I feel like I start every single blog post by saying I'm behind on the blog. So I won't say that this time. But I am feeling the pressure to get this thing updated before too much longer.
The last two weeks have been a mixed bag. There have been some AMAZING days like my birthday. And some not so amazing days.
And really at this point I'm not interested in a super detailed play by play. So this will just be stories, pictures, and occasional introspection.
Let's get going.
I've been lamenting for a while that I haven't had a full week where ALL my kids going to school EVERY day of the week since like late November. That's due to a combination of holidays, sickness, and outright school refusal.
My kids were getting to the point where they didn't feel bad missing a day or two of school here or there. And yeah, that's fine every once in a while. But it was starting to add up and drive me crazy. So something needed to change.
I realized the kids needed some sort of incentive to get up and go to school. Brandon and I don't like getting up for work every day, but we do it for the money. I figured the kids needed some similar motivation.
So I came up with a plan. If they went to school and stayed there all day I'd put a dollar in a jar. If they stayed home from school I'd take 2 dollars out. At the end of the quarter I'd take all the money in the jar and divide it equally among the 4 kids. This way they would have an incentive to go to school, but they'd also have an incentive to encourage their siblings to go to school.
On Monday I made a little sign explaining the new system. It also said that if they came home early they'd have to take a dollar out. (Which really just means not dollar for that day.) And if they were late to school it would cost 50 cents. We don't really have a problem with being late very often, but I figured it needed a consequence too.
The kids all went to school and stayed at school on Monday. So when they came home they each were able to put a dollar in the root beer bottle that has been repurposed as a bank.
So far this system is working really well. The kids are more motivated to go to school. One of the biggest evidences that this is working is my time card. For the first time in a long time I got my full number of hours at work TWO weeks in a row. It's amazing how much more I can get done when I'm not constantly having to drive to the school to pick up "sick" kids.
This was kind of the last thing on my mental list of Winter cleaning things I wanted to do. It's been really fun to go through the house and get things more organized and put together. I think I'll plan on doing that every January.
On Tuesday Lydia stayed home from school. She'd been on antibiotics for strep since Friday, but they didn't seem to be working as well as they had in the past. She was really tired and slept for like 3 hours that morning.
And she was totally fine with me taking out $2 from the jar.
After Tuesday she started feeling better and didn't miss any more school. (Though she did tell me and Brandon on another day, "I thought about calling home today. But I didn't want to loose out on a dollar." And Brandon told her, "Good, that's the point.")
That afternoon and evening Brandon and I started working on the cupcakes for my birthday party. Because, yes I was throwing myself a party.
I've thought about doing a party for myself for a couple years, but never got around to planning it. This year I made sure it happened. It helped that I already had the study group. I just planned to have that at 10:00 and then roll right into the party at 11:30.
I'd texted out invitations a few weeks before and did that thing where I basically invited everyone I've ever spoken too. Brandon was like, "How many people are coming to this party?" And I was like "I don't know. I lost track of who I invited."
So we decided to make 2 dozen cupcakes. We had lemon ones and vanilla ones. I was thinking of just some sort of chocolate or vanilla cupcakes when I had an AMAZING idea. I realized I still had raspberries in the freezer and I figured we could use those to make raspberry frosting.
I found a recipe online that talked me through the process of cooking and then straining the raspberries. And then Brandon followed the directions to make the butter cream. Everything was going well, and looking good. And them we each had a little taste of the frosting and were like, "What did we just create?" It was the best frosting I've ever had in my LIFE.
I was riding that high and decided to do basically the same thing with the last of my frozen Blackberries to make a syrup for Black berry mojitos. Meanwhile Brandon was cooking the cupcakes. It was really fun to be creating with him.
At 8:00 the kids helped me clean up the house to get ready for my Birthday Party the next day. We've got into the habit of cleaning up every Tuesday evening so that the house is clean for my Wednesday Bible Study group. It's been nice to have a day in the middle of the week where we make sure the living room is picked up.
Then at 9:00 I hosted the online scripture study group. Here is the recap of Mosiah Chapter 4 I posted later.
