Girls camp was great. We just got home yesterday. We camped as wards. That was fun to spend time with all the girls I know and the ward leaders that I love serving with. And when we did levels, I was over Rachel's level. We saw an amazing meteor shower one night. We saw about 100 shooting starts in an hour.
We had a fun trip to Utah last weekend. We stayed with Wendy. We spent one morning with Kartrina, then had lunch at J Dawgs and then went to the BYU bookstore and spent the rest of the day with the Deans. We went to the blessing and then had a bbq with Amanda and Wendy and their families.
Now we're on the countdown to school. This week we can catch up with things and we've been trying to get to ikea all summer so we'll do that and the waterslides. Next week I'll have to work at least one day and we have one day that is full of open houses to meet everyone's teachers.
Today is Rachel's birthday. Mostly we celebrated at Kristal's. Today we had norwegian pancakes for breakfast. And we'll have cake and ice cream after church. She'll have some friends over for a party sometime this week.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Sunday, July 31, 2016
July 31, 2016
This summer has flown by! I'll try to remember by month what happened.
May
The end of school was busy as usual. Aaron and Seth finished their soccer season. They both did great. We joined the Dinosaur park league, which was so nice to be so close. Aaron rode his bike to practice and Seth's practice was wedged between piano for Aaron and Rachel and Basketball for Danny. It wouldn't have worked if I had to drive to the other soccer park. Danny played with his club team and also played on an intramural basketball team for his school. I was the unofficial team mom for the basketball team because they had a hard time getting the team organized and communicated to the parents. The girls still did their dance classes at the cute studio close to our house.
We went to Ryan and Venessa's for Memorial Weekend. We went to the beach by ourselves on the first day because everyone else had work and school. We had a great time boogie boarding and playing. Aaron ate too much junk food, once again, and threw up in the rocks. Danny hit a sneaky squirrel in the head with a rock by accident. He didn't bother us again!
The next day all the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa joined us at the beach. We had a great time. Sunday we had our regular vacation church family testimony meeting. Grandma and Grandpa came with us for that. We walked to the HOA and went on a hike.
The week before Memorial Day a job opened up at the Elementary school for a Teacher's Aide. I applied and was interviewed that day. I have several friends who work at the school so that was really helpful. The interview went great and they said they'd get back to me in a week. They called the next day with a job offer. It all happened so fast. I called the Principal at the middle school to make sure he couldn't offer me the sports secretary job. He said they weren't ready. So I took the job. I'll be working the full hours of Elementary school. It's taken me most of the summer to adjust to the fact that I'll be working pretty much full time. It's going to be a busy year.
June
School ended. Yay! A few days after school got out we went to Visalia to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob and I left for a few days for our Anniversary. We went to Cambria. We toured Hearst Castle, went for a bike ride into town for some French pastries, watched the seals and ate at some great restaurants. The weather was a little cold, but we had a nice, lazy weekend. And then Bob flew home and I stayed with the kids for the week. We had a great time shopping and swimming and going to the arcade. The kids hit some major jackpots there so it made it exciting. We also finally got to take Bob to Superior Dairy in Hanford. We did boys against girls this time. The boys took it seriously and downed their ice cream fast.
We brought Grandma back with us when we came home from Visalia. And we got back just in time for Danny and Bob to turn around and drive back to CA for a basketball tournament. This is pretty much the only tournament Danny's team travel's to (we love that they mostly just do the local tournaments) and we've never made it there. So this year Danny really wanted to go. Bob and Danny got to have a nice boys weekend. They stayed at Kristal's house about 30 minutes from the tournament. They had a game Friday night and Saturday night. So Saturday morning they got to go to the beach. They also found some awesome places to eat. After the Saturday game they raced home so Danny could go to the last 2 hours of the stake dance with his friends.
Grandma came back from Visalia with us so she could watch the kids while Bob, Danny and I went on our stake's Pioneer Trek. It was super hot that weekend in Utah, where we did the trek. But we still had a great time and really bonded with our trek families.
The month of June felt like a whirlwind. We didn't have any downtime to have a lazy summer day or catch up on things. As soon as school got out it felt like I just had to get through trek and then things would slow down. But when we got home from trek, we had 4 days at home to recover and then get ready for our 13 day trip to Oregon and Tahoe.
