Happy Birthday, Ruth!

Ruth turned 13 on Tuesday.  We celebrated by having her favorite dinner, sweet pork enchiladas with lime rice, and then she went to youth group where they had cookies and sang her happy birthday.   Ruth was happy to get some clothes and jewelry.  She was most excited about getting her own offical facebook page.

Here they are planing a game called "hitch hiker"

 On Friday, Ruth threw a party for her friends.  She planed and did the invites and everything. It was an "Improv" party.  For those of you  not in the drama scene, that means they played improvisation games, drama games that require on the spot acting.  It was by far the noisiest party that I've ever experienced.  Imagine nine girls, too young to understand subtlety, all acting out simultaneously.  If the smiles and laughing were any measure, they all had a fabulous time. 


Hanging Out with Jared

Jared playing in Ruth's wrapping paper.

Jared started his off-track by taking swimming lessons. He did so well that not only did he pass the level he was on, but his instructor passed him on the next level as well.  Since this is our first off-track where it is just Jared and I, we've been trying to find things to do together.  We've spent a lot of time playing Super Hero Squad online together.  We play super heroes and we go on missions and play card games together.  It's been pretty fun and I'd recommend the game to anyone with kids in the 5-12 range.

Goodbye, Aladdin

Monday night was the closing night of Aladdin. The show was cute and Ruth had a good time doing it.



Here is a link to some video highlights from the show. I included a song from the choir to give you all a concept of how big the choir I was working with was, and what a good job they did.

Cast photo.  I'm in there behind the aqua genie. Ruth is about 1/3 from the left.

I don't have many pictures of my involvement in the show. But here is one of me getting my thank you gift on Monday night at the end of the final show.

Homework, Homework, Homework, Rats!  

Kaitlin sleeping on her homework.

 School is in full swing for all the kids.  Jared has been very busy working on a book report this week, and Kaitlin with her three AP classes is drowning in homework every night and all weekend.  Here is a clue to how bad it is; today Kaitlin admitted that math was her easiest classes.  Yes, math!   The only kid that seems not be be swamped with school work is Ruth. So far the hardest part about middle school has been remembering to wash her gym cloths.

Aladdin

It's always a miracle when a musical comes together. This one is especially miraculous figuring the disastrous condition the show was in during our two dress rehearsals. But there is something about the stress and excitement of putting on the actual show that seems to pull everything together.  On Tuesday I thought this would probably  be the worse show I had ever been involved in, by the closing number on opening night, Thursday, it had turned into a show I was proud to be a part of.

Ruth is doing great in her part and gets better and better each night.  She is calm, confident and commanding on the stage.  When we did The Music Man together four years ago she was terrified, clinging to my hand and skirts every time we went on stage.  She has come such a long way, and it is all a result of her determination to face her fears.  I couldn't be more proud.

While Ruth is on the stage, I spend my evening sitting with the chorus giving them their cues to get on and off the stage.  There are almost 90 kids in the choir and we get them on the stage and singing within 10 seconds.  I've had several parents tell me that their kids are having a great time, and our mic guy said that this is one of the most organized kids shows he has ever worked on.

Here are some pictures of the show.  Next week I'll put up some video highlights as well.  We will also be getting a DVD of the show which I'll make copies of for the grandparents. We have one more show on Monday night.

Ruth is scolding Jasmine for running away.

Here Ruth is forcing Jasmine into a loveless marriage.

Ruth calls Aladdin a "Raaaaaaagamuffin!"

Plates full of jewels cause Ruth to have a change of heart towards Aladdin.

Ruth telling off her husband, the sultan.

One of the gags of the show was that the sultan was so small, Ruth towered over him.

Ruth posing for pictures at the end of the show.

Kaitlin Does Not Have Hantavirus... or Does She?
a.k.a.  The Great Homecoming Adventure

I've watched the news about the hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite Nation Park with only passing interest.  That is until Kaitlin unexpectedly came home from school on Wednesday with a fever.

US Nation Library of Medicine:
"Symptoms: The early symptoms of hantavirus disease are similar to the flu and include:
Chills, Fever, Muscle Aches."  Incubation time 3-6 weeks.

Fever? Check.  

Muscle Aches? Just yesterday she was complaining about how sore she was. She thought it was from her new ballroom dance class.  Muscle Aches? Check.

Incubation time? (I did the math in my head) It had been 4 weeks since her visit to Yosemite. Check.

But what were the chances really. She probably just had the flu. So Kaitlin stayed on the couch all that night and the next day. By Friday her fever broke and she went to a half day of school.


Friday morning I read on the internet that they were expanding their warnings to all those that camped in Yosemite.  Kaitlin confirmed that she had visited Curry Village during her visit, ground zero of the virus outbreak. 

