Today we attended the state quarterfinal basketball game between Bountiful and Herriman. Bountiful's student section has a reputation for being very supportive of their team. They cross lines here and there, even possibly making a few mothers cry (we were kind of hard on some of the WX kids). They are generally very loud and they do research so they can tailor their cheers to specific players and their girlfriends. Jake seems to be one of the leaders of the pack.
Today was the long-awaited salmon challenge. Isaac doesn't really pine for nuts because he hasn't tasted them, but he pines for salmon and shrimp because they are foods he loved, but then developed an allergy to. It's been hard on all of us because we all enjoy salmon about once a month for dinner. Isaac's shrimp and salmon numbers have been getting better though so Dr. Broadbent decided we could try a salmon challenge. I grilled a small piece of salmon and we went to Dr. Broadbent's office to eat it. Isaac ate a very small bite, then we waited for 15 minutes. He ate a slightly bigger bite and we waited 10 minutes. This patterned continued for a few hours until Dr. Broadbent was satisfied that he PASSED. We are all excited--mostly Isaac.
Ironically, we planned to have salmon for dinner to celebrate, but Dr. Broadbent said Isaac couldn't have anymore today--she didn't want to overload his system. The rest of us enjoyed it though. It came out of the oven hot and golden. Yummy.
Mondays are pretty low-key around here. No one really has lessons or practice. It's a good way to start the week. Hopefully because there aren't a lot of scheduled things, people are getting a jump on the school week. But probably not.
I have been really trying to make Mondays more productive. The week goes so much better if I do all the grocery shopping and meal planning today. This week was a good week for that. Hopefully I won't have to make another trip to the store this week. I've been really working on emergency preparedness and food storage the past few months, so as I peruse the ads each week, I try to use Monday to pick up sale items that will work well on our food storage.
I mailed Evan's birthday package today too. I think we did a good job of sending some great stuff. We sent some food he enjoys, some new exercise bands, a Sacramento Kings t-shirt that says, "Got Jimmer?--We do!". He'll like that. We also sent candy. We usually send things in a flat-rate box so no matter how much the box weighs we pay the same price. It's worth it to stuff it to the top.
The first game of the high school state tournament was tonight. My foot hurt, so I stayed home, but Craig took the kids and went to watch. We won pretty easily. Jake is pretty much the leader of the student section, so it's fun to watch him lead the cheers.
Jake also spent a good part of his day giving more statements to administrators and school police about the weekend's activities. Since this is a public blog, I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but Jake did absolutely nothing wrong. He was a victim in an incident that involved mainly threats. We would like to see the boy who made the threats punished, but all we can really do is give statements and wait for an outcome.
Unfortunately, sacrament meeting today was completely lost on me. I was so distracted by the weekend's happenings and my kids were super irreverent. In fact, I had to confiscate four iPhones. I would have confiscated Craig's phone too, but Isaac said I didn't because "Dad has all the money".
Today was kind of a wierd day.
I never left the house.
Craig ran around running errands, buying baseball bats for the boys, did my grocery shopping, got a movie for us to watch later.
Caroline spent her afternoon and evening with friends.
Sam went to the BYU basketball game, last home game of the season.
Isaac went to basketball practice at 10:00 a.m. and came home at 10:30 p.m.
Jake went to the WX girl's choice dance. Weirdest thing of all. He went with his friend, Cassidy, but left alone because an old boyfriend thing turned into a great big thing. Wish I could be more specific. Let's just say, things are still getting sorted out.
With Craig back in town, we found a minute to read scriptures all together tonight. It's hard to catch everyone home. In fact, Sam came home from baseball just as Jake was about to go study math at his friend's house. So we grabbed Jake and read a chapter in Alma. Part way through scriptures, I noticed Caroline had invited some visitors to read with us.
Craig has been in Tampa this week with his partner, Terry. Craig was traveling with Terry when my dad died. Craig was also traveling with Terry when my brother died. You can see why I might not want Craig to travel with Terry, or at the very least why I might want to keep my kids home from school and locked up in the house for the duration of their trip.
