Natalie's Boston Trip!

Natalie's school band found out toward the beginning of the year that they would be headed to Boston for a competition.  Natalie had to earn half of the money herself if she wanted to go with the school.  She had to earn roughly $900.  The trip was well planned out.  The kids each were given 4 blue shirts and a blue sweatshirt that they were required to wear. 

 Natalie in her smurf blue tshirt.

 Natalie had to meet at the airport at 10:30 pm for the flight.  Natalie was really tired on the flight to Boston.  They had an 2 hour layover in Portland.  They arrived in Boston at 5:30 pm.  They had to wait for the other flight to get in (the group of 120 students and 50 chaperone's were divided up between two flights). After all of the kids had arrived they got on a bus and went to a mall.  Where they hung out for a couple of hours. Then there was a looooong drive to the hotel.  Where they checked in and unpacked their rooms. Natalie's roommates were Sydney, Karmen, and Carrie (pictured above).

 The next morning the kids had breakfast at the hotel.  Then they loaded up the instruments into a Uhaul and loaded themselves into a bus and the kids went to Fenway Park.  There she toured the baseball field.  They also went to a gift shop. After that they loaded up and went to get critiqued at the Boston Symphony Orchestra building. And the guy knew two of the three people that composed the bands pieces that they played.  Then the kids changed into nice close and toured the orchestra building.  After that they went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.  And went shopping at Fanniel Hall. They watch the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform.  All of the kids fell asleep. That was it for day 1.

 The next day the kids took a walking tour through Boston.  They hiked the freedom trail which is where a tour guide takes you around and shows you where important history events happened. Like where the graves of a couple of people who signed the Declaration of Independence are buried and where the Boston Massacre happened. Where Paul Revere lived.  Where Benjamin Franklin went to school.  Also special note Natalie got chicken bones blown into her face.  The sad part there was still a chicken on them. The kids went to Bunker Hill Monument.  Natalie climbed up it twice.  There are 294 stairs to the top.

 On Friday the group went to the science museum.  The kids went to a lightening show that was really fun and deafening (hum is that a word?). After that they went to the beach. Natalie found giant shells.

 Saturday the band performed at the competition. They played Black Granite 3, Perthshire Majesty, and last they played Where Eagles Soar. In the end usually one judge comes up and fixes a few things. But for the first time ever all 3 judges came up and complemented the kids. One of them said "If I were to close my eyes I would of never pictured this as a middle school band because they were so mature with their sound". They they went back to the hotel and changed into big people clothes and went back to the hall.  After that they went to a banquet for all of the bands where they had dinner and awards were presented. The band scored 91, 92, and 93 out of 100. And got a gold, an adjudicators award, a spirit award, and 3 soloist awards. 

The last day the band went to six flags where it poured on them the whole time. They went back to the hotel early because of the weather.  They hung out and packed.  Natalie could of went swimming but opted not to.

At 4 o'clock in the morning the fire alarm went off. But it was a false alarm. Lastly they went to the airport and came home.  They left Boston at 1:30 in the afternoon and got home 1:15 am the next. She had a blast. And would do it again in  a heartbeat.

Another Easter Post

I forgot to put up pictures from Easter afternoon.  It's official Ella no longer believes in the Easter Bunny and because of that Easter was kind of a bust for me.  The day before Easter Tyler and Ella sat at the table and stuffed all of the eggs for me.  Easter morning we just got up and went to church.  Because we have 9 o'clock church and Nate has meetings before church the kids had to wait until after church to look for their Easter loot. Tyler and Ella hid all of the eggs and candy after Nate got home.  Then everyone came upstairs to find it.

We had a great time together just relaxing and enjoying the holiday.  We had a wonderful feast too. 

randomness

I have a whole bunch of pictures here.  None of them are going to get their own post so I just put them all together here.

 I found this amazing picture of Nichole and the dog my phone one day.

 During spring break we went to the Artic Oasis on base.  It is an indoor play area.  They have a free rock wall for the kids to climb.  Ella couldn't get up very high but it wasn't for lack of trying.

 Nichole before she went to a stake dance.

 This moose was outside of my Physical Therapists office.

 Peace Yo!

 Tyler had to make some Hopi clothing.  He sewed this by himself with little help from me.

 Ella made this in her school class.  The name of the character is Spectacular Susan!

 Natalie at one of her last concerts of the year!

 Nichole made a shirt for WACKO (wild and crazy kid Olympics).  Each year was supposed to wear a certain color.  She was all rebel and wore a pink shirt instead of green and put rebel w.a.c. (without a cause) on the back of her shirt with tape!

