A lost week for mom...

So the title is giving you a clue about this week, I got the flu! That's what get for not getting the shot! Anyway, it didn't happen until Tuesday.

Monday, I went to my parents'. Micah had woken up with a cough so he came with. I had a nice visit with my dad while my mom ran errands which she took Gwen on one. We went straight to Walmart to get a poster for Micah to make for scouts. Why he didn't remember on Saturday--I guess I was gone so it wouldn't have mattered! We picked up Izak and Zane so Izak didn't have to walk home with his crutches. Anyhow, I took Timo to his PT appointment and then to work. Tim was able to pick him up when he was done. We had a wonderful time at the Ashford an assisted living place for people with Dementia and Alzheimer's. Emily goes there on Fridays to sing for them so she was excited we were all going. The kids were a little nervous but by the end all but Gwen had settled in and enjoyed themselves. My friend Stephanie organizes it and asked if we wanted a turn and for sure we did! We need that! It was so touching to hear them sing I Am A Child of God with us. I had a hard time praying after that. Zane taught the lesson, for his Faith in God he shared a story about faith in Jesus Christ from the Book of Mormon and then he was suppose to share his testimony. Just as he started one of the residents cut him off and ended it 'In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." It was pretty funny and Zane has retold that to anyone who will hear him tell it. The Gwen, Izak, Emily and Timo played the piano for them--Emily sung with her song. We shared our FHE treats with them. It was a great experience and we look forward to doing it again!

Tuesday I woke up with a cough, Micah's cough actually was more lose but it sounded bad so we kept him home. I ended up staying home instead of going to the temple, I am glad I did. I was thinking of the sweet old ladies getting this cough. Well, I got worse. Emily called me because she had started to feel bad at school--same thing. I picked her up. After I dropped her off I decided to go to Costco since we needed some things from there but I really wasn't feeling very well. I knew Tim would hate missing a beautiful day to play tennis at lunch and would hate to have to find some of the new things I was going to get! I survived! I picked up Gwen then dropped her off at home and picked up Izak and Zane from school. The kids had piano so they all went but Micah--Emily felt okay enough and had missed the week before for the Drama Meet. Zane had scouts after piano. After I had done some stuff with the kids and their homework I went to bed. Something woke me up at 4 so I got going on dinner. Tim went with Timo over to Taran's friend who got his mission call that night so he came up and stopped by after. His friend is also going to Mexico, Chihuahua! Tim's grandpa was born there!

Wednesday I felt achy all over but a little better. I thought I might have a fever so I didn't have June. I am glad I didn't because I did. I slept until I picked up Gwen and Luke. I dropped him off. Gwen watched PBS kids while I slept. I woke up after 2 hours! I got her lunch, I ate and showered and piddled around until I had to get the kids at school. Then I took Timo to PT. I stayed in the van after I paid for the co-pay. I read and coughed and rested. Then I dropped him off at work and went home. Tim tried to get home early enough to take Timo but it didn't happen. I tried to find Timo's wallet so he could drive himself but I couldn't. Tim made dinner thank heavens for dino nuggets from Costco I had bought eons ago! After we got the kids in bed Tim took me to the after-hours and I had a sinus infection and an ear infection! Complications of the flu. We got the meds and came home. Tim stayed home Thursday I slept most of the day. He went to high school twice for Timo (pay for AP testing and tickets to the school musical). He took Gwen and Luke to the duck pond and then Mc Donalds after. They had a lot of fun. Tim took Izak and Zane to swimming lessons. Emily had play practice. Tim got her after the boys swimming lessons. My mom brought us dinner. She knows Tim hates to cook. It was delicious! And a huge blessing. By evening I could tell my fever had broke. I was weak but I felt better. Timo asked his friend to the Prom right after work--he'd heard someone else was going to ask her soon. So he did it right away. Tim went to bed early because he was going to the Midnight Showing of The Hunger Games. Emily had been invited to see it with friends Friday but we like to screen PG 13 for our kids. I didn't want to see it. He had read the books and told me the whole story and I just didn't think I could handle it as books or a movie. Timo had a paper due the next day and had to be on the computer until late. We also need to be in the room with our kids when they use the internet. Yes, we have filters, but still we feel we need to still be HERE. So instead of going to bed at a decent hour I stayed up until he finished. I re-lasped the next day.

