Not only was it a longer break, but it was even longer for Mary.
Three days before spring break, and one day before we had company coming to our house, I got a call from the school nurse at Mary's school.
Mary, along with 5 other girls in her class, had lice. We found out later, that more than 11 kids had lice.
Rock on.
Mary had to come home immediately, and was not allowed back to school until after spring break.
I was right in the middle of trying to clean our house and get everything prepared for company when I got the call. It had been a huge week, and I was already on the edge of exhaustion and stress. (hard to admit, but it is true)
I drove to the school, and walked in on a dramatic scene of a bunch of 12 year old girls freaking out, some were bawling, others were screaming, and there was Mary. Just sitting there looking at me like, "well, crap."
I drove her home, and then the madness began.
Lice sucks. Let me repeat....lice sucks.
I spent the next two days doing 1 hour hair treatments on three different people (Mary, Molly and William), and I did Mary's three times. That would be 5 hours of lice hair treatment. I thought I found lice in Molly and Williams hair, but it could have been sand from the sandbox. I wasn't about to take the change, so that is why they got the hair treatment too.
I SCRUBBED our entire house all over again. Vacuumed over and over and over again. I washed every.single. blanket, pillow case, bedding set, rug, coat, jacket, shirt, car seat, and anything I could think of that could have lice. I also had to sanitize all of our hair stuff...brushes, combs, hair clips, hair ties, curling irons, curlers, and the list goes on and on and on. I did 2 dishwasher loads of just hair stuff!
I ended up doing 17 loads of laundry in two days. I was waking up at night and changing laundry from the washer to the dryer.
I cleaned, and washed, and vacuumed, and shampooed, and disinfected, and scrubbed non-stop. It was absolutely exhausting.
Add all of that to the meal planning, grocery shopping, and everything else that needs to be done to get ready for company, along with caring for 5 kids, and keeping up our normal busy spring schedule.
Two days later, when Spring Break officially began, and all of the kids got out of school, and Dan and Kristen and their kids showed up, I was literally still doing the last few loads of laundry.
I went to bed Friday night completely exhausted, and in tears from being so worn out and stressed. At one point I just hid in my closet and cried, and texted my mom asking her how to handle it all. While I was texting her, I learned that some spots my dad had tested on his had were cancerous, so he had to go in and have the cancer removed. The procedure was WAY more that what anyone thought.
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| 75 stitches |
Needless to say, I was pretty concerned about my dad. It was a rough day.
I decided just to go to bed, pray for my dad, and try my best to enjoy the time with our company, and try not to freak out about possibly giving them lice.
I woke up Saturday morning bright and early, and did my first long run outside.
It was absolute therapy for the soul!!! It was a gorgeous spring morning. It was peaceful, it was beautiful, it was full of endorphins, it was serene, and it was a good distance, 14 miles.
To top it off, I had my alarm set on my phone to remind me to register for the St. George Marathon at 9:00. The marathon is first come first serve, and it normally fills up in about 5 minutes. My friends Karli and Chelsea and I decided to register for the marathon together. It will be their first marathon.
When my alarm went off, around mile 7, I stopped running, and started pulling up the website on my phone. At that exact moment, a runner across the street also stopped running, and sat down on the side of the road.
It was Chelsea!! We were both out for a long run, and we had both set our phone alarms to remind us to register. We just happened to be on the same road, at the same time. It was not planned at all!
We laughed about it for a long time as we sat in the bushes and registered for the marathon together. I love coincidences like that.
We got in the marathon and we were thrilled! I honestly can't believe I will be running two full marathons this year. Crazy! But I think I can do it.
I came home from my run feeling a lot more refreshed and ready for the rest of the break. It was General Conference weekend, so I came home and watched conference with my family and with Dan and Kristen's family. The kids played and ate and played and ate, and basically did what kids do. I admit, I was pretty tired of cooking, and cleaning, and my anxiety gets pretty high with lots of noise and commotion, but it was nice to have company in our home.
That afternoon, Ben and Dan headed to Salt Lake, to attend the General Priesthood Meeting in the conference center. Dan was able to get tickets for them. It was so neat for those brothers to be able to attend something like that together. I was so happy they were able to go.
Kristen and I held the fort down here at home. Libby, Kristen's little girl, ended up throwing up and being sick, so she was busy with her. I tried to help out the other kiddos and keep them busy. Kristen were able to talk a little here and there, and the kids had so much fun together.
It was a good day. It was pretty exhausting, but it was good.
Sunday morning, Dan and Kristen and their kiddos headed home, and our family watched Conference, and hung out together as a family. President Monson announced that Pocatello, Idaho will be getting a temple! It was really cool to hear that my hometown will be blessed with such a wonderful thing. It was a really neat moment.