 Nichole made the skirt and apron to wear for the trek

 Ella did a jump a thon at school.  She earned a water bottle, a tee shirt, and a jump rope.

 Tyler did a science project.  It was about what kind of juice cleaned a penny the best.  The answer was tomato juice.  It also ruined my muffin tin.

 Nichole joined the debate team in school.  Her team took 4th place.  The kids got a trophy for making it into the semi finals.  This was the first time that middle school kids in Anchorage have participated in a debate competition.  They were debating college topics too.

My friend Ruth Sena and I went out to see The Hunger games.  I had to take a picture of us.  It was the second time that I have seen the movie.  Take note of my awesome mustache necklace!

Math derby

Tyler was invited to join his school's math derby. He practiced during lunch for a couple of months to prepare for the big math derby event. I went to support him during the competition. It was nothing like I expected. I was expecting a couple teams at the front of the room. Everyone given a math question to figure out. The first team with the correct answer would buzz in and get points (admit it that is what you were thinking too). Nope nothing like that at all. The math derby started and each kid was given a math packet. They had 20 minutes to complete as much as they could. Then they grouped off into 3 fifth graders and 3 sixth graders and the group was given a packet. They had 20 minutes to complete that packet. Then they were grouped together with their schools 5th and 6th graders and they were given a packet to complete as much as they could on. In other wards I got to sit there for an hour. Watching the kids fill out packets. Not knowing the questions and not knowing the answers. No tie breaking was going on. No one threw their buzzer cuz they didn't buzz in first. And absolutely no clapping. After each section the kids would take their packets to a judge to go over and score. After the 3rd and final packet was completed I was lucky enough to sit through a 30 minute power point presentation about math and triangles (you fell asleep with me just describing everything to you huh? It truly was that boring). At the end they handed out participation awards to all of the schools that participated. Tyler's team placed 4th of 5. Which considering this team was the only team that didn't have any 6th graders in it but they still had to complete 6th grade level work that's not too bad.

It was quite the learning experience for me watching the math derby. I would like to point out how smart my son is. Hello Math derby???? He did not get his smarts from me. The only derby I would ever participate in is Roller Derby. That is much more my speed. (My Roller Derby name... Cupcake Frostitute).

WooHoo! Finally I graduated! From Physical Therapy that is.

I started going to Physical Therapy in November to help the tendon on the inside of my left foot work better, to help my ankle build up more strength and get the range of motion restored.  Also I have plantar fashiitis in my right foot.  Physical Therapy is a lot different then the first time I went to it.  The first time in Idaho he gave me some excercises and sent me on my mary little way.  This time I went into see Brian 3 times a week. My first appointment took almost 3 hours! 3 hours! He took me back for my evaluation where he touched, poked, proded, and turned my feet in every direction that was physically posible and in directions that weren't physically possible. He sat there and rubbed the top of my foot.  I need to let you know that I have such severe nerve pain/damage from my original break that just the bottom of my pants brushing against the top of my foot causes me pain.  I have to wear a sock to relieve the pain. I can't even touch the top of my foot myself. Brian is talking to me tickeling my foot trying to over stimulate my nerve.  Tears are at the brink of flooding over and I am trying not to crawl up to the table to get away from Brian touching my foot. When he asked if that hurt and I told him yes, please stop he told me "No".  He then went on to tell me that I had Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (you can read about it on the link if you want and here are some nasty pictures of what can happen if you don't take care of it). He then went on to explain to me that it will never go away but that I can control the symptoms and the treatment that I can do to prevent it from getting worse and over time make it feel better although it will never go away.  Let me just point out here that I have now finally after 32 years been diagnosed with some kind of syndrome.  I knew it would happen sooner or later. Brian also told me that he would not be working on my left foot until my CRPS was under control.  Then I sighed a big sigh of relief because he stopped touching my foot.  I then went back to the PT gym and started my "PT" on my right foot.  Have you ever had PT on planter fasiitis before?  It consists of first a 10 minute ultrasound session.  Where you lay on your stomach and have an ultrasound wand rubbed over your foot where it hurts you the most.  It is a little stingy and a little burny.  If it is too stingy and too burny then they turn the ultrasound machine down.  Then for about an hour the Physical Therapist rubs your foot to try to break down the tendon so that it can then repair itself properly.  After that you are hooked up to an electrical stimimulation machine that is attached to a pad that has some mediciane on it and it is then pulled through your skin into your foot with the electrical current.  After that you hobble off the table, limp over to where your shoes are, put your shoes on and go home.  Only to be repeated 2 more times a week.

