Motor School Graduation

On Friday, May 14, Dave completed his two weeks of INTENSE motor school training and graduated top of the class.  He graduated with the highest score of 96.  Wahoo!

Friday morning Dave got up and left at regular time in order to be in Ogden by 8 a.m.  All of the motor students plus the instructors went for a bike ride up Ogden canyon and enjoyed lunch at a restaurant in celebration of them reaching the end of training.

Dave can give you many stories of his two weeks of training.  It turned out to be one of the hardest trainings he's ever done.  I think it would be safe to say that the first week the bike was on it's side more than it was standing.  Dave would come home with sore muscles, blood blisters, bruises, and one day he even came home drenched.  That was the day we had a down pour of rain the entire day but training still went on.  I think it took three days for his boots to dry out!

Here's a picture of Dave on the morning of graduation....

After running errands in the morning to prepare for our weekend camping adventure, I checked Hannah out of school early, picked the other two up from Traci's, met Grandma Peterson in Mendon and we all headed off to support Dave.  We splurged and had lunch at Maddox.  The girls were in awe of eating at the drive-in where they bring the food to your care and hook the tray on your window.  This was one of the coolest thing we've ever done according to them.

We made it to graduation a bit before everyone arrived back from their ride.  Ashley had the camera while were were waiting.  Here's a bit of her view..........

For graduation, each of the instructors gave a few words of advice and then we watched a 12 minute video of the two weeks of training.  It was fun to see that they did train in 8+" of standing water and a few fell off and had to get back up and get back on.  After the video they presented the graduates.

After all was said and done, we walked downstairs to take some pictures of the graduates with their motorcycles.  I forgot to mention that when we left Cache Valley it was sunny and warm.  We were dressed appropriately.  We reached the summit of the canyon and it started to cloud up and sprinkle.  In Ogden, it was a down pour of rain.  This is why the picture of Dave at the beginning on his bike is in a garage.  It rained the entire time in Ogden but once we hit the canyon summit on the way home, out came the sun!

I don't care who you are a picture or the sight of motorcycles lined up is impressive.  The Sheriff motorcycle is Dave's.

Now comes the time when school will be dismissed and Dave will go out of the roads of Cache Valley as a Motor Cop.  I have to say.....he looks mighty sharp in his attire.

Congratulations Dave!  We are proud of you for your accomplishment!

Ashley's Soccer Season

Both Hannah and Ashley played soccer this year.  We missed the boat last year in getting Hannah started but we got both her and Ashley going this year and they made leaps and bounds in progress from start to finish.  I do have to say though.....there are times when it is frustrating that we've taught our girls to give others a turn.....we forgot the disclaimer that when you're playing sports to "GET IN THERE AND KICK THE BALL!"

Ashley had her last soccer game on Tuesday, May 11.  Here's some shorts of her in her uniform before going to the game.  She has extra clothing on because it was a cold and rainy day.  In fact, I think most of the games were this way.  There might have been two maybe three that were played in ok weather.

FINALLY for the last game Ashley decided it was much more fun to chase and kick the ball than watch the others do it and chase her shadow and feel her hair bounce as she was running.  It may have been because I told her I had the camera and I needed some action shots.  Her coach even asked what happened.  He wanted to know if we bribed her! This is what I got (she's the one in the crazy pink hat):

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year I was showered with beautiful handmade gifts from my girls.  To me, there is nothing better a Mom can get than things her kids make for her.

I was surprised on the Thursday before Mother's Day at work with a UPS delivery of a large box containing flowers, chocolate, and bath essentials.  Dave and Hannah ordered them online and had them sent to me at work.

The flowers are beautiful and still alive today!

Dave and I got a babysitter for Saturday night and enjoyed an evening out on a date and had dinner at Cafe Sabor.  Yummy!

On Sunday morning, Dave and the girls let me sleep in until 9:30.  This in itself is a perfect gift for any mom!  I loved every minute of it.

