Arizona and New Mexico

On Saturday I left my children and husband and flew to Arizona. I have determined that I am dependent on my dependents. I didn't love flying by myself. Waiting in the airport I had to haul my luggage with me everywhere, no older kids to watch it for me, and I lost my good seat at the gate when I had to go the bathroom. Then on the plane I had to sit by strangers and that makes me feel anxious and uncomfortable. Especially when the stranger randomly elbows you with no apology. BUT overall it went smoothly and I doodled on my tablet (and wondered if I was being judged for my unicorn screen saver and minecraft home screen) and I read a book and I ate my sandwich and made it safe and sound in Arizona.

Sunday morning Mike and I made our journey to New Mexico to our Aunt Ragena's home- my mom was already in New Mexico. We had a smooth journey there thanks to his amazing driving skills and once there we got good hugs from our Aunt, enjoyed some visiting and took a walk around her neighborhood. 

Monday we got to work pretty quickly. Mike worked on the yard, I helped shred papers and my mom went through things in David's old room and the office. Around lunchtime Ragena's friend came over and I heard her ask Ragena if this was stressing her out and if she needed to leave. Aunt Ragena said a little bit and mentioned the difficulty of making decisions. It hit me at that moment that even though this was work for us, it was emotionally hard on Ragena. So after a conversation with my mom we decided to stop going through her things and just spend time with her. It was a good choice. 

That afternoon, while Mike was taking a trip to the dump with Ragena's friend, I had a really good conversation with my Aunt and mom. We talked about when "mountains" don't move, about faith, about her struggle with cancer and mine with the loss of Isaac. It was a conversation full of tears but it was a good conversation. Sometimes it might seem like Ragena is in denial about her terminal diagnosis but I think it's just her head knows it but her heart has trouble letting go of hope. I felt that feeling after my first disappointing ultrasound. I knew I had lost Isaac but my heart hoped maybe a miracle would happen at the second ultrasound. Aunt Ragena did talk about visiting us after she died and I weirdly liked that because it feels like than I don't really have to say goodbye. Maybe I have some denial issues too?   

Tuesday Mike and I took Aunt Ragena's car into town for regular check up and we waited 2 hours for it. There was a super fun Western show playing in their waiting room. When they finally finished up with the car we picked up some Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then visited the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque. The museum was pretty interesting but some of the science behind it was a little over my head. Mike really enjoyed it and I wish Tyler had been there, he would have enjoyed it too. I got sad looking at the destruction from the bombs. I hate how some leaders' greed for power cost so many innocent lives.

When we finished at the museum we got some groceries and went back to my Aunt's house. We socialized, I made some sloppy joes and Mike and I took our daily walk.

Wednesday Aunt Ragena had some work she wanted done- I helped sort through her shoes, and things in her laundry room. Then Mike and I did a run to the Salvation Army and to the dump. After that we had some fun. I made a potatoe salad which made my mom happy and then we made ice cream sundaes which made my Aunt happy. We had ourselves an ice cream party which involved dancing with our fingers to country music, and me modeling her gray hair wigs from when Ragena had chemo- apparently I look good with gray short hair. Yes, I know we are weird.

Around dinner time I ended up having to join my Zoom YW/RS activity. I had a counselor who was going to run a Kahoot Quiz that I had made so that I could miss the activity but that night Kahoot's website decided to die. So I hopped on (interrupting the opening prayer) and using an answer key that I had spontaneously (and luckily) brought, I attempted to remember the questions I had put on the Kahoot Quiz. It was stressful and I don't like thinking on the fly but in the end, it seemed to turn out ok.

Afterwards I was able to calm down and watch Star Trek and make a drawing of Data for my Aunt- she loves him.

Thursday we had to say goodbye, we took a selfie before heading back to Arizona. My Aunt has always been kind to me and my children and I am going to miss her.

The drive back was uneventful. Lots of talk about budgeting and being responsible with money- us adults are super exciting to travel with ;) I listened some to a story and tried not throw up- apparently I don't do fantastic in the back seat after a few hours.

Friday was a good day in Arizona. I went on a walk with my dad in the morning, it even got hot enough that I got a little sweaty. Then for lunch I had my most favorite sweet and savory crepes at the Broken Yolk. My dad tried to get the waiter to convince me not to leave AZ, or at least to move back to AZ. I told him he was barking up the wrong tree, Tyler is who he needs to convince. After lunch I saw "The Courier" with my dad. Coincidentally it was about the Cold War and so my visit to the Atomic Museum earlier that week helped me understand some things better. 

For dinner my mom and I met Rebecca and Lillian at Costa Vida. It was fun making Lillian giggle, she has the cutest giggle. After we ate we strolled through Deseret Book. I found a good graduation gift for my yw but they only had 1 of it and I needed 4. I waited forever to see if they had more, only to find out they didn't. But while waiting I spontaneously decided I needed a bag of caramels. They tasted homemade and were well worth the spontaneous purchase. I ended the day puzzling and watching "Modern Family" with my mom. 

