Snow and Cold and Car Trouble

Fun fact: When we went to Utah for Christmas I packed all the kids snow gear in a suit case.  They played in the snow at their grandparents house. Then we packed all the gear back into the suitcase.  And it stayed packed in that suitcase until Sunday.

We had a lot of snow fall on Saturday night/Sunday morning. (Like 4 inches, but in Twin Falls that's A LOT.) The roads were pretty slick on the way to church and I heard that even the main roads were a mess most of the day. After church Charlotte and Lydia put on their snow gear and went outside to build an igloo.  

I took these pictures toward the end of the day on Sunday.  Here's Charlotte with her handy-work.   

Here's the inside.

That's Veronica putting snow on the roof.  Lydia had gone inside before I took pictures, but she'd worked really hard on the igloo too.

Brandon made brownies on Sunday evening. We ate some right before the kids bedtime. While we were eating brownies the kids were asking about the likelihood of it being a snowday the next day.  Earlier in the day we'd got a text from the school district saying that they were monitoring weather conditions but that that time they were not going to cancel school. 

While we were eating the brownies I heard my phone beep with a text message. When the kids went to get into pajamas and brush their teeth I found my phone.  I opened it up and read a text saying that school was canceled for Monday and to check my email for more info:

The email read:

With windchills approaching -15 degrees expected for tomorrow morning the Twin Falls School District has made the decision to cancel school for tomorrow. In an abundance of caution, we ask that all students stay home from class Monday, January 30, 2023. Staff members will report to work and will utilize the day as a planning and preparation day. We look forward to seeing all of our students on Tuesday.

I told the kids and they erupted into cheers. 

They were so excited about the "cold day."

I retrospect I kind of wish I hadn't told them this AMAZING news right before bedtime. They were pretty hyped up for a while. 

Brandon would have had to still go to work at 6:00, but he had a dentist appointment scheduled for 6:30 on Monday morning.  So he was able to "sleep in" a bit. 

The appointment was for two teeth that needed root canals. His regular dentist had diagnosed them, but had referred Brandon out to another dentist for the actual work. Brandon went to this appointment thinking it was some sort of consultation. But nope, they were doing two root canals that morning.  What a way to start a week!

I got up around 7:30.  I took a picture of our thermostat.  It said it was -3 degrees outside. 

Veronica woke up around the same time as me.  I had her get dressed and eat breakfast.  Then we both went to my work. I'd had big plans for that morning.  I'd been planning to stay at work for 5 hours and get caught up on so much stuff. But school getting cancelled changed all that. I was lucky to get 90 minutes of work in before Veronica was ready to go. 

We went to the bank (she was happy to get a sucker) and then we went to Smiths so she could spend some of her money on treats.  Then it was back home. 

The other kids had woken up at some point and were watching TV.  I wasn't going to ruin the fun of a day home from school so I just let them do their thing while I did mine. 

I listened to Baconsale and put away my laundry. Then I read. I was coming to the end of "The Fall of Babel" and things were beyond captivating. 

At 2:45 I took Derrick and Veronica to an orthodontist consultation. It's been 2 years since their last one. I'm NOT interested in having three kids in braces so I was just going to wait to even think about having Derrick looked at until Charlotte and Lydia were a little further along. But the dentist recommended it. Derrick has a pretty severe overbite and over jet so the dentist wanted me to make sure we weren't going to miss any important growth milestones. So I made the appt for Derrick and decided we might as well have Veronica looked at at the same time. 

The appointment was much different than I'd expected. For one, Derrick and Veronica were bouncing off the walls.  Veronica was especially hyper. I was like, "wow, I am never taking you guys anywhere when you have been holed up in the basement all morning. 

The second crazy thing was when we looked at Veronica's x-rays. We'd looked at Derrick's first and had clearly seen 4 adult teeth still waiting to emerge.  When Veronica's x-rays came up I looked for any adult teeth under the gum line and couldn't see any. I was like, "wait, have you lost all your baby teeth?"  The orthodontist confirmed that yes, 9 year old Veronica has lost all her baby teeth. 

I was not really prepared for that. 

And in case you are wondering how I didn't realize this before you have to understand what it's like in this house.  All four of the kids are ALWAYS loosing teeth. I completely lost track of who lost what teeth YEARS ago. Like I knew Lydia had recently lost her last baby tooth, but I didn't realize that so had Veronica. (And I think Veronica might have lost her last baby tooth before Lydia did.) 

Veronica also has most of her 12 year old molars grown in. I knew about that. At our visit 6 months ago the dentist had remarked that Veronica's x-rays looked almost identical to Charlotte and Lydia's.  I just hadn't realized that she was also loosing the same teeth they were.  

The orthodontist said, "Veronica is actually ready to start braces.  But I also understand that she is nine.  So we can wait until she's a little older to do braces."

For Derrick he said that we still needed to wait for those last 4 baby teeth to come out. He said we were probably about a year away from being able to start. He also said that the position of Derrick's molars looks good.  So we don't have to worry about getting braces on sooner rather than later.  That was good news. It's nice to know I don't HAVE to have three (or four) kids in braces. 

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The kids were all super stir crazy by the end of the afternoon. So after dinner we braved the cold and went for a walk around the block. Our cheeks were all super red when we came home about 15 minutes later. I think the high for the day had been something like 10 degrees. But it was never windy - at least in our part of town. It was actually so still it was a little creepy. 

Brandon, Charlotte, and Lydia had rehearsal that night. They tried on their costumes. Someone had brought in a military dress uniform for Brandon's Constable costume. Brandon was like, "If you want me to wear something like this I can just wear my own dress blues that fit me perfectly."  He brought them in the next night and the director was like, "Yep that will work. Just take off all the pins and medals."

That night I stayed up late and finished the Fall of Babel. It had a very satisfying ending, but part of me is still thinking, "so where's the next book?"

I wrote this on Facebook about the series:

Have you ever read a book so captivating that it refuses to leave, crawls under your skin, and just becomes part of you?

That's how the 4 books in the Books of Babel series have been.

I read the first one, Senlin Ascends, a few months ago after my brother and sister made it sound cool. It was unsettling and stressful at first. I liked it okay by the end, but I wasn't sure if I'd read the other books.

I was very sure I would NOT read them when I found out my local library didn't have the rest of the series. But gradually my curiosity got the better of me. I summoned my courage and asked the reference librarian to order the second book through the interlibrary loan. (I'm terrible at asking for things I want and to do it in person is terrifying.)

I was rewarded with a second book that was slightly less unsettling but way more stressful. At one point I was trying to read to a good stopping place. I said, "who am I kidding, these people are never safe!"

I was at the library to order the third book almost as soon as I finished the second. When it arrived I was used to the chaos. I frequently exclaimed, "this book is nuts!" and then kept reading.

I couldn't fathom how the series would end so the fourth book kept me spellbound. Most books give some clues for where they are headed. Not this one. I've finished it and I'm still wondering about some things.

So what's the series about? I don't even know how to answer that. I've called it "that Steampunk Tower of Babel story" a few times while talking about it with Brandon. That might be the best description I have for it.

If you are looking for an adventure story that will pull you in and leave you gasping for breath. Then the Books of Babel are definitely for you.

On Tuesday we all had to go back to reality. It was still cold outside, but not as cold. (When I checked the temp it said it was 0 degrees outside.)

I drove Derrick and Veronica to the elementary school.  Then I came home and did some stuff on the computer until it was time to take Charlotte and Lydia to school.  Right before we left, a girl from up the street stopped by and asked for a ride.  I was so happy she'd asked us. It was too cold to walk. 

I was also happy that we replaced the alternator last weekend so the Shonda (silver Honda) could be running and reliable this super cold week.

So I drove all three girls to the school and then dropped them off.  Then I went back home. Tuesday is my self care day and all I wanted to do on this freezing cold day was sit on my couch and get things done on my computer. 

I started finding documents for our taxes. I also tried to get things a little readable for the business side of things. I was working on creating income statements and balance sheets for the RV business.  Academically I know how to do those things. But it's a little trickier when it's for real. (Also it doesn't help that I did my whole accounting degree assuming I'd always work for existing businesses.)

I'm still a little unsure of how to account for owners draws and my Accounts Receivable accounting needs work. But overall things are looking good. Also I've decided that I can't do this all in excel next season. We really need to invest in even just the basic level of QuickBooks. 

I went to work around noon and got things done, but I was still playing catch up from missing time on Monday. 

After work I took Veronica to her tutoring appointment. Her tutor remarked that she already could see improvement in Veronica's eye muscles and other movements.

When Charlotte and Lydia came home they spent a lot of time working on the igloo. Charlotte worked out a door for the opening. It was just big enough for both of them to lay down inside. They'd asked if they could sleep in it on Friday night. I said they might as well try. 

  

While Brandon and the girls were at rehearsal on Tuesday I started working on a big project. East Idaho Mom's is the blog that I've contributed to since December of 2018. I recently found out that the blog will be ending. I'm heartbroken about the loss of this community. But equally sad is the fact that the website will cease to exist. I don't want my work to disappear so I'm moving my posts from EIM to my 51 Cent Adventures blog.  They won't really fit the theme of that blog, but I'm just happy they will still exist on the internet. 

I was kind of shocked when I pulled up my blog list and found that I've written 40 posts for EIM. FORTY!?! I guess it makes sense.  I've written for the blog for four full years and I usually contributed about 10 posts a year.  4 X 10 = 40. But still, that's a lot. I guess I just didn't realize that I've been contributing to that blog for so long. Like I've been writing for that blog for more time than I spent in high school. 

I'm really torn about this loss. On the one hand I was probably going to have to step down from EIM soon anyway. I was feeling like this was another thing I needed to let go of in order to have time for other things in my life. So the blog ending just kind of sped things up. But on the other hand, I still had so much that I wanted to say. 