From church I was given a card from Nicole saying that I was the icing on the cake and both Hannah and Ashley made me the cutest cards with sayings and candy bars.  I also got the standard flower from church but I love these.  I love planting them outside in my barrels.

After dinner I was given all of the other awesome gifts from the girls.

Both Hannah and Ashley made me a butterfly......

I got "lots" of handmade flowers thanks to hannah...........

Ashley made me this cute bag at preschool that has a key chain attached and also contained some bath crystals.  She gave me a handmade card and they asked the kids questions about their mom's and this is what Ashley said:

My mom's favorite food is:  Mac & Cheese
While this is a really good answer, I'd have to say this is actually Ashley's favorite food.

My mom's favorite drink is:  Sprite
Again, this is a great answer but this is what Ashley prefers to drink.  I myself will take a Diet Coke.

My mom's favorite thing to do is:  Watch TV
Okay, this answer SHOCKED me.  We hardly watch TV at our house.  In fact, the TV really doesn't turn on until after 9 p.m. when the kids are asleep so I'm not sure why she pulled this one out of her hat.

I love my mom because:  she helps me with my bedroom.
This is a true statement!  We love cleaning bedrooms!

Hannah made me quite a few cards at school.  One is actually written in Spanish.  She made this one during her Spanish class and was very proud of herself.

If you look closely at this one, Hannah actually used every letter in my name and wrote something to go with it.  Very impressive!

There is nothing better in life than being a mom and to me there's nothing sweeter than getting a special gift from one of my girls that they are so proud of themselves for making.

I LOVED this Mother's Day!!!!

Not the Recovery We Planned For

There are times in life when you have a "plan".  It's your plan and it runs according to how you imagine it and then one day you realize that you are not the one in control.  There is a Higher Being in charge and things will go according to HIS plan.  This is pretty much how my mom's surgery recovery is going.  We are struggling to come to terms with the knowledge that it's the Lord's Will as to how things will go and now Our will.

My mom went in on April 23 for a hernia operation.  A while back she found a lump on her side and as time has progressed it has begun to bother her.  After visiting with the surgeon it was decided that it probably is a hernia or maybe scar tissue from prior surgeries years ago but a determination could not be made until he was actually doing the surgery.  So, April 23 was the day.  It was out patient surgery.  She'd be "out of commission" for 5-7 days and then would be on her way to recovery and back to normal as long as she didn't lift anything over 20 pounds for three weeks.

On April 28 my mom went to the doctor for a routine check up on her incision and everything looked great.  My mom is not a shower person so not being able to soak in a bath has been killer for her.  At this appointment, the doctor said it was alright for her to take a bath and soak.  This was the Wednesday night after her surgery.  She took a bath and felt great.  Thursday night as she was getting undressed for the bath she realized that she was bleeding a bit from her incision.  I didn't hear my phone ring when she called because I had accidentally set it to silent.  She contacted my uncle and he and his wife ran down to make sure she was alright.  It was decided that she was having some drainage from her incision but that is normal and they left.

Thursday night/Friday morning at 12:30 a.m. my mom called me in a panic that she woke up and was drenched in blood/drainage and she was needing to go to the ER.  It would have taken me 30 minutes to get to her and her nice neighbor that lives across the street was right there for the service to drive her over after she made a quick phone call.  I waited one of the LONGEST hours of my life before she called me back at 1:30 a.m. to let me know that she was back home.  She was told at the ER that she had lots of "liquid pockets" that were needing to be drained so they went in with a needle and cleaned things out.

My mom followed up the next day with her regular doctor who insisted she come for an office visit ASAP.  A drain was inserted in my mom's incision so that the liquid could drain easily and she didn't start with an infection.  They were also sending a home nurse in once a day to change her drain and bandage. 

The nurse started coming in on Saturday, May 1.  We are now at May 12 and we are up to my mom's incision still not healing.  The nurse is now coming in 2 times per day.  We had a bout of fevers, which indicate infection.  A dose of antibiotics have been prescribed.  Multiple trips have been taken to the doctor due to bleeders, infection, etc.

