​As I have been preparing for Easter, I decided I wanted to be a bit more focused on Christ and so I ordered the Christ-Centered Easter book and an Easter creche to use during our scripture study. I loved the stories focused around people close to Christ in this book and how much more prepared mentally we all were for Easter.

​The question I usually hear every morning from Emma is, “Do we have avocados?” That is primarily because her favorite breakfast is now avocado and egg toast just like me. She has finally learned how to do her own sunny side down eggs and that makes her so very happy.

​Abby and Madeline love to play together. One day Abby put on the same sweatshirt as Madeline so that they could be twiners. They were both so cute and Madeline was so happy to be matching with Abby.

​Andrew loves to bake and so he brought out his cookbook and made Hershey kiss peanut butter cookies. Emma helped him make them and they were out of this world delicious. It’s nice that Andrew knows his way around the kitchen.

​HOMEMADE PIZZA
APRIL 3, 2020

Homemade deep-dish pizza is absolutely the best kind of homemade pizza. I love it when Mike makes it. It’s also the perfect excuse to drink root beer since we don’t really drink soda in our house. ​

​We always look forward to watching General Conference together at home in our basement. This year was especially exciting as we were all looking forward to some hopeful messages from the leaders of our church during the COVID19 pandemic. President Nelson and others totally delivered. 

​After two months of procrastinating, we finally took Emma to the bike store and got her fitted for her first mountain bike. She was so excited to finally be getting the other half of her birthday present just in time for the good weather.

​We made a fire and roasted marshmallows for the first time this year. The kids enjoyed talking and eating yummy smores around the fire.

​One of the things that helped us through the first few weeks of COVID19 was binge watching Stranger Things together. We got through all three seasons rather quickly. There were even a few things we didn’t notice from watching it the first time.

​It’s heartwarming to see the kids take Madeline outside to play with her. Peter took her outside several times to play with her. It was not uncommon for him to spend over an hour playing with her doing chalk and bubbles or jumping on the trampoline. She just loved that.

​It always makes me feel better when I know Mike is wearing super protective gear when he operates, especially because he is in the airway most of the time. I can’t wait until we are past COVID19 so I can stop worrying so much every time he goes to work.

​I had no desire to make face masks since we have access to Mike’s medical face masks. However, I thought it would be fun to make one just for fun. The 5 min face mask took me way too long to make the first time mostly because I had to make my templates. However, I thought it turned out pretty well.

​Mike tried a new recipe and it was oh so yummy. He made a crustless cheese and broccoli quiche and it was outstanding. To top off the fun dinner he also made cake in a jar!

​Mike and the kids really did a great job making my birthday special this year. I got two giant balloons reminding me of how young I am and a yummy ice-cream cake with 42 actual candles. I blew ALL of them out in one breath. That’s right…I’m not old yet. The kids got me the Elton John Diamonds vinyl and a unicorn pinata to beat the crap out of. From Mike I get a new TREK Domane SL6 road bike which I am super excited to get. 

Andrew decided to make cream puffs for the first time. Oh yeah, they turned out perfectly and so incredibly delicious. He really does have a talent in the baking department.

​Mike and I needed some time away from the kids, so we ordered dinner from Ted’s and headed on over to Fox Run Park to eat and relax. It was so nice to have some quiet time together. 

​The one bad thing about the nice weather is how quickly the garage can get disorganized and cluttered. With so many of us using our bikes frequently, the back of the garage was getting out of control. I spent one morning after a bike ride with Emma organizing all the bikes and cleaning up the clutter. It made me so much happier to see a clutter free garage again.

​Madeline loves it when Abby will take her for a ride on the skateboard. 

