Thursday, May 28, 2009

The best laid plans

Looking at the week Monday evening, with school almost over, I made great plans. I was going to spend it getting ready for our trip.

Jacob and Katie are going to EFY at BYU from June 1-6, so we are all going along to play in Utah for the week. We want to leave by 10 am on Saturday morning. Getting our family out the door and into the van takes, frankly, super human effort and patience. When we do finally leave on a trip, it is never on time. So I decided to start ahead. My goal was to get most of the laundry done, shop for some items for the trip, give children a list of things to gather, and finish up packing the van Friday night.

That plan went smoothly, right up until 10 am Tuesday morning when I had a dentist appointment. The filling was pretty bad, and it left me with swollen, bleeding gums and taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen. Then Rich had his dentist appointment Wednesday afternoon. No bleeding gums, but repairing a cracked tooth left him with serious tooth pain, too. Did we mention Anna is cutting eye teeth?

The final straw to my great plans came last night at 3 am when I awoke to throbbing pain on the entire right side of my mouth. It was a far-too-familiar pain telling me that I needed a root canal in my newly filled tooth. So today Rich spent the morning getting me an appointment, and I spent the rest of the day getting a root canal and a prescription to Vicodin. Why do these things happen just when you are trying to go on a vacation?! Well, at least we got it all done before the trip (well, except Anna's teething)!

Happy birthday Jacob, Katie and Mom

On May 17, Jacob and Katie turned 15. Jacob and Katie are great fun to have in the family. They really compliment one another. Jacob is unbelievably fun with little children and funny to be around. Katie is kind, sweet and gentle. They are both super helpful and responsible. I could not do what I do with such a large family without them. I sometimes wonder why they came as twins. I guess heaven knew we needed a girl and a boy first in the family.
My birthday also falls in May. This year I turned 40! (For my thoughts on this big milestone, read my personal blog here.) Rich made the day special by making a great breakfast and dinner, and by showering me with some pretty great gifts--like a new pair of Birkenstocks and a blue tooth ear piece! I also got to have a lunch with a group of friends at Chili's. Jeanette surprised me by coming to town and joining us for lunch. It was a great day.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Katie's track season comes to an end

Katie competed in the Frosh/Soph League Finals on Monday. Her relay team, shown below, came in 4th overall at the meet. She got 5th place in high jump. She got 3rd in 300m hurdles. In 100m hurdles, her best event (and she says by far her favorite), she came in first place--League Champion--and set a meet record of 17.42 seconds. Rich missed this race because of a work meeting. It was such a great race to watch! She had hit her head on the standard in her first jump in high jump, so she was shaky and had a big bump. It was a hot day, and I was worried that she wouldn't have her best race. However, she came out ahead and stayed there the whole time. What a great finish to a fun season! Here are some pictures from the year. (Katie wants me to point out that the hurdles pictures are from early in the season and that her form is much better now!)
Align Center4x100 relay team Katie, Angela, Taylor and Stephanie



Stephanie, Katie and Makenzie--Katie made lots of great friends this season!
Katie and her beloved hurdles