Surprise!

Olivia is turning 40 on Friday.  Marianne has long been planning a surprise party for her and Olivia didn't make it easy!

We thought maybe she suspected something so I decided to throw her off by wondering why she wasn't having a party.

She texted me, "I think I will have a party."

I called Marianne and said, "I've made a huge mistake."

Pretty soon there were two parties planned, a real one and a pretend one and Marianne was in charge of both.  The real party, the surprise party, was to be on Monday and the pretend party, the one Olivia knew about, was going to be on Saturday.  Marianne had to pretend invite people to that (and tell them it wasn't real) in case Olivia talked to them and she also had to stress the secrecy of the surprise party to people.

The stress was getting to her! 

A few days before the party, I was hobbling off on my maiden voyage to the grocery store since I hurt my knee.  I called Marianne to ask if she wanted me to pick up any birthday themed paper products.  She said, "Actually, I need your help.  The Knudsens are coming and it has to look cute!"

The Knudsens are a family we grew up with.  They have kids about the same age as us and our parents are good friends.  One thing about the Knudsens is that they all have very beautiful houses.  They have a flair for decorating.  I may or may not have told my mom when I was growing up that I wanted to live at Nene's house because everything matched.  Since the Knudsens were coming, Marianne had bought new tablecloths.  She said, "I need help with centerpieces or table decorations."

"OK," I said, (I like this sort of thing!) "What do the tablecloths look like?"

"They have circles..." Marianne said.  "They are different colors....I'm not really good at this."

"So there's a pattern," I said, "And you have white paper plates?"

"Um, no," Marianne said, "They have a pattern too."

There was a pause on the phone as I was trying to picture patterned plates on patterned tablecloths.  "Do they go together?" I wondered, pretty sure they didn't.

"Oh no!" Marianne said, holding them side by side for the first time. "They look terrible together!"

Now it should be said, Marianne did recognize that they didn't match.  It just hadn't occurred to her to worry about it. 

She texted me a picture of the plates.

Then she texted me a picture of the tablecloth:

I texted back:  I am crying inside right now.

Marianne is one of the most capable and amazing people that walks this earth.  It is refreshing that she needs me sometimes.  Because sometimes she really does!

I bought paper products for the party.

Adam and I left our children at the helm and drove to my parents' house on Sunday.  (Teenagers are such a great invention!)  Every time the phone rang on Sunday evening my mom would hush me in case it was Olivia.  We made up a story about why we would be there if Olivia happened to stop by.  We ate ice cream and watched Downton Abbey and it was a nice evening.

Monday morning my mom made bread and two types of soup (Marianne got it from somewhere).  Marianne called and told us about her anxiety dream and she had the idea that my dad should pick up Olivia for the lunch Marianne had invited her to.  Then, he was to blindfold her so she wouldn't see all the cars at Marianne's house.  When we got off the phone and told my dad the plan, he said, "I'm not doing that.  No way."

Marianne called later and I told her our dad's refusal.  She started lecturing me about it and I told her not to kill the messenger.

She said, "Fine.  Let me talk to him."

He was out with his horses by then and my mom said he would be a lot more pleasant if we waited for him to come in.  Marianne agreed.

It was then that I realized my older sister is Lady Mary on Downton Abbey.  She is way more likable and moral but she is Lady Mary.  I tried to tell Marianne that but since Marianne doesn't watch Downton Abbey (and I doubt Lady Mary would either), my mom pointed out that it was lost on her.

When my dad came inside and talked to Marianne on the phone, he agreed to do the blindfold thing.

Raise your hand if you're surprised.

Adam took me over to Marianne's where Carolina and I set the table and I teased Hyrum about anything I could think of.  (I love that guy.)

Guests started arriving and it was lovely to see this very disparate group of women that have one thing in common, they love Olivia.  I had asked Marianne if Olivia would dress up for the occasion of just lunch at Marianne's house.  Marianne didn't think so but she also didn't think Olivia would care too much if she didn't look her best.

It was evident from the way she was dressed that she hadn't suspected a thing!  She was wearing sort of ratty clothes and said, "I haven't brushed my hair!" 

please notice the pretty table :)

Olivia was happy.  She went around and hugged everybody and then she went to borrow a hairbrush and came back with a smoother ponytail.

