I have two weeks to cover so here we go...
When I left off two weeks ago (on Saturday March 8th), I was hoping to get some more Seminary lesson prep done as well as some sewing. I decided to do the sewing first. I was able to cut out all the pieces for the May pillow covers but that took a few hours so it was late by the time I finished. I didn't get any more Seminary lesson prep done that day, but I don't have any regrets. I got both lessons ready to go in time and I was also (miraculously!) able to get my two lessons for the following week prepared on Monday and Tuesday before I left for Utah on Wednesday morning (the 12th) so that all worked out great. I haven't been able to do any sewing since I cut out the pieces, but hopefully I will get back to that soon. Between going to Utah and getting caught up on everything after returning, I haven't had a lot of free time. Here is one of the pillow covers:
The other one has the same borders, but it is a butterfly in the middle. I couldn't put the pieces together to get a photo because they are not cut out in the exact shapes that they will be...I have to sew them togther and then do some cutting before they will start to look like a butterfly. Kind of hard to explain, but hopefully that sort of makes sense!
I'm not remembering details about Sunday the 9th except that we had church as usual and I had choir practice that afternoon. I also talked to Jared.
On Monday and Tuesday (the 10th and 11th) I was busy with all the usual things (Seminary, lesson prep, and household chores) plus I was packing and getting ready to go to Utah. Seth worked Monday afternoon but chose not to go to the YM activity on Tuesday evening (which actually helped me out...saved me some time driving him there and back). Frank went to the temple as usual on Tuesday after work.
My flight on Wednesday morning left at 8:00 am, which meant I had to get up as early as I usually do on weekdays even though I wasn't going to Seminary. We left the house by 5:00 so I would get to the airport by 6:00. I had arranged for Seth's friend Henry to come pick him up for Seminary so he wouldn't miss it. My team teacher texted me after class (I was waiting to to get on my flight at that point) and reported that we had our smallest attendance ever--only 9 kids were there! (We had a guest teacher that day and I asked two of the parents to help on the other two days I was gone so that everything was covered.) We've had better attendance since then although yesterday was also a pretty small group.
Back to my Utah trip...I tried a new airline called Breeze which flies from Dulles to the Provo airport. I was a little anxious about flying on a new airline out of an airport I had never flown out of and to an airport I had never flown into, but it all worked out great. I'm not sure if it was the early hour on a weekday or what, but Dulles was not busy at all. I did not have to wait in line to check in, there also was NO line at security (amazing!!) and I didn't have to take anything out of my backpack for screening either. Nice! I waited only briefly for a tram from the main terminal to the concourse, and then my gate was right next to the escalator from the tram station to the concourse so I didn't even have to walk far. The only downside was that there weren't any restaurants nearby (I probably could have walked a while and found one, but I didn't see anything close) so I didn't get a very substantial breakfast. I did get a yogurt / fruit cup at a small convenience store nearby and I had a granola bar and other snacks with me so I was okay although I was pretty hungry by the time I got to Utah. The flight went fine, though. The plane was new and clean and I had a seat with some extra legroom, which was really nice. It felt like the flight went by pretty quickly. I watched a movie and a few shows and dozed a little bit (I would not call it sleeping).
The Provo airport is really small so there was no 2 mile trek from my gate to baggage claim (unlike the Salt Lake City airport!) I got my baggage fairly quickly and Scott picked me up and I as on my way to Mom's house. I have to apologize for the lack of photos from this trip. I didn't think to take any photos of anyone the whole time! I guess at least I'm not super self centered and taking selfies with other people all the time 😆 but I wish I had taken photos of Mom, Scott, Tanner, Hans, Shellie, Tim, Rachelle, Liz, Erin, Amy, and my friend Paula. I'm really grateful I got to see all those people, though!!
When I got to Mom's house, it was just she and Scott and Hans who were there but Shellie came to visit a while later and shortly after that Amy got back from BYU where she had been watching one of Jeremy's dance competitions. We had a nice long visit, and before Shellie left, Tim & Rachelle arrived to visit also (we had dinner in there somewhere too...Hans made some orange chicken with rice and veggies...it was good!). Scott wasn't working that day but Tanner was...he came home that evening so I got to see him too. We got to bed late and then Amy and I stayed up even later talking. When all was said and done, I was up for close to 24 hours by the time I fell asleep, but it was so nice to visit with so many family members!
