when she's not being shy). All the crazy things she said were 100% her.

Before she medicated, she was just hooked up to a machine monitoring her vitals. I made a comment to Brandon about maybe having to take the next day off work, if he wasn't able to get any sleep that night. Then I just made the observation that it would be his first day he'd taken off. Chloe looked confused, so he explained "the first day -- at his new job." The thought of Brandon having a new job was enough to send her into cardiac arrest (well, not quite), but her heart rate spiked from 80 to 120 in just a couple seconds. We had to calm her down and let her know he doesn't have a new job, it's the same one he's had for a couple months.

The doctor who had teased her about asking questions about boys while she was medicated, came back in to check on her after she was waking up. He said to her, "So, Chloe, who's this John guy you were talking about? Is he a boy at your school?" He obviously didn't know she is homeschooled. Chloe didn't skip a beat though, she just replied, "John Green?" If you aren't familiar with him, he's the guy who makes the Crash Course videos on YouTube that we use occasionally for history.

She was sent home with a temporary cast on, and told to be very careful and come back in a week. If the bone had moved at all they were going to have to do surgery and put pins in it. Scary! But when we went back on Thursday, they x-rayed it again and found that it had not moved. The doctor confessed that he was really surprised about that. He hadn't expected it to stay put. But then he said he didn't want to mess with it if it was doing OK on its own, so we have to go back again this week to see about getting it casted.

All Clean

I recently added "activity days" to my list of callings -- we plan activities for 8-11 year old girls twice a month. The first activity of the month we all meet together, but the second one we break off into two groups. I get to do the younger girls, which is good because a few of those older girls were LOUD. I am also the girls camp assistant leader for this year, and the leader is also one of the other activity day leaders. I hope she doesn't get sick of me. We are trying to do some "beach" theme, to go along with the yearly theme of "Embarking in the service of God" -- and we're not getting condos (drats!), so if you have any ideas of beachy things we can do pass them along!

Charity Lighten is our stake young women's president, and she runs a website with lots of good recipes. She was doing a giveaway on instagram one day for a 3-day juice cleanse, which I happened to win. I wanted to do it right at the start of the new year, but the owners of the place were opening up a new store, and I kind of got lost in the shuffle. But I finally got my prize:

For three days I drank those 18 bottles of juice -- and nothing else. It was awesome! I think I could do that everyday. The best part was just knowing that I didn't put a single bad thing in my body. It's been a little bit of a challenge, but doing the cleanse has helped me to avoid sugar and cheese (my biggest downfall) since.

The Stephens invited us to go out to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe with them, and then go see Woods Cross High perform "Mary Poppins." It was such a fun night, and the girls got to spend it with their friends. But the best part is they are also vegetarians, but Kellie is lucky enough to have a disdain for cheese. She's not vegan, just never liked cheese. She fits in the same category as my brothers who don't like chocolate. So, we go to this pizza place and I always have to put in a special order for a veggie pizza, then it dawned on me that Kellie would have to order one without cheese. So I asked her if that's what she got, thinking I might be able to snag a piece. Her husband actually had the last piece, but he was generous to let me have it. And I am so thankful he did, because it was delicious! And now I knew I could possibly give up cheese. This was the Saturday right before I started my cleanse. So, during my cleanse I was able to think about all the things I could still have, but just leave the cheese off. And that's what I have done. I've had a grilled cheese sandwich - with no cheese, and I found a vegan lasagna recipe that wasn't too bad. I still don't want to give up my eggplant lasagna, but we'll see if I can't tweak that one as well.

On the last day of my cleanse we got to take Sophie to an Oakcrest Camp Kickoff. It's a special girls camp for 7th graders only. Chloe chose not to go last year, but Sophie is much more social and really excited about it. We went and got her signed up for it, and our YW stake president just happened to be there, so I went and told her how great the cleanse was going. She suggested to me that I save the bottles (which I had), and then just copy the ingredients list to make my own at home. I thought that was smart, so I still have those 18 bottles laying around. I may have to make this a regular thing.

I had signed Sophie and I up to go see "Swan Lake" at the Capitol Theater, but I did a terrible job of planning. I kept ending up on streets that were one-way when I needed to turn the other way. It took me way longer to get there than I had planned, so we missed it. I felt bad, but Sophie seemed OK about it. But then when we got home she let Brandon know how upset she was. Then a few days later someone had tickets to "The Crucible" at Pioneer Theater -- just happened to be 3 of them -- so I took both girls to go see that. I planned way ahead, and even though parking at the U is a giant pain, we were still able to get there in plenty of time. And that play was soooo good. I loved the play when we read it in my 11th grade english class, but this was much more real. If I had to choose between "The Crucible" and "Swan Lake" I'm so glad I got to see "The Crucible!"

We squoze in another trip to Salt Lake to go to RootsTech. Last year just Chloe and I went, but this year Sophie accompanied us. They obviously don't love family history as much as I do, but when they put Studio C and David Archuleta on the program my girls are happy to come long. We didn't get to meet Studio C or David, because they cut the line off before we got there, so the only picture I got was outside the Salt Palace.

Lark moved in with us for a while. I guess California isn't as awesome as we are, so she came running back to us. The girls are in heaven having her stay with us while she looks for a place of her own. I think it will be hard for them when she moves out, but at least she'll live closer to us than she ever has before.

Last Saturday we got the privilege of cleaning the church again. It was a rare Saturday when we didn't have much to do, so Brandon decided we should have another family party. Chloe actually was in charge this time, but she wanted to do something not in line with our expectations for a family party, so she wasn't that excited. She still came up with an activity, but I did the treat.

