I chipped my front tooth 7 June 2011
on a bite of salad.
Yes. Salad. You know, lettuce and such.
And that pretty much sums up how yesterday went.
Fe anyone? 19 April 2011
Last week we took Xena to her well-child checkup appointment. She is still tall and skinny like she’s always been. When the doctor tried to listen to her heart and lungs, she kept pushing away his stethoscope saying “doh, doh” (her version of no). She’s healthy and growing and catching up on some of the minor developmental delays she’s faced.
The major finding at the visit was a big iron deficiency that the doctor wants to treat pretty aggressively. He prescribed a strong infant iron supplement. When we picked up the prescription, the pharmacist nearly had a heart attack at the dosage. He asked Xena’s weight and did his own checking to make sure the doctor hadn’t prescribed a toxic amount. Turns out the dosage amount is still within acceptable limits, but barely. I definitely appreciated his double-check—nothing like an accidental iron overdose in your toddler, right?
At home I had to find a way to get the supplement into the girl. It can’t go in milk or yogurt, since calcium inhibits iron absorption (learn something new every day, huh.). I was stumped for a bit until I saw we had some juice concentrate in the freezer. We don’t normally have juice—just water or milk—so I figured Xena would probably like something a bit sweeter. I mixed the day’s supplement dosage into a sippy cup of juice and she drank it all up. We’ve been doing that the last few days and she seems to really enjoy it. I tasted a drop or two, just out of curiosity, and had to hide my distorted face from the girl. It is NASTY. Like battery acid snacks, or chowing down on a bunch of coins. Xena will be on this supplement for 3-4 months and then have another blood draw to check that the iron deficiency has been corrected. By that time, the poor girl is probably going to be convinced that all juice tastes like metal.
Nude Beaches and Lemon Bars 8 March 2011
Tonight I went to a Relief Society “Getting To Know You” activity. I don’t know many women in this relief society. Most of them are much older than me–widowed or retired or empty nesting it. Since I teach Primary I know the children of the ward and their parents. I haven’t been to a Relief Society meeting or even an activity in over 3 years.
I didn’t really want to go tonight.
The timing wasn’t great. I got home from work, had time to change my clothes, then turned around and headed out again.
But there was pressure. PEER pressure. The mothers of all my primary kids were going and hounded me to be there. That kind of pressure is supposed to end after high school, right? Well. I caved.
And I had a good time. These older women are such characters. So bright and intelligent, warm and funny. Who knew swapping stories of nude beaches could be so hilarious. And the lemon bars were fantastic.
Teeth 23 January 2011
Our poor daughter is teething… and it doesn’t sound like she is having too much fun either. While comforting her tonight I had an interesting thought.
These little kids go through SO much pain getting their teeth, then several years later they are elated when they fall out of their mouths, or so it seems for most. They must have forgotten all the pain they went through getting them there, because it really isn’t worth 25 cents or even $1 dollar.
Winter Wonderland 22 November 2010
TW’s dad had some condo weeks available on his timeshare accounts, so we booked two condos here at Powder Mountain for the week—Friday to Friday. While most of the siblings will be coming with their families just for the Thanksgiving holiday, TW and I and Xena decided to take advantage of the full week.
We had read in reviews of the resort that chains or four-wheel drive were necessary in winter months, so before we left we stopped off at Costco to return some snow chains that I bought years ago. We’d never used them, and turns out I had bought the wrong size. The return went smoothly, but we had hoped to re-buy some snow chains in the correct size. Turns out Costco now carries their snow chains only by online order. That wasn’t going to work for us, since we needed the chains that night.
We decided to hit the road anyway, and I called around to various auto parts stores along our route, asking about availability and pricing for snow chains. We found some chains just off our route at Checker Auto Parts. They weren’t as high quality as the Costco ones, but at least they fit the tires. And the closer we got to the canyon, the more strongly I felt that we needed to have the chains, even though TW was positive we wouldn’t need to use them. So we bought them and we were off.
Up narrow Ogden canyon, in the dark, past Pineview Reservoir and into Eden, Utah. We turned up highway 158 and climbed and climbed. The final turn was onto a dirt road covered with snow and ice. It was just 1 mile to the Powder Ridge Village, but it was the slowest mile of the whole trip. The road just kept getting steeper. Not even halfway there we got stuck and needed to put the chains on. I wish we had put them on at the nice, wide, flat area at the beginning of the dirt road. But there was nothing else to do.
We grabbed our flashlight (every car should have a flashlight!) and climbed out. It was FREEZING! Poor TW was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, kneeling in the snow. I, at least, had a sweater and jeans, but it was still bitter cold. We got the chains on after a few minutes and were on our way. Such a blessing to have those chains! There were three more terrible spots on the road that would have been impossible to traverse without them. We felt so blessed to have had the impressions to remedy the sizing problem and spend the time to purchase the chains that evening.
Now we’re here at the condos and loving it. It’s the perfect winter vacation—tucked away in the mountains in warm, beautiful accommodations. Xena loves crawling all over the condo. The view is gorgeous—and it’s storming constantly. Blowing and snowing and wonderful while we’re warm inside. It’s quiet too. It’s nice to be away with nothing pressing to do in a quiet place.
It’s a good thing we brought a ton of food with us too. The day after we got here a pretty serious winter storm moved in. It’s been an adventure—a fun one to watch from the warm condo. There are 80 mph gusts of wind that blow the snow upwards along the picture windows. Our car is nearly buried in the snow drifts. The window in the back bedroom of our condo has snow drifts all the way up it too.
The resort maintenance guy said there’s 3 feet of snow on the road. No one is going anywhere until the plows get through, and they are still prepping the plows with chains and such. I guess he said there are other guests that are a bit upset because they need to get down the mountain to the airport to catch their planes. That would be terribly stressful. I’m glad we don’t have anywhere to go! We’re having a good time just cozy and warm inside.
Apparently this isn’t the end either; there is another storm coming through tomorrow too. TW’s brother is supposed to drive up today. We don’t know when or if he will make it, though. And although it’s too early to know the weather conditions for sure, we’ve started wondering if the rest of the family will make it for Thanksgiving.
Either way, it’s been such a wonderful getaway so far. We play with Xena and watch TV, talk on the phone and eat food. We watch the snow blow past, and guess at how high the drifts are. Occasionally we bundle up really well and walk to the lodge where there is internet connectivity. And that’s where we’re at now. TW has prepped a slideshow below.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! While we won’t be with all those we love this year, we are grateful to have you in our lives. We have such wonderful families and friends. Thank you for your kindness and the strength you lend us when we need it. We are so richly blessed, and give thanks this season for all the miracles in our lives. God bless! Love, The Warrior family