On Thursday (the 13th) Amy and I started working on Mom's tax return. We got a lot of it done, but realized that one document we needed was missing. We talked to Mom's financial advisor who said that he would get that document for us either that night or Friday morning at the latest, so we did everything we could without it and planned to finish the next day. Tanner had school on Thursday but got the day off work so I got to see him a little more. I looked over his tax return that day, too. Scott was working most of the day so I didn't see him as much. Amy, Scott, Tanner and I did all go to Wal-Mart that evening together because we all needed a few things. I wanted to get a few snacks for the trip home, as well as a blow dryer because mine was sounding like it was about to die. (And the next morning it sounded so bad that I was scared to use it anymore so it's a good thing I had purchased a new one.)
On Friday the 14th we woke up to snow on the ground:
It melted before the day was over. Amy and I went to lunch with our friend Paula. We had a great visit and in honor of pie day, I got a piece of raspberry cream cheese pie. It was yummy!
After we got back from lunch, we discovered that Mom's financial advisor hadn't sent the document we needed yet, so we tried to call but the office was closed! After attempting to get a copy of the document we needed online and discovering that it wasn't available, we decided to start searching through a few piles of documents in Mom's office and miraculously, we found the document we needed in one of the piles! That means we were able to finish Mom's tax return and file it that afternoon. Mission accomplished! 😀
That evening Liz and Erin came by to visit us...they were in town because it was spring break in Idaho. I didn't anticipate that I would get to see them while in Utah, so that was a fun bonus! We enjoyed visiting and commiserating over the fact that all the JoAnn's stores are closing.
I had another 8:00 am flight Saturday morning (the 15th) and Scott was kind enough to get up early to take me back to the Provo airport. On the way there, it started to hail / snow and the roads were quite slippery but at the airport there wasn't any snow. They did take a few minutes to de-ice the wings of the plane, though...I was glad to see that they did that. Some photos as I was walking out to the plane:
The flight home also went well and went by pretty quickly. I even slept a little bit (I am rarely able to sleep on planes). It was great to see Frank and Seth when I got home! Seth had driven to the airport and in doing that he completed his 60 required hours of driving so he just needs to make an appointment to take the driver's test now.
After we got home from the airport and I had unpacked, I felt really tired so I took a long nap and didn't try to do too much the rest of the day. I knew Sunday and this week would be busy! I had church and choir practice on Sunday as usual and that evening I also went to the RS Broadcast from Salt Lake City to celebrate the RS birthday. We joined with another ward that meets in our building for that and had a sweet testimony meeting and then some refreshments afterwards. I didn't stick around for the refreshments...just went home to get to bed. Frank took Seth to mission prep class while I was gone and they got home shortly after I did.
Frank had Monday through Wednesday off this week because it was the University of Maryland's spring break. I taught Seminary as usual on Monday and then took a nap (I didn't sleep well Sunday night) before going to the doctor for a physical. After my appointment, Frank and I went to the grocery store and I got the other chores done. I also picked Seth up from school because he had to work from 3:30 to 8:00 that evening. I took him to work and picked him up too because by then Frank wasn't feeling very well. He was having pain in his abdomen and thought maybe he was getting a kidney stone. Since Monday was St. Patrick's Day, Seth was wearing a leprechaun hat when I picked him up from work:
Between Seminary, my doctor appointment, grocery shopping, picking Seth up from school, and taking Seth to work and back, I felt like I just went in and out all day!
Frank felt a lot worse on Tuesday morning so after Seminary I took him to the ER. (He called our doctor and they told him to go to the ER). I dropped him off so I could go home and change and eat breakfast and have a phone meeting with my team teacher (we meet after Seminary every Tuesday to plan the next week) before going back to stay with him. Fortunately, he was taken back to a room fairly quickly and before I got back to the hospital around 10:30 they had done bloodwork and a CT scan. (I had to park across the street from the hospital and walk in because there were no parking places available in the visitor's parking garage...frustrating!) When the results came back from those tests, they showed that he did not have a kidney stone but he did have an area of his lower abdomen on the left side (large intestine) that was inflamed. They determined that he was suffering from one of two things: diverticulitis or epiploic appendagitis. (You can look those up; I'm not going to try to explain them.) They gave him an antibiotic via IV and then sent him home with prescriptions for two antibiotics and a medication for nausea because he was feeling sick to his stomach too. They recommended a clear liquid diet for a few days and then a low fiber diet until he feels completely better. We got home around 1:45 and by then I was feeling really wiped out so both Frank and I took naps. (Seth came home from school shortly after we got home.) After I woke up, I went to the pharmacy to get Frank's prescriptions and also to the store to get some things for his liquid diet (chicken broth, gatorade, jello, etc.)
