Mission Papers, Liver Testing, Pi Day, Cinderella, Warranty, Pfizer Shot, Track Meet, Cooking, Appointments

Another two weeks have passed by.  Here's a few highlights.  Aaron has felt the need to become more prepared and self sufficient in the last few years.  We have been slowly building up our long term food storage. Two weeks ago Aaron also decided to bite the bullet and purchase a home generator.  This generator will be used if there is every a long term power outage to supply electricity to our house.  That way we could weather the power outage with heat, refrigeration, a working stove, working lights, etc.  It is a dual fuel generator that can use gasoline and/or propane.  The generator got delivered to our house in a box, but needed some assembly.  Aaron recruited Daniel and they worked on getting it running together:

They tested it out after getting everything set up by plugging the toaster in to it and toasting a piece of toast.  That was one expensive piece of toast--haha!  Anyway, I am hoping we never need to use it, but take comfort in the fact it is available if we ever do need to use it.

Speaking of Daniel, he and Sarah registered for classes this last month.  Daniel will be in high school!!  That is crazy to me!  Daniel has a variety of classes that he chose to take.  He has also started up track, too.  He is enjoying running more now than he has in the past.  He is planning on doing Cross Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track in high school.  As for Sarah, she wants to be a computer programmer and signed up for a coding class.  I hope she gets to take it because she is so interested in it!

We are still limping along with a questionable dishwasher.  The warranty repairman came out over a month ago, and didn't have the parts to fix it.  He said he would order the parts and schedule a time to come back to fix it, but we never heard back from him.  Aaron finally called the warranty company and found out they no longer make the parts to fix this dishwasher and that it couldn't be repaired.  We have been a bit frustrated since it really hasn't been functional since January--ugh!  I know it is totally a first world problem, but it still is annoying!!  Anyway, the warranty company finally got back to us and we were amazed that they gave us an almost $700 credit to go and purchase another dishwasher.  What the what?!?!  Wahoo!!  We went out shopping and picked out a new dishwasher, however, due to Covid there is an appliance shortage and everything is a few months out.  We paid for the dishwasher--and yes we got another warranty for it (haha!), but it won't be delivered for a bit.  I guess we will limp along for another while, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!  By the way I am super grateful for paper products of all types--haha!

Two weeks ago they opened up Covid vaccinations to people aged 50 or older and to people younger than 50 with other medical issues.  Josh, although under 50 years old, still qualifies to get the shot due to his epilepsy.  He got an appointment to get his first shot through the Davis County Health Department.  I was sad I wasn't able to give him his shot, but my work only deals with the Moderna vaccine and it is not approved for anyone under 18.  The only vaccine that is approved for people ages 16+ is the Pfizer one and that is only available to the public through the health department.  I was actually at work on the day he got his shot so Aaron took him to get his first shot at the Fair Grounds drive through clinic in Farmington. 

Wahoo!

He will get his second dose in a few more weeks and I am glad he will be fully vaccinated!  I am happy that Aaron, me, Matthew and Josh have been able to get vaccinated so far.

After Josh's shot he started feeling pretty yucky.  I thought it was all related to the shot he had just gotten.  However, when Sarah started up with a fever and congestion, too, I was a bit more concerned about it.  Just to play it safe we had Josh and Sarah tested for Covid.  They also tested Sarah for Strep and influenza as well, but, thankfully, everything came back negative.  The just both had regular viruses.  Their run-of-the-mill viruses got better within a couple of days so they weren't down for very long.  They took cold medicine, but that didn't always help with the congestion.  That is when I brought out the big guns.  Aaron served his mission in Canada and learned about Buckley's congestion/cough syrup which is a Canadian product.  It really works to clear out your sinuses, however, it tastes quite dreadful.  When we went on our family road trip back east a few years ago and found ourselves in Canada, Aaron had us pick some up.  On that trip Sarah and Matthew were sick with congestion and fevers and the Buckley's helped them function during the day.  

We still had the bottle left over from that trip and Josh wanted to try it out.  I don't know if it was worth it, though.  Like I said it tastes AWFUL, but it does work.  In fact this is their slogan:

Josh could breath through his nose after taking it, but you can see he was not a fan of the taste--haha!

Josh had a track meet last week.  The host school didn't have a pole vault pit so they had to do the pole vault section the day before the meet.  I had to work so I wasn't able to watch Josh pole vault, but Aaron was able to make it.  Here's a few pictures of Josh pole vaulting.  He was able to get over the line in practice, but wasn't able to do it during the meet, however.  At least he had fun trying.

