Lefty, Sick, Frightmares, Fishing, Train Rides, Cute Boys, Lacrosse

We have been kind of low key the last two weeks.  Here's some of our activities.  Daniel had his very first Lacrosse game against another team two Saturdays ago.  They have been practicing against themselves at practice, but this was their very first game against another team.  It was up on North Logan and it started at 9 am, however, the coach asked the team to be there by 8:15 am--ugh!  That meant for a very early morning.  We got up and left by 7 am.  To warm up they had to do some laps around the field in all their gear.  Here is Daniel running:

The team played really well.  They ended up losing, but it wasn't too bad for a first game.  It was 3-6.  Here's a tired Daniel after it was over:

 We were excited it was up in Logan because that meant we could stop by the Gossner store to pick up some squeaky cheese, however, we were very disappointed to see the store was closed that day for a company party :(.  I really wanted some squeaky cheese, too darn it!!  Oh well.  I am sure we will be up there at some point again.  The drive up there was worth it because of all the fall foliage up Sardine Canyon.  It was a beautiful drive.

Two Saturdays ago it was the BYU vs U of U football game.  We invited the Einzingers over to watch the game.  It was our BYU family vs their U of U family.  We had a pizza party with other yummy food.  Unfortunately, BYU lost, but it was a fun night despite the loss.  Maybe next time we will be a bit luckier in football.  Aaron took a lot of flack at work for the loss, but it was all in good fun.

Noah has had a hard time adjusting to all day school.  If he comes home and holds still for 5 minutes he falls asleep.  I am not minding it since that means I get Noah lubs.  1st grade it hard work it seems--haha!

 Our garden is winding down.  I was able to bottle 19 more quarts of spaghetti sauce.  Wahoo!  I think I will be able to get one more bushel of tomatoes before it freezes so hopefully I can do another batch of salsa.  I love tomatoes, but at this point I am getting a bit tired of messing with them.  I am sure I will miss them in a few months when there is snow on the ground, though.

 One morning last week I got to spend hanging out with this cute guy:

 Drew was so sweet!  I got to feed him a snuggle him for a few hours.  I miss having a baby around especially after playing with him!  He was so cute.  He cooed and smiled for me all morning.  I loved it!

Last week I had my orientation for the flu shot clinic.  The clinics only run for about 8 weeks so I will hopefully be working quite a bit in the next 8 weeks.  I got my scrubs and everything.  It will be weird to wear them again.  It has been a bit over 10 years since I have worked as a nurse (and been paid).  However, I still count working as a nurse for the last 10 years in dealing with my crazy family and their health issues!  Anyway that's neither here nor there...I am just excited to get paid for working now--wahoo!  I have been substitute teaching quite a bit the last few weeks, too.  It has been good for me to get back into the working world again.  However, I have yet to get paid for any of it since the school district only pays once a month.  I am counting down until I get my first paycheck--wahoo!

I have been volunteering in Sarah and Noah's classrooms.  It is fun to see them at school and to be able to talk to the teachers about them every so often.  They are good kids :).

Last Saturday the South Weber Model Railroad Club offered free train rides at the Canyon Meadows Park in South Weber.  We went to check it out.  When Matthew saw what was going on he was so excited.  Once a month during April-October the Railroad Club offers these train rides to anyone and everyone.  I have tried to go the last few months, but something always came up so we were glad to finally make it this time.  They have two trains that run on tracks around the whole park.  It is fully run and maintained by volunteers so they do ask for donations for the rides which we willingly gave.  We were able to try out both tracks and both trains.  It was pretty fun.

  We weren't the only adults riding, either, which was good :).

 They have a railroad crossing arms and lights which were donated by Union Pacific.  Matthew was so excited to see them come down as we went by.  There was a whole lot of flapping going on by him.

 After the train rides Sarah and Noah wanted to play at the park for a bit.  While they were playing Matthew wanted to go and see the railroad crossing.  When we got there the guy manning the arms let Matthew take a few turns turning on the lights, arms and sounds while the trains crossed.  To say Matthew was excited was an understatement!!!  Matthew obediently listened to the guy when he told Matthew to flip the switches for the lights, arms and sounds which was good.  Here you can see the train going by after Matthew had put the crossing arms down and turned the lights and sounds on.  He was loving it!!

 It was so nice of that guy to offer to let Matthew take a turn!  We so appreciated it!! I think Matthew is already planning for the October trip in a month so he can do it all over again.

