A Strep Throat Thanksgiving

What a week this family has had! Luckily, I was the only one with strep throat. Unluckily, I was the one with strep throat.... mom's aren't supposed to get sick.
I admit, until now I only thought of strep throat as a really sore throat.... I had never had it before. Maybe that's why it took me three days of fever, body aches, overall tiredness to the point of being a blob on the couch, complete loss of appetite, no sleep at night, oh yeah, and that miserable sore throat before I decided to look in the back of my throat to see the tell-tale spots. (I originally thought I had the flu.) I am on an antibiotic now and feeling a little better. Our Thanksgiving was canceled for the fact that I wasn't well enough to cook it, and understandably, no one in Haakon's family wanted to risk coming to our house and get exposed a week before we all leave to go to his brother's wedding. (I had no idea how highly contagious strep is!)
Luckily, for my family's sake, some kind friends in our ward (the Smith's) heard of our situation and brought us over a lovely meal from their leftovers. Haakon was so relieved and the kids were so happy to get a Thanksgiving meal. (He had joked about heading to Bean's Cafe.)
Unfortunately, I am still on an applesauce only deal (one of the few things that doesn't hurt going down)but I look forward to having leftovers by tomorrow or the next.
Now, we are praying that no one else in the family gets it so that everyone will be good for the wedding.
I think I am going to go lay back down now. Pity party over. hee hee!

I just realized that I cannot end a Thanksgiving post and not say something I am thankful for. Three things 1. All the rest of the days of my life that I have been healthy, 2. That my family is healthy, and 3. My hubby Haakon. He has been such a trooper through all of this but is looking forward to not being a single parent. (I am glad he isn't a single parent either.)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Seward's Sea Life Center

This past weekend we went down to Seward to the Alaska Sea Life Center with Haakon's mom, sister and her kids, and had a great time!

That is an excellent place to visit if you haven't been there before. The kids were completely fascinated by all the marine life they were able to view. Corinne is studying this topic in school and took a few of these pictures to bring in to her class. Here are some shots.

We saw some really unique starfish!The jelly fish were amazing too!

We were also able to participate in a special behind the scenes event and Corinne fed some of the fish.

She said it was stinky but fun.

There is a massive Sea Lion at the Sea Life center. The kids loved watching him swim by.

Looking out at the beautiful view in Seward.

The hotel we stayed at had a swimming pool so we took advantage of that while we were there.
I loved the view from the pool area. It looked out over the marina and the bay.

Seward is a must see when you visit Alaska.

(Open invitation to our out-of-state friends and family!!)

Lauren's self-portrait