End of Year Celebrations

We started last week with the first of the End Of Year Celebrations.  Jack, Jeffrey, and Jane played in their piano recital.  I just love their piano teacher!  She stuck with Jack when he was in his I HATE PIANO stage and helped him excel to the point of loving it.  The others are coming along nicely as well.  And check out that cute piano keys treat she made for each student there in the bottom right corner.

And, just so you know, Jeffrey did wear his church pants for the performance, then apparently he came prepared to play outside because he had basketball shorts on underneath.  What a crazy kid!

On Wednesday Katie Anne wowed us with what she's learned in her tumbling class.  As she walked up to take her turn she told her teacher (who had been stating the different steps to the other kids), "I got this!"

After her recital we ran over to the park to eat our picnic dinner of grilled chicken salads.  The kids got their wiggles out in our short half hour break before heading to the next function.    Of course Jeffrey had to take his turn on the playground even if he was in his church clothes.

Jack had just enough time to eat and climb a tree all the way up to the top.  See him peeking out there?

A half hour later we were sitting on the bleachers at ACYI waiting for Jeffrey's band concert to start.

He has really enjoyed playing the baritone.  I love his little look at us at the end of the video:

On Thursday John left for his end of year celebration.  Yeah, we'll call it that.  He wanted to do the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim again, only better and faster.  Well, he did it in 19 hours 25 minutes. 

BEGINNING

MIDDLE

(with his brother in the background)

 

END

(eww.)

 

 On Friday Katie Anne graduated from Kindergarten.  Each kid in each of the three classes had a chance to shine a little.  Here she is singing the pink song:

She had a great year.  She is a great reader and I love hearing her little inflections.  She scored a kids meal to Maddox for her reading efforts this year.

As soon as her graduation was over we headed over to ACYI for Jack's robot competition.  He had a great robot but the Bluetooth connection kept blitzing out and there is no pause button so they timed out.  Kind of disappointing but he was happy to be able to tear his robot apart and build what he wants to again.  Here is my one bad picture of the whole day!

So that's it.  One more soccer game for Jane and we are done with the celebrations.  Besides the end of school, of course. 

 

Blasted!

ON TUESDAY 5.14

I participated in my first {and probably last} fashion show.  I was asked to create a pencil skirt so this is what I made:

and here I am in the show:

That gal in the back wearing a cowboy hat had on a white shirt with black splotches and a blown up glove acting as an udder.  She was wearing a MOOMOO.  Other entrants included a ball gown and a bawl gown:

There was a dinner dress (tablecloth wrapped around) a junior prom dress (worn by a 6 year old) and a senior prom dress (worn by an 80 year old, accompanied by her 7 great grandsons as her dates!).  We had a good time anyway...

 



 

ON WEDNESDAY 5.14

I went to Park day.  It's therapy for me, both for my vitamin D and my soul...

Also, we got kind of WACKY...

 

ON THURSDAY 5.15

I had to run some errands in Logan.  We first stopped at SEI outlet.  It had been a while since I had stopped there.  Katie Anne had time to make this while I shopped, (bless her heart):

 

I then dropped Katie Anne off with Grandpa because that is way more fun.  She helped clean up the shop, ate lunch on the porch, and got to go on a four wheeler ride. 

Plus she got to spend more time here, one of my most favorite places on earth!

 





ON FRIDAY 5.16

I got blasted!

 

Stacy drove me to the Cache Valley Specialty Hospital while John stayed home and took care of the kids.  He and Jack later headed down to support Jeffrey in the Robot Competition at Lagoon. 

Stacy and I arrived at the hospital around 6:45, got settled in a small little room in the outpatient section and welcomed the various nurses in as they took my temp and blood pressure and took me for x-rays.  Around 8:00 my main nurse came in to give me my iv.  She had just put it in and was typing her info when we heard CODE SILVER IN THE ER... CODE SILVER IN THE ER.  We then heard a bunch of nurses in the hallway saying "WHAT DOES CODE SILVER MEAN?  GRAB THE CODE BOOK!"  They did and as they were saying that it meant distraught patient we heard "HOSPITAL ON LOCKDOWN."  The nurse was in the process of shutting our sliding glass door when I saw a uniformed police officer ducking through a door just feet from where I was sitting.  Not too long afterwards I heard a pop pop pop pop sound.  We sat there for a second then I said, "Those were gunshots."  The nurse was still in our room and she said, "Yep."  Stacy was surprised at the sound, thinking it didn't sound like she thought it would.  Not too long later we heard, "CODE TRAUMA TO THE ER."  We got word that the distraught person had been shot.  We were relieved that it hadn't gone any further.

We just stared at each other, not really even knowing what to think.  I had asked the nurse if she was nervous and she just said," Yes, but we train for this all the time."

 

I called John to let him know what had gone on in case he heard something on the radio.

About an hour later they came and got me and away I went to the operating room for my lithotripsy.

