Memorial Day Weekend

On May 22, not too long after cleaning up dinner, it hit. Some terrible affliction overtook Rachel. She was screaming. We had no idea what was wrong. We called Nurse Chelsea, but she didn't answer. Rachel was acting like she wanted to throw up, but wouldn't. We felt her little tummy, and it was hard and bulging. We didn't know what to do. I was so worried it was appendicitis or something, and we both hated hearing her screams of misery.  I called the on-call doctor, and they set up an appointment for that night. We made arrangements for Michael and loaded our miserable baby into the car. I sat in the back with her, armed with a bowl. 

About 5 miles down the road, she finally threw up. And because refused to let me hold the bowl in front of her while she vomitted, she got it all over herself. I did manage to catch some of it in the bowl, and she, while shoving the bowl away from her face, managed to spill it's contents all over me. We called the doctor, and after a little deliberation in the median of Pioneer Crossing, decided to keep the appointment. After she threw up, she obviously felt better, but immediately became distressed by the mess she was sitting in. "Yucky, Yucky!" She pathetically cried. 

We made it to the doctor and got busy cleaning Rachel, the car, and me up. She met with the doctor, and we could tell by that point that seeing him was overly cautious. He did take time to explain things to us, giving us warning signs to watch for, and then we went home. 

I gave Rachel a bath while Michael worked a little bit on the car. I laid her down, and she happily went to sleep. She slept soundly through the night. The next morning, I got up with her. She threw up after I gave her some water. She fell asleep on my lap, which hasn't happened in about 2 years. She was like a pathetic rag doll all morning. As I mentioned in a previous post, this was the day I had planned to go out with Lea for Mani-pedis. I felt bad leaving her when she was like this, but I knew she was on the mend and I knew she was in good hands. Brian sent me updates, like this picture:

 And said that even though she was feeling sick, like the female she is, she still felt a need to clean up the things on the floor. Here she is cleaning up the quiet book.

 Brian finally felt good about her eating some toast.

 She fell asleep by Brian on the couch. Notice the new pair of jammies? She probably went through 4 pairs on that Saturday.

 The next morning (and even by that night) she was back to her normal self. But, since it hadn't been a full 24 hours since she had vomited, we kept her home from church. I was cold and wrapped a blanket around by waist, so Rachel wanted hers wrapped like mine. Brian thought it was funny and took a picture:

 Before heading to church, Brian told me that he wanted to go to the cemetery where his grandparents were buried. "But we don't have any flowers." I thought through my crafting supplies, and told him that I would try to come up with something while he and Michael were at church. He invited Lea to come with us. She said, "Yes, I want to, but I don't have any flowers."

I decided I could make a wreath with some extra grape vines I had from Emily. I searched around the house trying to find something I could wrap to make a wreath, and after trying three different materials/methods, finally settled on some ends of our playroom floor tiles that we didn't use. I taped them together and then wrapped them with some brown ribbon. Then, I arranged and glued the grapevines on, tracked down a couple silk flowers, tied a pathetic bow and called it. We grabbed a piece of wood from the garage to act as stake/stand on our way to pick up Lea to head for the cemetery.

It's a good think we took Lea. Brian wasn't sure where the cemetery was, let alone his grandparents' graves. Lea knew the general area, and it took us ten or fifteen minutes to find their grave. Next time, we'll know they're by the 80 marker and close to the road.

Brian and Lea placed the wreath,

and the kids placed flags in honor of veteran Grandpa Saville. 

 Lea and Brian told us stories about these two amazing people. Some I'd heard before; others were new. We walked away grateful for the resurrection of the Savior, which makes it possible for us to see them again (and in my case meet them).

On Memorial Day, we looked forward to taking care of some fun projects, but our other odds and ends projects took all the day, and we never really made it to what we wanted to do. I think we had a lazy evening together with the kids. I don't really remember. I just know it ended up being a calm day to end a somewhat crazy weekend. 

Michael the Graduate

Whenever I hear "graduation" in reference to someone who is under the age of 16, I immediately think of the conversation between Bob and Helen in The Incredibles:

Helen: I can't believe you're going to miss your own son's graduation!
Bob: It's not a graduation! He's moving from the second grade to the third grade.