So Tim stayed home Friday. He had decided that Emily could see the movie so she was happy. I was so bummed that I was worse than Thursday. I hurt, not ached. I slept most of the day again. Tim took Gwen to her swimming lessons. He took Timo to his PT appointment--the last one! Then he went to get Emily after school--she was suppose to stay late to find out who won for student council. She ended up not finding out so she got on the bus in time. Supposedly Monday they will tell! My mom got some flowers for Emily for me. I wanted her to know how proud we were of her for being so brave, win or lose! My mom also brought frozen pizza the kids favorite! She took Gwen back with her so we could make sure Gwen was at her dance recital on time. It was in Orem and with Tim having to pick up Timo from work we weren't sure (but we were right) we'd make it by 6:30 PM when she was suppose to be there. Emily and her friends made t-shirts for the movie. I made myself shower and go even though I still felt bad. We left them and took Izak, Micah and Zane to Gwen's dance recital. We only stayed for her part--the very first demonstration. She was darling and was really good! The little boys complimented her. She was so proud! My mom also got flowers for her for us! Lifesaver! We took the kids to Walmart to rent a movie at Redbox and get them a treat (and other things we actually NEEDED). We rented Tin Tin. They loved it. I only saw a little. We had found out that Tim might need to pick up Emily and some of the kids after the movie so we went to bed as soon as Tin Tin movie was over. I was working on my CERT test homework during the movie. I had totally forgotten about it. We had told Timo to come on and lock the door when he was done because we were going to bed. He had seen a little bit of Paranormalcy so he was freaked and slept in our room that night! Another dad picked up the kids but I woke up at about 1:30 AM and unlocked the door--Timo had locked it and I thought Emily might have trouble waking us up if she couldn't get in.

Saturday Timo had a meeting he had to cook for at 6:30 AM so Tim got him up at 6:15 PM. I had CERT at 8 AM. Tim drove me there. Izak had a party at 10:30 AM and one of his friend's mom's took him there--it was at Space Camp! They can't get enough of that! From there he went with the boys on his soccer team to their game in Orem, which they won. He was glad to go and we want him to go to all the games even though he can't play yet. I survived our CERT drill. I actually learned a lot but I was not as alert as I would have liked! But now I can feel a tiny bit more prepared in an event...they told us to come practice as much as we can to get more confidence. I am not sure how Tim would feel about that right now! Maybe next year! I slept when I got home, best I could. Tim took Micah to soccer practice. After he picked him up I ran an errand. I rested until I took Emily to dinner before the YW Broadcast. We went to the Blue Lemon, Tim and I like going there. She has never been. She ordered the salmon BLT, I felt like having soup so I got the Butternut...mmmm. We had fun. She talked about the movie the Hunger Games, she liked it. Then we went to the broadcast. We looked for Maddie her cousin who was in the choir singing. I am sure we saw her but didn't realize it. It was a great broadcast, of course. Then the Stake YW leaders had ice cream with toppings for a treat after. It was really fun. We were home by 8 PM even after talking with other moms and girls. Timo was answered--the banana photo. The door knocked and he opened it. A big box was on our porch, out popped a Gorilla with a banana which he handed to Timo. Then he ran off--wild! Timo seemed unphased but it did startle me.
He found the paper in the banana after he peeled it. Pretty wild. He hung out with some friends in the kitchen for a little bit until bedtime. (I think they had been outside playing basketball). Emily had gone to a friend's for a little after we got back. Tim and I had a mini-date--returning the Redbox and stuff.

Today I wasn't sure I'd make it to church. I stayed in bed awhile. I did work on scouts with Zane and Micah. I got Izak going on Duty to God. Timo and Emily had choir. Zane and Micah had children's choir. Church was good so I am glad I went, it's always good. I am just very exhausted still. But I actually have only been taking antibiotics today so I am improving from Dayquil/Nyquil, Codeine cough, Aleve and such! Zane taught our lesson, they put together these eggs about Easter--scripture and symbol (we have some from Micah and my mom made them too). Even though he already had a turn we let him do this since he was so excited to do it!

Thanks to my mom and Tim for all their help! Hopefully I can get some things back on track this week. Slow and steady... Have a great week! We hope you are all healthy and happy!

A broken foot and some other things...

Here we are another week into March and we woke up to snow! Crazy weather. I am pretty sure we've had more snow this month than February! Here is the picture of Izak with the men that helped ordain him--along with other random photos that may or may not be explained later.


