April 11 & 12

Monday, April 11th-

This morning Cora had an appointment with the dermatologist to see if we can figure out what is going on with her legs. Dr. Adams agreed that it is most likely erythema nodosum and that we should continue with the steroids that she has been prescribed. The doctor ruled out the things that I was most worried about: auto-immune disorder, poisonous bug bite or arthritis. So hopefully after a couple more days of steroids we will be done with this thing.



Sisterly love

My happy girls

After the appointment we ran over to see Silas at work. He was having a hard day and is stressed about some issues in the ward so we took him out for lunch to Sonny Boy's. Yum.

After lunch we had the Huff boys over and Peter got to stay too. It was super fun. While they were over we had crackers with the cheese spread thing and Molly was very serious about it.



Peter and I

Molly being creative

For Home Evening tonight Ryan helped us study a chapter in the Book of Mormon, asking questions every couple of verses. It was fun. We had ice cream for a snack and watched an old Studio C for our activity. Molly was the conductor and was pretty hilarious, as usual.



Molly conducting Family Home Evening

I came home late tonight after putting Grandma Warby to bed to my cute husband sweeping the floor. He had obviously spend a good deal of time cleaning because the house was a complete wreck today. I was trying to be ok with it all day but by the time bedtime came I was a little whelmed at the amount of stuff that was everywhere. I am so grateful for a good husband who works so hard for us, for the ward and then still musters up some energy at 10pm to clean the house for his stressed-out wife.


Tuesday, April 12th-



Playing outside Grandma's

At Grandma Warby's this morning I had to take a bathroom break and Molly followed me to "watch." She has never done this but I let her come. We ended up talking about how she needed to be a big girl soon and potty in the toilet too. When we have talked about this before she always says no and that she wanted diapers. Today I asked her if she wanted to keep her diapers or get underwear and she said underwear! That was big. Molly has shown signs that she is physically ready but I haven't emotionally been ready for it. At all! But today I took the leap and when we were running errands today we got some underwear for her and started potty training. I have tried to look over the calendar and find a good time to train her. Nothing has worked. I have found lately that because of the extensive to do lists I create for myself, I feel like I can't handle any more than what I have (like the wet laundry currently sitting in the washing machine and the bathrooms that need some attention). When I am spontaneous it almost makes it easier for me...maybe because I haven't over-thought it through.

So far we are doing ok. Cora has been really helpful and is a great cheerleader for Molly.


Here we go...

Thank Heaven for electronics today!

Note from Cora. She is a great help!

April 9 & 10

Saturday, April 9th-

What a day...



Megan and I after the 5K

This morning I did a 5K organized by the son of one of Silas's co-workers. It rained the whole time and was harder than I expected. I have been running 3 miles to prepare and have felt better during those runs that I did this morning so I was a little disappointed in my run. But it was a good experience though. Megan and Topher ran so I stayed with them most of the time. Cleod was originally going to do it with me but with his medication he's taking and not having a lot of time this week to run together, he decided not to.

Silas and the kids came to see the end, but arrived just a couple minutes after I finished. We hung out there for a few minutes and then Silas headed to played racquetball and the kids and I (after driving by the temple site) went home.



Cedar City Temple, 4-9-16

We got to watch Tamina for a couple hours while Brett and Deruchette went to a movie together. Tamina is still so little and it was fun to have her at our house.

During dinner tonight we had our first "family council." We reminded the kids how we expect them to behave on Sundays now that Dad is busy. Sacrament meetings haven't been too bad but after church they sometimes wander around instead of coming and waiting patiently for me near the Young Women's room. We also talked about restarting our date nights with the kids. We have never done it regularly or with a schedule and with how busy we are now we realized that it hasn't been getting done. We decided that every week we would have a couple of hours with one kid and that Silas and I would alternate every other week. We wrote our a schedule and are going to try our hardest to stick to it.

The way it worked out on the schedule made it date night for me and Cora. What a blessing it ended up becoming.

Before our date, all of us headed over to the church. Silas and I hung up some new pictures in his office and the kids played in the gym. Cora started complaining that her legs were hurting. I gave her some sympathy but didn't think much about it.

We dropped everyone off and Cora and I headed to Lin's for some groceries. When we got there she said her legs still hurt so I carried her in, still not really worried. She picked out cupcake flavored Goldfish crackers and a carton of chocolate milk for her date treat and I suggested that we go sit by the temple site. She loved this idea. When we got there I had her climb into the front seat. She had a hard time doing this but I still thought it wasn't a big deal and that she was having growing pains or something.

Cora and Mom and the temple

After sitting and chatting for 30 minutes or so, I told her to climb back to her seat. This time she was almost crying because she hurt so much. Once she was buckled I reached back to rub her legs and there were lumps on both of her legs. Each was over an inch in diameter and they were swollen like a goose egg. We got home and Silas and I finally got a good look at them. They looked awful and she couldn't put any weight on them. SO, Cora and I got back into the car and headed to the ER.

