Baptism, Basketball, & Andrew in Aladdin

Andrew has been participating in the school musical again this year. Last year very few kids his age did it and this year there were a whole bunch of 4th grade boys. The wise manager made them all guards and they had a blast together. Andrew's friend Luke was the main guard and Warner and Andrew were guard 1 & 2 (Warner is also on Andrew's basketball team). He only had a few lines and some short musical solos, but he was on stage quite a bit for his small part and it was a lot of fun to watch. The first night I had secured 2 front row seats and my parents had originally planned to attend Saturday's performance but then with weather they were uncertain so they decided to attend Friday night. I gave them my front row seats and sat in the back in general seating but it was still fun and after intermission the guards lined up right next to me to do High Adventure where they do monty python horse ride it was so funny.

During the play they can't do the under water scene where Aladdin uses his second wish so the guards have them trapped when Aladdin makes his second wish to free him and his friends and then they leave the guards doing the monkey, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil, See no Evil which had the crowd in stitches.

End Bow

Saturday, March 2nd was Marcus Baptism day and the reason Mimi and Grandpa were back in town. Our time was 1pm so we had a little time in the morning to prepare. Steve took Andrew to his free Shoot 360 training session where he shot over 268 free throw shots and did a bunch of passing drills. I did a little laundry and prepped for our waffle bar for after the baptism. The service was beautiful. His wonderful primary teacher Brother Chayse Howcroft gave a great talk and even mentioned how Marcus talks a lot but usually on subject which gave everyone a chuckle. Then we sang Step by Step as a family. We have been working on this song for almost 3 months. Andrew did the violin. He and I had to transpose some of it and then I even moved a section of it from the 2nd verse to the 3rd verse because Marcus sang by himself during the 1st and 2nd verses and we didn't want the violin to be too loud for him. It was really a tender moment and I hope my kids will remember the words and tune to that song for a long time. I didn't get a picture of Marcus in his baptismal jumpsuit because the weather was changing quickly from super windy (30-40mph) to snowing and we were coordinating with family traveling in. Everyone said Marcus did great and he was bouncing to the beat of the song. My friend recorded us practicing the song once while we were practicing the week before.

We came back to the house and took some pictures with all of our family.

Then enjoyed a waffle bar with lots of topping options: strawberries, blueberries, peach bobas, peanut butter, cookie butter, nutella, whip cream, chocolate whip cream (in my new whip cream dispenser), buttermilk syrup, huckleberry syrup, or cinnamon bun syrup. Marcus loves breakfast se we thought this we would be a fun way to celebrate and I was able to use all of my fun waffle shapes like captian america, heart, four leaf clover, and the honeycomb one. And we sang Happy Birthday over some yummy mini chocolate cheesecakes to Jake and Stephanie  whose birthdays are March 4th.

It was really snowing at this point. Jake and Marcee were heading back to Idaho so Mom and Dad were trying to decide what to do. I finally called them after they left and suggested they leave their car here and ride back with Jake. They were worried because then how would they get back down for their flight on Wednesday and I said just drive another vehicle, we can store two here for you. So they decided to ride with Jake. Steve and I drove up to the hotel and got their car and brought it back to the house. The girls were downstairs visiting when we got back.

Ellie had planned to ride back to Provo with Lexi after everyone including Lexi and Sydney went to Andrew's play. However when we got home there was a little break in the storm and it was still daylight so we encouraged them to get on the road. Ellie quickly finished packing then we hugged them all goodbye.

 

Then we headed out to Andrew's basketball game (the kid was supposed to have a violin recital today too but I told the teacher we just couldn't make it work and with the crazy snow I'm glad we made that choice because we would not have had enough travel time). The kids played hard. They are a good team and are going to continue playing this spring. Andrew enjoys it.

 

Then we ate a quick dinner while we watched more of the high school basketball state finals. Layton High had an amazing season and was ranked #1 so we recorded the final games and have been watching them with Andrew. We told him watch footage and learning from it is an important skill in an athlete. Then we dropped him off for his call time. We had 8 tickets for the show but with everyone gone it was just Steve, Lila, Marcus and myself in attendance. Our seats managed to be by several people in our neighborhood so that was fun! Marcus kept calling Iago, "Chicken Man" which was hilarious. He really did not understand how a person could be a bird in a play. 😂 We got home late and tired so everyone went straight to bed. 

