Her body was giving up, but she wasn't!

Bare with me. This is long, but good.

Alexis was so sad to have school come to an end yet excited to celebrate with her friends and teacher. However, at 3:30am Thursday morning she crawled into my bed and she was blazing HOT.

I was so sad for her. Poor Chad had to be the one to tell her she couldn't go to her last day of school. I might have taken it harder than she did thinking about it every second while I was at work.

But when I came home at noon, she was doing alright. Still sick, but the fever was down. I felt so sad for her that she was going to miss everything...so we decided to take her to her awards ceremony at school for 1 hour! Mrs. Stucken was so excited to see her and was sad I didn't send her the full day even with her fever. All the kids received an award. Mrs. Stucken would explain what the award was.

I wondered, "Is this one Alexis? Or that one?" Then she came upon one where she explained

"this award is for someone who is ALWAYS POSITIVE. Specifically, laughing at EVERYTHING and ANYTHING and always smiling."

The kids screamed before she finished, "IT'S ALEXIS!" She laughed and said, "It is."

So cute. I'm glad we didn't miss it. She was so excited for her award. Would you believe she even laughed? Sick and all!

So that schedule I told you about on my previous post didn't happen. We took her to Chad's sister's graduation where I was only going to stay for 15 minutes before I had to leave Chad with the kids to go to my CPR class. Well, Alexis looked like she was going to pass out in the heat. So I took her to my work to sleep in a dental chair till I finished my 2 hour CPR training. (Hmm, brings back memories from my childhood. Only it was a full 2 nights in dental chairs while our house was being tented and my Dad refused to let us sleep at a friends. "It will be fun." HA!) I called my brother-in-law (the director) and told him there was no way she could make it to the dress rehearsal for OCMCO that night. I was bummed.

I kept her home all morning Friday morning. She wasn't even allowed in our courtyard to play. I was saving her energy for her performance in case her fever would come back once she exerted any energy. She was perfect. She even surprised me and cleaned her room for 1 1/2 hours to show me how good she felt. So I felt confident we were in the clear at 3:30 as I got her ready for the OCMCO performance. But that quickly changed.

See the excitement on her face. Now tell me you wouldn't have done what I am going to tell you I did that night.


A migraine came on fast and she was so upset. It hurt her bad and she couldn't hide it. Screaming, whining...it was not good. I gave her IB profin and continued to get her ready. Although, she was supposed to arrive in her dress...I was not about to try that. A few months ago she got migraines for 5 days and when it peaked...she PUKED! She feel asleep on the way to the Orange County Performing Arts center. I thought the IB profin might be kicking in. She woke up when we parked...but started complaining again about her head. She didn't want to walk because of the pain. So I put her in a cheap umbrella stroller I had in the car and wheeled her to Segerstrom Hall. We made it halfway when she mumbled, "MOM, my stomach!" I RAN. Me, the overweight pregnant mom was sprinting pushing her in the umbrella stroller. We were a sight to see. I was trying to find a trash can but it was too late. It came so fast and it was nasty...all over her, the stroller, her shoes...EVERYTHING! She wouldn't walk with it all over her so I undressed the girl down to her panties and a t-shirt and she walked barefoot back to the car. Crying.

It pays to never clean your car. I had two beach towels. I cleaned her off and told her we had to go home. She was devastated. She didn't want to miss her one and only performance that she had been preparing for for the last few months! So I called Chad and decided to take her inside with me and see how the next 3 hours panned out! I wrapped the extra towel around her like a toga and carried her dress. I was grateful I hadn't put her in it. From that point on I stayed at her side and let her jump in the group picture for 3 minutes. Then run through the finale.

This is her in a quick finale run-through an hour before the show. She is in the first row 5th kid from the left.


Finally, the show was about to begin and she had been normal for 2 hours. The migraine was gone. So, I gave the backstage moms my number to text me if anything changed. She sang a few songs of which I didn't tape because I just wanted to enjoy watching her and I had to make sure her facial expressions confirmed she was ok. Then, in the end she sang this one..."Gary Indiana":



Then the finale:


I wasn't watching what I was video taping. And although it looks like we are far away we were close enough to see details about her. Like how her face started turning TOMATO RED half way thought the song. Chad and I looked at each other with wide eyes! I expected pale, not RED. Then she broke form and grabbed her chest for 2 seconds. We were confused. The whole time she was still singing so HARD! And then, she was back to normal. She was staring at Brandon (Brett's brother was directing this song) watching him intently. And when he cut them off on the final note her jaw snapped shut and she didn't budge! Just like he wanted.

