James's Wisdom Teeth

James had his wisdom teeth removed. We got there at 10:00 and we were headed home shortly after 11:00. It was quick! He did great. Thankfully he can handle anesthesia without any side effects. Lynnlee came with because she was hoping he would say some funny things afterward. She filmed him while he was waking up but he didn't give her anything. He was very happy though. He was just extremely happy and relaxed. 

The rest of the weekend was very chill for him. We had a lot of screen time. He ate a lot of smoothies, soup, and orange julius for the first week. He really didn't want dry socket so he was very obedient to a liquid diet for a week. Then he introduced soft foods for a few days. Then around two weeks he was back to a regular diet. I'm so happy and grateful everything went well and it was best case scenario!

What's Causing Tag's Rash?

I love using the skills I am learning. Bonnie has text me a few times with medical questions and I love helping her out. Tag had a rash and it took me a few days to figure it out but I finally got it and it was so satisfying. At first I thought impetigo. That spreads quickly and evolves quickly. The next day the rash was the same so I knew it wasn't impetigo. Then I thought it was bed bugs but it didn't quite match everything. Also, I didn't know where we could get that from since we are clean and hadn't stayed anywhere. It wasn't really matching anything else. On the third day I was making dinner and it came to me. He swam in a hot tub for over an hour a few days prior. I researched it out and you can get inflamed or infected hair follicles from long hot tub exposure. It can take a few days for it to show up and it takes a few days to go away. So thankfully he didn't need to go in to the doctor for antibiotics or anything. It can be prevented by taking a shower right after sitting in the hot tub. It was fun playing detective and figuring it out!

Fun Times at Ross

One night Lynnlee came with me to drive Tag's soccer carpool to RSL in Herriman. There is a Ross close by so we went there during practice. We had fun browsing. We were laughing at these funny holiday jumpers.

Everyone needs a teenage daughter to hang out with. It was a fun night!

4 Semesters Down

I finished my 4th semester. I am now officially half way through school. I found this funny pic one day and thought it was fitting. This was my hardest semester so far. I had four classes and two labs to stay on top of. Two of my classes had very heavy homework every week. Lots of long papers every week. Also lots of posting on discussion boards and replying on discussion boards which couldn't happen until Friday and Saturday so I had a lot of weeks where I had school every day but Sunday. That was draining. Previous semesters I usually had Saturdays and Sundays off every week. The other difference was that I worked a lot more. It was made known right when the semester started that Lowry Doors wasn't doing so hot so it was a stressful start to the semester. I worked every shift I could. The blessing is that it helped pay for the tires and brakes. 

The other hard part of the semester was that I didn't pass my women's health exam. I was completely devastated because I went in feeling confident and comfortable that I would pass. I did well on all of the practice exams. I was one percent away from passing. It hurt and I cried a lot for a few days. Then slowly I got over it. 

I applied for ten scholarships but didn't get any of them. The good news is that I ended with straight As so I still have a 4.0. I hope I can keep that up!

Lynnlee: Movie David Premier

 Lynnlee got to help with the movie premier for David. She checked people in. She got to volunteer with her friends and they all got t-shirts so she enjoyed the experience.

Marshall's Birthday and Nate Bargatze

We enjoyed going to Nate Bargatze for Marshall's birthday. We went out to dinner with Cam and Brooke before to Fat Fish. They had a gluten free menu so that was really nice. Soy sauce is not corn free so that is the only downside.  After dinner it was a little crazy because they were running late for dinner. We left the restaurant at 7:00 and that is when the tickets showed that it started. Traffic was so crazy and the streets downtown were a parking lot. It was rough trying to find parking. The opening comedian had started when we got there but thankfully we didn't miss too much. 

Thankfully we were there for all of Nate Bargatze. He was so funny and we laughed a lot.

Marshall parent's and Cam's family joined us for a birthday dinner and Christmas party on Marshall's birthday. We had pizza and I made strawberry squares. We celebrated Scarlett's birthday too so Brooke brought a cake and we all had a good time.

Marshall opened his family presents after everyone left. I took everyone to Five Below and they each picked something out for him. It was fun to see how excited the kids were when he opened up their gifts. 

It's crazy how much everyone has grown in a year!