Maybe this is just the push I need in order to start working on getting published in magazines and on national blogs. 

On Wednesday I took back everything I said about how great it was that we got the Shonda fixed. I went out to the car to take Derrick and Veronica to school and the car DIDN'T start. The battery didn't click. The starter didn't try to turn over. It was just DEAD. We'd been able to open the sliding door to get into the car, but the car was so dead the door wouldn't even close. 

I couldn't believe it.  I also couldn't believe that I'd counted on the car starting and so we were leaving the house pretty late. Derrick and Veronica and I had to hurry to school. The whole time I was thinking NOT AGAIN!

Fortunately, it wasn't as cold as the last two days had been.  I think it was like a balmy 29 degrees or something like that. 

After I got back home I finished getting ready for the day and then I walked with Charlotte and Lydia toward the middle school.  When we got close to the school I said goodbye to them and kept going to work. Thank goodness we live within walking distance of school and work. 

(I actually thought about it later and realized that I probably walked farther between some of my college classes than I do between home and work.)

There was one place that I needed to go that day where I couldn't walk to. I had an appointment to meet with Veronica's therapist. And her office is not a quick walk away. Fortunately, I know how this works. I called the office and asked if we could do a telehealth appt.  This probably wouldn't have worked if Veronica was going to be at this appointment.  But since this was just going to be a conversation between two adults telehealth would work just fine.  The office agreed. So that took some of the stress out of my day. 

But somehow the day just felt super stressful. We have many of newish people at work. To of our student therapists are newly licensed and so it's like they are new employees because so many of the rules change once they are licensed. And our newer students are still learning the ropes. I felt like I was finding little problems everywhere.  None of them were huge problems, but all together they felt like a lot. 

Plus I'm working on getting the newly licensed clinicians credentialled with insurance companies. I enjoy most things about my job. But I HATE credentialling. There's a lot of repetitive paperwork. It's tedious and not very streamlined. It's just the worst. 

I came home and was just a bundle of stress. So I did something I NEVER do - I watched a silly Youtube video. Usually I reserve Jamie French for evenings when Brandon's busy. But she was just what I needed at 1:00 PM.

Marcia had refused to go outside the morning before I left for work. So when I came home she was waiting right outside the door. I let her outside and she ran for the backyard. I didn't get a chance to chain her up. This has happened before and I've kept and eye out for her while I eat lunch. She usually comes back to the window and stares at me to let her in. 

So I kept one eye on my lunch, one eye on youtube, and one eye on Marcia. And because I only have two eyes I completely lost track of Marcia. I went out in the backyard to call her in and she was gone. 

I felt a little bad. But I was also like, "Well, what can I do?"  I didn't have a working car to drive around looking for her. And I had to be on that phone call with Veronica's therapist in a few minutes.  

This next part really should be told from Veronica's perspective. I'm going to try to write this the way she's been telling people about it. 

I was at recess and I saw a brown dog with a yellow sunflower collar. I was like, "Is that my dog." I squinched my eyes to see better and I thought "That is my dog."  I ran over to her and it was Marcia. There were lots of other kids who were excited to see her. 

I was so embarrassed to have my dog at school. The ground teacher said to go into the office to call my mom so I went there and called my mom. But no answer. I called my dad and no answer either. 

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where Marcia was either. So I went back to my class because recess was over. I was so worried and embarrassed. 

Meanwhile I was on the phone with Veronica's new therapist. We talked a lot about why I was seeking therapy for Veronica. Things I was concerned about. Things I wanted her to work on. Etc.  It was a super important phone call so when I saw the call come in from the school I was like, "Well that's just going to have to wait."

Brandon didn't answer the call because he was driving home from work. (And his phone is always on vibrate so he's oblivious to phone calls half the time anyway.)

I finished up the call with the therapist and called the school to see what was up.  The secretary answered and told me that my dog had been at the school and Veronica was calling to let me know. The secretary didn't know where Marcia was, she just knew she'd been there.  

Brandon was home by this point and so I told him what was up. He'd been looking at the Shonda to try to figure it out. But he stopped what he was doing, got in the Rhonda and drove over to the school to see if he could see Marcia. 

He couldn't see her. School was almost over so he hung around to see if she come running again when all the kids started coming out of the school.    

What happened was completely unexpected. A teacher came out of the school with Marcia. A 4th grade teacher had taken Marcia into her classroom. We later heard through the grapevine from a friend of a friend who had been in that class that Marcia had been really well behaved and just laid on the floor and stared at everyone. 

When I heard that Marcia had been IN the school I had two thoughts. 1. It was probably the best day of her life. and 2. She was definitely going to try to go back to the school if she ever ran away again.

Brandon went back to the Shonda and figured out what was wrong.  The battery connectors were loose.  They needed to be attached more securely. The engine started right up after that minor fix. But the sliding door still wouldn't shut.  Brandon came inside to watch videos about what the problem could be. He wasn't very happy about yet another project for that van. 

I remembered that I still had a deposit I needed to take to the bank and I needed to buy stamps for work.  So I took Veronica with me in the Rhonda to run those errands.  We also stopped at a local locksmith. Veronica really likes keys so a few days ago I emailed the locksmith to see if they had leftover keys we could buy.  They said to just stop by and they'd give us some for free.  Well they had a small box full of keys that they just gave to Veronica. She was so excited! She spent quite a bit of time sorting the 50 or more keys they'd given her. 

Derrick had been looking forward to Wednesday all week because that was the day he'd get to go with Mr Mark and try out Mr Mark's metal detector again. Well Mr Mark was sick so he had to cancel. Derrick was super sad.  So instead of going with Mr Mark after school he went outside to play. 

And that's when tragedy struck. Somehow Derrick's foot made contact with one of the walls of the igloo. Was it just an act of curiosity? Was the south facing wall already weak from the afternoon sun? Was Derrick just acting on little brother impulses to destroy things?  We don't know. 

What we do know is that Charlotte and Lydia came home from school just in time to see Derrick standing by their crumpled igloo.

They came into the house sobbing. Brandon went out of the house yelling. Derrick came in apologizing and put himself into the corner. And this day that was already full of so much odd energy came to a terrible climax. 

Thirty minutes later things were slightly better.  Brandon had laid down for a much needed nap and was fast asleep. Derrick had apologized. Charlotte and Lydia had been promised a snow cave camping trip in the South Hills. 

I gave up on making anything for dinner and just went to Smiths for chicken nuggets and salad. I also bought doughnuts in an attempt to inject some positive energy into the house. 

Brandon slept until about 30 minutes before rehearsal. He felt a lot better after that long nap. The rest of us were all happy to go to bed.  I put Derrick and Veronica to bed at 8:00 and was in bed by 8:30.  I could have fallen asleep right then, but that felt lame.  So I stayed up watching Youtube until at least 9:30. 

I was so happy to be done with that day. 

Thursday is my grocery shopping day and we were in desperate need of a big shopping trip. Veronica had complained that we were out of food on Tuesday. We weren't out of food - we were just out of snack food.  My kids live off of popcorn and hot chocolate mix so when we ran out of those things they were thrown off. 

I took Brandon to work at 6:00 so I could have the car.  Veronica happened to be awake at that time so she came with me.  When we got back home we both crawled into my bed and went back to sleep. 

About an hour later I woke everyone up and got them off to school.  When I drove Charlotte and Lydia to school I told them, "This Honda is AMAZING" It has started EVERY time for me for the 9 and a half years that we've owned it.  The only times it didn't start were when I did something stupid like leave a light on overnight."

I got to thinking about it and remembered that there was some preventative maintenance that Les Schwab had recommended a few months earlier. Something with something that was like a hip joint or something? At the time we'd still been operating on the "fix the jeep, and also buy a truck" plan. In that plan the Honda Pilot was the extra vehicle that we'd probably sell. It hadn't made much sense to do that maintenance at the time. 

But now I was super grateful that we'd hung onto the Pilot. It had continued to be our most reliable car. I figured I should probably keep taking care of it.  So when I came home from grocery shopping I immediately called up Les Schwab. I told the lady, "Yeah, I had a quote for some maintenance for my Pilot a few months ago. Can you remind me what that was for and can we get that scheduled."  

She looked through my account and said, "We'll I have this note from January 2022."  I laughed super hard. How did JANUARY of 2022 feel like a few months ago? It was DEFINITELY time to get that maintenance done. 

She took care of ordering the parts and made an appointment for me to bring in the Honda on Saturday morning. 

While I was bringing in groceries from the car I let Marcia out into the backyard.  I thought about chaining her up, but I thought, "She'll want to run around the back yard a bit.  I'll be going in and out of the house so I can keep track of her."

Well, you can probably guess what happened.  That dog somehow snuck past me and took off. She did go back to the school because the ground teacher later told Veronica that she saw her dog running around.  But she didn't stay there. 

I got in the car to look for her, but didn't see her.  I was like, "Whatever dog. You want to run free and then get caught by animal control? Go right ahead." 

So I went to work without a second thought. 

I'd texted Brandon to let him know Marcia was missing again. He planned to look for her after he came home from work.  When he got home he found her chained up in the back yard. Our across the street neighbor said that someone had brought her home and had knocked on our door. Then our neighbor had told them we weren't home. (He'd said something like, "Yeah they have a van in the driveway, but I think that door is stuck open.) So the two of them had gone in the backyard and found the chain and put Marcia on it. 

A few days later, Brandon and I had been on a walk with Marcia and we'd walked by a guy walking his dog. He stopped us and said, "That's Marcia right?  I'm the one who found her and brought her home last week.  She's such a good dog."

So yeah Marcia had quite the social week. 