Josh and Daniel weren't with us at the train rides because they had gone fishing with Grandpa T.  This was Daniel's only Saturday off from Lacrosse so they made the most of it by having a sleep over and early morning (4am) fishing trip.  They caught some really nice fish, too.  Here they are proudly showing their catch with Grandpa T:

 Later that afternoon we headed over to Frightmares at Lagoon.  The kids always love their photo ops and make us stop at every one to take pictures.  Here's a few of the pics:

 This one was a bit gruesome, but all the kids wanted to make sure they got their pictures taken by it.

Here's Josh:

 Daniel:

 Matthew:

 Sarah:

 Noah who wasn't quite tall enough, but made it work anyway:

 About 2 1/2 weeks ago Aaron brought home a cold.  He first shared it with me.  We both had it at almost the same time so last Sunday we both felt pretty crummy.  Even though the kids felt fine we stayed home from church because Aaron and I felt icky.  Next Matthew got it, but nothing ever slows him down.  The only way we knew he was sick was from his runny nose and coughs.  He did spike a fever of 101 but that only lasted one afternoon.  Luckily, he was well enough to go to school.  I did mention to him that if he is sick he has to stay home from school.  At hearing that he went into a panic.  I tried to reason with him saying that it wasn't a punishment to stay home from school if you're sick, but he still got really upset.  Luckily, he only had the fever for one day on the weekend and was good to go again by Monday.  The kids have been getting it one by one, though.  Sarah got it, but it didn't hit her hard at all.  Noah spiked a fever this week and was pretty miserable--the poor guy.  He kept trying to come in to get lubs at 3 am, but not knowing he was sick we kept sending him back to bed.  It wasn't until we felt how hot he was that we knew something was up.  Poor kid.  He looked like this until the ibuprofen kicked in and then he was all smiles.

 While we were waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in he was really liking his Sophie snuggles while on my lap.  Sophie snuggles make you feel better anytime.

 Hopefully Josh and Daniel won't get it!  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  I thought the kids would bring it home to us by starting school, not Aaron bring it home.  Oh well, what can you do?!

Aaron and I like to experiment with different recipes we see around.  This last one turned out to be pretty good.  It was Cheesy Bacon Potato Bake.  It has bacon, onion, garlic, potatoes, cream, cheese, salt, pepper and thyme in it.  This was what it looked like after cooking:

The kids ate it up so I would say it was a win.  You win some and you lose some, but this one was a win!

Yesterday was a calm day so Aaron decided to take Josh to the driving range.  He wasn't doing so well until Aaron realized that Josh is a left hander and all of Aaron's clubs are for righties.  Once they tried out some left handed clubs, it was a bit easier for Josh.  Poor lefties in a righty world!!  Oh well they had a fun time and Aaron said Josh was better than I was at driving the ball.  I would hope so since I almost hit Aaron a few times the last time we went golfing :).  Here's Josh:

It seems we have been plagued with car issues this last 6 months!!  To add to the fun Aaron's driver's side inside door handle broke.  He ordered a replacement and tried to replace it, but it seems the inside mechanism is what is broken--doh!!  So until he gets time to fix that he has to roll down his window to open up his door from the outside.  I keep telling him he needs to ride his car like Dukes of Hazard style and hop through the open window to get in, but he doesn't think  I am very funny.  Dang cars!!

Baptism and Confirmation, Doctor Visits, Lacrosse, Activities, Work, Labor Day

Despite the start of school things haven't slowed down, yet.  This past week went by really fast.  We kept ourselves pretty busy.  Tuesday it was time for Josh to get his monthly allergy shots.  Unfortunately when we went to sign in they wouldn't let us.  We had to make Josh a 6 month check up appointment before he could get his shots.  Has it already been 6 months since we started?!  Time has flown!  After making the appointment for last Thursday he went ahead and got his shots.  On the way home Josh asked if we could go to The Sweet Tooth Fairy to use his $10 gift card that he won from his 4th of July cookie eating contest.  We were pretty close by so we stopped.  Josh bought Sarah, me and himself a cupcake to enjoy.  With the rest of the gift card we got a cup full of cake bites for the rest of the family.  Their cupcakes were pretty rich so I could only eat part of mine before I couldn't eat anymore.  They were yummy, though.  

 Wednesday Daniel started his first Lacrosse practice.  Aaron took him since I had Young Women that night so I didn't get to see it.  Aaron said the practice and workout that went along with it were pretty intense.  Daniel struggled at first, but then he seemed to hit his groove.  Since the local team only got 7 to sign up and you need at least 10 players to have a team, they had to combine teams.  That means we get to travel all around to see his games because they have to play teams from other areas.  One week a game is up in North Logan, another game is out in Park City.  It will be interesting to say the least.