But, as we sat and watched Michael officially graduate from Preschool, I confess, I got a little mommish on my self and had to hold back some tears. I can't believe that my sweet, amazing, smart boy is already finished with Preschool!!!! As I watched him, I kept thinking to myself, "How did we get here so quickly? Where has the time gone?" My heart also burst with just a smidgen of motherly pride. 

 He got to do two parts in the program. He led the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning (but was too fast for me to get a good picture after we all said the pledge).

 His teacher taught them the alphabet in sign language too:

 And the program revisted all the holidays and songs they learned this year.

 Michael's other part was to recite a nursery rhyme, "1, 2 Buckle My Shoe"

 Getting his diploma:

On his last day of school, his teacher sent home two copies of the exact same assessment, one that Michael took on the first day of school and one that he took on the last day of school. His assessment on the last day of school was worse than his first one. At first, I was disappointed, but then I laughed while I compared them. I think they were meant to be more wowing. His first  the school year assessment was practically perfect (you know, for a four-year-old). Since I had helped teach him last year, I was well aware of his skills and carefulness in doing all of his work. His first day of school assessment didn't surprise me in the least. What I took from observing his last day of school assessment is that over the course of the school year, he got bored with tracing lines and cutting, and so his last assessment was a little more sloppy. 

His teacher, Miss Angela, sent comments home each month, and I loved getting them. At the end of April, she wrote: "I have really enjoyed having Michael in my class this year. He has made teaching really easy :) He is a really good boy and always stays on task. Michael is very capable. He is extremely intelligent and is going to do great in Kindergarten next year." 

Michael continues to amaze me. He is already an amazing reader. I laugh at my October self who worried about his reading skills back in October. He has surpassed where I expected/wanted him to be at this point. We've caught him trying to read books at night after we've tucked him into bed--not just looking at pictures but READING! He reads his verse of scripture every night, and I'm constantly stunned by how little help he needs, even on those big words like government and iniquities. He occasionally reads books to his sister. And last week, he wrote a note to Eva and only needed help spelling two words. I stared in shock as he composed that cute little note. He loves to learn. He is beyond ready for Kindergarten. As I watched him go up and get that little diploma, I choked back the tears because I can't believe he's already here and because I know that he is going to do so well at the next level. I'm so proud of you, my sweet, handsome Michael!

Payson Temple Open House

On May 20, bright and early, we loaded up into my friend Kirsten's van to go to Payson for the Payson Temple Open House. It was beautiful! Temples are always so beautiful and peaceful, but I was blown away by the details of this one. The moldings and finishes are exquisite, and so are the stained glass windows.  

  

  

 Michael wanted to take a picture of Rachel and I:

 After the open house, we went to the Red Barn in Sanaquin/Payson for ice cream.

Les Mis and Another Day in Ogden

After the breakfast on May 16, my crew and I headed up to Odgen (note: second day in a row for me) to go see Les Miserables with Taryn, David, my mom, and my grandma. The play was much, much better than we thought it would be, and if we lived in Odgen, we would probably buy season tickets to that theater (the Ziegfeld). After the play, we came back to Taryn's house and had dinner. Aaron and Rachel helped:

 And had a lot of silliness with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was good to see family and, as usual, hard to leave them.

Stake Breakfast

On Saturday, May 16, I had three engagements at three different locations at the exact same time. So, how does one choose which to attend? Go with the one that sounds like more fun! Actually, this one was hard. I had Michael's soccer game (and I was his coach), I had a Stake Women's Breakfast that was announced for over a month (and I knew that our Stake President really wanted all the women to come), and I had a quilting group brunch (yes, I'm in a quilting group, and I find it quite funny). I knew the quilting thing was out, but I was torn between the breakfast and the game. I coached some of my friends' kids, and their dads offered to help coach so that I could go (with their wives) to the breakfast. And then I got this personalized invitation that was hand-delivered:

and I saw how much work Brian was doing as he helped out with it. I knew this was a big deal, and I needed to go. So, I let Brian coach the team and those kind dads help watch Rachel, and I went to the breakfast. It. Was. Amazing. 