This week was much easier to plan thanks to the book "A Brief Theological Introduction to Mosiah" by James Faulconer published by the Maxwell Institute at BYU. There were two whole chapters of the book dedicated to Chapter 4 of Mosiah.
Quite a bit of our discussion centered around King Benjamin's use of the word Nothingness in Mosiah 4:5 and verse 11. That word can be problematic, but Faulconer puts forth a convincing theory that another meaning for Nothingness is Formlessness or also No-thing. It appears that King Benjamin was trying to remind us that we were created from formlessness/no-thing/dust by God. Metaphically we as humans are no-thing without God.
We become no-thing or formless again when we are separated by God through sin. Through the atonement of Jesus we become something again as we are redeemed.
Then we discussed what actions people who are redeemed do. These are listed out beginning in verse 12. And if you read slowly and carefully you'll find 4 actions in verse 12. (Why is reading slowly so hard?)
We paused at verse 16 and had a discussion of the three social classes that King Benjamin is highlighting. The Rich (those who have possessions/property), the poor (those who have enough to remain from day to day), and the beggar (those who will perish immediately because they do not have anything.)
We looked at how we are all beggars because we (metaphorically) will stand before God with nothing.
We also looked at how the poor are commanded to give of their hearts in verse 24. They can't give of their property (because they don't have any) but they can give of their hearts by looking at the beggar with compassion.
King Benjamin's final item on the list of actions redeemed people take is a little anti climactic. In verse 27 he says that you should return things that you borrow from your neighbor.
Faulconer says of this, " we must use wisdom in deciding how best to serve, not running faster than we are able yet also being diligent. But even if diligently applied wisdom says that we should remain where we are, there is much to be done locally, starting with honest relations with our neighbors . . . the work of charity is respecting your neighbor, as well as answering the petition of the beggar-- both, not one or the other."
Wednesday February 7th was my 39th birthday. I've taken my birthday off of work every year since I started working for Aspen Grove. This year it just happened to be on Wednesday which I always take off these days. Still it was nice to not have to worry about work.
Brandon also took the day off so that he could help me with my party. I'm glad he was there. He ran to walmart to find mint leaves and a few other things. He also took care of frosting the cupcakes and putting together the 7 layer dip. And when Derrick called home trying to come home early, Brandon got on the phone and told him he needed to stay.
I had three friends come for Bible Study and we had a good time with that and then it was party time!
Here's the table that Brandon had all set up. Everything was so good!
I totally forgot to take pictures of any of the people at my party. But here's a list of who was there.
Jori, Carol, and Aki from my scripture study group. Jori brought me earings and when I was like, "Oh I let my holes grow over years ago" she was like, "I can pierce them for you." So that's how serious that friendship is getting.
Shari and Ferin from Bible Study. I haven't seen Ferin since last years ladies retreat and I was so excited to see her I just kept repeating things she was saying to me. So basically she was like, "Happy Birthday and I was like, "YEAH HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" It was like she was a celebrity and I was just fan girling and loosing my mind. Ferin is so cool and I'm still in awe that she even remembers me and considers me to be a friend. She even brought me a gift - a mug with sun flowers. I'm still so happy that she came.
Uli, Darla, Megan, and probably someone else from my ward also came.
My friend Rachel came too. She's actually more Brandon's friend because they were in Music Man together, but she lives in our neighborhood. If our ward boundaries were slightly different we would be in the same ward. I wanted her to come so I could get to know her a little better and so she could meet some people from our neighborhood. Her husband used to be the school counselor at the Elementary school back when we first moved in. I think I met her briefly back then. So actually she's one of the rare pre-covid friends. She ended up sitting by Megan and they both realized they have celiac and bonded over that. They were exchanging phone numbers by the end. I'm so excited when people make connections like that.
Macey, the other twins mom came. I haven't seen her since Christmas. It was good to catch up with her.
Everyone had a good time talking and getting to know each other. After about an hour a lot of the people went home, but about 5 stayed and we had a longer conversation.
