WHOOPING TIME

Here's what Pertussis looks like for our family!--It was all I could do not to start giggling at the pharmacy w/ all of this and the paperwork strewn all over the counter as I was questioned on everyone's date of births for the 3rd time that day.  Whooping Cough (pertussis) has been going around, and when Emily started coughing last week--even keeping her up at night and vomiting from the intensity, I took her in to get tested.  She wore a mask, and had "tickle the brain" swab taken up her nose, and had the Dr listen to her lungs.  He thought she sounded good, and that she likely didn't have it (having not been around anyone coughing), but wanted to be safe.  The hard part was that it took 6 days to get results back!! Meanwhile, she was doing much better, and sleeping well again, so we thought we may be in the clear.  Then the Dr. called apologizing for the results (I assured him we held him completely responsible! :) and then we went forward treating ALL of the family.  At least it's a once-a-day antibiotic, and we ALL get to take it at dinner together, but I feel awful for everyone around us feeling like ticking time bombs, and RIGHT before school starts!! Emily's fortunately not suffered too much--she is STILL having coughing fits a little bit (enough to keep at home), and though Anne has also picked up mild symptoms, the worst part has NOT been feeling sick!
I DO have a renewed gratitude for modern medice--vaccines in particular(Emily's at the age where her vaccine has weakened a bit), and antibiotics
I'm also grateful that we didn't have any trips/vacations planned that would've had to be cancelled, and
I'm grateful all will be well in time for school to start.  (and I hope, hope, HOPE the same for all our neighbors, etc.)!
I'm grateful the Merritt's (our closest neighbors) have been on vacation lately, so we couldn't be spreading anything to them, &
I'm grateful for great children taking advantage of all of this HOME time to do fun things:

Spencer saw some bow and arrows friends made from pvc pipe (pinterest ideas), and has been begging for them ever since.  When our doll basket started coming apart--he took the loose limbs, and made these himself!!  Way to make lemonade out of lemons (though I don't think the broken doll basket really affected him at all :)!! Maybe we'll start saying, "Just make bows out of broken baskets"--it's almost as catchy :).

And!! while Emily got sicker, Maddie got healthier!! I took her to the Eye Dr. w/ me, and she was right about her vision failing! She is now the beautiful "Four Eyes" of our family, and loves her new high-definition life:  TV is so much more fun to watch--she can even read the Netflix summaries w/o getting up, she couldn't stop staring at Brent's forehead at lunch, b/c she'd never been able to see those tiny freckles before (Brent loved that!), and of course, the old standby of the leaves on the trees. 

Brian has been in trial ALL week--coming home at midnight, leaving at 5:30 most mornings--it's been intense bringing this 6yr long case to a close.  And the verdict came back....
GUILTY on all 4 questions of what applied, EXCEPT when it came to the $ amount due to his client, the jury made up a sum which was a fraction of the agreed amount??!! Now, money hunger aside, the PROBLEM is that since the jury found the other party guilty of breaching the contract, BUT did not have the dollar amount agree to the contract, their WHOLE VERDICT may be THROWN OUT! Brian said the judge sat staring at what he was reading for a few minutes before presenting it aloud, and then said in his 20 years on the bench, he'd never seen a conundrum like this, and asked either side if they had any recommendations?? They'll be back to the motions drawing board Monday, I guess trying to see if they can keep from re-trying the whole thing!! At least we had our Dad this weekend! The children have just hovered around him all weekend, since we've barely seen him this week (they especially!).  Brian and I took Brent (who's been begging for months) and Maddie (just for fun) to see Avengers at the Dollar Movie yesterday, and Emily was such a good sport throwing a "party" for the rest of the kids at home--popping popcorn, painting nails, watching Narnia, etc.  If any child has to be locked up at home--I'm glad it's her! We also took advantage of a 30% off coupon @ Kohl's to get school shoes for everyone this week, and I've had to rediscover my own interests w/ all this time at home, and not even a husband to hang out w/!

15th ANNIVERSARY!!!