Today was free day at the zoo. I thought we would venture out. We've been so spoiled with our weather this winter, and even though today was over 50° it wasn't that nice out. We didn't stay a real long time, but we got to see some elephants, lions, sea lions, a couple monkeys, polar bear, grizzly bears, a maybe a few others.

Indiana

Evan turned 8, which was a great excuse for us to take a road trip. We had planned to drive, but then Dallas found us a great deal on plane tickets. I was trying to coordinate with my dad before I booked them, but then at the last minute Chloe asked if we could drive. Sophie was all for driving, because even though she hates being in the car, and even though it was a great deal, driving was still cheaper -- and Sophie is about the cheapest person I know (and there are a lot of cheap people in my family!) I was all up for a road trip, I don't mind driving, and it would give us a little more to do.

So, we hit the road. We took three days getting there, stopping in Cheyenne the first night. We got to spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa, and play with the cousins. We didn't do much of anything but drive and stop for gas and food on the second day. Chloe saw a pioneer museum she wanted to check out, but we decided to do it on the way home so we could get to the hotel with plenty of time to swim and relax. It was perfect -- I soaked in the hottub while the girls swam. The third day was our longest drive, but we still made a couple extra stops to make the trip worthwhile.

First we stopped to see the Walter Cronkite Memorial at Missouri Western State University. The girls are freezing outside in this photo, but inside there was a very nice display. Sophie asked me if someone would make a memorial like that for her when she died. I told her if she did something awesome, to which she replied, "I already am awesome!" No shortage of self-esteem there.

Our next stop wasn't much farther down the road, in Marceline, Missouri we saw a sign to visit Walt Disney's birthplace. We tried to go visit it, but the signs out on the highway failed to inform us that they are only open from April to October. We still bothered to get out of the car to take a photo.

We got to Indiana late Wednesday night (the 14th). On Thursday we hung out with Jessica, her mom and sister -- who also came for the occasion, and Daphne while the other kids went to school and Dallas went to work. He came home a little early, though, to take me to Chicago. I've wanted to go there since I was a kid, but then my interest kind of waned as I've discovered I don't like big cities as much as I used to. I still wanted to check it out, and this was a great opportunity. We went to the temple, then had a late dinner before my parents flight came in at 11:00 PM. Dallas had gotten us a hotel so we wouldn't have to drive back to Indiana so late. Meanwhile, the girls got to babysit their cousins so Jessica could go play volleyball.

Saturday was Evan's birthday. We had cornmeal pancakes for breakfast, followed by some gift opening. Later that afternoon, we celebrated by going to a moon exhibit they were having at Purdue. I helped Sophie fill out her quiz sheet, it was a little difficult, so she could get a prize (a pencil and an astronaut charm). Then we got to go bowling! I have lost my skill I once had, but it's still fun. Afterwards we went to dinner at a place called Literatos. It was so delicious, they seriously need to open up a few more. I had a sandwich with eggplant, zucchini and beets! It was to die for. Evan made a very good choice. Then we went home for a Mary Lou's Donut "cake."

Sunday was the BIG day, Evan got baptized! They were going to do it on Saturday, but then decided to make his birthday and baptism two separate celebrations, so Sunday it was. I was asked to play the piano for it. His two grandmas gave the talks. He had a super good turnout. I think he felt loved.

Monday was kind of a lazy day. Jessica babysits some kids, so they were there for a bit, but mostly we just sat around. When it was time for dinner they asked where we wanted to go. Can you guess what I said? I don't have any problem eating at the same place more than once a week, so back to Literatos it was. Come on, it's not like I'll get it again anytime in the foreseeable future. This time I had the fig & pear pizza. And then FHE treat was Red Mango :)

Tuesday we headed to Indianapolis. I've been there a few times in my life, but this is the first time we stopped at the Motor Speedway. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures on this trip, but I definitely took more than I needed to here. Everyone wanted a turn posing in the racecar.

Afterwards we got to go check out their new temple being built. They officially announced the date for the dedication (Aug 23) just the Sunday before, so it's coming along. It will be nice for them to have, and not have to travel to Chicago. Then we had lunch at Panera -- I was able to squeeze in 3 meals there on this trip, so that made up for Albuquerque. I think Dallas likes it there as much as I do. I ordered their new broth bowl, with quinoa, lentils, brown rice, tomatoes, kale and spinach. So much good food all stirred together!

Wednesday morning we left Indiana. My parents flew out later that day, but we had to hit the road early. I was trying to leave plenty of time to stop and do things along the way. There are several family history spots I would have loved to spend some time at, but I didn't have that much time to go dig through libraries, and it was a bit cold to wander through cemeteries so the only stop we made was at the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL. We spent a little over two hours there, and that was good. There are several more sites to see, but that was not the purpose of this trip, so maybe some other time.

We spent that night in St. Joseph, Missouri so we had an extra long drive to Cheyenne the next day. The Kangs were gracious enough to host us one more time, but I was so dead tired by the time we got there that I don't think I was a very gracious guest. I just wanted some sleep! I did just fine while driving, but once I stopped it really caught up with me (plus we just "gained" another hour crossing into mountain time zone at the Wyoming border) so all I could do was yawn. Then Friday we made it home -- shortly before Brandon did. I was hoping to get everything put away, some shopping done, and have dinner for him, but just putting things away wore me out. Luckily, he didn't eat much while we were gone, so there was still enough food for us to have some dinner.

Brandon started a new job the day we left, so he was able to use all that extra time to spend learning his new stuff. He's enjoying his work (which there is plenty of!), and he's become a new man. No more business casual clothes, no more clean shaven face. We'll see how long that lasts, but for now he is having fun with his new freedoms.

Oh, and if you don't follow Chloe's blog, you should. She has way more fun pictures than I do.