Brandon had asked me if I wanted him around during the party. I said yes, as long as he was having a good time. Well he had a great time. He and Macey had a long talk and then he joined in with some other conversations. Ferin was so impressed that he'd made all the food. She was like, "You guys should do a catering business. This is all so good!" I later heard from a mutual friend that she was praising Brandon's cooking a few days later. Yep, I married a good one.
The party ended around 1:30 (I only remember that because Brandon picked up Derrick at 1:15 and Derrick was there while people were saying goodbye)
It had been wonderful, but I was feeling all talked out. I love people, but at my core I'm an introvert and I was needing some quiet time.
I think I went and took a nap or something. I really don't remember much after the party.
At some point I took a picture of all my gifts. I really didn't expect any of these so I was really touched the people brought things for me. Not pictured is the butter that Aki gave me. She was kind of embarrassed about handing it to me, but I was like, "This is perfect. We used up all our butter making buttercream frosting. So now we don't have to buy more."
That evening a present arrived from my sister Lindsey. It was a little book light and a bar of soap. The book light has been put to a lot of use already.
And the soap was amazing.
We had left over cupcakes so the kids each got one when they came home from school.
It smelled like a starburst.
I didn't really have anything planned for dinner. I think it was just kind of leftovers . . . I really don't remember. But it didn't really matter. I'd had plenty of 7 layer dip at the party.
Anyway, it was a really great birthday and the party had been just wonderful. Next year is my 40th birthday and it's on a Friday so I'm hoping to do something BIG. I have no ideas yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.
Oh and one more cool thing happened that day. I published another blog post for the Exponent. This one was based on some deep exploration into the phrase "Keep the commandment that ye may prosper in the land" that pops up all over the Book of Mormon. It showed up early in Mosiah so I took some time to research it for my scripture study group and then turned it into a blog post. You can read it here.
Here's Derrick on my couch. At one point all 6 of us were standing in my office and I was like, "Wow! We all fit in here." I never minded the little closet size office I had at the old building. But it is nice to have a bigger space here.
The Childrens Museum had come out and brought some things to play with. Here's Derrick playing in our meeting room. (Though most kids ended up playing in the Play Therapy room because that room has some really fun toys.)
I'd invited Ivan to the open house and he came for a little bit. He and Brandon started talking about Ivan's Treasure Island play that will be happening in June. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but basically Brandon has a part in the play now. We'd been on the fence about it since June is already filling up. But I realized that it will probably work. So that's on the schedule now too.
I'm trying to remember anything special about Thursday, but it was in the shadow of my birthday and I can't think of anything. I did take the box that Ferin's mug came in to work and put it on my book case. It's so cheerful. (And check out that cute lemon that one of my coworkers made for me.)
Friday I'd scheduled the girls orthodontist appointment for that morning. This was the third Friday in a row with an appointment and I was like, "Why do I do this to myself?"
I realized I didn't really have enough time to go to work before it would be time to pick up the girls from school so I just worked from home for about an hour and then went to get the girls. We went to the orthodontist and they got all their wires and things changed out. Lydia had her Marah device removed. And Charlotte had brackets installed so she can wear rubber bands.
Then I took them back to school and basically turned around and went back the same way to go to work. It was one of those days where I drove a lot on Eastland Drive.
That afternoon Aspen Grove hosted an open house so show off our new office space to the community. I brought all the kids and they had fun in my office. Here's Veronica playing with the 10 key.
When we got home Charlotte and Lydia pulled out their instruments and practiced for a while.
And here's a lego creation that Veronica had been working on.
She even had lights in it.
A friend in our ward was giving away a desk and no one else was interested. So Brandon and I went and got it. I wanted to put it in the craft room. Brandon had to cut away the existing shelf/work area to make the desk fit. But it was totally worth it. I'm looking forward to sewing here. 
Here's the whole craft room. It still needs a little bit of organization, but it getting there.
And here's a funny picture of Marcia.
All the way home from the orthodontist Derrick was telling me stuff he wanted to do. This ranged from going on a trip to New York or even England to going to the store to buy candy. I was like, "Hey I know something we can do. Do you want to do in the backyard and do a fire!"