We had a nice dinner after that Taran stayed to have. If we had realized that it was actually going to happen we might have made an event out of it. Monday I went to my parents' with Gwen. Their street is still all torn up but I think they may be done now. After our visit we went home and got Gwen ready for dance. We drove. Once I dropped her off at home I picked up Timo for his doctor's appointment, a check up on his ankle. He feels like it is healing right and if we don't see major improvement over the next few weeks we need to come back in. Right after Timo had his Physical Therapy (PT) appointment which was next door. I stay and read. I could do stuff but it's just extra gas if I ran home and back--it's just far enough away with plenty of construction in between to make me not want to repeat the drive. I took Timo to work right after that. When I dropped him off it looked like his boss had stayed late--he's usually gone by 2 PM. So that meant bad news, actually it meant they had a meeting. His boss is high strung and doesn't really do much but expects these guys to do everything else. He has bad health and I think that plays into his persona. He is making it miserable for Timo and his co-workers. He likes his supervisor and that's who he usually deals with and he is great to work with. It's too bad some people really are BAD BOSSES! During dinner Izak stubbed his toe when he was running around the table after taking a ball from Zane who was chasing him. He stubbed his toe on Timo's foot in it's shoe. He was in a lot of pain and some of the kids chided him for being a wimp. For FHE we visited some new neighbors that moved in and visited some other neighbors with other needs. Izak limped around with us.

Tuesday Timo was sick so he didn't go to the temple but Tim took Izak anyway. He was so excited. Some of Timo's friends came with them. He managed with his toe. They were back by 6 AM. Izak's toe was more swollen. I called to try and get him into to the orthopedic surgeon but he was booked 'til Monday so I decided to go to the Urgent Care. I made it to the temple and then to my YW Presidency Meeting. Then I went and did my weekly shopping. I didn't have time to hit Costco for those items. So I went Wednesday. I picked up Gwen then we picked up Izak so he didn't have to walk home. The kids had piano and Emily had a drama competition at the Jr High. She did really well and got a Superior rating on her monologue. It was a northern district competition. Her school came in 2nd. Not too bad. After dinner I took Izak to the Urgent Care. I had a few hundred other things like Zane had scouts and soccer practice right after that, Micah had soccer practice as well. I got Micah a ride to practice but I had to pick up. Tim got home in time to get Zane. I dropped Micah off at Zane's practice and then picked up Emily. We picked up pizza at Little Cesar's for dinner then went to the Urgent Care. They were pretty sure his pinky toe was broken but x-rayed it anyway. He had also broken the bone below on his foot. They showed me the x-ray. His bone had a diagonal break through it. So they put a splint on his foot and said that we could come back after the swelling was down and they would cast it if we wanted them to. We like that he can shower so we are going to stick with the splint! The kids felt bad that they didn't believe Izak when he said that he thought he broke his toe! They have been super helpful and compassionate. It has touched my heart so much to see them help him. There really is an up side to every downer--he's going to miss the first half of soccer season. Hopefully that is all he misses. As inconvenient as this was and is I feel like I can not complain as I have a friend whose daughter was in a car accident and it's been 2 weeks now and she is making some progress but it is very slow. We pray for miracles for her. It is a very tender thing, she is Timo's age. We've known them since they were 3 years old. A broken foot is nothing. We got home during the BYU vs. IONA basketball game. It was so pathetic we turned it off. Timo was at a friend's watching and came home after to our surprise they had won!


Wednesday I had visiting teaching in the morning, Anna brought June just before. We had nice visits and they loved June! I went and got Gwen when she got home from preschool. We had fun with June and then she slept. She is taking longer naps which hopefully she will continue to do for Anna as well. Gwen and I did a quick Walmart run for a few things before the kids got home and I had to take Timo to PT. Then onto work. The upside to this is that I have read a bunch! I am on the last book in The Hourglass Door series. I have enjoyed it. It's a time travel story with romance. My neighbor dropped them off for me last week and Emily already finished them. It was Pi Day (3.14) so we had chicken pot pie for dinner and yogurt pie for dessert--sorry forgot photos! Emily had a concert that night at the Jr high. She is in a ladies only chorus SSA. They performed but other members of the choir exhibited their talents: violin, opera, other vocals. Emily and her friend sang a song by Adele. Emily played the piano while they both sung. It was good only I couldn't hear her very well because of where they had placed the mic. She wasn't thrilled with her performance but she is a perfectionist at that. We learned that night from my mom that Taran and his latest band got on to the finals of BYU's got talent. Check out their 'talent' here . I am so happy for Taran since he wrote the music and the judges loved it! The finals are April 4th!