It was a wonderful full day! I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the plan. For Jesus Christ who showed us the way and saved us from physical and spiritual death through the resurrection and atonement. We've been studying that in the Come Follow Me lessons and it as been ever applicable this week as we mourn and celebrate my sweet Aunt Marsha. I was hoping to drive up to the viewing Sunday evening but with the weather and life it just didn't happen. I will zoom the funeral on Monday.

Leap, Leap Day

Man, I thought leap day would be fun and I would think of something fun to do with the kids but rather it ended up being more like a Friday the 13th unlucky day that I would have rather leaped over! Steve woke up dizzy. I quickly put together that his it was the same side his ear infection was on which probably meant the fluid was finally draining causing some dizziness/vertigo so I looked up some up those maneuvers you can do turning your head laying at a decline to try and reset the crystals in your ears. The first time was rough and he tossed his cookies. The second time went better and then he slept for a little bit. He did it one more time before going to work downstairs. Andrew had to be to school early for the Aladdin assembly performances. Then I took Lila to school who just completed her TED talk the day before and was feeling good that was done but stressed about finishing up the rest of her homework before the end of term. Then I came home and helped Marcus decorate a yiphlapgashlfhs something from Dr Seuss I kept calling it a hipogrif from Harry Potter. I guess it was supposed to turned in on Wednesday but to be honest we had not looked at the homework folder yet for the week. 😕 So he hot glued some feathers in a rainbow pattern of course and some brown pipe cleaners on the antlers he was pretty happy with it. Then off to school he went.

Lila's dance schedule was even off that day. They changed the times because several teams that dance that night were at a competition so it through off everything after school. Ellie had to stay and run the Yearbook booth for the NUAMES open house because the advisor had COVID and was in quarantine. Steve managed to recover in time to go to pickleball and we both were playing on the top court, but I did not have a great night which was a bummer. Oh well, it is really a good excuse to get out and burn some calories. So there you have the day we would have rather skipped to be honest.

Here are a couple of highlights from the weekend before. I went in for Andrew's Fun Friday on February 23rd. I always get nervous coming up with an activity but I guess they have had a lot of kids behind on their work so I only had a few kids to do the activity with and they loved doing Origami. I took a little treat to share with the whole class too.

Ellie took Porter to the Layton High Sweetheart Dance on Saturday, February 24th. And she wanted a little heart shape in her hair.

Earlier that morning Lila had a AP Chinese Booster session that she was not happy I signed her up for but she logged on and was grateful she did it. They worked on their conversational skills and cultural presentation that is a part of the AP test. Steve also took Andrew to the Shoot 360 grand opening where he was able to try their equipment and sign up for a free hour training session. It's a pretty cool facility and we're considering a membership for him over the summer instead of doing camps.

Mama & Boys in Cabo

The boys got a trip to Cabo for Christmas. Originally when I was trying to plan a trip to Cabo I was working around the girls schedules which is crazy getting them to align. So I presented to them a date and they weren't thrilled about it so I just told them that was the only time we could go as a family, if they didn't want to go that weekend I would go with just the boys because they are more flexible and they said, yeah do that. So I booked tickets for the boys and I to go over President's Day weekend which turns out was a great weekend because Steve doesn't even get Monday off (although he did convince the girls to get up and go skiing for the morning) so we weren't missing out on much and there was not any basketball that weekend and Andrew would only miss one play rehearsal.

