Eli's Surprise Birthday Parade!

The birthday parade was a hit! Heather and I had decided to do it on Eli's birthday which was Thursday the 21st at 5:00pm. I told Tonna and she made the call to the police department to have them come to the parade at that time. Well, a couple days later Heather asked if she could move up the time for the parade to 4:30 so that she could do a birthday party for Eli at the trampoline park called DEFY. I messaged Tonna about changing the time but she did not reply for several days. I didn't want to start telling too many people about it until we knew for sure. She finally replied to me on Sunday and said that she was out of town on a hunting trip and didn't always have cell service. She said that the call was made for the original time but that I could call in and change it. Whoever I talked to at the station said she didn't know anything about it but wrote down the information and said she would get it figured out and that if I she didn't call back then it was taken care of. Well, I never heard back from her so I went ahead with advertising to let people know about it. I texted our neighbor friends. Then I posted it to the elementary school facebook page since both Eli and Charlotte go to school there. I called and asked Laverne if they could come. I got positive responses and seemed like I might get a good turnout so I wasn't sure I needed to post on the Relief society page but I finally decided the night before that I would go ahead and do it. I'm glad I did because between all the different groups we had at least 20 cars in our parade!

Those who were going to be in the parade met at the Baptist Church just down the road right next to our neighborhood park. I told people to meet there at 4:15 and that we would start the parade around 4:25 or so to try and be to Heather's house by 4:30. I bought some decorations at the store the day before plus some gifts. Then the day of the birthday I bought some balloons and took the van to get washed so I could write a message on the windows. I put everything in the van that I would need before picking Charlotte up from school and then we went straight to the parking lot after getting Charlotte because I knew I would need extra time to decorate. The wind that was blowing did not help when it came time to decorate. It was difficult to get the balloons tied on top of the rack but I made it work. I also strapped my radio to the top of my van so I could play happy birthday music. Unfortunately the police escort did not show up so I figured they didn't get the message about the time change but we were going to do it with or without them. As soon as we rolled out of the parking lot and started driving down the road my two signs that I had on the front of the van both ripped! Oh well, the show must go on. When we came around in front of their house I stopped the van so the girls could jump out and give Eli balloons that were tied to his favorite treats, Oreos and Sour Patch Kids. Then they got back in and we drove down the street a little ways before pulling over so I could grab the radio and walk back down there to have music playing while the rest of the parade came by. 

Our friend Ashlie came back around after the parade and threw lots of candy to the kids. While we helped pick up the candy for Eli I finally had my chance to give a hug to their daughter Alexis. I have been wanting to give everyone a big hug in this family ever since the tragedy. It had been about 2 1/2 weeks by this time and she cried and said thank you for doing this. Again, my heart just ached for their family. It's going to be tough.

A little while later after the kids had taken all of Eli's gifts inside I received a phone call from a police officer about the parade. I told him he hadn't received the message about us changing the time and that we already did the parade but that Eli was still here and they could come. So they did! There were about 7 police vehicles that came I think. Some were SUVs, some were on motorcycles and some in trucks. And one pulled over to go say hi to Eli and had him sit in his car to get a badge and a picture. Even though the police weren't part of the original parade they still had their own little procession and it was just as cool! They each did their sirens and one played the theme song from "Cops"...bad boys bad boys, what ya gonna do when they come for you! It was such a great experience to be able to do this for their family and how much happiness it brought them!

Laverne took this picture. I was the lead car and they were the 7th in line. The gals behind me were both teachers from the school, one was the librarian who did the card my yard sign.

He received a lot of balloons from people.

This was the last one. Their child is in Eli's kindergarten class.

I tried to put the signs back together for a picture but as you can see the wind was still blowing them around. It's my happy birthday sign that I have had for years. It went out with a bang I guess. Time to retire to the recycle bin.

I had the window wiper holding down the banner in the back. The balloons were supposed to be in two long rows on top. One row got tangled when the girls were holding it for me so I ended just tying it up there in a bunch instead. It worked.

