Happy Easter!

He has risen!

The eggs are hidden and the food is cooking. The Messiah is playing=The calm before the storm.

The kids will start trickling over to my parent's house from Hunt&Sarah's place. 

We got her eThursday night and went straight to the Mesa Easter Pageant. Brought back so many memories from when they were kids.

 Fortunately, we got VIP seating up front with Lex and Jon. That night we all went back to hang out at my parent's house. Hanging out with family is my #1 favorite thing to do. Lex and Sarah and I sequestered ourselves for a few of Lex's on-call visits and we talked about medical things: important things like priapism and catheter-induced epispadius. Then, I ran out and pantsed Esie, which was glorious. She absolutely fell to the floor in front of the whole family in a fit of giggling and then tried to tackle me.

The next morning, we did baptisms and then got breakfast.

Chillin' with the family is always the best part. 

The teenaged girls put make-up on their stomachs: contoured abs was the look of the day.

The little girls also had a heyday with makeup which turned into raccoon eyes after swimming.

The teenagers bought this $13 kiddie pool that they wanted to use as a raft. I told them that this might be the last picture of them alive. The pool looked so flimsy that I was sure it would fold up on them and suffocate them at the bottom of the pool.

Claire was the guinea pig and she took her job seriously:

Rub a dub dub, 3 girls in a tub.

They actually fit 6 girls in it that night.

My mom and I had a beautiful 4-miler to the Riparian Preserve.

Manly men workout

On Saturday afternoon, we assembled about 90 sack lunches and distributed them to homeless people.

Then we came home and dyed eggs.

Esie teaching Claire stick shift.

Right after this picture, the car jerked forward quite suddenly.

BBQ

Largest size at Bahama Bucks with all the add-ins.

Grandma love

Easter hunt line up

The hunt degenerated

There's a viral ice water challenge that the girls all did

On the way home, David got pulled over for going 98 miles per hour. The cop said that if it were 100mph, he would have been sent to jail. As I was tucking Sybil in that night, she said, "Is dad going to jail?" 

Then the truth came out: "Mom, I saw him going 108mph, and I whispered, 'go faster, go faster!"

SYBIL=10

Vegas is glorious right now! I feel guilty every minute I'm inside; not only because it's so beautiful now, but because I know the inferno that comes soon.

After decades of work, David qualified for Boston Marathon with a sub-3 hour marathon!

We were so grateful to have his parents here to celebrate with us.

Notice his shirt. He wears this shirt a lot and he wears it with pride.

Fortunately, nobody has made any negative political comments to him yet, but he has had several people try to talk to him in Hebrew.

GG and Pops were here while David was in AZ for work and I was getting ing in some clinical hours.

Fortunately, it was the same weekend as David's marathon, General Conference, AND...

Sybil's birthday. DOUBLE DIGIT AGE!

She invited 4 of her best friends and we played about a dozen games.

This was "my makeup artist is blind."

This was "sticking cheese puffs to your shaving cream head."

Find the gummy worms in whipped cream

The night ended in hot tub and then doorbell ditching some boys in our neighborhood.

What Sybil wants to be when she grows up: "one of those people who mixes potions together"

Favorite book: Judy Blume books

Favorite memory from the past year: Paris

Making General Conference Beignets:

General Conference birthday candy sorting

Iris had 2 end-of the school year concerts this week.

selfie with the dog. These 2 are the same age.

Sybil's quote from this weekend: I like the smell when I pee on myself. It smells like popcorn and bacon.

Yesterday we had a very special experience. We were invited to a Jewish Passover Seder dinner. We went through Ellie Wiesel's Passover Haggadah book, ate bitter herbs (the girls definitely perked up with the horseradish), sang Hebrew songs, read about the Egyptian escape from Pharaoh, washed our hands several times, broke matzah, and met so many wonderful people. Iris found the afikomen and our host bought it from her for $100! They also gave us one of the Haggadah books. I hope to continue this tradition.

One of my favorite parts was that every table had a plate for the absent Elijah. It made me think of my absent Elijah.

They're Back!

They're back! It's so good to have a living home again.

Sybil's sass:

Me: I have to take Iris to the gym

Sybil: You don't have to.