Monday morning, I got up at 5:00, and got in my tempo run. When I got home, Ben left to get in a bike ride, and I started packing for our trip to St George.
We decided to try out St. George for a few days for spring break. A lot of people go there, and we wanted to see what it was all about.
That morning, as I was packing, and trying to once again get the house cleaned up, the laundry caught up, and pack for our trip, I decided to just call the girl that had cleaned our house in the past, and ask her to come while we would be in St. George.
I had some extra money that I was saving for some other things, but by this point, after lice, throw up, kids everywhere and in and out for days, company, and me being completely burned out, I decided it would be more than worth it to spend my money on having the house deep cleaned, while we were gone.
The idea of someone else scrubbing my house, and coming home to a squeaky clean house, made me smile from ear to ear. yup, totally worth it.
After I set up the cleaning, I just stopped cleaning, and started packing. It was awesome to just leave the house in whatever condition it was in, and know that I would come home to it being totally clean. It took a lot of stress out of trying to leave for St. George.
We headed out Monday afternoon, and arrived in St. George 5 hours later. It was a great trip!!! It was exactly what we all needed.
Our hotel had an indoor and an outdoor pool. The kids swam and swam and swam!
We went on a hike in snow canyon. The kids found tons of lizards, played on the rocks, climbed, explored, and just enjoyed being out in the sun. It was kind of cool for me to be in that canyon, because the marathon I will be running in October goes right down that canyon.
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| This picture completely melts my heart. Luke put his arm around Molly all on his own. |
I have not had pizza crust in about 7 months, and I tell you what, it was TOTALLY worth the splurge. The pizza was soooo good! The kids loved the breadsticks on the stick.
That night we just hung out in the hotel room, watched TV and ate snacks from the food bin I packed and brought from home.
The next day, I got up at 5:00, found a gym, and got in a serious sweat sesh! I did two hours of intervals, and killed it! Great way to start the day.
Ben went biking up in the red rocks after I got back, and the kids swam, watched TV, and played at a park the hotel had.
That afternoon we went to the temple and walked around the temple grounds, went in the visitors center, watched some videos, looked around, and enjoyed feeling the spirit. I love that temple. I think it is so pretty and unique.
After the temple, we headed off to Judd's old fashion candy store.
It is the coolest store, with candy from my childhood, that I haven't seen since I was a little girl. I walked in and was flooded with so many memories when I saw the different candies. The kids loved picking out old fashion candy. It was serious business, and took quite a while.
We brought our candy and breadsticks over to a really cool park, and spent the rest of the afternoon there playing in the water, laying in the sun, and just hanging out.
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| There was a place where you could be a statue. The kids got a kick out of it. |
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| I about died when I saw Luke do this for his statue pose. I have no idea where he got it from, but it still cracks me up every time I look at this picture! |
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| Luke's other statue "pose." haha! |
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| First time lying in the warm sun in months! |
After the park we headed home. The kids were completely wiped out, and the drive home was pretty quiet and peaceful.
We definitely plan on going back to St. George again in the fall and winter months. It is an awesome place to get away, get some sun, and play together.
After we arrived home...to a clean house!!!! we had a couple days of just chillin,' The kids played with friends, I taught piano lessons, Ben worked, and we just did our thing.
The next morning, I learned that my dad was having complications with his incision. He was also getting a horrible cough and cold. The coughing was splitting his stitches. And the swelling was so bad, that his eyes were swollen shut, and his face was black and blue.
He ended up getting his stitches removed and put back in again. He also had to have a bunch of check ups, due to excessive swelling.
The coughing turned in to pneumonia. My dad was very sick. I contemplated going to Pocatello, to try to help my mom out, who was exhausted, but I just couldn't get there alone, and bringing the whole family wouldn't allow me to help out much.
All I could really do was pray.
(update: it has since been two weeks. My dad is still very sick with pneumonia. Our family fasted for him on Sunday. I think he will be ok, but is has been a horribly sick man. It has definitely been worrisome. I keep waiting for the call that he is finally turning a corner and feeling better. So far, it hasn't happened.)
By Saturday, we were tired of sitting around, so we headed to the Provo rec. center. It is an awesome pool for all ages. The kids had a blast!
William and Luke did the water slide for their first time. I thought for sure they would cry, but they came flying down in fits of laughter, asking to do it again. I should have known. :)
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| Luke is completely thrilled! |
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| William was all smiles. |
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| Mary flying down the slide. |
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| Luke laughing |
Molly learned how to float around in her lifejacket, and was a little fish, just like the rest of them.
I think spring break was a success this year!!
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