The Hives Outbreak - Week 3 - Camping at Bruneau Dunes

I know what you are thinking, and yes, the hives outbreak did last for THREE WEEKS. The third week was very reduced compared to weeks one and two, but it did affect things. 

But there were a lot of cool things happening in addition to me dealing with the hives that would.not.go.away so we are going to talk about those things. 

Monday May 4- was a big day Hives-wise. It was the first day I woke up without a giant welt somewhere on my body in two weeks. I would still have small hives on my skin, but the big embarrassing welts were gone. There were even some days where my skin was almost all clear. 

This was a pretty typical day. I went to work and all that stuff. I can't remember for the life of me what we did after school. I do know that in the evening we put together our summer bucket list. Most of this stuff was for sure going to happen, but I was trying to manifest a few things (like making it into Seussical.)

And look at my pretty larkspur that had started blooming up against the back wall of our patio. This is a mirco climate where it gets warmer here than in other parts of the yard. So things can bloom two to three weeks earlier in this spot. 

Tuesday May 5

This was a really fun morning. I was supposed to help take my friends kids to an appointment that morning. But the kids were sick so it was cancelled. 

That morning around 8:00 my friend Megan messaged our ward mom's chat and asked if anyone was available to help her take her baby to a doctors appt. Her baby had been born like 10 weeks early and they had spent something like 7 weeks in the NICU. The baby was home now, but on oxygen. Megan wasn't sure how she was going to get the baby and the oxygen equipment in and out of the car. So that's why she was asking for help. I was like, "Oh I'm free."

So at 10:30 I met Megan at her house and helped her get Baby Grace ready to go for her appointment. I carried the oxygen and the battery pack while Megan carried the baby in the car seat. It really was a two person job!  Then Megan drove us to the appointment. I helped her get everything into the stroller.

Megan was pretty self contained once everything was in the stroller so I didn't need to go into the appointment with her. I just hung out in the lobby. And then when the appt was over I helped get the baby and the oxygen stuff into the car. 

And through it all I told Megan she was doing a great job. She and I are the same age. Her oldest is only a few months younger than Charlotte and Lydia. And there is no way I could handle a newborn right now. So I'm really impressed by Megan. She's balancing four other kids and this newborn. 

And once again I discovered that I'm really good at appointments. 

After I was done helping Megan I went to work at Aspen Grove. 

Brandon was at CSI that night and we didn't do much at home. But I did get out into my yard to take pictures of things that were blooming. 

I really liked these Irises. These face my living room window and I love looking out at them. 

Here are the pretty blue flax flowers. These are always so vibrant in the morning. 

Look how pretty they are. 

I also had yellow irises opening. 

And look at this HUGE flax plant. I'm so impressed by how big it got. 

My snowball tree bloomed again this year. It had some problems last year so it's good to see it coming back this year. 

Wednesday May 6 was my only scripture study day for the month. I'd honestly thought about canceling it. If my skin hadn't cleared up on Monday I might have cancelled it for stress reasons. The other reason I thought about cancelling was because I didn't really like the book of Nahum. I read it and was like, "Um, I don't think this is prophecy. I think someone was just really excited to see the Assyrians get what they deserved."

But I still wanted a chance to talk with my friends. So I didn't cancel. Rachel and Jori came. We went over the book for like 10 minutes just to say we did and then we talked about random things the rest of the time. It was great!

Then I took a nap for most of the afternoon. 

That evening was probably the busiest day we had this May. That evening we had the "Engage in Education" event at the park and then the girls all had an orchestra concert.

We went to the park right at 4:30. It was fun to walk around and look a the different displays that were set up. As usually EVERYONE knew Derrick. We went to the table for his Middle School and as we were walking up I asked Derrick, "Do you know those ladies at the table?"  And before he could answer all three ladies said, "Hi Derrick."

Veronica was like, "HOW! How does everyone know him?"  I told her that it's always like that. Everyone knows Derrick.

This was the display at Veronica's middle school table. The feathers all had things written on them. 

Here are the kids from our Elementary School singing. 

Derrick was really interested in the table for the construction program offered through the district. Which is good because he's probably going to do the special needs version of that construction program. 

We got our hot dogs and ate those. Then we went home. 

Charlotte, Lydia, and Veronica changed into white shirts and black pants. Charlotte and Lydia were borrowing Derrick's shirts. Veronica wore one of Brandon's. 

Then we went to the High school. This was the big performance where all the grades perform on the same night. All the other concerts were split between high school and middle school. But this one was combined. 

Veronica's Beginner class was up first.  Here she is.

I'm always so impressed by the amount of growth in this class every year. They don't even participate in the October concert because they just don't know much at that point. At Christmas they are barely playing simple songs - including my beloved "Jingle Bows." In February they are able to play simple songs better. And then BOOM in May they are playing a two minute song that's way more complicated than anything else we've heard from them. 

Here is the whole group at the end. This is two middle schools combined. 

Veronica was so relieved to be done. She'd been nervous. 

Then the intermediate classes from both middle schools came on stage and played their song. They were really good too. I always say that I'm pretty certain the intermediate class is better than my high school ever was.

After they were done it was time for the high schoolers. There's a chamber orchestra and a concert orchestra. I cannot keep them straight, but I think Charlotte and Lydia are in the concert orchestra. 

Here they are on stage. I think for once we finally had a seat where we could see both of their faces. Charlotte is over on the violin side and Lydia is with the cellos. 

Here is their picture at the end.

Charlotte is in the second violins. She's in a white shirt on the left side. 

And Lydia is over with the cellos. She's on the second row. The microphone stand is almost covering her face. 

Then the chamber orchestra came up on stage. The teacher took some time to recognize the graduating seniors. This was his 6th year teaching. So some of these kids were in 7th grade when he started teaching. I really like that he's the orchestra teacher at the middle schools and the high schools because he develops such a great relationship with the kids. 

I made the girls pose for a picture when the concert was over. Lydia is not signed up for orchestra next year so this is probably the only year all three girls will all be in a concert together like this. 

We stopped at Smiths on the way home and bought ice cream. Then we came home and ate it. 

Derrick had already put himself to bed. He'd left a note. This picture of it is upside down. It says, "Hi Mom and Dad and C.L.V. I'm in bed at 9:00. From Derrick."  He's just the sweetest. 

The next day on Thursday May 7 we discovered that Derrick had actually written another note on the back of the whiteboard. It said, "No watching videos at night and no I-pad. To V. Illguth."  This was a call out to Veronica who has been known to stay up late watching videos on the I-pad. Derrick doesn't like that at all.