Footlocker/Brooks for James

James went to Walnut, California with his XC team for Brooks which was formally Footlocker. He left early Thursday morning and they drove all day. They had stops for food and a run in St. George. Friday they played at the beach and then previewed the race course. Saturday morning they raced. Then they went to Six Flags for the rest of the day. They drove home Sunday. 

This picture was taken after Six Flags.

A lot of families went to the race and one of the moms sent me a picture of James.

They didn't have a live feed like last year but they did have live results so we followed those. It is a really hard course with lot of uphills. Everyone's times were a lot slower than normal, about 45 seconds slower. James was happy with his time. It was faster than his time last year. 

James enjoyed his last XC race as a high schooler. He is open to running in college with the right offer at the right university. Either way he will have a full tuition scholarship because of his grades so that's good that we don't have to depend on a XC scholarship. It's nice not having that pressure.

Lily's Bridal Shower and Trae's Bachelor Party

We had a bridal shower for Lily and Marshall organized shooting at the gun club for a bachelor party for Trae. It was fun to celebrate Lily and shower her with gifts. We are all so excited for her and love Trae. My job was to bring a pulled ham. I stressed a lot over it because I had never made one. I read about ten recipes and they were all slightly different. I didn't know which one to settle on so I decided to combine a few. I slow cooked it in apple cider vinegar for 9 hours which was through the night. The next morning I shredded it. Then I mixed in some liquid smoke, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and a little garlic salt. All of my efforts paid off and the ham was yummy. A huge sigh of relief after that and a blessing of gratitude that it went well after a stressful week of car problems. My emotions were at the surface all week so if the ham hadn't turned out I would have been an emotional wreck. 

We enjoyed the games. 

We are missing but it was fun to get a sibling picture with those of us who were there.

The boys had a successful shooting outing. Everyone came back with good things to say and they got to know Trae better. Win win.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Thanksgiving started off with a fun Turkey Bowl for the boys and a nice long therapeutic run for me. 

We headed up to Heber around lunch time. I didn't get any pictures from dinner but I did take this cute one of the cousins. Marshall's employee, Diego and his wife Christina joined our Thanksgiving dinner and so that was a lot of fun. They have lived in the states for a few years but they are from Peru. They are not members and my Dad didn't know. He told them all about his mission and different stories of South America. Diego and Christina enjoyed talking to him and didn't mind it.

We will went for a walk after we cleaned up dinner. It was a sunny day but definitely chilly.

I walked at the front of the pack with my dad and got this picture of all of us. It was a nice walk.

We had pie after and watched a movie and then headed back. It was fun having Charlie's family there and so naturally we had sleepovers as much as possible. They slept over that night.

Black Friday I took the kids park hopping. It was sunny and felt good while the sun was out. The first two parks felt great but it was cloudy for the last two parks and so it was cold. It didn't phase the kids though. They had the best time going from park to park. I walked Chewie around each park. 

That night we went to the movie Zootopia 2. Huge thanks to Grandma for treating! We went to the theater by Ali's. Everyone enjoyed a combo box with popcorn, a drink and an airhead. 

That night these four went swing dancing in Provo. They had such a fun time! 

New Transmission

 Car problems are the worst! We had to get new tires and brakes in October which came unexpectedly. I thought we still had time. I definitely didn't think we would need a new transmission for another 20,000 miles. Our suburban had around 80,000 miles. It started acting funny and not shifting into first gear very easily. We took it to Big O and they told us it was the transmission. They referred us to a transmission place. We called them and they told us the couldn't get us in for another week or so and that it could possibly be a software problem. Then we called Labrum Chevrolet since we bought it from them. They got us on the schedule the next day. Huge thanks to my mom for picking me up and letting me hang out at her house for the day while my car was in the shop. 

They tried the software update but it wasn't that. Then they tried to replace the transmission fluid and that is when they noticed metal shavings in the fluid. It was not good at all. It was a definite sign that the transmission needed replaced. It was the day before Thanksgiving so they said the would keep the car and start working on it on Friday. They expected it to be done early the next week. My parents were so kind and let me drive their car home. They let us use their car until the transmission was replaced. They ended up getting the whole thing done on Friday so we got to pick it up on Saturday when we were there for Lily's bridal shower. It was a crazy whirlwind of a few days. 