Saturday was a really busy day. We got a lot done in the house, ran a lot of errands, and I even went out and pruned the raspberries and blackberries.
The girls rearranged their lego area. It's similar to how it was, but different enough that they like it even more.
That night we watched Ready Player One. The kids absolutely loved it.
Okay, I considered stopping here, but I'm in the zone so let's keep going with the next week.
Sunday was a good day. After church we went on a little hike on the canyon rim from Federation Point to the Perrine Coulee overlooks. I'd left my phone at home so I took pictures with Brandon's phone. And I haven't taken them off yet. So sorry, no pictures.
Back at home Charlotte and Veronica decided to update Veronica's Llama Valentine Box. Her teacher had told the kids they could bring boxed from home and Veronica was like, "YES!!!" Charlotte and Lydia had made her the box when she was in First Grade and we were doing homeschool. She took it to school on Second grade and everyone had loved it. But in Third grade her teacher didn't allow boxes from home so she was sad about that.
She was excited to bring it again. But when she and Charlotte brought it upstairs from the craft room they were like, "this is old. Let's make something better."
The llama box was unceremoniously tossed into the recycling bin outside and they went to the garage and found new boxes.
They started working on making a dragon. Lydia was drawing at the table and so this was very much a "craft night at the Illguth's" type of moment.
I'm not sure if any of us were really ready for the week to start on Monday. But we all got up and dragged about our days.
There were some happy things though. I noticed that I had tulip points popping up in the front yard. That made me happy.
Derrick had his orthodontist appointment after school on Monday. Every time we go I ask him if he wants a new color for his bands. And every time he just says, "No, I like gold." It's impressive how much his teeth have improved in just a few months. The flare is a lot less noticeable and his gaps have closed a lot.
He liked that idea. I'd piled all the dead raspberry and blackberry canes on the fire pit. So all we had to do was stuff some paper towels under them and then light that on fire and voila we had a roaring fire pretty quick.
So quick in fact that I didn't even have a chance to grab my phone from the house. And I didn't want to leave the fire unattended so sorry, no pictures.
There's nothing like a fire to motivated an 11 year old boy to help clean up a yard. He was running all over the place pulling up dead weeds and plants. We have a bunch of sun flower stalks that never were cleaned up last fall. He pulled them all up and threw them on the fire. He cleaned up dead sweet pea vines. He pulled up tried up weeds. He picked up sticks. That yard looked so much better after 1 hour.
Later that evening I had Bible Study with Twin Falls Community Church. I realized I smelled like smoke so I took a shower right before I went there. I showed up with slightly damp hair. But I didn't care. I was so happy to be at Bible Study. I haven't been since December because the roads were too snowy in January. It was so good to see my friends and to learn about Philipians 2:1-16 from my friend Liz. She is so good at teaching. My bible was full of notes and things by the time we were done. AND the things we were studying happened to tie in perfectly with Mosiah 5. So that was great!
Back at home Charlotte had been working hard on the dragon box. She'd painted it orange. She wanted the teeth to be while, but we didn't have any while paint. She used some of her gel nail paint. But then realized it needed to be sealed with the UV light. So she put that on the teeth. It looked funny so I took a picture.
Veronica and I realized that Tuesday would be the best day for our little Valentine's Day party. We set it up after school. Derrick took this picture of us.
Things that helped were to use buttercream frosting instead of frosting from a can. And to melt the candy melts with a double boiler instead of in the microwave. We also learned that a little bit of shortning in the candy melts helps give them a thinner texture.
I was so happy that these turned out. Lydia then volunteered to bring cake pops to her Primetime class party on Friday.
Here's the table from another angle. I'd bought the balloons at Dollar Tree on Monday morning. Usually I spent a lot of time picking out the balloons. But last year the kids just wanted to suck the helium out. so this year I just grabbed four balloons and didn't put much thought into them.
The kids are all a little old for this tradition. But they still like it. And we still played don't Eat Pete.
Brandon was already at CSI so he didn't come to our party. He normally only teaches on Tuesday or Thursday. But this week he was teaching both Tuesday AND Thursday.
