February 7, 2010

February 7, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

J playing in the car. I had to get creative with the trash bucket.

The week started off with us still in the Charlotte, NC area. We got up in the morning and had a very slow start. B-man got to go swimming in the pool, and J even liked putting his little toes in. We then packed up the car and headed home. The roads were all nice and clear. We stopped a few times, once for food and gas, and the other time to shop for furniture. High Point, NC is a well known furniture outlet area. We didn’t really know much so we just picked a random shop, and were disappointed. Next time we will go and be a little more informed. We then headed off for the rest of the trip. We tried to find a Sonic on the way home for some drinks, but the address we had must have been for a future Sonic because there was nothing there. M was so disappointed about that one. B-man did great on the drive. J was pretty frustrated at times. But we made it. We made it home, and had time to get the boys to bed and then unwind ourselves a bit too.

B-man on the way home.

Tuesday was back to the normal routine, school, work, etc. I was supposed to have mutual that night, but we didn’t because there was a snow storm.

My view of M for most of the drive.

Wednesday we woke up to about six inches of snow. B-man’s school was cancelled and we had a fun day at home. The snow was easy to shovel and was a fun break. Early in the morning our friend’s dropped off their almost 2 year old. She spent the day with us while her brothers and parents went skiing at a nearby resort. The day went really well. B-man played in the snow. Helped me with the little girl, and before I knew it the day was over. We ended up having the whole family of the little girl over for dinner that night. (I had made extra and no one wants to cook after a long day on the slopes.)

Thursday was a normal slow day. Not much to report. Friday was when all the good stuff started happening. Friday the state was under a state of emergency for a big storm coming through. That meant that B-man had the day off from school. M went into work in the morning, and then was given four hours off by the government. That meant that he got home right before the snow started sticking. It was a little funny for everyone to be home, and not have snow on the streets, but it was great. We got Pho soup from a local place for lunch and just enjoyed being hunkered down together. The snow really started to stick during the afternoon. That night we had pizza for dinner and then put the boys to bed. We had a lot of snow by the time the boys were in bed. That night M and I watched 24. By the time we went to bed, the snow had grown exponentially. There was well over a foot by midnight. Although it was hard to tell how much since we were staying inside. Right as we were going to bed we noticed that there was a strange green flash going on outside, and then immediately after the power would go out. We think a transformer was having issues. But the flashes were BRIGHT. Large enough for me to notice them with the blinds down.

You can’t tell, but our mini-van is somewhere under all that snow.

The next morning I fed J around five and while I was feeding him the flashes started again, and then the power went out for good. We woke up and had a pretty quiet morning. We were grateful to have a gas stove so that we could cook something warm to eat. The house was pretty chilly, but we all just put on extra layers. We spent the time reading, playing games, and watching the snow fall. B-man and M walked to check on a single woman that lives relatively close to us. She did not have gas to cook with, so M then walked back over to take her some canned fruit, tuna, etc. B-man didn’t go the second time. Walking through the snow was a lot of hard work for both of them and they were soaking wet when they got back. Eventually M headed outside to start shoveling. We had at least thirty inches of snow, but it may have even been closer to three feet. Thankfully the snow stopped in the afternoon. M and our neighbors worked and worked on clearing the snow. It’s like eating an elephant. You just have to do it one scoop at a time. The men in our area of the neighborhood did such a good job though. Our area is the best cleared by far. We can actually see the entire pavement and see our cars. Most of the roads only have room for one car and still have a pretty good layer of snow. B-man spent most of the day outside playing with the other neighborhood kids and “helping” shovel. Around three o’clock the power went back on. We were so grateful to not have to go a night with no power. Our house got down to 62 degrees, (which wasn’t that bad) and then quickly got back up to our normal temperature. Everyone was pretty tired after a long day of shoveling. M also helped to implement the Stake’s Emergency Preparedness plan and was doing a calling tree to check on families and make sure they were okay.

J all bundled up with the power out. M is taking a shoveling break.

Sunday we had no church. There were a lot of families that were still stuck in their houses, with their streets unplowed. Because our street is not a city street the HOA had a snow plow truck come through. Most of the day was spent uncovering M’ car, and helping other people get their cars and sidewalks plowed. M worked a long day shoveling. It was a beautiful day though, the sun was shining and it wasn’t super cold. B-man loved being outside again. I took J out for a little bit, and he was so happy to get out of the house. He didn’t even mind sitting in the snow. Late in the afternoon M finally came in. We then had our own little Sacrament meeting. The Stake President had given permission for people to hold their own meetings with their families. It was really simple, but very nice too. We then headed over to a friend’s house for dinner. She made a great chili with bacon, pork, and beef! We spent the evening there and then headed home.