Thursday was a very full day. I met with Chattertown to help out with some things. And I had a lot to do at Aspen Grove. 

That evening Veronica was able to go to the dress rehearsal for the final Alice cast. She loved it, but came home sad. Brandon was home so he was able to help drop her off and pick her up. 

He also took care of finding all our camping stuff. We were going camping on Friday. 

I went grocery shopping. It was a crazy trip because I was shopping for our regular food and for food for our camping trip. I ended up mostly focusing on the trip food and told myself that I could come back on Monday for any regular food I forgot. 

When I got home the kids helped me get the regular food put away. We left the camping food out on the table. Brandon got it packed up later. 

Normally I like to pack the car on Thursday night for our trips. But that just felt like too much to do this time. So I just planned to pack the car on Friday. I was surprisingly zen about that. This was probably the most relaxed I'd ever been before a camping trip. This was partially because we were going to Bruneau Dunes where is somewhere we've gone a lot and also partially because I was still taking a pretty large dose of anti-histamine/anxiety medication. 

On Friday May 8th I went to work like normal. After work I came home and got ready for the trip. I made pasta salad for lunch on Saturday. I got the van packed with all the camping stuff. And I packed my bag. 

Everyone came home from school and packed their things. Charlotte and Lydia actually weren't going on this camping trip. They had a field trip to Lagoon with all the band and orchestra kids on Saturday. So they would stay by themselves at the house on Friday night. Get up early and drive over to the school on Saturday morning. They would ride on buses down to the Lagoon. Then they would have a fun day at Lagoon. They wouldn't be back to the school on the buses. They would get back around 9:00 and then just drive home and sleep at home. 

They were sad they couldn't come camping, but they were excited about Lagoon. 

Veronica and Derrick finished packing their things. Brandon was already packed. We got the last few things in the van and then said good bye to the twins. Then we drove the 90 minutes out to Bruneau Dunes. 

This was something like the 6th time we've camped here. I always love camping at this state park. Here are the dunes from the campground. 

Derrick and Veronica helped me and Brandon set up our tent. Then we went to Emily's campsite next to us and set up her tent. She'd sent it to Twin Falls with me when I'd been at her house two weeks earlier. At the time she thought that all of her 6 kids would be coming on the trip and they'd expected to be really squished in their car so it made sense for me to bring the tent. Well, her older two kids also had plans for that weekend. So they stayed home too. That meant Emily more room in her car. 

But it was still good that we had the tent. Emily and her family wouldn't be leaving until around 5:00 and that meant they wouldn't get to the campground until around 9:30. It was good we would have the tent waiting for them when they got there. 

Here are our camp sites right next to each other. Mine is the closer one.

We had hot dogs for dinner. Veronica helped cook them. 

Brandon took Derrick and Veronica to play on the small dune for a while. When they came back Derrick and Veronica decided to start walking around like they were in a three legged race. They wanted Brandon to tie their legs together so they could practice. 

It was really funny. 

He started out tying their ankles together and then worked up their legs at they got better. Here's what happened when he finally tied their whole legs together. 

We were mostly just talking and having a good time all night. Around 9:15 Derrick gave up on waiting for Emily and put himself to bed. Veronica gave up around 9:30. Emily and her family showed up around 9:45. Veronica was still awake so she got back up and came out to say hi to them. 

We heated up chili and had that ready for Emily's family to eat. They were really grateful for that and the tent that was waiting for them. 

Then we all went to bed. I'd been warm in shorts all evening so I just got into my sleeping back in shorts. But that was a mistake. I ended up getting cold during the night. Same with Veronica. 

In the morning on Saturday May 9 we got up around 7:30 to make breakfast. The original seed of an idea for this trip was that Emily's family would come visit us at my house. But then I was worried that we wouldn't all fit and so I proposed that we go camping together. But I still wanted to be a good host so Brandon and I were making all the food. Emily paid me for her part, but we took care of having it all there and for making it. 

For breakfast I had fruit and gogurt to eat while Brandon cooked eggs and sausage for egg mc-muffins. It was a good breakfast. 

Then we cleaned it up and drove over to the trailhead for the big dune. We made sure everyone was ready for the hike and we started going. 

I was planning to make it to the top. But about halfway up I was like, "Nah, I'm good."  And just sat down. My ankle and my knee hadn't been handling hiking in the sand as well as I'd hoped. They'd actually been doing great otherwise. I was wearing sandals on a camping trip for the first time in YEARS. I'd brought my hiking boots just in case, but I hadn't needed them yet. But hiking in sand was just a big much for my newly working feet. 

So I sat and enjoyed the view. 

Everyone else kept going up.

Here's our "group picture."

Everyone else made it to the top. But then Hazel, Juniper, Vance, David, and Veronica came down. Brandon, Emily, Derrick, and Titus kept going along the ridgeline to the top of the dune. 

Veronica had snacks in her bag so I was happy when she showed up. I passed around the rice crispy treats that I'd put in her bag. When Derrick came back down I passed around the oreos that were in his bag. Sitting here eating treats was one of the best parts of the whole trip.

Then we hiked back down to our cars. We went back to camp and Brandon put together amazing sandwiches on big french bread. 

Then we had some down time. I tried to take a nap in the tent. Emily slept on a camp chair. David and Brandon and the kids played games. The wind break shelters really did their jobs. We didn't have to worry about things blowing away. 

At some point I took this picture of our matching hondas and matching tents. 

I hadn't packed camp chairs because all of ours are nearly broken. After our naps Emily and I drove the 30 ish minutes to Mountain Home to go to Walmart and buy camp chairs. I also bought marshmallow roasters that were on collapsible sticks. That way we could always keep them in our camping stuff. It was a fun time just driving and talking with Emily. 

We'd had people all around us on Friday night. But they'd all packed up and left. There weren't as many people there on Saturday night. Emily and I were like, "Who wouldn't want to camp for Mother's day. this is great!"

At dinner time we made pasta and sauce. Everyone loved it. Then everyone went to play on the little dune. I wanted to go, but I was having foot trouble. At first I thought it was the same old same old tendon problems that I've had. But then I realized it was the dang hives!  I had massive hives on my feet over every single toe. Whenever I have big hives over my joints it makes the joints feel like they are broken. I felt like every toe was broken. It really hurt to walk on them. And I knew I wouldn't be able to walk up the small dunes and play with everyone. 

So I took medicine and another nap. That helped the swelling in my feet go down. 

When everyone came back we lit a fire. Then we had second dinner. We had the hot dogs that Emily's family hadn't been able to eat on Friday night. And then we made s'mores. We had a really good time talking around the fire. 

