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.