The meet was the next day.  Josh ran the 1600 meter (mile) and decided to try whatever else he could.  He ended up running in the 100 meter and ran with a friend:

Here's the 1600 meter (mile) race:

He also tried out throwing the javelin as well.  I don't have any pictures of that, though.

Josh enjoys cooking.  For Christmas he asked for ramekins so he could make Creme Brulee.  He made it a few months ago, but tried his hand at making it again this past week.  Creme Brulee can be a bit complicated, but Josh did fine and they tasted great!

After cooking them you sprinkle sugar on top and melt it.  Aaron was more than happy to help if it meant he could use his mini blowtorch--haha!

The next day Josh also made lemon crepes with lemon curd topping.  The crepes didn't turn out as well so he ended up adding some more flour and turned them into lemon waffles with lemon curd topping.

Josh also submitted his mission papers this past week.  We were hoping he might get his call today, but it looks like it might come next week.  We are anxiously waiting to hear where he will be going!!  Aaron is the ward clerk and has been following the status of Josh's mission papers.  After he met with the Stake President they then got submitted to Church Headquarters.  We thought it might be there a while since they needed to evaluate Josh's medical forms due to epilepsy and taking medication for it, but it wasn't at the 'In Process' phase for very long which was surprising!

A few days later it got moved over to the 'Ready for Assignment' phase so Josh (and us) are just waiting on pins and needles for that email to come.

Sarah is part of a long term (10+ years) brain development study.  The last year they have sent out different questionnaires to see how she was handling the Covid lock downs.  To thank Sarah for her time in filling out the questionnaires, they sent her an Amazon $10 gift card.  Of course Sarah bought a  book with it.  However, they also did include a picture of Sarah's MRI brain scan as well.  It was pretty cool to see her from the inside!

Last Friday we had a pretty busy day.  Aaron and I had to divide and conquer to get everyone to where they needed to be at the right times.  Matthew had a dentist appointment that morning.  When I went to pick him up at his group home, there was this cute bird just chilling on his porch.  I think any animal is pretty neat so I wanted to see how close it would let me get to it.

It even let me pick it up.  I felt just like Cinderella--haha!  I tried to talk it into cleaning my house or making me a dress, but it remained silent--haha!

I held it for a few minutes and then put it down in the bushes to camouflage it a bit more than sitting on the porch.   I then put on loads of hand sanitizer afterward.  While I was with Matthew at the dentist I sent the picture of my Cinderella moment with the bird on my finger to my family because I thought it was pretty cool!  However, Aaron HATES birds and didn't think it was as cool as I did.  This was his response:

Matthew did well at the dentist and had no cavities.  Here he is getting his fluoride treatment and giving me a thumbs up:

Matthew had a great week.  This past week he had a group of old high school friends come and visit him at his group home.  He was beyond excited about that!  Also his school is slowly starting up more out in the community activities.  He was able to ride public transportation out to Lagoon to get lunch with his class last week.  He texted me to tell me about it:

His class is starting up 'job experiences' out in the community as well. They haven't been able to do this for about a year due to Covid so to restart this up again is a great thing!  Yesterday Matthew got to do a 'job experience' at Goodwill.  He got to help clean and organize and loved it!  Someone from our neighborhood saw him there and he was pretty excited to see her and say hi!

Anyway, while I was at the dentist with Matthew, Aaron was at the orthodontist with Sarah and Noah.  Sarah needs to start phase 2 for her braces and Noah just needs to start phase one.  Noah's mouth is so tiny he is going to need a lot of work like headgear, palate expanders, etc. poor guy!   Here's Sarah getting checked out:

Noah waiting for his turn:

After the orthodontist visit with Sarah and Noah Aaron went back to work.  I then got to take Sarah and Matthew to have a 'lab party' because they both needed some bloodwork done.  Aaron got to join in the lab party a bit later that afternoon since he had to get his blood drawn as well.  Fun times!