Me: Og yeah? What do I have to do?

Sybil: You have to give me a back rub.

Iris' music: Every time she gets in the car, her first priority is to get her tunes playing. It doesn't matter how long or short the ride is, she's gotta be rocking out.

Claire: Debating over grades and gas money.

Zoe: Costco trips while discussing future plans.

David: Everything is good about having David back, although he's been busy lately and will be heading to AZ this week. He was nominated for the "Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award."

Jet lag at its finest.

 This girl was waking up before 6am for half of the week so we took advantage of the beautiful mornings and I ran while she scootered while we listened to Brain's On podcast about kids' crushes (her pick) and finished up a Percy Jackson book. And talked, of course.

Gardening buddies

brushing buddies

 

Only a few more hours with my faithful solitary companion before the house if full of commotion again:

The family finally comes back from their European vacation! While they were gone, a few things that happened that probably would not have happened otherwise:

• 4 full days of clinical time
• a 6 hour temple trip
• babysitting for friends
• I have not taken out the trash nor the recycling
• I did laundry (this is usually David's job)
• watched a few chick flicks and read a lot of pathophysiology
• NO grocery shopping! This was a big one. I explored the recesses of the freezer. There has been a lot of cabbage and non-breaded chicken in my diet.

I got this text from Sybil this week: Mom, I wish you were here because the girls are making fun of me and acting like they are my boss and today we only had dinner crepes and bread." 

I got a giggly phone call from them about Sybil peeing on the streets of Paris--two times! And neglecting to completely pull up her pants the second time.

Oh, and the one video I was sent was of the vegetarian swallowing (not chewing) a Parisian snail.

Not many pictures from Elijah lately. I suspect it's because of his new buzz-cut. Apparently it's an initiation ritual in his district that they all get that haircut. He said his district is supposed to be a beacon to others and since he's the DL, he's leading by example.

PS. If I would have been on this trip (and I have had several feelings of regret), I would have blogged about it more, but here's the schedule in case my kids want to remember what they did. They were with Hunt and Sarah and family in England and met up with David and Macie in France.

Europe Travel (March 13-23) Plans

March 13, 9:20pm: Fly to London 

March 14, 2:40pm: Arrive in London

Friday (3/14)

3-5pm Drive from LHR to Bath

Saturday (3:15)

10am: Breakfast at Sally Lunn’s (reservation for 11 people)

12-1pm: Tour University of Bath

2-3pm: Tour Bath Abbey Towers

Drive back to London: Salisbury Cathedral

Mercato Mayfair - Food market in old church 

Sunday (3/16):

9am Church @ 64-68 Princes Gate Exhibition Road South Kensington Road SW7 2PA

11:15am: Sung Eucharist @ Westminster Abbey

Lunch at Borough Market / Medical Museum

After Church - Nationa l Gallery (Trafalgar Square) @ 4pm-6pm (closes)

7:45pm - Dinner at Jamavar

Monday (3/17)

10:20am - British Museum Reservation 

2:30pm - 3:30pm - Claire tours Kings College London 

7:30pm - Phantom of the Opera (His Majesty’s Theater)

Tuesday (3/18)

10am: Westminster Abbey

11:45am-1:30pm Queens College Campus Tour 

2pm: Tower of London

4:15-5pm - Sherlock Homes Museum

7:30: Les Miserables

March 19: Leave London for Paris

Dinner @ 9:45pm at Brassier Bellanger 

March 20: 

9am - Louvre Museum / Tour with Vittoria

Brunch at Marcel 3 and go see Arcnearby

2:15pm - Eiffel Tower (Viator Tour)

5pm - Riverboat Cruise along Seine and then Arc de Triomphe

8pm: Musée D’orsay

March 21

8:30am-3pm: Versailles

Visit Porfirio Diaz’s tomb

3:30pm - Catacombs

5pm - Luxembourg Gardens & Laduree Macarons

7:30-9:30pm : Jazz Club (Les Duc Des Lombards)

March 22

9am: Jardin Tuileries

Lunch and wander in Latin Neighborhood 

2pm: Notre Dame, by horse statue

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann 

Fric Frac sandwiches 

Montmartre nightlife 

Sacre Coeur

Eiffle tower

March 23

10am - Church 

I got this wonderful picture of my boy last week. He is back to calling us on his p-days again, which is wonderful.  It brings back a lot of missionary memories for me. He recently had a friend, Liz, get baptized who prefers English. He said she's a self-proclaimed dumpster diver and hermit (2 words that I would also use to describe myself). I shared a story with him about one of the times I felt the spirit the strongest on my mission. I only taught the lessons in English once--to a man from Australia. The spirit was almost overwhelming as I received the first vision to him in English.  

