Another Trip to Idaho

Well, we were finally able to make our trip to Idaho for Garrett's orthodontist appointment and this time the whole family went. I don't like taking the kids out of school but we had to this time and it was totally worth it. We had a great weekend! Curtis and I drove separately because he had to travel to a place in Oregon for a meeting and he also needed to stay a few extra days in Boise to train someone. We decided to meet up in Pendleton to caravan. The kids and I packed up the van and left after school on Thursday. I did get the girls out a little early so we could get on the road faster. I think we got on the road by 4:00. Garrett switched vehicles in Pendleton when we met up with Curtis, so he rode with him the rest of the way. We got to Grandma's house around 9:00pm. It only takes 4 hours but with the time change it seemed like 5 hours.

Garrett's appointment was at 10:30am on Friday and it was a quick appointment. They just did the usual tightening. If he can remember to wear his rubber bands at night, he should be able to get his braces off soon. There's just one little space they are trying to close up on his upper left. After that, he'll get them off. Garrett told the orthodontist that he keeps forgetting to wear his rubber bands and the orthodontist said well, I just might forget to take your braces off. Ha ha. Even after that, Garrett still has a hard time remembering, so now I have to start reminding him again until he gets in the habit.

Garrett seemed to think that it was going to be warm in Idaho because it had been nice here at home and so he didn't pack a jacket or even a sweatshirt. He quickly regretted that when we woke up to snow and had to drive in it on the way to his appointment! He said he needed a new jacket anyway and asked if we could go to Walmart after the appointment, so we did. We found him a jacket and a nice button up long sleeve hoodie.

This is the long sleeved hoodie. It's nice to see him trying new styles.

Later that afternoon, Dad, Laverne and Joyce came over to grandma's and we (the adults) played lots of Golf. Curtis wasn't there though because he went to work in Meridian.

Laverne gave Alice this crown that she had received from a church activity. Alice loves it! She's my girly girl.

Dealing out the cards for Golf.

After Curtis got home from work, we got ready to go to dinner with our friends, the Ballantynes. Jack is best friends with their son Porter, so Porter came over to hang out with Jack while the parents went out. We invited grandma to come with us to thank her for letting us stay with her again. Dad and Laverne had to go home to get to bed early since they work in the early shift at the temple on Saturdays. All of us like Jade Garden and hadn't been there in a long time, so that's where we went. 

Before we left for dinner.

These two ate a muscle at the same time. They said it wasn't too bad.

After dinner, we went back to grandma's and watched a movie called "Knight and Day". It is a romantic comedy action film. Heather had suggested it because that's the type of movie Curtis was in the mood to watch. It has Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. We enjoyed it.

Grandma, Jack and I started a puzzle during the day and after the movie was over, I started working on it again. Grandma joined in. Heather wanted to join also but they needed to leave because Porter was going to a ski competition the next morning for his school ski team. Grandma and I were able to finish the 300 piece Civil War puzzle. I had been hoping to do a puzzle while we were here so I'm glad we were able to start and finish in one day.

Picture with the finished puzzle.

Saturday morning our family went over to my in-laws to have breakfast and a late Christmas (and some birthdays) with them. They fixed us some German pancakes, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, and orange juice. Curtis had mentioned to Ricky that we would be there, so their family came over as well.

Alice got a cute animated puppy for a birthday gift and some art things for Christmas.

Charlotte got a Harry Potter t-shirt, penguin socks, and colorful stretchy shoelaces. Now we need to buy her some shoes that actually have shoelaces. Most nowadays have velcro or zippers.

Garrett was pretty happy with his Zelda picture. Grandma did good!

Jack got a game, some quarters, and fidget puzzles.

They gave me some new pajamas and a butter dish. I was excited to get the pajamas because mine were starting to fall apart. I love the ones she picked out for me. They are medium weight colored purple, red, blue and black with pant pockets and they are pretty comfortable. I asked how she knew I needed new pjs and she said she saw my pjs (either when they visited or the last time I visited, I'm not sure) and knew I needed new ones. Curtis got a BSU t-shirt and a card shuffler. I'm excited about the card shuffler too because ever since using the one at Grandma's, I wanted one too.