It was decided to finally put my mom on a vac pump, which is inserted in the incision and pumps out the fluid/infection so that her incision can start to heal.  The pump came via UPS this morning and my mom headed to the doctor this afternoon at 4 pm.  My Grandma was willing to take my mom to the doctor where it was later in the afternoon and I had to pick the girls up from daycare and Dave is still training in Ogden.

At 5:30, I still hadn't heard from my mom so the girls and I sat in the Budge Clinic parking lot waiting for them to come out to the car.  They finally emerged at 5:45 and I could see the discouragement on my mom's face.  They couldn't insert the pump for two reasons.  First....the part of the incision that is not healing is underneath a part of the incision that has healed.  Needless to say, they need to reopen her incision to insert the pump.  It wasn't her original doctor that she saw today and this doctor wants her original doctor to open her back up.  Second....with all of the drainage, tape, bandages, etc. that have been on my mom's skin she now has come down with a "major" yeast infection.  Her skin is so raw and she says it hurts extremely bad.  They need to get the yeast infection under control for a week and then they can insert the pump.  If they do it now, the yeast infection will spread all over her torso and rather quickly.

I know how frustrated, discouraged, and tired I am of the current situation.  I cannot even imagine how frustrated, discouraged, and tired my mom is.  Her "plan" to be up and going again in less than a week is just not working out.  She will have another week of the nurse two times a day.  They can hopefully put the pump in next Wednesday and then it's another 2-3 weeks of recovery.

I found this quote on a LDS blog I check and it seemed fitting.  It's not our will to be done.  It's the Lord's.

"Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God-the power of humility. It is the power to meet life's adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with love for and testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption." Bishop Richard C. Edgley

I keep telling myself and my mom that the Lord does not give us more than we can handle.  Obviously there is a lesson here to be learned.  I hope she can remain strong and endure.  This too shall pass.

May Day in Mendon

What do you do for May Day when you are an elementary age girl and you live in Mendon?  You braid the May Pole!

Beginning March 29 and ending April 29, Hannah practiced the "Mendon Tradition" of learning how to braid the May Pole so she could participate in the Mendon May Day Celebration.  Practices consisted of three days per week.  Thanks to Dave and Grandma Peterson for the transporation to and from practices so she could have this experience.

Hannah's dress had to be made.  Anyone that know me well knows that I do not sew.  I wish I could and I wish I had more time to learn but I don't.  We went to a meeting on March 21 to get instructions for practices and for the dress.  They had two models for the dress and when they brought out the pattern Hannah turns to me and says, "Mom!  That's the dress I'm making for Easter!"  If you remember, Hannah has been taking sewing lessons throughout the school year.  Her last project was an Easter dress and the May Day dress turned out to be the same one!  I was relieved when I asked Hannah's sewing teacher if she would be willing to "whip out" another dress.  She willingly took on the project, which was a HUGE relief for me!

On May 1, the day of the celebration, we dropped Hannah off at the Fire Station at 9:30 a.m. so she could line up.  We then went to Mendon Square to secure a spot so we could watch her dance.  There were a total of 106 girls braiding may poles.

Here's a couple of pictures before leaving the house......

The festivities began at 10 a.m. with introductions of the court, which consists of all the high school junior girls living in mendon and their excorts.  Then came all 106 girls walking from the fire station to begin the braiding of the poles.  It seriously took 18 minutes for the poles to be braided.  This didn't consist of the time it took the girls to walk from the fire station and get to their poles.  We then went inside where the girls sang to the May Day Queen and there was a short program.

And here they come.........

and there they go.........

Look at that May Pole!

Yes, Ashley and Nicole were there too.  Here's Ashley too interested in looking at all of the girls and couldn't be bothered to have her picture taken with Hannah.

And then we have Nicole who was COMPLETELY offended that we would not carry her over to the church.  What mean parents we are to make her walk!!!!

 

After the program, there was a hamburger stand and softball games.  We went home to change Hannah out of her dress and to grab some cash and headed back for a hamburger and hot dog because they smelled so good.

