My Spleen!

Merril wrecked his dirt bike going up a hill. He says he doesn't really know what happened but that his side hurts. Maybe a handle bar kicked him in the gut? He got an ultrasound and the doc said he bruised his spleen. Spleen? Sounds made up. lol. We had to look up what is the function of a spleen? It fights invading germs in the blood (the spleen contains infection-fighting white blood cells) it controls the level of blood cells (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) it filters the blood and removes any old or damaged red blood cells.

So there you have it. The doc said it should heal on its own but if he starts peeing or vomiting blood, to come back in. 😲 Stellar advice. Hopefully he can take it easy for a bit. That's not really his style but here's hoping! 🤞 I'm glad he's not more hurt.

Kids Are Funny

Kids are silly. I don't really have anything else to say. Whether at home or out and about, they're cracking me up.

Most of the time. 💞

 

A New Record!

This is not a great record to be setting. A new throwing up record! 18 times from 12:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m! He was running to the toilet every 10 minutes for two hours. I think he ate something funny and his body was like, "NOPE!" 

After being up all night, we slept a little in the morning. By afternoon he was holding down food and water and laughing. 😝😅 I'm not gonna lie, that was rough.

 

Eating MREs

Merril received a bunch of MREs from Steve Christian (fire marshal Steve) and we decided to try them out for fun. They cooked themselves in the bag.

Time to taste!

They were...okay. I could eat them if I was starving but they gave me the tummy rumblies. 

There was some hesitation from the kids about the meals and they thought they were going to be so gross! But the general consensus was that they could do it. Maybe they wouldn't choose to but they could. Good job trying something new kids!

Mikayla in Lego League!

I chopped my hair! I wanted to get enough for a donation and so it's a little short for a ponytail. But Juliet curled it all cute and it's fun! I like to shake it up every now and then!

Mikayla has been attending lego league after school a few days a week. They build Lego robots and now it's time for competition at Dixie State! Hailey Martin and Rebekah Vick were there from Maxine's robotics team as helpers.

I'm kind of glad it's over because now I don't have to drive to pick her up.😂

 

A Little Tidbit From Maxine...er...Sister Campbell

Maxine's really good about sending awesome emails every week. Wade Beatty likened them to conference talk level! I've started her own blog just so I have a place where they are all together and I can print them into a book later. http://sistercampbellmission.blogspot.com

It was hard for her this week because everyone has Covid right now and basically a bunch of people cancelled because they were sick. Boo.

Elder Wyness' face just always cracks me up. Sister Maughan is her trainer. I don't know if I said that before. Probably? But I'm going backwards today and I can't remember what I've talked about before. Maxine is still hanging in there. Part of me wonders if she'll come home early, because of anxiety. But she seems to be doing okay. 

 

Warm Day, a King Cake, and COVID

It was a beautiful day! No wind and highs in the 50s. Mark and Mikayla decided is was warm enough for swim suits. Now I don't agree but I admire their enthusiasm. They got the trampoline wet and played with water balloons. Awesome!

It was also the day for Epiphany! I've stuffed so many babies in the King Cake that everyone finds one. Juliet is the only one I took a picture of. 

I make the king cake a little different this year. I used crescent dough and filled it with sweetened cream cheese and strawberry jam. It was good!

And Merril tested positive for COVID this morning. He developed a fever and chills in the middle of the night. We isolated him to the spare bedroom and I brought him a pitcher of water, so he could stay hydrated. Hopefully, no one else catches it. I've had a sore throat for 2 days but I tested negative this morning. I'm hoping that my vaccine helps a little. The kids will have to stay home for 5 days and then go to school with a mask if they feel fine. Juliet is vaccinated so she can attend school like normal.

Update: Merril had a fever, chills and aches for 36 hours. After that he felt pretty okay. He got tested again on Saturday and tested negative. He feels a tiny bit weak but other than that, no other symptoms. I'm glad he had an easy go of it! Covid is so weird, I'm glad he was one of the lucky ones!

Sty

Mikayla developed a sty in her eye. We soaked it and it's getting better. It made her eye a little puffy but not too bad. It really doesn't look like that much in the picture. lol

My Favs 💕

I love finding random gems on people's phones. I think Julie took this. It's real and it's genuine. I love my kids and I love hanging out with them. 💕

 

JoLyn and Logan Simmons

JoLyn and Logan were married in the Payson Temple on the last day of 2021! We went up to attend the sealing and help with the reception. It was so cold and snowy! Payson had received a bunch on snow the night before. JoLyn was able to borrow a beige mink coat from Logan's grandmother it was so awesome!