 The Lacrosse ball is pretty hard and heavy.  I am glad they have to wear such big protective gear!  I was out practicing with Daniel and got hit with the ball on my thigh.  Ouch!  I have a nice huge bruise just like when you play paintball.  Let's just say it's a good thing they have protective gear.

I was in charge of the Personal Progress activity this week in Young Women.  We started the Good Works Value Experience #2 where the girls have to help plan and prepare a family meal for two weeks.  To get them started we made some soup in a jar.  It was South Western Lentil Soup.

 You put all the dry ingredients in a jar with the needed spices.  When you are ready to fix it all you have to do is add three jars of water and simmer for 30 minutes and it makes a soup that tastes like Taco Soup.  It was pretty good.  After having everyone make their jars I passed out a menu planner so they could finish up the rest of the two weeks in order to pass off their experience.

 My pour family had to eat this for two days straight while I tried to tweak the recipe to make it taste good.  I have a few left over, but I think it will be a little while before my family wants to eat this again--haha!  I did bring along a slow cooker full of soup so they could taste what they were making.  I also brought along some bread and butter, too, because you can't have soup with out some kind of roll or bread, right?!

When we went to Back to School Night for Josh at the Jr. High a lot of his classes used a smart cell phone in their work.  They used them to look up information and to receive reminder texts from the teachers,  and for many other things.  Josh didn't have a cell phone, but after hearing the teachers talk we decided we better get him one.  DOH!!  Luckily we had an old phone smart phone we were able to have him use.  We downloaded a filter so hopefully it keeps some of the bad things you can just happen upon away.  He has been loving the phone. He will text me randomly throughout the day.  Just the other day I got a picture of the hurdles he had to run over in PE.

 He also had to make an announcement for the Lumberjack Club in the morning announcements for the whole school.  He recorded it and sent it to me to listen to.  He is a funny kid!  I do like hearing about what goes on during his day so I don't mind.

Oh Sarah has been a stinker lately.  Last Saturday she was sick with a high fever, but with no other symptoms.  I didn't take her in because most the time these things clear up on their own.  She ended up having a low grade temperature between 99-100 degrees through the week, but she felt fine.  Well she felt find up until Wednesday when it spiked up to 102.  DOH!  I guess it was time to take her in.  I got her an appointment with her regular pediatrician Thursday afternoon right after Josh's allergist appointment.  Wednesday morning I had a 3 hour CPR certification class I HAD to go to.  Thankfully, G&G T were willing to watch her that morning while she stayed home from school so I could take my class down in Salt Lake.  After my class I picked Sarah up from G&G's house and then checked Josh out of school to take them to their appointments.  We started out with the allergist.  Josh's shots have been going pretty well except for the ginormous hive he gets on the back of his arm after each shot.  The hive reaches almost from his elbow up to his shoulder reaching across the whole back of the tricep area.  After getting the shots they don't want the hive to get any bigger than the palm of your hand.  Since Josh's hives were getting bigger than that, they will have to down dose his injections each month until he can tolerate it better.  The reason they don't want the hives that big is because if he is reacting that much he has a much higher chance of having a systemic (whole body) reaction which is what they want to avoid.  Fair enough.  They did make sure I had his Epi Pen with me.  I think I actually had Daniel's with me, but they are both the same dose so I said I did.  Good thing I didn't need it!

Right after Josh's allergist visit it was Sarah's turn to see the doctor.  Her ibuprofen had worn off and she was spiking a fever and felt pretty crummy while we waited to see the doctor as you can see:

She had what I had suspected all along a urinary tract infection with kidney involvement.  BOO!  She had been doing so well.  It had been almost a year and a half since her last infection.  She is one of those patients that doesn't have the burning and stinging sensation of a UTI so you just never know when she has an infection until she gets a fever--poor thing!  She got started on an antibiotic and we were hoping it would clear up quickly since she was getting baptized Saturday and it was Thursday afternoon.

Thursday was a long crazy day.  I left the house at 8:30 am that morning and didn't get back until 4:00 pm despite driving right by it a few times.  Poor Sophie felt neglected.  Good thing Matthew was more than happy to take her on a few walks that evening.  

In other things I know soda is not good for you, but sometimes it is what hits the spot!  I found this meme the other day and thought it was pretty funny and kind of accurate--haha!