​This was a great month for biking and running. The weather was warm pretty much most of the month with several days of wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts. I mostly ran with Dionne this month at Black Forest Section 16, Manitou Springs, and along the Santa Fe trail. Peter and Emma continued to run together, mostly at Fox Run Park. There was lots of biking by everyone. Abby and Emma both went out to Wolf Lake with Mike, Peter and Andrew explored mountain biking at Fox Run Park, Mike and I rode Red Rocks, Mike, Peter, Emma and I all rode at Fox Run Park, and Emma did 7.75 miles with me around Black Forest Section 16 where she had her first crash. Luckily it was just scrapes from road rash. She went down one of the hills too fast and hit some gravel and slid out. I told her that I fell many times my first year of riding. I was always sporting cuts and bruises. I was so proud of her for getting the courage to get back on her bike and finish the loop. Being able to be outside exercising has made a world of different in how we have felt about ourselves this month of quarantine. We continue to pray for good weather so we can keep up the exercise!

​We have lived through natural disasters, tough economic times, had health difficulties, and the like. We could not have imagined the insanity that is COVID-19. When we were in Hawaii in February, we were just starting to hear about this respiratory disease. There was a tourist from Japan that stayed at our hotel a week earlier that was diagnosed with COVID19 after returning home, but the illness seemed worlds away, confined to mainland China. There were rumblings in Taiwan, in Hong Kong, in Singapore, but it seemed distant and contained. Then Italy went nuts. People were dying left and right. Germany started to find patients. Then Spain. Then Seattle. Then it got real. Suddenly, the United States was in full panic mode and decisions were flying fast. School was cancelled, church was cancelled, work was cancelled, life was cancelled. Stay at home or die. Projections for the healthcare system being totally overwhelmed were startling. The numbers from New York were horrifying. How did it get to this point? It’s amazing to think that a little virus could bring the modern world to its knees so quickly and out of nowhere. Now, after a month of quarantine, financial ruin, stress, and anxiety, we are entering into a new phase of reopening our lives. Uncertainty abounds, but now there is hope that things will begin to move in a direction that is more sustainable. Normalcy is a thing of the past, but hopefully, it will one day be within our reach again.  
 

​Oh, how time is flying too fast with Madeline. She is already 3 ½ years old, weighs 28.7 lbs., and is 39 ¼ inches tall (@3ft 3 inch). Madeline’s personality is coming out more and more these days. She definitely lets us know what she wants and when she doesn’t get something, she lets us know about that too. Still, she is really sweet. She responds well to calm explanations and will usually be pretty agreeable if she understands. Most mornings when I am getting ready for the day, she asks to have either a ring, bracelet or necklace. She loves to wear my jewelry and so I have a few things that I will let her wear just for fun. Madeline has become quite the storyteller. Whenever someone is recounting something that happened earlier in the day, Madeline pipes up with a story that is pretty similar to what was just said. She is becoming quite the conversationalist. She loves to be part of the conversation and so she makes up her own version of things to feel like she fits in. We just all nod and smile and at her because it's so cute that she wants to be part of the conversation.

Ever since the quarantine she often asks us if we can either go to the park or go to the zoo. It is so hard to explain to her what is happening so we usually just tell her that many people are sick so we can’t do those things yet. However, we have still found ways to get out and have fun. There are a few new things Madeline has done this month. When we read books before naptime or bedtime, Madeline usually likes to read back to me the story I just read her. Sometimes she is really good at remembering and sometimes she needs a little help. I think it is cute that she does that. After I sing her songs and rub her back before bed, she now asks me to go and get someone else because she “still needs someone.” It is her way of procrastinating being alone in her room. Usually Emma or Abby will go in and talk with her and rub her back for a few more minutes. Anytime Madeline is hungry she either asks for a popsicle or some gum. I would say she has developed a little sweet tooth but neither one of those in our house has sugar in it. Go figure. Madeline has finally learned how to ride her pushbike. She has really developed some great balance throughout this month. She is pretty fast on that little bike of hers. Here are some of Madeline’s favorite things:
 
