1. A quiet family Thanksgiving day full of movies and good food.
Even though the Turkey started out frozen…
2. Game time as a family
3. Facetiming with Marisa (and family in AZ)
4. Talents
5. Husbands who fix computers
6. Glad that “Vinnie the Varmint” hasn’t found a way into our house yet!
7. Brave Children with No fear
She got about 1 foot away from Vinnie and they had a stare down
I had a really good week this week. I only had to make it through about a day and a half of classes and then break! On Tuesday night, Jared and I flew down to Arizona to stay the week with grandma and grandpa Hart, who were sweet enough to fly us down and feed us for the week and let us sleep in :) We had so much fun and it was a much-needed break from school. The weather was perfect and sunny and I think Arizona is super pretty. We also got to spend a lot of time with Jeff and Grace, and Chris and Wendy + family. It was good to see them all again. If you know anything about the Hart side of the family, you would assume we would do all kinds of crazy outdoor activities, and you would be right. We played ultimate Frisbee, tennis, bocce ball, etc. and it was really fun. It was so nice to be out in the sun.
Now I’m back in Provo and it’s kind of boring to be back in my dorm and everything. I did miss my roommates, but it would also be really nice to just live in Arizona…I really don’t want to go back to classes but at least I only have to get through a few more weeks + finals and then I’ll get a nice, long Christmas break! It will be really nice to finally be back home and to see the fam again :) As annoying and weird as they can sometimes be, I really do miss them. I’m very lucky to have them!
Really???
Ok I am trying to write a quick update about Bob to catch everyone up.
He got both the flu shot and pneumonia shot over 6 weeks ago and has been on rotating antibiotics to prevent this very thing! He has had a regular cold all week, but starting Friday night he went down very fast! By Sunday morning, he went to the walk-in clinic. When they checked his pulse while he walked down the hallway, he went from 88 to 130! After tests, they found he was positive for Influenza A and Pneumonia! So, they sent him straight to the hospital.
They checked us into the isolation ward. He had a fever with body aches and chills. They started IV fluids and 4 different drugs, including another antibiotic to combat the pneumonia and tamiflu for the flu.
After dinner, I went home to take care of the kids. Kayla wasn’t feeling well and I knew I needed to get them into bed. I went down by 8:30 because I wasn’t feeling well, and then had a tough night with sore throat, bodyaches, headache, etc. Grrr! Woke up at 7 to find the older kids overslept seminary. I got them all up ready and got Alayna to viola. Then I came back here to the hospital.
Warning: Grumpy tone used ahead:
Bob just got another breathing treatment and still has fever. We still have NO results of new information since yesterday when we checked in which is making me mad. I do NOT like his day nurse. She told me I had to wear a mask, even though the nurse didn’t make me wear one yesterday and Im pretty sure I already have the flu. So, leave me alone dumb lady! I kept asking questions and she wasn’t giving any answers. Grr! I may need to go ask someone else. We have no idea if we will be staying another night. He says he can breathe a little easier and doesn’t feel as awful as last night. I guess we will see how today goes.
Life is going well here under the Y. It has snowed a few times and we still have some snow and ice hanging around. It’s super pretty, but I really hate the cold, especially now that I have to walk everywhere in it. One day we had a big storm and my boots and socks totally soaked through. So yeah, that wasn’t super fun. I’m glad I’ve experienced real winter before, though. One of my roommates is from Texas and has never seen snow haha. The snow and everything here makes it way more exciting for me to go to Arizona this week for Thanksgiving, though! I can’t wait!
I actually get 3 thanksgivings this week because we’re having one tonight with our ward, we’re doing a family home evening thanksgiving dinner with our bishop’s family, and then the real one with family on Thursday. I’m going to get really sick of turkey really fast. It will be so nice, though, to have meals pretty much totally prepared for me this week! And to not have to do dishes! That will be great. I definitely took my sweet mother for granted, doing my dishes and laundry and making all my meals and everything :)
Well, over the past few weeks I’ve been to a few basketball games and then our last home football game of the season. It’s kind of weird to think that by the time the next season comes around I’ll probably be on the mission field. Still weird. There has been a TON of people getting mission calls around here. Pretty much every Wednesday (when the mission calls come in) there are about 50 people that get their call. Lots of really crazy ones, and there have been tons of rumors being spread about China opening and things like that. Mormons spread rumors like no other… But I’m getting excited though to find out where I’m going!
Last week I went to the Men and Women’s Chorus concert and saw Jared. It was really fun! I also got to see Jeff and Grace that week when they were here in Provo! Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to meet their little Charlotte :( I will though over thanksgiving! I also got to go to a murder mystery dinner this weekend with Missy and with one of my roommates, which was actually pretty fun. Jared was in it, and it was fun to see him in his element. He was great! Haha. Also that night, me and my roommate and some of her friends from summer term went to Lowe’s, which is basically like a big trampoline/ sponge pit room. It was sooo much fun! I feel pretty sore today but it was totally worth it. It was pretty hard getting out of those sponge pits, though. I think that counts as my workout for a month.
