Thanksgiving and Brooke's Baptism

Whoa, Brooke was baptized!  What an amazing day!  I'm super proud of her, and we had a wonderful time celebrating with everyone who came out!  It was a very special and spiritual experience, and I hope she remembers how she felt for the rest of her life.  I know I felt the Spirit very strongly, especially while confirming her a member of the church. She even got a baptism journal that had spots for everyone to share their experiences from her baptism, which was cool to get to share.

You may remember the last post ending with me feeling sicker and sicker.  Well, on Tuesday I was feeling particularly bad and decided to head to the doctor, only to be diagnosed with pneumonia.  I got my antibiotics ASAP to stop being contagious as soon as possible, which was important since everyone started showing up on Tuesday.  I'd also had to find alternate sleeping arrangements for the last few days as my coughing at night was keeping Monica up, so I partook in urban camping!  There was just enough room in my closet for a camping air mattress, and honestly, it ended up being pretty comfortable.  It also gave me a retreat so I could stay away from everyone the first day they were here and I was contagious, though I actually spent most of that day in the office where I could watch stuff on my computer.

Monica spent a lot of Tuesday, all of Wednesday, and all of Thursday morning cooking.  Or... that's what I think she was doing from isolation.  It was pretty nice having people come because they all chased the kids around so that Monica could cook while I was MIA.  Anyway, Thursday for lunch we had a solid snack lunch platter with this little charcuterie board!  It was delicious.

When I woke up from hibernation everything was ready for Thanksgiving dinner!  How lovely.

And check out all of the amazing food we had!  It was all delicious as well.  Loved it.

And here's everyone enjoying dinner.  Don't forget to look way in the back to catch everyone.

Grayson came out of his shell to say hi to everyone!...  I mean, this was just amazing.  Grayson sure is a lot of fun, and has very high entertainment value.

Come Thanksgiving evening it was pie time!  Yum, we had 6 kinds of pies.  I definitely say the highlights were raspberry cream and cinnamon!

On Friday Celeste took us all to a movie!  It was Grayson's first movie in the theater, and he had a great time.  He did have to go take a little walking break towards the end, but otherwise was fantastic.  It probably helped that the chairs were power recliners, which was fun for him.  He got his fruit snacks out before the movie, but I told him he should save them for the movie, so he had me open them and then just held them until the movie started.  He did lick one for a while (trying hard to wait to eat it) and needed his hands cleaned, but otherwise no issues!

And he sure loved hanging out with Celeste, who was more than happy to read him books!  Friday was the day I started intersecting with the family again, but I'm sure there were great interactions earlier in the week too.

And Friday evening we decorated turkey cookies!

Saturday was Brooke's baptism!  I am so proud of her!  We all had a wonderful time, and a TON of people from the ward came!  I didn't expect the turnout to be much larger than our family, but there were more people from the ward than our family, so that was awesome.

Winry and her cousins, Jake and Laura, all sang a special music number.

Here's the whole fam back at our house after the baptism before people had to take off.

My mom just had knee surgery, and my dad cancelled his flight when we found out I had pneumonia, but we had a call going during the baptism, and they called and chatted with Brooke afterwards as well.

Saturday night we had Brooke's birthday party too.  Unfortunately, only one of her friends could make it, but we had cousins and aunts there to spice it up.  

Brooke was super excited about her gifts, especially this Buc-ees fanny pack.

And we all had cupcakes before people took off.

Meanwhile, back in Utah, the busts continue to get good use.

And that's everything I've got for this week.  I'm almost done with antibiotics, and at this point I'm feeling pretty good, but still coughing a bunch.  My understanding is that this is to be expected.  Hopefully my coughing will subside soon, and then I'll be able to return to my bed, but really, I've been sleeping great, so no real complaints.
 

Happy 8th Birthday Brooke!

Brooke turned 8 this week!  Hooray, what an amazing day.  Brooke has been an amazing kid her whole life, and I'm so grateful we have her!  I'm proud of her choice to be baptized next week, and I can't imagine our family without her!

Cutting to the start of the week, Winry had a school project to help hide a turkey.  They were supposed to color them however they want so that it won't be found on Thanksgiving, and she picked to do hers like Pikachu with a pokeball behind it.

Brooke was feeling pretty sick this week and missed almost all of school.  On Tuesday we took her to the doctor and she had a double ear infection and walking pneumonia!  She got antibiotics and was feeling well enough to go to school on Friday for her birthday!  But much of the week was being at home not feeling well.

Winry got a coupon for a free "water ice" at school, and Monica took her this past week.  I don't remember what the normal name is, but when we went to Philadelphia a few years back they called it water ice.  Anyway, looks very yummy and I will be needing to go soon.

