Car Wreck, Aurora Borealis, Flute Duet, New Cars, Work, Soccer, Genetics

We have been keeping pretty busy the last few weeks.  Noah’s soccer season has finally started since the snow has stopped for now and he is enjoying it.  His favorite position is goalie, but he has to share it with a few other teammates.  

Sophie is still lazy and loves snuggles.  She will follow anyone around the house just waiting for someone to sit down so she can snuggle right up next to them.  What a velcro dog!

A few years ago Daniel had to have his blood drawn while he was doing oral immunotherapy allergy treatments.  His bilirubin levels were high and remained high over the two years of blood draws.  His eyes also look yellow occasionally, but it is never constant. Sometimes they can be really yellow and other times not.  Anyway, I took those lab results to one of Sarah’s liver clinic appointments and the liver doctor said he most likely has a condition called Gilbert’s Syndrome which is really benign and not a big deal.  However, he would need further testing to make sure it really was Gilbert’s Syndrome.  I never really followed through with that, though.  However, Daniel came to me about two months ago saying that quite a few people at school keep asking him if he is okay because the whites of his eyes were really yellow--they were--and that he was worried about it.  He wanted to make sure nothing else was wrong.  I figured that it was probably a good time to finally follow up to make sure it was just Gilbert’s Syndrome and not something else.  I took him in to the family doctor.  I was just expecting a quick visit that would require some bloodwork and then we would be done.  However, I was wrong.  After the doctor looked at him, saw his labs, and got our family health history he was quite concerned.  He then wanted to get more bloodwork and referred us to genetics to get checked out.  An appointment with Primary Children’s Genetics was booking two months out.  Well, we finally made it to Daniel’s appointment a few weeks ago.  They took an extensive personal health history and extended family health history and then decided to do a liver genetics panel.  Sarah had a genetics panel done a few years ago and found that she did have a gene mutation on the ABCB4 gene.  Anyway, they wanted to check the same genetics panel with Daniel that Sarah had done.  Luckily for Daniel they only required a buccal swap (cheek swap) to get a sample instead of bloodwork.  Daniel is quite needle-phobic so we were all glad with just a cheek swab--haha!  Here is Daniel doing his cheek swab:

They should get the results in 6-8 weeks so we have a follow up appointment scheduled for then.  Now we just wait to see what needs to happen with Daniel next.

After the appointment Daniel made us go out to lunch.  We stopped by a place called Moochie’s down in Salt Lake that has specialty sandwiches and they were really good!

Josh is starting to plan for his mission ending.  He shipped a huge box of his winter gear and some other items home.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it was taped shut very well and FED EX was not very careful with it.  When it got to our house a few days later this is what the box looked like:

I was worried that some things probably fell out along the way.  I opened it the rest of the way up while Josh was on his P-Day call the following Monday so he could tell me if he was missing anything.  He didn’t think so, but we will see.  I can’t believe he will be home soon!  We got this email a few days ago asking about all of Josh’s information so the church can book his airline travel back home:

That was pretty exciting!

G&G T invited Noah to attend a coin show with them in Layton a few weeks ago.  Noah was pretty excited.  He even got a cool 1882 Indian Head penny which he is pretty proud of:

Last Wednesday Noah’s youth group got to tour the inner workings of a local hotel and see how things worked.  He said it was interesting.  Here’s the group that got to tour:

It was time for Sarah to get lab work done last week.  She has to get her labs done every 6 months.  After getting her blood drawn she made me stop by to grab some breakfast before I took her back to school.  Despite it being breakfast she ordered chicken nuggets--haha! She was a fun breakfast date:

Sarah’s liver enzymes were high so she will need a Fibroscan (a specialized ultrasound) to check how her liver looks and repeat labs in a couple of months.

Speaking of Sarah she turned in her job paperwork last week and had her orientation yesterday.  Her first training shift will be Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, they don’t allow any frayed jeans DOH!!  That means she will need at least one new pair of jeans before Saturday, but she is excited to get started and earn some money as a cashier at a pool.

Sarah and I got asked a few months ago to play a musical number in April.  I have been stressing about it ever since--haha!  We ended up doing a flute duet in Sacrament meeting two Sundays ago.  I was really nervous.  Sarah did great.  I was shaky, but got through it.  I really don’t like getting up in front of people--haha!  Anything you can walk away from should be considered a success so I will take it as a win!  I was glad to be able to play with Sarah, though.  That was pretty cool.

I got to work a TB testing clinic out at the new prison in Salt Lake a week and a half ago.  Luckily it was just for the prison staff and not any inmates.  However, as I was parking the car to go inside to start my clinic, I got a call from Daniel saying he had just wrecked his car DOH!!!  After taking a big sigh I made sure Daniel was okay--he was.  Luckily, no one got hurt--the other car only got some small dents a scratches.  Daniel had made an illegal U-turn in front of someone and got hit.  The car Daniel drove, however, didn’t survive and was most likely totaled.  BOOO!!!  Anyway, I HAD to go in to work (I was the only nurse scheduled and I was already a few minutes late) and I couldn’t leave to go help Daniel out.  I was also at least an hour away so I wouldn’t even get there in enough time to do anything.  Luckily, I was able to call Aaron and actually get ahold of him while he was at work.  He is really hard to get a hold of because he can’t have his cell phone inside the building and he is never at his desk.  The fact that he was at his desk when I called was a miracle.  Thankfully, he was able to go and help Daniel.