Thursday was a better day at work. I still had a lot to do, and I could have easily spent 5 hours at work that afternoon.  But it was the end of the pay period and I only had a couple hours left before I'd hit 30 hours. This was the second time in two pay periods that I was hitting 30 hours. I was not exactly thrilled about that.  I mean I SAY I work 15 hours a week. But I mean is I COULD work 15 hours a week.  I'd prefer 12.

So I worked from about 12:30 to 1:50. Clocked out and drove over to Brandon's work to pick him up. (It's only about a mile from my work.)  Dropped him off at home. Drove back to work. Clocked back in. Worked about another 45 minutes and then tried to clock back out. 

But I couldn't clock out. The timecard app that I use on my phone told me that my phone's operating software was too out of date to work with the app anymore. I was like, "Now you tell me? You couldn't have kept working for 1 more hour?"

So I emailed my boss and told him what time to clock me out. 

Brandon took a look at my phone and said he could update the operating system. But later he told me it would just be easier to buy a new phone. It kind of felt like this scene from Jumanji.

The best part of Thursday was when I got home. We didn't have to go ANYWHERE. No therapy. No tutoring. No errands. Just staying home.

Brandon and the twins had rehearsal, but I didn't have to take them. Actually I have to say that it's really nice that Brandon is doing the play with the twins.  If Charlotte and Lydia were in this play without Brandon it would be a huge drag. I'd have to keep track of their rehearsals and drop them off and pick them up (or coordinate with Brandon to do it.) But since they are all in the play together Brandon just takes care of everything.  He's in the Facebook group with the announcements. He takes them to and from rehearsals. It's so nice. 

On Friday Brandon had the car again so we were back to walking to everything again. I walked with the girls part of the way to middle school and then went to work. I stayed at work for 5 hours and FINALLY got on top of all the things I'd been trying to get on top of since Monday. It felt so good!

After school the other set of twins came home with Charlotte and Lydia. We haven't had Aurora and Gwen over for a while so it was fun to see them.  I made pizza for dinner. Macie came over when she was done with work and we all had dinner together. She's had some health things going on lately so we haven't seen her since New Years.  And I've been so busy with getting supports in place for Veronica that I didn't have mental energy to do anything for Macie.  So I was happy that we could take care of dinner for her family this night. 

After dinner Macie and the twins left. We went downstairs and watched Ground Hog Day. That movie is so funny.  

On Saturday I got up a little after 8:00 and drove the Honda over to Les Schwab. Then I walked home. It was about a mile and a half. It took me about 30 minutes to walk home.  I needed that walk so I didn't mind.  The best part was my foot didn't hurt! Okay it did hurt a little bit, because it always hurts a little bit.  But I wasn't limping by the end. And later when the Honda was all done I walked back with no problems either.  Hurray for ankle braces, sturdy orthotics from Super Feet, supportive shoes, and just being nice to your own body. 

We all worked together to clean the house. When Macie had been over the night before I told her, "I'm glad we are at the level of our relationship where you can come over and I don't feel like I have to clean up my house first."  But it was still nice to get the house clean.

After the house was clean Macie came over and picked up my twins so they could spend the afternoon with her twins.  She was like, "They all just disappear into the basement and I can do whatever I want.  So having them over is no trouble at all."

In the afternoon I hung out on the garage couch with Brandon while he worked on the sliding door of the Shonda. Basically the problem was the wheels were worn down.  He could replace the part pretty easy, but we had to order it. It would come in on Tuesday. 

The day was pretty warm and the snow was starting to melt in some places.  I remembered that I needed to do some late winter pruning on the berries and the big rose bush. The berry plants still had a lot of snow around them so I went to work on the rose bush.  Its the big one with stunning yellow blooms. I love that bush, but it's almost too big at this point.  A lot of the branches are crossing and rubbing each other.  At the end of last year I made the decision to prune it all the way back and get some new growth going.  So that's what I did on Saturday. 

Then I went inside to take a nap.  Veronica asked if I wanted to watch a movie with her.  She picked A Bugs Life and I watched about 10 minutes of that, fell asleep for a while, and then work up for the finale. 

Macie brought the twins back around 6:00.  Then Brandon and I went on a date to celebrate my birthday.  My boss had given out gift cards to Texas Road House for Christmas gifts so we used that and went to Texas road house. 

Brandon ordered ribs and I had shrimp.  But neither of those things really mattered because we were so stuffed from our blooming cactus, rolls, and house salads by the time the main dishes arrived. Most of our food went home in boxes and was a very nice lunch the next day.

We had a good time there.  Brandon was asking me questions like, "What goals do you have for yourself for the next few years. All I could think was, "I just want to survive having the kids in middle school and high school."

It's funny because 2 years ago I decided that I wanted to go back to school. I'd told Brandon about it on my birthday. And then I did and that was a HUGE thing that took up a lot of my time.  When I finished school I assumed I'd take some time off and then jump into another big project. But instead I'm just feeling like I need to do less. Or at least schedule less. It's an odd feeling for me. 

We finished up at Texas Roadhouse and then walked around Barnes and Nobel. Then we stopped at Lowes to buy a board for some shelves in the kids bathroom. We had a good time talking and laughing together. 

Sunday was a really good day at church. We still aren't used to church at 9:00.  We'd completely forgot to have the kids take showers and baths on Saturday night and there wasn't time in the morning. But we made it on time and had a good day. 

I had choir practice at 2:00 that afternoon. I always give my neighbor Amanda a ride to the house where we have choir practice. So I took the Pilot and picked her up. We drove over to the house and had an hour long rehearsal.  When it was over we went to the car and tried to start it, but it wouldn't start!

I was like, "Et tu Pilot?"

I realized that the car was beeping every time I opened the door. It was like the car still though the keys were in the ignition. I realized the problem was that the keys weren't able to move into the "off" position.  They were stuck in the "axillary power" position. I figured the car had been in that position the whole time we were at choir and so the battery had run down. 

If you are wondering how it was possible to take the keys out of the car when they weren't in the "off" position . . . . well Brandon did some creative things with the ignition cylinder a year or so ago. The keys can come in and out of the ignition no matter what.

I went back in the house and asked if I could get a jump. Immediately I had two guys helping me out.  But the jump didn't work.  The car still didn't start. 

The two guys were thinking there had to be something wrong with the starter. But I was thinking it had something to do with the ignition cylinder. The starter having a problem was just too out of character for this car.  We were out of my depth so I said Brandon would come have a look at it.   

I called Brandon and told him what was up.  Then Amanda and I got a ride home. Brandon walked over a little bit later to see what was wrong with the car. 

He sent me a text, "The car works, I'm going to check on a friend. I'll tell you what was wrong when I get home."

When he came home he took me out to the Pilot and had me sit behind the wheel.  He said, "Can you see what the problem is?"

I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. 

He said, "look what gear you are in."

The car was in drive. Not park. 

He had me shift the car into park and then try to start the car.  It started right up. 

Somehow I hadn't remembered to shift the car into park when we got to choir. Since the keys come out of the ignition easily I'd been able to pull them out while still in drive. I'd parked on a super level spot on the driveway and put the parking brake on. So I hadn't noticed the car roll or anything. And since no one considered that the car could still be in drive no one even thought to check that while trying to jump it.  

Major Lesson Learned. 

So the Pilot still has a reputation for starting every time - unless I've done something stupid. 

I'm just glad that we didn't have to fix yet another thing. Because this has been getting a little out of hand lately. 

For those keeping score at home here are things that have needed repair or replacement in the last 5 weeks. 

Work laptop died - replaced

Flat tire on Honda Odyssey - repair

Dryer drum stopped turning - replaced

Alternator on Honda Odyssey - replaced

Door on Honda Odyssey - repair

Phone - replaced

Hip Joint things on Honda Pilot - repair (preventative)

Honda Pilot ignition - operator error. 

I started saying that I need to stop touching things because everything keeps breaking.

But on the positive side of things I really should be grateful that everything has lasted as long as it has.

 My work laptop lasted nearly 3 years despite being a model that was only purchased because it was the only things available during covid supply shortages. 

The Odysseys tire had been an easy (and free) fix. 

The repairs on the odyssey are things that Brandon can do. And they are cheaper than a car payment. (We joke that the Shonda isn't its true nickname. Its real nickname is "Cheaper than a car payment.") 

My phone has worked for at least 2 years despite my blatant disregard for it's safety or internal storage limits. 

And the dryer ran continuously for at least 15 years - despite being used when we bought it. 

So really I should be grateful all this stuff has worked as long as it has.

Still I'm being careful what I touch. 

Anyway, that's all for now. 

Thanks for reading. 

(Relatively) simple week

This was kind of a quiet week (relatively speaking) so this should be a quick post (relatively speaking). 

First off,  we need to look at a picture of something that I should have taken a picture of LAST year. 

Last spring Charlotte and Lydia participated in the "Healthy Soil, Healthy Life" art competition. I was in the middle of my own school so I didn't really pay attention to what this was exactly. It was a competition that was on the school level, but was also on the national level . . . somehow.  Really I had no idea what this was. 

Both girls drew posters.  Charlotte worked hard on hers, and I remember seeing it. But I never got a picture with it. She took it to school and turned it in. 

On the last day of school she got an envelope with $40 of cash and a note saying her poster had won for the school . . . or maybe it was the district. Either way it was going onto the next round. Which was State maybe? 

Anyway, we didn't get the poster back and we always kind of wondered what happened to it. 

Well a few weeks ago Veronica came out of the school holding the poster.  She said that someone had given it to her saying it belonged to Charlotte.  I guess it never made it past State or whatever. But it was good to finally see it. Since it had been a winning poster at some point so I made sure to get a poster frame for it. 

It's a really cute little picture.  The magnifying glass zooms in on a worm saying to an ant, "Pardon me, but this soil is really healthy."  And the ant says, "Yeah!."

