This blessing dress was one that Jen had used for her girls. Or maybe it was just the youngest. Either way I was thrilled. I didn't have a bow that really "matched" so my mom and I went to Hobby Lobby and found some pretty roses that we stitched on to an existing headband.
The blessing was wonderful. Ryan did a fantastic job and Devry was a little angel. I am so grateful Ryan is a worthy Priesthood holder and was able to do this. We are very grateful for our amazing parents and their support.
Monday morning my parents took off bright and early. Ryan's parents were planning on staying another day, but with a huge storm on the radar, they decided they better jet too. P was sad to see them go, but it was more than that... he was sick. The sickest I have ever seen him.
As soon as they left, I climbed in the recliner with him and within seconds he was out.
Three sleeping kids: P, Dodger, and Devry in her bouncer.
I know these pictures are gross, but I couldn't resist capturing the dig and the feast - deathly ill and ready to collapse. Kids are gross. Haha.
Tanya happened to call and say she was in town and asked if we needed anything from the store. I took her up on the offer and had her bring us some Popsicle so we could keep P hydrated. You can see how he felt about this. :)
We hardly moved from the couch that day. He had a fever of 103 and would only stay awake for a few minutes at a time. It was kind of frightening.
Thank goodness I still had this happy gal to keep me company, even though she was starting to get sick too.
As predicted, the storm arrived and boy did it deliver. I am glad both parents decided to take off when they did. It started out light enough... but that didn't last.
This was what, six hours after it began?
The following morning we woke the kids up around 4:30am and loaded them into the car. Hold that - Devry was already awake. And her happy little self. You can see how well this went over with Pierscen. It was humorous, (you have to laugh at these situations to stay sane) but it was heartbreaking too. I've never seen him this sick! Anyway, we loaded the kids in the car and we drove through the snow storm to the airport to drop Ryan off for his 6 am flight. Where to?
Newark, New Jersey! Why? To take his first class for his Masters of Healthcare Administration from Seton Hall University. Woot!
I cannot tell you how proud I am of this guy. Okay, yes, I can. I AM SO PROUD OF THIS GUY!!!! We have been wanting to pursue higher education for some time now, and the timing was finally right. He did a lot of research with various programs and really felt that this one was the right one. I believe he said about 115-120 people applied for the online program and only 17 were accepted. Yeah, my hubby is a stud. :) Truthfully, if we wanted, we could move there and he could do his program in person - it's the exact same thing, but this way he can keep working and we don't have to uproot the family just yet. He is, however, required to do a residency period each year. That's how the program started - with about 4 days of incredibly tough classes.
As it turned out, the pilot for his flight out of Casper ended up being over an hour late, and so began the excitement of trying to find new connections to get him where he needed to go. They found him a different connecting flight in Denver, which he barely made, and then flew to Texas. He only had about a 5 minute layover in Texas, but as they landed, he found that the plane he needed to be on to get to NJ was the very one he was already on. Sweet! However, for whatever reason, they had totally off loaded his luggage, so he had to go to baggage claim and then back through security. He arrived at his gate to learn that there was a couple hour delay. He was not to heartbroken about it. So he made it to NJ much later than anticipated, but he made it.
The timing was kind of crummy, what with P being so dang sick, the huge storm, and me being on my own, but hey - we have awesome friends who really watched out for us. In fact, my friend Brittney ended up bringing us dinner a couple nights in a row without even knowing that I was on my own. Talk about tender mercies.
This was the snow later that morning. Crazy!
Ryan and both grandpas gave Pierscen a blessing before he left, but I began to grow worried about Devry. I knew it was "just a cold" but she was so little and there were so many horrible things going around that I took up my friends, Brittney and Amber, to have their hubby's come give her a blessing. As they gave her the blessing, Pierscen stood by my side and reached up, placing his hands on Devry's head as well. I started crying. There are fewer things more precious than that.
Well, we survived the week. I got sick too, P got a little better, and Devry didn't catch anything worse.
During this time of insane snow and horrible illness, my best friend growing up, Lisa, was in town with her kids and her hubby. I desperately wanted to see her, but it was hard to make it happen with the kids being so sick. She came over Thursday to visit at our house and that was really awesome. The next day she invited us to go to the Werner Wildlife Museum up at the college. We decided to go, and I'm really glad we did. Stupidly I didn't get any pictures with her, but the kids had a great time.
Once P perked up, his obsession with the song "Let it Go" from Frozen, surfaced again and he spent hours marching around our table, using a sheer curtain as the cape/dress, re-enacting every move and action. It was pretty funny.
We picked up Ryan from the airport Sunday at 11pm. For whatever reason, Ry thought it would be a good idea to go back to work the next day, despite the fact that he was jet lagged and INSANELY tired. He came home for lunch and collapsed on the bed. I let him sleep for about 40 minutes, and then literally dragged him from his spot to send him back to work. I kept telling him to call in sick, but he wouldn't respond. Yes, he collapsed to the floor, head wedged between the bed and the chest of drawers. It wasn't until this point that he finally decided to tell me that he had already called in. Punk! If he had said that at the beginning, I would have let him sleep! So he slept the rest of the afternoon and by Tuesday morning was in much better shape. These residency things are ruthless!