After the show I ran up to the kids holding room to get her. She was beaming. I was so proud of her. When she saw Chad waiting for her on the main floor she ran and jumped up into his arms. I felt like I was watching a movie. She couldn't have been more pleased with herself. Nor could we. That picture you saw earlier was on our way out to the car after her performance.

On our way home Alexis says this:

"Mom, guess what I did?"
"What?"
"On that last song, I did a NO BREATHER!"
"Did Brett ask you to do that?"
"Nope, I just did it." She was pretty proud of herself!
Well, that explains the red face!
"And, MOM! Did you see me grab my chest during the song?"
"YES, I did."
"That was because I had to breathe. It hurt."

I got a good laugh out of it. I guess that's what we get for going against our rule of one extra curricular activity at a time. NO BREATHERS= Swim team...NOT singing in OCMCO. (The coaches give out candy if she makes it across the 25 yard pool in practice or meets without breathing. Because breathing costs you time, of course.)

So she mixed the two up and we got a no-breathing, red-faced, chest-grabbing rendition of "California Here I Come!"

And for your entertainment: (even though Alexis isn't in these)
"To Be American" A song my brother-in-law wrote. It's so good.


My 11 year old niece, Katelyn, sang this: (She's the one in the long dress on the right.)

The last 2 weeks...

were crazy busy. Here is what we did:

Wrote and got signatures on a petition for Alexis teacher. This was her first year and with the budget cuts in California all the first year teachers got pink slipped. She was so amazing and I wanted to do something to fight for her! And I made her a reversible apron like this one...out of this fabric. (The colors of her kitchen)

I did lots of baking. Alexis had a party at school and I made the purple sugar cookies. Then I made the watermelon cookies for Primary this last Sunday. Sooo cute, huh?


Alexis had her end of the year performance and last day of school. She was so stinkin' cute! All of her hand motions and actions during their songs are so EXAGGERATED...I loved it.
(That random picture of the old lady and Chad and Alexis is actually Chad's kindergarten teacher. The elementary school he went to has been closed for years but she was there watching a grandchild.)

There's more...but it has a good story. So I'll save that for the next post.

Good and Bad News...

Bad NEWS first: I got in trouble by my doctor for gaining to much weight already in my pregnancy. It's no surprise to me. I don't watch what I eat when I'm pregnant. I eat WHATEVER I want. And I haven't had a second to work out! No joke. So my...(don't laugh)...9 pound month didn't sit well with my doctor. It's sitting well with me though. Chad doesn't think I'm very funny. I guess I'm not worried because I've done this before...and I work my butt off after and loose it all. Seriously, if you had a constant Rusty METALLIC taste in your mouth...wouldn't you keep eating too even if it helped a little! What a pleasant side effect, huh? The metal taste. It doesn't go good with my profession.

Good NEWS: Our baby boy is healthy and things look good in the ultrasound. Both ultrasounds have measured a week early. I didn't think the doctors would do anything about it. Really, it's always off a little and they never change it. But when the doctor got all the numbers back and she realized they were calculating off a 30 day cycle...and I had been on at most a 26 day cycle...she immediately changed it. WHOO HOO! (Now, that 9 pounds makes sense...there was an extra week in there! HAH!) So, now my official due date is OCTOBER 23. Perfect. The primary program is the Sunday before. I have patients scheduled up to the 22. I'm booked out till baby comes. So my life!

My calendar has been packed. Extremely packed. Even on Sundays. I'm lucky I even get an hour to eat with my husband. Now that our Area Authority had each ward change to having Ward Council EVERY sunday...I'm at the church by 8am. Without children...but trying to get everything laid out for Chad so he can get them ready...and do their hair. Chad has meetings after church. We eat. Then I'm off to 4th of July rehearsal because somehow I agreed to be in charge of the 3-5 year old's. What?

Seriously, my schedule is crazy...It's almost 11pm. I just got back from a 2 1/2 hour presidency meeting for Primary. I've worked from 8-6 the last two days. Here's tomorrow:
5:30am: Get ready for work.
6:30am-12: Work
12:10-1:20: Alexis awards ceremony at school
1:30: Chad's sister's graduation
2-4: CPR training at work
4:30-8: Dress rehearsals for OCMCO

It NEVER STOPS! And one last thing. I just got news our school district passed a vote last night to make KINDERGARTEN a full day now. No early birds or later gators. 8-2 straight. Plus, with the teacher cuts...now it is voted for 30 students to 1 teacher. WHAT? How is 1 teacher going to handle 30 five year old's for 6 hours with NO aide? Do I keep Alexis in this school district?

My sister's baby...

My sister, Mindy, had her baby this last Monday. They named her Lilly May Stewart. I feel the need to post this for all her family/friends who never get pictures because she doesn't keep a blog. Isn't she cute?