Favorite color – Pink
Favorite books – Little Quack, Little Blue Truck Books 
Favorite movies – Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2
Favorite songs - I am a Child of God and The Primary Colors
Favorite musical artists - Queen and Billy Joel (asks Alexa to play Queen every morning)
Favorite food – Popsicles and Gum
Favorite animal – Cat
Favorite inside toy – Stuffed Animals
Favorite outside toy – Pink pushbike
Favorite thing to do outside – Go on walks around the neighborhood or jump on the trampoline
Favorite cereal – Rice Krispies (but she calls them Krisp Ricepies)
Favorite person – Mom
Favorite princess – Rapunzel
Favorite game – Hullabaloo
Favorite hairstyle – Curly and Wild
 

​After the spring sports season was pretty much shut down, Emma was in a funk about what to do about her running. She had been gearing up with the Kokopelli run club and was going on her way to running a fast track season. It didn’t take too long to come up with a new plan for her to run with her brother and keep up the hard work. Then coach Lisa came out with a plan for all the kids to run two 1K time trials three weeks apart. This would give them the motivation they needed to keep working hard. Emma kept telling me that she didn’t feel very fast but when she knocked out a 3:31 on her first 1K at the CC track I had to disagree with her. One thing is for sure, Emma is hella fast. She was running at a 5:39 pace and that was without her spikes on. Her second 1K was at the Manitou Springs track. This track was 1000ft higher in elevation and there was quite a wind so getting a better time would be tough. Her stomach hurt that morning, but I warmed up with her and tried to give her positive encouragement. This time she kept her long sleeve on since her arms tightened up from the cold during the last time trial. As she ran, she looked strong. She finished in 3:32, only one second off from her last time trial. For the crazy weather conditions, she did remarkably well, pulling in a 5:41 average pace. I just couldn’t be prouder of her for working so hard during such an uncertain time. With a months’ worth of training under her belt running only with Peter, she was excited to finally be able to start running with some other Kokopelli runners. As part of the quarantine was lifted, she would be placed in a smaller group of 7-8 runners and one coach so that she could continue to train with other people all while still following the social distancing guidelines. 

​I have to admit that we kind of blew it last year for Peter’s 16th birthday. He was in the middle of his swim season and didn’t want a party with treats since he was trying to eat healthy. We said we would do something great in the summer, but we never did. So, his 17th birthday needed to be EPIC. I had initially planned on doing a surprise party for him but with all the changes with social distancing and the quarantine, I knew that idea was out. Instead I decided to reach out to all of his closest friends and to our family members to have them write a birthday message for Peter and send it to me. I initially thought of putting together a slideshow but then thought it would be even cooler to have it all put into a book. The week before his birthday I collected all the birthday messages and photos so that I could put everything together. Being in the hospital all day on Friday really put a kink in my plans but Saturday morning I woke up feeling decent, so I hopped on my computer and put together the entire book. I don’t know how I did it so quickly. It was a real birthday miracle. I put everything in preview mode on my computer and when I showed him the book, he was all smiles. I think there is something so great about being able to see how much people care about you. The other half of his present was getting him an Oculus VR Headset. He had raved about his uncle’s VR system that he played in the summertime. I spent a lot of time trying to find the Oculus Quest. It was OUT literally everywhere I looked. Due to the high demand over the holidays, the delay in production, and COVID19 it was not looking promising. I felt so desperate that I actually bid on a headset on eBay and thankfully lost by $5. I was super grateful that I didn't pay over the original price for the headset because it was in that moment that I went back to all of the websites that sold the Oculus and by sheer dumb luck I saw that there were 5 in stock at my Walmart at the original price. I couldn’t believe it. I ordered it right away and went the next day to pick it up. What awesome luck that was. Peter knew that the Oculus was out everywhere, so he had no idea that I had struck gold for his big present. Mike and Andrew purposely leaked some info that had him thinking he was getting a giant Lego set. When he opened up his gift, he was so surprised and so incredibly happy. It was such a great moment to witness. We catered to Peter’s weird McDonalds craving and had a McDonalds lunch and Reese’s ice-cream cake. No one else likes McDonalds but every time we travel somewhere new, Peter is all about getting McDonalds. So, our inside joke with Peter became the inspiration for his birthday meal. His day truly couldn’t have been any better. 