"People with hantavirus may begin to feel better for a very short amount of time, but within 1-2 days, it becomes hard to breathe. The disease gets worse quickly. Symptoms include: Cough...Shortness of breath..."

No cough or shortness of breath. Good.

I called our family doctor, knowing that I was probably overreacting, but just to be safe.  To my surprise, he said that it was possible that Kaitlin did have hantavirus.  That most people who are exposed just get a little sick, but then their immune systems kick in and after a couple of days kill the virus. It is those that for whatever reason are not able to combat the virus that get the extreme symptoms and the high mortality rate. He said that if Kaitlin was feeling better then there was nothing to worry about.  If she was endangered by the virus we'd be "rushing her to the emergency room" it would be so severe.

 On Saturday morning Kaitlin was still feeling ill, but took some medication and felt well enough to go on the day-date with her friends.  She had missed the football game the night before, and was excited to share the news that our doctor said that she may have had the hantavirus. For all the afternoon Kaitlin and a group of friends went to a fun center where she learned that both she and her date were horrible miniture golfers and that bumper boats are fun, even if they squirt you in the face.

She was tired but excited. Another round of medication and an hour on her hair and she was ready for the dance.  She looked stunning, and was just glowing and bubbling over with excitement.  The young man that picked her up looked similarly happy, and a little nervous. 

So far so good.... Fast forward.

 At 10:30 Kaitlin bursts through the door. "Mom!" She is coughing and gasping.  She says she was at the dance when suddenly she couldn't catch her breath. I help her out of her dress, and have her lie down.  She is breathing really shallow and is threatening to faint. I am forced to make a mommy decision and I load her in the van and we are off to the Instacare. 

As I speed down the dark road towards the hospital the words of our doctor about rushing to the emergency room are coursing through my mind.  Kaitlin is still gasping. She can't get a breath and several times I think she is going to pass out.  She doesn't and somehow maintains a positive attitude.

We pull up to our hospital at the door that is marked "Instacare" in large glowing letters. I put Kaitlin on my shoulder and we walk to the doors.  They don't open.  In small print we read that we have to use the south doors after 10pm.  I set Kaitlin on the curb and run for the car. We drive down to the south doors and I walk Kaitlin to a bench while I park the car.  I walk her through the doors and down the hall to the Instacare which is at the other end of the hospital.  When we get there it is closed.  There is no one around. There are no signs.  We head back down the deserted hallway when we see a nurse watching the last quarter of the BYU vs. U game.  He says that we have to go to the emergency room.  To make a long story short we end up wandering around the hospital, Kaitlin still gasping, unable to walk unaided. And we are laughing.  Laughing that we could both die right there in the hospital hallway and our corpses would not be found until morning. Sometimes you laugh or you cry, and in this instance laughing seemed like the best option.

We finally make it to the emergency room and I force Kaitlin into a wheel chair.   Within 15 minutes we are triaged and sent back to wait in the chairs.  Kaitlin's breathing has calmed somewhat at this point but she is light headed and unable to stand.   All the hospital staff are crowded around the TV for the last minutes of the big game when we are finally shown to a room where Kaitlin is prodded and questioned and prodded some more. Did she eat shellfish?  Does she have asthma?  Does she feel any pain? The doctor comes and the prodding continues and he studies the monitors.  Finally he decides she needs a chest x-ray.  It is now midnight and BYU has lost the game. Kaitlin is much better by the time we make it to x-rays. We get to see pictures of her insides which we both think is cool.  Back to the room to wait, where Kaitlin tells me about her day and how wonderful it was and how great the dance was.  We are chatting and laughing, and the nurse brings us Sprite with the cool ice that's fun to chew.  The doctor finally comes back and gives us the good news. Diagnosis:  Panic Attack.

Nothing is wrong with Kaitlin other than she had hyperventilated.  She had never had a panic attack before but they say it is not uncommon, especially in young adults to have an occasional episode. Especially considering the stress on her body and psyche from her sickness, the hantavirus scare, and the excitement of a wonderful day with a boy she really likes. 

We drive home. It is past 1:00am.  We are in good spirits.  Kaitlin is mad that the attack ruined her last hour of Homecoming.  She feels guilty and talks about making an apology cake for her date saying "You Take My Breath Away".   Mostly we are glad that she is alright. 


Aladdin

Aladdin opens this week so we've been busy with rehearsals.  It's that week before the show when everything is chaos and you think it will never come together.  But by the end of the week things were looking a little better.  I also got Ruth's costume put together.  Ruth finished adding jewels to her crown on Saturday.  The show opens on Thursday. 

