First Snow

We got a dusting of snow Saturday night! The kids were so excited they ran out in PJs and wet hair from baths to make tracks in the snow. The snow was still on the ground come morning. Justin and I woke up to the happy sounds of kids playing outside. Our kids teamed up with the Ostler's to make a large snowman named Bob. The kids did not account for the heaviness of wet snow, the mid-section and head took a team effort to build up. First snow is always magical! 

Tuesday was Election Day! In my mind the air seemed electrically charged with opinions and votes. Justin voted right around 8 am. I made it to the polling place around 2:30. The line was nearly wrapped around the building! The wait was tense, long, and boring. I voted on an electronic tablet case that printed out a ballot with the votes I cast. I supported Trump because he is Pro-Life, Pro-Religion, and has the best interest of our country at heart. He might act like a nut case, but could be a smoke screen to conceal his true workings.  

I had several morning meetings this week. First Evelyn is no longer eligible for her IEP. Idaho has a much stricter scale of need than Arizona. She no longer qualifies for speech services. Her stuttering has greatly improved over the last few months. So hooray! Way to go Evelyn. Wednesday was the crazy busy day, so crazy that the younger kids did not get much school work done. When I am not around the mice play...it's so frustrating. Lost privileges until the work was done did the job. Dog Vader finally had a grooming appointment, it's been a while. I had to clean off his bum and cut away the fur from his bum since he had several dingle knobs dangling about. Yuck. He came back looking like a different dog, he's got shaggy Jekyll and groomed Hyde as "fur"sonalities. Wednesday afternoon I was busy from noon until 5:30. Mia had an eye appointment for new glasses and possibly contact lenses. In order to get contacts she has to take a $70 class where she learns how to remove and install the contacts then care for the lenses. She loves her frames so will most likely get glasses as well once she takes the class on the 13th. I had another counseling session using EMDR with Garrett. It's crazy how our brains think and retain information. Garrett said I was the most resilient trauma victim he's ever met, not sure exactly what that looks like but I'll take it. I had to trust the kids to clean up the downstairs while I was gone. Moments after I walked in the door we started Activity Day Girls. This week we worked on making some goals, the girls got their cool rings, and a photo of the temple. Thursday I had the most frustrating experience with Valley Sleep Center. I need to order some CPAP supplies but need a prescription in order for insurance to cover it, and most distributors require a prescription. I called the provider in AZ I used to get my supplies. They would not fax me my prescription, said I had to have a follow-up visit. With tele-health in the arena now I couldn't use the excuse of moving to ID to put them off. Stupid. Had to pay $75 just for a 2 minute zoom conversation. A few moments later the nurse called me about my meeting. I repeated my request for a hard copy of my prescription. She related they "don't do that" but rather deal directly with places like Apria. This means they can require yearly visits for $75+ per customer. Asinine. Justin's had his prescription for 10 years with no problems. I felt quite upset most of the day thinking about how to get around their policies. Request of medical records? Done! 

Thursday was girl haircut day! Amelia went drastic with a darling shoulder length cut. We determined half of her hair was cut off! Her new hair is much easier to dry and style. She decorated a couple packets of hair clips with glitter, nail polish, and such for new personal accessories. Her new look is to clip back one side of her hair. So cute. With contacts she will be quite the grown up teenager. Josie requested in a timid voice for only 2 inches left of her hair, I quickly clarified she just wanted two inches cut off the bottom. Evelyn and I also got much needed trims. I've never had my hair dry cut, she also combed my hair out with a small comb, those tangles still hurt. I rarely brush/comb my hair opting for a pic to separate my curls. We felt quite fancy with our trimmed up hair. I pulled out the camera for a couple fun photos of Mia's new hair and a fur bonnet I rediscovered in my photo prop bins. We used the same snowball bush for a backdrop, green with white blooms in the spring and vibrant red in the fall! 

Friday I spent most of the day editing our family photos taken a couple weeks back. It's not an easy thing to hardly recognize oneself in photos. All this recent weight gain is absolutely killing me. I've had a hard time with each pound that won't drop off. Jana says to weight lift as well as cardio. Now to update all the walls with the most recent set of photos. 

Saturday was a fun day off of a sort for me. Jana's friend Sarah asked me to photograph her wedding starting at 3 pm. I took Amelia along to practice her camera skills as part of her photography class. I needed to get some new garment bottoms, it's been quite a few years since the last trip to distribution. We enjoyed browsing the books, nativity sets for sale, and the cute ornaments. It was cold and rainy most of the day. Amelia needed a cute cardigan or jacket so we went to Goodwill next. She found a fun polka dotted sweater to match her polka dotted skirt. We went back across the freeway like 6 times as we went here and there. Lunch at Costa Vida then to the temple. Love can come at any age and station in life. Watching Sarah and Brent was a great reminder of those temple covenants. He was recently divorced with 5 kids nearly grown. Sarah is one of Jana's friends from work and the Single's Ward she attended for years. I was impressed with Sarah's support system of women who attended the temple and reception. Mia did such a good job capturing all the fun details at the reception site. It was snowing when we headed home around 8:30. The kids headed outside with wet hair from the bath to kick the new snow around.  My grandma and grandpa Lance are in the hospital this weekend. Grandma had a very high calcium count which was causing all kinds of symptoms that looked like mini-strokes, really she was very dehydrated. Grandpa was in such a panic that Grandma left he ended up in the ER. Grandma finally consented to the Utah move asap instead of after the new year. We are all praying they will make the move smoothly. I am so glad my Mom is able to stay with them, I really think we could've lost both of them if my mom was not around. Justin's Uncle Cary also passed away. 

The entire voting process is broken. Turns out Biden won. Trump won't hand the baton over because of voter fraud. Brother Godard said one of his clients started getting thank you texts from the Democratic party, after she voted republican. Turns out her spouse voted democratic...he passed away in 2005. So now the dead are voting Democratic. It's all a ploy for Pelosi to take over our country. Ha ha. I want to buy a bunker and live underground.