We left early Saturday, Feb 17th. Our flight was at 5:30am so we woke the boys up at 3:15 and headed out the door about 3:40. The boys were really good travelers. We got our bags checked in and through security pretty easily that morning. We had made some breakfast sandwiches we could eat while traveling so the boys ate a half of sandwich while we waited for our plane. Andrew had the Percy Jackson series on his kindle to read so he was reading and Marcus was playing on his Leapster. They let us board with the family boarding so we could get seats together, thank goodness (Southwest still has that open seating policy which is stressful as a family). Then Andrew slept for 30-45 minutes on the plane. He was still not feeling well and was a trooper to wear a mask since he was still coughing. He had coughed so much the night before that he coughed into a fit that caused him to throw up so I was nervous the whole travel time especially when he would cough but we made it (lots of prayers were said in my heart and mind).

 

We had a short layover in Phoenix where the boys ate another half of a breakfast sandwich. We arrived in Mexico and as we were going through customs I asked who was going to push the button that randomly flashes red or green to see if you get screened (Steve has pushed it the last two times and gotten red 😨😂). I saw Marcus was wearing his lucky green St Patrick's day shirt so we let him push it and we got a green and went straight out to our car ride. Marcus says he didn't fall asleep on the car ride but was "just resting his eyes", I'll let you decide from the pictures.

Once at Mimi and Grandpa's place, I found out my Mom was sick. She had emergency dental surgery on Valentine's Day and has not been feeling well since then. And my Dad was in an HOA meeting and I needed to run him his meds. Then the boys and I got settled.

They loved sitting out on the patio. Andrew would read his books and managed to finish 2 Percy Jacksons. He caught up with Lila so now they are sharing laughs and gasps while they read the 4th book together. Marcus started listening to Fablehaven and would sit on the patio or just walk around in the sand with his headphones on. It was cute.

Since Mimi wasn't feeling good and Andrew was still coughing we decided to order a delivery dinner. It came and it was yummy. Unfortunately, Andrew still wasn't eating much. I was happy I got him to eat some snacks on the patio. That night he coughed himself into a fit that lead to throwing up again. And once again in the morning. I noticed at night he had a few spots on his arms that were covered by the long sleeves he wore while we were traveling. Sunday morning he woke up and his arms and face were covered in a rash which made me wonder if he has been having a serum sickness reaction to the Amoxcillin the whole past week (it can cause a fever and he had that minor rash Monday evening). Anyway, I looked up dosages of Zyrtec because I hadn't brought any children's antihistamines with me (lots of cold and cough meds) and realized he could take a whole one of my Zyrtecs so I gave him that and we just had a chill day at the place, reading/listening, playing 10s with Mimi & Grandpa and zooming church. I decided after church to go to a pharmacy and get some children's Benadryl and some Prednisone. Dad wanted to walk the short distance to the pharmacy. While there he realized he had forgotten to take his meds so we bought a Gatorade and found a bench to sit on for a minute. I asked if he could walk back and he said yes. He did pretty well but by the time we got to the apartment he was leaning on me pretty heavily (like I was his walker) and at that point he realized he'd missed two doses of his meds. So I spent some time setting up his new watch we gave him for his birthday with alarms to remind him to take his meds.

First thing Monday morning I called the allergist to set up a telemed appointment. I wanted to get  his opinion and to see if Andrew should try amoxicillin again. Once the appointment was set I got the boys ready an we walked out to the beach on the ocean. The boys dug in the sand and Andrew read under the umbrella for a bit. That morning Grandpa Stan said he heard the waves crashing hard and when we walked out to the beach I could see how high they had crashed, it was really high. So I didn't want the boys walking out to the water without me. We did walk out and get our feet wet. Then they played more.

 

Marcus convinced us to go out to get our feet wet again. The tide kept going out on us but then I could see a big one coming and I said we should probably back up but they didn't want to until it was too late and we got really wet. At that point Marcus was done and kept begging to go back to the condo. Kids!

Eventually we wandered back. Had lunch and then I let the boys watch a movie while we waited for the telemed appointment. Here are some pictures you can see the rash on Andrew. The doctor wants him to try taking amoxicillin one more time. The cough makes him think that it could be another virus and the fact that he doesn't have joint pain with the serum sickness which is one of the main symptoms. So we will see. I'm hoping he doesn't have to take another antibiotic for a long time because A. we've had enough sickness and B. I don't want to risk a reaction like this again. He was such a trooper but he did say on Sunday when you are not feeling well you just want to be home. Monday though he had more energy the cough had calmed down and we were medicating for the rash so things seemed to be turning.