B-man drinking hot chocolate.

What a crazy snow weekend this has been. There’s more coming too! We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

January 31, 2010

January 31, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had a great week here. Monday was a quiet day. For FHE we talked about our life before Earth and how we chose to come to Earth. Tuesday we played basketball at the church before going to Young Women’s.

Wednesday I took J to the doctor. It was officially his six month check-up (late of course) but it was also just a check of him since he still has his pesky cold/cough. His lungs and ears were clear, and he tested negative for RSV. So we left hoping he would be better soon. The one complication was that it took much longer than it normally did at the doctors just to be seen, and I realized that I would not be at the bus stop to pick up B-man. For kindergarteners, if you are not at the bus stop they take the child back to school and try and find the parent or guardian. I called M, but the reception was terrible in the office, and through a very disjointed conversation we were able to get the message across for him to call our next door neighbor to get him. Technically we were supposed to call the school too, but the bus driver was very nice (and trusting) and let him get off. When I got home about twenty minutes later he was happily playing at their house. I stayed and chatted with my neighbor for a while before heading home. We really love our neighbors, they are great people. That same day M went to the doctor to get his leg checked again. The doctor took the stitches out. That is the good news, that bad news is that now poor M has developed an ulcer on his leg. So he is still a long way away from a healed leg. There’s nothing to be done about the ulcer. It just needs time to heal.

B-man doing his thing at the hotel. He was watching t.v.

Thursday was a quiet day at the house. I was supposed to go visiting teaching, but it got cancelled at the last minute. That night I went to book club. We read Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. It was such an interesting book, and I really admired the woman in the book. It is very similar to a modern version of The Hiding Place.

B-man in the pool, the lens fogged up so we had to do some artsy stuff.

Friday morning I went to play basketball at the church with the women. It was a small group, and I didn’t get much playing in since I was holding J most of the time. It was still fun though. The rest of the day went pretty quickly. After lunch we did head over to a friend’s house. B-man played while she and I visited. It’s a good way to pass the time. M got home and then we did a small little party with B-man. That night M went to get-together with a bunch of guys. They had a great time. I spent the time finishing packing and getting ready for our weekend trip the next day.

B-man swimming, and J putting his toes in.

Saturday morning we were up and going early. I went with B-man and played in our ward basketball game. Then we headed home. M had the car all packed and ready to go. I fed J, changed, and we started off. The only problem was that there was a big snow storm hitting right as we left. For a few hours we were just fine, but just when we thought “these roads are starting to look bad…” we were about half way there, and didn’t quite know what to do. We decided to keep going. The drive was only supposed to take about six and a half hours, (to Charlotte, NC) but it ended up taking closer to nine hours. The plan was that we would get to our hotel, play, (I could shower…) and then we would head back to the wedding reception. Instead we went straight to the reception that was already half over. We changed into better clothes and then went and said hello. My cousin had gotten married two weeks earlier in Idaho, and it was great to see her and meet her new husband. The people that had braved the snow storm to go the reception could not believe that we had driven from Virginia in the storm. North Carolina only gets storms like this about once every five years. We were crazy, but we were thankful that we made it safely. After the reception, M dropped me off to get some things at Wal-Mart while he got some dinner. It’s a trip to Wal-Mart I would like to forget. No workers to check out the people, and the customers were trying to buy the craziest things in the self-checkout line. We finally made it to our hotel. We were all wasted, but happy for a nice comfy place to stay.

Sunday morning we had a very leisurely morning. Church was cancelled in Charlotte so we didn’t have any real agenda. We started off eventually and headed to do some exploring. We wanted to drive and see downtown Charlotte. We first started with the Lowe’s Motor Speedway. It was huge and we wished we could have been able to actually see the track. We had planned on seeing the UNC campus, but then we found out that it was not the main campus. We drove through and around the downtown exploring the area. Eventually B-man insisted that we go visit “the girl” from the reception. So we drove and visited with my cousin and her husband in their home. They were so cute with B-man and really made him feel comfortable. They gave him a little Asian parasol, that he has carried around with him ever since. After leaving their house we walked through a big outdoors store that had stuffed (real) animals that we could look at. B-man liked all the different animal footprints in the cement too. We then headed back to the hotel for some dinner and then bed. We had B-man on the pull-out couch, and then we put J in the bathroom in his pack-n-play. It meant we had to do a little planning since we didn’t have access to the bathroom from seven on.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

We're Alive!

