Lance Staycation
Tuesday felt like a crazy day. I scheduled dental cleanings before school started back, Tuesday was the day. Amelia and Everett were coughing terribly, had to reschedule them for the next week. The girls and I went in at 10 to get our teeth and gums poked and prodded. No cavities this time, at least visually since no x-rays nor dentist were present. I ran to fetch Phillip for his appointment during band camp lunch time from 12-1 pm. Last Thursday evening our street was blocked off with a fire truck, an ambulance, and 4 police cars. Our neighbor Julie came home to find her husband deceased in his favorite chair. The cause of death is unknown so the police were present to investigate in case of foul play. Julie said they had a retirement meeting just the day before with their financial institution. Sara organized a meal train for the next week to help Julie through the funeral. I brought over barbecued Hawaiian chicken kabobs and coconut rice. I hate we had to meet through tragedy! I’ve stopped by to introduce ourselves to most of my neighbors but it stopped there. Everett went to EVMS to pick up his schedule and pay dues for sports and his laptop. He did need to change his SS class to advanced, thankfully that was a straight switch. Amelia and Phillip also got their schedules for the first semester. Amelia was peeved she was signed up for economics when she completed the class over the summer. I am so proud of her for completing the class DURING our travels to Boston and back…even got a B with all the snafus she experienced. I was surprised Phillip had robotics listed, his percussion lead told Phillip he could join robotics afterschool! So he wlil be able take band and robotics AND seminary. Hooray. We felt stir-crazy after dinner, a couple hours at the park sounded majestic. It was a lovely evening to breathe all that smokey air.
The van has new front tires again. I calmly explained the predicament, new tires every year in spite of regular rotation, alignments, and tire pressure attention. I was charged $450 for two tires. Oh no. No. I talked the manager down to $300 with the promise to come in after 3,000 miles for a check on tire wear. All the girls got hair cuts. Summer hair was living its last leg! The little girls got 1.5 inches trimmed off and I got a nice trim and shape. My hair went from triangle hair to oval hair, looks much better. I had to pick up Mia from a planning meeting with Mrs Sene and Oscar for choir stuff. She whacked off a good 4-5 inches plus lost half the volume of her hair. She is very pleased, it looks adorbs. Amelia went swimming at the Bledsoes for YW while the boys went to Sister Noordas to swim in their pool. Evelyn and Josie took Justin to their Daddy and Daughter dance. The girls got all dolled up in their ball gowns and hoop skirts with fancy buns for their hairstyle. I hear they learned some dance steps, ate lots of sugar, and boogied down with their friends. Their dresses were quite a hit. I enjoyed an entire 90 minutes at home alone, what did I do? Laundry and packed for our Utah trip. So “fun.”
Amelia was not feeling well Thursday morning. Everett was still coughing up a storm. Nothing seems to help relieve their coughs at all. Phillip and I left super early to fetch 3 other friends for band camp, I love carpooling! Evelyn had a second opinion orthodontist appointment. The first orthodontist we met with said she would have to wear head gear for 16 hours a day (right afterschool and through the night). I was cringing inside because Evelyn already fights me on taking her medicine and doesn’t go to sleep easily. I was very pleased to hear the new orthodontist say that her bone structure is fine which removes the head gear. She does have a very narrow palate so that needs to widen and then lengthen the amount of space so her adult teeth can come down. Evelyn also liked Dr Cuzimano much better, so here we go! She will get measured in two weeks for the first appliance. I stopped to pick up Phillip’s adderall only to learn my driver’s license expired on my birthday! Thankfully, I had my passport card BUT no license to drive to Utah. Flip. I packed up my stuff then mulled over my options. Most DMVs only allow appointments, walk-ins can wait over 4-6 hours. I called the DMV general information line, she suggested I try the DMV in Marsing because it only takes walk-ins. Justin called them to find out what their wait was, only 1 person in line. I rushed over only to find 12 people in line in front of me. We had to wait outside in the sun and heat for our number to get called. I was grumpy. Once inside my license snafu was solved in less than 5 minutes. This time I signed up for an 8 year license! My DL photo is epic, the lady was over 30 feet away and just snapped a random photo without letting me know. I rushed home so we could literally throw everything into the van and get on the road for Utah. Our goal was to pick up Phillip at 3 from band camp on our way to Utah. We left at 4 from home in a huge rush. I lament the AZ driver’s licenses that don’t expire until you are 65. Regardless, we made good time to Utah with no hiccups. The kids were excited to finish listening to book 3 of Rush Revere. Justin drove us to Grandma and Grandpa’s home for the night. We got to squeeze Jeffrey and chat a bit before going to sleep.