Lydia was really creative this week.  She's had a sheet on her bed that had little dogs on the top and some argyle patterns on the bottom. It's been her sheet for like 2 years or something. It sadly ripped a few weeks ago.  Lydia took the sheet and cut it into squares then she started hand sewing them into a quilt. Here she is comparing it to another quilt to see if she was happy with the size. 

Shortly after I took this picture she asked me to get out the sewing machine.  She used the machine to do the last few rows. 

On Monday we went to Joanne's after school and picked out some batting and some fabric for the back. Then we came home and I showed Lydia how to sew it all together.  Here's the front. 

And the back. 

And both together. Lydia was so proud of her work. 

Here's some funny stuff the kids did with Marcia. 

I really don't give that do enough credit for her patience. 

Let's see, what else has been going on that I don't have pictures of. 

On Monday I had PTO meeting at 7:30. I didn't make it to the meeting until 7:50.  I'd put on the agenda that we need to discuss a new meeting time for next year.  I walked in right when we were discussing that.  I was like, "We'll obviously this time barely works for me this year.  But I won't work for me at all next year."  That's because next year I'll have three kids at the Middle School. Charlotte and Lydia are good about getting themselves ready. My friend Kaymie gives them a ride with her middle schooler.  But next year she wont have anyone in Middle School. And I don't exactly trust Derrick to get himself ready for school.  So yeah the time will not work next year. 

I went to work for a bit and then came home and went to my second board meeting of the day.  It was a over zoom. It was my first board meeting for Idaho Parents Unlimited.  Mostly I just had to be there and listen. But it was great to be apart of it. 

Monday night was the only night that Brandon, Charlotte, and Lydia had rehearsal all week. They worked on the "76 Trombones" song. They marched and marched and marched.  The girls said their muscles were so sore. 

On Tuesday I hung out with PTO Liz for the first time in a really really really long time. We went for a walk on the canyon rim. It was so good to catch up with her.  I've missed working with her in PTO. We had a really good synergy that I haven't been able to duplicate with the new PTO presidents this year. 

After school I took Veronica to her first tutoring session. It was simple and yet hard. One of the things she needs to practice is following a pencil with her eyes.  She could only do that a little bit before her eyes got tired. 

The program she is in works hard on doing things called Cross Meridians. They want her moving her body in ways that she's not used to.  So she needs to do things like do a jumping jack and clapping her hands over her head. It was super hard for her to do. 

She also had to work on looking at letters or pictures and then remembering what she saw when she looked away.  

The whole thing only took about 30 minutes, but by the end you could tell that Veronica had been pushed super hard.  This was all stuff that was new to her. 

One of the things that I like about this program is that we are expected the practice the things at home. AND they gave me the tools to do that.  Her tutor gave us a bag full of everything we'd need to practice at home just like she'd do it at the lesson. She also gave me paper to take notes on and a chart to keep track of the days we practiced. 

I've been taking my kids to various forms of therapy for 9 years.  NO ONE has ever given me a chart to keep track of things at home. They probably all should have because I LOVE marking off charts. 

When we got home from tutoring it was time for Derrick to go to Boys Activity.  Brandon took him and then hung out in the lobby while Derrick went to the activity on his own.  At one point they made paper airplanes and flew them.  Derrick's went the farthest and the leader said he'd bring him a prize on Sunday. Derrick looked forward to that all week. I kept saying, "He better remember that prize or he'll never hear the end of it."  I was very relieved when Derrick did get that prize today at church. (It was a big airhead candy.)

At some point on Monday or Tuesday I tried to dry a load of laundry and I realized the dryer drum had stopped turning.  Brandon took a look at it on Wednesday after work. There was something wrong with a pully and quite possibly the motor was having problems too. He said, "I could fix it. But I think it's time we buy a new machine."  This was super sad because that dryer has been a constant fixture of my life for 15 years. But it was also time. 

So Brandon ordered a new dryer and then took the old one out. I felt like I'd lost a good friend. 

Derrick went to therapy with Mr Mark. Mr Mark had promised Derrick that's he'd bring his metal detector and they'd look for treasure.  All week Derrick had been telling me elaborate stories about how he'd find a treasure chest full of coins and gems. He'd donate it to a museum and we'd all be rich. He told me this story OVER and OVER and OVER. It was ALL he talked about. 

Well, unfortunately the metal detector only worked for a few minutes. Derrick was pretty disappointed when he came home. 

During the day on Wednesday I went to the library and picked up some new books.  I had two big books come in at the same time.  This is always such a good problem to have. 

I couldn't start either book that evening though because I was going to the Young Women activity with Charlotte and Lydia.  It was a stake activity and the girls were encouraged to bring their moms. 

I imagined a night where we'd get to talk together. Maybe we'd talk about ways I could support them in their goals.  Maybe we'd talk about things we could do to increase the spirit in our homes. Maybe we'd just do fun activities together. 

Anyway, I was looking forward to this night and I was happy that their rehearsal schedule lined up so they were available to go. 

When we got to the church we could tell the leaders had put a lot of effort into the night. We passed rooms that were decorated with strings of lights and lots of fabric. The Chapel had a beautiful balloon decoration hanging over the door. 

The girls were given handouts that included I-Tune gift cards. I was like, "Oh this is going to be very nice."

And it started out nice. We recited the Young Women's theme, we watched a video with the Youth Theme for the year, the female leaders said encouraging things.  

Then we were told that we'd be split up for the rest of the meeting.  The girls would be in 4 groups and would rotate throughout the building. The moms would be in the cultural hall for a presentation. I was like, "Wait! I thought I was here to spend time with my daughters?"

Still, I was hopeful this would be a good experience.  I told the girls to go with their group and I went into the cultural hall. I was disappointed that I couldn't be with my girls, but I was like, "Hey there are 100 other women here. This could be a really cool presentation."

It wasn't. 

I spent most of the time trying to figure out what the point of the presentation/discussion was. I think it boiled down to "Our girls are in a scary world. So we need to be there for them."  And I was like, "That's what I was trying to do tonight. But you separated me from my girls.  I would have been better served staying home and doing a puzzle with them."

Charlotte and Lydia's part of the evening didn't go much better.  At one point all the girls were invited to sit quietly and just think and feel the spirit. I'm sorry, but that's NOT how you get 12 year old girls - especially ones related to me - to feel the spirit. 

We were finally all brought back into the chapel. Charlotte and Lydia were like, "Can we just go?"  And so we snuck out as the final speaker was talking. We stopped in the cultural hall and grabbed cupcakes and bolted for the door. 

When we got home Brandon asked how it was.  The best analogy I could come up with was so say, "It's like we went to what looked like a fancy feast and were served white bread."

I don't think any of us will go to any more stake Young Women activities. 

On Thursday we got the new Dryer. I was sad to say goodbye to the other one, but it's good to have a new one.  It's also more efficient. The old one was starting to take 80 minutes to dry things.  This one can do a regular load in 40 minutes. 

Friday was an odd day. I usually wake up with Brandon when he wakes up at 5:00. Sometimes I stay awake, and other times I roll over and go back to sleep.  But on Friday I was completely out. I didn't wake up until my 6:30 alarm went off. 

I was still pretty groggy when it was time to get the kids up at 7:00. When I did get everyone up I was kind of laid back about it. I was like, "I'm driving everybody so we have time."  Derrick and Veronica weren't ready for school until 7:55.School starts at 8:00, but I wasn't worried.  I was like, "You still have til 8:05 when the tardy bell rings. You'll be fine."  

And then I couldn't find my van key.  Brandon had taken the van to pick up the dryer.  We only have one van key so he'd taken it off my key ring. He'd put it back into my purse, but not onto the key ring. 

So when I pulled my key ring out and couldn't find the van key I assumed Brandon still had the key. 

I told Derrick and Veronica we'd need to walk.  So we hurried out the door. We live really close to the school and we took a little short cut so Derrick and Veronica were at the school right as the tardy bell rang. This was a good reminder that we should probably be walking to school every day again. 

Charlotte and Lydia got ready so we'd be ready to walk together when I came home. In theory they could have got a ride with Kaymie, but I had to go to work too. And really the middle school is not that far away anyway. It's like a 10 minute walk.  So we were going to just walk together and then I'd head to work and they'd cross the street to the middle school. 

Well right before we left, I reached into my purse and found the van key.  So we drove. 

I dropped the girls off and got ready to make a left hand turn to head to work. Right as I pushed on the gas pedal the car went CACHUG and seemed to lose power. The battery warning light came on on the dash board. I still had some power so I was able to slowly pull into the correct lane and then keep driving to work.  The power seemed to amp back up as I drove and by the time I got to work 2 minutes later everything seemed back to normal. 

That battery warning light was still on though.  I wished that I had an owners manual for the van. But then I remembered I had google.  So I googled, "Battery Warning light for 2008 Honda Odyssey." Based on the results I was pretty certain something was wrong with the alternator. 

So I texted Brandon and told him to plan to look at it later. 

Then I just kind of forgot about it and went into work. 

At 11:00 I needed to be at the church for a ministering interview.  So I went out to the car and started it. It started fine but when I tried to go in reverse it did the CACHUG sound again and didn't seem to have any power to back up.  I tried again and the car moved slightly.  It backed up while shuttering and saying CACHUG, CACHUG, CACHUG. Then I moved into drive and it pulled forward slowly while still CACHUGING. 

After a bit it smoothed out a bit and started driving like normal.  But I was like, "NOPE, not driving this to the church."  So I drove it home.  I texted my ministering companion and told her to call me and put me on speaker phone for the interview. 

I had one other thing going on that day that I'd need the car for. A lady in my ward had planned a big lunch group thing at La Fiesta.  I knew my neighbors were planning to go so I texted them to see if I could get a ride.  They said yes. 

Lunch wasn't until 1:30 so I just kind of hung around the house. First I took care of paying a bill that had accidently turned into a saga.  I'd paid the bill for my foot appointment on Wednesday.  But as soon as I hit submit I was like, "SHOOT, I meant to pay that with the HSA card."  I'd paid it with my regular debit card.  