I really like this little tradition because its a LITTLE tradition. We just have our own little fun as a family and we don't have to make it complicated. It's like, "hey kids, I love you. Have a balloon."
When I put Veronica to bed I found her dragon already in it's bed. She was so excited about that thing.
Here's the recap that I wrote later. I feel like these keep getting longer and longer.
King Benjamin's speech has been going on since Chapter 2. But it hasn't all been one long speech. Chapters 2 and 3 were the first "cycle" of the speech. At the beginning of Chapter 4 the people respond to the speech by repenting and receiving a remission of their sins.
Then King Benjamin spent the rest of Chapter 4 talking to the people about actions that redeemed people take in their lives.
Chapter 5 begins with another response by the people. They talk about being changed by the Spirit and say they are willing to enter into a covenant. Then King Benjamin talks about the importance of the covenant and how they are now called the people of Christ. (Remember back in Mosiah 1:11-12 we saw that he wanted to give the people a name. The name is Christ.)
The majority of our discussion time was spent around Mosiah 5:13 where we are told that we should serve God so that we can know him. The word know is more than just knowing facts. It's about a relationship.
One reason we come to know God through service is because he is also a servant. I happened to be studying Philippians 2:1-18 with the Ladies Bible Study with TFCC this week. The verses from 3-8 were especially applicable to this lesson. Here they are in the ESV translation.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Even through Christ has all power, he was full of humility and was a servant. We can learn a lot by following his example.
King Benjamin ends his speech at the end of Chapter 5. In Chapter 6 we see his son Mosiah become king. Priests are also appointed over the people. And the people go home. Now it's time to live what they have learned.
What's amazing is that they do it! There is peace in the land for at least 3 years. (Probably more, but the record doesn't really say how long it lasts past three years.) King Benjamin lives during those three years and I'm so happy that he gets to see the fruits of all his labors.
This was our last meeting for almost a month. We'll be taking a break and then starting with Chapter 7 in March. Here's the schedule in case you think you might be able to make it.
Wednesday was actual Valentines Day and it was a DOOZY!
The middle school kids had "Cub Club" in the morning. It's a fun reward for the kids who don't have grades below a C. They can do fun activities like playing games, watching a movie, making crafts, etc. Everyone loves it. Except Derrick.
He hates when the schedule is different. And due to Cub Club his school day would go from 11:00 to 2:00 ish.
Plus there was going to be a safety drill at some point that day.
So I got emails from two different people suggesting that it would be okay if Derrick just stayed home that day.
So even though it was okay with everyone - including me - we would still not have a week where ALL the kids went to school EVERY day that week.
They wouldn't be on time either. Charlotte had broken a bracket so we had to go to the orthodontist right at 8:30 to get it looked at. Lydia came along because I was her ride.
When we were done with the orthodontist we went to the City Parks and Rec department so that we could turn in Lydia's entry for an art contest. They are holding a contest to find art to put on 5 electrical boxes around town. Each of the 5 winners will get $1000.
Lydia had been working on various drawings for weeks and finally finished one that she was happy with. So we got that turned in. It's called, "In the Canyon."
So after all that I dropped the girls off at school at 9:00. Then I went home and got things ready for the study group.
Study group went well and was over by 11:30. If Derrick hadn't been home I would have had a chance to relax. But Derrick was full of ideas. He was like, "Mom, we didn't have any little candy hearts yesterday. We need some." And because I felt guilty about that I took Derrick to the store so we could buy conversation hearts. We also went to Joanns so I could get more cake pop sticks and candy melts for Lydia's next round of cake pops.
Then I dropped Derrick off at home and went to the school to get Veronica. She would have had therapy on my birthday, but that would have conflicted with my party. So we'd moved her appt to this Wednesday. But the catch was that it was at 1:00 instead of 12:00.
Therapy was good. She has made so much progress in a year. We are actually going to start winding it down and be done by the summer.
Then we hurried to pick up Brandon from work. And then I dropped Veronica off at school.
She'd been worried about having her large valentines box at school all day. So it had been hanging out in the car. She took it into school for the party that started at 2:00. Everyone loved it!