July
We left July 1 for Oregon. We drove straight through to get there. 16 hours. The kids did great. There were 40 people staying at the farmhouse this year. We were celebrating Grandma Monte's 85th birthday.
The first day in Oregon we went to Portland. Ryan's family and Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We went to VooDoo donuts first. It was ok. Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden. It was amazing. Such beautiful flowers everywhere. Seth and Ruby really got into it and took our phones around to take pictures of all the flowers. They actually got some pretty good ones. After the rose garden we split up and just our family went to the Nike Store since it's based in Portland. And then we rode the Arial Tram that connects two parts of the hospital. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake and took pictures in our matching Barnhart Family Reunion shirts. That night my mom and dad took pictures by the creek on the farm. We got some really great ones. Danny and the other kids went fishing every day. And we picked blueberries all the time. It's amazing how many of those blueberries you can eat every day when you don't have to pay for them!
Monday was 4th of July. We drove to Lincoln City. That morning when we were getting ready to go I took a step and all of a sudden my ankle was killing me. It felt like I pulled a tendon or something. So I had to limp all day. We went to the 4th of July parade. That was fun. Then we went over to the beach and played for a while. We did fireworks in the backyard. Danny and Aaron helped Grandpa with tons of fireworks. The close museum was doing big fireworks too so we could watch those at the same time.
Tuesday we went back to Portland and rode a ferry up and down the river. Wednesday we went to the indoor waterslides. I wasn't feeling very well when I got up but I thought it would wear off so I went to the waterslides with everyone. I took it easy for a while and then Danny really wanted me to ride a slide with him so I decided to try it. I got most of the way up and started feeling light-headed. I sat down and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. I threw up blueberries all over the stairs. Danny ran and got Bob to help me. But then some lifeguards came and said they'd clean it up. I went and got cleaned up and then I felt great. We had a fun rest of the day at the waterslides. Aaron really wanted to go to the aviation museum so he talked Grandpa into taking him halfway through the day.
Thursday we drove to Tahoe. Friday we played at Sand Harbor. We always have such a good time there. Saturday we went to the Air show. The kids really enjoyed sitting in a Tesla and getting all the free stuff from the vendors. We left the Smith's at the air show and we went to hike along the Rubicon trail. Ruby really liked that it was like her name. We had a good time, even though there was some whining at the beginning. It's just so beautiful there! The blue lake is amazing. Monday we went to Donner beach and we took the jet ski. Danny was old enough to drive it and take the kids on rides. Bob loved that he didn't have to be out there the whole time. It was a little cooler there than it has been sometimes so we had a harder time getting in the water a lot. We also played games at night and had smores and expoded a watermelon by putting hundreds of rubber bands around it. We had a great time in Tahoe once again. This was our 7th year in a row going there. We're so grateful the Smith's let us come stay with them every year.
The week after our big vacation was Scout Camp. Bob had to go help also. It was nice to have a week to be home and get things done. I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the stairs.
This weekend Rachel and I went to stay at Kristal's with Grandma to celebrate her 13th birthday. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect. The first day we went shopping most of the day. It was very successful. We rode bikes to the beach that evening and got dinner. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. Rachel can stay in the water forever. We found a fun part of Huntington beach that has a sandbar just a little way out. We had a lot of fun there. Then we rode bikes around the beach. We got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory that night. Rachel loved it. Saturday we were lazy in the morning. Then Kristal taught us pilates and we went back to our sandbar spot at the beach for a few hours then we drove home.
August seems like it will be just as busy as the rest of the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend for Sarah's baby's blessing then Rachel and I go to girls camp as soon as we get back. Then there is only 2 weeks until school starts. But I assume I'll have to start work earlier than that to get a little training.
I also have been having weird anxiety stuff for a while with my breathing and muscle tension and sleeping problems and now I think my tingling hands might be related too. I went to see Valerie. I think it's been helpful. I'll write more about it next time.
May
The end of school was busy as usual. Aaron and Seth finished their soccer season. They both did great. We joined the Dinosaur park league, which was so nice to be so close. Aaron rode his bike to practice and Seth's practice was wedged between piano for Aaron and Rachel and Basketball for Danny. It wouldn't have worked if I had to drive to the other soccer park. Danny played with his club team and also played on an intramural basketball team for his school. I was the unofficial team mom for the basketball team because they had a hard time getting the team organized and communicated to the parents. The girls still did their dance classes at the cute studio close to our house.