 

Here's to 15 AMAZING YEARS of our family!! Brian and I celebrated our anniversary last weekend. He came home w/ all of these flowers Thursday night :)

  and then took Friday off (despite many things at work to be done) and we left in the morning to enjoy Seven Peaks just the two of us (and don't tell the kids we got Funnel Cake fries while we were there!!).  We got home in the afternoon to change, and the children had a STACK of presents for us!! REAL presents that they had used their money to buy at the store after riding in the hot sun to the store for them AND wrapping paper!! Back massagers, a box of chocolates!!--if 15 years of marriage gives us children like this, we are in for the long haul!!

 We left cheerful children (really!!) to go buy a vacuum, open an IRA, and then enjoy dinner at Zupa's (I could marry their mushroom soup!) before tickets to our play in Centerville.  Such a great day!! Then, on Saturday morning (which was our actual anniversary), we went to a wedding!-Cousin Miquel was getting married to Kyle Hill ON our anniversary, so we had fun sharing "our" day with them.  Joseph Fielding McConkie was the sealer, and gave SUCH an amazing sermon before the sealing (I felt for the couple though--I'm guessing they caught 5%) beforehand--we felt so lucky!, and then we enjoyed great aunt/uncle company at the wedding breakfast after :).

This picture is blurry, but it was where Briant & Katie's reception was (the wedding breakfast was in the same building), so I had to grab a shot! After such fun, I gave Brian his gift:  a new account opened to save for a trip to Germany (I can't make the $ right now, but I can organize it!), a key to "my place" (his house key has never worked), and our wedding book--FINALLY made!! I felt very prompted to retell our crazy dating story, and the miracle of our marriage, so I decided to do it w/ the wedding book I've always meant to get to.  Here are a few shots of the book (maybe we'll get a scanner for our 16th!)... the roller coaster page is the MOST representative of our dating!! What a miracle!!! Brian shared gratitude for our marriage and family today as he conducted testimony meeting (I know, romantic Brian--I nearly fell off my seat!), and mentioned that he got more flowers and spent more that day than we did the first 5 anniversaries :).  I love him!! We have been SO so blessed to have each other!!

Raingutter Regatta & Pioneer Day

Spencer had his first Raingutter Regatta in Cubscouts!! It was AWESOME! I remember my brothers w/ REAL gutters--they had a blowup racetrack this time.  The leaders first said, "ONE BLOW PER BOY" (I was giggling too hard to correct them, PLUS we had to see how well that worked!), and finally got the hang of following the boats along.   I love the trio in this picture:  Spencer w/ his Dad and Den Leader standing behind him :).

The weekend before Pioneer Day, Stacey called to see if we wanted to go see the Mormon Tabernacle Concert with them!! Brian and I had a really good time w/ them & Stacey's Mom Prim. 
Brian actually had the day off for Pioneer Day (he's been working like CRAZY this summer--a lot of Saturdays, nights, and early mornings), so we took a bike ride up to the park and had a picnic and played. 

Emily landed hard after this picture, and we had fun (psych fans) the next two days saying she had "bruised her COCCYX!!

 We did sparklers and snaps that night--quickly,--the little ones were TIRED!! I love how magic wands bring out the poses:

PS, we also made great chewy pretzels the other day:

Grandpa Mildenhall's Funeral

Sweet Grandpa Mildenhall passed away the week after the 4th, and it was so good to have a chance to be with so much family during his funeral. I loved hearing all of his children talk about his great efforts in working, serving and loving.  Family was always a top priority, and Dad brought out how Grandpa encouraged him to ENJOY while he served (his mission, and onward)--I always think of Grandpa as being so contented.  It was also neat to see Priday relatives there at the viewing.  There are so few times both sides of my family are together like that, and it reminded me of going to the temple for the first time--a real taste of Heaven.  We had Mom and Dad and TJ staying with us, and the children were all good sports, since they didn't get as much playtime as most visits.

The funeral was very nice, and I rode down w/ Mom and Dad & TJ to the graveside service in Provo, while Brian brought the children home.  It was nice to be able to find some other family headstones, my Dad's first house in Provo, and Grandpa Mildenhall's house as a boy.  We even grabbed a picture of the Priday house that was being sold that same weekend.

 Brent was there, he'd just run off to the van, and it seemed inappropriate to yell for him to come at a funeral--the children were pretty well-behaved, thanks to the GREAT idea of putting some of Grandpa's favorite candies out in the foyer!