Wild Weekend

Happy 8th Birthday Mitchel!

You know how sometimes you have those weekends where it's just go, go, go with endless activities and crazy times and tons to do and pretty much something always has to go wrong or not quite as planned? Well, that was my weekend. It was full of great things and not so great things but lots of memories!

First, on Thursday was Mitchel's 8th birthday. Just the fact that I have an eight year old blows my mind. He is now officially a "big kid!" As usual, I try to turn any birth"day" into a birth "weekend" because hey, why not make it as memorable and fun as possible, especially since this was an important birthday. So on Thursday we gave Mitchel the gifts from us and then spent the evening together as just our little family bowling at "Fat Cats." We had a great time. It was quite entertaining to see Mike try to bowl with his crutches. He would go to the line, then one of the boys would take him up his ball. The first few just ended up as gutter balls, but gradually he got the hang of doing it all on one foot, and he almost beat me (but not quite!)

My two bowling balls (Ha-Ha)

On Friday, Mitchel had his first "friend" birthday party. We invited his two friends, Caitlin and Ben to an afternoon at "Jumping Jacks." They had a great time sliding, bouncing, and running around for two hours. Mitchel was pretty much dripping sweat by the time we were done.

Then back to our house for some cake and ice cream. Two other neighbor kids joined us for that, since they were standing on our doorstep when we pulled up to the house. I always say, "The more, the merrier!"

So far, the whole weekend was going as planned. We had been having a wonderful time celebrating Mitchel's birthday and were looking forward to the next day, Saturday, because it was his baptism. We had been looking forward and planning it all for months, so all was ready to go. But unfortunately, when I woke up (with plenty of time to get everyone ready of course) Mason came into my room crying and covered in head to toe with diarrhea! Awful! Of all the days, please not today Mason! So I got him in the tub and cleaned up his bed and hoped for the best. Then the throwing up began. Poor thing! But, the day must go on, so I got all the rest of us ready and set off to the church to set up for the family party we were having after the baptism. Now remember that Mike is on crutches and there was no way he could help me set up anything. So my awesome sister Tracy came over early with me to help me roll out tables and chairs and decorate for the luncheon. Thanks Tracy!!

Mitchel's baptism began at 11:00 a.m. and all our family came to support him . That part was awesome! Both Grandmas gave wonderful talks that Mitchel really listened to and I was able to quiz him about them later. He remembered every word! Thanks Grandma Miller and Grandma Harker. He'll never forget what you told him that day. Mike was able to hobble down to the baptismal font to baptize Mitchel. Then while they were changing, I showed a movie of pictures of Mitchel growing up. During the conformation, Mike talked a lot to Mitchel about choices and how important his choices will be in his life. It was perfect and I am sure just what Heavenly Father wanted Mitchel to hear. (While this was going on, my sister Tracy was with Mason, catching his throw-up in a bowl. She really is a Saint!)

After the baptism, we gathered in the Cultural Hall for a good lunch and to celebrate Mitchel's birthday with all of our family. But, the day wasn't over yet for me....

That night was our Young Women "Fiesta Fundraiser." We get to have one fundraiser a year to help us raise money for camp and so this year we decided to throw a Mexican themed dinner party for our ward. So in between the baptism and that, I was cooking hamburger and going to the store for last minute items. Then back to the church to set everything up. That began at 6:00 and the rest of my family had to miss it, since Mason was very sick and Mike could barely walk. We had a wonderful turnout though and I thought the food was great. We had a build your own taco salad bar with cinnamon scones for dessert. We also had a pinata that the kids could whack for only one dollar. I think we were able to raise about $450, so not bad. Then it was the clean up and finally time to go home for the night... but did it end there, of course not!

(Some of our Young Women ready to serve the Ward dinner! The girls were awesome!)

So that night, I was hoping for a little R&R when I got home. My back and feet were killing me after being on them all night. But my poor, sweet little Mason was still doing terrible by the time I got home. Mike gave him a blessing and then we tried putting him to bed. Unfortunately, sleep would not come easily. He woke up at least 5-6 times during the night moaning and groaning. I would go in and he would drink a little bit of water and I would comfort him until he fell back asleep. It was the saddest thing. I was hoping that by Sunday morning he would be feeling better, but no luck. His eyes were all sunken in and he looked horrible. So Mike volunteered to stay home from Church with him while I took the other two. Then I had meetings after church and a choir practice for our Stake Women's Conference in a few weeks. That evening, we had a birthday party for my niece Abbey. Mike stayed home with Mason through everything and took such good care of him. Thank you so much Mike for taking on the "nurturer" roll and letting me fulfill all I needed to do. Not only that, but he loaded the dishwasher for me while I was at church (you can imagine what my sink looked like after a weekend like this) So thanks Mike for loving me and our children so much.

Let's not forget that tomorrow Mike goes in for surgery on his calf. I took the day off work tomorrow so I could be with him, but it also looks like I'll still be nursing Mason back to health as well. We are just hoping that all goes well with the surgery tomorrow and that the recovery will be quicker than they said it would. We'll just have to wait and see.

So anyway, that was my weekend in a long and drawn out post. Some times in our life are just like that, full of all sorts of different ups and downs. I always know though that Heavenly Father is watching out for us and helping us through what ever comes our way. I am looking forward to a slightly calmer week!