When I went to bed I made sure to wear my long pants and my hoodie. I was perfectly warm that night. Veronica did the same thing. 

In the morning on Sunday May 10 we slept in a bit. Then we had bagels and cream cheese along with fruit for breakfast. Brandon heated up water for hot chocolate. 

Then we all packed up our campsites. When everything was almost cleaned up I called all the kids over. We'd "only" had 6 kids around all weekend. As they walked over I was like, "Wow, there are so few of you."  I was still kind of using my cousin camp brain where I'm used to having 15 kids running around. 

I had the kids walk around and pick up any trash they could find. When they were done with that everyone got donut holes to eat. 

And then that was it. We said goodbye to Emily's family and drove home. 

I took a shower as soon as I was home. Then I talked to Charlotte and Lydia  I'd been texting them throughout the day on Saturday to make sure they made it everywhere okay. But now I got to get the whole story about their day at Lagoon. They'd had a great time. 

I took a nap and slept for something like 4 hours. Apparently sleeping on an air mattress hadn't been very restful. 

I didn't really care about anything special for Mother's Day. So we just had french toast for dinner.  

We watched a movie that evening. But I can't remember what it was. It was fun though. 

And that is the end of that week. 

Thanks for reading. 

The Hives Outbreak - Week 2

As you can probably guess by the title - I still had stress hives through another week. That was rough because I fully expected them to clear up as soon as I started taking medicine. The good news is that as of today (Monday May 4th) the hives have significantly cleared up. I don't know what changed. I went to bed with angry red welts and woke up with nearly clear skin. THANK GOODNESS!  

But I didn't know that last week. So hives still very much dominated my week. And there were good things going on, so let's do a recap. 

Monday April 27 was Hives Day 9. I'd sent a message to my doctor via My Chart on Sunday and so I had visions of him opening up the message first thing on Monday and being like, "Oh wow, this poor woman. Let's contact her immediately."

So I went to work and was hoping to hear something while I was there. But nothing!

Finally afterwork I decided to give up on my doctor and just try my luck with telehealth. That went so well. The lady needed pictures so here are some of the only hives pictures I have. this is my hand. There's a lot going on here with the vitiligo, but look for the red spots. 

I'd also recently got hives on my feet. Look at that huge one on top. I also had one just as big on the bottom of my other foot and it made it hard to walk. 

This is one of the hives on the underside of my arm. 

And the top of my arm. 

And another hand one that shows the red welts better. 

Anyway, needless to say I had my prescription filled pretty quick after that appt. And I was like, "I should have done this a week ago."

Anyway, my calendar doesn't have anything of note for that Monday so let's move on. 

Tuesday April 28 Hives Day 10. We get to add another countdown to each day. This is Bladder Infection Day 1. 

Brandon hadn't been feeling well on Monday and thought he was just getting a little sick. Then on Tuesday he started needing to pee every 10 minute and then it started being red!

He googled it and was like, "Oh I have a bladder infection!" So he ended getting off work early and then going to the doctor. He was prescribed an antibiotic. The crazy thing is that everything cleared up about 30 minutes before the appointment, and his urine sample came back without any sign of an infection. But he's still taking the antibiotic because he knows what he went through. 

Today he was joking about it and saying, "So I don't know if I had a bladder infection . . . or exercised a demon . . . or what. But I feel a lot better."  

Anyway, he was supposed to go to CSI in Burley and teach a class that night. Be he called in sick. He told me, "there was no way I was getting out to Burley without peeing my pants."

Backing up a bit, I spent Tuesday morning working on my Micah post. It would be published on Thursday so I was really cutting this one to the wire. I was happy to see that I actually had written a lot on last Friday. So the last of it came together easily. I still ended up surrounded by books. 

The next musical that the Twin Falls Theatre Collective is doing is called Come From Away. This is one of those shows that everyone is obsessed with and I've just kind of been going along with it. The most I knew about this show was that it was set in Canada. 

My friend Angela (from the 5th ward days) is involved in her community theatre in St George Utah. She posted on Facebook that she was cast as Annette from Come From Away. I knew that show is a big deal so I was like Congrats! And then I was like, "You know, I should really know more about this show that everyone is gushing over."

So while I was working on things on Tuesday morning I listened to the Come From Away Original Broadway Cast Recording on Spotify and found out what all the fuss is about. I was captivated by the first song. I was like, "wait, is this what I think it's about?"  And then the second song answered that. And then a really wonderful story came through. I'm so excited to see this show in September. 

I had Bunco that night. Jori hosted and it was really fun. I wish I had more to say about it, but really there wasn't anything that stood out. But Bunco is wonderful and I love it and it's so fun to have a reason to hang out with other women. (Even if that reason is playing a dumb dice game.)

Veronica's play was in their tech week. So I dropped her off at 5:30 and Brandon picked her up at 9:00. This was the first time she'd seen her costume. She was really unsure of it at first. She told me, "I'm basically the Mask." She was referring to this scene from Jim Carry's The Mask.

She also said it reminder of Heimlich the Butterfly when he gets his wings because her wings were so tiny. 

But by the end of the week she was in love with her costume and really sold it. I'll show you pictures when we get there. 

Wednesday April 29th was Hives Day 11 and Bladder infection day 2. 

I was feeling really good about my medicine. Even if the hives weren't going away. So I had a good feeling about the day. I was out in Filer doing Jump Bookkeeping and I was going to show Chris Ayers how smart I was. I was going to make no mistakes. I was going to know how to record everything perfectly. I was only going to need to ask like one question. 

And then I spent 20 minutes trying to log in with the wrong password. 

Jump Company definitely keeps me humble. 

Honestly, I've thought about ditching this obligation too in the name of "Hey I'm so overstressed my body is literally freaking out." But Jump Company is staying on my list of commitments. Mostly for two reasons. 1. They pay me. And 2. I've put a lot of work into learning how to do this and I don't want to give up now that I'm figuring it out. 

And once I did log in and get going I did know what I was doing. And I got everything to balance. And I didn't look like (too much) of an idiot.

Oh and I was able to work in at the 12 Angry Men Jury table and that was really fun. 

Brandon took the day off so he was home when I got home. I went outside to weed and he was going in and out of the garage and driving me crazy with opening and shutting the door. And then I realized I was really irritable because I was tired and I went and took a nap. I felt better after that. 

After school Charlotte put her chicks in the kennel on the grass.  She was getting them used to being outside. 

Veronica had her second tech rehearsal. She came home really tired from it. Brandon and Derrick would have gone to a mission fireside. But since Brandon was sick and it would be 90 minutes of boredom for Derrick they stayed home. 