We ordered our food and I was putting the condiments on them when all of a sudden there was a cloud burst of hail.  It was a total sheet of hail pouring down on us.  We quickly ran to the van.  Dave then exited to the field to help the city worker load the piano on to his trailer.  Needless to say....poor Dave came back drenched.  However, we were nice and dry and enjoying our food in the van watching Dave perform service.  What an example he is!

We headed home and finished our lunch.  I hear some of the softball games still were played.  Not as many as scheduled but still a few.  CRAZY!  I'm thankful that the hail at least waited until after the girls had braided the may poles!

I think Hannah enjoyed her experience and I hope we can coordinate again next year so she can be part of this tradition.

Happy Birthday Ashley

On Tuesday, April 27, Ashley turned five years old!  Where has the time gone?!?

We all had our regular schedules during the day.  This was a regular preschool day for Ashley and she was excited to pull in the driveway and see the Birthday sign was hung up for her.

After work/school, May Day practice and a chat with the Visiting Teachers, we loaded in the van and and headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  This was Ashley's pick because she wanted to sit in the saddle (thanks to Hannah for a little prodding).

We arrived at Texas Roadhouse and walked in the door and were greeted by some workers that were face painting.  BONUS!  My girls eat up having their faces painted.  I was seated by the hostess and Dave stayed with the girls to get "painted".

Here's some pictures of us at the dinner table.  Notice Ashley's crown that was made for her by Teacher Nicole at preschool.  We also had to take some pictures of the face painting.

After dinner, out came the saddle.  While talking about it, Ashley was stoked to sit on the saddle.  When it was time for it to really happen, she was a bit nervous.  I tried to get her to look at me so I could take a picture but I think she was concentrating too hard on not crying.  By the look on her face you can't tell if she's ready to laugh or cry.

On our way to Grandma Peterson's for presents and cake, Ashley chatted with Uncle Glade on the phone.  She told him of her experience sitting in the saddle and she also told him that she was going to have all of her birthdays at Texas Roadhouse so she can sit in the saddle.  I think WAY down deep she enjoyed it.

For Ashley's birthday cake, I tried my hand at a Barbie cake.  It turned out alright.  I learned some lessons and will do things a bit different next time.  However, to a five year old she was in awe of the cake and to the mom that's all that matters.  She LOVED her Belle cake.  I was impressed that I remembered to take pictures this time.  Thanks Dave.  If you remember, I forgot to take pictures of Hannah's cake.

We opened presents with Grandma Peterson.  Zsu Zsu pets were the hit this year.  She LOVES them.  She also got colored paper, markers, a bat and ball, a hola hoop, and bedding for a new bed Dave is going to make her.  After everyone was at the point of exhaustion, we headed home for bed.

Ashley, we are so thankful you are a part of our family.  You are such a sweet, blue-eyed girl with a huge heart.  I love how artistic you are and how you can sit for hours with paper, crayons/markers, glue and scissors.  I love your sweet giggle and the things you come up with to say.  For example, when you came out of your room in awe of your fingernails and informed me that Jesus made us and he stuck our fingernails on with glue and yours were coming off and you needed more glue.  We love you and hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Living Life in the Middle of a Whirlwind

It seems as though the last few weeks we have been living life in the middle of a whirlwind and trying our best to keep up.  The sad part is......I'm not sure I see it slowing down in the next couple of weeks!  Heaven help us!

I have lots of pictures to post I just need to find some time to get it done.  When I reach the time of night that I can do it, I am so exhausted that I sit on the couch and fall to sleep.  Hopefully one of these days I can get them on my blog!

What's been going on?

Since the last week of March Hannah has been coming to Mendon directly after school to practice for the braiding of the May Pole for the May Day celebration in Mendon.  Practices have been Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  Thank goodness Dave has been able to adjust his schedule for Monday and Tuesday in order to pick her up from school and my Mom has been willing to get her on Thursdays and bring her for practice.  The May Day Celebration was today!  Phew!  Practices are over!!!!!!  We had to be to the Mendon Square by 9:30 this morning and didn't leave until 1 p.m.  It ended up being fun though and Hannah enjoyed the experience.