Here's the picture we'd taken that morning.
By this point I was feeling really wrung out. I wanted a nap, but Brandon was already taking one. So I tried to take a little nap on the couch and kind of succeeded. But before too long it was time to pick up Veronica from school. She proudly carried her dragon across the school grounds. Kids were staring at it because it was so cool.
She told me all about her party and how fun it was. Charlotte and Lydia came home, but they didn't have time to relax because we had to go to the dentist to get sealents. (Why did I schedule that appointment on Valentines day.) Brandon was going to take them, but he was still sleeping and I wasn't messing with that. So I took them. It wasn't hard, but three different appointments in one day is a little beyond my limit.
When we came home I was just done. Brandon was awake and working on dinner and I went and took a little nap.
I thought I could rally for dinner. But I wasn't into it.
I did give out the presents that had arrived that day. Brandon got a new watch. The girls got dragon necklaces. And Derrick got more rubber bands.
Veronica had also ordered some things that were in that same Amazon package. She's been saving her money for a bunny for a long time. (Originally it was a snake, but then she changed it to a bunny.) I was getting a little concerned about our ability to care for a rabbit. I had a talk with her about how I didn't think a rabbit would be very happy at our house. During that conversation we both realized that she kind of just wanted something fluffy to love. So we ended up buying a robot bunny. It was fuffy, and hopped, and was very cute. And best of all it was like $15 and didn't care if we forgot about it for several days in a row.
The Young Men and Young Women were supposed to have a combined activity. But it was cancelled at that day with instructions for the youth to watch younger siblings so their parents could go on a date. (The sentiment was sweet, but I was like, "this sounds like someone forgot to plan the activity.") So the good news was that we didn't have to take the kids to the church. The bad news was we really didn't have anything planned. Oh and I was like on the verge of a panic attack because my day off hadn't been relaxing at all.
Brandon and I attempted to go grocery shopping together, but I was so keyed up that I just stayed in the car while Brandon ran in for a few things.
When we got to home Brandon just sent me to the garage to have a break from everyone and he took care of bed time. Thankfully I'd had the foresight to cancel my shift at the warming center for that night when I'd noticed how packed the calendar was for that week. So I didn't have anywhere I had to go.
Brandon came out after the kids were in bed. He had a box of chocolates for me and some root beer. We ate, and I cried, and things were better by the end. But wow, what a crappy way to end Valentines Day.
Wednesday had felt like a Friday so Thursday just felt like death. I was like, "WHY do we have to get up and go to school?" I was still feeling fragile so I wore my stretching comfy yoga pants to work and basically wrapped up in my blanket while I was there. I was like, "I don't want to be here, but I'll at least be comfortable while I'm here."
I made it through the whole long day of work at Castle for 45 minutes, work at Aspen for 3.5 hours, picking up Derrick, picking up Brandon, dropping them off, picking up Veronica, taking her to vision therapy, and then I came home and took a long nap.
Brandon left for CSI while I was asleep. I felt so much better after that nap. I was able to help Lydia with her cake pops after school and also make sloppy joes for dinner.
After dinner we walked over to the Middle school for Charlotte and Lydia's Orchestra Concert.
We got there around 6:30 and the concert didn't start until 7:00. I was kind of trying to think of something Derrick could do during that time. Then he told me, "I forgot my quiet headphones!" So the way to keep him occupied was to walk back home and get the headphones. I left Veronica at the school to save our seats. She just watched Instagram videos on my phone. She was so calm about being left there. She's definitely made progress in the last year.
We live close to the school so we were back by 6:50. I'm so glad we live within walking distance of the school.
Lydia is in beginner orchestra so they went first. I think her beginner orchestra is bigger than my Jr high orchestra.
Charlotte had been sitting with us during Lydia's songs. Then she went onto the stage and Lydia came and sat with us. Here's Charlotte.
Her favorite songs is the Cliff of Moriah or something like that. But they aren't playing that until the May concert. So I filmed Tocatina.