We went to Ryan and Venessa's for Memorial Weekend. We went to the beach by ourselves on the first day because everyone else had work and school. We had a great time boogie boarding and playing. Aaron ate too much junk food, once again, and threw up in the rocks. Danny hit a sneaky squirrel in the head with a rock by accident. He didn't bother us again!
The next day all the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa joined us at the beach. We had a great time. Sunday we had our regular vacation church family testimony meeting. Grandma and Grandpa came with us for that. We walked to the HOA and went on a hike.
The week before Memorial Day a job opened up at the Elementary school for a Teacher's Aide. I applied and was interviewed that day. I have several friends who work at the school so that was really helpful. The interview went great and they said they'd get back to me in a week. They called the next day with a job offer. It all happened so fast. I called the Principal at the middle school to make sure he couldn't offer me the sports secretary job. He said they weren't ready. So I took the job. I'll be working the full hours of Elementary school. It's taken me most of the summer to adjust to the fact that I'll be working pretty much full time. It's going to be a busy year.
June
School ended. Yay! A few days after school got out we went to Visalia to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob and I left for a few days for our Anniversary. We went to Cambria. We toured Hearst Castle, went for a bike ride into town for some French pastries, watched the seals and ate at some great restaurants. The weather was a little cold, but we had a nice, lazy weekend. And then Bob flew home and I stayed with the kids for the week. We had a great time shopping and swimming and going to the arcade. The kids hit some major jackpots there so it made it exciting. We also finally got to take Bob to Superior Dairy in Hanford. We did boys against girls this time. The boys took it seriously and downed their ice cream fast.
We brought Grandma back with us when we came home from Visalia. And we got back just in time for Danny and Bob to turn around and drive back to CA for a basketball tournament. This is pretty much the only tournament Danny's team travel's to (we love that they mostly just do the local tournaments) and we've never made it there. So this year Danny really wanted to go. Bob and Danny got to have a nice boys weekend. They stayed at Kristal's house about 30 minutes from the tournament. They had a game Friday night and Saturday night. So Saturday morning they got to go to the beach. They also found some awesome places to eat. After the Saturday game they raced home so Danny could go to the last 2 hours of the stake dance with his friends.
Grandma came back from Visalia with us so she could watch the kids while Bob, Danny and I went on our stake's Pioneer Trek. It was super hot that weekend in Utah, where we did the trek. But we still had a great time and really bonded with our trek families.
The month of June felt like a whirlwind. We didn't have any downtime to have a lazy summer day or catch up on things. As soon as school got out it felt like I just had to get through trek and then things would slow down. But when we got home from trek, we had 4 days at home to recover and then get ready for our 13 day trip to Oregon and Tahoe.
July
We left July 1 for Oregon. We drove straight through to get there. 16 hours. The kids did great. There were 40 people staying at the farmhouse this year. We were celebrating Grandma Monte's 85th birthday.
The first day in Oregon we went to Portland. Ryan's family and Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We went to VooDoo donuts first. It was ok. Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden. It was amazing. Such beautiful flowers everywhere. Seth and Ruby really got into it and took our phones around to take pictures of all the flowers. They actually got some pretty good ones. After the rose garden we split up and just our family went to the Nike Store since it's based in Portland. And then we rode the Arial Tram that connects two parts of the hospital. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake and took pictures in our matching Barnhart Family Reunion shirts. That night my mom and dad took pictures by the creek on the farm. We got some really great ones. Danny and the other kids went fishing every day. And we picked blueberries all the time. It's amazing how many of those blueberries you can eat every day when you don't have to pay for them!
Monday was 4th of July. We drove to Lincoln City. That morning when we were getting ready to go I took a step and all of a sudden my ankle was killing me. It felt like I pulled a tendon or something. So I had to limp all day. We went to the 4th of July parade. That was fun. Then we went over to the beach and played for a while. We did fireworks in the backyard. Danny and Aaron helped Grandpa with tons of fireworks. The close museum was doing big fireworks too so we could watch those at the same time.
Tuesday we went back to Portland and rode a ferry up and down the river. Wednesday we went to the indoor waterslides. I wasn't feeling very well when I got up but I thought it would wear off so I went to the waterslides with everyone. I took it easy for a while and then Danny really wanted me to ride a slide with him so I decided to try it. I got most of the way up and started feeling light-headed. I sat down and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. I threw up blueberries all over the stairs. Danny ran and got Bob to help me. But then some lifeguards came and said they'd clean it up. I went and got cleaned up and then I felt great. We had a fun rest of the day at the waterslides. Aaron really wanted to go to the aviation museum so he talked Grandpa into taking him halfway through the day.