So I'd had to call the doctors office and have them reverse the charge.  They reversed it on Thursday. 

And I paid it again with the HSA card on Friday. 

Moral of the story don't try to pay bills while listening to a podcast. 

I took a little nap and was woken up by a phone call. It was from one of the counseling offices that I'd put Veronica on the waitlist for.  They had an opening. It wasn't with one of the counselors my boss had recommended, but at this point I was just happy for an opening.  I was able to get an appointment scheduled for the next week. I felt pretty victorious. I'd started looking for a counselor for Veronica on Monday  the 16th and she had an appointment scheduled on Friday the 27th. Whew!

Lunch was super fun. It's been a while since I went out to eat with a bunch of ladies.  We had fun talking and sharing stories. I ordered a taco salad. It came in a HUGE taco bowl.  It was great!  

When Brandon was home from work he went outside to look at the Honda.  (Oh funny story.  We've really struggled to keep track of which car we are talking about since both of them are Hondas.  The other day Brandon was trying to say "The Red Honda" but it came out "The Rhonda."  That's my mom's name and so we laughed a lot and then decided it was actually a good name. So occasionally we'll call the Pilot "The Rhonda" and the Silver Odyssey "The Shonda."

So anyway, we were looking at The Shonda. Brandon showed me how to use his multimeter to check the voltage on the battery. It was at 10 volts. He explained that it should have been at 12 volts. Then we turned on the car and the voltage went down from 10.  Brandon said it should have gone up.  He said. "Yep, you're right. The alternator isn't working. If it was working the battery would be charging."

So thank you google. 

He showed me how to use his battery charger and we hooked it up to the battery to get it charged again.  Brandon said, "I'll move this into the garage and fix it tomorrow."

We were all pretty pooped from the week. So after dinner the only thing any of us wanted to do was watch a movie.  We watched Matilda the Musical. It was cute. 

When it was over none of us were tired so we decided to watch Spider Man 3. We'd watched Spiderman 2 the weekend before. I'd reserved the 3rd one from the library - thinking that it would take a long time to come in. But it came in pretty much right away.  

So we watched that. I haven't seen it since Brandon and I watched it in the theatre on our Honeymoon. I'd been very disappointed by that movie and never saw a Spiderman in the theatre again until Far From Home came out. 

The movie actually isn't half bad. It's biggest weakness is that all the marketing sold it as a Venom movie.  But the story has 2 other villains in the story. Peter doesn't even put on the black suit until one hour into the movie. 

Derrick was so into the movie. He kept saying, "Spiderman. You like the RED suit. Put the red suit back on right now."

The movie ended a little before 11:00 and we all went to bed. 

On Saturday we slept in. That was nice.  We didn't have much planned.  Mostly just clean the house.  I took care of cleaning the house with the kids while Brandon worked on the Shonda. 

 

I mainly focused on Veronica's room.  She'd still having trouble falling asleep at night. I wanted to see if she'd sleep better in a clean room.  So I spent like 2 hours on the room. We ended up throwing away a whole garbage bag of stuff. And taking a huge box of toys down to the basement.  

Here's an after picture of her room.

We put her cage at the foot of her bed. There had been a little desk here, but she wasn't using it so I put it in the basement and moved the cage over there. 

Veronica loves this thing so much.  And as you can see, she could easily get out of it.  So please don't call CPS on us. 

Last week Brandon made this sign for her. 

Charlotte and Lydia also spent a lot of time on their room.  They even went and got the ladder so they could put their dragon kit up on the ceiling. 

Derrick had been kind of left on his own while I was working in Veronica's room. I thought that he'd be begging to watch TV or something.  But really he was Mr Self Starter.  He cleaned his room, then picked up the blankets and dishes on the Family Room floor. Then he came up stairs and vacuumed the living room.  And finally he did his bathroom job- mirror and tub. 

When he was all done I gave him a dollar because we are rewarding the heck out of that behavior. 

We ran some errands together and he had $5.  So we went to Smiths and he bought a big package of double bubble gum and a Pepsi. 

Back at home Brandon was able to get the alternator out pretty easily and then replace it with a new one. Here he is putting the washer fluid tank back on.  

You can kind of see the new alternator in this picture.  It's the shiny part at the bottom of the belt. 

As far as car repairs go, I'm glad it was "just" the alternator.  Brandon was able to get it all fixed within 5 hours. I love Brandon for many reasons, but the fact that he can fix almost anything is a big reason. 

We spent the rest of the day just kind of doing nothing.  He's Brandon and the girls lounging on the couch. 

He was tickling them and being silly.  It was fun to have nothing planned. 

The day had started out warmish- but by evening a storm had blown in. Brandon and I had been tentatively planning on going on a date.  But we didn't really want to go anywhere.  So we just went out to the garage.  The kids watched movies in the house and we hung out in the garage eating cookies and talking. 

We are planning to take down the ceiling and insulation in the garage this spring.  So we planned out that. Then we watched the movie, "Ticket to Paradise" with Julia Roberts and George Clooney on Peacock. I kind of had 0 expectations for the movie, but it was really cute.  I smiled and laughed at the movie a lot more than I thought I would. 

We went back into the house and got everyone into bed.  I love the weekends when we go and do a lot, but I also really like the ones where we just stay home and relax. 

Anyway, that's the end of this (relatively) simple week. 

Thanks for reading. 

Surviving January

A few weeks ago I got stuck in the drive through at the bank. It was a branch I don't normally go to and I guess I picked the wrong time to try to drop off a deposit. I was in that line for over 20 minutes. But it was fine because I was listening to a new episode from Glennon Doyle's podcast. 

I don't listen to every episode of her podcast, but I'll listen when things look interesting. She'd posted on Facebook that she had a new diagnosis and to listen to the podcast to hear all about that.  So that's what I was doing.  

Here's the gist of it. Glennon had struggled with bulimia from the time she was 10 until she was a young adult. She was able to get into recovery when she was pregnant with her son. But over the years she'd relapsed a few times. She sought help from some new doctors after her most recent relapses and that's when she got the new diagnosis. 

She wasn't actually bulimic. She was anorexic with purging. 

This rocked her world. She'd NEVER considered that she could be anorexic. But as she read more about it she realized that this described her to a T. The part of her story that stood out to me was when she said something like, "I was reading about Anorexia and I realized that things that I always thought were part of my personality were really just symptoms of a disease."

I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Especially in regards to my anxiety. I've been looking at things that I've assumed are part of my personality, but are quite possibly just symptoms of High Functioning Anxiety. 

It's been quite the process. For example. I'm fastidious about being on time to things. How much of that is me and how much of that is anxiety? And if I try to manage my anxiety am I suddenly going to become the type of person that is late to things? Could I even be that type of person? Probably not. But is it healthy for me to obsess over what time I need to leave the house in order to arrive somewhere on time? Also probably not. 

So over the past few weeks I've been looking at various parts of my life and trying to find a healthy balance between CONSTANT VIGILANCE and complete disregard. I've (tried) to let go of taking some things personally. I'm (trying) not to tie my value to things like the outstanding balance total at work or the amount of PTO activities at my kids school.  It's a process, and I'm not great at it yet, but I'm feeling a little less tense about things.  And that's good. 

Anyway, the timeliness and predictability of blog posts on this blog might end up being a casualty of my attempts to be a less-anxious person.  I don't think I could ever give up the blog at this point. But I know that weekly post are probably not going to happen for a while. 

Best I can promise are blogs every other week. 

So let's get cracking. 

Monday January 9 is the day that I finally had my foot looked at. Oddly enough, my foot  - that has hurt nearly every day for almost a year - DIDN'T hurt the day of my appointment. I was like, "What the heck?"  My appt was for 1:00. So I went to work in the morning, went home and got something to eat, and then went to my appointment about 45 minutes early. I parked and then walked around the neighborhood near the office for 30 minutes.  When I came back my foot was hurting a little bit. 

When I did the intake paperwork there was a picture where I had to circle where it hurt on my foot.  I just kind of circled the whole ankle area.  When my doctor came in he asked me where it hurt specifically.  I was like, "I don't know. I just hurts in here."  

I wished I could explain that I am horrible at actually listening to my body. (Remember how I didn't know I was pregnant with twins for like 6 weeks after going through what I thought was a miscarriage?) Anyway, he felt around my foot and pushed on certain points.  That helped him and me pinpoint where the pain was. 

We also did an x-ray to see if there was any obvious problems. 

When we were done the doctor told me I have something called PTTD. It stands for Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction). Basically the tendon that runs done my ankle on the inside of my left foot is not doing its job. 

He pointed out how my left foot is a lot more flat footed than my right foot. That's visual proof that the tendon isn't holding up as well as it should. 

Solutions for the problem involved solid over the counter orthotics (I bought mine online from Super Feet), wearing my ankle brace again, and wearing shoes in the house (I hate this, but I'll admit it has helped.)  We can also look at physical therapy to teach the tendon how to do it's job again. 

If things don't improve we'll move onto doing an MRI to actually look at the tendon and see if it's torn. And if that's the case we'll have to do surgery.  

So far I've been a lot more mindful of supporting that tendon and my foot has felt a lot better. What's also interesting is that now that I actually know where the problem is I can feel the pain. Does that make sense?  Before my appointment I just knew my ankle hurt and I guessed it was a tendon.  Now I know exactly where the tendon is and I can feel the pain there. Not some general location, but THERE in the tendon on the outside of my ankle. Yay for being more aware of my own body. 

My appt got over a few minutes before 2:00.  Derrick and Veronica get out of school at 2:00. I hadn't been sure if I'd get there in time so I'd asked Kaymie to pick them up. I don't know what I'd do without that woman. I ended up making it there in time to meet the kids, but it was so nice to know she had my back. 

