Utah Trip and Thanksgiving

Over the week of Veteran's Day, the kids and I drove up to Utah for a quick visit.  Since Ryan was going to be working Thanksgiving, and Chuck's cancer treatment plan was still in limbo, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity rather than counting on Christmas working out.

The morning after we arrived, we went to visit Grandma Cloe!  She let the kids pick leftover apples from the tree, and we all found fallen ones to give to the neighbor's horses.  It was beautiful out there.
  

"Happy Face"

"Boo Hoo"

  
Grandma Cloe was scheduled to leave the next morning with my Aunt Joyce, to go spend the winter with her and Uncle Steve in Big Water, Utah.  It's not clear whether she will end up coming back to live independently in the spring or not, so I felt prompted to take some pictures of the house that has so many memories for me.  The things that are the most familiar, I sometimes forget to capture in photos.  Then, I wish later that I could see it all again.  Sorry if these pictures are boring for everyone but me!
   
While growing up in Springville, we used to have dinner every Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Mapleton.  Grandma had classic menus that rotated around: Roast Beef with Potatoes and Carrots, Meatloaf, Salmon Loaf, pan-fried Chicken Breast, and Pork Chops.  There was almost always deviled eggs, fresh bread, peanut-butter stuffed celery, and our choice of soda in glasses with ice.  She made all of our birthday cakes, which were always served with slices of ice cream on the side (from those square cardboard supermarket containers.)
  

 
I remember sitting right where Elise is as a ten-year-old, eating breakfast of Just Right cereal with milk (regular for the kids, canned for Grandpa.)  In addition to the cereal, we also had sides of toast with butter and jelly, orange juice, and a kids' multivitamin.  Somebody took us to school every morning during the time we lived with them, but we'd usually walk home in the afternoon.  After a snack, we'd cluster in that corner where the couch now is, watching Disney Afternoon and Bullwinkle and Underdog cartoons on a tiny, ancient TV set.

  

We always ended up in the living room after dinner on Sundays.

  

If I'm remembering correctly, we spent the summer after attending Edgemont Elementary with our grandparents.  When school started in the fall, we stayed in their home and attended Mapleton Elementary.  After my mom and Chuck got married in October, we moved to his apartment in Springville for a short time, then into the house at 744 North 970 East.  We finished the school year before switching schools to Springville, but I stayed with my same group of friends, since we were all moving up to middle school anyway.  My brothers transferred to Art City.

  

This used to be Kevin and Kyle's room.

This was my room.  Grandma taught me to make my bed with a fancy bedspread.

I remember hanging my Pound Puppies nightgown in that closet.

  

Grandma and Grandpa's Bedroom

Grandpa spent most of his time here towards the end of his fight with lung cancer.

  
The day after we visited Grandma Cloe, Elise and Evan came down with a cold - or maybe it was the flu.  Either way, they had super high fevers and runny noses and coughs.  Elise didn't get off the downstairs couch for an entire day, she was so lethargic.  Ryan joined us on Friday, and we tried to visit Kyle and Kelli by leaving the kids in the van with a video and taking turns going out to take care of them.  We hoped they'd recover in time to do more, but instead, Connor and Corinne got sick, too.  Ryan flew back Sunday night, and I'd planned to stay longer, but when I woke up feeling ill on Monday morning, I decided to bail.  I grabbed all our stuff, packed it in the car, and drove home that day, just before the sickness got me in earnest.  I felt so bad for giving all those germs to my parents.  It wasn't on purpose.

Anyway, most of our visit looked like this.  Corinne, along with all the kids, was in love with the seven "baby puppies."
 

  
When we got home, I did my full placebo regimen of lots of sleep, no sugar, Airborne tablets and On Guard DoTerra oil.  I managed to get better after four or five days, and never developed the terrible cough everyone else got.  At that point, Elise woke up with a small bump on her knee.  I figured it was a spider bite, and ignored it.  Then, she started limping on one leg, saying her ankle felt sprained.  By afternoon, the other ankle hurt, too.  At about 8pm, I walked past her in the living room, and saw that both her legs were covered with lumpy bumps.  Obviously, I had to take her to urgent care.  They said it was hand, foot, and mouth disease.  Again. (We had it a few months before.)  I had a very hard time accepting that diagnosis, though, because we hadn't been anywhere for two weeks other than a gas station restroom in St. George.  The doctor also said her breathing was wheezy, so they gave her a breathing treatment and sent us home.  I decided to take her to the pediatrician, even though the bumps were mostly gone by morning.  He agreed that it wasn't hand, foot, and mouth (thank goodness, since that would have wrecked our Thanksgiving plans,) but rather a common reaction to a viral infection.  He also diagnosed her with walking pneumonia!  Poor girl.  Connor was diagnosed with an ear infection, so they both got antibiotics, and were good as new in time for Thanksgiving.  (Oh, and poor Grandma did come down with the kids' flu, and also ended up with pneumonia.  It took her more than a month to recover.  Yeah I felt bad.)  Throughout all this, the kids kept themselves busy at home as best they could.
   

Urgent Care

I can't imagine why we're always sick.

Artwork by Evan

Elise

Connor

No, I just don't understand why we're sick all the time . . .

  
We got together with the Jepsens again for Thanksgiving.  We did mashed potatoes, my mom's stuffing, set salad, green bean casserole, and sparkling cider.  They handled the turkey, the gravy, rolls, and pie.  It was awesome.  After dinner and playing, the kids got to roast marshmallows around a fire pit.
    

     
Connor and Elise got their school pictures!  School pictures are a funny thing.  They're never the greatest pictures I get of my kids, but I have to have them anyway.  These actually turned out pretty cute.