I had to get a picture with the birthday boy. I wrote the message "Happy Birthday Eli!" on both sides of the van since we were going to be coming around in a circle on the cul de sac.

The card my yard sign looked awesome and everything turned out great!

A little later I took Charlotte to the birthday party at the trampoline place while Curtis went with Jack to the family showcase band night for Garrett. Ashlie watched Alice for me since she was coughing during the day and had a little runny nose. The kids had a great time at the party.

Enjoying some pizza and soda in the party room after jumping for an hour.

Happy birthday Eli! I'm so glad I had this opportunity to serve you and your family. I look forward to finding more ways to serve them and others.

Small Harvest and Other Memorable Things

On a happier note, last week Charlotte finally picked all of her cantaloupes she was growing. Unfortunately we were only able to eat one as the rest had gone bad before we could get to them. Not bad for our first try though! I'm not a fan of cantaloupe so I didn't eat any but Charlotte, Garrett and I think Curtis enjoyed eating it, well definitely Charlotte enjoyed eating it!

I also realized I forgot to mention anything about my great Uncle Bob passing away on September 28th. His funeral was last Tuesday Oct 5th at the Canyon Bldg. It's amazing the difference in the two types of deaths. His death was expected and he had lived a good long life. He was nearly 93 years old and ready to go Home. There weren't very many tears at his funeral because we know where he is and now Joyce can relax. It was such a burden on her to take care of him. She is so small and frail. On the day that he passed he was given a blessing to be released from this mortal life. He passed away about 30 minutes later. What a blessing to have the priesthood and gospel in our lives. I only wish more people like my neighbors would be willing to accept it. All we can do is love and serve them, as Jesus would.

Here are a few fun pictures from last week.

Alice fell asleep with stickers she had placed all over her face. It was pretty cute!

Alice enjoying one of the plum popsicles. Charlotte finally finished them off yesterday.

I bought these shoes brand new from Walmart right before school started. Not even two months later and they are completely falling apart. I had to make a run to D.I. to find a pair of shoes for her. Luckily I found a pair of pink and purple Sketchers that look like they will last longer than these and they were used!

Never buying this style again unless it's made by a reputable company.

Thursday night the band needed help painting backdrops. I was able to get Nikki to come help. Her art teacher was the one in charge.

It's post Apocalypse since their theme is "Out of the Ashes". I can't wait to see what the finished paintings will look like since we didn't get a whole lot done that night. They just need to be done before the next competition on the 23rd.

Last Saturday we attempted to go to the Farmstead for a family activity. It was jammed packed with people! So many cars that we were backed up on Eagle Rd! We decided it wouldn't be worth it and ended up just going to Smoky Mountain Pizza for dinner instead. The boys both had a friend come with and one of them got car sick. He started to get nauseated when driving out to Kuna but the pizza place was over in Meridian. Just as we were about to pull in to the pizza place I grabbed the trash bag since it was the only available bag and passed it back just in time for him to puke into it. Poor kid. We parked quickly and got him out of the van as fast as we could so he could get some air. There was a little that leaked from the bag that I had to clean up but we caught most of it. He was able to eat after that and made it to our house just fine. We just hung out at home after dinner and the boys played video games with their friends and watched a show. Garrett and his friend Ryan went to the stake dance. It was the first time for Ryan and he was nervous since it was his first time. He's a lot like Garrett in their personalities so they get along great. I love that he finally has a new friend! Ryan ended up having a great time but we didn't actually hear about it until the next day because they were both exhausted on the ride home from the dance. They both brought home a half a dozen donuts from the dance too so that was a bonus. I have a feeling he'll want to go to the next dance also. Garrett will have a competition again that day but we'll see what happens.  