The fireside was for teenagers over 14. So that's where Charlotte and Lydia should have gone. But they would rather go to the activity the girls under 14 were having. It was a painting night. So they went to that and basically saved the art project day. My friend Amanda texted me and said, 

"Charlotte saved mutual tonight. Tell her Thank You!. She taught us how to do a transfer with pencil to trace our temples we were water coloring. I was a mess on how it was going to work and she absolutely saved it!"

This was the first I'd heard of it. 

My Wednesday night had started out kind of sad. I was just sitting on the couch trying to ignore my hives and feeling a little sorry for myself. Then my friend Andrea showed up! With a present for me!  It was a thankyou gift for all the help with the billing at Chattertown. That was so kind of her and it really turned my night around. 

I'm so glad I was weird and talked to her last year. She's like one of my best friends now. 

Thursday April 30 was Hives Day 12 and Bladder infection day 3. Brandon was back at work. But my hives were showing no signs of stopping. I was taking 1 pill every 6 hours. But I changed that to 2 pills every 12 hours. That helped a bit. 

I listened to Come From Away again that morning while I was doing Ivan's billing and invoicing my billing clients. 

Then I went to work at Aspen Grove. Pretty typical stuff. 

Lydia had been working on a painting of a pirate ship. She finished that. 

Veronica had her dress rehearsal that evening. She was really nervous for it as I took her to the theatre. But of course she came out all wild and happy when Brandon picked her up. 

Charlotte and I went grocery shopping. It was really quick. And cost an arm and a leg anyway. I hate this economy. 

All the kids helped clean up the house because Brandon's parents would be there after school on Friday. 

Friday May 1st was Hives Day 13 and Bladder infection day 4, but we are going to stop counting that because Brandon was feeling better. 

That morning I woke up with a big welt of a hive on my cheek. There was another on my eye lid. It literally looked like Brandon had hit me with a belt. Fortunately, after I put my makeup and glasses on you really couldn't see it. But I had fun pointing it out to people. 

During the first week I'd been pretty quite about the hives. I'd assumed they would clear up quickly. But now that they seemed to be sticking around I'd started showing them off. Depending on the day my arms and neck would look pretty diseased so it was easier to be like, "Hey I'm not contagious, I'm just allergic to stress right now." 

All week long Veronica had been begging to sleep in each morning. I told her she could sleep in on Friday. So I let her sleep in. I messaged Kerri to let her know that Veronica would miss first period. Kerri replied and let me know that it was Cub Club that day. That meant the kids had activities in the morning and first period wouldn't even start until noon. So Veronica just ended up staying home all day. 

I took Derrick to school and then came home and did some last minute cleaning to get the house ready for Steve and Jacque to come visit. One thing I did was box up our winter coats, boots, and gloves. We'd had such a mild winter that we hardly needed them. I'd become so used to seeing the coats on our hooks that I didn't even think about packing them up earlier this year. But then I was like, "It's May 1st. Why are our coats still out here?" 

I went to work and really struggled through the day. I was sending billing statements to the past due clients. Normally this is not big deal, but I was really having to dig deep to finish that job. Then I went home. I took a nap on the patio for a long time. Veronica watched a movie or something. 

I woke up a few minutes before Steve and Jacque showed up. They arrived around 3:30. A few minute after they arrived Charlotte and Lydia drove up. And then Brandon and Derrick came a few minutes after that. Veronica would have been the last one home. But she was already there since she never went to school. 

We had orange chicken for dinner and then I did Veronica's make up and took her to the theatre. I'd signed up to be the parent chaperon in the green room so I went in with her. Well with her is a strong word. She got out of the car as soon as I parked it and walked like 50 feet ahead of me. She didn't want me embarrassing her at all. 

I checked in with the director Sosana. I told her, "I just plan to sit there and look mean."  She laughed. She also told me that Veronica's costume was her favorite costume in the whole show. It's name was Bolero Butterfly. 

I went down to the greenroom and found a spot on the bench. And then I was just kind of there the whole time. The cast was really well behaved. I was so impressed watching them as they helped each other get ready and then as they made sure they were at the correct places at the correct times. 

I think the hardest part was all the kids went on the stage around 6:00 and got all hyped up for the night. And then they had to go wait quietly in the greenroom until it was time to go on stage. They were so excited that it was hard for them to be quiet. So I had to keep reminding them. But honestly, they were fine. 

At 6:55 all the kids went up stairs and then the show started at 7:00. I was able to watch it on the TV that was reflected on the mirror of the greenroom. It was so fun to see characters down in the green room one minute and then see them on stage the next. 

Veronica FINALLY acknowledged me enough to let me take her picture. This costume was EPIC.

She would not let me take a picture of her with her wings.

The show ended around 8:00. Steve and Jacque had been in the audience. Veronica went to see them and then came down stairs and changed and then we could leave. 

I was really happy that it went well. I'm hoping to audition for Seussical in a few weeks. But I don't want to do it if it will add stress. And if I make it into Seussical I may end up running a bit of a childrens department in the greenroom. So I wanted to see how my body handled that. And it handled it just fine. So I called that a successful experiment. 

Back at home we had rootbeer floats. Those were good. 

Saturday May 2nd was Hives Day 14. I wanted Jacque to see Moss Greenhouse so we all drove over there in the morning. (Derrick didn't want to go and Veronica didn't want to wake up early so they stayed home.)

Jacque LOVED the greenhouse. She bought several plants. I bought a few too.

Then we came home and Steve and Jacque left for the weekend. I spent most of the rest of the day outside. I got my planters all ready and put the plants from Moss into them. I also did a bunch of random little jobs all over the yard like setting up my little water fountain and cleaning up a few things. 

At 12:00 I helped Veronica with her make up and then took her over to the theatre. She was going to do a show at 2:00 and then walk to a restaurant with the other kids for lunch. Then they would walk back and get themselves ready for the next show at 7:00. 

I was nervous about Veronica maybe being nervous about being at the restaurant. So I asked her if she wanted me or Brandon to just be around at the restaurant if she needed us. She was like, "NO WAY! If I have questions I'll ask my friends." 

I was still a little nervous. She had so much separation anxiety for so long that it's still a little strange that now she's becoming so independent. 

She had her cell phone so she sent me updates that everything went fine. She'd ordered pizza and soda and ice cream all by herself. I was really proud of her. 

Brandon worked on our sprinkler system and GOT IT WROKING! It only took us 11 months, but we finally have a working sprinkler system in the front yard. 