Thursday we drove to Tahoe. Friday we played at Sand Harbor. We always have such a good time there. Saturday we went to the Air show. The kids really enjoyed sitting in a Tesla and getting all the free stuff from the vendors. We left the Smith's at the air show and we went to hike along the Rubicon trail. Ruby really liked that it was like her name. We had a good time, even though there was some whining at the beginning. It's just so beautiful there! The blue lake is amazing. Monday we went to Donner beach and we took the jet ski. Danny was old enough to drive it and take the kids on rides. Bob loved that he didn't have to be out there the whole time. It was a little cooler there than it has been sometimes so we had a harder time getting in the water a lot. We also played games at night and had smores and expoded a watermelon by putting hundreds of rubber bands around it. We had a great time in Tahoe once again. This was our 7th year in a row going there. We're so grateful the Smith's let us come stay with them every year.
The week after our big vacation was Scout Camp. Bob had to go help also. It was nice to have a week to be home and get things done. I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the stairs.
This weekend Rachel and I went to stay at Kristal's with Grandma to celebrate her 13th birthday. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect. The first day we went shopping most of the day. It was very successful. We rode bikes to the beach that evening and got dinner. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. Rachel can stay in the water forever. We found a fun part of Huntington beach that has a sandbar just a little way out. We had a lot of fun there. Then we rode bikes around the beach. We got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory that night. Rachel loved it. Saturday we were lazy in the morning. Then Kristal taught us pilates and we went back to our sandbar spot at the beach for a few hours then we drove home.
August seems like it will be just as busy as the rest of the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend for Sarah's baby's blessing then Rachel and I go to girls camp as soon as we get back. Then there is only 2 weeks until school starts. But I assume I'll have to start work earlier than that to get a little training.
I also have been having weird anxiety stuff for a while with my breathing and muscle tension and sleeping problems and now I think my tingling hands might be related too. I went to see Valerie. I think it's been helpful. I'll write more about it next time.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
May 15, 2016
My arms were really bad again this week so I finally went to the chiropractor. I prayed about it because I had so much fear about it because of my past experiences. I felt like it would be ok so I made an appointment with Matt Anderson, our home teacher. I still didn't like it, but it was ok and over pretty fast. It may have helped, I can't tell yet. It's not gone, but it hasn't woken me up much either. I also got a new pillow there that seems pretty good too.
Danny went on a field trip to Disneyland this week. He had a great time. Aaron had a field trip last week to go river rafting at the Hoover Dam. They had field day. We're doing all the final things for the school year.
We met our trek family this week. It was so fun. We have great kids. I'm excited.
Danny went on a field trip to Disneyland this week. He had a great time. Aaron had a field trip last week to go river rafting at the Hoover Dam. They had field day. We're doing all the final things for the school year.
We met our trek family this week. It was so fun. We have great kids. I'm excited.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
May 8, 2016
Today is Mother's day. Bob made breakfast and he and Rachel got me flowers and candy. and the kids all made great cards. I got a knife and sharpener, creme brule stuff and a nice water pitcher. And it's a gorgeous sunny day. We've had lots or wind and rain this week. This spring has had lots of changing weather. It's been fun.
I may have a job at the kids school next year. I have been fasting and praying since last year that we'd be able to get Aaron in to Sky Pointe for next year. Then the lottery numbers came out and Aaron is #10. That's not too bad of a number, but there's no way 10 kids will leave the 5th grade this summer. So I was a little disappointed, but I kept praying and talking to the registrar. She said probably my only real chance is to get a job at the school because that would change my priority and would jump him up to #2, which could have an actual chance of getting a spot. Ruby got in to full day kindergarten so I do have time to work there if I need to. So I took my resume to the elementary side and they said they need on call aides. But on-call isn't enough to get staff priority. But what I'd really like to do is help with sports in the middle and high school. They are just getting their programs going. I've been helping with the boys basketball team quite a bit so I have a relationship with the coach and Athletic director. And I've been going to the monthly parent committee meetings and I know the principle and vice principle. So after the last meeting I sat down with the principle and he said they are actually looking to add an Athletic Secretary that would work 3 hours a day. That would be my ideal scenario. But they don't know yet if they'll have enough money to pay for a secretary after they hire some more teachers. That's actually ok because I don't care if I get paid. I think I'd probably only make $400/month anyway. So it's good to know they have a need. I'm supposed to check in at the end of the year. I'm hoping whether they can pay me or not, that they'll want my help and can at least get me the spot for Aaron.