Thursday I had Emily's appointment with the counselor to decide on next year's classes. She is going to have to do early morning seminary and if she makes Student Council she will have to take 2 classes online this summer. I am a little concerned but she feels like she can do it all. The summer online thing will be fine it's all the extra whatever going on during the year! After that I had to get Gwen and Luke from preschool. They were great and I got some of my lesson for YW planned for Easter when I teach. BYU was still playing when the little boys got home so they watched BYU lose. Zane was heart broken. Izak had a keyboarding test at the Jr high to see if he could test out--no but it was worth trying. Emily passed it so I thought it was worth a try. Later I went back to the Jr high to get her from Musical Theater tryouts. Normally she wouldn't have had to try out but she was sick the days they gave out AND turned in the forms in class that they were staying in it! Owell. Her friend Tanner (no he likes her friend) came over afterward and they hung out. Tim's worried this is starting so early, she is comfortable around guys since she has 2 older brothers. It's our life. That night was the local Caucus Meetings. Tim and I went. It was a much larger crowd than last time I went. BUT it was still long and quite boring. I read my book while Tim chatted with the men at our table and the votes were being counted. I like the system but I think we could maybe streamline it a bit.

Friday Tim had taken off work since it was donuts for dad (photo in collage of him and Zane) in the 2nd grade. Since I had broke off the handle of the faucet the night before he went in search of one. Meanwhile Gwen and I rested at home. Her swimming lessons got postponed (they were postponed Thursday for Zane and Izak as well) Her teacher was doing a state swim meet. Tim didn't have time to put it in before he went to lunch with Zane so he started after the program at about 2 PM! It took him until later that night to finish. I felt bad because I am sure he would have enjoyed watching March Madness instead on his day off! Owell. I took Timo to his PT appointment. They want him to do 4 more visits and then they think his ankle will be ready for normal life. After I dropped him off I went to Costco. Emily had some friends over so they ate with us then I rented them Little Red Riding Hood (the somewhat scary one that came out a year ago)and they watched it on ClearPlay. I don't know if they liked it but they had fun. Tim and I watched it after. I was exercising on the elliptical and got sucked in to the question who is the werewolf? I am not telling. So it was super late when we went to bed and I had CERT training the next day at 8 AM.

Saturday was St Patrick's Day and the leprechaun left candy in our shoes. That's it nothing else! I had CERT training until 9 PM. It was good but long. My bum would fall asleep after awhile. I was able to come home for lunch and dinner since we live behind the church where they were holding the class. Next week we practice our skills and finish at noon. Meanwhile Tim had to do chores with the kids and then he took them to my mom's where my family celebrated Tim's and Izak's birthday. I am sure it was a good diversion for everyone since I was gone and my mom did cool stuff for them. Katie and my mom sent me these cute photos.







After I got home I exercised and then showered. I went to bed shortly after that since I was beat!

Today Tim had early morning meetings and then I had BYC. The guys had manly choir just before church since they sang. Izak decided not to pass the sacrament until he can walk without crutches. so in 2 more Sundays. It's a bummer but I understand! The men sang amazing today! It was awesome. The talks were also good and lessons. So grateful! Timo is now the first Assistant to the Bishop. He will do well. We had Tim do the interviews with the kids tonight. Tomorrow we are doing FHE at the Alzheimer's Assisted Living place and Zane is going to teach a little lesson so it's worked out perfect for having interviews today! Have a great week! Hope spring really is coming and we aren't in for snow until June again!

Swimming Lessons, Snow , Inter tube Waterpolo and 2 Birthdays....

So I never finished posting about last week! Crazy busy days! This will be a jumbled out of order post! Just as we have finished indoor soccer and basketball Izak, Zane and Gwen started swimming lessons. They are doing it at a lady's indoor pool. Izak can swim he is just lacking confidence so he should be good after one session for scout stuff! Gwen and Zane can swim they just aren't deep end ready yet so this should also help. Izak also started soccer practice this week and the other kids start this coming week.

Tim and I got to go to BYU and watch Taran and his roommates and friends in on of their water polo games--on inter tubes! It was so fun, and funny! It was late so we didn't bring the other kids. We stopped to get hot chocolate at Mc Donalds and they were out. So we saw that they had Shamrock Shakes, it was March 1st! And they said that they were done with those for the YEAR! Oh my we laughed 'til we cried after Tim told them it is March 1st and St. Patrick's Day is still some days away. We went to another Mc Donalds that was on the same road but different town and thought let's see what they say! We actually got Shamrock Shakes and I don't remember them tasting as good as this one did! We had had great weather, spring worthy but that night it was snowy and cold. We were glad to make it home safe!

I was in charge of our Personal Progress Nights we are having this year on the 5th Wednesdays. The leaders meet with the girls individually and we have pancakes with a lot of toppings for them to put on them. We even made gluten free ones--we have a few that have Celiac. I had some of the older girls who have their medallion help with the set up and cooking. We also had our camp leaders there teaching the girls knitting for their camp project they have to make something to give away and since our theme is Modern Girls Vintage Values they thought it would be fun to teach them to knit this helped keep them busy when they were done eating and waiting to meet with a leader. The girls had a lot of fun and told me how much they loved it. We used and IHOP theme I mentioned last week so I used those colors for decor, girls appreciate that effort which is gratifying! We are going to keep that as our theme for each night we have the rest of the year--why reinvent it if they loved it!