Like Marianne predicted, she didn't really mind.  No one did.  Olivia is...Olivia.

We had a delightful lunch and then played a hilarious game of Marianne's invention.  It was a quiz on how well we knew Olivia.  When you put all together the crazy things that have happened to Olivia, it creates quite a picture.

Here are some of the things that were on the quiz:

-she stole a CTR ring when she was a little girl so it would remind her to be good
-she accidentally stole a car once in college to go work at the temple
-she broke her finger at a family reunion when her ring (not the CTR ring, a different one) got caught on a nail in the tree house and she was hanging by her ring
-she got in a fist fight and skipped school to go to a hot springs when she was in junior high (they took one of the boy's dad's truck)
-she has been pulled over three times for drunk driving but she has never tasted alcohol (she just wasn't a good driver)
-she had to write an essay on obedience after a high speed chase
-her "job" in college was selling her plasma

I could go on.

That's my sister.

My dad has always said that when he was raising her, he knew that she would turn out any way she wanted to and he had no control over it.

I guess she wanted to turn out really really well.  She collects people that need her and she stretches herself beyond normal human limits to serve in every way she can.  She still has a lot of fight in her but it is channeled in every good direction.

And she may or may not brush her hair.

Who cares?

(Especially if the table looks pretty.)

He's nineteen

He's the one who has always had a flair for fashion.

He's the one who taught me more about teaching than I learned in four years of getting a degree.

there never was a cuter home school guinea pig

He's the one who loves his sister.

And his brother.

He's the one who enjoys cereal almost as much as milk.

this was on the occasion of his 15th birthday

He's the one who jumps in...

 

...and rolls down the hill...

...and is the first to go in the ocean.

 He's the big brother who makes the birthday party more fun.

He's the cousin who will push you on the swings.

And he's the son who wants you to go camping with him.

He's this guy.

He's the one who loves Seattle (and his uncles).

He's the one who poses with statues in London...

...Seattle...

 ...Kansas City...

...and Provo.

(I'm pretty sure every single one of those pictures were his idea.)

He's the one who poses when there is no statue around.

He's the one who first buys unusual things (mostly at thrift stores), and then wants his picture taken.

He's the one who has good friends.  Lots of them.

He's the one who has always had a piece of my heart.

And he's the one now carrying a piece of my heart around in Virginia.

Happy Birthday Braeden!

Since this blog is mostly about my knee now

I went to the doctor and I am the proud owner of a stylish new knee brace.

I actually love this thing.  My knee feels a lot more stable and I don't feel like it's going to buckle.  I start physical therapy next week.  I have apparently "tweaked" a ligament.

(I'm not exactly sure what that means, except that it hurts.)

In other news....

...there isn't really any other news. 

So instead I'll show you a cute picture of Omar (is there any other kind of picture of Omar?) that I took last week at the museum.  He smiled big for me when I told him I was going to send the picture to Braeden.  Omar is ultimately suspicious of me but talk of Braeden thaws his misgivings.

Good cheer

The fun is wearing off.  (Was it ever fun?)  I just want my leg better already.

Yesterday Mark stayed home from school because he was sick.  We didn't have juice and I wasn't really in a position to dash off to the store to buy some.  I told him he could make himself some Crystal Light.  He said, "meh."

When he started getting hungry for lunch and I didn't have a solitary idea of what to feed us that didn't involve an excess amount of hobbling, I decided a drive thru it was.  I limped my way to the car and we cranked up the heat and headed toward Culver's.

He was sniffling and coughing and coughing and sniffling.  I said, "Don't touch the radio.  I don't want to get sick."

Of course he did.  Over and over.  Because he's always been that kid.

We got identical hamburgers except his had mayo (bleck) and bacon (I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't love bacon) and mine did not.  Since I was driving, he determined which burger was his and set mine aside for me.  He pulled his burger apart and fished out the pickles (because he's always been that kid).  He took a big Mark-sized bite (sniffling and coughing don't compromise his appetite it turns out).  He said, "I think I have your burger."  He handed it to me, all decimated and germy and I was cranky.  Because I'd started out cranky.