Brandon had also ordered the trampoline jumping pad and it arrived. We were able to get that onto the frame. The kids were so excited to finally have a trampoline. We'd finally upgraded from our trashy patio mattresses of the past few years. 

in other news here's my lilac blooming. 

That evening our friends Nate and Kerri dropped their daughter Peyton off at our house. Nate and Kerri were going to see 12 Angry Men. They figured Peyton would be bored. They's asked if she could come to our house. I told them we were seeing Veronica in Alice in Wonderland and they said Peyton would love to come with us. So that worked out really well. 

Around 6:30 we went to the theatre. Peyton had her own money to buy snacks. She was really nervous and kept rehearsing in her head exactly what to say to order. I was like, "Peyton what do you have to be nervous about? You know everyone who works here."

She got her stuff without incident and then we went upstairs to our seats. I sat down next to a lady. A few minutes later her husband came out. It was Brian. The same Brian that we'd seen at 12 Angry Men last Friday. Brandon and I joked with him that we must have coordinated our plans. 

Brian was there to see his daughter Princess. He realized that she and Veronica were friends. That was cool. 

The show was so great to watch. I pretty much hate Alice in Wonderland - but I loved this play. It's always so fun to watch these kids put on a show so well. 

And VERONICA WAS AMAZING. She was always doing something on stage. Little facial features, or silly gestures. She was so fun to watch in every scene. 

My favorite part was the song with the Caterpillar. It's all about adventure and in the song they sing  A-D-V-E-N-T-U-R-E. They were making the letters with their hands as they sang. I was so impressed watching Veronica do that song. She was perfectly in rhythm and did every gesture right. I was like, "Is this the same girl that needed Physical Therapy because her vestibular system didn't work?"

During the final number I was watching Veronica and realized for the millionth time how much she looks like me. And there was something healing about watching little me have the time of her life on that stage. I'd been going back and forth on if I really wanted to do Seussical. But watching Veronica shine as she sang and danced convinced me that she and I had to audition. We had to have that chance to be on stage together. 

After the show was over we met Veronica in the lobby. She was so happy to see us.  Here are me, Veronica, and Peyton. Charlotte and Lydia didn't really care to see the show and I didn't really want to pay for them to see it if they were feeling Meh about it. When Charlotte saw pictures of Veronica's costume she was like, "oh now I want to see this show." But I told her she couldn't see it if she was just going to make fun of the costume. So it was just me, Peyton, and Brandon at the show. 

Here are Brandon and Veronica together. 

Veronica had a cast party so she stayed at the theatre. We went home and Brandon made brownies with Lydia and Peyton. When Nate and Kerri came back we all had brownies and talked. They also had our friend Sarah with them. It was fun that she came too. 

At 10:00 Brandon picked up Veronica. She was so so so so so sad that her show was over. She had her cast shirt, her cast picture, and her award. She got the In It to Win It award. Sosana said that if there was a talent show Veronica would have won it. 

And that was the end of Veronica's four shows in a row. She did Willy Wonka last April. Then Matilda in the summer. Then High School Musical through the fall and the show was in January. And now she'd finished Alice in Wonderland. 

She can't do the summer show because it's a the same time as girls camp. So she's taking a much needed (though very sad) break.

If we make it into Seussical we will start rehearsals in July. So she has a two month break for sure. If we don't make it into Seussical she'll have to wait 4 months for her Ovation class to start in September. They are doing Addams Family. 

Sunday May 3rd was Hives Day 15

The big event on Sunday was that I was able to do another 15 minute presentation in Sunday School. It was all about the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. It went so well. And here's the link to my notes if you are really interested. 

I don't plan to do another of these guest presentations again until maybe July when we are in Kings. I know Kings super well because that book is concurrent with the 12 minor prophets. 

Most of the day was pretty chill. I had a giant hive on my knee that gave me a lot of pain. It felt like I'd fallen and twisted my knee horribly wrong. But really it was just the hive. So I spent a lot of time sitting on my bed writing. That was nice. 

And when I woke up on Monday my hives were basically gone!  Thank goodness!

Anyway, that's it for this week. 

Thanks for reading. 

The Hives Outbreak - Week 1

So um, at the end of my last post I rather flippantly mentioned that I'd broken out in hives after a stressful day that had not 1 but TWO 2 hour meetings and came at the end of a rather stressful three weeks. It was like "teehee, I was so stressed I got hives tee-hee-hee." 

I wrote that on Wednesday April 22 AKA Day 4 of my hives outbreak. I'm now on day 15 of the hives outbreak. It's not so "teehee isn't this silly". It's more like, "How in the heck do hives last this long?" 

Like really, how?

The last time I had hives was when I was in second grade. My real second grade teacher had gallbladder surgery right before school started. So I started that school year with a substitute teacher. A SUPER strict substitute too. She was our sub for like 6 weeks and it was the worst. I broke out in hives in the 6th week and my parents just let me stay home until my real teacher came back to work the next week. I think that hive outbreak was like 2 days long. 

And so that's the template I was following for this hives outbreak. Stressful situation = hives. Remove stress = no hives. 

That's not exactly how this one is panning out though. 

So let's go through this weekly recap and I'll fill you in on the hives situation as well as the actual interesting things that were also going on. This will cover from Monday April 20 to Sunday April 26. 

Monday April 20 - Hives Day 2

This was the first full day with the hives. At first they were just on one side of my body, but they gradually moved across my back. They were itchy, but not too bad. I really thought they'd clear up within the day. 

In non hive news, my van was within 200 miles of reaching 200,000.

I literally can't remember a single thing I did that day that was out of the ordinary. I do have a picture of this book in my camera roll so I'm guessing I laid in bed and finished reading this book in the evening. It's called The Ghosts of K2. It's about the first five or so attempts to summit K2 before it was finally accomplished in the 1950's by an Italian group.  I'd already read about the American attempts so it was cool to re-read about them and then find out how the Italians did it. I highly recommend it. 

Tuesday April 21- Hives Day 3

On Tuesday morning I helped my friends out by taking two of their kids to some appointment. One of their daughters is in the hospital and the mom is with her. The dad is still trying to work. He didn't want to cancel the appointments and I was like, "Oh I'm free on Tuesday mornings."  So they quickly got me added to the kids profile at the elementary school as someone who could check them out. I picked them up on Tuesday morning after I got my kids dropped off. I've missed the elementary school a little bit so it was fun to go back in there and chat with Lara while we waited for the kids. 

The kids each had an appointment and so I waited with the other one and played games. And then I took them back to school. I was thinking to myself, "I'm not good at making meals when people are sick, or cleaning a house, or really any of the typical things we do to help people out. But I'm AMAZING at getting kids to appointments."  We all have our skill sets. 

