OPUS!!!!

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 1^st 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 5^th/6^th grade choir.

Tyler sang with the 9^th 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

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 1^st 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!!!

Marisa Pics

Halloween, Wizards, and OH! What a week!

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 5^th 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…

Marisa Oct 28

October 28, 2012

Hey everybody, sorry I’m bad about doing a weekly update but Sundays are super crazy at BYU. We always have something going on between visiting teaching, home teaching, skyping our families, ward prayer, floor meeting, etc. It’s supposed to be a day of rest, but it ends up being one of the crazier days during the week. So I have a little time now to write a few things so here we go. Last week (I guess like 2 weeks ago) I went on 2 dates!! The bad part is that for one I asked and paid…and the other was a ward one where I was forced to go with this really weird guy…so basically I’m scoring big time. But I guess I got some dates so I can’t complain.

The date where I asked we went to this “Haunted Boat Ride”, which actually wasn’t scary in the slightest, but was still kind of fun. It was a group date with a bunch of my roommates and we all asked pretty funny guys so it was actually a pretty entertaining night. We had hot chocolate afterwards, which was awesome. I love that we’re getting back into hot chocolate weather, but I hate the cold. It has snowed a couple times this week, which is ridiculous because we haven’t even had Halloween yet, but oh well. At least it’s really pretty, especially on the mountains. Anyway, the other date was our ward pumpkin carving date, and to match us up all the girls put a shoe in a big bucket and whichever boy chose your shoe was your date. The actual date was pretty fun, but my date was really, really weird. When he picked me up, he said “Oh dang it! I forgot my chastity unicorn!” Apparently he has this toy unicorn (like the horse heads on a stick) that he takes on all his dates…like I said, weird. But then when we got there, we had to decide what to carve on our pumpkin. First he wanted to do the first vision…and then he suggested doing a cute kitty (and proceeded to show me about 50 kitty pictures on his phone), and we eventually just carved a weird looking missionary. But at the end we got free chocolate milk and cinnamon rolls, so it was worth it. And the dates can only go up from here!

I still am working on my mission papers and I’m getting really excited about the whole mission thing. I also am getting really excited about seeing some of my grandparents and some of dad’s side of the family for Thanksgiving in Arizona, which will be really fun. I’ve never actually met Jeff and Grace’s little Charlotte so I can’t wait! I also can’t wait to go home for Christmas and see the fam. You guys are pretty awesome :)

My classes are going pretty well, but it’s crazy to think I have less that 2 months left of my first semester of college. This Wednesday I get to sign up for classes for next semester. Hopefully I’ll get into some good one’s, but I have the last possible registration day, so I basically will only get the leftover classes. We shall see. I got to send in my election ballot this week. It’s pretty cool that I’m old enough to vote now, not that it will make a huge difference. It’s still cool.

This week I went to my first BYU basketball game. It was really fun and it was cool to see Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws up close and stuff! We had a stake Halloween dance, which was semi-fun, like any other stake activity haha. Tonight all of us roommates put together a little Halloween dinner and I made cute little mummies (pigs in a blanket), and we had other “spooky” foods I guess ha. I think that’s just about everything exciting that’s been going on recently, but I still love it here. I’m having lots of fun!

Happy 14th Birthday to Tyler!

Happy 14^th Birthday to Tyler!

Tyler turned 14 this week and FINALLY gets to attend stake dances! His actual birthday was solidly busy, so we spread the celebration out all week.

Alayna and Kayla decorated his cookie. Alayna apparently chose her own method which involves looking like a white-pasted weirdo afterwards and running out of frosting so it only said, “Happ”. It’s the thought that counts though right?

Viola

Alayna had her very 1^st viola concert in the big high school auditorium. She was nervous but so excited. She did a wonderful job!

Odds and Ends

*We finally got Bob his reading glasses this week and I think he looks awesome!

*I finally finished what Bob calls my “Hall of Fame”. It reminds me of Monk’s house and I love it!!

* Yesterday we voted early. It’s nice to get it over with and avoid the crowds on the actual election day.

*Alayna made me a beautiful gift this week. She made a “Mom Put Up” jar (instead of put downs). She spent so much time decorating it and then she put sweet things in it about me. She said if I ever feel sad, I can pull one out and it will make me feel better. How sweet is that???

“you are very interested in super heros which I like about you”

Photoblog of our week

Tylers Early Birthday Present

 

YM/YW Etiquette Dinner

Alayna’s Special Spaghetti Bagel…

Tyler’s Band Concert

(We thought we were on time, but clearly had no idea how crowded it would be.  We watched from the hall.  Thanks to Patty for the pics!!)

(Tyler in the middleish)

Facetiming with marisa…awwww!

Part of 1st Humanitarian Box sent to Ghana

Recommended Book for the week: She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall

Such a beautiful and touching true story about one of the victims of Columbine written by her mother. It's about the question she was asked minutes before she was killed, her answer, and why it should matter. I cried. I was touched. It's a quick read and I think it's well worth your time!