We had the Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts and it was Cowboy Themed. It was darling the set up! We had a lot of fun and Zane got his Bobcat. Micah moved into WEBELOS. They showed a slide show of the year so that was pretty fun to watch. We had to make a cake for it that was decorated in a western theme. So for FHE we had 2 cakes one group decorated a strawberry one (made a flower pattern Izak and TImo weren't thrilled) and the cubs and dad decorated the chocolate one. It was Cowboy and Indians against the gummy bears--my idea. I know I am the mother of 5 boys! Lots of boys wanted it at the banquet which surprised me since there were so many cakes that looked MUCH better!

After the Personal Progress Night (I told you I was going to be all over the place!) was the Court of Honor--we had ours early so leaders and sisters could watch their sons/brothers. Izak got to carry the flag. The deacon scouts had a slide show that was fun to watch. Good times ahead for Izak!

Friday was Dr. Seuss' birthday so we had green eggs and ham! It was a hit! Gwen got t-shirt from a girl in her preschool that had the Cat in the Hat on it. Pretty nice birthday favor for her class!

My mom took Izak out to lunch for his birthday and got him a fancy soccer ball. He is loving it!

The collage above is the gathering we had last Sunday with the Pewside for 3 months of birthdays. Taran was able to come so everyone who lives here was there! It was a super fun time, of course!


This is a collage of Izak's birthday celebrating. He turned 12! He had cereal for his special breakfast, I bought him a special lunch and he wanted Panda Express for dinner. I made him a Reeses Trifle I found on Pinterest. Super rich and yummy! He didn't get a ton of gifts because he went to space camp for his party and got the largest ship. But his friends were generous so he didn't feel like he didn't get much plus what he got from the family on Sunday. I made the space campers rockets out of candy--it turned out better than it looks and Tim and I made t-shirts with tape and spray paint with the ship name Magellan on the front. I took photos of them with him but forgot to include one in the collage. The boys loved them and all wore them to school the same day.

Thursday night Tim and I went to a movie--sort of a pre-birthday fun! It was the Mission Impossible 4--the one we tried to see on Valentine's Day. We had some passes so it only cost us concessions. It was really good if you like those kind of movies. Friday was his birthday we also had favorite cereal for him as well. He went to lunch with Emily since it was lunch with parents day they do once a term. She always wants him to go so he did. He worked from home after that. Timo had a 'camp out' at a cabin for all the guys his age and their leaders they plan activities. So he missed dinner. My parents brought Taran and Tim's parents came too for dinner. We had hamburgers--the sunny weather makes it seem like BBQ season! Tim grilled and I got the other food ready. He wanted to make it easy and chose Costco Chocolate cake for his dessert. Only asked for Johnny English 2 for his birthday--he has some DIY things he wants to put his b-day money towards. So after the grandparents left we watched it. It was pretty funny!

Yesterday was another beautiful day. Tim put an amplifier on our new antennae. We also took our tramp pad off to see if it's worth fixing. We have just barely had it over it's warranty and the loops for the springs are ripping!. Zane and Gwen and I cleaned out all the balls that were under it after Tim removed it! WOW! I also threw out all the garbage. WOW! Amazing what blows under there!

Izak and Emily had friends here most of the day. We had about 20 extra kids in and out. They left when we went to stake conference. Timo had Spring Fling a girl's choice casual dance. He had a lot of fun. He got home at midnight. We went out for treats after the adult meeting of stake conference with a bunch of couples from our ward. It was fun. Then I exercised when I got home. I can't eat late like that without exercising!

Today Izak is getting ordained to be a deacon. We are waiting for Taran to get here. Unfortunately I think only my mom will make it of the grandparents and maybe my sister since we didn't know for sure when it was going to take place until just before Stake Conference.

Some other things that have happened: Gwen had her check up and got her infamous Kindergarten shots! She did super well! Taran's passport came and we got it mailed with his VISA application. Unfortunately I noticed AFTER I mailed it I noticed a couple of things we/I did wrong. I could really complain about the way this was done which made us make these mistakes but I am going to leave my whining to a minimum. Unfortunately it could push back Taran's MTC date 6 weeks if it doesn't go through. Timo had a choir concert and it was really good.

We also had the typical piano, scouts and homework stuff. Have a great week! Hope it's as nice as our weekend!