I also got to go see Les Mis at Provo High School last night. Even though I went by myself because my roommates are losers, it was really fun. It wasn’t spectacular, of course, but it was great to hear all the songs and everything again. Brings back some sweet memories of being in pit orchestra for hours and hours haha. It was also a good review of all the characters and the plot and everything for when I get to see the new movie that’s coming out soon. I’m super pumped about that!
As great as my roommates were the first couple months, we’re starting to kind of see each other’s flaws and irritating things, so we’re starting to lose our patience a bit. One roommate’s been acting particularly weird and we found out that she’s actually bipolar, so that kind of explains a lot. We’re having a rough time with her, but hopefully this break will allow us to come back with a bit more patience for her and each other. I actually love the roommate I share a room with though. She’s the only one I haven’t had a problem with. She’s super sweet, a ton of fun, and so easy to get along with.
Other than all that, I haven’t been up to much other than just tons of schoolwork. It’s going to be really nice to have a break this week for Thanksgiving. Not only nice, I’m gonna need it. I’m pretty much just totally checked out right now and am having a pretty hard time focusing on schoolwork and everything. I need to get out of here for a bit! I hope everything is going well for all of you! Happy Thanksgiving!
OPUS!
This week we traveled to Ames, Iowa to for Tyler and Alayna’s OPUS Honor concert event. Over 3,000 students across Iowa auditioned and only 720 made it! They were bused in from the school (at 5:45AM) and spent all day in rehearsals! They practiced by themselves in the weeks before, but this was the 1st and only day it was all put together. The concert was PHENOMENAL!!! They blended perfectly and not one kid was off. Both Tyler and Alayna said it was amazing to sing with a bunch of kids who were all great singers! They sang songs in German, French, Latin, etc. AND it was all memorized!
Alayna sang with the combined 5th/6th grade choir.
Tyler sang with the 9th grade mixed choir.
Grabbing dinner after the concert
More exciting news:
Kayla rocked the ACT and raised her score by 4 points. Woohoo!!!!
The Week of Alayna and Mom
Alayna and I had such a crazy week together!
Trip to the ER
“Alayna has been sick since Saturday. We took her to the walkin clinic on Sunday and the strep test was negative. Last night around 6:00 she started to get exponentially worse. She woke me up a little before midnight gasping for breath. It scared us both. Her temp was 103. I packed her up and we raced to the ER. It was so sad because her throat hurt so bad she couldn’t swallow and she couldn’t have water til the doctor came in. Then They took her for a chest x-ray, took her blood, took a strep culture , etc. She just laid in that bed just shaking like a leaf. She didn’t cry during the blood test which impressed me. They said the strep and mono were negative. Then it came back positive for walking pneumonia. So, the doctor (who was awesome! I loved her!) said they would give her IV fluids, steroids (to help her breathe), and the antibiotic. If they could do it all through the IV, she would get better faster.
When they were putting in the IV, it was a total Deja vu moment for me- remembering when Alayna was 4 months old, got RSV, and it took them 45 minutes to find a vein to put the IV in. I sobbed back then. This time, she was dehydrated again so they had a very hard time finding a vein. She cried, squeezed my hand, and had these eyes that looked at me like, “how could you let them do this to me”. I kept reassuring her it was for her own good. There was a bit of a gospel analogy in there for me. Anyway, they finally got it in, and we sat watching the Disney Channel (much to my delight, barf barf!) while the fluids went in. She got ice chips and ibuprofen. When we got there at midnight her pain level was a 9, by the time we left at almost 5AM, she was at a 1, and very tired.
I got her straight into bed, then I went straight to bed. Only I couldn’t sleep! I tossed and turned and when I just about out (5:45AM), she woke me up because of a coughing attack. She couldn’t go back to sleep. So I got her in a bubble bath and I got ready for work (another long story). She stayed home with her Tyler today. She is doing better. The high 103 fever broke. She can finally swallow so I got her some stuff at the store to get her to eat and drink as much as possible. We both look and feel like death. Im sure we will be asleep in the next hour.
I will say though how grateful I am for modern medicine. How grateful I am for kind, comforting, and understanding doctors and nurses. AND how grateful I am for that mother’s intuition (I just KNEW I had to get her in ASAP) and I am so glad I listened.”
She is doing better today except for the fatigue and bad cough.