Afterwards, we played a couple rounds of "Pass the Pig", which is a fun and simple game that you can play with a lot of people. Then we decided we wanted to go see Ricky and Jenna's new house they just moved into over in Boise. It's a nice house in a nice neighborhood and they have neighbors with pastures behind them, so there's plenty of space. They have a cool little playhouse also that has lots of windows and clear roof, so there's lots of light. There's also a wrap around deck on the whole playhouse. I wasn't very good at taking pictures though.

Lexi and Alice are a year apart, but they love playing together. They were dressed like twins and look so much alike that we had to take a picture. They are definitely related!

We hung out over there for a couple of hours and finally headed back to Grandma's.  We had to stop by Walmart on the way to grab a veggie tray and soda because we were having a get together with Grandma, Joyce, Dad, Laverne, and Tammy's family. They were all bringing pizzas. I told Whitney we were in town and so she stopped by for a bit as well.

Getting ready to play Golf again.

That evening there was an event put on by "The Chosen" at the Idaho Center. It was a free interfaith event but required tickets. Laverne was able to get 7 tickets and the adults all went to the show, except Chris who watched his kids and Charlotte for us. I took Alice over to see her best friend Sydney (our old neighbor). The Ballantynes were going to the show too and they had an extra ticket, so they picked up Jack to go with Porter. We were all able to sit together. Garrett stayed at Grandma's and watched classic Disney cartoons like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, etc. I think he got in the mood to watch them because of the drawing videos he watched.

Anyway, the Chosen event was really good. They started out with a prayer and a band singing. Then they had 4 actors from the chosen take turns telling their faith stories and experiences with the show. They had some more music after that, but we had decided we had seen what we came to see and left a little early. We wanted to beat the traffic anyway and have time to pick up our girls.

The guy who plays Andrew (Simon's brother).

The girl who plays Tamar.

The guy who plays Shmuel.

The guy who plays Zebedee. (I don't remember their real names.)

The next morning we went to church at 9am with Grandma, Dad, Laverne and Joyce. Garrett woke up not feeling well, so Curtis went to the store for some cold/flu pills and Garrett stayed at Grandma's to sleep. It has been years since I have been to 4th ward and stayed for Relief Society but I wanted to this time. I warned the kids several times that we were staying for the full two hours. The girls didn't want to go to primary at first. They were going to come with me to Relief Society but Laverne said they have a very small primary (about 6 kids). I think Charlotte got nervous when she saw all of the women going into Relief Society and changed her mind. Alice still wanted to go with me but we talked her into trying primary. It was a good thing they went because there was only one other little boy. With them, it was just 3 kids. They combined all of them into one class and the girls were glad they went. Jack went to class with Curtis.

After church, we had chicken noodle and Zuppa Toscana soups along with bread and leftover veggies and soda. Tamara's family came over again and so did Whitney again for little bit. She painted me some more ornaments as a gift. We visited until about 2:00 and then started loading the van up. Curtis packed the van up for me but then he decided to go spend the next few days with his parents at their house. Laverne got a picture of us before we left.

Jack was trying to play the piano with Grandma. It was fun to watch. They were playing a song from the newer version of Pride and Prejudice. We love that music! 

I got on the road about 2:15. I did struggle to stay awake during this drive because I was already pretty tired and had to pull over once for myself, but we made it home safe. It was a great weekend visiting family and friends!

Random Stuff

Charlotte has been studying about the native American Indians called the Coastal Tribe, who live on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. She made her own totem pole that she started in class but finished at home. And for the fun of it, she drew some symbols on her own fake animal skin for the plateau tribes.

She wrote a story with the symbols. The big symbol on bottom she made up herself and calls it "The End".

Jack had a band thing where he performed in an ensemble (the thing we had to reschedule his party for). I don't really know if it was an actual competition or how it worked but they did give advice to each group after their performance. The song they picked out was a difficult piece but they did well.

He's playing the French horn and wearing Curtis's black hat.

Last week I took the girls to the store to pick out Valentines for their classmates. We wanted to get it done while there was a good selection and before we went to Idaho. They found some fun big stuffed animals. I wouldn't buy them, but they wanted a picture all the same. Alice also wanted to pick out a gift for me since Charlotte had got me something the day before. Charlotte picked out a small box of chocolates and Alice picked out a purple orchid. I love that they wanted to give me something.

I did buy the suckers for the girls but not the stuffed animals. 

She knew purple was one of my favorite colors.

Alice finally decided to try brushing her hair for the first time. She did a good job but she hasn't tried again since.