Saturday it was time for me to fly back to my family- still didn't love traveling by myself. I had a man next to me in the plane that kept encrouching in my space but I was reading a book that really pulled me in so I stayed entertained. Landing safely in Michigan and getting some good hugs from my kids made enduring the fligth worth it. I was also impressed that they had cleaned up the house. That meant I was able to just unpack my stuff and then sit back and relax. It's good to be home but I am so grateful that I made the trip out there.

Quarantining

 Not a whole lot to report from this week seeing how I was under quarantine. Basically spent my time homeschooling the kids and taking afternoon naps- Covid can make you real tired. Plus the persistent headache can make it hard to focus and think and Tylenol does not seem to help.

I did have to teach the Young Women's lesson Sunday and I had 3 meetings to attend but thankfully I managed to power through all the things and even keep my wits about me. I think that was a blessing. I also had a lot of youth participation in my lesson which always makes me happy and makes for a better lesson. 

As I mentioned before, we are doing a fundraiser for the youth selling flowers (yw) and mulch (ym). This week we officially started it, the website went live and the youth passed out fliers for their Wednesday activity. The day before this activity was to happen the Bishop (who I had told about this activity weeks ago) decided he had qualms with us passing out fliers and wanted to cancel it. He had lots of ridiculous reasons to cancel it but what it boils down to is that he was trying to last minute plan something with the ym and our plans would conflict with his last minute plans. It was super frustrating but thankfully my counselors really stood with me and we were able to keep the activity. There was another issue the night of when he sent out all these flier guidelines and one of my leaders didn't agree with one of the guidelines. So quite honestly, I will be so happy when this fundraiser is over.

Thursday it had been over 10 days since my symptoms had started so I broke quarantine to take the girls on a date they had earned by taking notes during General Conference. We picked up bundt cake (Lucy's choice) and picked up smoothies (Penny's choice). It was a rainy day but still nice to get out of the house at long last. 

Saturday the girls had their last online class of "Cheer."I think they enjoyed it and I will miss hearing their "cheer voice" and the different cheer positions (high V, low V, T, broken T). I am liking this Outschool stuff because Covid can't ruin it. Steven is also taking a class on writing essays through Outschool and I am hoping it helps because he is terrible at essays and I have not been much help.

Today, Saturday, Ben will have his first soccer game. He had one last week that he couldn't attend because of me having the Covid. But I heard his team did really bad (the neighbor, Jacob, is on it too). It'll be interesting to see how they do today.

This week I introduced the boys to my favorite scary movie "The Quiet Place." They loved it and didn't seem to scared by it. Especially because then they wanted to see more so they also watched "Signs" this week. It was fun watching movies I actually like with them. And it was fun to see their reactions, they were real chatty during the movies because I think that helped them feel less scared.

Last thing, cute pictures of Tyler and Lucy with their Taco Bell shirts, and some tacos.

Easter and the Covid

Easter Sunday I was super achy but I blamed it on exercising- too bad it turned out that I actually had Covid. I took a lot of Tylenol that day and it helped everything to be bearable so we were still able to continue on with our Easter traditions of hiding baskets, Easter Bunny pancakes and our fancy Ham and potatoes dinner. The kids really love getting their notes from the Easter Bunny and searching for their baskets. They got super spoiled- you can thank our Govt Stimulus checks for that.

Steven's basket was hidden in the shoe closet (somewhere with things that have laces and that stinks) Highlights for Steven- a Moroni tie, waterballoons, pancake batter  dispenser, and cards with a picture he made.

Penny's basket was hidden on the toilet (Somewhere that you see pee) Highlights for Penny: things for a Fairy Garden, a Mermaid that holds bows on its hair, a Roblox sticker book (she used it up that day) and a book about her.

Lucy's basket was hidden in the basement on the freezer (Somewhere that has food) Highlights for Lucy: a Taco Bell shirt (to wear on Fridays when she picks up tacos with dad), a unicorn that also works as a bow holder, Girls Doodle Book, and cooking knives that are kid friendly (and come with gloves)

Ben's basket was hidden in the recycling bin (Somewhere you stash trash). Highlights for Ben: Easy Hymn Piano Book, Pokemon wallet, baby hands, and water balloons.

Highlights for Dad: Taco Bell shirt, Link minifigure, Zelda stickers and water balloons.

I didn't take a picture with my basket but I got some drawing books, a new dress and a puzzle. After Easter Baskets I made the bunny pancakes.