Kids Coloring Corner

I finally finished my first major project of the year. It's about time. I've wanted to do something like this since we moved in this apartment a little over 2 years ago. I've had this vision (drawn out and all) since October!
Table + 2 Chairs: made by Chad's Uncle when Alexis was born. We had painted it a deep red and it stayed that way till I got this vision last fall. The green looks so bright in these pictures but it's really a pretty pear green...not so lime.
Shelf: a white desk hutch I had bought at Down East before I got married. It was stained and chipped and was needing a change. It's great for holding stickers, glue sticks and scissors!


Wooden letters: From wal-mart. They were the perfect size and they stand on their own. I painted them brown and mod-podged cute scrapbooking paper to the front of each letter.


Art wire: Picture wire from wal-mart hooked and twisted around two nails.
Knobs: Drawer handles from ikea. They are super cheap. I just painted them brown and had Chad drill a hole in the inside to fit over the back end of the nail that is in the wall. That way I can take it off to tighten the wire still if needed.
Clothespins: Painted brown and mod-podged with scrapbook paper.


Hanging caddies and bar: From ikea. They are cheap too. But they have even cheaper ones...I just liked the sturdiness of these. Plus, I like that the kids can take them off and the caddies stand up if they want to color with them outside. I used my glue gun to embellish them with ribbon and ric-rac. I figured out how to cut vinyl on my cricut so those letters are my first attempt with vinyl. LOVE IT!
Wooden Palm Tree's: They are from Michaels for like 50 cents. Already painted and all. I wanted something to cover up the unsightly nails that screw in the black bar.

The coloring corner is in our family room right were I can seem them. No pens in the bedroom. It get's used numerous times in the day. It's neat and the kids know how to clean it all up easily.

The results are in...

When we got back from our appointment. Alexis looked at us and pleaded:

"Please! Tell me it's a girl."

Of course, we had to tell her it was a boy and she burst into tears and hid under the dinner table. We talked to her a bit...and she seems to be ok with it now. Carter's excited...as are the rest of us.

Fish Tank Make-over

Chad came up to me with this statement at our Ward Silent Auction last week:
"I think I won a BRIGHT RED bubble gum fish tank."

I'm mean! I responded:
"Chad, if it doesn't fit in a drawer I think you should talk to me!"

So, the next day Carter and Chad picked out a fish for our newly acquired fish tank.

Red is not my color. I've tried decorating with it. It's not me. So, today Chad and I gave it a make-over. I think he didn't fight it because I was upset initially. His usual comment is: "What is your fascination with spray painting everything!" But, instead, he helped me.

What do you think?
So meet the newest member of our family which has TWO names: Sparkle Blue Little Pitt (according to Alexis) and Tank Fish (according to Carter).

If it's going to be on my kitchen counter...it needs to look good. Kind of retro, huh? I LOVE it. I can now thank Chad for his purchase. But that's nothing new. I'm always eating my words!

Memorial Weekend

Does this sound like a relaxing weekend at the river?

*Arrive Wednesday night.
*The Van (with the only tow hitch) breaks down EVERY time we used it.
*My Dad took the sticker that's gets us into the park with the boat ramp with him to IDAHO!
*When we finally get the jet ski in the water on Thursday night...Chad and Jake have to float down with it in the dark..before they finally get it working.
*Chad and Jake work on the Van for hours EVERYDAY...in the heat.
*The RIVER didn't come up to boating level till 6:30..PM! EVERYDAY! Usually it's up by 10/11am.
*We couldn't get the van to work during those hours...or very many other hours for that matter.
*We finally found a neighbor to let us use his truck by Saturday night to put our boat in.
*About to shove the boat off the trailer...OH NO. What's this? The boat battery is dead. By the time we get it to our doc it's DARK.
*We get an hour to go out on the boat Monday night. We go tubing: Tube rips after 30 minutes.
*Our neighbor is leaving town so we pull the boat out just before dark.
*Clean river house and leave late Monday night.

We tried to make the most of a very frustrating trip.
We still got to ski the kids. Make sand castle's. Skip rocks. Play in the sand. Tube the kids. Float down the river. Go fishing. Swim in the pool. And ENJOY friends.

Notice the bottom 3 pictures. It will look familiar to my roommates! (1st: The dry land start. 2nd: Be a ball. 3: Resist the boat/jet ski!) We detached the rope from the tied-togethers since Alexis is just way too good at skiing with it all attached. So we attempted teaching Alexis to pull herself up and out of the water. She did great at that. She just needs some more practice at staying up balancing since she controls it all with the rope now. She could get about 15 feet. She's such a good sport at trying new things!