They were supposed to land in SLC tonight around 8:30, but had a weather delay that put them into Salt Lake City at 12:30 a.m. I texted Craig and said, "at least no one died", to which he responded, "that's what Terry and I were thinking". Sort of funny to joke about, but sort of not. So glad to have him home!
Isaac had two basketball games tonight and the older kids had a fireside given by an astronaut. Jake had to conduct again. He's worried that people are going to think he trolls for firesides to conduct. Haha. If he didn't do such a good job, people would stop asking him to do it.
We've been so worried that Jake wouldn't get asked to the next dance--it's girl's choice. Jake is always one of the last people asked. Not. I'm actually surprised he didn't get asked the day after the Valentine's Dance. Anyway, he got asked by Natalie Giles, a cute girl that tells Caroline she's going to marry Jake.
Today is actually President's Day, but I saw someone on Facebook call it "Precedents Day" then I started thinking, wouldn't it be great if this really were a day of precedents? Kind of like a new year's resolution do-over, because I know a lot of my resolutions have gone out the window. So, I'm going to set a precedent to be better, appreciate my husband more, be a way better mother, yell less, be more positive, you get the drift. I have so many things I can legitimately choose from.
Craig had to go to Florida today. Too bad Spring Training games don't start for a few weeks because he's a few blocks from the Yankees training facility. He's working hard on a case with his partner, Terry. Unfortunately, he was out of town with Terry with my dad died and then again when Scott died. Terry is bad karma.
Today was a great day off school, housework, baseball, church, work. We went out to lunch, spent time with friends, ran errands, went to a Jazz game, slept, went to a movie, watched a movie...we didn't all do all of these things, but all of us did at least one!
Sam has played mostly on baseball teams that are mainly Mormons. This year he is on a team that is mainly Catholic. He's enjoying this team as much as any he has been on, but the change in primary religion, brought a change in tournment schedule. Before I figured out what was going on, we were signed up to play on Sunday in the President's Day tournament. We felt that since baseball is a team sport and Sam was so valuable to his team on defense, we were obliged to play. We did have rain, but no one got struck by lightning.
Today is Jake's birthday, but he's celebrating without us. Caroline got him a pretty cool cake.
Today was the first baseball game of the season for the Parrys. I'm so, so excited. Sam's first at-bat ended in a double. Unfortunately, because of base running mistakes, the third out was made at home on the hit, so it didn't help us very much, but it should have.
Tonight we played WX in basketball for the last time this year. The fans had a "white out" and Jake and his friends were up to their usual shenanigans, leading all kinds of cheers to vex the other team and their fans. Some of the cheers were probably not very nice. I had someone in the crowd tell me that Jake is the ringleader. Hmmmm.
Tonight was another Wednesday filled with basketball. Fortunately, Sam didn't have a game and the rest of the games were at different times, we were able to attend them all! The Priests won and will be going to region. This is Jake's last hurrah, so that's fun. Isaac's rec game was a rough and tumble win. Isaac's comp game did not go as well, and we lost to a good team. Lots of preparations going on so we can leave for St. George tomorrow. I'm so excited baseball season will be underway soon.
Is overrated. And exciting this year. The school called mid morning to say that Isaac was having a lot of trouble breathing. They tried me a few times, then Craig a few times, considered calling an ambulance, then got ahold of us. I took one look at Isaac when I got there and drove him straight to the emergency room. He couldn't even finish a sentence without gasping for breath. After a chest x-ray, his pain slowly began to resolve. His pulse/ox was excellent at 99 percent. It's never 99 percent. He also had no wheezing, so it was pretty weird. Some of the possible disagnoses were pneumothorax or positional lung problems. Finally, Isaac was dignosed with something called a "precodial catch". The doctor explained that it comes on suddenly and feels like a crushing pain, almost like a heart attack. It hurts when breathing in. And it resolves on its own. All of these things happened. I think a precordial catch is when part of your lung gets pinched. Anyway, it made for an exciting Valentine's Day. The only exciting thing that even happened really except for a few scattered cards on the doorstep for some of the kids. Craig got me some dark chocolates and a card.