After school I took Veronica to what we thought would be her last physical therapy appointment. She is still an EPIC toe walker, but they've addressed some of the major issues over the last few months. We've been slowly ramping down therapy. Mr. Spencer actually wanted to see her for one more follow up in a few weeks, but other than that she's done with physical therapy. 

And just in time too. Because just like naming my foot issues helped me start feeling the pain better, naming her Anxiety has put a focus on it. Now that she knows she has anxiety she's feeling it more acutely.  And things that we just kind of lived with before are now things that we know are anxiety related. For example, she's having a really hard time falling asleep at night. It's become a big process to put her to bed. I'm not exaggerating when I say that she was easier to put to bed as an infant.  

So as we ramped down physical therapy I started to think that we might need to start some other sort of therapy. 

Monday night was the first rehearsal for the Music Man.  Brandon, Charlotte, and Lydia are so excited to be part of that. They did a whole read through of the script. The director was talking about some things and he said, "We even have identical twins in this play."  We never really think about how cool it is that Charlotte and Lydia are identical.  They are just Charlotte and Lydia and really hard to tell apart sometimes.  But the director is super excited to be working with twins. He's been giving them directions to do things like yawn at the exact same time. Charlotte and Lydia think its super funny.

And Brandon is excited to be "Playing" with his friends again.

On Tuesday I was finally going to do something else I've been planning to do for a while. I was going to go to the gym by my house. I was going to do the weight lifting class that was at 9:00. I got ready and I went there after I dropped the girls off. I went to the counter to pay the drop in fee - and the class was cancelled for the day. Apparently it's never cancelled, but I'd happened to pick the one day that it was. 

So I went to the canyon rim trail and went for a walk. This time I went west from the Visitor's Center. 

As always the view was amazing. Like, how is this not a national park?

I made it to the viewpoint by the Perrine Coolee waterfall. 

Here I am.

After the walk I went home and got ready for work. 

All day the kid and I had been looking forward to a very special visitor that evening. Hillary had called on Sunday and asked if it was okay for her to come up to visit from Tuesday to Wednesday.  Walter had been asking to come up and see Veronica and Joe had a busy week at work so it made sense for them to come up for a couple days. 

Hillary showed up right around 5:00 and my kids went nuts to see her and Walter and Penny.  

Rehearsal that night was just for the traveling sales men on the train at the beginning of the play. Brandon is one of those guys so he had to be at rehearsal, but Charlotte and Lydia didn't have to be there. That was good timing because it meant there was time for Hillary to re-dye the girls hair. 

She put on "Gabby's Dollhouse" to entertain Penny. Charlotte and Lydia kept commenting on how it was "such a little kid show."  And yet, they were pretty into it.

Veronica and Walter had a BLAST playing together. I can't explain the bond between these two cousins who are 5 years apart. But it is there and it is STRONG. 

They played and played and played. 

Walter was so happy.

When it was bedtime Derrick and Walter went to bed okay in Derrick's room. But the rest of us (including Penny) stayed up until 11:00. 

On Wednesday I decided to let Veronica stay home from school. I figured that since Walter had come all that way to see her she might as well be there for him as much as possible. 

I dropped everyone off at school and then headed to work for what I thought would be an hour or two.  But pretty quickly I realized I'd rather be at home. Not just because Hillary was there, but also because my work laptop was on the fritz.  It had been having trouble for a few days. My boss had fixed it and things were better on Tuesday, but it was back to it's old tricks.  And now the monitor was flickering.  So I sent and email to my boss that the laptop was having trouble again and then just went home to work on things there. 

Later I got an email from my boss telling me it it had completely died. All I could think was, "I never even got a chance to say goodbye."

At home I worked on somethings for work while Hillary called around to find a mechanic. She had an engine warning light that had her concerned about driving the three hours back to Utah. But no one could get her in that day.  (And the one guy who said he could get her in seemed to be overpromising.) So we decided not to worry about the car. 

We thought about going to the Science Museum. But the kids all seemed content to stay at the house.  And that ended up being impossible anyway because when Hillary went to grab something from her car she noticed that I had a flat tire.  I was like, "First my computer dies and then I get a flat tire. What kind of a day is this."

Hillary was debating leaving around noon so she could get back to Utah while it was still light.  But we were texting Brandon and he said to wait until he got home and he'd look at the car one more time. (He'd looked at it in the dark yesterday.)  So we waited.  

Hillary gave me a trim and cut Veronica's hair. 

Veronica and Walter went to watch a movie.  Hillary and I curled up on each of the living room couches and took naps.  That was wonderful. 

Brandon came home and looked at Hillary's car. He said it would be fine to drive home. Then later he put the spare tire onto the van. I wasn't thrilled about having a flat, but I was happy it had gone flat at my house.  Brandon said it was a good thing that's where the flat happened because the spare wasn't very inflated at all. 

Around 4:00 I realized I'd never taken the deposit to the bank.  So I jumped in the pilot and drove to the bank.  As I was driving I realized that Derrick was supposed to be picked up for therapy at 4:00.  I hoped that wasn't too much of a surprise for Brandon.  

On my way to the bank I picked Charlotte and Lydia up while they were walking home from the middle school. They liked coming with me to the bank and getting dumdum sucker from the teller. 

Then we went home.  Hillary left a little after that.  I started making dinner.  I was really excited for it.  We were having Salisbury steaks for the first time in a long time. I'd been craving them for a while. 

Well I made them, but I kept taking little pinches of meat to taste and they didn't taste right. I almost gagged a few times.  Fortunately I'd also made some vegetable side dishes.  When we sat down to eat I told everyone, "I'm not going to eat the meat and you don't have to if you don't want to."  

No one ate it. 

After dinner I just kind of gave up trying to do anything the rest of the day.  My computer had died, I'd had a flat tire, and I'd ruined dinner. I wasn't going to test my luck any more.

Brandon and the girls had rehearsal that night.  I think I just let Derrick and Veronica watch TV until bedtime. Then I just read. (The third book in that Senlin Ascends series, "The Hod King" had come in at the library and I was deep into it.)

Hillary texted me that she got home safely. I'm so glad she came to visit. She'd brightened up two winter days and helped me feel like Wednesday hadn't been completely full of bad luck. 

On Thursday I walked with Derrick and Veronica to school for the first time since about halfway through December. I still drove Charlotte and Lydia, but as soon as I dropped them off I went right to Les Schwab to get the tire fixed. I love Les Schwab. I thought I was going to have to pay for the flat repair because we didn't buy the tires for this van at Les Schwab. But I'm a frequent enough customer that they didn't charge me for this repair. (Or maybe that's just how they are with all flats?) I was in and out of there within an hour. I spent the time reading the Hod King. 

I probably should have gone grocery shopping when I was done, but I'd promised Veronica that she could go grocery shopping with me after school. So instead I just went home and read in bed. I love that I have a schedule that gives me time for things like that. 

At noon I went to work. I brought my home laptop with me. My boss was in the process of getting me a desktop. I really didn't care what I got as long as the keyboard had a 10-key pad. 

After work I went grocery shopping with Veronica. That was fun, but also kind of exhausting. I used to shop with her all the time when the other kids were in school, but I'm out of the habit of shopping with kids.  It's a lot of saying, "No" and "We'll buy that another time."

I took Derrick to Occupational Therapy that evening at 5:30.  It's such a weird time for therapy.  Especially in the winter.  It's dark when we get there and the rest of the suites are already closed. This was the first time there were other parents in the waiting room. I just read some more. 

That evening no one had rehearsal and we all just RELAXED. I have no memory of what we did. 

Friday was Friday the 13th. I'm not superstitious, but given my track record on Wednesday I was a little cautious going into Friday. 

I dropped Derrick and Veronica off at school, then dropped off Charlotte and Lydia, and then went back to the Elementary school. PTO was doing another Mustang Day sale during lunch time.  That was great, but I'd never got around to counting the Smenciles after our last sale.  I needed to know how many Smanciles we had so I could figure out how many we'd sold the last quarter of 2022 so I could know how much sales tax we needed to send to the sales tax commission. 

So I spent time in the closet counting Smencils. Then I tuned on my computer and used my phone as a hotspot to get into the PTO google drive so I could calculate everything on the spreadsheet I built. 

I had my computer on a box and I was sitting on the stage floor. It was a funny place to do accounting but it worked. 

 

I liked how my hair looked so I took another selfie. 

I got the sales tax all figured out. I wrote out the check for the PTO president to sign when she came for the sale.  I even got the envelope all ready to mail. 

I also did some counts of the apparel to see how much we'd sold and what kind of money we were making. 

When I was done with that Monica showed up and I helped her sell to the Kindergarteners.  Then we moved everything down to the main hall to get ready to sell to the rest of the school on their lunch break.

Normally we have a lot of moms come help. But we were short staffed for several reasons this time. Usually I let the other mom sell and I take care of taking the money from them and keeping it organized. But this time there were only three of us there so I helped sell. 

When we were done selling I sat down to get the deposit ready. I was in no mood for doing a pretty deposit.  I didn't even bother with the coin.  I just told the moms to dump it into one of the money bags and I'd have the bank teller run it through her coin machine. I was a little better with the currency.  I still counted and bundled it, but it was a sad looking bundle.  I don't think I've ever bundled a deposit that sloppily before. 

When I got to the bank I told my teller friend, "I'm not proud of this deposit at all, but it is together and here so that's good enough for today."  She got it all counted. I'd been dead on with the currency count which made me feel better. 

I still had to go to work which was kind of nuts for how fried my brain was at that point. I was there just long enough to do the deposit for that work (much less cash) and then I was out of there.  I went back to the bank and went through the drive through. A different teller came to the window.  I told her, "I'm back, but with much less cash this time.)

Then I went home and laid on the couch for a long time. What a day!

