Meeting Thomas

I finished my last nursing final on May 12, worked the 13th, packed the 14th and we left on Friday the 15th for Utah to finally meet Thomas.

New Mexico skies are my favorite.

And here he is!! Here is Peter holding him for the first time. He is about a month old here.

And me! The blanket he is wrapped in here was made by my grandma for Nathaniel, so Thomas is wrapped in a blanket made by his great, great grandma. (And it's still holding up great!)

Will is an uncle!!

Got together with Sam & Rebecca for some BBQ

Look at this boy!!

I'm not sure how I feel about being a grandma yet, but looking into this face and hearing his sweet baby noises was pretty amazing. People have asked me what I plan to have my grandkids call me. I don't know to be honest, so it will probably just be grandma.

While we were there we saw Aaron and Kaitlen and I had to get a picture of her peonies in the yard. They have such a cute little house.

And oh my goodness this guy can't get any cuter. I swear he reminds me so much of Aaron I can't stand it.

 Peter got this incredibly adorable picture.

While I was there I finally got out my new watercolors. I've been wanting to try them out for years and finally decided it was time. It was really fun. I'd like to take some classes.

As you can see here Nancy is basically the cutest mom ever. I'm so lucky to have her as a daughter-in-law 💙

While we were there we got to see Hannah. She was such a sport and came and took pictures for us at a park in Provo.

We also got to see Sam and Rebecca. We were hoping to hike Stewart Falls with them on our last day but the weather didn't cooperate. Hopefully we'll be able to do it when we come back in a couple months.

All the cousins!!

Peter got this fabulous shot on one of his bike rides of Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs right where Nathaniel and Nancy live.

Will and I scoped out downtown Saratoga Springs while Peter finally got an actual professional haircut. They never closed down the salons in Utah, or technically the state. We ate snow cones with cream and Will scored some fake mustaches' at a stationary store. Peter is one mean looking hombre with his stash isn't he?

We were able to make an appointment to meet with my grandpa through the glass of his assisted living facility. He's such a special man. We are so lucky to have him in our lives. He'll be 90 this year. Can't believe it. Holding out hope that they at least let us meet outside with him 6 feet away by the next time we come. They can't keep these people in there forever. The facility is expanding and we were on the side of the expansion and the construction noise was so loud it made a situation where it was already hard to hear even worse. Next time we are asking for the north side!!

Will was extremely cute. His cuteness and my grandpa's cuteness are almost too much for my heart. So glad we got these picures of this. What a caption of this part of his history.

We're going to miss this little Nachito. I wish we lived closer, but we do the best with what we have. Peter was bummed we were leaving.

Finally got a picture of John & Thomas at the last minute.

Because Stewart Falls didn't pan out we decided to meet everyone for breakfast. Claire had arrived in town that morning as well, so we had a big family meal at the Magleby's in Springville. Very fancy!

Hannah and Claire have, of course, the most photogenic genes. They are so close as sisters. On our way out we stopped in Moab, where we had intended to spend the night but apparently despite Covid all of the hotel rooms were full because it was Labor Day weekend. I don't know why people get so excited for a holiday weekend when we've basically been on a vacation for the last 2 months- haha! We stopped and went through the shops instead-- one of our favorite things. So much fun. We got some art and t-shirts and John picked out the ugliest knife I've ever seen. But I guess you do you...

Hannah has been making the cutest yarn decorations for sale and I bought this one! I had no idea it was going to be this big but I love it!!

It was disappointing that Arches wasn't open in Moab either because of Covid. This 19-hour drive about does us all in. Peter's feet swell, my sciatic starts really flaring up and the boys start getting testy after a while. They're both pretty good troopers about it though. We opted for KFC on the way there and back because it is something everyone will usually eat and neither time could they give us plates,napkins, or silverware because of Covid restrictions. So how are we exactly supposed to eat fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy in large sharable tubs? Oh well, you know me. I had all the supplies for every scenario stashed in the back of the van. Still dumb though if you ask me.

I was so, so happy to be home I thought, "As long as I'm here I'll never complain about anything again! I'll live a life of gratitude"! That didn't last very long, but reminded me how much I love where I love and the great support system we have here.

My Texas Garden

The first thing I did upon arriving back home from Utah was scope out my garden. (You can see we are unloading the van in the background.) All the plants were so happy after all the storms we had while we were gone. I haven't planted my annual slew of plants yet this year. I was kind of waiting until we got back from our trip. Instead I've been adding all kinds of lawn decor.

This is my favorite recent addition- my Texas armadillo. 
He looks so natural in his little spot here.

I've been giving Will nail polish to paint rocks to keep him occupied. He has a favorite one right now that he keeps in the house.

Someone in the ward moved and gave a couple of buckets of geodes to another friend in the ward, then when that friend moved they gave them to us. We haven't cracked any open yet but I bet Will would be really into that.

My dad gave me this gnome.

First gardenia of the year. 

This is one plant I've never been able to grow before we moved here.

Peter turns 49

Peter had his last birthday of his 40's this week. Rebecca came for the week so she was able to be there, which was really nice. Look at this cute little painting she did for me on the white paper I wrapped his new earbuds in. Sarah went with me to pick out his gifts at Costco because I really didn't feel like going by myself. He also got an electric toothbrush, some Lorna Doones, and Nutter Butters. 

I caught this shot of beautiful Colorado River as we neared downtown to pick up Rebecca.