The Worst Kind of News

Sunday morning of October 3rd I received a shocking text message from my neighbor friend Ashlie telling me that her next door neighbor just shot himself. They live right across the street from us. Whoa, that was the last thing I was expecting to hear as I was waking up thinking I was going to enjoy watching general conference. After that I couldn't concentrate. I kept thinking about my neighbors. My two oldest kids used to be best friends with their two oldest kids, Alexis and Jake. They have gone their different ways ever since they entered middle school. The youngest, Eli, is now friends with Charlotte so we are still connected. I just kept running through my mind what might have happened and how everyone must be feeling and I so wanted to go over and hug Heather (the mom) but figured it was too soon. I wasn't sure what I would say or do either but I wanted to do something. Finally after I dropped Alice off to preschool on Monday I went to Walmart and picked out some flowers and then to the dollar store to get a card (because I forgot to get one at Walmart). I took them over after I had signed it but Heather wasn't there. Her brother answered the door (he has been around for awhile so I knew who he was) and told me she wasn't home but that the flowers and card were much appreciated. 

I went all last week feeling helpless for them. While they had a lot of family and friends show up during the week I decided to wait to go over there because I'm sure she was probably overwhelmed at times (which she was). My heart has been aching for their family. I just wanted to go over and give each of them a big hug but wasn't sure when. I was able to text Heather a little bit during the week so that at least helped. Finally this last Monday night (2 days ago) Heather's other next door neighbor and best friend Erin set up a meal train and gift card options of ways to help their family and Heather had texted me and many others the information. I was so happy to finally be able to help and have an excuse to go over and see her without wondering if I was intruding or not. So I signed up to take them a meal the very next day, which was yesterday.  It was a little difficult at first coming up with a meal to take them since they needed it to be gluten free but I went with Creamy White Chili, white rice, salad and rice krispie treats.  I was able to give her a big hug and visit a little bit and then another big hug before leaving. She had told me that yes it's been difficult but she thinks they will be fine and get through this. She and the kids have all been getting counseling now as well. What a relief to finally visit with her. I feel so much better!

Earlier in the morning yesterday I had also been thinking about their youngest son Eli who is going to have a birthday in just a couple of weeks and how difficult this will be to have lost his dad and have a birthday the same month. I wanted to do something to make his day happier. Two impressions came to my mind. The first one was to have a gal that works at our elementary school do a card the yard for his birthday since I knew that she started doing that a year ago. I messaged her to ask about prices After she told me she also asked about the Edwards family. I said that this is actually who I was wanting it for and she said she would do it for free. I got goosebumps and a feeling like this was inspired. The next idea I had after that was that our PTA president is a police officer and I asked her about doing a birthday parade for him like so many had done during Covid last year. She said absolutely! She also mentioned the idea of having one police officer stop by afterwards and let the kids climb in the car and look around. I told Heather this idea when I took over dinner yesterday and she said she would ask the older kids what they thought first and let me know. I was so excited about being able to instigate these things for once instead of being on the side lines quietly waiting to see what others would do. I sure hope they are okay with it because I think it will be great! I was so happy about it all day yesterday. Finally, a reason to smile for their family. UPDATE: I received a text from Heather this morning and she wants to do both! Yay! I can't wait!  Now to figure out what day and time and then round up as many people as we can to participate. His birthday is on the 21st which is a Thursday and that's when I would like to do it but I'll wait to hear back from her again about which day.

I took a picture of another neighbor's cute cat climbing our tree. Heather's (the Edwards) house is the one on the left and Ashlie's house is on the right. I wanted to post some sort of picture with this post so this was a picture I already took last week.

As a side note: Heather and Joe are members of our church but have never gone to church since they moved here from Oregon 12 or so years ago. They did however come to scout activities at the church when Jake was in scouts. Heather became best friends with her neighbor Erin who goes to the Church of the Brethren on the corner of Middleton and Orchard. Heather told me yesterday that they have gone to church on Easter a couple of times with Erin and Corey and she really liked their pastor. They also sent their kids a few times to their church camp up near McCall. So they will be doing the funeral services at that church. Some of the ward members know who they are and most have not but I have still asked for them to pray for this family and to help if they could with the meal train and gift cards. God loves everyone, no matter what our choices in life may be, no matter which church we decide to attend. I just want Heather to know that I love her as a friend and want to help in any way I can. 

