Merril's 44th Birthday!

Merril and I are getting older! He turned 44! We ordered some pizza wagon and he went for a dirt bike ride. 

Also, Jack wanted to learn some piano and so I paid Juliet to start teaching him. I don't know how long it'll last but any music instruction is a good thing.

ZPPAF 2022

Juliet wanted to win! She worked hard on her piece, "First Run" by Jon Schmidt. Last year Lucky Nelson, Shawn's daughter, won in the category above Juliet's. This year, Lucky dropped back a category so she was competing against Juliet. Julie wanted to win so bad! Juliet showed up and killed it! AND she WON! We went to breakfast after her performance! Rooster Run has the biggest breakfast portions!

She's so good on the piano! I can't believe how well she does! I'm going to miss her fingers when she moves away. 

Talking to Maxine

I feel very spoiled having Maxine on her mission in California. I'm able to talk to her easily and her time zone is very close to ours. I've talked to moms who have to deal with Wi-Fi issues and have a hard time sending packages to their kids. I'm sure I'll have another child go foreign and it will be a lot harder than talking to Maxine. It's been fantastic having her so close. Mikayla loves to turn the filters on when she's talking to Maxine and this one is so ridiculous.

It cracks me up every time I look at these pictures! 😂 

Easter 2022

Mikayla wanted a picture with the Easter bunny.

Mark did not. 😂

It's just a little on the cold side. It would be fine if they weren't in shorts. It's fine either way.

Jack and Juliet have graduated to the mega-hard field of hidden eggs.

I still like to decorate eggs. I've cut back on the amount I boil. People don't eat them after they're decorated.

And TURKEASTER! So yummyyyyyyyy! 

 

I'll Meet You in Chicago!

It's been years since Em and I have been in the same city. A while back, I said, "Instead of flying to each other's houses, why not meet in the middle. I don't know, like Chicago?" She said, "That's exactly where I was going to say!" It took another 6 months to figure out a good weekend. We tossed around the idea of going before Maxine left on her mission but I was too busy and distracted. We found a weekend in April! 

I wanted to see the bean! She hadn't learned about it in architecture classes because it's fairly new.

We went on a river architecture cruise. I like the bridges. This one is old and not in use but still here.

I didn't realize that Chicago was known for its architecture but we saw a lot of cool buildings.

We also went down to the water by our hotel. This is Lake Michigan. It really looks like the ocean!

We found some sister missionaries while riding the bus! I took a picture and sent it to Maxine!

The weather was a little cold but I was prepared. I wore leggings under my hiking pants, which are a little waterproof. My beanie and scarf and gloves. It was fine! The weather only interfered with our plan to go up Willis (Sears) tower.

We walked a lot and we went past the Chicago theatre.

We also went to a few museums and a regular movie. On our last day, the weather cleared and it was the perfect day for views from Willis tower. 

I was the BIGGEST chicken in the skybox! I wanted a harness on! It didn't seem nearly safe enough. I'm smiling but Emily had to drag me into it. I was squealing like a little girl. This was my idea! Emily was surprised how terrified I was of the box. She walked right out there like it was nothing.

The weather was so clear!

We hit a conservatory before we left.

On the bus to get ready to go home, my flight was cancelled. I was rescheduled on a flight 2 hours earlier, but I wasn't even at the airport yet. I was supposed to fly home at 4:00 or so but couldn't get anything worked out until 10 p.m. I was so tired of being in the airport.

I was given a voucher for a free dinner and hotel night stay. I got to the hotel, ate, and crashed until 4 a.m. Then it was time to get back to the airport for my flight home. Everything went smoothly and I caught the shuttle home.

It was fun to finally get together with Emily! Even though we talk almost every day, it was fun to see her in person!

Pretty Things

The tulips aren't as reliable as the daffodils but they're pretty when they show up.

I wanted to send a church picture to Maxine. But first, we have to take one.

Jocelyn Hummel is having her first baby and I went to the baby shower. We had to take a picture! It was fun but it made me miss Maxine. The Snyders were there. I had to attend without my oldest girl. I'm glad where she is. I still miss her. 