$7,000 later our car was driveable again. Ugh, that really hurt financially a lot. When I started school I knew money would be tight. I also hoped and prayed that financially we would be able to stay on top. Tuition is expensive every semester but if everything stayed as is, we would be able to make it work. This was not the case. It was a bad year for Lowry Doors, plus car problems, plus no Christmas bonus, plus going into Christmas, plus not having work since there are no screenings or flu shots through the holidays. The only hope was to pick up Shifts through the agency Nursa. The hope was to work through December while I was in between semesters. 

There were a lot of tears shed by me this week and it made it hard to enjoy the holiday. Thankfully my kids were not phased. They were home all day off of school when I was in Heber dealing with the car problems. They were all safe and happy and were good that day and through Thanksgiving Break. 

Friendsgiving for Lynnlee and the Movies

Lynnlee and her friends had Friendsgiving. It was Italian themed and at Lexi's. You could only bring something Italian. She took garlic bread. It was perfect for Lynnlee because she doesn't love traditional Thanksgiving food. She would much rather have Italian food or Costa Vida. 

She wanted to see Wicked 2 but no one in our family planned to go. So she and her friend Eden went. James came through and gave them rides to and from the movie. I had planned to but ended up dealing with car troubles that day. 

Crazy Hair Day for Sienna

 It was crazy hair day or hat day. Sienna wanted to use her hair chalk. She wanted rainbow which wasn't a statement of any kind. Sienna has always loved rainbows and unfortunately rainbows have been ruined. I can't remember what we had that day, maybe a doctor's appointment but everyone commented on her hair and she had to tell them it was crazy hair day so they didn't think it was a normal hair day for her. 

Kade did not have crazy hair day at school but he did have some crazy hair that stuck straight up without any product so it needed documenting. 

Gingerbread Festival, Improv Broadway, and November Birthdays

We had a fun filled afternoon and evening starting off with the Gingerbread Festival at the Outlets. It was cold but we love the scavenger hunt so it was worth it. This year we had to hunt for different objects like a snowman, reindeer, ornament, etc. It was a lot harder than the gingerbread people in the windows that we looked for in previous years.  Betsy came with us and Lynnlee's friends. Cam's family met us there. We did have time to walk around the entrepreneur market and there were a lot of fun booths. We didn't stay for the tree lighting because we had plans to go to Improv Broadway. 

We ate at Chick Fil A on our way. Charlie's family got into town that day so they met us at Improv Broadway. James was at NXR so Betsy used his ticket. When we were choosing our seats the kids went to the couches on the front row and we sat behind them on chairs on the second row. Betsy asked if we should sit back a few rows so we wouldn't be picked for anything or called out by the comedians. I told her that we would be fine and that they didn't do that there. I told her they asked for audience ideas but more as a group not singled out. I couldn't have been more wrong! Haha! There is a different host every time and different comedians so we didn't recognize anyone from a year ago. I'm guessing that is why it was different. The host comedian was singling people out with everything. They asked Marshall his job and did a short game based off "worst garage door installer." It was a quick game. They asked Angeline about her worst date. After the intermission they asked me about something I wasn't happy about and thankfully the kids had just complained to me that they didn't take credit/debit cards, because Kade was trying to buy a drink with his debit card but he couldn't. So I said that to the host comedian. Otherwise my mind was blank. It is hard being put on the spot.  

So anyways, we had a good laugh after with Betsy since being on the second row definitely and getting singled out. 

The boys slept over that night and went to church with us. Lynnlee went to Heber and stayed over with Lydia. This was taken on the drive to Heber for November birthdays.

Family dinners are always a good time! Also, ninja turtle cake is still yummy and is a yummy birthday dessert. 

James at NXR

 James traveled to NXR in Mesa, Arizona with the XC team. They left early Thursday morning and made stops for food and to run. They ran in Buffalo Park. It was a chilly run but nice to stretch the legs. They arrived to their hotel on Thursday night. 

Friday they had free time at the mall and they played sardines. They also previewed the race course. 

They raced Saturday morning. They had live results but not a video stream. We followed James's race times. It was a hard course. He ran the boys championship race. He took 86th and his time was 15:35. He was happy with his race and enjoyed it. 

The coach took them to Cheesecake Factory that night. James said it was good and loved the lemonade. They drove back Sunday. He said it was a great trip! He had fun hanging out with his teammates, playing video games, and watching shows.