Monday I finally gave in to the possibility that I might have Covid and went to take the Covid test. It was a diy test at CVS and that made me anxious because I don't like to inflict pain on myself and also I was so worried I would do it wrong. The lady behind the window was not a bit helpful but I guess I did it right. Because Covid is spreading like crazy right now, I didn't find out until Thursday morning that I tested positive for Covid. Thursday was also the day that I lost my sense of smell and taste. That is such a bizarre sensation, to eat but not taste a thing. It definitely makes food less satisfying. 

Tuesday I had a Zoom Mtg with my presidency and because I wasn't feeling well, I felt like a space cadet and it wasn't a super smooth meeting. Oh well. Hopefully I didn't embarass myself too much. And because of stupid Covid, we had to cancel our in person activity Wed and do yet another virtual activity. That was a bummer.

Wednesday was an extra warm day so the boys broke out their water balloons that they had gotten for Easter. All the kdis had a lot of fun throwing them at each other and playing random games with them- hot potato, "duck,duck,splash", did some relay races, sat on them, tried to launch them with towels...But their most favorite thing to do with them was to pretend they were penises and pee with them or explode them. Kids are gross.

The rest of this week has been pretty uneventful. My progression of Covid has been- achy body, headache, congestion, cough, and bouts of tiredness sprinkled throughout it all. It hasn't been fun but it hasn't been awful. I just really miss the outside world, and the weather has been so good that it's been such a bummer to not be able to properly enjoy it. However, my boredom has caused me to do some Spring cleaning so I suppose that's a benefit in this all. 

Lastly, remember how I made some signs for a (non-profit) business that a lady from my Bunco group works for? Well her business posted a pic that used my sign...and they didn't acknowledge it was my work. So for once in my life, I said something. Then she added the tag and sent me the pictures that used my work. It didn't drum me up any business...seeing how I am not a business. But it was nice to be acknowledged and I think the pictures turned out really amazing so I felt proud to see my work looking all official. 

Spring Break

This past Sunday we had in person church so we took our traditional Easter pictures since it will be General Conference on Easter Sunday. This time the kids decided to doll up the guinea pigs so they could be in the pictures too. This was a good decision because then the kids were way more excited and cooperative taking pictures.

Monday was Ben's birthdy so we celebrated by having 4 of his friends over- AJ, Andrea, Beck and Jacob. Last minute I come up with a few activties- they played Nintendo Bingo, learned how to draw Link from Zelda by watching a Youtube video (half of the kids really enjoyed this, half of them not so much) and they went on a "Yoshi" egg hunt which was shockingly just like an Easter Egg Hunt. The egg hunt wasn't super successful- apparently some eggs were just too tricky to find which is weird becuase I didn't hide them any more trickier than at the hunt we had had a couple weeks ago. After the activities the kids played on the Nintendo Switch while I made lunch. Then they ate lunch, then more nintendo switch, some playing outside with foam swords and last- cake and ice cream and presents. Ben had a great time and was spoiled rotten. But I didn't have the best time. One of the party attendees was unenthused with the activities, disgruntled with taking turns on the switch, and did not like my food. He was a pretty difficult guest. Who knew 11 year olds could be such prima donnas?

For his birthday he got Pokemon cards and a Subway gift card from my parents, a gameboy player from Tyler's parents, Mario Kart 8 and a Link Amiibo from us, 11 candies and $20 from AJ, Laser guns from Beck, Charmander Lego set from Jacob and notebook and cool dino pen from Andrea. 

Tuesday was our one warm day this week so we went back out to Detroit with the Bloomfield's and May's and walked the Dequindre Cut Trail again. I think it was a lot more fun with friends. They all seemed to enjoy chatting with one another and goofing off and boy did we add some crazy to that trail with our big gang.

We didn't have any big plans for Wednesday. We did a run to the library in the morning and me and the girls bought some things for a care package for a friend that has covid. Then Steven hung out at Max's house in the afternoon.

Thursday we were going to watch "Raya and the Last Dragon" at a friend's house but her husband got Covid so that plan got scratched.  Instead we ended up going to see it in the theater. It was nice to go see a movie in the theater again and we all really enjoyed it. It had a good message about unity and trust. After the movie we had our Mystery/Prank dinner. The kids picked 3 things for each course but they didn't know what they were picking because the menu was just numbers. Ben got a fork and pudding first. I ended up with spaghetti and no bowl or fork. Penny got spaghetti in a bowl but no fork. It's a fun tradition that we started last year.

Friday Tyler had off work so we took the kids bowling. Steven is getting pretty good. Tyler has always been pretty good. But the rest of us have much room for improvement. There were two times that Penny got the ball in the gutter...even though we had bumpers. There were also two times that her ball was so slow that it literally didn't make it to the pins. She had a good attitude about it all and so it was still a good time. I even got a score of a hundred for one round which is really impressive for me ;)

Saturday we had General Conference, dyed Easter Eggs and ate our traditional Last Supper. The Easter Egg dying was done in a rush because Jacob came over wanting to play outside and they really wanted to go out and play.