I lose track of time here, but eventually I started to wake up in the recovery room.  The anesthesia made me very talkative and I kept saying, "I just want to talk.  I saw the policeman.  I heard the gun."  I repeated that every few minutes without being able to stop myself for who knows how long until I heard her call down to the outpatient area where I would be moved next.  I think she was done listening to me!

Stacy and my dad were there.  He had just finished a shift at the temple.  I felt pretty great.  Stacy drove us through the drive through at Kneaders and frankly Logan traffic was more pain than I felt.  We ate lunch with dad, chatted for a while, then headed home.  Chris brought Katie Anne over and Jane walked in the door from school.  I still felt pretty good, but around 5:00 things started to go south. 

My good friend took the girls to our school carnival while I moaned on the couch.  John and the boys came in a while later carrying my prescriptions which I was now eager to take.  Give me the drugs! I made it through the night, my only bright spot being little grains of sand caught in my special cup. The next day I was so very sick.  I couldn't keep anything down and I hurt so badly and I was so tired.  I was mean and took the couch in the living room as my sick bed.  Everyone was very kind to me and found other places to go or just sat on the floor to watch one of the constant movies played for me to keep my mind a little distracted. (My list included Ever After, Austenland, Walter Mitty, and Pride and Prejudice.)

Are you still reading this?  Fine, I'll sum up.  Blah blah blah, lots of stone bits came out and I recovered and I think I'm fine!  Thankful for my nurse, John, my kids who put up with me, and my neighbor who brought me dinner and took the three oldest to stake conference, and my other neighbor who made me dinner, even when I was feeling a little better!  So there you have it, blasted and not blasted, for which I'm thankful the most.

Wacky...

Nearly every Wednesday after John and Jack leave for young men's activities the rest of us get a little wacky. 

Sometimes we get a LOT wacky, like last week. 

We made eggless cookie dough and took our little bowls out to the trampoline. 

Katie Anne liked it so much her hair stood on end!



 

Jane liked it so much her jaw dropped!

 

Jeffrey liked it so much his head exploded!

 

I didn't like it as much.  Until I ate it chilled the next day.  Oh mama.  Very good.

 



After that they got their sugar high...

or maybe that was just the trampoline.

Tricky...

Jeffrey got a little tuckered out...

 but he didn't get to rest for long.

We also used up a giant bubble wand. 

I couldn't take any pictures.  I had bubble juice all over me.

Wacky.

 

Happy Mother's Day

Last Saturday I bought a special treat for dinner (General Tso's Chicken from Costco)  to celebrate the hard work John had put into a project at his job.  That night He and the boys went on a bike ride that took them away over the dinner hour.  I had already prepared Sunday's dinner so I thought we could have the chicken on Monday.  Then I remembered Cinco De Mayo and we had to have taco's, even though all the Spanish speaking members of our last ward said they didn't celebrate this holiday when they lived in Mexico.  It was worth it for sure!  And just so you know, I forgot on Tuesday and we had meatloaf so we finally had it on Wednesday night!  And it was so yummy!

No Park Day on Wednesday due to rain.  It rained on and off all week, even today when it wasn't forecasted.  But rain is good and I'm not complaining, I just like my park day therapy sessions!

For Wacky Wednesday we went to Shopko and wandered the toy aisles.  The kids thought this one was pretty funny... is literally nothing left to the imagination anymore?

On Friday I went to the Aquarium as a chaperone with Katie Anne's kindergarten class. The other two classes went as well.  The kids attended a little class first and got to see a gecko and touch a snake (real aquarium type animals, you know).  

I love the big tank that is all around you like a tunnel.  This picture was much cooler about 2 seconds before when all the fish were right behind her!  Ah well... keep on swimming!

I like how my flash makes it look like I'm in the ocean looking up into the sun.  I would never really WANT to be in that real situation of course, but still, this looks kind of cool.

 Love this! 

 Scary!

 Braving the rope walk...

Such little people on a big big bus!  These two kiddies rode the bus down to the aquarium, and over to the park where we ate lunch, and then when the black clouds rolled in and the wind started blowing they decided to ride the Agren bus home.

That night the boys headed up to father's and son's campout (at what is called the Girl's Home, but hey, in a rain storm shelter is good!)  The girls and I ate dinner at Peach City then headed to Ogden.  My nephew has special needs and is in a group called the Special Needs Activity Program, or SNAP.  Each year they put on a play but this is the first year I've gone to see it.

 

I had tried to prepare the girls that this might be a little different but Katie Anne told me it was one of the best plays she has seen.  She had no idea which people had any kind of disability and who didn't, aside from Karl, who is quite severe, and a couple of others.  The people who help put this together are really quite amazing and I'm glad Karl (there on the front row with his hands clasped) has somewhere to go and have these kind of experiences.

 Katie Anne was a little cold at Jane's soccer game Saturday morning.  We all were... 

