April 15, 2018

April 15, 2018

Dear Kami and Caden,

It has been a busy week full of mundane activities.  On Monday afternoon, Mom texted and said that Maddie had hurt her ankle at track practice.  She wasn’t sure if it was sprained or broken, but I figured that the way she was getting around, it was probably just a sprain.  Just to be sure, we took her to the doctor and because there was a chance she had stress fractures, we took her for an X-ray.   Luckily, it is just a sprain, so she should be feeling better in a couple of weeks.  Dr. Harrison recommended she rest it for two or three weeks and then see how it feels when she tries running, but it is still aching pretty bad right now. 

            

 

The picture on the left is the original sprain.  The one on the right, that looks like a cadaver leg or something is after her first full day of wearing a brace.  The picture below isn’t as dramatic, but is a more acurate represantation.

Mom worked in the yard a lot on Monday, and for Family Home Evening that night we cut sod out of the planting bed along the back fence.  The dirt there is very fine and easy to work with, so the kids cut the sod, and Mom and I knocked the dirt out of the roots.  Pace filled a little planting pot with the sod and carried it to the wheelbarrow.  Everyone enjoyed it and we worked until it was too dark to see, then as a reward for the hard work, we got ice cream.   I’m a really slow learner.  As each of the kids asked me if they could come to the store, I said yes to every one of them.  And guess what?  It was just as bad as last week!  I don’t know what I was thinking.

The kids had so much fun working in the yard, on Tuesday night, they asked if we could go finish what we had started Monday, so we did, and they loved it on Tuesday night too.

Wednesday night Pace and I borrowed a trailer from Russ Harrison while everyone else was at scouts/young women’s.  I have assigned each of the kids a night to do dishes, but since all the big kids are gone on Wednesday night, that has become my night to do dishes.  I got Pace to bed, and then it took me until everyone else got home to finish cleaning the kitchen. 

Thursday after the kids got out of school, we loaded up the car and drove to Rexburg.  We arrived at 1:15 a.m.   Mom was trying to stay awake to make sure I didn’t fall asleep, but she was really torn.  She couldn’t keep her eyes open, but she couldn’t go to sleep either.  I finally told her that I felt fine and would wake her up if I got sleepy, so she closed her eyes.  Then she would jerk away about every thirty seconds.  Once, she woke up and said, “Did I sleep long that time?”  I said, “yeah, you were out for about two minutes!”

Friday we went to the temple, and then drove around trying to visit people.  We lucked out and got to talk to Peter and Madeline Bressler.  Kami, I don’t know if you have already heard, but Caroline is engaged.  Peter’s version of the story took about 15.5 seconds, and I’m assuming he left out a lot of details.  Wendy was gone to see their new grandson, I think, so Mom will have to get the details later.   On Saturday we got to see Angie Roberts and her kids, and Blake and Cindy Sharp.  Carter was there, but Cody was out of town helping his aunt move.  Angie said all the missionaries she knows including Marcus and Alex have gained ten pounds and she was wondering if Caden has gained any weight.  So, Caden have you gained any weight?  Kami, she didn’t ask about your weight, but she did ask about how you are doing. J 

Saturday morning I asked Mom if she wanted to go for a walk.  She did, and when we started she said, “We need a couple of things at Walmart, so let’s just walk there.”  I think it came out to be 7.5 miles.  I was worn out. 

That reminds me of an event on our trip.  Russ had told me that the lights on the trailer worked, so I plugged them in and went on my way, but when we stopped at a rest stop I noticed they weren’t working.  It was dark, and I decided I would just risk it.  About an hour later, I was coming up on car in the right lane that was driving pretty slowly.  I was only going 75, so I wasn’t worried, but as I got close enough to pass, I realized it was a state trooper.  As soon as I passed him, his lights came on.  I explained about the lights, and he was being really good about the whole thing but asked to see my license and registration.  I gave him my license, but as I was digging for the registration, my hands started shaking so bad I could hardly handle the papers.  I was embarrassed because I wasn’t scared and didn’t want him to think I was scared, so as I pulled out the right paper, I pressed my hands down on the paper like was trying to flatten it out, and that was enough to stop the shaking.  Mom was laughing about it later.  I figure it was partly adrenaline and partly fatigue.  The good news was he didn’t give me a ticket.  The other funny thing is when I hooked up the trailer Saturday to load it with lumber, the lights worked fine. 

I guess that’s about all there is to share this week.  I love you both and continue to pray for your safety, health, and success.

Love,

Dad