Brian worked on my right foot for over 2 months and I worked on the over stimulation of my left foot at home. Which started with me rubbing/tickeling my foot 5 times a day. It progressed to Nate rubbing/ tickling my foot to which I cried the first several times that he did it because it hurt so bad. When I could handle that I moved on to using the back side of my sock, then a washcloth.  I then used a comb and lastly I used a brush.  This was all over a 2+ month time period.  But it worked folks.  I still have to do mantinance on it but my nerve damage is 75% better. I can touch my own foot. My podiatrist (yes, my feet are so bad I have my own podiatrist at the age of 33 that I go and see on a monthly basis also let me also point out that I do own a pair of orthotics) has now used my crazy rubbing method (hummm doesn't sound so good) as a refrence to other people who have the same problems as I do.  After two or so months Brian moved on to working on my left foot.  Which consisted of me doing stretches and strengthening excercises 3 times a week.  Then he would work on my right foot.  So my physical therapy started (after the first initial apt) to take up 2 hours of my day which doesn't include the hour of driving time.  After another month or we only worked on my left foot but, I would still receive the electrical stimulation on both feet. 

In January I got an xray on my ankle and found out that I had bone spurs in my ankle.  I got a steroid injection in my ankle to see if that would make it work better.  The following month I was told that I was going to have to have surgery again if I wanted my ankle to bend all of the way.  By the end of March there is little improvement on my ankle so the Physical Therapist decided to consitrate on my plantar fasciitis again because it was acting up.  Dr. Reed also did an injection for it too.  Brian was very mad that I got the injection in my foot.  He wouldn't say  that he was mad but you could tell by the look on his face that he was dissapointed.  For the next 3 weeks he worked on my right foot and it started feeling wonderful.  By mid-April my foot was feeling 90% better and I was finally able to graduate.  I got a shirt and a Dr. Pepper for graduation.  Physical Therapy was worth all of the hard work.  I suprisingly had a fun time there.  The group of Therapists were really nice and the people that were there at the same time as me were fun to get to know.  I may of did a happy dance when I left.  He did call out to me as I was leaving "See you after your next surgery" Not funny at all.

*It’s rude to count people as you pass, outloud!

Natalie joined her school's track team.  She had practice every day after school.  She likes sprints and can't stand running anything more then 400 meters and really she is not a fan of it.  I didn't get to see her first meet but I did get to go to all of the rest of them.  She ran the 200 meter dash, the 4x2 relay and the 4x4 relay (a 4x2 is 4 runners running 200 meters each so the 4x4 is 4 runners running 400 meters each).  Her next meet she ran the 1600 meter and 800 meter runs.  Which she hated and did not do as well at.  She had just gotten back from Boston the day before so the coach didn't want her to run any relay's because she hadn't been running for a week.

That was her last meet unless she qualified for city finals.  She had heard that she did qualify but, she didn't see her name on the list so she didn't go to practice the next day.  Which was really too bad because since she didn't show up and she had tied with someone else on her relay run, she forfeited her place on the two relay teams she could of been running on.  She was chosen to be an alternate. She was asked to play The Star Spangled Banner for the opening of the last meet.  Nate and I went to the meet to watch her play and crossed our fingers that she would get to run.  We weren't really hoping that someone would get hurt so she could run it was more like hoping someone would get hurt so she could run hoping someone got ill or something like that.  The meet was very, very cold and it was very, very long. Especially since she would be running in the one of the last events.  We watched the whole thing until we were sure that she wasn't going to be running then left.  I think that Natalie learned a lot during track.  I was so happy to see her excited about participating in something.  She did really love it and wants to do it again next year on the high school team.

The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances. ~Robert Flatt

The Saturday before Easter the sister missionaries (Sister Williams and Sister Peterson) came to our house and dyed Easter Eggs with us.  It was so nice to have the Missionaries over and spend the time with them.  These two girls are such a hoot too.  Sister Peterson is from Idaho.  She has been out on her mission for only a few weeks.  Sister Williams is from Montana and has been on her mission for over 16 months.  I love these two sisters.  They often call me for advise, do their laundry, eat, and invite me to go visit investigators with them.  They are so comfortable in my home that they go through my cupboards and get whatever they want without asking.  They also just walk in without knocking.  I am love that.  They are such good influences on my kids I couldn't ask for anything better. They truly have made my girls think about wanting to go on a mission. I feel like they will be a part of my life for the rest of my life.  They always joke about how when my girls are on their missions how awesome it would be if the girls are sent to somewhere that they are living.  I hope so that would be so funny!

This was Sister Peterson's first time ever dying Easter Eggs. 

 We also got the sister missionaries Easter baskets for them to enjoy in hopes that it would help them feel less homesick.

I seriously feel like these two girls are my girls.  They call me their mission mom!  I look forward to them coming over.