The day before Peter’s birthday is not a day I will forget this year. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and the next thing I knew I was on the floor of the bathroom. I think I must have started to feel some sharp pain, but I really can’t remember. I passed out, fell off the toilet, hit my head against the frame of the door, and fractured my nose and bruised my forehead pretty bad. Mike was in bed but heard the banging from my fall and quickly got up to inspect what happened. While I was out, he examined my face and when I came to, I had no idea what had happened. I was completely disoriented, and I felt super sick to my stomach. I sat up enough to try and throw up in the toilet, but nothing came out except for some blood from my mouth. When I tried to sit up, I got sick again and then dizzy. It took a few minutes before I attempted to get up. By that point Mike had already showered really quick and had his scrubs on. I tried walking with his help, but I kept getting dizzy, so he had to carry me to the car. On the way to the ER the pain in my lower back kept getting progressively worse. Once in triage in the ER, they immediately hooked me up to the EKG machine. Mike could tell that something was not right and within in a matter of minutes I was wheeled back to a room. More leads were attached to my body and an IV was started. My heart rate was also super low which is unusual for someone in a lot of pain. Since my normal resting heart rate is somewhere between 42-47, they kept me in my room instead of taking me to the Trauma bay. There was apparently a lot of talk about doing that. They asked me if I knew what month it was. I couldn’t remember at first and it took me almost 30 seconds to feel like I could think. They decided to do a CT Scan of my head and my abdomen. The scan revealed a kidney stone on my left side that was between 4-5mm in size. It also showed that I had a nasal fracture. Luckily there was no brain bleed. My heart rate kept dipping into the 30s and it wasn’t stabilizing. I just felt out of it, but I was never unconscious. It was because of all of this that they ended up admitting me. The pain in my lower back from the kidney stone was so bad they had to give me Norco twice. They ended up doing another EKG in the ER and the results were not that much better than the first one. I had a consult from the Cardiologist who got to the ER surprisingly fast. They ended up admitting me to the hospital to monitor my heart rate, do an echo of my heart, and monitor my pain. While I was in my room, the pain seemed to be in control. John Mancini showed up mid-morning to talk about options with the kidney stone. Mike had called him since he is our friend and a urologist. We decided on a wait and see if I pass it approach with the option for surgery later if I didn’t pass the stone. The echocardiogram was normal which was great. I ended up eating lunch at the hospital and was discharged around dinner time. Mike had been in contact with a select few friends and family throughout the day so they would know what was happening. My sweet friend, Dionne, had already offered to bring us dinner for the next two days. By the time we got home, dinner was already there. My friend Myisha even offered to fly out to help. My parents were beyond worried, but their fears were consoled throughout the day as good news of my heart and discharge were relayed to them. The kids had been so worried throughout the day and when I got home, they said I looked super sick. It’s true, I still looked pale and weak, but I was just happy to be home. 
 
Over the course of the next week, some good friends and family sent me messages and cards of love. Several of them texted me every day. Flowers and other fun treats were sent my way. I felt loved and cared for. Those were some dark days as I had zero energy to do much of anything. I spent most of the time either on the couch, in my office chair, or in bed. After a week of feeling pretty crappy I started to get a little more energy. I attempted to go for a short run one day and a bike ride with the kids on another day. It didn’t matter what I did because the stone just seemed content on staying where it was. I finally set a surgery day and will continue to do what I can to get this stone out of me. So far I have jumped on the trampoline, rode the mini moped with Madeline, ran, biked, and did core exercises and all of that ONLY when I have had enough energy to get myself up. Nothing seems to make a difference but I will keep trying and praying that things will work out ok.