The Lance Staycation kicked off with an early start at the new Taylorsville Temple with an endowment session with Mom and Dad, Justin and I, James and Miekka, and John and Courtenay. Mom said the temple is decorated with a vintage “steam punk” pioneer vibe. I really loved the pretty stained glass windows, the glass was cut to sparkle. Next on the schedule was to hike up to Ensign Peak as a family. We packed up the truck with picnic food, water, and swimming stuff then headed over. Jana had to work so we helped Hannah and Rachel along. Rachel did not need any help! That girl booked it up the hill with the speedy boys. Charlie got an epic bloody nose. Thank you to the fellow hiker who donated a handful of tissues. The view on top was well worth the hike, it was stunning to see the valley laid out below. Dad gathered us together for a thought on Pioneers and living in these modern times. Justin forgot his c-pap tube, we stopped at a store on our drive down to Provo Recreation Center. The babies were at the park by the time we arrived! Snatch! Mom laid out a sandwich, fruit, chips, and veggie lunch. Jacob arrived back in country the night before, he was jet-lagged from his loooooong trip home after cancelled flights and many reroutes to get home. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed swimming, the rec center felt like a water park. The outdoors section was shut down when dark clouds rolled over, we continued to enjoy the inside water attractions. Courtenay picked up Costco pizza for dinner at James and Miekka’s home. Emmie celebrated her 12th birthday on Friday! We had chocolate cake and enjoyed watching her open gifts.
Saturday everyone met at the Church History Museum for a couple of hours. The older cousins loved the art centers sprinkled about, especially the watercoloring station. Saturday was Hannah’s 9th birthday! We mostly went out separate ways while checking out the exhibits. I loved the video made about the establishment of the Relief Society especially after visiting the Red Brick Store in June. I reserved a picnic site in Mueller Canyon from 1-5 for some outdoors fun. The boys had a fire going to roast hot dogs over for lunch. We had perfect access to Mill Creek, shallow and not too swift for the kids to play in. Amelia found the first rock covered in pyrite, it sparkled like gold. I heard the little girl’s squeal, “we’re rich! It’s GOLD!” The sparkles caught my eye too, it was fun to root around finding pretty green rocks sparkling with pyrite slivers. Rudy was not in the mood to come. I understand not feeling welcome since mostly everyone just talks about religion, guns, and the last days. He came for an hour! Hooray! Hannah opened her birthday gifts, the best was a Harry Potter shirt. I broke in my new water shoes, they are perfectly grippy and kept the rocks out. Natalya got soaked in the water, her laugh cracks me up, more like a chuckle. Jana hosted dinner that night at their home. Those who wanted to went to the Value Vault before dinner. I found some shirts, squishmallows, and HARRY POTTER Hufflepuff robes! I got three sets of robes, both Hannah and Josie are Hufflepuffs, and another set for Evelyn with intent to replace the yellow silk for blue. Hannah loved her birthday gift. After a delicious taco salad dinner we had a family meeting. Each family had a few minutes to talk about what we were up to. Dad started up a conversation about next year’s reunion. It was hard to connect with everyone when we were rarely all together except for meals. Courtenay found a large property on Air BNB with 9 bedrooms for next August. The cost is quite a bit more but with cost sharing nothing too substantial, about $1000 per family including gas and food. Even if we just reserve something like the house every other year it would be fun to have those late night games and conversations we missed out on this year.
Everett started running another fever toward the end of the day. Poor kid was coughing so hard he barfed a couple of times. I took Amelia and Everett to the instacare Sunday morning just to cancel out pneumonia or other serious ailments. The PA said no to pneumonia but yes to mild bronchitis and possibly a viral cough. He said that most cough medications do not help to relieve coughing in kids under 16 BUT suggested we try honey. I fist pumped! Yes! I’ve been telling them to slug down honey for weeks. Basically, Everett will just have to endure 3-4 weeks of coughing until it goes away. Darn it. I sent those two back to Miekka’s to rest, Mia dropped me off at church. James and Miekka made Hawaiian pork bowls with pasta salad, cabbage, and smoked pork. Oh my gracious, it was delicious. Before the reunion ended Dad wanted feedback on the staycation and a conversation about future reunions. As a group we decided that going to a place was easier to have family time. We discussed options, locations, and dates before settling on the reservation Courtenay made for the first weekend of August next year. I am excited! We showed the newly dropped MCO video of The Vision as a closer. We packed up the van as quickly as possible then drove the 5.5 hours back home. Short and sweet! I miss having Miekka as my bestie, she’s got her amazing friends and Courtenay. Life changes and flows, just gotta keep moving along. The distance makes it hard to keep up, even phone calls are rare.
We are studying the war chapters in Alma this week. I love the stories of Captain Moroni, Amalakiah, Lehonti, Teancum, and etc. The kids had some great thoughts about Moroni and Amalakiah, a christ and satan shadow that teaches us how Satan works. This year I noticed that during war time Moroni said his people were exceedingly joyful. How? They were busy building up their cities and protecting their families and religion!
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