Speaking of exhausted... ;)
Devry tried out the Bumbo for the first time and watched Dodger play fetch/tug-of-war. She seemed to enjoy it.
Milk drunk. Love that face.
I caught this gem one day while trying to pull his shirt off his head. I couldn't stop laughing. His face is priceless.
The weather warmed up again and we were able to enjoy some good family outings.
Anyway, problem solved. :)
I do not have after pictures yet - with the new light and the mirror back up, but they'll be coming... eventually.
In the mean time, here was another project of mine. Unfortunately, I don't have a before picture for this one. I replaced the curtains and rod. They were about twelve inches too short for the window - so the whole window wasn't even covered. Length wise I needed a 72" curtain. Even though that is a size that exists - I think it's mostly just in theory. They really don't. So I ordered the 84" ones and hemmed them. It looks way better.
Dairy Queen had their free ice cream cone day - so we took advantage of that.
For St. Patrick's day, my friend Lauriel sent Pierscen and Devry really cute shirts. Thank you Lauriel!
Men are incredible. He took Devry upstairs while he worked on his homework. He kept trying to offer the bottle, but she refused. "She'll take it when she gets hungry enough." And then he tuned her out. I couldn't do that. I felt overwhelmingly guilty, even though I knew it had to happen. So I went to girls night and at the movies, and Devry took the bottle. (We had to do the same thing with Pierscen.)
It was a miracle. But what was even more of a miracle? She took the bottle from ME only a couple days later. This took Pierscen an eternity to do because he knew I had the real thing. This was amazing. Undoubtedly a tender mercy from the Lord. Not just for my sanity and health, but for reasons to be named in a second...
I love this picture. I went on a walk and put P in the stroller and Dev in the Moby Wrap. She leaned back and just watched me the entire time. It was really sweet.
Ryan asked me to get the oil changed in the car and asked me repeatedly throughout the week if I had set anything up. I found a coupon for a place in town, but I kept having a strong feeling that I should take it to the dealership. If for no other reason, we needed to be "loyal customers" by using the dealership in case anything happened to the car again. So I scheduled it for Friday morning, the goal being that we would leave for Utah around 1pm to go see Sabrina's farewell and surprise her.
As we were waiting for the oil change, the guy at the desk came over to inform me that there was a major oil leak. My stomach flipped and I felt like throwing up. I thought he might be pulling my leg since I explained the nightmare of the car issues we had experienced in Ft Collins and Cheyenne. But no. No joking. He took me back to see it for myself. They told me that there was no chance that this was something that was my fault. It had to have been something that happened in Cheyenne. They told me that they would explore it to see if they could figure out where it was coming from, but that if there was a faulty part, they couldn't fix it because Cheyenne wouldn't reimburse them. What was I supposed to do?! I was so angry and frustrated. I knew that their hands were tied, but what did they expect me to do? I couldn't drive to 178 miles to Cheyenne with leaking oil. That's what destroyed the engine last time. So seriously, what could I do?! On top of that, I was devistated we wouldn't be able to go to Utah. The only person that knew we were coming was Ryan's dad. So I called him first to tell him what had happened. He then let Ryan's side in on our failed secret.
The Toyota dealership had a shuttle service that drove me and the kids home so that we wouldn't have to wait around. They told me that they did have a rental service that I could use for free, but that it had mileage limitations so I couldn't go to Utah. However, if I wanted to rent a car from Enterprise they would cover half the costs. It was humbling, but we decided it wasn't practical. So the trip was out.
After a couple of hours, the shuttle came back to get me so that I could at least pick up a rental while they worked on repairs. (They said they would figure out the Cheyenne thing.) On the way to the dealership they called me with big news. The car was fixed! It was a loose bolt. That was it. So I cried some more. Cried with gratitude. Heavenly Father is so merciful! So after all that, we decided to go to Utah after all and just surprise everyone. And the real miracle of Devry taking a bottle? I was able to sit in the back with her, bump, and just give her the bottle. We didn't have to stop for me to feed her once. It was amazing!
The whole family was in shock when we arrived. It was awesome! Such a great surprise. And even though we were only there for about 36 hours, they were an amazing 36 hours and Sabrina was SO happy to meet her niece.
We also got to meet Cathryn, Jessica's little baby. They are only a month apart, but she was born two months early.
Here is Devry and Olivia, James's girl. She is three months older than Devry.
We headed home after the luncheon and pictures. It was a crazy fast trip, but it was well worth it. I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father for helping Devry to take the bottle and for prompting me to go to the dealership for the oil change so that the could find, diagnose, and fix the problem - all for free. That wouldn't have happened if I went somewhere else.
In preparation for Conference the following week, I gave a lesson about listening to the Prophet's voice and heeding the Holy Ghost by blindfolding the boys and leading them through an obstacle in the kitchen. It was great.
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