I was teaching her to bring her hair to the side to brush.

After celebrating Jack's birthday on Sunday the 4th, I decided to start my new puzzle. I can't believe how big it is! It went to the very top and bottom edges of my puzzle mat. Because of that, I couldn't roll it up without it falling apart and some pieces falling out. We had it on the mat on top of a folding table in the living room for about a week. I covered it with a sheet to protect it from the cats while we went out of town. After we returned, the girls forgot it was under there and scooted it over to place something on the table. I finally decided that maybe now wasn't the right time to start this puzzle. I feel like I don't really have a lot of time to work on it. I can easily do a 100-500 piece puzzle in a day or two but a 2000 piece puzzle is going to take a lot more time and I feel like there's so many other things that take priority right now. I bagged up all of the edge pieces to put together later so I wouldn't have to dig them out again. Milo tried to eat one piece that fell to the floor but luckily I got it out of his mouth before it got damaged.

Maybe I'll have to take this puzzle on vacation this summer. We're renting a cabin near Couer d Alene and will be going to Silverwood and looking to do other things as well. This will make up for having to cancel our cabin at Christmas.

Jack's 15th Birthday

We celebrated Jack's birthday on Sunday the 4th of February. His birthday was the next day but because Garrett had a thing to go to we decided to celebrate it on Sunday. He actually wanted a cake for the family celebration. He and Curtis went to the store the night before and picked one out. Jack picked chocolate.

Jack was laughing because the box he's holding is a prank gift box. It says the gift is a Nap Sack, a sack you can put over your head and take a nap anywhere, even at church. 😂 The real gift inside was a new hat.

The girls picked out this Squishmallow dragon for him.

Here's his haul from us this year. Two games, the complete MASH series on dvd, mint Oreos, exercise equipment, the Squishmallow, a hat, and a bag he wanted.

Here's the prank box and Jack finally gave Curtis back his hat since he got a new one for himself.

Now they are hat twins!

Alice wrote this note and put it on the fridge about being excited to celebrate Jack's birthday. I thought it was so cute.

Jack's friend, Caleb, shares a birthday with Jack and so his mom and I got together to plan a double birthday party with friends since they basically have the same friend group. At first, we thought of going to a trampoline place but that was way too expensive. And we thought about bowling, but we ultimately just decided to have the party at our house. I was fine with hosting since Caleb's house is kind of small.  We were going to do it on Saturday the 2nd but it turned out that he had a band thing in the middle of the day. Jack had the bright idea to have the party right after school the following Wednesday (the 7th) because it's early release and they get out at 10:30am. We just had the party right after school and most of them walked to our house from school. There were 12 kids there including the birthday boys and Jack was happy that his little sisters were at school during most of the party, so as not to disturb him. 

They started by playing "Secret Hitler", a board game that we learned at Jeanie's over Thanksgiving and he loved it so much that he asked for it for his birthday. That was one of the games he got on Sunday.

Two of the boys sat out and waited their turn.

Food break! Pizza, chips, fruit, veggies and soda.

Caleb wanted pie and Jack wanted a donut. He didn't know it was going to be gigantic though. It was a fun surprise. Caleb's mom, Charlene, told me about this bakery in Pasco that makes big donuts, so I drove over there that morning to get one. They happened to have exactly the flavor he wanted also, chocolate with sprinkles.

I've never seen such a big donut!

Getting ready to sing to the boys.

Light em up, up, up! (I played that song while they did this, ha ha)

He has a good group of friends. They went outside toward the end and ran around playing games out there. Then I asked them to get a group photo.

Silly picture!

He's turning into a handsome young man.

The Cone of Shame

Our snow melted slowly but it is all gone now except for a few tiny patches from bigger piles. I'm glad to see it go! And last Friday was the BIG day for Milo. We decided to get him fixed and originally, we thought we'd have to wait until he was 6 months old, but the vet told us in November that we could have it done any time. After his last shots in December, I scheduled him to get fixed the end of January and last Friday was the day. Just like humans before a surgery, he was not allowed to have any food past 10pm the night before but he could have water. Everything went smoothly. We dropped him off at 9am and picked him up close to 4:30pm. We also decided to have him microchipped, so if we ever lose him, then he can be scanned for our information to get him home again. He came home with "the cone of shame". We actually did not put it on him until after we got home because there wouldn't be much room in his kennel. He looked so sad and pathetic. The post-surgery instructions said that they might seem depressed and he certainly did. They also sent home 3 pain pills that he only took once a day. 