My knee hurt when I got out of bed which isn't an auspicious start of any day.

Besides, it was raining on top of the snow which is depressing.  There's nothing as dismal as slumpy dirty snow.

We got home and Mark retreated to the computer (where he could snivel and cough all over the keys in peace) and I retreated to my chair with a pile of Stuff to Do around it so I could pretend my life held meaning.

The phone rang.

It was my mom's cousin Nancy.  I know I met her when I was a little girl at my great grandma's house but I hardly remember.  She and my mom have reconnected lately and they talk on the phone a lot.  Also Nancy reads my blog.  She was calling me to commiserate.  She was very kind and made me laugh.  My mom has said she is her cousin most like my great grandma (who I loved).  So I like Nancy too, though I hardly know her. 

She cheered me up.

She reminded me that even with a high probability that my rotten son has spread his germs to me, even though I'm hobbling everywhere I walk, even though the snow is slumpy, there is good in the world.

There are reasons to be happy.

I aspire to be more like her.

I'll try.

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may be. For I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.

Martha Washington

Sitting down

Adam and Mark have something in common.  They get mad at me if I do something they think I should have asked them to do with my compromised leg health.  So I've sort of given up on moving around too much.

And it's frustrating.

I have found plenty of things to keep myself busy while my knee is healing.  I've caught up on a bunch of Young Women stuff.  (There is always a lot to do.)  I've scheduled temple trips for our youth--both to do baptisms at the Mt. Timpanogos temple and to tour the new Provo temple.  These are intense and high pressure deals.  There's a lot of demand around here for things like that.  You have to be persistent and on top of things.   It's an activity that lends itself to sitting down.

I also created a birthday box for the YW this year.  Last year for their birthdays we purchased and assembled bracelets that were cute but that we didn't see the girls wear one. Single. Time.  This year, I decided to go with something everyone will like, chocolate.  I made a "birthday cake" and we'll give them a "candle" when it's their birthday.

It was a harder-than-normal project because I had what I wanted in mind but couldn't find it on Pinterest!  How could Pinterest do that to me?  It took me three tries to get it how I wanted. (The rick rack was Adam's idea.)

Another activity that was good for sitting.

Here's what I haven't done:  clean the kitchen.

It's rough.

Mark destroys the gingerbread houses a little more every time he walks by.  This is representative of the counter tops yesterday afternoon...

...complete with bits of icing and candy and gingerbread aaaaaall over the floor.

I instructed Mark to clean up.

When Adam got home and found me on the couch in the living room with my book and wood wick candle (I love that thing--it crackles while it burns), I asked him if Mark had cleaned the kitchen.

Sort of.

Adam directed more cleaning.  Then we had dinner Emma and Mark had made.  Then Adam and Mark delivered the rest of the invitations that I had abandoned the other night.

I'm grateful for them and all their help.

And I sort of hate this.

I want to bound up and down the stairs and be able to DO stuff.  I want to cook and clean and not rely on other people for everything.  I lack patience.

But I am improving.  Little by little. 

So here I sit.

Slip sliding away

Sunday night I was delivering invitations to New Beginnings for the Young Women at church.  I slipped on some icy steps.  It was quite a spectacular fall and I'm sure would have looked funny if it hadn't hurt. So. MUCH!

Ouch.

I cried.

Adam is very good in a crisis and when I was back home Emma and Mark hovered around wondering what they could do to help. 

I had Mark dish me up some ice cream.

(Hey, he asked.)

I had landed with my knee twisted under me and my foot and knee are lovely and bruised and swollen.

Walking is pathetic.  I would lose in a footrace to anybody.

Adam found Braeden's walking stick (children with costumes stockpiled are handy) and he found some oxycodone (children with recent wisdom teeth extractions are handy).  I'm not afraid to medicate.  Never have been.

The morphine the better.

I spent Monday mostly sitting down but hobbling around some when I needed things.  I was texting Olivia and Ammon about getting tickets to the Provo Temple Open House.  I told them about my fall because I'm not afraid of soliciting sympathy.  Never have been.