Celebrations for the Bub

Mark got his stitches out but I think that's going to be a gnarly scar.

We're supposed to keep some strips on it for a few more days.

We followed up with the maxillofacial surgeon and he said he was looking really good and could resume more normal foods. It's been nearly 2 weeks and Mark was so ready for a hamburger. We are supposed to use pain as a guide. He loved the burger but did comment that it hurt a little to eat. We'll have to take it easy.

Maxine wanted to comfort Mark from afar. She ordered a stuffed animal and it finally arrived. Mark says it's really soft. 

Cute! 

Stop Hurting Your Chins!

Okay, now it's just getting ridiculous. Jack was riding his dirt bike and hit a rock. It went out from under him and he slid on the ground for a while and scraped up his chin.

Luckily his was just a little scraped. He even had a full-face helmet on! So now both of them have scraped up faces. 😲 Seriously, stop it.

Lehman Caves

Over Spring Break, we had loosely planned to drive to Carlsbad Cavern in the RV. Then Mark fractured his jaw and we adjusted our plan. Lehman caves is only 3 1/2 hours away at Great Basin National Park and is cool on a smaller scale.  

You can tell Mark is feeling better but we are being very gentle with him. We blew a tire on the way. Bummer. We were almost there. We tried to get it fixed ourselves but alas, we needed a tow company to come with tools. 

We were still able to go! The caves were cool.

I enjoyed going again!

It was nice to get out of the house. Mark is moving around a lot better. Still just wants a hamburger though.

Healing up Bub

He's looking pretty dead but I promise, he's alive!

We went for a walk because his legs are the only part of him that's unhurt. He was having an okay time but smiling hurts. 

A few days later, we almost got a smile out of him. He's so tired of smoothies. He wanted pizza wagon so I cut it up super small and fed it to him. He was frustrated it took so long to eat because he couldn't chew. 

Going slow but we'll get there.

Busted Face for Spring Break!

Warning: These are gross pictures.

The first day of Spring Break started off with some sadness. Mark was riding bikes with Archer and Talon and wrecked on the road. He was on the big hill by the mailboxes. He was pulling a wheelie at a fast speed and as he landed, the bike went out from under him. I was at the house and Talon came running in saying Mark was hurt. Mark was walking up the street, holding his torso very still. I had ordered pizza and threw my credit card to Jack and said, "Pick up the pizza! I'm taking Mark to get checked out!"

I took Mark to the urgent clinic but they sent me to the E.R. to get him checked out. Oh! He was hurting. 😭 

It was Friday night in the E.R. I really dislike the E.R. We had to wait for 1 1/2 hours to get back. He was just sitting by me and bleeding and crying. 😩 When we finally got back, they gave him some morphine and he was able to calm down. His chin looks bad but he was road rashed all over his upper body. They took xrays of his wrist, elbow, shoulder, chest, and hand. They took a CT of his jaw.

Then he fell asleep because it was around 10 p.m. Poor thing.

I'm glad he could finally rest for a minute. While he was sleeping, the E.R. doc had looked at the CT scan and could see a jaw fracture. He thought he might need his jaw wired shut. 😳 A maxillofacial surgeon still needed to look at the CT and he would say for sure.

Then they woke him up and stitched him up. Three stitches on the inside, ten on the outside. 

The E.R. doc said the maxillofacial surgeon said that it was fractured but not all the way through. He would not need his jaw wired shut but couldn't chew for 3 weeks. 😵 Smoothies, yogurt, ice cream, applesauce, etc.

We got him home and got him to bed. He had pain meds over the next 3 days and needed help eating and moving around. His whole torso hurt.

It was also hard for him to close his mouth. I'm guessing it made the stitches pull. Such a bummer way to start Spring Break. 

I'm glad he didn't break anything else, they took so many xrays! I'm glad he had friends around to go get help. I'm grateful for morphine! We follow up with the maxillofacial surgeon in a few weeks.