I went to work in the afternoon and then came home and did a lot of yard work. I pulled a lot of grass that had made it's way into the front flower beds. Charlotte and Lydia came out and hung out with me and talked and pulled some grass too. 

My lilac was blooming. 

The flowers are so pretty. 

And here were tulips by the rose of sharron tree. 

I have this amazing flax plant. 

It has the prettiest blue flowers. 

And look at how pretty the tulips looked. Brandon's friend Mike literally drove by the house with his girl friend so he could show her how pretty they were. 

The hives were all over my back and pretty itchy at this point. I kept trying to scratch my back by rubbing it against door frames. The hives were also extending down my arms. Overnight they would spread to my hands. 

Tuesday night was actually a really rough night for me. My hands were a little swollen from all the weed pulling. And they were a lot swollen from the hives. I've learned that the hives really hurt the joints under them. So every hive on my fingers affected the joints. My hands hurt so bad all night long. 

Wednesday April 22 - Hives Day 4

After my rough night I was determined to get rid of these hives. I'd tried some topical anti-itch sprays but they weren't doing anything. I was thinking it was time for the big guns - a whole day of rest! 

I was still operating from the idea that no stress = no hives. So I planned to do as little as possible on Wednesday. Thankfully my calendar agreed with me. I didn't have Bible Study or Jump Company or any other work stuff. 

I spent most of the day in my pajamas on the couch. I got a lot of writing done and got caught up on the blog. (Thankfully the swelling in my fingers went down the more I used them so typing wasn't painful after about the first 10 or so minutes.)

I did have to to the Exponent audit, and that's when I realized I was probably going to have to let that go too. I'd already stepped down from the IPUL Board of Directors, and had decided to ramp down my billing business for the summer. I thought that would be enough. 

But as I paid attention to my feelings around the audit I realized I was pretty stressed out about it. On the surface it's not hard. Actually it's not hard at all. It's literally 45 minutes of work once a month. But I stress about it multiple times a month. I'm always trying to figure out where to fit it in. And since I STILL had hives I knew I STILL had to cut somethings. And the unpaid volunteer work was the first on the chopping block. 

So I had to email Jeanene and let her know the sad news that I would need to step down as soon as they could find a replacement. It's so hard to say no to things - especially easy things. But I felt so much lighter as soon as Jeanene replied and let me know it would be okay.

I did have one big thing that afternoon. Derrick's IEP meeting. It was such a good meeting. I was able to meet the lady who runs the IRC at the High School. It will be a really good fit for him. 

At the end of the day I was pretty annoyed that after all my efforts to relax I STILL had hives. And they were still itchy. And they were STILL showing no signs of calming down. Brandon looked up online what kind of medicine was good for hives. His allergy pills were listed. He gave me one. And it worked - kind of. 

It took the itching away, which was a relief, but new hives continued to surface. So it wasn't the cure we hoped it would be.  

Thursday April 23 - Hives Day 5

I spent the morning working at Ivan's office on some Medicaid stuff. It's not spring without his Medicaid paperwork getting screwy somehow. We hadn't been able to submit claims since March 31st. But that appeared to be all straightened out so I made sure all the claims from March 31 on would get paid. That was a good feeling!  Then I met with Chattertown for 30 minutes. They are doings so well with their billing. They hardly needed me. 

Then I was at Aspen Grove. And then I was home. 

That evening Veronica had a long night at the theatre. She had her usual rehearsal time from 5:30 to 7:00. And then at 7:00 her cast went downstairs into the theatre to watch the dress rehearsal for one of the other Alice in Wonderland Casts. 

I came a little early to pick Veronica up from the dress rehearsal. I went into the theatre and just stood in the back and watched Veronica talk with all her friends. It's just the best to see her so happy and surrounded by so many kids her age. 

I talked to Sosana who is the director for Veronica's age group. She said that Veronica had progressed so much. I was like, "Yep, I've seen it too. Thank you!"

And at some point in all that driving the car made it to 199900 miles. We were getting sooooo close. 

Friday April 24 Hives Day 6. I think this is the day I googled "how long do Hives last?"  And found out that less than 6 weeks is considered acute hives and longer than 6 week is considered chronic hives. And I was just really disheartened to find out that this could go on longer than 6 weeks. 

I spent the morning at work and then came home and tried to work on my Micah blog post for the Exponent. (I thought I didn't get very far on it, but I was pleasantly surprised by it when I got back to it the next week.)

My sister Lindsey called and I talked to her while making pizza dough. As the kids came home we got the pizzas in the oven and we had pizza for an early dinner. (I've learned recently that we need to have early dinners on Friday's otherwise everyone just eats cereal and we never really have a meal.)

That evening Brandon and I drove out to Filer to see 12 Angry Men at the Twin Falls Theatre Collective. I'd been looking forward to this production for a while. As I've gone out to this building to do the bookkeeping for Jump Company I've been able to watch the theatre space transform from the set for The Hello Girls to the set for 12 Angry Men. 

The bunker disappeared. Real windows that open up and down were installed in a window. Real doors were put in the door openings. They even had stenciled in words that said, "Jury Room" and "Rest Room."

I was there when Chris's wife Kayci was testing out different blue paints for the walls. And I was shocked to see the white checkerboard (and later blue checkerboard) appear on the floor. 

When I'd been in the building on Sunday, Chris had been adding final paint touch ups to the windows. Kayci and someone else were figuring out the exact placement of the long jury table. 

I'd loved being a casual observer of how this room came together. I couldn't wait to see the play that would happen in it. 

It's a little hard to see the black seats against the brown walls. But they are RIGHT there, just a few feet from the "stage." This is theatre in the round so there were more chairs against the other wall. The Jury deliberations would be happening right before our eyes.  Here are Brandon and I in our seats. (The hives hadn't reached my face (yet). But they are kind of visible below my neck. I wore a long sleeve sweater to hid the hives on my arms. 

I had only ever seen 12 Angry Men once before. It was back in Jr High in 9th grade. The top drama class put it on. It was 12 Angry People or maybe even just 12 Angry Women and was an all women cast. I specifically remember my friend Amanda Rocha in it in a very pivotal role. My friend Becky was also in the play, I think she played the old immigrant. (She played a lot of old ladies in drama that year. She also did a whole thing as the nurse from Romeo and Juliet and I think won a competition.)

That production of 12 Angry Men has stayed with me for 25+ years. I specifically remembered certain lines and certain events. I was really curious if a 9th grade performance could have that much impact on me - what would this high quality grown up performance be like. 