Hannah and Ashley are both in soccer.  Just by saying that should explain it all.  This is the first year that the girls have tried soccer.  Yea, didn't know how much it entailed.  It is only recreation soccer but Hannah practices two nights per week - Monday and Thursday - and has two games per week - Tuesday and Saturday.  Thank goodness Ashley's coach isn't much into practicing where the kids are so young.  However, she too has two games per week - Tuesday and Saturday.  There have already been two games where Dave has gone with one and Nicole and I have gone with the other.

The weekend of April 16-18 we went camping with our group of friends to Crystal Hot Springs.  I forgot the camera for this one though.  Man, I hate it when that happens!  We had a FUN time and REALLY enjoyed having the trailer.  The only thing that could have made it better was have a "medium" temperatured pool.  From the two to choose from....one was freezing cold and the other was WAY too hot.

The weekend of April 23-25 had me and the girls assisting my mom because she had surgery on Friday, April 23.  This is also the weekend that Dave took off with his sister Erin and brother Nate to move Erin to Yakima, Washington, where she has gotten a job as a nurse anestatist.  The girls and I slept over at my Mom's Friday and Saturday nights.  We did leave on Saturday for two soccer games and then we were back on Sunday night for dinner and Hannah and Ashley stayed over again so she wasn't by herself.

Last week was crazy with my mom out of commision and Dave in training.  So...I ended up leaving work early Tuesday and Wednesday in order to make May Day Practices.  Both Hannah and Ashley received summer hair cuts on Wednesday....I hope to post those pictures....plus they have started long TaVaci practices on Wednesdays for their performance which will be on May 15.

We thought all was going well with my mom's surgery until Thursday night.  She called me around 7:30 and said that she was bleeding.  My Uncle and Aunt came from Smithfield to check her and realized that her incision was draining, which it had not drained at all since her surgery.  Then I received a paniced phone call at 12:30 a.m. from my mom that she has woken up and is drenched in blood/drainage and is needing to go to the ER.  Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors.  She made one call and one of the neighbors was right there to take her over which was a huge savings because I couldn't have gotten to her for at least 30 minutes.  She called me back at 1:30 a.m. and informed me she was back home and she was full of fluid pockets.  They went in with needles and drained everything out and wrapped her for the night.  She called her doctor Friday morning and he was out of the office for the day.  I left work to go see Hannah in her school play and on my way back I couldn't find my mom.  She returned my call to let me know she was in the doctor's office.  They called and said the doctor was coming in to check her out and she needed to come to his office ASAP.  Again, the same willing neighbor gave her a ride.  The doctor has inserted a drain in my mom's incision to make sure all of the drainage will come out and not settle into infection.  A nurse is coming in over the weekend both days to clean the incision and change the drain and then she goes back to the doctor Monday morning.  As I was getting in the shower tonight, my mom called to inform me that she is now running a fever.  What does this mean?  I am praying extremely hard that we do not end up dealing with an infection.  She called the nurse and was told what to do and the nurse will be there at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

The next two weeks will also be crazy.  Dave will be going to Motor School in Ogden.  Yes, Dave is now going to be a Motorcycle Cop.  CHIPS here he comes!  He will be leaving home by 6:30 a.m.  We had one girl at work quit.  Her last day was Friday.  Jen at work leaves tomorrow for Hawaii....too bad she's not taking me.....and that will leave me and Brandi for the week.  I have a lunch meeting on Monday, a doctor's appt on Tueday, and a meeting in Salt Lake on Friday morning at 9 a.m.  Yea.....haven't figured out what to do with the girls.  Grandma is out of commission and Dave is leaving early.  I'm breathing.......yes, I'm breathing.....

Also in the last two weeks, Ashley turned 5 and Dave and I had our 12th Wedding Anniversay, which was celebrated apart.

Phew!  Now I'm exhausted!!  Hopefully I can catch up with pictures before July 24!