The Car That Will Never Be Ours

8th Grade Graduation

  Caleb"graduated" from middle school tonight even though school has another week to go.  We went to Inside Scoop for dinner before the ceremony.  I begged him not to get anything on his pretty clothes!  We dropped him off at 6pm at the school, picked up some library books, got him a balloon from the store and then tried to find a parking place in the sea of cars covering every spot and then some at the school.  It was pretty warm in that gym and there were lots of kids and lots of awards so it took about an hour and half.  Kyle was pretty good just restless so we took turns holding him and then Don took him down to walk him around toward the end.  There was a cute but long slide show of the kids where they morphed them from their baby pictures to their recent school picture.  It was so cute to see all these kids as babies!  It almost made a little sad especially because we have been here so long that I know most of the kids because Caleb has grown up with them. Caleb was not super thrilled about going but it is a milestone and the boys each escorted a girl down to their seats so if he would not have gone there would have been a girl without an escort.  After the graduation we came home and played dumb like we didn't get him anything while we waited for grandma and grandpa to get back from Mesquite with his new bike.  Connor got a new bike last year for his 8th grade graduation and Caleb said that he wanted one too.  He even asked his dad if he was going to get one tonight and Don just played it off like we hadn't had any time.  He was pretty excited to see that bike.  Grandma and Grandpa gave him $40 as a gift too.  Grandma was a little disappointed that she didn't know about the graduation but we did talk to grandpa about it last night and he said that they couldn't go because they had to work so we just figured he talked to grandma.  She said that she didn't know about it until they were on their way to Mesquite.  Sorry grandma!  We will have another high schooler come fall!

Let's Go See A Show

Cayden and I went to see Mary Poppins at the Smith Center on Saturday May 26.  I bought tickets back in January I think and we didn't tell him until a week ago.  Don and Caleb kept Kyle and Connor was off working with Grandpa.  We drove into Vegas in the spiffy yellow Camaro-it was a rental-and went to Wendy's for a quick lunch.  We should have saved our money as we both only ate about 3 bites.  we valet parked the car and then went in to find our seats.  we were had side balcony seats.  They were not as greatb as I wanted them to be because we were at an angel but it was ok.  The show started at 2:00 and then right after first song the set experienced technical difficulties.  Those technical difficulties lasted for over an hour.  It was not a fun experience especially since it was a matinee, a kids show and there were lots of kids there to see it. Cayden was very patient but it was long wait.  Finally about 3:20 the show started again.  It was almost 2 and half hours with the intermission.  The show sort of followed the Disney movie in the first act but the second act was totally different.  Cayden really enjoyed it.  I love love love Broadway so I enjoyed it too.  Since we were in the fancy car it didn't take long to get it from the valet because they parked it out front with the Jags and Cadis!  That will never happen again! After the show we did a little shopping at Target and then since we only ate a bite of lunch we were hungry again so we went to Mimi's.  Cayden kept saying the funniest things!  The only one I can remember is when he told me "Mom, by the way, In and Out Burger is just crap".  I asked him why and he said because it just so full of grease.  Well he is right on that account but I think it is still delicious.  We also had a lovely discussion in Kohl's about why he needed a tank top.  It mostly revolved around the fact that "the ladies" liked to see muscles and if he did not have a tank top then "the ladies" would say Cayden we don't want to marry you.  Interesting the things he comes up with.  We had a lovely time together and will do it again when we go to Tuacahn in the summer and then Wicked in September.