I've felt pretty supported in this whole process. Like when a door closed I had some help coming up with the next way to try. I'm so hopeful it'll work out how I want it to. But I guess if it doesn't I've gained some experience at being persistent and looking for ways around something. Aaron should have a pretty easy time getting in to the school for 6th grade if it doesn't work this year, but I really don't want him to have to wait!
I also feel like I've had to be persistent and keeps trying with my hands. Nothing seems to be changing and I still really can't recognize hardly anything that makes my hands better or worse. I do think swimming helps a little and maybe if I work on my core muscles so I can stand straighter. But those just have a little affect. I liked acupuncture. It didn't seem to make any difference, but I only went twice. Their hours are not helpful. They aren't open during preschool and I just don't have the time right now to go twice a week and find a babysitter for something that I don't know will actually help it. Maybe I'll try again after school gets out. My neurologist said he can't help me. So now that's neurology, physical therapy and orthopedic surgery that have all tried and said they can't help. I still haven't tried a chiropractor on my neck. But it scares me and I haven't felt strongly that I need to. I did try the chiropractor on my ribs and it made the tingling worse. I think I'm going to ask my dad and Bob for a healing blessing when we're together for memorial day and see if that can help.
Our family went and volunteered at the Mt. Charleston Marathon yesterday. It was so great. I've been wanting to get my kids out to more service and then the women's session of conference was all about service so I realized I just need to make it happen. So we went and took some other youth from the ward. It was great. Danny was pretty grumpy about being there, but half way through they put us at the pizza table with no instruction and a gathering group of hungry runners and we just had to jump in. Danny rose to the occasion and it made such a difference for him. His mood got so much better and he was happy and talkative for the rest of the day. He's been in a grumpy teenager mood for a few weeks, but yesterday he was so happy and agreeable and today too. It's a really nice mother's day present.
We have a 21 day challenge in our stake to work on temple and family history. It's worked out pretty well. I've been able to go to the temple once a week for the 3 weeks and I plan to take the beehives to do baptisms so they can participate in the challenge. I also found a name on Meema's line that I felt like I needed to figure out. She took hours and I even had my mom look for a few hours. From what I could find she went by several different names at different times. Oregon Virginia Vergie Nancy Rebecka Whitley Clear. And there were so many versions of her and her kids. Once I was finally done researching her and merging everyone, the only work to be done was to seal her to her parents. Hopefully she really wanted that. Bob and I will go do it next week.
Last weekend I went to Women's Conference with Amanda and Wendy. It was so great. I love those girls. It rained a lot, but it didn't matter. We went to some great sessions. Mostly we stayed in the Marriott center. We ate a lot of good food and went shopping. We stayed up late talking. The thing I came away most from the conference was how amazing those women are. And how much they consecrate their lives to the Lord. I want to work harder and be better at that. All the work would definitely be worth the joy of being that helpful.
I may have a job at the kids school next year. I have been fasting and praying since last year that we'd be able to get Aaron in to Sky Pointe for next year. Then the lottery numbers came out and Aaron is #10. That's not too bad of a number, but there's no way 10 kids will leave the 5th grade this summer. So I was a little disappointed, but I kept praying and talking to the registrar. She said probably my only real chance is to get a job at the school because that would change my priority and would jump him up to #2, which could have an actual chance of getting a spot. Ruby got in to full day kindergarten so I do have time to work there if I need to. So I took my resume to the elementary side and they said they need on call aides. But on-call isn't enough to get staff priority. But what I'd really like to do is help with sports in the middle and high school. They are just getting their programs going. I've been helping with the boys basketball team quite a bit so I have a relationship with the coach and Athletic director. And I've been going to the monthly parent committee meetings and I know the principle and vice principle. So after the last meeting I sat down with the principle and he said they are actually looking to add an Athletic Secretary that would work 3 hours a day. That would be my ideal scenario. But they don't know yet if they'll have enough money to pay for a secretary after they hire some more teachers. That's actually ok because I don't care if I get paid. I think I'd probably only make $400/month anyway. So it's good to know they have a need. I'm supposed to check in at the end of the year. I'm hoping whether they can pay me or not, that they'll want my help and can at least get me the spot for Aaron.