A friend from our ward stopped by that evening so Frank could help her with her laptop. After I took Seth to his YM activity (they did orienteering), I came home and cleaned two of the bathrooms since I hadn't had a chance to do that earlier. I ran out of time to clean the third bathroom, but I was able to get that done on Wednesday.
On Wednesday we had a guest teacher for Seminary, which is always fun. Frank stayed home and tried to get some rest (he did do some work for some clients) while I did my VITA shift. I completed 3 tax returns and did a couple of reviews. We were busy, but not swamped, which was nice for a change! When I got home I had a lot of little things to get done (besides cleaning the 3rd bathroom) since I hadn't been able to get much done the day before. I ordered a prescription refill for Seth and made a couple of medical appointments for myself (checkups and routine screenings) and filled out paperwork for some of those appointments. I sent an email to ask someone to guest teach Seminary in a few weeks and dusted the house. I was supposed to have book chat Wednesday evening, but it had to be postponed because our hostess's husband had gone to the hospital the night before with a blood clot in his lung. (He's okay.) I was sorry that happened to them, but kind of glad book chat got postponed because I really needed the evening to get some things done and regroup.
Yesterday things started to get back to normal, although Frank still isn't 100% better. He was well enough to go to work, though. (He probably would have asked to work from home, but the rest of the members of his team were on vacation so someone needed to be there in person.) I had a quiet day getting chores done and I was able to get one of my Seminary lessons for next week planned and read through the second one. Frank loaded Turbo Tax onto my laptop so I can start working on our taxes soon, I hope.
Frank worked from home today as he usually does on Fridays which was good since he still doesn't feel great. I would have liked to go to the temple, but since I had two week's worth of budgeting to do and this blog post to write, plus a Seminary lesson to prepare and knowing that this weekend is going to be really busy, I felt like I'd better wait until next week. I decided to work on the Seminary lesson first and I was able to get it planned in about an hour, which was great. Then I got all the budgeting done and ate lunch. I started on this post shortly after Seth came home from school but didn't finish it before I needed to meet the missionaries for an appointment (they asked me to come with them to a teaching appointment). We were supposed to meet with a young adult girl and her mother, but the mom was sleeping so we just talked with the girl in her front yard for a bit. We read part of the Book of Mormon with her and talked about it and she agreed to come to church on Sunday. I'm really impressed with the missionaries serving in our ward right now...the meeting was great, and while we were walking back out to our cars, they invited three more people to come to church (basically everyone we saw). While I was gone, Frank and Seth made dinner and ate, but they left plenty for me. I did the dishes since they did the cooking. 😊Now Frank is doing some work for a client and I need to find some photos of Seth to send to the YW president for an activity they are doing next month to honor all the graduating seniors.
I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that they are doing a lot restructuring at Frank's work. He applied for four positions a week or two ago and today he was invited to interview for three of them, which is quite an accomplishment. His interview is on Tuesday (he'll interview for all three at the same time). I'm not sure how soon we'll know how those went, but it will probably be fairly soon because they need to fill these positions before they can start interviewing for a bunch of others. If he doesn't get any of these three positions, there will be more positions to apply for soon. No matter what happens, he will still have a job, thankfully.
Yesterday was the first day of spring, but it hasn't been very warm. We had a few nice days earlier this week, but the last couple of days have been windy and quite chilly. We've had some rain this week too. The mornings are still really cold but the days warm up to the 50s or even the 60s and low 70s some days. A few daffodils have bloomed in our front flower bed and a few days ago I started noticing buds on trees and even one tree in bloom so warmer days are ahead for sure!
That brings you up to date on us.
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