Some Bad Days and a Harry Potter Party

We have been struggling with Nikki lately and her feeling down a lot. I was called twice the week before last week by her school's counselor. The 2nd time they had me come in and meet with the counselor and the resource officer. Nikki has had thoughts of suicide and just feeling like everyone hates her and she hates herself. They have recommended twice now to take her to a hospital for mental health or to at least get her into her therapist as soon as she could. It was on a Thursday when that happened and normally she does see her therapist on Thursday afternoons but her therapist was out of town. Fortunately we were able to get Nikki in to see one of the other therapists that works at the same place. I actually liked her better because she actually pulled me into her office with Nikki after talking with Nikki alone. The other therapist doesn't talk to me unless I specifically ask questions so I don't really know what's going on. The therapist said she didn't think Nikki was to the point of needing to go to the hospital but gave me the suggestion to take her to a psychiatrist and gave me a couple of names she recommended. 

She didn't have the greatest day on Friday at school but she did go. Curtis decided that she needed to get out of the house and get her mind off everything so he took her out to Boise Saturday morning. They went to Freak Alley in downtown Boise where the building's walls are covered with artwork. Then they hiked up to Table Rock up on the cliff and then drove out to Lucky Peak. Taking her out seemed to do the trick. She had started out the day in a negative mood but then after they got back she was feeling good again and even started to work on her artwork. She hasn't done much of that lately. She also spent most of the day on Sunday doing artwork and continued to be in a good mood. That mood has seemed to have carried over into the whole last week because most of it she was doing good. Even though she was doing artwork for school it still made me happy to see her happy doing art again. However, Monday night she came into our room crying after everyone had gone to sleep.  She climbed into bed next to me and just cried for a bit and then I went out to the front room with her. Shortly after Curtis came out also. Between the two of us we were able to calm her down and talk to her until she was feeling better and so tired she was ready for sleep. Pretty much the rest of the week she was fine. I was able to schedule her with a psychiatrist but it is a month out. A couple others I had called were a 5-6 month wait. So I'm hoping and praying that we'll be able to help keep her on a positive path while we wait.

On Saturday October 2nd I watched conference with the kids while Curtis took Nikki to Boise. Then after the 2nd session was over I took the girls to a Harry Potter party while Curtis went to Garrett's band competition in Kuna. The original plan was to have Nikki take the girls so that we could go to the competition together but I decided I better just do it after her rough week. I'm glad I went though because I was having a bad day myself but not really knowing why. I just didn't feel like doing things and didn't want to go to the party. But that's exactly what I needed. I was able to visit with old friends and watch my girls have a good time and it totally changed my mood. We had a good time.

They had a craft to make a monster book because it was based off the 3rd Harry Potter book/movie.

The inside of her book, or the mouth. I thought I got a picture of Charlotte with hers but apparently I didn't. Oops!

They had the face painter there again. She wanted to be a unicorn.

Charlotte wanted to be a dog...or in this case Sirius Black.

We went out front where there were dementors (black balloons filled with confetti). We had to think of what makes us happy and then pop the balloon with a wand using the spell, Expecto Patronum! Alice got covered in confetti.

The kids had a field trip to "Hogsmeade" and found the candy store called Honeydukes. They each were given some galleons (money) to buy a bag of candy.

The food table in the same room as Honeydukes.

The other half of Honeydukes candy store.

The bogart in the cupboard. They take shape of the thing you fear the most.

The art of reading tea leaves.

Sirius Black was there in dog form!

It's amazing how just changing our circumstance can change our mood. Sometimes we can't do that alone though as I have learned. Sometimes we need others more than we know. I'm grateful Nikki is doing better because of Curtis changing her circumstance and taking her to Boise. And I'm grateful I was able to change my circumstance by going to the party that I wasn't really in the mood to go to and visited with friends.