The reception space was a little special and needed some love. We covered walls with white drop cloths and lights. It turned into a pretty place. Maxine was sorry to have missed it but that's how it goes. We are excited for them as they start their lives together!

 

Finished a Puzzle

I like to find things. I like to put things together. It makes sense that I would like puzzles. We did a little 500-piece puzzle over the Christmas break. 

Mikayla put in the last piece. She was holding it in her hand as we got close to the end. :) Stinker.

Yay Christmas 2021!

We went sledding with the Beattys, the Phillipps, and the Turleys on Christmas Eve. Jack brought his fat tire bike and rode down the sledding hill. It was nuts! Merril and I both took a lot of video but not pictures. This is all I have of the day! hahaha.

I received the only injury of the day. I was standing off to the side of the sledding hill and got hit by one of the Beatty cousins. It was an accident, of course, but I thought I was off to the side enough and I wasn't paying attention. The tube hit and my legs were scooped right out from under me. I fell funny on my left shoulder and arm. I felt my neck and top of my back stretch in an odd way and laid on the ground for a few minutes. Owwwwww. 

After getting up and stretching for a minute, I felt like no permanent damage was done. I knew I'd be sore the next day. I knew things were going to tighten up in the car so I was trying to think how to massage between my shoulder blades. By leaning on an orange we had brought, I kept things loose on the way home. It was still a great day!

Our tree on Christmas Eve!

Mikayla wrote a note to Santa saying that he had eaten too many cookies and that the ranch was in the fridge. hahaha! We had a lovely morning. Merry Christmas!

 

Icy Angel's Landing Hike

In 2022, Angel's Landing switches to a lottery system to give permits for the hike. We kicked around the idea of hiking it over Christmas break and Mikayla said that we promised her we could hike all the way out on the chains once she turned 8. That was a few years ago. The best day for weather was Wednesday, the first day of Christmas break. I scheduled dentist appointments for the same day but they were in the afternoon. So the first day of Christmas break, we woke up early and headed to Zion. 

It was icy and windy!

Most people had ice cleats for better traction but we were silly and just hiked it in our regular shoes. We only slipped a few times.

Made it safely out and had a snack. The wind wasn't blowing where we stopped.

I'm sure we looked like bad parents for taking our children all the way out on the chains, in the ice, some in shorts, but c'est la vie. It wasn't even that bad out there. 

We had a great time and we were glad to check this off our list before 2021 ends!

Piano Playing Girls

We are on our way to Mikayla's piano recital. I only took video.

We decided to get some tree pictures first.

Because they look nice!

Juliet has been teaching piano this year and I don't think I've said anything about it. She's cheaper than a regular piano teacher and I feel like it's good for her. She has 4 students. It provides money for her and helps her be responsible. Her friend, Nicole B., also teaches piano. They held a recital for their students last week. Awesome! She's hoping to get a few more students but it's great work for her. It helps her reinforce what she's learned. 

 

Maxine is in Anaheim!

Maxine with Sister Fiame at the MTC!

Maxine is flying to Anaheim!

This is Sister Campbell's companion, Sister Maughan (Mawn). Maxine says they've been getting along and she really likes her. They have an apartment together and Maxine is getting to know her.

This is a service project they did with the elders. There's been a ton of rain in California and it created some mudslides. They were able to go help clean it up.

We are so proud of her!

 

Mark's Infected Finger

Mark chews on the sides of his nails sometimes. One got so bad it had become infected under the fingernail. Ouch! I had to take him to urgent care to get it drained and get some antibiotics. His nail is starting to lift up so I think he might lose that nail. Now he can get better. :)

 

Photo Recreations

In the spring, Merril and I decided to recreate our engagement photo. We did research and took the original photo with us and I think we did a pretty great job!

But then we recreated other photos when we just happened to be places but didn't have the original for a reference and some weren't as spot on. This one at delicate arch could've been better.

This one at the Subway was pretty good. Maxine was originally in a baby backpack and I love that Merril piggybacked her to get the same shot. Ha! Ellen was there instead of me and stood in as a replacement.

Juliet wanted to recreate this bow picture. The original is definitely the best! She still fit in the shirt though!

Santas and Hot Chocolate

These are from a ward primary party! 

My kids had fun talking with Santa.

This is what I need more of! Christmas movies and snuggles with some hot chocolate.

I'm not going to lie, I'm super behind on Christmas things. I could say that I should've done this or that but whatever. I'm here now. I made my choices but there's so much to be done! It will motivate me to do better next year.