The day after Brooke's diagnosis I started to feel sick, so after a few days I took an at home COVID test.  Great news, it came back negative, unfortunately, that didn't change me being sick for several days.  I even went to urgent care on Friday to check if I had pneumonia but things were negative.

We got a new switch game this week called Watermelon game.  It's a pretty basic game, but everyone has a lot of fun playing it, and Grayson thinks it's really funny when fruit combines.

Friday was Brooke's birthday, and she was fortunately feeling a lot better!  She'd been feeling better each day, but on Friday she thought she'd have the energy for school.  She opened presents in the morning and got a kickin' bracelet making kit from Winry.

Monica and I gave her a watch, which she's really been wanting.  It's pretty cool.  It's a Garmin watch so she can record activities, etc. and it also lets her text us messages.  It's been pretty fun so far, and cool to hear from her at recess sometimes.

We also went to the school and had lunch with her for her birthday, which was a lot of fun.

For dessert Brooke chose mint brownies.  We sang happy birthday and then it was time for dessert!

Come the end of the week I was feeling pretty sick, and was pretty checked out from what else was going on.  Apparently Grayson and Brooke worked on cleaning our shower!

Brooke was not alone in medication.  All the kids had ear infections and took antibiotics at some point, plus whatever Brooke got for pneumonia.  Anyway, there's been a lot of medication going around lately.

Meanwhile, on the couch, I was feeling quite ill.  I've just been getting more and more sick as the week goes on.

But next week we have visitors coming!  What could go wrong?

The BRIDGE!

Great news, the bridge of wonders which was merely a construction project, much to Grayson's dismay when we lived in Colorado, now spans the mighty Parker Road!  So of course we had to pay it a visit.  From where we parked it ended up being a 2.5 mile walk even, which was nice as the weather was terrific!  I guess the bridge isn't quite done yet, as there was a gate locked shut so we couldn't actually cross it, but we got so close!  Someday we'll walk that bridge, and it'll be life changing.  Grayson was so excited to see it, and was happy even though we didn't actually make it on the bridge.

There was a lot of rain in the spring, and the creek was super flooded before we moved.  The water levels were still super high, but as we got to the bridge by the park I noticed that the creek has gotten super dammed by sticks floating down, and that's what's causing the levels to be so high at least at this spot.  Pretty crazy, but pretty cool.  Or Parker is infested with beavers now, it could be either.  I guess I haven't actually been keeping up with the local animal activity.

Here's the bridge crew on the trail!  Obviously Monica was there too, but she took the picture.  We could see the bridge off in the distance over the field that was to the left of this picture.  Grayson was so excited he was running down the path.  Unfortunately he tripped twice and skinned both his knees!  Poor buddy!  He got pretty sad for a little, but he still walked basically the whole way.

I mentioned Winry getting pink eye just in time for us to get on the plane.  Well, we got her prescription, and when we picked it up... it was for Winky.

On Tuesday morning it was time for us to say goodbye.  It was staggered throughout the morning, with first up being Eleanor and Brooke before school started.  These cuties had a blast together!  It's pretty sad we don't live closer.

Winry's eye had been doing great for a day or so at this point, so after a washing of the hands she got a chance to hold Alice!  She was so happy.  She was being a trooper when we told her she probably wouldn't get to, but fortunately pink eye clears up in a day or so.

On! Tuesday morning we also went over to Brooke and Winry's old school during drop off and were able to see their old teachers!  They were so excited to see them and get to chat for a minute before school began!  I even saw Lindsay and her daughter River, who Grayson used to play with when we dropped Winry off at preschool last year, and said hi and chatted for a bit.  It was pretty amazing timing to see so many people and I was super happy we went.

Clara needed to leave for school right around the time we headed out for the airport.  So now it was Winry and Clara's turn.

And Monica and Hannah's turn too.  They're doing one of those cute little kid super smashed together hugs on the inside, believe me.

Quick throw back, because I just got a picture of Monica with Alice.  Monica went across the parking lot to Noodles (remember, no company) while Winry and I were at the doctor and put in our order, etc.  While they were there she got to feed her.  What a hello!

When we landed in Denver and were taking the shuttle to our rental car we ended up on the "party bus" as the driver proclaimed it.  He was playing fun, upbeat music that one could dance to on the drive, and we all had a fun time.  While we were driving back to the airport to return our car the kids kept talking about how they wanted to ride the party bus.  When we pulled up it took us so long to get all our stuff out of the car and ready to go that we missed the first bus, and thank goodness we did, because the one we DID catch was the PARTY BUS!  What are the odds?  It was awesome.

At the airport I took the kids with me through the TSA pre line, and Monica went down normal security.  We hopped on the train to meet up with Monica at somewhere to get food, and when we got on the train Winry and Grayson sat on one side.  I'm not really sure what Grayson is doing, but he looked really concerned.  Someone asked if it was his first time traveling, which made me laugh a little since it was our return flight, but they didn't know that.

