Olivia's appendicitis

On Tuesday morning, I got a call from Olivia while I was work. She said he stomach hurt really bad and wasn't sure what to do. I told her to give it a couple of hours and if it still hurt we'd take her to urgent care. Amber was able to get off work a little early and took her to urgent care, where they guessed she had a stomach ulcer and gave her a prescription.

She took the medicine, but by that night it was getting worse to where she was just lying on the floor in pain. Amber took her to the ER where they did a CT scan and found that it wasn't an ulcer (and she wasn't just trying to get out of finding a summer job), she had appendicitis.

They drugged her up and she stayed there that night and all the next day. Hunter was home from college so he stayed with her most of the time. Her surgery finally happened in the late afternoon. Thankfully, it was a success and they removed her appendix before it burst. Unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to ask them to take a picture of it before she was anesthetized.

She was still in quite a bit of pain, but now it was external instead of internal. She stayed Wednesday night too and was released on Thursday. Pepper was glad to have her back.

Mother's Day

It was an exciting Mother's Day for me this year. As Elders Quorum president, I was asked to prepare a gift for the ladies of the ward, and also to take over all the Primary callings so they could attend Relief Society. Then, as an added bonus, I was asked to give the closing talk in Sacrament meeting.

The talk went fine, but I had to rush because I didn't get my full time. I talked about Jesus being a single mom, working 2 jobs, and raising 12 kids and how moms could learn some lessons from him. I got all the callings covered in Primary and filled in as Primary president for the day. And the gift went over well. I made bags with chocolates and lip balm and wrote a poem about a mother's kiss.

After church, Amber got her favorite gift of taking a nap and taking a picture with her kids.

Her final request was that someone else make dinner, so Olivia made vegetable lasagna.

Damon's birthday

Damon turned 15 this year, and he's grown tall enough for me to believe it. He's already started his online course to get his drivers permit.

For his birthday, he got an assortment of things. Some were random, like the piano T-shirt worn by Michael Jackson (we just saw the movie Michael recently) and socks with Amber's face on them.

He got some games, like Ricochet Robots and two Monopoly expansion packs.

And of course, he got some technology, like gaming headphones, and some games on Steam (Hollow Knight, HK Silksong, Minecraft Dungeons, and Cat Quest III).

He's also done such a good job with his running that I wanted to get him a better running watch. He immediately figured out that you can put games on it.

Amber had to go somewhere with Carmen after dinner (tortilla soup), so I finished frosting the carrot cake, while Olivia carved his name out of carrots, and we all sang to him when they got back.

Giant Star Wars puzzle

For Christmas, Glade and Amy got us a 13500-piece Star Wars puzzle. It consists of 9 separate 1500-piece puzzles that you can solve separately, then when they are all completed you can remove the borders and attach them into a giant combined puzzle.

It sat untouched for a couple of months after Christmas, then we got out a puzzle here and there and kept the finished ones under a bed. Once Olivia got back from ERC, we really ramped things up and by the end we were doing more than a puzzle a week.

The 9 puzzle edges didn't join as well as the internal pieces, but it was good enough.

It was very cool to see all put together. The company makes other ones and I'm tempted to get more now.

Olivia's birthday

Saturday was a busy day. In addition to the Mud Run and Carmen's prom, it was also Olivia's birthday. Amber made cinnamon rolls for her for breakfast.

She opened presents later in the evening. She got an eclectic mix of things, like 3d-printed creatures from the boys and a prognosticating pickle.

She got some useful things, like kitchen gloves, waxing kit, and hubcaps for the Marshmallow (all but one had mysteriously disappeared).

She even got a few things she might have wanted, like a gaming headset.

She chose a strawberry cheesecake for her birthday treat, and in an act of defiance she bought new candles instead of the random old ones we always use.

Carmen's prom

Carmen went to prom with a group of friends and as is customary they had a photo shoot before they headed out for dinner and dancing.

They did a great job unintentionally color coordinating!

Mud Run

In addition to the Zombie Run, the AHS ROTC also sponsored a Mud Run this year. Damon and Miles wanted to do it, so I took them and cheered them on.

It's the same 2-lap 5K course as the Zombie Run, but they made some muddy sections in the woods and also had them do the ROTC obstacles along the way.

Miles was a little too short to go over the taller logs.

Damon was one of the top finishers in his age group, and he made sure to cheer Miles on to the finish.

After the race, we visited some of the vendor booths, then I made them put their muddy stuff in bags and sit on towels for the ride home, where they rinsed off and dried off in the back yard.