 

Charlotte was good to keep him company and helped him hold his chew bone.

"I do not like the cone of shame".  (The line from the movie "Up" from the dog named Dug)

Charlotte had also put on her own cone of shame from a game that we have (Exploding Kittens) just to help him feel better and like he wasn't the only one. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a picture of her. Alice took a turn with it also and once again, no picture. It was so cute though. It's been a little rough this week because he's not allowed to run and jump or get dirty for 10-14 days. We have to put a leash on him and take him out to go potty. I'm just glad that it's still winter and that he's not missing out on much since it's been raining. If things look good, I think we should be able to remove the cone on Monday but for now he has to wear it 24/7 because he likes to lick himself and we can't have that causing problems.

While Milo was at the vet, the boys had an early release because it was the last day of finals and the semester. Jack's friend Caleb, and his mom and brother came over after school so that we could do some party planning. Jack and Caleb share the same birthday and so we're having a combined friend's party. We originally planned to have it this coming Saturday the 3rd but then we found out that the boys and most of their friends have band stuff going on (ensemble/solo competition). They also have pep band (playing for basketball games) Friday night. The following weekend we'll be in Idaho. Fortunately, Jack had the idea to just do it on Wednesday the 7th because the boys have early release at 10:30am. Their friends will just come over right after school and hang out and play games for a few hours. We'll have the family party and opening of our gifts on Sunday the 4th, so it works out perfectly.

Here is a picture of the two hand warmers that I made as testers for our activity days activity. The yellow one was made out of felt and the other was cotton, I think. The felt was just a little too thick and you have to warm it up more to feel the heat, so we decided not to use anymore felt. But I gave it to Charlotte since it's her favorite color. The gray one I wanted to see how it would go with hand stitching it together around the outside. It took too long and I liked the look of the machine sewn better, so I let Alice keep that one. She decided to give it to a friend. These two were the original size from the pattern I found online but Sister Gale made a slightly bigger one that we did for the rest of them.

Charlotte wanted to make some for friends and so she got to do a little practicing at home before the activity. We also went to the store to pick out a color for one of her friends, Wesley, because he wanted green. She ended up picking out a dinosaur pattern because he likes dinosaurs.

Finally using her machine again!

Monday was the activity and I think it was a hit. There were 13 girls there, but we had 3 machines going. I helped with my two machines and Sister Gale had hers. She also sent the girls home with a fleece scarf that they had the option to cut the ends of it or not. She left that up to the parents to help if they did want to cut them. Sister Gale got pictures of all of the girls after they finished their hand warmers. She sent me the ones of my girls.

While we were shopping for the dinosaur fabric, Charlotte saw some wooden cutouts that you can paint and she really wanted to get a cow and paint it for her teacher because her teacher loves cows. I told her she had to promise to actually paint it and give it to her if I were to buy it. And she did!

She did a pretty good job all by herself!

I know this next picture is late, but I had Curtis send it to me since he took it on his phone. Sometimes I have a difficult time finding the pictures that people send me when I go to copy it to my computer, but I finally figured it out. This is from my birthday, but I love it and had to share.

We had our final weigh in on Sunday for our biggest loser competition. I did not make my goal but the fact that I still lost weight over the holidays and all of the birthdays is a big success. I lost about 7 lbs. It was a very close race between Curtis and his brother Ricky but Curtis came out as the winner by 0.3%. They both lost 26 lbs though, which is amazing! My mother-in-law lost enough weight to be able to stop taking insulin, so that was awesome to hear! It was a good competition and we all lost some weight (about 120 lbs combined). Unfortunately, Stillman and Michelle had to bow out early because they just had too many things going on to think about it, with their son Alex going on a mission and other stuff. We talked about taking a break and maybe doing another competition later this year. And we're going to check back in 6 weeks to see how everyone is doing. The competition ended up being between us, Ricky & Jenna, Gaya, Shauna and Aubrey. It amazed me that Ricky and Jenna could still do so well when they were busy moving from Alaska down to Boise and had to live with my in-laws for a little bit. They were both committed and both of them met their weight loss goals. Curtis and they were the only ones to reach their goals. Overall, it was a positive experience and it helped us to keep ourselves in check, especially over the holidays.