I've felt pretty supported in this whole process. Like when a door closed I had some help coming up with the next way to try. I'm so hopeful it'll work out how I want it to. But I guess if it doesn't I've gained some experience at being persistent and looking for ways around something. Aaron should have a pretty easy time getting in to the school for 6th grade if it doesn't work this year, but I really don't want him to have to wait!
I also feel like I've had to be persistent and keeps trying with my hands. Nothing seems to be changing and I still really can't recognize hardly anything that makes my hands better or worse. I do think swimming helps a little and maybe if I work on my core muscles so I can stand straighter. But those just have a little affect. I liked acupuncture. It didn't seem to make any difference, but I only went twice. Their hours are not helpful. They aren't open during preschool and I just don't have the time right now to go twice a week and find a babysitter for something that I don't know will actually help it. Maybe I'll try again after school gets out. My neurologist said he can't help me. So now that's neurology, physical therapy and orthopedic surgery that have all tried and said they can't help. I still haven't tried a chiropractor on my neck. But it scares me and I haven't felt strongly that I need to. I did try the chiropractor on my ribs and it made the tingling worse. I think I'm going to ask my dad and Bob for a healing blessing when we're together for memorial day and see if that can help.
Our family went and volunteered at the Mt. Charleston Marathon yesterday. It was so great. I've been wanting to get my kids out to more service and then the women's session of conference was all about service so I realized I just need to make it happen. So we went and took some other youth from the ward. It was great. Danny was pretty grumpy about being there, but half way through they put us at the pizza table with no instruction and a gathering group of hungry runners and we just had to jump in. Danny rose to the occasion and it made such a difference for him. His mood got so much better and he was happy and talkative for the rest of the day. He's been in a grumpy teenager mood for a few weeks, but yesterday he was so happy and agreeable and today too. It's a really nice mother's day present.
We have a 21 day challenge in our stake to work on temple and family history. It's worked out pretty well. I've been able to go to the temple once a week for the 3 weeks and I plan to take the beehives to do baptisms so they can participate in the challenge. I also found a name on Meema's line that I felt like I needed to figure out. She took hours and I even had my mom look for a few hours. From what I could find she went by several different names at different times. Oregon Virginia Vergie Nancy Rebecka Whitley Clear. And there were so many versions of her and her kids. Once I was finally done researching her and merging everyone, the only work to be done was to seal her to her parents. Hopefully she really wanted that. Bob and I will go do it next week.
Last weekend I went to Women's Conference with Amanda and Wendy. It was so great. I love those girls. It rained a lot, but it didn't matter. We went to some great sessions. Mostly we stayed in the Marriott center. We ate a lot of good food and went shopping. We stayed up late talking. The thing I came away most from the conference was how amazing those women are. And how much they consecrate their lives to the Lord. I want to work harder and be better at that. All the work would definitely be worth the joy of being that helpful.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
April 10, 2016
I guess March must have been really busy. Seth and Aaron are playing soccer. Rachel and Ruby are still dancing. Danny is back with Ballerz and his school is having a late basketball season, so he's doing 2 teams at the same time. Young women's is busy. I helped Stephanie Jovaag quite a bit in March. We had Spring Break and Easter and Danny's birthday and general conference.
We went to Visalia for Spring Break. We left right after school got out on Friday because Casey and Kami were there that weekend. Everyone came to my parents' to see them. We went to the park and had a picnic, we had a party for all the March and April birthdays, we played frisbees in the backyard quite a bit. Then everyone left at the end of the weekend and the kids and I stayed until Thursday with my mom. We played miniature golf and went to the arcade, went shopping, the boys helped at Grandma Donna's, we watched movies. It was a nice, lazy spring break. We came home Thursday so Danny could play in a Basketball tournament. Then we had a nice Easter at home with Bob.
Our garden is growing great. We still have only eaten the kale, spinach and basil, but the peas, carrots, onions and tomatoes should be soon. Ruby and I love to go out an check on it every day. I look for aphids and check on things and Ruby counts all the ladybugs. If I don't remember to go out there, Ruby reminds me.