And oh it was GOOD. So good. But a curious thing happened. That crowded room with 12 jurors and almost 50 audience members got even more crowded. Because Amanda, and Becky and a few of the other people I remembered from the 9th grade performance were there too. 

I remembered that 9th grade performance as I watched this performance. I've never really had that happen before. I've seen multiple productions of plays like Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes, and Midsummer Nights Dream. And while I've noted differences and similarities, I've never felt like I could see the scene replaying the way I had in the first time I watched it.  Maybe it had something to do with the small theatre space. Or maybe it was because I'd been so impressed by that 9th grade performance I didn't want this one to supersede it. 

I do know that I came home and looked through my 9th grade yearbook. It didn't mention 12 Angry men - I think the production happened after the yearbook went to print. But I did see Amanda in the drama club photo. 

She and I were never exactly close friends. But we had a lot of the same classes over the years and when everyone started getting on Facebook years ago we connected there. So that night I sent her this message. 

Me:Hey Amanda, this is a SUPER random question. But were you in a production of 12 Angry Men/people at Kearns Jr in like 9th grade? I think I remember you in it.

Amanda: Hi! Hahaha. Crazy that you remember that. Yes I did play in that production.

Me: Oh I'm glad I remembered correctly. I saw a production of 12 Angry Men last night. I haven't seen it since Jr High. And I kept thinking of you.

Were you the juror that was the last hold out?

Amanda: I was! That is so crazy that you remember!

I had so much fun doing that

Me: Well you made an impression. You were so good in that role.

And that was the end of our conversation. 

Okay, let's talk about this production. Because it was a masterclass. I knew about half the cast. And they were all powerhouse actors. 

Brendan was Juror #1. He said that he watched the movie as a high schooler and thought, "I wonder if I could get 12 guys together to do that?" So this was a dream roll for him.

Mike was Juror #3. His last role was in the Play that Goes Wrong back in 2022. That had been a comedy. He said he'd never done a drama before. But he was incredible as Juror #3.

Chris Ayers was Juror #4. I hang out with that guy every other week for like 2 hours as he's (patiently) teaching me how to do the Jump bookkeeping. And he disappeared into this role. I kept forgetting that I knew him in real life. 

Dale was Juror #7. I've seen him in so much. Guys and Dolls, Spamalot, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Hello Girls. Here he was as a whole new character. 

Big Tim was Juror #8. Tim is usually a villain. And to some people he still might have seemed to be a villain. He's the one who votes not guilty when everyone else votes guilty at the beginning of the play. The rest of the jurors just want to be done with everything. But they have to listen to this guy talk about reasonable doubt. Over the course of the play he is joined by others who also have reasonable doubt. It's incredible to watch him go from standing alone to having convinced them all. Tim was perfect in his role.

And Uriah was the Bailiff. It's a small role. He leads the men in and occasionally brings them evidence to examine. Uriah has done a LOT of big roles. So after the play I teased him by saying, "Wow, what a break out performance!"  He laughed. He joked that they'd said it would be funny if every time he came in the room he had one more button undone on his shirt. That would have been funny. 

And really kind of appropriate because that room was warm!  They wanted it to feel like you were really sweating with those jurors in a 1950's courthouse without air-conditioning. I was glad that I had a shirt on under my sweater so I could take my sweater off. 

After the show we stayed and talked to a lot of the people. Some lady thought Brandon was Tim so he was trying to tell him how good he was. Brandon was like, "Oh that's not me." He sent her in Tim's direction. 

We'd known a few people in the audience as well. Brianne and Whitney were there. And our friends from our ward Rich and Stephanie. And our friend Bryan was there. I was kind of worried about seeing him since this was the first time I'd seen him in person since I told him I couldn't help with his campaign. But I figured if it came up I could just point to the hives on my arms. It didn't come up though. 

As we drove home we talked about how amazing it had been. We'd loved that play so much. I really love what's going on at that little theatre. 

Saturday April 25th was Hives Day 7. At this point I was like, "Wait, I've had hives since Sunday and I haven't gone to the doctor? What is wrong with me?"

But I'd spent most of the week thinking they would clear up after using anti itch spray, or after a day of relaxing, or after taking allergy medicine. But none of that worked. The hives would disappear from one spot, but reemerge in another. 

And I couldn't go to the doctor on Saturday because I was already planning to go to a funeral in Utah. My family friend Debbie Whiting had died. She'd been part of my life for pretty much all of my teenage years. I went with her family to California when I was 17. She came to my wedding. Not just my reception - my sealing. So I really wanted to attend her funeral. I was happy it was on a Saturday. 

The funeral started at noon. I left my house around 8:30. I had about 60 miles left until I'd hit 200,000. I figured I'd be hitting 200,000 about the time I got to the rest stop outside of Buhl. I was right, I hit it at the exit right before the rest stop. So I pulled off and took this picture. This is my third vehicle to be over 200,000. They are all Hondas. 

I made it to the church a little before noon. I'd packed a salad for lunch so I ate that. As I was finishing that my sister Emily pulled up next to me. She had her three youngest kids with her. 

I went inside, where my parents were already waiting. I don't like viewings so I didn't worry about that part. I could see my friend Brittney, her sister Breanna, our other friends Rebecca and Sierra. So I went to say hi to them. It was a 5th ward reunion.

It's funny to go from Twin Falls where I've lived for 7 years and feel kind of like I'm getting established to Kearns where I'm FROM. Like FROM. Like I remember being in 9 years old at my best friend Ashley's house when some lady named Luanna came over and she was pregnant with a baby that would turn out to be Sierra. And now there's Luanna. And Sierra. In front of me.

The ties go deep. Especially with Debbie. I remember seeing Debbie for the first time when I was in second grade. More specifically I remember her twins. Her twin daughters were Emily and Elizabeth. They were three years younger than me. So when I was in 2nd grade they were in pre-school. There was some sort of pre-school near the lunchroom of the elementary school. I remember her walking in there with the twins. 

They weren't in our ward at the time. But when I was in 7th grade the ward boundaries were redrawn and the Whitings and the Lovelesses and the Andersons, and the Thaxtons, and a few others all ended up in the same ward. And history was made. 

There were 6 Whiting kids. Melinda was already in college and possibly married to her first husband by the time we all got close. So I don't remember her much. Jill was 3 years older than me. She was always SO COOL at girls camp. Brian was my age, but was a grade above me because he'd skipped a grade at some point somehow. Due to being the same age he is involved in a lot of my memories. 

David was a year younger than me. I always found him more personable than Brian. His best friend was Willis. Like you said their names together DavidandWillis. I thought the world of those boys and made sure they were in my trek family TOGETHER. People thought I was crazy to put those boys together, but I'd made them promise to be good if I could make it happen. And they were the BEST. When everything else went to heck on that trek I had David and Willis helping with tents and other gear. 