 Except for the girls who got to run around and get warm!

I found some time to make some Mother's day gifts.  Three cooking aprons full of candy and one gardening apron, as my mother in law would rather be doing that!

 I also had to do something for nursery!  I finally came up with this card...

 though getting some of them to do their handprints was kind of tricky!  This one turned out the best...

And finally, Mother's Day was yesterday.  Here I am, a babe in my mother's arms. 

 

 

The kids and John gave me nice cards and letters and candy in the morning.  Katie Anne also did her own hair so she didn't have to get help from me.  That evening the local family came over for dinner.  We had turkey with all the fixings, including seven (7) pies!  We had a nice round of conversation questions about our mothers which led to some laughter and good feelings.  I'm so happy to be a mom!

Two weeks to catch up on...

I didn't write last week.  Sunday morning I spent practicing my solo that I would be playing in Sacrament meeting that day.  I played Love at Home, my dad's favorite song (I think it is anyway... he always made us sing it at family night).  I felt pretty good about it going in.  In fact I was rather calm until just before and then I started shaking terribly.  I could barely run the pedal because my legs were running to a beat of their own.  I made it through with only 3 mistakes so I guess that is a good thing, and perhaps I'm the only one who really noticed them.

The day got busy after that. Church!  Nursery! Dinner! Nap!  John took Jeffrey and the girls to Agren dinner.  Jack and I stayed home and attended a Bishop's Youth Discussion on proper use of technology.  The statistics of interactions (accidental or not) with porn show that 100% of kids by age 16 have seen it.  And the age is dropping every single year.  It makes me SO MAD!  Keep my babies innocent and clean, please!

For Family night we went to Jardine's.  Taylor was about to leave on an adventure and we wanted to say goodbye.  For our lesson we each took a turn telling about a hymn or primary song that we love.  I drew attention to the sacrament hymn Reverently and Meekly Now.  Click the link to read these beautiful lyrics. Katie Anne ended our lesson time by singing A Child's Prayer. We were all touched by her performance.  She told me once that she loves that song because she knows that it's true.

What a long post without pictures... let's see some!

The third grade celebrated Arbor day with some excellent recorder numbers.  I'll never forget the beautiful sounds my college professor could put out of a cheap recorder.  This was different, but beautiful in it's own way.  They also recited some poetry about trees before heading over to the park to plant a couple!

I just love it when people spell Kathryn the right way the way I do.

I went to lunch with my long time friend Diane.  We went to Tai Pan after and I shot my wad while she shot hers.  I wanted to redecorate the tops of my kitchen cabinets.  Here is a fairly bad shot of one of them:

It is cuter in person and you are welcome to come over and check it out!  The other sections of cabinets are done as well.  COLOR!  I needed it.

 

 I wasn't in charge of decorating any teacher doors this year.  I just had the secretary's door:

(the S on express fell off... I found it later and it is now spelled correctly!)

the reading volunteer's door

and the Principal's door.  

I didn't make this one but I think if there was a contest I would have voted for it to win.  So cute and original!

Katie Anne had her first late night.  She and one of her BFF's Halli wanted to watch some movies and have popcorn.  I couldn't help myself and made up this little tray to take down to them while they watched some Studio C and Annie.  They also played air hockey and house and restaurant.  What sweeties!

 What do you all do on a Saturday night?  We are sometimes wrangled into attending shows.  Katie Anne used my flannel board figures to tell us a cute (and very long and detailed) story about a family waking up and going up or down the elevator to have some breakfast.  My mom made those flannel board figures for me when I was about Katie Anne's age and I spent hours in our parlor making up stories.  They are one of my prize possessions!

Our wacky Wednesday included a little walk around the block to deliver some items.  We stopped at the neighbors bridge to breathe in the delicious scent of the red tree there in the background.  A perfect backdrop for my two flowers.

(Would you like some crackers with that cheesiness?)

 On Friday I picked up my new prescription sunglasses.  I thought they were a little smaller but I still love them!  I like feeling like a movie star.  On Saturday I wore them when picking up Jeffrey from a birthday party so no one could see my smeared mascara, having just woken up from a nap.  Big is good.

I was on my way to have dinner with some of my Ridgecrest family.  In some cases it's been nine years since I've seen them and honestly it felt like no time at all had passed... we just had more to talk about!  I love these ladies!  Slowly people started to leave until just Merry, Emily, Misty and I remained.  We finally noticed that the lights were turning off and the chairs were all up on the tables and that perhaps Kneader's was closing.  We still had things to say so we walked over to Wendy's for frosties and fries until they closed about 11:30. 

I believe this statement by Marjorie Hinckley to be absolutely true:

“Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young. And, hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old. It is a sociological fact that women need women. We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other.”

I am so very grateful for the deep and satisfying and loyal friendships I have experienced from the many different chapters in my life, including my current one. Thank you ladies!