Danny turned 14. He had 4 friends over and played basketball and sting pong and had pizza and cake. They also tried the pool but it only lasted 5 minutes. Sting pong is a game Danny came up with. They play ping pong and then if a boy looses a point, he has to take his shirt off and turn around and the other boy gets to hit the ball as hard as they can at his back. They love it. Crazy boys.
My hands continue to be a problem. I had another test for MS because my neurologist thinks I could be in the 5% of people who don't show up in the brain MRI. I got an infusion of Steroids every day for 3 days. It didn't do anything for my hands, so I think that rules out MS for me. But it was a horrible drug. It made me achy and tired and gave me a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't sleep well. And then when I stopped I was really achy and tired for 2 days, so much that I had to stay in bed most of the time. I'm glad that's done. This week I'm trying acupunture.
We went to Visalia for Spring Break. We left right after school got out on Friday because Casey and Kami were there that weekend. Everyone came to my parents' to see them. We went to the park and had a picnic, we had a party for all the March and April birthdays, we played frisbees in the backyard quite a bit. Then everyone left at the end of the weekend and the kids and I stayed until Thursday with my mom. We played miniature golf and went to the arcade, went shopping, the boys helped at Grandma Donna's, we watched movies. It was a nice, lazy spring break. We came home Thursday so Danny could play in a Basketball tournament. Then we had a nice Easter at home with Bob.
Our garden is growing great. We still have only eaten the kale, spinach and basil, but the peas, carrots, onions and tomatoes should be soon. Ruby and I love to go out an check on it every day. I look for aphids and check on things and Ruby counts all the ladybugs. If I don't remember to go out there, Ruby reminds me.
Danny turned 14. He had 4 friends over and played basketball and sting pong and had pizza and cake. They also tried the pool but it only lasted 5 minutes. Sting pong is a game Danny came up with. They play ping pong and then if a boy looses a point, he has to take his shirt off and turn around and the other boy gets to hit the ball as hard as they can at his back. They love it. Crazy boys.
My hands continue to be a problem. I had another test for MS because my neurologist thinks I could be in the 5% of people who don't show up in the brain MRI. I got an infusion of Steroids every day for 3 days. It didn't do anything for my hands, so I think that rules out MS for me. But it was a horrible drug. It made me achy and tired and gave me a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't sleep well. And then when I stopped I was really achy and tired for 2 days, so much that I had to stay in bed most of the time. I'm glad that's done. This week I'm trying acupunture.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
February 28, 2016
We went to Provo last weekend. We had a 4 day weekend for President's day. We went up to see the new Provo City Center Temple. It was beautiful. We stayed with Trina the first night and Sarah came over and we all had breakfast the next morning. That afternoon we went to the Dean's. We got the kids settled and Bob and I and Danny and CJ went to visit Bishop Gibby and his wife. Danny and CJ rode their snowmobile while we talked. It was good to see them again. That night we had a candlelight dinner with the Deans as part of their Valentine Traditions. Sunday we went to church with them and then went over to Wendy's house for dinner. We had a good weekend of visiting the right amount of people so we saw a lot but it wasn't too busy.
Friday fun nights are going great. We've started having some theme nights. We did an 80s night where we listened to 80s music while we played quirkle and then Bob introduced the kids to Pee Wee's Playhouse. And we had an Indian/Persian night where Danny and I stopped by an Indian and Persian grocery store that are by his basketball game and we got lots of treats. Then we listened to Indian music while playing Don't eat Pete with some Indian wedding candy. And then we turned on a Bollywood movie on Netflix called Singh is King. We thought we'd only watch 20 minutes. But we all loved it. We watched the whole thing and it even had subtitles.
I listened to a book called How Not to Die that talks about lots of the benefits of a whole food plant based diet and how it can help with lots of diseases. It mentioned a study where they found that a dairy-free diet cured diabetic neuropathy. So I thought I'd try it. I was unsure about how much dairy fits into the Word of Wisdom so it sounded great to try it. Bob did it with me. It didn't help my nerves. The first week I couldn't tell much difference and then the second week my hands were pretty bad I think because I tweaked my neck a little one night. But it wasn't that hard and I like some of the changes we made doing it. I fasted about it also because I wanted to make sure I wasn't being extreme in my interpretation of the Word of Wisdom, but I felt like it is definitely a good thing to do. So I think I'll relax a little about how strict I was, but still continue to cut dairy as much as possible. I also mentioned cutting dairy to Danny because our dermatologist said it could help his skin. I didn't know if he'd want to try, but he did and he's been doing great with it. He says he feels like his skin feels smoother and Bob and I have noticed that his skin looks less red and inflamed. So at least that's been nice to see a little progress.