The Udalls were in town for a day before their flight to England. I just got a fictive with all of them at a market in London, eating fresh donuts.

ENGLAND!

Months ago, when David told me he wanted to take the kids to England, primarily for Claire to visit college campuses there, I told him I wouldn't be going. My focus this year has to be elsewhere--not international travel.

 I love being in school. I love learning and the efforts it take to make a good grade. But for the first time, I don't feel like I'm studying for a grade. I study because people come to me with problems that I have no idea how to fix. I had a patient on Friday who said he woke up twice with a blocked airway-- couldn't breathe for 2 minutes. He didn't fit the typical sleep apnea patient (obesity and increased neck circumference), so what the heck happened?  It's overwhelming thinking about how much I don't know. And no matter how much I study, the body of information is intimidatingly vast! I am drowning in a knowledge deficit (which is an actual nursing diagnosis).

 So Porfirio and I are at home. I will be in clinic a lot. And studying a lot. Yesterday I did a few hours of yardwork and went out with my ministering people. And unfortunately, I won't be able to do dishes for the foreseeable future:

 

2 week re-cap

George Washington

Iris went to the capitol for a 3-day state-wide FFA tournament. 

She competed in Nursery and Landscaping and Veterinarian Science.

Claire and Mack

Yesterday was Sadie's. I'll post those pictures when I get them (if I get them), but it consisted of at least a dozen teenagers cycling through our house most of the day. They created matching sweaters, hot-tubbed, and watched a movie (or something--I tried to stay out of their hair and keep a certain 9-year-old out of their way also).

Visit from Uncle Jon las weekend 

They went to some of our favorite places: Tacos al Gordo 

and Sul and Beans

Also last weekend, David, Sybil and Iris made 50 sack lunches and distributed them within 15 minutes in downtown Vegas. They said it was a humbling experience to meet people who materially have so little, but made comments like, "God blesses me every day."

While they stayed in Vegas, Claire and I drove to Arizona for her regatta and to hang with my parents. 

Dad broke his hip a few weeks ago when we were all there for the Mesa marathon. He got out of the rehab facility the day we arrived. It has been enlightening to see my mom transform into the role of caretaker. This is a picture of his first walk outside. He made it half a block, which is crazy considering he was riding his bike for up to 20 miles a month ago.

This week, the doctor I shadow told me something that reminded me of last weekend. He said that he'll have patients come to him saying things like, "I can't ever remember where I leave my car keys. I'm afraid I'm getting dementia or Alzheimers." When people have these conditions, rarely are they cognizant of it, it's family members who notice. In February, I asked my dad about memories from his childhood and he deflected with humor. Speech therapy was hard for him in rehab--he realized the extent of his deficit. So hard for this Harvard/MIT graduate who revels in knowledge acquisition.

Pictures are not his favorite:

These 2 were thick as thieves last weekend. They made homemade noodles, which was a flop.

They are currently sharing a bed upstairs. Esie flew out to go to Sadies with Claire and her group of friends.

Looking at grandma's old yearbooks:

The regatta on Tempe Town Lake:

Poor girl has been dealing with back pain since the Fall so she's not able to give rowing her full effort.

This week, Iris and I happened to drive by Sybil on her scooter when she was on her way back from school. We yelled "hello" at her and the little stinker lovingly yelled back, "You're ugly like a butt!"

Neon day:

I was fortunate enough to get a call from this guy the day after his birthday. 

His hair gets shorter and shorter every time I see him! His weekly emails are a highlight of my week.

These two are also thick as thieves. It has been great having Zoe live with us.

The 5 of them are headed to Europe on Thursday!