It's always good to get back home, and nice to be able to unwind and relax a bit.  Grayson's really been into doing this large puzzle of the United States, and he also loves to jump over it!  I think this kid might be a long jumper too!

Jelly was just chilling!  Our friends the Ellers came over to watch her, and their kids were all very excited to get to see her.  They totally spoiled her, because Jelly was not as excited as usual to see us, but that's probably a good thing.  I'm glad Jelly was still able to be happy even with us gone!  Thanks the Ellers!  I've also heard that since then their kids love to play cats, and they all want to be Blue Jelly!

One night when I was putting Grayson to bed he needed to put up some decorations around his house bed.  He was lining the little railing things with shoes and books all the way around.  Pretty fancy.

On Friday the girls had a Thanksgiving tailgate at school, which meant that Monica and Grayson went and had lunch with them outside.  That means that lunch for Grayson and Monica started at 10:30.

And ended at noon with Brooke.  The girls each had 30 minutes for lunch, but there was a gap between their lunches as well.  Fortunately it didn't rain, but it was a nice cool day out.

At the end of the week, Grayson said he wanted to start using the potty, so there's been a little potty training going on the last few days.  I'll admit, it's quite different with him than the girls.  The girls both decided they wanted to potty train and that was basically that.  Grayson said he wanted to, spent the morning without a diaper on, and then peed so much during his nap that I've never seen his bed so wet before!  Interest is progress though, so hopefully things get a little more productive in the near future.

I think that's my cool news for now.  Keep it kelp.
 

Weekend in CO

Look at me and that baby!  This is baby Alice!  She lives in Colorado, and I held her!  We went to Colorado for an extended weekend because the girls have next Monday and Tuesday off.  I'm jumping way to the end of the week though, but how could I not?!?

At the start of the week we were getting ready for Halloween.  The kids decorated some cupcakes so we could go BOO someone because we got BOOed too!  If that person ever reads this, THANK YOU!  Grayson loves sprinkles any time you let him get a hold of them, so he was in heaven at this point.

The girls had an optional school thing where they could decorate pumpkins from their favorite book.  Brooke did the BFG, and she did her whole thing all by herself!  Winry waned to do Fancy Nancy.  They both turned out superb (that's fancy for amazing).

We were so pumped for trick or treating!  We invited some people over for dinner before and we all headed out as a group.  As for our family, we were all Mario themed.  That Mario movie has had a pretty lasting impact on our family.

And I may have run off with the princess, candy and all!

While we were out trick or treating there was a house with the perfect paving stones, so of course I made Monica lay down!  I'm glad she's a trooper.  I mean, to be fair, if any yard had had the perfect fireball on it, I would have laid down and posed too.

We had a family outing for flu shots.  Everyone handled it really well and we went out to dinner after.  Winry's arm got a little red and welty after, but everything was fine, and because of that we have a picture now too.

On Saturday morning we drove down to the airport to fly out to CO.  It's nice that the kids are old enough to help pull their own bags now.  The trip went pretty smoothly, though our flight did end up getting delayed and we ended up sitting in the airport for at least an hour at our gate.

The kids all did pretty well on the plane.  On a two hour flight they're always going to ask for something a time or two, but I thought it went pretty smoothly.  I was on the opposite side of the isle from Grayson though... so Monica may feel different.

When we landed in Colorado we ended up getting the "party bus" out to the rental car agency.  The kids really loved that and all had a fun time dancing in their seats.  When we woke up in the morning it turned out Winry had pink eye, so our first stop from the airport was at Urgent care to get some medicine.  Good thing we knew our way around town.

Saturday was mostly just a day of chilling.  We met up with the Cammacks (Alice was the baby above) at Noodles and Company (which Grayson pointed out, he just wanted noodles, no company) for lunch.  They offered to let us stay with them, which was awesome because our girls and theirs love playing together and have really been missing each other.

Sunday we headed to church with our old ward, and had a very warm welcome.  We were asked several times if we were moving back, and it was really great to see old friends again.  One such friend, a certain Sarah Valentine even gave the girls a ride on her moped around the parking lot after church.

Monica and the girls went to ward choir in the afternoon.  Kids are all welcome and they all play together in the basement, and Monica's always looking for an opportunity to sing.  That evening we all headed to another friend's house, the Westbroeks, for dinner that evening.  Add two more girls and a heap more fun!

It's a lot of fun being out here visiting friends.  Also, thankfully Winry just had pink eye and nothing more terrible, especially with a baby around.  Winry's getting her eye drops and is currently giving the baby some space, and Clara, one of the Cammack's daughters, had pink eye earlier in the week.  It's honestly been a short enough time that it could have just been a typical Sunday getting together with friends.  Everyone is still so familiar.  We're having a wonderful time, and I'm looking forward to the next few days before we head back!