Cora's sad, little legs



My happy, brave girl

Sleeping soundly in Mom and Dad's bed

She was a champ and didn't show that she was scared. Once we were there we realized she had a lump on her left hand too. The doctor right away said she believed it was erythema nodosum. It is an inflammation in the fatty layer under the skin and is usually something that happens due to a virus of some type. She hasn't been sick but she's pretty tough so she may have had a small cold and we didn't really know. She was prescribed a steroid and we need to follow up with the dermatologist on Monday.





Sunday, April 10th-

 

Cora slept all night and the swelling went down a little bit. There is bruising where the lumps are or where they were. He ankles are really swollen but she can walk on them today!

Day 2

Hanging with Tamina

Silas headed out for meetings and the kids and I enjoyed our morning at home before getting ready to go to the Warby's ward for Tamina's baby blessing. We joined them afterward at their house for lunch. I love that we are treated like family by the Warby and Bell families. Silas finally made it out to their house around 6pm. Poor guy is so busy.

Cora asleep at the Warby's

Happy blessing day to Tamina!









April 7 & 8

Thursday, April 7th-

Tonight was Book Club at my house. We discussed the children's book Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells. It was a great discussion and a lot of the ladies were able to come. Silas was great and hung out with the kids in the basement. They watched the new Star Wars movie. The boys had already seen it but the girls hadn't. They both liked it. Haha. I love my girls!


Friday, April 8th-

This afternoon while the van was getting an oil change, I took the girls out in the stroller and went for a "run." I ended up walking a lot because pushing the stroller and running 3 miles ended up being way harder than I had anticipated. Hopefully it prepared me for the 5K tomorrow.



Cora and Me after we got back to Big-O

Tonight for our date, Silas and I visited a lady in our ward, went to a reception of a ward member's son and then ate at Pizza Factory. I love being able to spend time with him. Time with Silas is even more precious to me and the kids with his busy calling.

April 5 & 6

Tuesday, April 5th-

This morning I took Cleod to our family doctor because he has been having headaches every day for weeks and they are interfering with normal life. For years now, Cleod has had several headaches a week and even has permission to get meds from the secretary at school because of this. Usually a snack and some ibuprofen takes care of it. Lately he has had headaches more often and more severe. Today the doctor prescribed some medicine for Cleod to take daily that should help prevent these headaches from even starting. Hopefully this will work.


Wednesday, April 6th-

Wednesdays are fun and crazy days. Because of early out, the girls and I get to see the boys more which is mostly good. haha. Sometimes we get a lot of extra things done and sometimes the kids have more time to just play.

Today at lunch, before the boys came home from school, the girls and dad and I had some silly fun with Molly's baby. She stuffed a marshmallow in the baby doll's mouth and we had a really hard time getting it out.



Mom's lunch and the reason we had marshmallows out

Molly showing me her baby. You can't see the
marshmallow stuck at the roof of the doll's mouth

Dad trying to pull the marshmallow out

After school I took Cleod to the chiropractor (Josh) to get an adjustment in hopes that it will also help with the headaches he's been having.

Wednesday evenings are super crazy with scouts and YW meetings and mutual and Silas being at the church, but we made it through another day! Phew.

No idea what this was about but
I'm guessing he was "dying"

Photo by Cora

April 4

Monday, April 4th-

Cleod pulled out his loose molar today!!!

"Why are you taking a picture, Mom?"

Here are some pictures from last week that I didn't blog.

Friday we stopped by the temple site and they are getting some of the exterior put on. It is looking so great!



Temple exterior!!!

Molly is always wanted to comb someone's hair. The other day I found her styling the rocking horse's hair.



Little hair stylist

Went out for a run last week while Silas was home for lunch and came home to him sleeping on the couch and Molly "hiding" from me.

General Conference April 2016

Saturday, April 2nd-

We love General Conference! This session was so wonderful and I am really looking forward to studying each of the talks over the next few months.

Saturday morning session highlights:

• Pres. Eyring challenged us to pray more fervently, especially as we have questions about our faith.
• Sis. Durham suggested that we help our children to recognize and start to understand the promptings of the Holy Ghost and said that our homes can be a place where they are immersed in the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
• Elder Hallstrom spoke of being a child of God and how we sing it all the time but do we really know it's true!? He also said, "You can have what you want, or you can have something better." The Lord knows what is best and sometimes we need to be patient and wait for Him.
• Elder Stevenson shared an analogy of losing car keys and how the Earth lost the keys of the priesthood for a time but they have been restored and the saving ordinances have been unlocked for us.
• Elder Duncan gave an emotional talk on forgiveness. He said forgiveness is the very reason that God sent His Son.
• Elder Snow talked about humility.
• Elder Relund spoke on welfare and how we are more grateful when we receive help from people we know. He also said that all that is unfair in the world will be made right by the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Between sessions, Cleod and I went for a run to practice for a 5K we are doing together next Saturday. It was a good run and went by quickly for me since I had someone to encourage. He did a great job and we ran 3 miles in a little over 35 minutes.