Take Your Daughter to Work Day
Actually, it wasn’t, but all of us had school and work, except for Alayna and I didn’t want to leave her home. So, we got permission for her to come to work with me and be a a TA. We had the best day together! She was an incredibly hard worker!!! We had a fun picnic lunch from subway in the back storage room. I wish I could take her to work with me every day! On the way home, I asked if this made her think about being a librarian some day and she said, “No way! It’s way too exhausting!!” I would have to agree. It is!!
Trotting with the Turkeys
With Bob sick (upper respiratory again), Kayla who forgot to take off work, and Tyler who has sworn off 5Ks for life, it seemed like maybe we wouldn’t be doing the turkey trot after all. But Alayna woke up and REALLY wanted to go. She has been training with the school running club and wanted a chance to do this. So, we went. There were about 2,000 people who ran (compared to the almost 30,000 from the color run). Before it started she was complaining that her stomach hurt. I asked if she wanted to go home and she was certain she wanted to try. We had to walk really slow, (which was killing me because I wanted to BOOK it! But it started getting very hard for her to breathe (as I am sure you can imagine since she has been fighting that pneumonia all week). She tried SO HARD and really dug deep to finish. I did have to carry up a hill at one point and I was scared about her breathing. We did finish and we didn’t come in last. Im so very proud of her for giving it all she had. She spent the rest of the day in bed.
Other news of Interest:
Tyler had his 1st stake activity!! I could tell her was excited since he tried on like 3 outfits and actually showered of his own free will. He said he had a great time and even asked 9 girls to dance! Way to go, Tyler!!!
Halloween, Wizards, and OH! What a week!
Halloween was very different for us this year. I will admit it’s kinda nice when the kids grow up and you don’t have to do the whole big Halloween thing. Is that bad? Kayla drew a mouse face on her face and went to a Sunday School party with friends. Alayna went to school as a gangster- she was very determined. She came home, raced to the storage room, and started rustling through the dress-up box and came up a wizard. When I asked why she suddenly changed her mind, she said that being a gangster wasn’t as cool as she thought it would be. So, I made a “Harry scar” on her forehead and she said, “Mom! I can’t be a boy!!” So, we took it off and said she could be Hermoine. She didn’t like that either. She went as “Generic Wizard #1”. Im pretty sure our stake is the only one on the nation that didn’t have a trunk or treat. Tyler, being the sweet older brother that he is, took Alayna around the neighborhood to get candy. Bob and I got to hunker in the basement watching our shows. Works for me!
Alayna spread her spoils around, organized them by type, and then put them into labeled baggies for what she calls her “Candy year supply”.
Jazz a thon
Tyler had a HUGE Jazz-a-thon on Friday night. All the jazz bands join together for a huge fundraiser where the played music, sold concessions, etc. Thanks again to Patty for saving the day with pictures!!
Down by the New Red Oak Tree
After finishing their tree unit in science class, all 5th graders were sent home with a red oak tree to plant. Alayna was so excited. We planted it in the backyard by the 3 evergreen trees. We hope we don’t kill it!
Good Day/Bad day
I am always amazed at how we need experiences with the bad to appreciate the good.
Good day
I wasn’t feeling well, but not hideously bad, but mentally and emotionally? I needed a break! I took a sick day. I kicked butt! I had like 5 million things I am never able to get done because I am always so busy or my energy meter runs out too fast. I flourish when I get time alone, actually don’t ache physically, and no one is bugging me. It was such a great day and I felt rejuvenated and ready to conquer the rest of the week like a warrior! Then, I had Friday…
Bad day
I woke up around 4:00AM with a massive migraine. Never a good way to start out the day. We have been dog-sitting all week. I went in to feed the dogs and I found a complete nightmare (if you know me and animals….). They had ripped open their stuffed monkey, ripped out the squeaker (can’t blame them on that), eaten some of the stuffing and barfed and peed over LITERALLY the whole floor! I wanted to scream. So, I had to clean it all up, feed them, and let them outside.
Then, I woke up Tyler for seminary, like the awesome mom I am, only to find out seminary had been cancelled. If looks could kill, I am sure I would have been dead on the spot. My stomach starting hurting badly and that mixed with the headache was NOT a good combo.
Got to school early and found all windows were open and fan was on high. It was like a freaking ice box in there. During the day, I had an “altercation” with my boss which almost made me quit on the spot. How much more do I have to take before a job will open for me? Im not sure how much more I can take.
Came home exhausted, stomach and head still hurting, ready to cry. I pulled into the garage, and then the garage door broke and SLAMMED down to the ground with a huge crash! Trapping my car inside. It was like a giant ! to my crappy day. It was truly a bad day.
Odds and Ends
Tyler earned his Deacon Duty to God
Alayna has been sick yesterday and today with fever, sore throat, etc. Bob took her to walk-in clinic this morning and they said it isnt strep. Poor thing…