Ammon asked if he could do anything for me.

I texted back, "Find my phone?"

I was texting on my computer and couldn't find my phone and after a few hobbling steps in every direction, gave up the search.

He called my number and my computer answered.  I turned the volume off and then asked him to try again.

Then my ipad answered.

It was getting ridiculous.  Talk about first world problems.  I have too many devices answering the phone and so I can't find my actual phone.  I turned off the ipad volume and Ammon tried once more.

My phone was in my coat pocket!  Hurray for small victories.

That was pretty much the peak of productivity for me.

Adam brought me lunch (leaving work on a very busy day).

Emma came home from school and cleaned the kitchen.

Mark carried laundry up and down the stairs.

Melanee dropped by with a chocolate treat to encourage healing.

My parents were in town and took Ammon's family and us to dinner.  (My dad tightened my glasses.) My mom didn't know when she left home that I'd fallen but she pulled a fresh loaf of homemade bread out of their car and handed it to me.  "Didn't you bring that for someone else?" I asked.

"No," she said.

I didn't 100% believe her but I'm glad my mom travels with fresh bread to give out to gimpy daughters.

It is terrible to have an accident that is painful and incapacitating.

It's very nice to realize how many people are there to help.  My safety nets have safety nets and I'm grateful.




 

Happy New Year!

To celebrate, we drove to Nevada on Thursday.  We left a very cold Pleasant Grove to go to an even colder Starr Valley.

Brrrrrr.

After visiting with my parents for awhile, we assembled our food contributions and headed over to Marianne and Robert's for the festivities.  Before we left my mom wondered who would be crankier, me or my dad.

I thought he would win, hands down, but I get tired....

We had more delicious food than should be allowable by law.  Marianne, Olivia, Enoch and their families were all there along with my parents and two families of Marianne's friends.  We played a game of Marianne's invention (if you ever wonder what the quintessential oldest child is like, I present Marianne).  She takes care of business and being a leader is deep in her DNA.  She also has always known how to show her younger siblings a good time.  Enoch and Olivia sparred as is their birthright and we all laughed a lot.  At one point, I took great pride in "boxing out" my huge brother (a.k.a. the finely bearded gentleman--his own designation) like we were going for a rebound.  Really, as part of the game we were trying to get my mom to pick us as the winner and she picked Enoch.

And she wonders why I'm cranky.

It got to be about 11:00 and I was tired and I don't feel a compulsion to stay up until midnight when I'm tired.  (Besides, it was midnight in Utah by then.)  My sisters were appalled, but I did the same thing last year so they shouldn't have been too surprised.  Adam drove me back to my parents' and everyone was better for the little extra sleep I got.

New Year's Day dawned bright and cold.  Before the sun came up over the mountain, I took this picture:

The picture hardly does it justice.  What look like clouds was snow blowing across the top. I watched it billow and glow in the dawning sunshine and it was pretty spectacular.

I hung out in my pjs all morning and when my dad asked me if I wanted to go for a ride in his cutter, I donned 25 layers and said, "Yes!"

Here's Ann, wishing me a Happy New Year:

To understand Ann's impressive size, my dad is six and a half feet tall.

I didn't get a good picture of the cutter but it was just as lovely as the songs proclaim to be dashing through the snow.

Besides the jingling bells and our conversation, it was brisk and quiet as we glided over the snow .  I took a picture of us (at great peril because I had to take off my mitten to use my phone):

My dad is always handsome but as Mark would say, I look derpy.  That's OK though.  It was a good time.

By the time we got back, my sisters and families were there to visit and I remained in my pajama/unkempt state.  We chatted and schemed and planned a trip in July, all of us renting a house for a few days (Ammon and family too!).  The other boys may join us but didn't want to be figured into our housing arrangement yet.  By the end of the day Marianne had a house picked, a system devised for equitable pricing and bedroom assignments.  I'm waiting for food assignments and a chore chart and maybe a bathroom schedule.  She's a wonder, that one.

We had a delicious roast beef lunch (with horseradish that made you know you're alive) and then hit the road for home.  We stopped to see my grandma on our way through Salt Lake and that always ties a lovely bow on anything.