Holly and Tim

 

I love these two people!! I met Holly shortly after I moved to Logan to finish school (almost 10 years ago!). We were in the same program and had many of our classes together. We clicked and have been close ever since! All of our babies our around the same ages so we have enjoyed all the fun of growing a family together. We were lucky to have both of them come visit for sightseeing and the DC half marathon. Their visit also fell on “Pie day” (3/14) so we celebrated with a coconut cream pie (it was actually a coconut soup pie but Seth stepped in and saved it in the end)! We loved having them here and Lucy still asks me where Holly and Tim are?

Lucy, Conrad, and I ventured with Holly and Tim to Mount Vernon. What a beautiful estate! George Washington was very industrious and took farming very seriously. He didn’t think highly of people buying their seed instead of growing their own.  The back of the home backs right up to the Potomac river for a beautiful view.

Left- George and Martha’s tomb, Center- Holly and Lucy in front of their home, Right- Tim and Conrad waiting in line to tour the home

11 months and Urgent Care!

Wow, in another month he will be one!

This month Conrad took his first trip to Urgent Care. We were at a friends house picking up Lucy from her play group. There was a mob of people there and Conrad was crawling around the floor. He found a small lamp that had been plugged in and sitting on a shelf. The lamp was a ball shape with an opening in the top where he shoved his hand inside. I heard him crying that really awful cry you never want to hear as a mom.  I looked over his hand and could see he had a VERY severe burn. I was really far from my pediatricians office but thankfully one of the girls recommended the Urgent Care Clinic that was a few minutes away. Everything seemed to take forever but looking back it wasn’t that long. It was horrible because Conrad was of course screaming inconsolably which led to the nurse and myself breaking out in tears.  Thankfully the doctor immediately brought in some special burn cream and Motrin. He had a second degree burn so it needed to be wrapped in a bandage. After the wrapping and the Motrin kicked in he fell asleep from exhaustion. We came home to be greeted by a very concerned Daddy! Since then he has been doing ok. We have kept him on pain meds steadily for the last few days. We have to rewrap his had every day for at least a week. He has been a bit more fussy but overall we’re grateful it wasn’t any worse and that he should heal up fine.

Conrad with his “Buster hand.”

Snow Day is like Christmas Day!!

Did you hear about the storm?  It was a late Tuesday evening when Seth and I started seeing the reports for 6-8 inches of snow in our area. I was confident that they would cancel school the next day but we weren’t sure about the federal offices. Seth got the wonderful e-mail the following morning that all government offices were closed. YIPEE!! The day started to take on the feeling of a holiday with pajamas, crepes, games, and a family movie (and of course some fighting as well). Charlie and Matthew also spent a good three hours playing out in the snow with Lucy joining them for a few minutes. The snow was heavy and perfect for packing which made building a snow fort easy.  As it turns out “snowquester” was actually a bomb. While it did snow, it eventually turned to rain and the snow was mostly gone by the next day (we never even shoveled). It was wonderful to have an unexpected holiday built into the week!

Suttons in Washington DC!

Vanessa and Trent came for a quick little visit and it was fun to have them visit us. Trent had a conference in DC so they came a couple of days early to stay with us and see some sights. They got their first taste of city life when they rode the metro from the airport to our home. I love to pick people people up from the airport but they landed around rush hour at Regan National Airport which is in the heart of DC. It took them around an hour on the metro but I’m sure we would have been sitting in traffic for a lot longer than that.

The kids loved Trent and instantly started wrestling with him. He calmed the craziness by showing them Mormon Messages on his Iphone. They were mesmerized! Vanessa and Trent spent the next day (Saturday) visiting different Smithsonian Museums and came back to our home for dinner. Trent’s conference started Sunday morning so he left bright and early while Vanessa came to church with us. Lucy was completely infatuated with her and stayed close by during sacrament meeting. After church we ate delicious homemade pizza made by Seth and then Vanessa and I went and picked up Trent from his conference. We took a stroll through Arlington National Cemetery; visiting my grandparents graves and seeing the changing of the guard. We also got to see them change the wreath which was interesting. After the cemetery we drove over to the home our Dad grew up in on Madison Street. After we took a pictures Vanessa exclaimed, “If Nora was here she would be brave and knock on the door!” We decided to channel our inner Nora and we knocked on the door. A very kind women answered the door and let us in. The inside of the home looked great! I knew there had not been many updates on it while it was in my dad’s family and they only sold it a few years ago. She was a single mom school teacher and she introduced us to her cute son. She told us how one of the women who lives on the street still talks about my Grandma Ackerson who has not lived there in over a decade. It was a great experience and we are grateful for Nora’s example!

After the sights I dropped Vanessa and Trent off at their hotel in DC. Vanessa did a lot more sightseeing on Monday and I, Lucy, and Conrad joined her on Tuesday. I was a little terrified to ride on the metro by myself with my kids but everything was fine. I conveniently left the same time Seth left for work so we were able to ride together. I met up with Vanessa at the Ford Theater and Museum. It has been completely renovated in the last few years and is a great museum. We learned a lot and chased Lucy around a lot! After we wandered around the museum and theater for a while we crossed the street to the home where Abraham Lincoln was taken after he was shot and later died. At the exit they had a pile of books that had all been written about Lincoln, impressive!!  After the museums we ate lunch at a French restaurant called Le Pain Quotidien where we indulged in cheesecake, and fresh bread with lots of spreads to go on top. Yum! We wandered around the Portrait Gallery before I had to go home to meet my boys off the bus. I was sad to say goodbye and so was Lucy. On the way home on the Metro she looked at me really concerned and said, “Mommy, where is Aunt Nessa?” I love having my family visit! Thanks Vanessa and Trent!

 

A New Years Revolution??

Charlie came home from school last month and announced, “I have accomplished my revolution.” I was confused but after he explained to me that he finally received an illusive “ES” on one of his papers I put it together he meant “resolution.”  They have a new grading system where a “P” means proficient and “I” means in progress. I think there is something worse but I don’t remember what it is. Then there is the “ES.” I’m not sure what it stands for but they are nearly impossible to get. You only get them on your work when you go way above and beyond. Charlie does well in school but had never received an “ES” so he decided that earning an “ES” would be his New Years Resolution. He earned one and I found his work thoroughly  entertaining.

Charlie was also honored in the spring Soaring Eagle Assembly with the “Principals Writing Award.” The kids that receive the award have sample writing submitted from their teacher to be put on display. He wrote a folk tale based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears where the bears were cheetahs . He worked hard on it and was very proud of his accomplishment.