Life is beautiful!
Memorial Day Hike and Pool Party: We continued our hiking tradition on Memorial Day tradition. This year, we went to the Poppy Fields in Alpine. Isabelle brought up the poppies hike awhile back and my heart soared. She remembers how gorgeous it was.
The Allmans and Bradshaws came with us.
We last hiked the poppy fields with Grandma Langlois on Saturday, June 10, 2023. I was pregnant with Penny.
Jessica's in-laws had a pool party and bbq on Memorial Day. It was extremely hospitable of them to let us crash their party. I brought potato salad and cheesecake bars and we splashed and relished in the sun for hours.
Movies: We saw 2 movies this month!
Andrew and I went to dinner and Mission Impossible. Long movie! It wasn't our favorite Mission Impossible, but it was enjoyable and we still had a good time. We thought it felt a bit over dramatized and really put Tom Cruise in the spotlight since it's the last movie in the series. The Mi Ranchito beforehand was a homerun. Still thinking about that guacamole. We went to the movies on a Friday, what? We don't like to pay full price for movie tickets and we didn't have to. We got a deal through T-Mobile Tues and got $5 movie tickets through atom.com.
Lilo and Stitch is loved in our house, so we prioritized seeing this. Cousin George and co joined us! Chris is taking the pic. Dorothy was a champ during the movie. Didn't make a peep. We didn't attempt to bring Penny. Andrew took one for the team and stayed back with her. The movie was cute. Not amazing and stuck to the basic storyline we all know and love. Still fun!
Grandma: We met Grandma at a park for a picnic lunch in Lehi near her house. We got kids meals for the children from McDonald's because the kid meal prize is a squishmallow! Say what? (Thanks Jill for the tip.) Day made for the kiddos.
Dance: Isabelle had another dance competition! And a spring recital. This time around, I went to the dance competition at Olympus High in Holladay. The dance team had a 7:30am call time which meant a 5:30am wakeup time on a Saturday morning to get ready and be there in time. Isabelle's jazz class got diamond 1st place! I'm happy to report that I nailed Isabelle's bun! The video helped me perfect it.
I was thrilled to see that the spring recital was at close Herriman High School. We've learned that recitals are long events. We drove 2 cars so the whole family didn't have to arrive early and stay for the entire 2 hour production. Isabelle's smile could be seen from our seats in the back of the auditorium. Shoutout to Jessica for coming! She even paid a babysitter to make it possible. Isabelle's feelings about dance are all over the place. Having her decide what she wants to do for dance next year changes on the daily.
Basketball: James finished another season of bball! This time he played at the Gene Fullmer Rec Center in West Jordan. His friend Jordan was on his team. His classmate Harrison was also on the team and his mom was the coach. We were all bummed that the boys didn't get a basketball this time. Oh well. James didn't score as much this season, but still made some baskets! He was not feeling his best during the last game which didn't help. I loved having a scheduled chat time with Andrea (Jordan's mom). Next athletic event for James is track which is right around the corner... Hello June!
Recovery: The gum graft is behind me! Woot woot!
The scariest part was...I passed out twice after the surgery which was bizarre. Andrew was terrified. Luckily he was nearby and caught me both times. He helped me out of the car and the next thing I remember was hearing Andrew frantically shouting my name as I lay on the garage floor. After that, he helped me to bed. I couldn't quite make it and woke up once more on the floor in our room. Hooray for Andrew catching my falls. After that, all was well.
The unexpected part was... the recovery wasn't as miserable as I'd heard it would be. It was much better than anticipated! I will say I missed food and had a rumbly tummy for about 5-7ish days on a liquid diet. (In the beginning, I had to pick Reese's out of my ice cream--too hard to eat and skip the chicken in my soup.) Boy am I happy I paid the out of pocket price for the retainer they recommended to help with my recovery. I was told to wear the retainer while eating and could wear it other times too which helped with pain. The retainer covered the roof of my mouth which was very tender/sore since they took some of my gums from up there to put on the bottom of my mouth. I had blue stiches as well as dissolvable stiches.
The best part was... the kindness shown to me. I got teary talking to the kids about it. Jessica watched Penny during the procedure. Leslie brought us dinner that night including a smoothie just for me. Alison sent over soup and popsicles which I guzzled. Another day Jessica brought me soup for lunch (sponsored by Mom) and Swig. "The Denning Girls" (Mom, Lindsey, Jill, and Jessica) got me a Roxberry giftcard and Zupas giftcard. McCall sent me a Jamba giftcard. Becky brought by a superb casserole. Others texted and checked in (Debbie, Jess Brahm). It was humbling.
The good news is... I've had one follow-up appointment so far and my mouth is healing nicely. There had been talk of a second surgery since things were so bad, but so far it doesn't seem to be needed. I go in for another appointment in July.
I was awake for the 30 minute surgery and last minute brought headphones which was the right move! At one point I closed my eyes after seeing bloody stuff being removed from my mouth. Yeah no thanks.
The shocking part was... I asked Andrew to capture a photo of this moment. He didn't seem to believe I was serious. Clearly I was!
- Our garage broke. What started as "just a spring" turned into a new motor and was over $1200. I'm grateful we could take care of it.
- When we took out our deck, we discovered an uncovered window well. Who knew getting a new window well cover would be so complicated? The cover we ordered didn't fit which meant Andrew got to drive over 1 hr roundtrip twice, once to pick up the cover and then again to return it. He had to take work off to do it to make it there during business hours. We had to get our window well measured and order a custom size. Our hazard and danger zone should be hopefully taken care of for good in 2 weeks.
- I got in a car crash! What! This is a first for me. And guess who ran into me? A police officer. My family can attest to the fact that I've always been afraid of the police and being pulled over (which has also never happened). The cop ran a red light, avoided hitting another can and swerved into me (I was stopped). The officer said he was distracted and looking at his computer. I am grateful I was alone and that it was minor. Because the accident involved an officer, another cop had to come to the scene as well as the police officer's supervisor. I will refrain from my rant about the supervisor but let me just say he didn't help my opinions and was extremely condescending. The other 2 officers were kind. Someone followed me home from the scene and told me they witnessed the crash. I thought it was extremely nice of them after I got over the initial worry. My heart was pounding when I noticed someone following me home and stopped at my house. Hopefully I'll be done with the endless phone calls, paperwork, and statements soon.
- Caught some fraudulent activity on our credit card. Not a big deal and not a big charge. Just life I suppose.