 I needed a few hits of Dr. Pepper Friday morning because I worked my first shift as a substitute teacher.  I got a 3rd grade class for a half day.  I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but it was not bad.  The teacher left really detailed lesson plans which were easy to follow.  I also relied on the teacher's pet to help me out, too.  I survived it and earned some money.  I get to do my second shift this week, but it's a first grade class for a whole day so we will see how that one goes.  I also have my orientation for the Flu shot clinic job this week as well.  It will be a busy week!

Friday afternoon G&G Mancil came in for a visit.  The kids were excited for them to have a sleepover.  They came because Sarah was getting baptized Saturday afternoon.  Sarah was still running a fever Friday evening, but felt better as long as she had an ibuprofen or Tylenol in her.

Sarah has been patiently waiting to turn 8 and get baptized.  So when Saturday came around she was been so excited!  We got to the Stake Center Early.  We were able to get a few pictures in.

Aaron was able to baptize and Confirm her.  We got a few pictures before they changed into their white clothes.

 Here's the family:

 Josh was able to play Whenever I am Baptized for us to sing along to.  Matthew gave the opening prayer and Daniel gave the closing prayer.  Grandma T gave a talk on Baptism and our friend Erin gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  Grandpa T and Grandpa M were the witnesses.  Aunt Michonne played the piano while Aunt Johanna led the music.  I was able to do a spotlight on Sarah, too.  We were lucky because Sarah was the only person to be baptized from our ward so we were able to personalize the program just for her.

 She was so excited!

 Her sweet primary teachers came to see her get baptized and confirmed:

I got a picture of G&G M, but forgot to get one of G&G T, though.

 Afterward we went over to our church's Bowery and had banana splits.  Here's everyone that was there minus Aaron who had to go back and pick up the bananas I had forgotten and me because I was taking the picture.

 It was a really nice program and a special day for Sarah.  We were grateful for all the friends and family that made it to the baptism!  Especially to G&G M who drove in from Texas!!

Sunday they invited Sarah to sit on the stand during the beginning of sacrament meeting so they could introduce her as the newest member of our ward.  She made sure we got to church early!

 She got this neat picture from the primary about her baptism:

G&G M left Sunday morning.  Us and the kids really enjoyed visiting with them.  Matthew went on many walks with them a Sophie while they were here.

Monday morning was Labor Day so Aaron was so excited not to have to work.  However, he still did have to get up early to help the scouts put out the yard flags.  Here's the view from the flag in our yard:

Later that morning it was time to have a family day.  We went and piled in the car, but for some reason Noah was having a hard time with his car seat.  He refused to sit back in it to be buckled up.  We asked him why and he burst into tears saying he was scared.  I tried to help him sit back in his chair, but he got more agitated.  We finally got him into his car seat and did it up only to have him undo it a little ways down the road.  I was starting to get frustrated with him.  He's always had some fear about the ceiling of our car, but can't really explain to us why he is afraid of it.  Seeing as you can't safely drive with a kid not in their car seat we had to try and get him back in it so we could come back home.  By this time he was in hysterics saying he was so scared.  We had to pull him out take him inside and let him calm down.  Then we tried again.  He got really upset all over again and REFUSED to get in his car seat.  We switched to a different car seat and he refused to sit back in that one to be strapped in again.  I was trying to reason with him, but when he has an irrational fear you really can't reason with him.  We finally had to bribe him with his Kindle if he would let us do up his car seat and keep it that way.  Even driving around he sat forward and refused to look up.  I don't know what his problem was, but it was so out of the blue for him!  I hope he can come to terms with it, because I can't drive around without him being in a car seat or screaming the whole time because he is scared of the ceiling of the car.  Crazy stuff!

Anyway, it is the beginning of rivalry week this week.  We had to do our part and help our friends the Einzingers decorate their house with the best colors on the 'Y' banner--haha!  We did this while they were away so they couldn't do anything about it until they got home.

After helping to decorate we headed over to Lagoon for a fun family day.  We went on quite a few rides because it wasn't very busy.  Afterward we decided to go and check out the new Cabela's store in Farmington.  We were a bit disappointed because it is A LOT smaller than the one in Lehi.  We still did enjoy watching the fish in the fish tank swim around.  This was the only fish tank they had:

 The day was pretty tiring for Noah.  As soon as he sat down he immediately fell asleep. Maybe he was exhausted from the huge fight he put up about his car seat earlier in the day!!

 To finish off the holiday weekend we watched Napoleon Dynamite.  The kids thought it was pretty funny.  I was glad because I didn't know if they would like it or just think it was weird.  Sounded like they liked it.

 What a fun Holiday weekend!  We are some pretty lucky parents!