There was one thing that had kept me going all day. We were going to see JIVE at the high school that night. JIVE is the show choir for Twin Falls High School. We've been going to their performances for about 2 and a half years and we LOVE them. Watching JIVE perform is one of my favorite things. So even though the day had been long, and I was pretty much done for the week I was so excited to go see JIVE that night. 

We had dinner and then drove over to the Roper Auditorium. This place felt a little more familiar than usual. Charlotte's Christmas orchestra concert had been here.  So had Veronica's Christmas Choir concert. We found our usual seats toward the back and waited for the show to start.  

Here's Derrick and Me. 

Veronica was sitting on my other side. 

And here's the view down the row. 

We know two boys in JIVE. Oakley and Andrew are in our ward. Last year JIVE did a Les Mis medley and Oakley had sung Master of the House.  When the show was over Brandon had confided to me, "I was jealous of Oakley. He looked like he was having so much fun in that song."

Well fast forward a few months to when Brandon was in Guys and Dolls.  After one performance he told me, "The best part of tonight was looking into the audience and seeing Oakley watching me sing and dance."

I love watching all the kids in JIVE, but I'll admit I've picked out a few favorites over the different performances we've seen. Last year I was blown away by the girl that sang Epinine's part in the Les Mis medley. I'd assumed she was a Senior, but she must have only been a Junior because she was on the program again. I was excited to see what she'd do in this performance. 

The show always starts with a clock counting down from 10 to 0. Everyone in the audience counts down along with it.  It's so much fun to yell, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Then the curtain opens and the JIVE kids come out singing and dancing. There is so much energy in the room. 

They sang a song together and then the girls sang a song and the boys sang a song. Between numbers one or two of them will do little skits and things to give everyone else time to change. And changing is important because each number has a different costume that went with it. Some are simple like matching shirts and black pants.  But others - especially the medleys - take the costumes very seriously.  

The first half of the show ended with a Frozen II Medley. One of the guys came out and did Olaf's story. The kids laughed so hard.  Then the rest of the cast came out and sang a bunch of songs from Frozen. My Epinine girl was singing Elsa's part and did wonderful!  She had on a fabulous Elsa dress and wig. You know what, let me just steal a picture off the JIVE Facebook page real quick.  Here are the main Frozen singers from this song. Look how good those costumes are!

That could have been the end of the program. But no this was just the halfway point. There was a 15 minute intermission where we all talked about how good these kids were. 

After that there were more songs. They sang and danced to Once Upon A December from Anastasia. Oakley and Andrew sang Hallelujah while Oakley played the Guitar. There were a few more songs. And then it was time for the big finale - an Aladdin Medley. Our boy Oakley was singing the Aladdin part and he was so so so good. When he sang the "Proud of your boy" song I was nearly in tears. Later I asked his mom how she got through that song every night. 

The medley ended with Friend Like Me. Everything was so high energy. The dancing was amazing. Later Brandon told me, "I want to learn to dance like that!" 

We clapped and cheered and stood up and clapped and cheered some more when it was all over.  The singers were out in the lobby when it was over. Epinine was swarmed by friends, but I made sure to tell her how great she'd been. (Last year when she sang Epinine I'd told her that she'd nailed it and she told me that comment made her night.)

Brandon found Oakley and Andrew and congratulated them. He asked them when they will sing the Halleluiah song in church. 

We went home riding high from all the energy and fun. We are already looking forward to the Spring Showcase (where they will repeat the Aladdin Medley.) Also the kids could do Jr Jive and preform during the Saturday Matinee in the spring so maybe we'll do that. 

You might think that JIVE was the high point of the week. And you'd be right it it wasn't for what was happening on Saturday.  Saturday was one of my favorite Twin Falls Events - CABIN FEVER DAY!

Cabin Fever Day is put together by the Parks and Rec department. They offer free things and some businesses around the city also offer free or discounted services.  We could choose from:  Free Swimming at the pool, free roller skating at Skate Town, free planetarium shows at the Science Museum, two for one climbing packages at the indoor rock climbing gym, half priced bowling, or some free activities at the library. 

This year we decided to do a free planetarium show and then the half priced bowling. I was already thinking about going bowling for my birthday so this was a good chance to do that while also saving some money. 

Derrick was also really interested in going for a bike ride with Brandon. Derrick was the first kid up and so he and Brandon went for a bike ride. They ended up going on a super long one. 

I got the girls up and we worked on cleaning up a lot of the house. At 10:30 we left the house to go to the science museum. The tickets to the shows were first come first serve so I wanted to make sure we were there early enough to get tickets for the 11:30 show. 

We showed up around 10:45 and the doors were still locked.  It didn't open until 11:00.  We were some of the first people there, but soon there were lots of other people waiting too.  

The kids passed the time running around and trying to climb the pillars.  Brandon and Derrick hadn't been back from their long bike ride by the time we left so I just texted them to meet us there.  They arrived about 10:55.

We were let in at 11:00 and I made sure we got tickets to the 11:30 show.  Then we went into the big meeting room where the museum staff was showing off reptiles and snakes. 

The kids loved touching and holding all the snakes. 

They were fearless.

The last snake was this big one. 

It was really interested in Charlotte. 

We finished with the snakes and walked through the museum. I took a picture of this trilobite because it's surprisingly significant to the Hod King Book. (Which I'd finished reading.)

We presented our tickets and went inside the planetarium theater.  Here we all are.  

My phone died almost immediately after I took that picture. Which was fine because we needed to turn them off for the show anyway. 

The planetarium director came in and gave us a tour of the night sky and pointed out things like planets and easy to see Constellations. He also fast forwarded to some cool events that will be happening in the near future. (The moon and mars being close together. Saturn and Venus being close together)

Then he showed us some trailers for the shows that they have at the planetarium.  He also showed us images from the James Webb telescope. It was a great show. 

After that we went home and had some lunch. I recharged my phone. I think Brandon and I took little naps too. 

Later in the afternoon we all got ready to go bowling. All the lanes were busy when we got to the bowling place so we put our names on the wait list.  While we waited Brandon taught Charlotte, Lydia, and Veronica how to play pool.

I took Derrick (and later Veronica) to another table and we played with a lot less rules. (We didn't care if we were shooting solids or stripes.)

But Brandon's table was pretty hard core. 

It was a really fun way to pass the time.  Soon it was our turn for a lane. We got our shoes on and picked out balls. 

Veronica got things off to a great start by bowling a strike on her first try.  That was kind of amazing.  She ended up doing it like 2 more times during the game. 

Derrick would do a funny "chicken dance" every time he bowled.  He'd put his hands up to his face and that would make his arms look like chicken wings.  Then he'd jump up and down while also "flapping" his arms.  It was so funny. 

I really like bowling because I'm actually kind of okay at it. I can get strikes somewhat consistently.  And there's a mental space I get into when I'm about to bowl that is kind of unique. It's one of the few things where I can shut everything out and just focus on the moment. 

Brandon on the other hand is terrible at bowling. He's often the lowest score.  It's so funny to be because Brandon is good at so many things. But not so much bowling. 

Here's Lydia getting ready to go. 

Here I am.

Charlotte jumped in the picture with me. (Somehow I forgot to get a picture after Hillary re-dyed her hair. So here's a belated picture.)

I ended up winning (as usual), but the kids put in a pretty good showing.  And Brandon had a rally toward the end too.

I love taking pictures of all of us in our bowling shoes. 

And here I am with my ball.  I called it "Old Scuffy."

Back at home we had dinner and then decided we wanted to watch a movie. Derrick and I had picked up Dante's Peak earlier that day. I'd kind of thought this would be the type of movie that we'd just watch together on a Saturday afternoon, but enough other people were interested in it that we decided to do it for family movie night. 

That might have been a bad idea. The movie itself is fabulous. The special effects hold up even though its almost 30 years old. The plot is decent (though there are some odd time jumps). I highly recommend it - but it's not for anxious 9 year old girls. 

Veronica, who was already super hard to put to bed was so nervous about volcanoes and acid lakes that night. 

OOPS 

But other than that it had been a near perfect Saturday. 

Sunday was another day with 9:00 church. The kids are still not used to it. I'm not really used to it either.  But I do like the long afternoons.  

We are still working out what our afternoons look like, but we've figured out a few things.  We like to come home from church and put together little bowls full of snacks.  They have crackers, cookies, dry cereal, etc.  Then we take the bowls downstairs and watch the videos that go with that weeks Come Follow Me Lessons.  

Here are some of the channels we like,

Line Upon Line 

AP Sunday School

Bible Project - specifically the overview videos.  

Oh and I HAVE to tell you the coolest thing about the Bible Project videos. Back in the summer I wrote a guest post for the Exponent listing some of non LDS resources that helped me with studying the Old Testament.  I included Bible Project on the list. 

Fast forward a few months to January 6th of this year. I read a article in the Salt Lake Tribune by Jana Riess titled 6 Ideas for Latter Day Saints studying the New Testament this year. Her first recommendation was the Bible Project Youtube videos. 

There are probably a few ways that Jana Riess learned about Bible Project.  Her husband is part of another Christian denomination so maybe that's how she found out.  But I prefer to think that she read my post on the Exponent and started following Bible Project videos on my recommendation.  And then she shared them with her audience.  

Just the idea that someone like Jana Riess could be reading and learning from my work is pretty cool. 

Anyway, back to what we do for our Family Come Follow Me "study."  This year I decided it was time we watched The Chosen series. I've wanted to do this for a while because the few clips I've seen have been captivating. I pretty much hate the way Jesus is portrayed in LDS media. His line delivery is . . .full . . . of  . . . too . . . many . . . dramatic . . . pauses. It's just too stiff.  But the Jesus in The Chosen seems like someone I'd actual consider following. I figured this was a good year to watch the series. 