After the concert was over we came home and Lydia and I finished up the cake pops. This was our third batch in like a week so Lydia knew exactly what to do. She was basically doing everything I was was just there to help and do the dishes. I know I took a picture of us working on them, but I can't find it now. That's too bad because they turned out really well. We were like, "We figured it out!" She was so excited to take them to school on Friday and she got a lot of complements on them.
Friday was another rough morning. I seriously laid in bed for a while thinking about how empty I felt. I was like, "I worked straight through Thanksgiving and Christmas and didn't really take any time off. And I've been going like crazy without much of a break through January and February. I NEED A BREAK!"
And then I remembered that Monday was a holiday and the kids had Tuesday off and we were going on a little trip and I wasn't going to work Monday or Tuesday and all that was going to be a break. So that motivated me to get up and get going.
But then Derrick wasn't in a good mood and he was sitting in the school office acting very grumpy and I didn't feel good about just making him go to class in that kind of mood.
I didn't want him to stay home. And I didn't want him to go to work with me. So I told him he'd have to go to work with Brandon. (Which is impossible, but Derrick didn't know that.)
So I called Brandon and Brandon told me to bring Derrick to him. And so I drove over to his work. Brandon came out and had a talk with Derrick about how he needed to go to school. There were tears, but by the end of the talk Derrick was in a better mood and I was able to take him back to school and he stayed there all day. All day I was like, "Brandon is my HERO."
So anyway I got to work about 45 minutes later than I wanted to and I felt like a towel that had been all wrung out." But I made it through the day.
After I picked up Derrick from school and Brandon from work I went home and just sat in my bed for a long time. Brandon and Derrick went to get the tires rotated on the car. (I'd had that on my to do list since January, but hadn't got to it. So I asked Brandon to take care of it.)
I picked Veronica up from school and then went back to bed.
Brandon picked up pizza on the way home. It was so nice to not have to cook anything.
Brandon and I had plans to go see The Relationship Show at the Orpheum. This is a improve show like Whose Line is it Anyway but with local talent. It's actually run by Heath Harmison who has a few Dry Bar Specials. Brandon and I know him and his wife a little bit from a party. But it was like a year after the party that I realize Health was like kind of famous. (I'm a little slow sometimes.)
Anyway, I took a shower and felt so much better. I think this was the first time I'd actually blow dried my hair all week. I was excited to go on a date with Brandon. Here we are at our seats.
They played several improv games and they were so funny. But the big draw for this particular show is that they take a couple from the audience and have them tell the story of how they met and then the improv group acts it out. Brandon and I were trying to get picked as that couple until another couple said, "We're married, but we found out we are cousins." And EVERYONE - including us - wanted to hear that story.
Turns out they are cousins through marriage, but it was still hilarious to hear their story and then see it acted out. Brandon and I laughed so much.
Here we are outside after the show. It was a good way to end the day.
On Saturday I had a big to do list, but one of the things on the list was SLEEP IN. So I made sure to do that. I think I was in bed until 9:30. Then I got up and was productive.
Brandon and I went grocery shopping and bought THREE carts full of food. That was very needed.
Then we came home and I took a long nap.
At 5:00 we went to a family Valentine's Day Party hosted by our friends Joe and Megan. They'd come to our Halloween Party and Megan came to my birthday party. They were like, "We wanted to host parties too." Brandon and I are very happy about this trend we've seemed to kick off. (Actually I really should give credit to our friends Bryan and Candy for hosting parties and reminding me that I like parties too.)
There were so many fun families there. A few years ago I used to lament that I was one of the youngest people in our ward's Sunday school. But in the last few years we've had several more younger-ish couples move in. It's been so much fun to get to know them.
My friend Olyvia was talking to someone about their birth stories and then casually asked me, "What were your births like?" And I thought "you have no idea what you just opened up."
Out loud I said, "Oh I've done everything. I had a C-section with the twins. Then a medicated VBAC with Derrick, and then Veronica was an unplanned home birth." And then everyone nearby wanted to hear that story.
Back at home we packed for our little trip. Lydia wanted to show me her lego tree house. She was very proud of the LED lights that she'd put into the lego lanturns.
Here's a hammock.
Thanks for reading!
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