Back to School

Ruth and Kaitlin started back to school two weeks ago.  At Ruth's new middle school they had a special half day where only the new students attended, giving them a chance to find their classes and learn how to open lockers.  Ruth's goal for her new school is to make as many friends as possible, to build base support for her run for Student Council.  Kaitlin is a junior this year. I love when she comes home and tells me about her day. She does all the voices and does the actions and her humerous stories (often 30-45 minutes long) always have me laughing out loud.  She has discovered the joy and freedom of driving and has even been brave enough to drive to school a few times.  She's in Acapella Choir, ballroom dance and is taking three (yes 3!) AP classes.

He loved his screaming monkey key chain.

Happy Birthday, Chuck

For Chuck's birthday we went out to eat at Five Guys, which is a local chain that sells tasty burgers. I liked the grilled onions and Jared liked the never ending supply of fry sauce.  Afterwards we enjoyed cake and icecream and we watched a movie.  Chuck got some cloths and later in the week bought himself a used smartphone.  This is the first smartphone for our household so everyone is excited.

Canning

I wish that our peach tree produced 20 delicious peaches to eat every week throughout the summer, rather than 300 peaches all at once.  Every year along with Chuck's birthday also comes canning time.  This year I canned 18 quarts, 12 pints of jam, froze 5 gallons and then gave away the rest. 

Kaitlin and my friend Julia painted the Cave of Wonders.

Aladdin

Aladdin rehearsals are in full swing and we start dress rehearsals next week. The shows are September 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th.  We are cobbling together Ruth's costume and we spent all morning Saturday painting the set.  This show isn't going to pull together very well (because of the complexity of the script and lack of experience in the staff) but I keep telling myself that it's okay because it's just children's theater.  Ruth is doing great in her part and will be a highlight of the show.

An Unexpected Surprise 

My phone rang a little before 8:00am. Caller ID showed it was my neighbor one circle up from mine.  "This might sound a little strange, but I didn't know who else to call," she began. "Yes?" I responded; my curiosity was piqued. "You have a teenage daughter, right? Is she old enough to date?" "Well, yes, Kaitlin is 16."  Now I was worried.  "Well," my neighbor continued, "my kids found the strangest thing on my doorstep this morning..." After she explained to me the situation I promised to come right over as soon as I dropped Jared off at school.

When I got to her house it was just as she described: broken balloons, little scraps of paper all over the table, and two teddy bears, both adorable. "Here's the poem." She thrust a small rolled up paper into my hands that contained a cute attempt at rhyme asking the recipient to the Homecoming Dance.  The gist was that you had to spell out the name of the asker with the provided letters.  Spread across the table were about 20 letters on little squares of paper.

My neighbor explained that the bears and balloons arrived with no explanation, so she assumed that someone was inviting their family to some sort of party so she popped the balloons to get the message.  When she realized that the invitation was not for her (she has no teenage daughters) she was puzzled and was trying to think what girls in the neighborhood it might be for. She thought it was probably for Kaitlin, as her house is in the same position in her circle as ours is in ours, but she was unsure because she also had a teenage girl right next door that it might be for.  We puzzled out the letters, but couldn't be certain what name it spelled, and even if we came up with a name how could we know which girl they intended to ask?

I came home to find Kaitlin eating breakfast.  I explained the situation to her and she agreed to post a "to whom it may concern" notice on Facebook.

I'll let Kaitlin tell the rest of the story:

Well, lets be honest. As soon as I heard the whole story, I was pretty certain who had asked me and what had happened. But how can you know FOR SURE? So after about 20 minutes online, my facebook post had earned 15 likes and 2 comments. And then my friend Aysa called, which was when I got completely confused. She said she knew which boy had made the mistake, that he was freaking out, and asked for the my neighbor's address. After 2 hours of agonizing, "Who did it? It was for me! But maybe it was for that other girl! I hope it was for me! But then so and so had said such and such about Homecoming yesterday, which could have been a hint that someone was going to ask..."etc, etc. a gift arrived on our doorstep. Whaddaya know? 2 teddy bears and a poem, and 2 sad balloons filled with letters. 

As soon as I looked at the letters, I knew that my suspicions had been correct, but just for kicks, I tried to spell out the individual names of every guy in One Direction and David Archuleta. Alas, not enough vowels. ;)

While I was screaming on the phone to my besties about the awesomeness of this whole experience, I found out that all of my friends knew about this plan to ask me to Homecoming, and had for at least 2 weeks. That's awkward. So I guess it all worked out in the end. But gee, it was sure embarrassing for my Homecoming date. It makes me sad to think he was trying so hard to do a good job, and then just screwed up the address. Out of respect, when I retell the story to people, I conveniently leave out the whole wrong-doorstep problem.:)  But I'm excited. My best friend got asked the next day, and we hope to go dress shopping together. I admit to being a little stressed out, never having gone to a formal dance before, anddd so I don't know the protocol. I suppose I'll figure it out sooner or later. 