Then there were the twins. Emily and Elizabeth. They were the type of twins that were best friends. Like they HAD to be in the same class every year. Even in high school they figured  out their schedules so they could be in as many classes as possible. When I had my own twins I thought of Emily and Elizabeth. 

They were three years younger than me so I never hung out with them a lot and so I could never quite tell them apart. The only time I could was when we all went to California together for a week. Whenever people tell me that they can't tell my twins apart I'm like, "I get it. I grew up with a pair of twins I never could tell apart."

My dad was the bishop when we were all put in the same ward. When he was released when I was 17 Scott Whiting was put in as the Bishop. I think that's one thing that made our family's close. We knew what it was like to have a dad who was the bishop. 

I know for sure that Debbie was in young womens when I was about 16 because my mom was young womens president she was one of my mom's counselors around that time.  But I think she was serving in young womens in some capacity before that because she was always at girls camp.  

There were a few summers that the teenagers in my ward were particularly close. The summer I was 17 is one that sticks out. That's the summer my family went to California with the Whitings. But that trip was in August. Before that we seemed to hang out every weekend. There was a lot of toilet papering going on over those weekends. We'd pick a house, make a plan, and then go toilet paper them. And then often we'd clean it up the next day. These were done out of love not malice. 

We were always together. We were loud. And roudy. A stake leader once was trying to get our attention and said something like, "You guys are right in front of me, yet you are so loud you can't even hear me." Then he paused and said, "Wait, are you the 5th ward?"  YEP LOUD AND PROUD. 

And Debbie put up with it all. Her house was home base. We'd meet there. And we'd eat there. There was always food. I don't remember eating a lot of it, but later my brother Billy was basically eating there once a day one summer. 

I distinctly remember watching "The Singles Ward" and "Oceans 11" in the Whiting's Livingroom. There were at the most, two couches in that room. Most of us sat on the floor. But we didn't care. It was fun to have plans on a Friday. 

These and a billion other memories went through my head as the funeral started. There were lots of good speakers that talked about Debbie's sense of humor and how she was a second mother to half the neighborhood. 

When the funeral was over I was able to say hi to my sister Hillary who had showed up just as it started. I also talked to my friend Brad. He'd married one of the whiting girls, but they are now divorced. He's sadly running every play in the Deadbeat Dad Playbook. But I've also known this guy since he was in 7th grade and I was in 9th. And that counts for something. So I made sure to say hi real quick. 

I'd brought things down from Idaho for my friend who's daughter was in the hospital in Utah. She's from West Jordan so we'd planned to meet up so she could get her clothes and other things. So after I talked to everyone I went to meet up with her at Kearns High School. 

Then I went to our old street 5055 and met up with Emily, Hillary, and our childhood friend Faith. We'd met little 4 year old Faith the week we moved into this house in 1992. She'd also been part of those rowdy 5th ward summer nights and had come to honor Debbie. 

Emily likes to have her kids walk up and down our old street. So she was doing that with them. I've driven down the street, but never walked it since my parents moved away in 2015. So it was cool to do that. We ended up running into our friend Lessie. Lessie moved in when I was in 6th grade. She was one of my young women advisors. It was crazy to see her. It was like no time passed at all. 

I'd been debating going to the luncheon that would be served after the family came back from the cemetery.  We'd been told it was for everyone, but I didn't want to impose. Then Emily said, "I think Debbie would be very disappointed if you didn't come eat the food at her luncheon."  So that sealed it. 

We went back to the church. I made my rounds and talked to all the Whiting kids. I even talked to Debbie's bother Mike. I told him, "You probably don't remember me, but I stayed with your family when me and my siblings came to California with Debbie and her kids. And I just barely drove down to California with my kids. And when we drove by the freeway sign for Apple Valley I remembered all the pranks you pulled on us. Things like green milk and making sandwiches with the plastic still on sliced cheese."  He thought it was so funny I remembered all that stuff. 

I also talked to his son Michael. Now Michael is probably responsible for that California trip. The Whitings ALWAYS went to California in the summer. But that summer they weren't sure they were going to make it because they didn't have a vehicle that could make the drive. In June Michael had come to Utah for a baseball tournament or camp or something like that. He hung out at the Whitings and got a big crush on my sister Lindsey. He also knew my family had a 15 passenger van. So he suggested that the Whitings ask if they could borrow our van for the trip in exchange for taking all of us with them. 

And that's how we ended up on a free vacation to California. Where I probably slept on the floor every night but thought I was luckiest girl in the world. 

Anyway, I talked to Michael and found out that he'd joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood and was living in Montague Village. That's my old neighborhood!  So we talked about that for a while. 

After the luncheon wound down Emily and I and the kids drove out to Hillary's. Hillary and I have had a rocky relationship for a little while, but lately we've been putting it back together. I wasn't quite sure if we were on hangout levels yet. So I was really happy to be invited to her house. 

At her house I showed her my hives and told her they were from stress. She was like, "Oh have you tried Hydroxyzine?"  Then she explained that it was It's an anxiety medication that helps regulate the antihistamine.  I was like, "They make that? That's exactly what I need!"

Then she gave me one. (Don't act surprised that I took it. I let this girl dye my hair pink. I trust her completely.) And IT WORKED. 

Over the three hours we were at her house I watched the hives on my arm shrink and then fade. NOTHING else I'd tried had done that. It was incredible. I'd just needed doctor Hillary all along. 

Emily and I left Hillary's. Emily dropped me off back at the church where I'd left my van. Then we drove separately back to her house. I slept over on her couch. 

Sunday April 26 Hives Day 8 - I'd hoped I'd wake up to completely clear skin. I didn't. But things felt hopeful. I didn't itch and for the first time in a week I didn't seem to have many hives on my back. 

I got on Mychart and sent a message to my doctor asking for next steps in getting me a prescription.

Emily's family has 9:00 church so they went to church and I went to sleep. I hung around for a bit after they were home, but I was kind of anxious to get home. 

Before I left Emily loaded me up with some treasurers. She gave me plant starts from her yard. And she gave me the metal frame from her trampoline. I'd jokingly proposed getting a trampoline to use as an extra bed for cousin camp this summer. And Emily had been like, "Oh I have a frame for you." Some one had given her family a second trampoline last summer. The jumping pad had ripped and they didn't really need two trampolines so she'd planned to just scrap it. But instead it went to me. 

And that's where we were end this unexpectedly long recap. Thanks for reading.