So we started the first episode on Netflix. The kids were a little unsure at first, but by the end of the episode they were asking for another one. I told them they had to wait a week. They were like, "A whole week?"  Streaming has spoiled them. 

And in case I forget to write about this later - they loved the second episode.  It's so fun to hear Derrick say things like, "THERE'S JESUS!"  My favorite part was when Jesus winked in a friendly way.  HE WINKED! I really like this guy.  When the second episode ended the kids once again asked to keep watching, but we told them they had to wait another week. 

Sunday night kicked off my unexpected project for the week. I was putting Veronica to bed. She's started having the "Sunday Scaries" where she gets really anxious for the upcoming week. I was listening to all of her concerns and some of the things she said started getting me concerned. I came away from that conversation knowing that it was time to start looking for a therapist. 

I knew this was going to be complicated. I'm in the therapy world on the billing/insurance side of things and I know there is a shortage of mental health providers locally.

My first choice for therapy would be my office - Aspen Grove Family Therapy - but I didn't feel comfortable having her see any of my co-workers.  I just didn't want to complicate our work relationship with having anyone see my daughter. It would just be too weird. 

But my boss is still a great resource in another way.  On Monday I asked him to give me some recommendations of other therapists I could call. He gave me three. I stopped what I was doing and immediately called them. 

I was able to get Veronica onto a 3 month waitlist with one place. 

Another place needed me to get a referral from Veronica's primary care doctor. After work I messaged him and asked for him to send the referral.  Because he was the one who diagnosed Veronica with Anxiety we didn't need an appt or anything. He just sent the referral. 

That place called back and put me on a 6 month waitlist. But they also did a little screening. They asked me questions about why I was seeking therapy for Veronica. And based on my answers they marked her file as "urgent."  Even with that the wait is still expected to be over a month. 

Our school district is partnered a company called BPA which will provide 6 sessions of therapy. It sounds great, but you still have to find the provider.  It was worth a shot though. So I called that company and started that process.  But I got bogged down in trying to find a provider. 

While I was working on all that I also remembered that we'd been awarded some sort of grant to help kids catch up with anything they need help with in school.  It's some sort of COVID money or something.  I really don't know.  I don't even know how I knew about it to sign up for it. But I'd signed up for it in like October and had recently been awarded the money. So I started looking into that.

Half of Veronica's anxiety problems are probably due to the fact that she's behind in school.  She's close to grade level in math, but she's still reading on a first grade level.  I figured if we could find some sort of tutor who could help her with her reading that might help with her anxiety. 

I had a friend who was a tutor so I asked her if she had any availably.  She didn't, but she recommended a place in town.  I emailed them and found out they work with the grant. I was able to get Veronica in for an assessment on Thursday. 

The assessment was really cool.  I thought they'd just be reading or something. They did do a little bit of reading, but they also were testing things like her visual memory. One of the biggest revelations was that Veronica has a hard time keeping her eyes on track on a straight line. Her eyes don't know how to stay on one line of text. No wonder reading is so hard for her! 

At the end of the assessment the guy showed us some of the things Veronica will do to learn how to improve her visual memory, strengthen her eye muscles, and do other things. It's all really cool. 

I left that appointment feeling like maybe, just maybe this would be something that would help. 

On Friday I called the tutoring office and got Veronica on the schedule.  I'd started the week with only the plan to get Veronica some help. And by the end of the week I did have her in some sort of help.  She still probably needs real therapy. But the tutoring is a good first step. 

Anyway, life was going on while I worked through all the paperwork and phone calls. 

Brandon and the twins had more rehearsals. 

It snowed. 

I had a work meeting where we restructured some things so that I didn't have as much responsibilities in some areas so that I could focus on the things I should really be focusing on.   

The kids had an elaborate nerf war - complete with war paint.  They came into my room to show it to me while I was doing something else. 

Veronica ate a pizza into the shape of Idaho.

I went to a sour dough class taught by a lady at Church.  Sour dough has always seemed really intimidating.  But she made it seem do able.  And she gave me starter which I haven't killed yet.  So that's good. 

Veronica's friend Parker came over to our house on Friday. She was so excited.  Getting Parker to our house took months and several attempts. Here's the various things we went through. 

Plan A: I wrote my number on a piece of paper for Veronica to give to Parker to give to his mom.  (This is how Charlotte and Aurora planned arranged their first playdate in 3rd grade and it had worked out pretty great so I figured this would work. It didn't)

Plan B: Parker told Veronica his mom's phone number.  Veronica memorized it and told it to me. I texted the number and asked if it was the right number.  No answer. 

Plan C: After school one day I met up with Veronica and Parker outside the school.  Parker took me to his mom's car and I introduced myself. Showed that I wasn't crazy, and said that we'd love to have Parker come over some time. This finally worked. (And I confirmed that I did have the right phone number.)

We planned out a good day for Parker to walk home with Veronica.  And Friday was the day finally.  Parker and Veronica are a funny pair of friends.  Veronica is a tall girl with short hair. Parker is a short boy with long hair. They aren't in the same class, but somehow these two found each other on the playground and became friends. 

Parker played at our house for several hours and he's welcome here as often as he wants. 

On Friday night I wanted to watch Spider Man 2 with the kids for movie night. But they wanted to watch Goonies.  (Derrick has been COMPLETELY obsessed with treasure.  From the moment he wakes up in the mornings until he goes to bed he's talking about finding a treasure chest.)  Brandon and I decided we might as well just go on a date while the kids watched their movie.  So we went to Walmart and bought him new pants. Yep, super fun stuff. 

But really Friday night could be boring because Saturday was going to be AMAZING.  We were going to Lava Hot Springs!

We like to go to a Hot Spring every January. Winter sucks, but somehow visiting Hot Springs helps it suck less.  When we lived in Pocatello we went to Lava Hot Springs. But we haven't been there since we moved to Twin Falls.  Well this year we decided to go back. 

At first I thought about doing an overnight trip, but Marcia complicates things.  And I wasn't sure about the weather. I didn't want to make reservations somewhere and then have a blizzard come in and ruin all our plans. 

I decided to just block out two Saturdays in January. Which ever one had good weather would be the one we'd go to Lava. We'd leave in the morning and come home at night. 

All week long we'd been watching the weather and this Saturday looked clear so we decided to go for it. 

But first we had to clean the church. I was kind of a sour puss about this. But then I realized that we'd be getting up early to go to Lava anyway. It wasn't a big deal to stop at the church for 30 minutes and help clean.

Here's Veronica dusting.  

I was actually surprised at how helpful the kids were.  In the past I've vacuumed and Derrick has helped me plug in my cord. This time he told me, "I want to vacuum like I do at home."  He took the vacuum from me and did a great job.

Charlotte vacuumed the whole overflow area of the chapel.

We finished vacuuming and were soon on our way to Lava.  

The drive was about 2 hours and 15 minutes long. We were so excited when we pulled into Lava a littel after 11:00.

We parked and paid and then changed into our swimming suits.  Here I am so happy to be there. 

Here's Veronica in the water. 

And Brandon

Charlotte and Lydia. 

Derrick

And then I put away my phone and just soaked and soaked and soaked. The water felt so good. 

After a while I needed a break from the hot pool (it was between 106 and 110 degrees) and so I got out and walked around a bit.  It so great to be in a swimming suit in January.

Here's Derrick.

we looked at this grotto area with a real hot spring in it. 

Brandon's parents came up from Utah and met us at the hot spring.  I happened to be taking a break from the water when they showed up. They were bundled up in their coats and I was standing there in a wet swimming suit.  It was like we'd come from different dimentions.

They changed and came out to enjoy the water too.  

Here I am again. 

We'd been in the water about 90 minutes and the kids were getting a little bored. Plus we were getting dehydtrated.  I'd been making everyone drink water, but Derrick was getting a stomach ache and I was getting a headache.  So we got out of the water and changed. 

Back when I'd worked for the treasurer's office we'd all come to Lava to celebrate Jen's election victory. We'd gone to eat at a place that had really good fried pickles. I wanted to go back there. So for lunch we went to eat at the Chuck Wagon. 

So did all the other tourists.  We had to wait 20 minutes for a table and even then we were at two separate booths. And then it took a really long time to get our food.  I started playing a game with Derrick and Veronica to pass the time.  I had everyone at our table guess a time that the food would arrive. We started playing the game at 2:25 and I guessed the food would arrive at 2:35. I was thinking that was over estimating the time and I was sure to lose.  

We'll none of us guessed the time right. 2:35 came and went and I had everyone pick new times. We picked new times when ever our time came and went. Veronica ended up winning with a guess of 2:51.  

But guess what?  The fried pickles were totally worth it.  I ordered a basket for our table and for the other table as appetizers.  They were just how I remembered them. 

Here's the other table trying their fried pickles. (that afternoon sun completely washed Charlotte and Lydia out.)

The wait for our food was long. But it was worth it. Here's my guacamole burger. It was delicious.  

After we were done eating we said goodbye to Steve and Jacque.  Then we had some nonsense with trying to find a bathroom. (I was like, "why didn't you go at the restaurant???")

Eventually we made it out of Lava and drove back to Pocatello.  We drove by the kids old school and our old house.  We went to the McDonalds by ISU for ice cream cones. Then we stopped at Smith's Marketplace for gas. After that we drove home.  We were home a little after 7:00

We all took showers and baths. The kids went to bed and Brandon and I stayed up and watched Weird. It's about Weird Al Yankovic but the twist is that it's a parody of biopics. It was  . . . well weird but also funny. 

On Sunday we had church at 9:00 again. We are slowly getting used to that time. 

And here we are at the end of another 2 weeks.  I want to wrap this up in a how. But I'm tired.  We'll just end this with a reminder to please take care of your mental health. It's important. 

Oh and take care of your tendons too.  Those are important too. 

Thanks for reading.