Our garden is in and we have plants! I did some seeds and some little plants. So we'll see what happens.
Friday fun nights are going great. We've started having some theme nights. We did an 80s night where we listened to 80s music while we played quirkle and then Bob introduced the kids to Pee Wee's Playhouse. And we had an Indian/Persian night where Danny and I stopped by an Indian and Persian grocery store that are by his basketball game and we got lots of treats. Then we listened to Indian music while playing Don't eat Pete with some Indian wedding candy. And then we turned on a Bollywood movie on Netflix called Singh is King. We thought we'd only watch 20 minutes. But we all loved it. We watched the whole thing and it even had subtitles.
I listened to a book called How Not to Die that talks about lots of the benefits of a whole food plant based diet and how it can help with lots of diseases. It mentioned a study where they found that a dairy-free diet cured diabetic neuropathy. So I thought I'd try it. I was unsure about how much dairy fits into the Word of Wisdom so it sounded great to try it. Bob did it with me. It didn't help my nerves. The first week I couldn't tell much difference and then the second week my hands were pretty bad I think because I tweaked my neck a little one night. But it wasn't that hard and I like some of the changes we made doing it. I fasted about it also because I wanted to make sure I wasn't being extreme in my interpretation of the Word of Wisdom, but I felt like it is definitely a good thing to do. So I think I'll relax a little about how strict I was, but still continue to cut dairy as much as possible. I also mentioned cutting dairy to Danny because our dermatologist said it could help his skin. I didn't know if he'd want to try, but he did and he's been doing great with it. He says he feels like his skin feels smoother and Bob and I have noticed that his skin looks less red and inflamed. So at least that's been nice to see a little progress.
Our garden is in and we have plants! I did some seeds and some little plants. So we'll see what happens.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
February 7, 2016
We put in a garden. The bricks and dirt are in, now we just need water and plants.
We had new beginnings last night. Bob was the priesthood there and Rachel was there. It was fun to be there together. Danny babysat.
Danny and Rachel got braces. It was nice for them to be able to do it together. They both took that day off school. We went to the mall after to spend their money because I accidentally told them they could have $100 for getting braces. At first Danny didn't want braces at all. And then he really wanted invisilign. So I told him if he really wanted it he would have to pay $300 toward it. He's been saving his dog walking money. But it didn't seem fair to get invisilign for Danny and make Rachel get regular, so we told her if she picks regular we'd give her $100. So in the end Danny decided against invisilign and they both collected on their $100. Danny bought shoes and Rachel bought a bunch of stuff at bath and body works. Then Bob met us at the mall and we had lunch at the food court. It was fun to have the day with my big kids.
Then the next day I let Aaron, Seth and Ruby stay home from school and we went to the snow. Danny and Rachel couldn't miss 2 days of school and Bob had to work. Ruby didn't get to go to the snow in Visalia because she was sick and she's been asking when she could go. We had a great time. We were the first ones there and it didn't get too crowded. The only sad part was the snow was too cold to make a snowman.
We had new beginnings last night. Bob was the priesthood there and Rachel was there. It was fun to be there together. Danny babysat.
Danny and Rachel got braces. It was nice for them to be able to do it together. They both took that day off school. We went to the mall after to spend their money because I accidentally told them they could have $100 for getting braces. At first Danny didn't want braces at all. And then he really wanted invisilign. So I told him if he really wanted it he would have to pay $300 toward it. He's been saving his dog walking money. But it didn't seem fair to get invisilign for Danny and make Rachel get regular, so we told her if she picks regular we'd give her $100. So in the end Danny decided against invisilign and they both collected on their $100. Danny bought shoes and Rachel bought a bunch of stuff at bath and body works. Then Bob met us at the mall and we had lunch at the food court. It was fun to have the day with my big kids.
Then the next day I let Aaron, Seth and Ruby stay home from school and we went to the snow. Danny and Rachel couldn't miss 2 days of school and Bob had to work. Ruby didn't get to go to the snow in Visalia because she was sick and she's been asking when she could go. We had a great time. We were the first ones there and it didn't get too crowded. The only sad part was the snow was too cold to make a snowman.
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