29th Birthday & Father's Day

In our house, June 17th was Rachel's birthday, my birthday and Father's Day.  Whew!  

We tried to celebrate the birthdays on Saturday, so that we could make Sunday special for dad.  I think he still got the shaft, but it was an honest effort on my part.  I made a nice breakfast and was sure to have bacon since Brandon loves it (I don't like bacon, and really don't like it cooked in the house because the smell lingers all day, so it's a treat when I instigate this).  I think he got to relax a little, and I made a nice dinner - chicken cordon bleu is one of our favorites.  It had been a long weekend, so we were all pretty tired.  And church seemed extra crazy - Andrew wouldn't nap beforehand, so he fell asleep in Sunday School in Brandon's arms and then I was teaching Beehives third hour, and Brandon had to bring Andrew to me because he had just woken up and they were short handed in nursery with lots of crying children and we knew he wouldn't deal well, and the reason Brandon couldn't take him was because his teacher in Elder's Quorum didn't show up, so at last minute notice, Brandon taught.  I think he ended up more than his fair share of poopy diapers that day from Andrew, and that little tyke also ate most of his rice crispy treat that they gave fathers in church.  While he was out changing a diaper, one of the congregational hymns was "I Am A Child of God" and Rachel was belting it out - all 3 verses by heart - it was so sweet and the best part of my day.  And I think this was the same week, that Andrew got our of row and ran up to the stage before Brandon could get to him, so that was exciting.  

29 feels old!!  For my birthday cake, I really wanted the cinnamon rolls from Costco - oh man, they are heaven on earth!  I went to pick them up a couple days before our birthday, and I didn't see them anywhere, so I asked someone in the bakery and they said they were making their very last batch (ever!) and that they'd be done in an hour.  So we totally waited - we went and got lunch and stalled, because that's how good they are.  I don't know if all the Costco's stopped making them, but our store doesn't sell them any longer.  I think I ate at least 4 out of the 6 rolls over the next few days, and they were amazing!  

All week, my ankle seemed to be getting worse instead of better.  For a week and a half, I wore a brace during the day, and as soon as the kids went to bed, I was down and on my back, elevating and icing it for the rest of the evening.  I have been able to get very little done.  It was still hurting and very swollen - by the time evening came around, I couldn't walk on it because it didn't feel strong enough and it was too painful.  And since I'm pregnant, I only took tylenol when I absolutely had to.  It also didn't help that on Friday, I went up to Youth Conference for the afternoon, which really set off things with my ankle, then to Sunsplash on Saturday.  10 days after my sprain and it getting worse and not better, I finally had enough sense to ask Brandon for a blessing, and that day was the first day it started getting better, and it has continued to get a lot better since then.  I am very grateful!!  Here's a picture of my ankle on day 2, and you can see the picture I posted below on day 9.  I don't mean to be a baby about this, but this was a terrible sprained ankle.  Way worse than I anticipated, and after a follow up with a sports medicine doctor, he said this was a grade 2 sprain and would be at least a month before I was feeling back to normal.  It's been two and a half weeks now, and is still swollen, but is not giving me much trouble.  

I should probably mention something about Youth Conference since I spent a lot of hours on it ... all I'll say is that a week and a half before, I got an assignment to be in charge of reenacting the coming of the Savior from 3 Nephi (this was a ward level YC and it was all about the Book of Mormon).  They suggested that I get a picture of Chirst and shine a spotlight on it ... and apparently they don't know me very well, because that wasn't significant enough for me - we're talking about the culminating moment in the Book of Mormon here!!  So I wrote a script, where we followed along and read the most important scriptures and summarized various parts.  We blindfolded them during the "darkness" and we created a storm of sorts, and did a little activity.  We also had a "voice of Christ" and an a Savior figure up on a mountain dressed in all white, followed by a short video clip of "The Testaments" version of the coming of Christ with the song, "This is the Christ".  I hope it was meaningful for the youth.  And now I own a Jesus wig and beard.  

For family home evening last night, we took the kids to the Gilbert temple, which will be completed sometime this fall.  It is about 25 minutes from our house, and a very beautiful temple.  The Mesa temple is about 20 minutes from us in the opposite direction.  The kids got a rock that is from the same material as the temple, and it made me remember that I had been given one when the Timpanogos temple had been built.  Rachel says it is her favorite temple, and that she wants to get married there someday.  Spoken like a little Arizona girl!  

Top o' the morning birthday cake and picture!

Sprained ankle - day 9, still swollen and hurting

Gilbert Temple Site - opens this fall (25 minutes away from our house)

Bedtime on Father's Day - we were all pretty exhausted!