The driver’s side back panel was hit and it was no longer drivable.  BOO, again!!  That car was a good little car.  I am sad to see it go.

We had been planning on picking up a car for Josh before he got home from his mission, but now we would need to pick up two cars which made me sad.  Luckily, a week later I found another 2002 Honda Accord in roughly the same shape for sale.  We bought it.  Here’s Daniel checking the oil in the new car:

Daniel’s girlfriend was nice enough to drive him to school for the following week after the wreck since he didn’t have access to a car.  He absolutely hated relying on her.  Daniel is 'Mr. Independent' and HATES asking for help outside of his parents.  He was happy when we picked up the new car.  Hopefully it will last a little while.  I hate buying cars especially cars for kids--DOH!!  Daniel is taking it as a good omen that the odometer turned to exactly 190,000 miles as he was parking in the high school parking lot the first time he drove it to school.  I hope it is a good omen--haha!

We did end up picking up a car for Josh, too.  It is an old Buick.  We let Daniel decide which car he wanted to drive.  He chose the Honda so Josh will get the Buick.  Needless to say our house now looks like a used car lot....and our savings took a hit.  Kids are expensive...

Daniel got a ticket for the wreck, but luckily, Syracuse city will allow him to meet with the youth court Judge to reduce the fine and do their version of traffic school.  If Daniel completes everything the fine will be reduced a lot and there won’t be a ticket on his driving record.  

Daniel and his friends hit the after Easter candy clearance sales and picked up a ton of boxes of Peeps for $0.25 each.  He likes to let them get stale and then eat them.  That is exactly how my Grandpa on my mom’s side (my mom’s dad) was--haha!

I have always wanted to see the Northern Lights or the Aurora Borealis. I have never been in a location to see them.  However, Northern Utah got a rare opportunity to see them Sunday night.  Everyone had gone to bed, but I was still awake.  I read a news article saying there was a possibility to see them.  I went outside in my backyard and then went to the front yard and didn’t see anything.  Daniel heard me walking around and came upstairs too see what was going on.  I told him about it and he talked me into driving around to see if we could see them.  About a mile away from our house we were able to barely see them.  Luckily, they showed up a bit more on the pictures we were able to take of them.  It was really cool!!  Here’s a few pictures we were able to get of them:

It was just me and Daniel driving around trying to spot it which was fun.

I was really excited to finally get a chance to see it!  

Matthew LOVES walking Sophie every Sunday.  Whether it is cold or hot he will always wear his Camelbak backpack in case he gets thirsty on his walk.  He is funny.  I am just glad Sophie gets walked at least once a week.  Good thing she is not a high energy dog!

Speaking of Sophie we have to change the way we say things because she can understand some key phrases and words like: treat, walk, outside, bye bye, get the mail, go to bed, etc.  I found this meme and sent it to our family and everyone laughed:

I am always up for a good meme.  I found this one, too.  Funnily, it is Aaron, Matthew, and Josh’s shoes that fit like this:

Aaron was awarded his 20 year pin at his job this past week.  I still can’t believe it has been 20 years!!  It has gone by fast.  We moved up here when Josh was 6 weeks old!  Here’s his pin:

Sarah got to do Baptism for the Dead with her youth group last week.  She said it was great.  Here’s a picture:

She took this one of the Ogden temple which was pretty!

Daniel went and did a baptism appointment with a group of friends last Saturday morning, too.  He said he enjoyed it.

Speaking of Sarah she registered for 9th grade last year and chose all her classes and alternate classes without a problem.  However, when she got her schedule the beginning of this school year she was shocked that she got signed up for a Construction class second semester.  That class hadn’t even been considered at all not even as a first, second, or third alternate. I said we could go and change it if she wanted to.  She said she would at least try it out.  Come to find out a few months into that class she absolutely HATES it.  She is building a specialized bookshelf in that class, but she really doesn’t enjoy it.  She was able to cut out the wood pieces for her project last week and sent a picture of them to me.  We will have to double check her classes for this upcoming year so this won’t happen again--haha!

Daniel had a track meet last week.  He ran the 1600 meter race (1 mile).  It was fun to see him run despite it being so cold!!

He can be a dork if you didn’t know--haha!

Matthew is finally graduating from school.  Special Education kids are allowed an education until the year they turn 22.  I am excited for him, but sad to see that chapter close.  He will graduate with his high school diploma which is really awesome!!  I just made his graduation announcements yesterday.  Here’s what they look like:

front:

back:

I have been able to pick up a couple of CNA instructing shifts this past month.  That is fun to work with the high school students--most the time anyway.