Then we made our traditional pigs in a blanket for lunch and sat down for another session.


Getting snacks

Saturday afternoon session highlights:

• Elder Rasband talked about sustaining the Lord's servants. This was a wonderful talk that I really want to go back and study.
• Elder Anderson spoke on families being eternal but in a different way. He talked about families who aren't sealed or children who don't have both parents and how God loves ALL His children.
• Elder Arnold spoke of rescuing others, giving inspiring stories which made me want to go out and hug every inactive member in our ward.
• Elder Mazzagardi gave an interesting perspective of the Restoration. He is from Brazil so he addressed the question, Why was the church restored in the United States?
• Elder Bednar gave a beautiful talk on the Holy Ghost and specifically on His role as a sanctifier. The Holy Ghost can cleanse us continually from sin as we keep our covenants.
• Elder Ballard talked about Family Councils. This is something we haven't formally done but I am anxious to get started. He said several times that we should not have any electronics on when we council and that there are different councils including the whole family, just parents, parents and one child and one parent and one child.

After the afternoon session, the kids played outside with neighbors. It was a beautiful Spring day today which was so welcome after some cooler weather this week.


Cora helping Molly ride a bike

Silas enjoyed the Priesthood Session which the kids and I had grilled cheese sandwiches. :)


Sunday, April 3rd-

Second day of Conference! Today was successful, as far as the kids listening to Conference. We changed our snack-getting activity from running up for a snack every time you hear a certain word like faith  or temple to the kids making tally marks next to a list of words and then collecting their treats during songs. It definitely made it easier for Silas and I to listen.

Sunday morning session highlights:

• President Monson announced 4 new temples. One in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Zimbabwe. He then gave a super short talk about agency. He said we need to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.
• Sister Oscarson spoke on conversion. She said that we need to get the Gospel from our heads and into our hearts. She also said that the greatest challenge facing the youth is the Great and Spacious Building, or being ashamed of the Gospel and falling away.
• Bishop Waddell also mentioned the Great and Spacious Building and specifically the difference between tasting the fruit and partaking of the fruit. We need to consistently partake of the Gospel.
• Elder Christofferson gave a moving talk on fathers and their work. He talked about looking to Heavenly Father and his abundant goodness and love. He said fathers work outside the home is important work.
• Elder Cook talked about temples and temple work. I have noticed that he talks about family history work a lot. I love that. He said that with the increasing number of temples and the advance in technology, it is the most blessed time to live. He said to never underestimate the aid of the other side of the veil in the temple.
• President Uchtdorf talked about how we can be restored to something better through the Atonement and used an analogy of a German town that was destroyed during WWII.

During the break, we walked with the kids to the church and sat on the grass while they played.

Hanging out

Cora selfies

Sunday afternoon session highlights:

• Elder Hales spoke on the Holy Ghost. This is definitely another one I want to study. He said that keeping the commandments and our covenants will help us not to be deceived.
• Elder Gong talked about the ways we can remember Christ. We need to have confidence in the Lord's promises, be grateful for His hand in our lives, partake of the sacrament and more.
• Elder Kearon gave a wonderful talk on helping others, specifically the refugees. He talked about the "I Was a Stranger" initiative that was introduced during the Women's broadcast last week.
• Elder Oaks spoke of the adversary. I need to relisten to this one because I didn't get much out of it with the kids. :)
• Elder Richards also spoke on temples and said we need the temple more than anything else.
• Elder Johnson- missed this one. It's the only one I slept through. :\
• Elder Holland gave a wonderful last talk on how we all can keep going and that God will never give up on us. He said that the great thing about the Gospel is that we get credit for trying!



Selfies and editing

Red Acre Farn Field Trip

Friday, April 1st-

Today Cora's preschool group had a field trip at the Red Acre Farm. It is such a great place to see lots of animals and learn about different plants. Molly was really excited about all of the different animals. She was scared of collecting the chicken eggs but she wasn't scared of approaching the animals. Cora was right there feeding all the animals and listening to everything that the lady was teaching the kids. Successful preschool field trip, for sure!

Molly riding the "horse"

Molly and Cora getting ready to milk a goat

Cora holding a brand, new, baby goat

Cora feeding a cow alfalfa

Molly feeding a cow alfalfa

Molly and a llama

Molly watching crazy male goat

Molly and Cora collecting chicken eggs