4th Week of March

Here are some updates from the 3rd week of March.

On Monday, March 23rd, Steve went in for another kidney stone surgery.  I went into work that morning, then came home in the afternoon.  He was originally planned for surgery around 2pm, but they moved it up to 12:45pm.  I didn't make it home from work before Dave came and picked Steve up and took him to AltaView Hospital.  The boys didn't have school that day, so they were already home when I got there.  While Steve was gone, I had a few chores for the boys, such as cleaning up pine needles in the yard.  We also got our Disney Cruise luggage tags in the mail, yeah!

Steve being silly, getting ready to for surgery.  The boys cleaning up the yard.  Luggage tags!

I let Steve sleep in on Tuesday morning, so I took all 3 boys to school (each at different times), then took the train in to work.  The rest of the week, I took Nyles to the train at 7am, then Steve took the other boys.  I came back each afternoon to check up on everybody.  Steve was able to pick the boys up in the afternoon, but then was hurting the rest of the afternoon/evening, so he took pain pills to help.

He spoke to his Dr. on Wednesday.  Ironically, when she went in to retrieve the stone, there was NOT one there.  She looked all around on his right kidney, but didn't find ANY kidneys.  So the positive thing was he actually did NOT have a kidney stone this time.  It's great news knowing his body didn't create another kidney stone and hopefully his body is slowing down on the making of them.  Since she was digging around though, she still put in a stent, which he kept in until Saturday morning.  The stent is really uncomfortable and can hurt unfortunately.  The "stone" that they thought they saw on the scan ended up being a bruise in his kidney.  So now that they know it's there, they won't be fooled going forward.

Hudson killing bugs w/ the bug zapper.  Cute Piper.

Pretty tulips in bloom.  They took all the scaffolding down around the SLC Temple, so they're making progress.  Hudson made a life-size figure of himself at preschool.

More pretty orangish tulips in bloom in the front yard, and a purple one in the backyard.

Our pear tree, peach tree, and lilac bush coming back to life.

Abby and her boyfriend Jesus came down to SLC on Friday.  They came over to our place and had dinner w/ us that evening.  Steve smoked some pork, so we make pork tacos.  The boys then played w/ them outside after dinner.  Jesus was patient w/ Nyles and Carter and teaching them Spanish, which was awesome.  They also played soccer w/ him.  Abby jumped on the trampoline w/ Hudson.

We also played 2 rounds of Flip 7, then they headed to stay w/ his cousin for the night.  It was fun having them over!  Silly Hudson pretending to be Santa in the bathtub.

Sunday was Palm Sunday.  Because General Conference is happening next week, we had our Easter program at church during sacrament meeting.  The Primary kids sang the song Gethsemane and did awesome!  Dave and Joann were able to attend w/ us as well, which was great!

Carter and Hudson singing Gethsemane during sacrament meeting (our neighbor recorded it) 

Family pictures for Easter.

We played croquet in the back yard for a family activity that afternoon.  

Hudson preferred to squirt water on the lawn while we played.

Later,  Steve took the boys over to Altara Elementary while I was finishing cooking dinner.  They joined w/ other kids to draw pictures and write words of appreciation w/ chalk on the sidewalks for the teachers.  It's teacher appreciation week coming up this week.

Cool drawings from the boys.

We then went over to Dave/Joann's place for dinner.  Grandpa Carl also joined us for dinner.  I made chicken pot pie for dinner and blondies for dessert.  After dinner, we walked over to where Diane's house is getting built.  She's going to sign papers officially this week on the house.  It'll be great to have them all close by.  We then played Blank-slate, then headed home to get ready for bed.  The boys have one more week of school until Spring Break.

Checking out the framing, which is done, at Diane's place.

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3rd Week of March

We had a fun and busy week.  Here are some highlights. 

Hudson had his last day of his karate class.  They got to break boards with their hands and their feet.  The boards were of different thicknesses, so they started w/ the thinnest ones, going up to thicker ones.

Hudson breaking boards in karate class.

More action.

Hudson breaking boards.

Wednesday, Steve went up to the cabin w/ Dave to bring his boat down and do a few other things up there.  Cute Piper.  Steve and I did sealings at the Draper Temple Thursday night.

Pretty flowers blooming in our front yard: Daffodils and Crocuses.

Hudson brought home Robbie the raccoon reader from preschool on Thursday.  They take turns bringing him home and are supposed to take pictures of doing activities together.

Hudson and Tate walking over to our house.  Hudson taking Robbie around.  We got the water table out.  Hudson immediately got out the squirt guns.