PS I drove to my friend's house today to pick up some stuff. I was like, I have to go to Mattie's. And Mom was like, okay! See you in a few! and then I got in the car and drove there. The little joys of life. :)

Becky here.  I got a call from my neighbor later that day. She said that a very embarrassed and humble young man showed up on her doorstep to ask for the return of the teddy bears. He told her that this was the first ever time he had asked a girl to a dance, he screwed it up, and he knew that he would have to spend a few weeks living his mistake down at school.  Poor kid!

Vacation Time

We've returned from a very fun family vacation. The combination of juggling year-round school, church camps and visitation always makes planning and holding a family vacation a challenge but we staked out the last few days of the summer, pulled Jared out of school, and made it happen.

Lagoon

Our vacation started with a fun day at Lagoon, our local amusement park.  We met Kaitlin there, who had just returned from two weeks at Yosemite National Park and Portland. She was tired but happy to be back with us. The kids are all old enough now that we skipped the kid area for the most part and focused on the big rides.  We were able to ride all our favorites like the little Bombora roller coaster with it's smooth ride and surfing music and the swinging pirate ship.   In my old age I have zero tolerance for spinning, so I sat out of about half the rides, which was fine with me.  I did indulge in two spins on the Tilt-a-Whirl because it's my all time favorite.  We stayed all day catching our second wind after dinner and didn't leave until almost closing time.

Cove Fort

The next day after church we headed off to St. George. On the way we stopped and toured Cove Fort, a pioneer fort that has been restored and is now a museum.  I am always amazed at the ingenuity and sheer will and grit of early pioneer settlers. Out there in middle of no where they had built a large fort out of lava rock, including turrets  and twelve bed rooms.  The fort had a wonderful vegetable garden around it and I asked but they wouldn't give me a tour of it.  After an hour there we headed off again and reached our hotel by evening.


St. George

Our hotel had an indoor and outdoor pool, and hot tubs. We spent our first morning sleeping in, enjoying all you can eat breakfast and playing in the pool. In the afternoon we went thrift shopping and then played two rounds of laser tag. I guess there isn't a big demand for laser tag on Monday afternoons in St. George, so we had the place to ourselves.  It was a very nice, large arena with multiple levels, black lights and fog. 

Coming out of laser tag we noticed our van pouring out anti-freeze.  I'm not sure what it is with us and having our cars break down while on vacation but it seems like the only time we have car problems is when we are hundreds of miles from home.  We made it back to our hotel and luckily there was a place within walking distance where Chuck took the car.  They were nice enough to get to work right away on replacing our blown radiator hose and flushing and replacing all the fluids we had lost on the street.  We had tickets for a backstage tour of the Tuacahn Theater that evening, but the car wasn't done in time.  So we walked to a restaurant close by and grabbed dinner while we waited.  The car was finished in time for us to make it out to the theater for the start of the show Aladdin.

Aladdin

The Tuacahn is a wonderful outdoor theater in a red rock canyon, with only the canyon walls at its backdrop, where they put on broadway quality productions every summer.   The production of Aladdin was very high energy with extensive use of pyrotechnics and special effects.  We had really good seats and enjoyed the production overall.  Jared, however, isn't a big theater fan in the first place and wasn't feeling well.  After a snowcone at intermission he was doing better so I could better enjoy the second half.  We were a little disappointed that the main role of Aladdin was played by an understudy that night, who was good, but not the best actor. And Kaitlin, in particular, was thrown by how they had translated the stage version from the movie (which she loves).  But the genie was great, they flew the actors on a carpet right over our heads and overall, it was a very enjoyable night.

Zions

After sleeping in again and enjoying another all you can eat breakfast we were off for a day at Zions National Park.  I had only been to Zions one time before many years ago, and it was more beautiful and amazing than I had remembered.  They have a wonderful shuttle system there, so you just park and ride the shuttle to the various hikes and sites.  We took several shorter hikes and saw some waterfalls and beautiful rock formations.  There was a lot of wildlife too, lizards, squirrels and deer.  By late afternoon we were hot and tired, so we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed more swimming before bed.


Home Again Jig-a-dee Jig

We took our time the next morning sleeping in, eating a nice breakfast and then taking one last swim before heading home.  Our drive was rainy and overcast which we appreciated because it was very hot. We stopped in a little town called Beaver, where there was a big sign touting that they had the country's best tasting water.  The water was indeed delicious and we filled our water bottles.  We made it home in time for Jared to go to Karate, and then to Cub Scout Pack meeting, where Jared got 5 belt loops!