Quarantine haircuts and sleepless nights

Sarah came over a couple of Sundays ago and gave me what everyone is calling the quarantine haircut.

After she left I had Peter cut some more off the back. When I got in front of my mirror in the bathroom I used a hand mirror to do some more trimming. I think it actually came out pretty well! Then Peter gave in and let me cut his because his sideburns were getting to be too much for Sarah and I to handle. Peter and I decided to get a picture of our handiwork. Look how cute we are 😘

Will and I go to the park almost every day and I have to get pictures of this stuff because it is seriously like living history right now.

  Meanwhile, the toilet paper aisles are still looking like this...

and there is now a public scare over meat shortages and stores are limiting purchases of it again. 

Apparently meat factory workers are getting sick with Coronavirus and they are having to shut down to clean and disinfect, and some farmers are even having to kill their livestock. Not sure I understand why that is. I went to Costco and the entire cooler of chicken was gone and masks are now mandatory in their store. 

As for myself I haven't been able to sleep very well at all. I'm clenching my jaw so hard at night it hurts all the way to my ear on the left side and now it pops incessantly and my body hurts in the morning because I think I'm tensing up in my sleep. Wednesday I drove to my psychiatrist appointment only to find the office closed. Turns out he had sent me a link to an online visit (lost 10 minutes of my 30 min appointment--uggh) and so I sat in the car and did it from my phone. I told him about my sleep, which is a huge thing in mental health whether you have a diagnosed condition or not because it affects everything. I'm awakened in the night (like 3:30) in a panic. The latest one I was having a dream and I woke up to an an extremely loud alarm-- like a smoke detector. It had nothing to do with the narrative of the dream but it had me startled out of sleep and wide awake and instantly on edge until I realized there was no alarm and it must have been a dream. These middle of the night awakenings keep happening, and unlike normal times where I might lay there awake but too tired to do anything else I'm wide awake for hours. Last time I just studied in the hopes I'd eventually fall asleep. I was awake until almost 7:30. The doctor said it sounded very much like a mixed episode and prescribed something I only take when I need to for sleep but it made me so groggy the next morning I don't know if it'll be helpful. I don't think it is out of the ordinary to be struggling right now. We don't even know if we'll be sending kids to school in the fall, or when we will be able to go to church again.

Also the long days at work that start with getting up at 5am are pretty rough. Yesterday I wondered if I'm going to be able to do this 3 days a week when I'm a full-time nurse. For 12 hours you are dealing with people and trying to be positive when they are often struggling, needy, cranky, angry, demanding, or sad. This is trying enough but when I get the a demeaning nurse or two I can get real feisty, real quick. (Gratefully that is the exception.) When I'm just trying to get through school is probably not the time to be thinking about these things.

Running towards the finish line of level 3

Lecture this day went for 5 hours. I was so tired and everyone was still sleeping so I grabbed my pillow and laid on the floor. I slept through some of it. Rolling out of bed, not having to get up early to shower, drive 30 min, book it up to the campus, and then sit for hours and hours in a lecture are big benefits of this transition to online school.

 Very stressful this week as I've had both BYUI and ACC classes and an exam every week for nursing and I've been struggling with it. In some ways it hasn't been as bad as I thought, but in others I'm getting really done with it. 

 Tuesday is my final exam and then my 3rd semester of nursing school is OVER!!

Lucy in quarantine (because of Covid I can spell that now without spellcheck)

This picture on Facebook cracked me up. Too true.

Lucy loves walks and going outside while I work on the lawn so she can drink out of our neighbors fountains. She's pretty obedient about staying close when I tell her to.

Will's days at home

 With school being out we have been spending a lot of time together as a family. I'd have to say overall it is going really well. We were having so much trouble with Will at school this school year. It was taking a big toll on Peter and I as we wondered what we were in for every day as we went to pick him up. His teacher always met us outside to tell us how the day went, and it was more often than not bad news. Turning over desks, ripping up paper, throwing markers at people, getting rough on the playground-- it was all getting to be too much for us to handle because we didn't know what to do about it. We tried every type of bribery but it was more and more obvious he just wasn't happy there. We highly considered pulling him out of school after the Christmas break but with the tax season upon us and me in nursing school I just didn't think we could do it. He has been so much happier as a home-schooled student and it really has gone a lot better than I thought it would have. Granted, we are only spending about an hour a day on it. I hear you really only have to spend about 2 hours a day when you are really homeschooling to basically get the same education you are getting with kids at school all day. I wouldn't doubt it.

 In the meantime, his front teeth are coming in. We haven't seen front teeth on this boy since we had to take them out around 18 months old! He's so cute 💙

Sarah called me the other day to let me know their apartment had a little event going on at their complex with a free shave ice stand. I ran and he rode his bike over there and we got a couple of them. I tipped them 10 bucks because there's no doubt they need it right now. It felt good to do something normal.

 On the way home we stopped to take pictures of the flowers. All the love:)

 I love watching him play from upstairs when I'm working out.

 I also just like to see a clean living room once in a while. 

It's the best.

But sometimes I just see this-- 😅😅😅😅

Did I mention I'm also improving my art skills? 

 We get a little homework done every day. Sometimes we submit photos as part of the assignment. This week science was about forces.

And here was his letter to his class.

And this week I got creative and got out a bunch of old fingernail polish to paint the rocks he's always bringing home. I always end up with rocks in my fanny pack on the way home from the park. It turned out to be a really nice diversion.

This one is his favorite. He calls it his "crystal rock".