Tonight was the annual Globetrotters game in Salt Lake City. Craig got four tickets and took Sam, Isaac & Monte. They enjoyed it and just like always, the Globetrotters won. Isaac was a little annoyed to learn that the Globetrotters had a girl on their team this year.
Jake volunteered at the hospital today. Caroline did a little homework. That left me to my various lists of things to do today. It was a quiet night around here until the basketball peeps came home.
Today we heard from Evan. He couldn't be happier.
In the morning, Isaac and his two skiing sidekicks, Josh and Peyton, put on their skiing shoes and hit the slopes at Park City.
Today I finally went to the doctor again about my foot. Since we have done almost every conservative treatment we can, we have decided to try surgery. I'm counting the days until March 1. Dr. Anderson is going to go in and release the tendon. Recovery doesn't sound too bad, especially realizing I was willing to have my foot completely cut off to stop the pain.
Craig and I went to The Vow tonight. It was a cute little flick--not that great, but not terrible either. I like endings that tie things up a little better.
Today we went to a long awaited doctor appointment with Dr. Broadbent. Isaac's last blood tests showed his allergy scores related to shellfish had gotten a little better. He really misses shrimp and salmon. He's never really had nuts so he doesn't miss them, but the fish allergy was a later onset and he enjoyed eating it before it was taken away. Today we did some skin testing to see if the blood tests were right. Isaac was tested for lobster, crab, salmon and shrimp--he was most interested in the salmon and shrimp. His salmon tests was good enough that Dr. Broadbent said we could have a food challenge in her office. In a food challenge, Isaac gets to eat the designated food at Dr. Broadbent's office and then she observes him over a period of time. If he doesn't have a reaction, we can reintroduce the food. Unfortunately, his lungs aren't healthy enough to challenge right now, but maybe in a few weeks. He also had a breathing test yesterday and when I asked the nurse how it went she said she thought it was pretty bad, but Dr. Broadbent said it was "a good test for Isaac". I guess that shows how low our expectations should be. Dr. Broadbent said she would consider a shrimp challenge down the road, but it would have to be given at Primary Children's Hospital.
Because his lungs were so bad, Isaac was started on another daily maintenance medication, bringing the total to five--a little bit discouraging. I thought overall the appointment was pretty positive, but Isaac left in tears. I guess the shrimp was bringing him down.
He's a tough kid!
Sam had a great church game tonight. Fun to watch. We are still undefeated.
I went to bed in tears because my food pain has gotten so bad. It's so discouraging. I want to exercise and be active, but my heel hurts all the time. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow though. Hopefully I'll learn something that will help.
We had our usual slate of basketball games tonight. Isaac had two games, Jake had a church game, and Sam had a game. Sam and Isaac have been undefeated in their comp games. Tonight we faced tough teams. Jake chose to skip his church game. Isaac had a rec game first and lost by two. I had to miss Isaac's second game because it conflicted with Sam's, but Isaac's comp team lost by two. They played a tough team that pressed and even after a big comeback, we came up just short. Sam's game was exciting too. Sam hardly sat out at all and they were definitely outsized. It was close, but we lost by four. They had a tall Asian boy that was pretty good--we called him Yao for obvious reasons.
Craig had to go to Las Vegas for some meetings so we did it on our own. Caroline had young women's and instead of his game, Jake made cookies and took them to some people who needed a little pick-me-up.
Craig scored some tickets to a baseball fundraiser last night. He took Jake and Isaac. They got to meet The Wizard, Ozzie Smith. He is in the Hall of Fame as a St. Louis Cardinal shortstop. He used to run out of the dugout and do a front flip on the way to his infield position.
Today I was lucky enough to take Sam shopping for a new suit. After watching the deacons pass the sacrament on Sunday, Craig decided Sam need a suit. I've been resisting because he's on the verge of a growth spurt. But Sam has been struggling a little bit with life, so I decided he needed a pick-me-up. He told Reed, our friend who owns the Mr. Mac in Bountiful, that he wanted black with pinstripes. I encouraged Sam when we got there to try on a few different styles. Sam surprised us both when he chose a charcoal suit with a window pane pattern. He looks amazing. I'll post a picture when it's altered.