First of all, our wonderful Stake President, President Wildon,  shook hands with every one of us as we walked in. The cultural hall was decorated like a wedding: nice linens on the tables and the whole place was transformed into a fancy, gauzy tent with fun lighting. We had men there to help us with our chairs. They had lovely appetizers on each table:

 We even had a menu and waiters to bring us our food:

 And a table with amazing friends:

The food was delicious. We all just wished they gave us more. Jenny Phillips performed (she's in our Stake) and gave wonderful remarks in between her songs, and then President Wilden spoke to us. He made us laugh, and he made us cry. He said so many things that I needed to hear. One of our friends, whose husband was on the planning committee, told us that President Wilden is very concerned about the women in our area. He's worried that we don't feel adequate. He worries because the world is constantly bombarding our sacred role as mothers and women. It was so wonderful, and I'm so grateful for all those men who made this happen. We were all stunned. "Wait, men did this?!" Seriously, not one woman volunteered her time on this project. (Men are just better at hiring help than us women). It was so nice to know and feel how much our leaders care about us. 

And our poor team got slaughtered on the soccer field. Good thing they don't keep score, right?

Nurse Chelsea

On Friday, May 15, I got on a train and headed to Ogden for Chelsea's LPN School Pinning (Graduation) She's been doing this full time for the last year (and working on classes off and on for over a decade). I wasn't going to miss this, even if it meant 4 hours on a train (actually, those 4 hours were a nice break. I got to read without anyone interrupting me).  

 I like to think that I've been on the support crew for this endeavor, but I really haven't been. This is her support crew:

And these two as well

I'm so proud of her. She's been wanting to be a nurse for so long, and now she is! Congrats, Cecil!

Mothers' Day

We decided to get together with the local chapter of the Saville Clan for Mothers' Day on Saturday, May 9. Kirt and Julie came for Michael's very rainy soccer game, piano recital for Danny, and then came to our for Utah Ambassadors of Music (UAM) stuff (Kirt is the director of UAM and they're getting ready to go to Europe for a tour. Brian and I are going as chaperons, but that's a story for another day). It was the first time we'd had Kirt and Julie at our house since we finished the Playroom. Michael had fun dueling with Papa in the playroom, and Rachel enjoyed being in the same room with them. 

 Michael also convinced his Papa to play Legos with him. Kirt made and x-wing fighter that Michael thought was the coolest thing ever. It certainly taught him how to up his game with Lego building.

 And Rachel convinced Papa to read her a story. Michael joined in too.

  Meanwhile, Julie and I addressed and stamped postcards and Brian and Julie worked on UAM uniform orders. But that was boring stuff so I didn't take a picture.

After the uniform stuff was taken care of, we met Lea and Shayne and their crew at Mi Ranchitos in American Fork for dinner. We had a fabulous dinner. Cards were passed. Hugs and kisses were shared

 And no pictures were taken of any of the three mothers being honored. Ha ha!

The next day, we were getting ready for church. Michael took a bath and got in his church clothes. And then he did a strange thing. He climbed back into his bed. Brian first noticed and then commented on it to me. Something wasn't right. Michael doesn't just lay in bed. That kid never slows down! At least not when he's conscious. So, I felt his forehead and decided to take his temperature. Sure enough, he had a fever.

So, I told him to change back into his pajamas. Brian decided to stay home with the kids while I went to church on Mothers' Day all. by. myself. 

 Rachel was pretty sad she didn't get to go. I took a picture of them to send to grandmas: 

 And headed off to church. I decided to sit by one of my friends whose husband is in the bishopric. I felt so lost without my kids at church on Mothers' Day. I missed Michael singing to me, and I missed getting the little noodle necklace. And I missed snuggling with them. So I was grateful that my friend let me help wrestle her kids. It was also my first Sunday after getting released from working in the nursery, so I felt doubly lost. I ended up helping for the first hour of nursery and then going to the fabulous spread that they do every Mothers' Day in Relief Society (fruits, dips, veggies, cheesecake).

When I got home from church, Brian had dinner all ready. He made an amazing pot roast and I swear it was the best pot roast that I had had in a while. Not bad for never having made one.

We had a nice quiet evening. I got to snuggle with my kiddos, and I got spoiled with wonderful presents. 