Kyle's First Sick Trip To The Doctor

Well it couldn't last forever.  We have been blessed that Kyle has not gotten sick enough to warrant a trip to the doctor since he was born.  That ended today.  He started with a fever on Thursday night and it continued all weekend and through yesterday-which was Memorial Day.  Yes my children only get sick on weekends and holidays because that is when there is no doctor around to see them.  We had a pretty rough weekend with him with the up and down fever, his nose running like a faucet and a yucky cough.  On Saturday I noticed that he was pulling on his right ear especially when he was eating so I had a suspicion that we might have a problem.  On Sunday I stayed home from church with him and the ear pulling continued.  We knew that we could get no help Sunday night so we waited until Monday.  He seemed pretty good most mornings but by late afternoon early evening he was super grumpy.  On Monday he slept fitfully and did not want to eat food or take much of a bottle.  He is a horrible medicine taker and seriously holds it in his mouth and won't swallow it so we end up putting it in his bottle.  Well Monday evening since I couldn't get him to take a bottle we couldn't get any medicine in him he was so sad.  About 6pm Don and Caleb were out running errands and I called Don and told him that I really thought that Kyle needed to see a doctor.  He was pretty much inconsolable.  We even got a medical opinion from our favorite soon to be doctor, Doctor Chris who thought it was an ear infection and upper respiratory.  I hunted online for 30 minutes looking for an urgent care that was open.  I called a couple places too but why would an urgent care be open on a holiday when it would in fact be a time where urgent care was needed.  UGGHH  There was an urgent care open in St. George when I called but with the time zone difference we would have had to of left right then and Don was wasn't home yet.  Then I found a pediatric urgent care in Vegas and even called them but their phone rang and rang and rang.  I then called Kyle's pediatrican to get a referral to an urgent care and they told me about the one that I had already called where there was no answer.  They assured me that the place was open the week before but ya just never know in this crap economy.  We really did not want to drive an hour just to find out they were closed.  When Don got home we called Grandpa Don and asked him to come over to help Don give Kyle a blessing.  Thank goodness for the priesthood.  Kyle seemed to settle down almost immediately and we were able to make it through the night.  I called our local doctor first thing Tuesday morning and we went down about 9 for  an appointment.  Yes indeed he had an ear infection but his lungs were clear so that was good.  She called in the trusty amoxicillan to the pharmacy and we were good to go.  Kyle had a rough evening Tuesday evening but atleast we were on the mend.  So goes our first real sicky sick with Kyle.  He has had a few colds but nothing that would warrant a doctor visit.  On a related note-our local doctor's office has decided to merge with the hospital/medical group in Mesquite and will no longer be seeing patients on a normal basis.  His office will be turned into an urgent care.  That is good in one way but not in the fact that our regular visits for meds and stuff will have to be done in Mesquite now.  The doctor has had a super great NP there who helped take the load off of him and made it easier to get into and she has been wonderful to our family. We will sure miss the easiness of running over there for stuff but glad that there will be an urgent care here.  Now if they were just open when we needed urgent care!

A Busy Memorial Day

On Memorial Day Kyle woke up at 6am.  Just in time for Don and Caleb to head out the door to put up flags for the holiday as a scout project then go to a house in our ward where there was a service project putting insulation up in an attic and in the top of the garage.  For some reason I did not even try to get him to go back to sleep and I stayed up myself.  I made breakfast before 7 and woke Cayden up.  By the way for breakfast I made pancakes with strawberries on top and then I made the most delightful coconut syrup with some coconut milk that I had left over from smoothies during the week.  That syrup I could have sucked down with a straw because it was so amazing!  Then I cleaned out the fridge, cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, of course taking care of Kyle during all of this too.  After Don and Caleb got home I went on an hour and half walk with my friend in the next neighborhood.  We usually walk in the mornings and we usually have our babies with us so we can only walk as long as they will accommodate us and then we still have to go home and manage our lives during a school day too.  So with no kids and it being a holiday we just walked and walked and talked and talked.  It is so much easier to walk with someone. The laps and the time just goes by so much faster.  Don and Caleb worked outside in the front yard and then cleaned out the storage room and garage.  I went to store after my walk and got the stuff for sliders and also some stuff for dinner later in the week for a friend who just had a baby.  This of course was all intermingled with Kyle being fussy because he did not feel good then we had the dreaded Monday night saga when we were trying to decide whether or not to go to the doctor.  It was easier to deal with him though with four people taking turns and we still got a lot done.  My plans for FHE went out the window though with Kyle being sick.  I was planning on talking about those in our family who served in the military and in the wars being as it was Memorial Day.  I do want my kids to know why we get a day off from school and why it is important.  Maybe next year we can try again. 

The Great Brain Project

Cayden had to do a big project at the end of the school.  Each kid got to choose their own topic and researche it and then wrote a short report.  Then they had to give the report in front of the class along with some sort of display or poster or power point.  Cayden chose, what else, Disneyland.  There was so much information about it and we actually had to cut it down by 3/4 because it was so long when we finally timed it.  He has made great strides this year in getting up in front of the class, reading out loud and now doing this presentation.  We made a power point slide show to go along with each part of his report.  Caleb helped him with that since he is the computer expert now. 

A. TOTAL. Eclipse of the Sun

We took a road trip up to St. George on Sunday, May 20, after church to get eclipse glasses from cousin Ashley Farmer.  It was a spur of the moment decision even though we had discussed it at length the day before.  We didn't decide until we were on the way home from church that we were really going to do.  We quickly changed our clothes, fed Kyle some lunch and headed out.  We talked about going to Kannaraville where the "sweet spot" was but that would have been another 45 minutes and it was still a school night.  Plus we had left Connor with grandma and grandpa and he wanted some glasses too. We also made a stop at the hospital to see a friend and her baby who had been taken there the day before and drop them off a bag full of snacks that I ran into Smith's to get for them and left St. George right as the eclipse starting.  We saw numerous cars pulled over all along the freeway at the various rest stops and truck pull outs and we stopped at one about 15 minutes from home just to use the glasses and see what we could see.  We got home and headed right to Uncle Dave's porch where Connor and the Zundels were.  We were just in time to see the mid point of the eclipse. Uncle Dave had a welding helmet and so we all took turns with the glasses and the helmet to look at the TOTAL eclipse of the sun.