Saturday

Yesterday was a busy, fun day.

--Wade attended an engineering conference for boys on base.  He said his favorite station was "Outbreak," where his group played a board game called Pandemic and had to figure out how to end epidemics quickly.  "We had to use a lot of strategy!" he said.

--Jason got away to work for a couple hours and had some time to himself to get things done.  That's hard to do during the work week when his office seems to have a revolving door and people in and out all the time!

--Rhiannon finished up a night with friends at her friend Izzy's house.  She said she got about 6 hours of sleep, as opposed to other friends that night who only got three.  Izzy is moving to Arizona next week, and she will be missed!  Rhiannon drove us home afterwards (she now has 9 hours under her belt of driving time...we really need to step up our game if she needs to get 56!)

--I walked the dogs for three miles and then came home and did yard work for 2 hours.  Yes, I am very sore today, but I feel like I can concentrate better with the yard cleaned up (the garden areas were full of weeds and needed some help).  Rhiannon was a HUGE help, too--she mowed the lawn for me, trimmed up some bushes, and did some pool maintenance.

--Jason and Rhiannon drove out to Inyokern and back.  He said she did pretty well but starts braking way earlier than she needs to.

--After chores Wade played some basketball with neighbor friends and then played some video games with his friend Nick next door.

--I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  The ingredients had been out on the counter for two days...and I finally fixed that!

--And finally, our family donned a bit of pirate gear and went to the Chairez home for a "Talk Like a Pirate Day" party that night.  I appreciated Jason, Rhiannon, and Wade coming and being good sports, because they didn't know too many people.  Most of the families there were old MOMS club friends, so the moms knew my family, but my family didn't know them.  It was fun to catch up a bit with the Chairezes, too, who had recently moved back after living in Virginia for 5 years.

Lately I find myself wondering if time is going to slow down and when we get to take a rest and do nothing, haha!  But this weekend was still pretty good for that.  We had a nice mix of work and play!

A "new baby" in the garage!

Jason bought a new car a few weeks ago in Bakersfield for a very good deal.  It is rrrrreallllly nice!  Last Friday we took a drive in it down to Lancaster for a quick Costco run while the kids were at school.  This Infiniti Q50S is a super smooth ride.  Best car nap I've had in a long time, haha!

It feels a little silly at the moment to be a 2-driver, 4-car family, but the neighbors haven't made any used-car-lot comments...yet, haha!  The truck is a non-negotiable, and we figured that if we bought a used car for Rhiannon's use, nothing would come close to knowing the blue Infiniti's history and well-cared-for state.  So, once she gets her license, and if she meets certain criteria, she'll be able to use the family car--the blue Infiniti (or mini-van--Mom can't decide yet which one she wants to drive).  Hard to believe that Infiniti is eleven years old now!!

We're happy for Dad and his "new baby!"

The ER visit

We had an unusual allergy scare last week on a Thursday night.  Rhiannon was out of town on a band trip, and Jason, Wade, and I were just chilling watching Thursday night football.

All of a sudden Wade says, "Mom, I'm very itchy and feel funny."  I turned to look at him in the kitchen and he DID look strange.  His whole body had a red sunburned look from hives, and his face looked a little puffy and splotchy.  He was breathing fine but said his tongue felt weird and he had a random cough here and there.  I'd say this all happened in the span of 5 minutes, from the time he noticed the itching and told us about it to when we decided to jump in the van and get to the hospital.

It was not one of my calmer moments.  I grabbed a bucket (in case he had to throw up), an Epi-Pen in case breathing troubles started on the way there, and bags of the last two things he'd eaten (jerky and Swedish fish).  I also gave Wade two allergy/Benadryl tabs.

Wade and I jumped in the van, and I raced down there.  I was driving too fast and worried Wade a bit, but the only thought my brain could process was "Get. there. fast. before. he. can't. breathe."

We were seen relatively quickly.  They gave Wade some steroid pills and prescribed a 4-day round of prednisone.  And that was it.  He never needed the Epi-Pen, and his hives were gone the next morning.  We kept him home, though, because he was exhausted.

I can count on one hand now the times Wade has had a legit allergy scare, and this one was different from all the rest.  Instead of eating something and having to vomit/cough, this time he had hives.  We have NO certain idea what caused it, but Jason wondered if it had something to do with a thorn that had been caught in his shorts earlier in the day and maybe dragged along the couch area where Wade was sitting.  He'd eaten the jerky and Swedish fish before, with no probs.  What a crazy, scary thing!  We're glad he's okay.  I hate these "wake-up calls" and appreciate the reminder all the same, too!

Scouting fun

Our ward's youth group is pretty small right now, considering the sizes of other local wards.  However, this is not the case with Wade's age group!  We love that he's in a nice big group--they have lots of fun together!  We're very grateful for their leaders--Bryce Perry, David Foster, and Nathan Wright, particularly--for their patience and interest in Wade and the other boys!

Here was most of the group at a Court of Honor in August...

And here they are on Wednesday night this week trying their hand at geo-caching!

Ridgecrest's Parade of 1000 Flags--September 2016

Last Saturday, Jason, Rhiannon, and Wade all participated in our community's Parade of 1,000 Flags.  I was sorry to miss it!  (I was working on a stake auxiliary training with ward young women leaders that day at the same time).  Looks like they had a good time!

(Many thanks to friends Rachel and Jinny for these pictures!)