Friday night we went rock climbing.  Hudson brought Robbie along for the ride.

Hudson climbing w/ Robbie the raccoon.

Taking turns rock climbing.  Silly Carter.  Nyles crack climbing.

Hudson w/ Robbie the raccoon.  Cute Piper.

Saturday we went out to Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake.  It was our first time going as a family.  Steve went when he was young, but I'd never been out there, so we decided to go.

Beautiful flowers, silly lizard and cool bird.

We got to see the bison roaming around.

Family picture in front of the bison.

Pretty views.  We did a few small hikes.

Great view from a short hike.  Bison tracks.

Beautiful views.

Cool bison.

We then went to Garr Ranch.

We looked through the pioneer houses and cellar.

Looking through a barn.

We saw antelope on the way home.

We walked down to the lake.  It's sad how low the water levels are.

Seeing the bison on our way out.

Quick picture before going back over the causeway.

On the causeway, then pretty sunset that evening.

Saturday evening we had a ward dinner.  Steve smoked some pulled pork the day before, and I made my mom's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies when we got home.  All the cookies were eaten and most of the pork.

Sunday, I had a ward conference to attend to.  That evening we had dinner at Dave/Joann's along w/ Diane.  We had more of the pulled pork, then played Apples to Apples after dinner.  It was a fun evening.  Steve also got a blessing in anticipation of his kidney stone surgery the next day.

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2nd Week of March

We had an eventful week.  Here are the highlights.

 Monday morning, getting the kids up, after Daylight Savings.  They were just a little tired, and apparently Piper also :)

More pretty Crocus and Daffodils in bloom in the front yard.

Monday night, Hudson in his karate class, learning to use a bow staff.  Pretty sunset.

For YM's on Tuesday night,  they learned how to build fires.  Hudson also wanted to go.  

Carter stayed home w/ me, working on his school project, drawing a hawk.

Wednesday night, Carter had another hockey game.  He got to try being the goalie this time.

Thursday after preschool, Hudson went to the Hogle zoo w/ his friend Brandon from his class.  They had a great time!  That afternoon, Nyles and his friend Lincoln presented their project called, "The 18 day miracle" about the first heart transplant, for a District competition.  They did well and are now going to State!

After Nyles competition, we all jumped on the trax and headed downtown for the Utah Mammoth Hockey game.  I worked downtown all week, so it was my 3rd time on the train for the day.  Hudson was tired from the zoo, so he fell asleep on the way up to the Delta Center.  Carter got 2 free tickets for playing in the hockey city league, so we got 3 more tickets so we could all go as a family.

At the game.  It was a little cool in the arena, so we were glad we brought coats and hats.

Since it was a school night, we didn't stay the whole game.  Unfortunately, they lost by 1 point in over time.  Hudson fell asleep again on the way home.  The boys standing in the middle of the train, as the trax train turns the corner.

Friday night, we dropped the boys off at Dave/Joann's place to spend the night, then drove out to Rose's place.  She was singing in the choir for the Lamb of God performance at the Tooele High School and we wanted to support her.  We met at her house first for dinner w/ Pauline and Chris.  Rose went over after dinner, then we came just before it started.  It was a wonderful performance.

Hudson, Nyles and Carter playing "Spoons" w/ Dave and Joann.  

Lynsie came over a little later as well, and stayed the night also.

Hudson at the chiropractor earlier on Friday.  Steve hurt is back the week before and is still trying to get it feeling better.  A quick picture w/ Rose and Pauline after the performance.

Saturday morning, we had a Stake Primary Activity for children ages 7-11.  Steve went and picked up the boys and brought them back while I was setting up.  Hudson wanted to attend, so he came w/ Carter.  We discussed our theme of standing in holy places.  As the kids came in, they could build a temple out of paper, blocks, or magnets.  After our opening song and prayer, we discussed our theme and Kelly (our stake Primary President) discussed David and Goliath.  We then separated into 2 groups.  One came w/ me, and one went in Marsha's group.  We played "The Floor is Lava" in the gym for my group, and learned more about temples in Marsha's group.

The children building temples.

Awesome Temples!

Learning about Goliath and more about temples.

Hudson and Carter w/ their completed temples, and standing next to Goliath.

Singing Holy Places song.

We went swimming that afternoon at the rec center.

I made another loaf of sourdough bread.

Sunday, we went to Diane's place to celebrate Joann's 71st birthday.  We had Papa Murphy's pizza, then cake and ice cream.  We also played a few rounds of Blank Slate.  

Joann blowing out the candles.

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