​It’s been a bumpy road watching Andrew as he went back and forth about serving a mission. It all started with a pretty great spiritual experience last fall that helped him realize that he did in fact want to serve a mission. He was pretty solid about it for a few months but then something happened the beginning of this year. He had lots and lots of questions about things he never questioned before. His testimony was definitely tried, and he spent a few months pondering, praying and asking for answers to his questions. It was during this time that he had many conversations with not only his parents but also with his Grandpa Al. He later told me that it was the conversations he had with his grandpa that helped him back on the path to serving a mission. With nervous hearts, Mike and I kept asking him if he was going to finally turn in all of his paperwork. It was right at this time that COVID19 was starting to shut down the world and Mike was preparing to go and pick him up. In a quick conversation Andrew told Mike that he had finally made his appointment with his Stake President for his final interview before turning in all of his paperwork. He had wanted to surprise us but with everything that was going on he felt like he needed to tell us. We were both so incredibly excited by his decision. Then it was the long wait. Days turned into weeks and finally a month passed, and we were starting to wonder what happened to his paperwork. With General Conference in the mix we weren’t panicking just yet. Then as Tuesday passed, which in the past was the day that the mission calls came, and he had no email about his mission call, we encouraged him to write his Stake President. Surprisingly, two days later his call came. Mike and I weren’t home at the time when he received it and so he read it to some of his closest friends via Facetime. When we got home, he read it to all of us plus both sets of grandparents that were chimed in on Facetime. It was nice to have it be intimate with just family. When he read that he would be going to Frankfurt, Germany on August 19th we all lost it. We were beyond excited for him. I couldn’t believe it because a year ago I had a dream that he would serve in Germany. It was one of the most powerful dreams I have ever had but I didn’t put a whole lot of stock into it because let’s be real…it was a dream. Apparently, Mike had been having impressions that Andrew was going to go to Frankfurt. Again, mind blown. To say that we are excited for him is an understatement. We are so happy that he chose for himself to serve a mission. We know that he will make a great missionary!

​What a spectacular Sunday this Easter was this year. We all got up and got ready for church. No Easter baskets or candy was out in the morning. We focused on our Savior and the love that He has for each of us and the love we have for each other. Mike printed out programs again for church and each one of us got to participate in some way or another. Madeline was especially excited to help lead the music with Abby. Everyone made an effort to look their best. The boys actually did their hair and had church socks on. It was great. The boys took turns blessing and passing the sacrament. I love that we can do the Sacrament at home and that we have awesome boys to do that for us. Mike gave the lesson/talk like he does most Sundays. I love that he prepares each Sunday and takes charge in giving us a spiritual message each Sunday. Today’s message was appropriately on the Resurrection. Even though it was Easter, our meeting was still short, simple, and sweet. That is how we roll these days. After our church service was over, I brought out the Easter baskets. Madeline was super excited to get the Toy Story 4 toys in her basket. She has become obsessed with the characters from Toy Story and kept asking me when she could go to the store to get them. The older kids were all about the candy and chocolate. We tried to go simple this year. The older kids got some fun games in their baskets. Later in the day we did a small Easter egg hunt just for Madeline since it was cold and snowy outside. No golden eggs this year. Madeline was beyond excited even in the cold to go outside and collect all the eggs the Easter bunny left her. Being able to witness her excitement is one of the best things in this world. As she came inside to inspect her eggs, she just wanted to see what was in all of her eggs. She had no problem eating way too much chocolate. While she was enjoying her chocolate, Mike helped me finish preparing Easter dinner. I grabbed a few fun table decorations for this year. The kids were pleasantly surprised with how cute our table looked. Everything about our dinner was amazing. We dined on ham, a new scalloped potato recipe, homemade rolls with homemade raspberry jam, deviled eggs, and most of us passed on the carrots. They were not good at all. We will definitely do our usual honey roasted carrots next year. So much for trying something new.  For dessert, as if the kids didn’t already ingest a ton of chocolate, we ate the most delicious chocolate pie. It was the perfect ending to a pretty great day.

With all the crazy that has been going on in our world and having our lives turned upside down, there can still be good and positive things happen. For the last 6 months I have been working hard to complete my 2019 family album. There was so much that happened in our lives last year. This book took me way longer than I expected and so I had to put updating my 2020 posts on hold until I finished it. With a little under 300 completed pages I decided to put it into 2 volumes. Yay for good things! Here is a sampling of my book and some of my favorite pages.