Isaac was struggling with his breathing again tonight. After a breathing treatment at home without much improvement, we called his allergist/asthma-ist. She gave us a few ideas to try. Sadly, she also gave us her home and cell phone numbers. I think this is a bad sign. Isaac may have to start steroids again if he doesn't improve in the next few days. I asked Dr. Broadbent what the max number of times a year Isaac should be on steroids. She said 1-2 times. Isaac has been on steroids five times since October. Like I said, a bad sign.
The Super Bowl was awesome this year. It had drama. A drive to win at the end of the game. I didn't love the teams playing--Patriots & Giants--but enjoyed the game. We had a grilled cheese bar with lots of meats and cheeses, chips and dip and root beer floats. Becky & Max, Doug & Linda, and a few of Jake's friends joined us. The Giants put together an 80-yard drive with under four minutes in the game to score the go-ahead touchdown. Eli Manning was the MVP.
Craig and I started our Saturday with a temple session at the Bountiful temple. A great place to be. Lots of other people thought so too. I was glad afterwards when Sam and Jake got home from their scout "campout" (inside someone's cabin) and the four kids I have left at home were all under one roof for a bit. We busied ourselves running errands and doing chores to be ready for the big Super Bowl tomorrow.
Craig and I had a fabulous dinner of Thai food with our friends, the Beckers, and our friend, Cindy. We love to have Cindy along wherever we go. Great conversation and lots of laughs.
We came home to find Isaac struggling. His chest hurts, his throat hurts and he's coughing a lot. It's hard to raise Isaac. Not because we don't love him. We love him a ton. But so many times I can't decide whether or not he needs to go to the emergency room. I have to rely on how I "feel", which means I'm trying to let the Holy Ghost tell me whether he needs to go to the hospital. I really try to "listen" and then react to how I feel. Tonight he had two breathing treatments and only felt marginally better. He's oxygenating pretty well even with a wheeze, so we decided to wait and see if he gets worse. Hopefully I'm doing the right thing.
Jake and his friends attended the 4A state drill competition today in Provo. Unfortunately, Jake tried to go around a school bus in the high school parking lot on his way out. When a small truck goes up against a bus, the bus always wins.
Happily, our new carpet went in today. It's almost not worth getting new carpet when you realize you have to move all that funiture. We only had to do two rooms, but the console in the family room is really, really heavy. Both the family room and Caroline's room look great. I'm pretty good at that color picking stuff.
Went to a movie with Cindy today. We love afteroon movies. We decided to stop and get a Coke to smuggle into the movie in our purse. Cindy went ahead to buy popcorn while I got the tickets. When I came around the corner to refreshments, Cindy's purse was all laid out on the counter and everything was soaking wet from her spilled Coke. I, of couse, started laughing really hard. In fact, I was laughing so hard, Cindy volunteered to the worker that I too had a Coke in my purse. She tattled on me, but the worker didn't really care.
Sam and Isaac hitched a ride to Provo tonight with Sam's friend. BYU played Gonzaga in basketball, a big game with NCAA tournament ramifications. The downside: The game was on ESPN an didn't start until 9:00 p.m. It was a late night, but the boys enjoyed a win and said it was one of their favorite games.
This morning Red Sox tickets went on sale. We are trying to get tickets to the game against the Yankees celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. We wanna be there when Fenway turns 100. Some of us will be cheering for the Red Sox--probably most of the group since Evan won't be there to even out the cheering. The rest of us will be cheering for the Yankees. Sam will be the lone person who won't care too much. I suspect he'll cheer for the Yankees. We're excited that Uncle Ryan will be going with us, even if he is a Red Sox fan. Luckily, we got right in on the ticket sale and got bleacher seats for two games.
After the internet ticket sale, I buzzed up to Ogden to help at the cannery. Let's be honest, I was only helping so that I would be allowed to buy some product at the end. Today they were making (and selling) beef stew. It was medium fun, but nice to come home with a box of stew for our food storage.
Tonight we had basketball games again.