After our 'lab party' I dropped Matthew off at his group home.  I then got to take Sarah over to the hospital to get an abdominal ultrasound. The Liver Clinic at Primary Children's Hospital wanted to do bloodwork and an ultrasound to see if there have been any changes to Sarah's liver.  However, to get this abdominal ultrasound she needed to be fasting.  Unfortunately, the only time I could schedule this ultrasound was at 1 pm.  By the time she got checked in she was HUNGRY and a bit HANGRY, too!!  Luckily, or unluckily the ultrasound didn't take very long.  Part of the reason it didn't take very long is because they forgot to do the elastography part of the ultrasound--DOH!!  That was the main reason why they wanted her to get the ultrasound in the first place.  Double DOH!!  Elastography is a noninvasive informational ultrasound test that can take the place of a liver biopsy in showing if there have been any changes to the liver.  This is a good explanation of Elastography from Medlineplus.gov, "Elastography is a type of imaging test that checks the liver for fibrosis.  Fibrosis is a condition that reduces blood flow to and inside the liver.  This causes the buildup of scar tissue.  If left untreated, fibrosis can lead to serious problems in the liver including failure of the liver.  The ultrasound elastography uses sound waves to measure the stiffness of the liver tissue.  Stiffness is a sign of fibrosis.  Elastography testing may be used in place of a liver biopsy which is a more invasive test that involves removing a piece of liver tissue for testing."  I didn't realize they hadn't done the elastography part of the ultrasound because the ultrasound tech can't tell you anything about what they see.  I didn't find out until the Liver Clinic called me later and said the Elastography test didn't get done and that they will need to redo the test in a few months. DOH!!!  What can you do, though?!?

This is the face of someone who is incredibly HANGRY and annoyed at their mom--haha!

Here's some of the images they got from her ultrasound, though:

They compared these images to her last ultrasound which was from 2 years ago and at least she didn't have any gallstones stuck or any dilation in the Common Bile Duct this go around.  The rest of her ultrasound looked normal.  However,  her liver labs (ALT, AST, and GGT) continue to be elevated, but no big changes in anything else.  She continues to be asymptomatic and feel great for which I am grateful.  Sarah can't wait to fast again all day to get another ultrasound done in a few months....totally being sarcastic!  Fun times!  Afterward I did stop by and let Sarah get some take out on the way home from the hospital.  She was famished.

Josh and a group of friends from Cross Country formed a Jr. Jazz basketball team and have been playing other Jr. Jazz teams for the last month.  Aaron and I got to watch him play this past Saturday.  His biggest asset is being tall and being able to get in the way of anyone who is trying to shoot to make a basket.  Let me tell you he gets in lots of practice of getting in everyone's way at home.  He can uncannily hurry up and stand in front of any cabinet or drawer you need to open or get into.  It's crazy!!  He says he doesn't do it on purpose, but I don't know....Aaron is pretty good at that, too--haha!

He also can swipe the rebounds to other teammates:

He is enjoying playing even if his team doesn't win many games.

Josh has been working at Little Caesar's Pizza for almost a year.  He is realizing that customer service is not always a fun area to work in.  Luckily, he can wear a mask and do this underneath it if he has to deal with any unpleasant people:

Unfortunately, the customer isn't alway right--haha!  Thank goodness for masks--haha!

We got to celebrate Pi Day on Sunday.  The number for Pi is 3.14..... so on March 14th you can celebrate Pi day--03/14.  Aaron and I picked up three pies at the grocery store the day before since they were on sale for cheap--$3.14 each.  Funny enough our new ministering brothers stopped by for a quick visit on Sunday, too and brought two more pies to help us celebrate Pi day.  That was awesome!!  One of our ministering brothers is a Mathematician so he gets a bit giddy about Pi Day--haha!  We had apple, peach, pumpkin, cherry and chocolate/caramel pies.

The kids all loved sampling the different pies.  Noah really got into it because he ended up losing a tooth while eating a piece of pie.  The tooth was already pretty loose so it wasn't totally unexpected, but it still surprised him.  He only has one more baby tooth to lose.  My baby is growing up!!  Here's the empty spot where his tooth used to be:

He didn't realize it had fallen out until he bit down on something hard--GROSS!!  Luckily, the Tooth Fairy came that night and now Noah is flush with cash or at least $1--haha!  The old truck needed a headlight replaced the other day.  Noah was able to help Aaron replace it and had a fun time doing it.

Aaron had his annual check up with the neurologist down in Utah County yesterday.  He has to see the neurologist every year to evaluate his epilepsy, refill his epilepsy meds and fill out his driver's license form saying he's fine to drive--which he is since his last seizure was over 20 years ago.  We usually make a day date around this appointment every year.  We left early and headed over to BYU campus and go to the bookstore to check it out.  We also stopped by and got some BYU Creamery Cookies and Cream flavored milk which Aaron loves.  I must agree that it is pretty tasty as you can see by the empty bottle:  

After stopping by campus we headed over to his appointment in American Fork.  This is the general area we used to live in while we were both going to school so there were so many things that were fun to see how they have changed over the years.  I graduated from BYU over 20 years ago (wow, I am old) and Aaron graduated about 17 years ago. We then decided to go out to lunch at Los Hermanos Mexican restaurant in Lindon.  The building itself was showing its age, but the food was still yummy and the company was even better.  We had a fun day date and we are already looking forward to that appointment for next year.