We're Alive! School was cancelled Friday, and will be closed Monday and Tuesday too. Church was cancelled today too. We had no power for about ten hours, and about 30" of snow. Right now the men are out pulling the "ox/car" out of the "mire/snow". Pictures to come...

Poor J

J has a clogged tear duct that has still not cleared up. So every once in a while he wakes up looking like this. He was amazingly chipper about having one of his eyes sealed shut.

To make matters worse he has the kind of parents that take pictures of it, instead of helping him get rid of the problem.

Curious?

If you have ever wondered what I look like with straight hair, here you go. I decided to do it because,

a) I have a lot less hair due to post pregnancy hair loss

b)it is the longest it has been ever and

c) my friends here in VA were asking me to do it.

I must say, the new hair straighteners make it A LOT easier. Please no comments about my dorky solo pictures…

MLK Day

The Following is a conversation with B-man about Martin Luther King Day...

Me: Whose birthday is it today?

B-man: Dr. Luker King

Me: What is he famous for?

B-man: Um, he won a peace medal, and he gave a great talk, and he wrote books.

M and I thought it was so hilarious how he said his name that we have had this conversation a lot recently.

We took advantage of living in DC and went to where the "great talk" was given on Martin Luther King Day. One of the perks of living in DC.

January 24, 2010

January 24, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was a fun day for us. It’s always great when B-man and M have the day off. We started off the day with pancakes, and then late in the morning after much deliberation B-man and I went swimming at the indoor pool of our recreation center. We were all going to go to a bigger one, but then we thought it might not be such a great idea with M’ leg still oozing and having stitches and all. I had to make it fun for B-man so I got myself wet from head to toe. Usually I use all the methods I can to avoid getting my hair wet. We had a great time swimming (although we did forget his goggles) and then headed back home for lunch. After a quick lunch we packed up some snacks and then headed into DC. We first went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We were hoping to get to hold some more bugs like the last time we visited, but no luck. After a pretty quick tour through the museum we then went back to the car because it had to be moved in time. We did a quick stop at the Lincoln Memorial. B-man has learned a lot about Martin Luther King and we wanted to show him where the speech actually was given. The Korean War memorial is very close and so M and B-man also went there quickly. J and I stayed in the car because we were parked illegally, and I wanted to be able to move the car if needed. We ended the day by going to Ben’s Chili Bowl, and well known DC eatery. It was fun to tell B-man that we were eating in a spot that Obama had eaten in. He still gets very excited about Obama. After a tasty dinner we made it home just in time to get B-man in bed for school.

Tuesday was a slower day. M had to work late. That night we all went to the church for a little basketball, and then I stayed for mutual while M took the boys home to bed.

Here’s the wound after two weeks with stitches.

Wednesday was a slower day. M went to the doctor to have his stitches taken out. The leg is still healing funky, and we now think we know the reason. M is allergic to the thread they use in deep sutures. So the doctor fished around with tweezers and took out one of the threads. The other wasn’t found, so hopefully it has already dissolved. The rest of the stitches were left in for another week at least. I think we are now on the road to his leg finally healing.

Thursday was an uneventful day except for the fact that M got home late…. Very late. Something came up at work and so he stayed to get it done. He got home after the boys were in bed, but it was still great to have him home.

Friday was pretty uneventful. For our family party we watched part of “Star Wars,” B-man’s new favorite movie.

Saturday was a relaxing fun day. We managed to get some things done around the house to. When I say “we” I really mean M. I can’t take credit for any of it. Most of the morning was nice and slow. The boys ran some errands together in the afternoon, and then right before dinner M installed and hand towel holder and changed the towel bar in the boys’ bathroom. The new fixtures look great, manly and sturdy. Later that evening we picked up a babysitter and then went to a friend’s house for a party. It was farewell party for a couple that is moving to Denmark on a temporary assignment for work. It will be sad to see them go, but we are hoping that we will get to go and visit them sometime while they are there. M was the “bartender” for the night and did a great job with keeping everyone hydrated with delicious drinks.

Today has been a relaxing day too. M had meetings in the morning, and I worked on my lesson. J has been on a very strange schedule, but took some awesome naps. He might be switching to only two naps during the day instead of three. Both of the boys are sick, again! B-man seems worse than J and so we kept them both home from church. We spent the day reading and playing Stratego. B-man is getting pretty good at it. M went to Sacrament meeting, then we switched and I went to Young Women’s and taught my lesson. We had two non-members in the class; I hope I was able to gear it towards them enough. After church we had a fun dinner. B-man was most excited that we tried out some soda that is green apple flavor. (We almost never have soda with dinner.) M is now off Home Teaching.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J