My parents got us tickets to do the pirate ship that night. It was dinner and a show, but just as we were leaving my Dad said he was not feeling well. I was really worried about him being on a boat when he was already a little sick. Andrew and he rested by a table for a bit while we waited for our boarding time. Then he decided he would just take a taxi home but he didn't have his phone or wallet so I gave him $40 and told him to call us when he got home. I was worried about him the whole time. Finally about 45 minutes later Steve sent me a text and said he was able to get a hold of Stan and he was back at the condo resting. Whew! The boys really enjoyed the pirate show. Dinner was a little tricky to eat on our laps but the bbq chicken and mashed potatoes were good.

There was sword fighting, dancing, fire, and treasure. The show was a lot of fun. Marcus could have gone up because they asked for February birthdays, he stood up excited then he got shy and sat down and snuggled into me. Andrew danced with the pirates for a bit and the two boys got to hold the rope that tripped the pirate.

Amazingly I think the cool air was good for Andrew's rash and his face was almost completely clear by the time we got back to the condo. The boys were excited to tell Grandpa all about it and then just as we were getting ready for bed we heard fireworks so we ran out to check it out.

 

My parents had an amazing whale watching experience on Dad's birthday with Venessa and her family. The boys wanted to go whale watching so they kindly took us out. We saw a Mama hump back whale jump out 2 times then we saw the baby. They sat and floated near the top with their side fins out of the water. We wondered if maybe they were nursing. Then the baby jumped several times in front of us. It was fun. It was a windy day so the water was rough which made it a little extra bumpy so we all just stayed seated except Marcus, who on occasion would act like he was surfing.

Once we got back. Mom and Dad wanted to take a nap so I took the boys to the pool and they had a blast.

Then we quickly showered so we could go out to dinner at Jo's Garden which is basically a restaurant in a tree house. Andrew braved ordering sushi with fish and loved it. Marcus and I shared a smoked pizza.

Wednesday, February 21st we were flying back but we had the later flight. So after breakfast I walked the boys down to the Turtle Sanctuary. Unfortunately there wasn't much there this time, but it was a fun walk on the beach.

Once we got back from that we spent some time packing up. My parents changed their tickets to fly back with us. So I spent some time packing up and getting things organized at their place like putting food in the freezer and throwing things away that would go bad before they got back. Taking out the garbage etc.Then we headed to the airport. Mimi was nice and bought the boys some Cabo cards so they sat there and played war while we waited for our plane.

 

It was a direct flight home with their own TVS in front of them so they traveled like champs and we got in early. Steve met us in short term parking to help us out with the bags and to keep us from going up and over and back down since we had to go through customs (the new airport is not as user friendly as it could be, oh well).

We took Mom and Dad to their hotel in Layton where they would stay the night. The next day Venessa took Dad shopping for a few things for their house and Dad saw these succulents at Home Depot and thought of Ellie so he bought them for her as a little gift. He brought them to our house and picked up his Tesla to drive home. Steve fixed the 12volt battery issue and we took it in to get re-certified for super charging so it was all set for him. Then we headed to the hotel to meet up with Mom. I realized how close we were to NUAMES so I called Ellie and told her to come give Grandpa and Mimi a hug for the cute plants before they left.

It was a good trip. Not as relaxing as I had hoped with the crazy illnesses but we still had fun and I'm glad we went. Who can complain about 75 degrees and the sun in February, not me! I was grateful my parents came home with us (just a few days earlier than originally planned) because my sweet Aunt Marsha had a heart attack on Sunday. They life flighted her to Twin Falls where they did surgery and put in 4 stents. Dad got to see her after the surgery and Mom and Dad went up the next day Monday, February 26th on her birthday to say Happy Birthday. She had another heart attack early morning Tuesday, February 27th and passed away. She will be missed but I'm sure she is having a sweet reunion with her mother Dorothy and her father Delbert. I'm grateful my parents were here to see her and give her their love. Tender mercies are wonderful!