Brian got me a beautiful necklace, a fountain for our front flower bed 

and a ladies day out with Lea (Mani-pedis, lunch and shopping sans kids and sans guilt). He had arranged it with Shayne, and it was one of the best things he could have given. Good job, Brian and Shayne. Lea and I took full advantage and went out on May 24, before they could forget they'd promised us a day out! They were going to hang out together while we were gone, but then Rachel ended up throwing up the night before and all that morning. So, Brian valiantly attended my sweet, puking Rachel while I headed out to be pampered. (Maybe I'll tell the rest of that pathetic story another time as well)

I'm so grateful that I get to be a mom, but even more than that, I'm so grateful for the many mothers in my life. Sheri Dew said, "Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living” —and they did so before she ever bore a child."  I'm so grateful for all the amazing women who have influenced my life---from the silver haired primary teacher I had as a 5 year old to my Achievement Day and Young Women leaders to my amazing aunts who loved me and cared for me along with my mom to my college roommates who provided many late night listening ears and shoulders to cry on when my heart was broken and my mom was so far away (and who also squealed and giggled and talked with me after all those dates with Brian.) I'm grateful for  my mission companions who became almost like real sisters--there for all those ups and downs that only we understood together. For my amazing neighbors who look out for me and my children. For my sister-in-laws-Lea, Lara, Jenny, and Alisa who accept me into their circle as one of their own and teach me daily by example (and love on my children).  I'm grateful my own sisters, Emily, Chelsea, and Taryn, who have never ceased to nurture and inspire me (and who now nurture and inspire my children). For my mother-in-law, Julie, who not only raised the perfect man for me, but who loves me like one of her own daughters. I'm grateful for  my Grandma who was always there, just around the corner (how lucky I am to be so close to her!) I'm grateful for all those amazing mothers who have gone before and paved the way for me, teaching those mothers that are in my family line, influencing my amazing parents. And I'm grateful for my daughter, who is already mothering every little baby she sees. 

And last of all, I'm grateful for my own mom,  the one who was there through too many things to list here from my own dirty diapers to those of my kids and all the ups and downs in between. She has influenced me the most, and I owe her a debt of gratitude that I can never repay, and as the years have gone on, I find that I still desperately need her. 

Being a mom myself, I feel like I'm just finally understanding all the things she did for me.  In high school, she became one of my best friends. We often laugh at the phrase "Angel Mother". My mom always says, "Yeah, no one will ever say that about me." And I feel the same way--my kids will never describe me that way either. And though my mom isn't perfect, she is the perfect mom for me, and I am who I am because of her. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, Everything I am I owe to my less-than-perfect perfect mother.

Matthew's Baptism

On May 1, Emily and Pete and their three kids came down to stay with us so they could go to Matthew's Baptism on the 2nd. That was the day the Avengers: Age of Ultron hit the theaters, and we really wanted to go. So, we asked Emily and Pete if they would want to go with us. They said yes. We got a baby-sitter for Rachel and Henry and then took Michael, Jackson, and Wyatt with us to go see the movie. Michael was beyond excited. He loved riding with his cousins in the back to go see the movie. 

 After we got home, these three boys had a sleepover in our new playroom. Michael was up WAY too late and still had a hard time going to sleep. The next day, Wyatt rode with us to Ogden (after Michael's soccer game. More on that later). Wyatt and Michael didn't last long.

 We made it to Odgen just in time to take pictures of Matthew and Thomas.

 After the baptism, Chelsea hosted a BBQ at her house. And since it was the first time in I don't even know how many years since we were ALL together, we had to take a picture. While we were waiting to assemble the crew, Cal did a little modeling:

In July, Brian and I will be going to Europe for two weeks, and our kids are going to be staying with Chelsea. I've started getting nervous about leaving these two for so long. But while we were there that night, I hardly saw my two kids. Michael was off with Matthew or Wyatt the whole time, and Rachel went up this rock wall and down the slide the whole time (much to our utter amazement!)

and got unsuspecting victims to fall into her "Feed me a cookie" spell. Her grandpa fell the hardest: 

  

 Rachel loved seeing her uncles again.

 And Michael did too, of course.

 It was so hard to leave. It has been so long since we were all together, but we finally did. Rachel didn't even make it to the freeway:

Congratulations, Matthew! Thanks for being baptized so we all had a good reason to get together!