Valentine's Day and President's Day

Wednesday, Feb 13th, the kids finally went back to school. It was a two-hour delay, but, hey, I'll take it. After dropping off the kids, I ran to Safeway to pick up a few essentials, since it was supposed to snow again. Apparently, no milk had been delivered in a couple of days, because the trucks couldn't get through the snow! We still had 1 1/2 gallons left, but I just wanted to be prepared.

Allison was getting better at walking

It was also the 100th day of school - finally!!! So after lunch, I helped out in Melanie's class with some 100 days counting activities.

Allison was getting grumpy because it was nap time. So we headed home around 1:15pm.

The Dad's and desserts Valentine's activity at the elementary school was canceled to accommodate the basketball games. That night the basketball games were canceled again, and the mutual activity was canceled, but they had heard there was a Valentine's Dance in S* south of here. So Aaron took a bunch of kids down there, only to find out it was canceled as well. They did have an activity, so they just joined them. Aaron went to three stores, and finally found some milk!

Can I tell you how much Aaron sacrifices for his family? He spends a lot of time driving people around, running to the store, and trying to make things happen. He did all of this knowing he'd have to get up super early to drive to the airport to beat the next snow storm. The boys went to seminary, but there was a two-hour delay for school! That afternoon it was coming down again.

We could hear the snow plow on the highway

 The kids eventually made it home from school. Melanie had made this cute Valentine!

 Melanie figured out how to play "Frere Jaques" on the piano.

Aaron had flown to visit his parents for the weekend, yes on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, his second leg from SLC to PIH was canceled. They couldn't get him on another flight until 9:15, but he found a shuttle that they were able to cover a transfer for him.  That was not a fun part of the trip. He got there much later than he wanted to. It turns out that 9:15 flight was delayed as well. He arrived in Pocatello around 9:15. Meanwhile, at home, we celebrated that night with chocolate fondue. It was fun and super messy!

 Aaron had bought Maria's galletas - yum!

Allison didn't get any chocolate

That night was supposed to be book club, but then it was postponed because of rescheduled basketball games, but then the basketball games were canceled (the other teams couldn't make it here safely), so it was back on, but then it was canceled again. I was sure missing my book club ladies!!

Allison thought it was fun to Facetime with Aaron, and took a selfie.

More snow overnight, but there was no school anyway, it was a district training day. Four day weekend for President's Day. I would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't just had an unplanned four day weekend.

giant snowball

Timothy went out and shoveled the sidewalk without being asked to!

 The kids made more snowmen

They made a very tall one also

There icicles in the barberry bush.

Aaron sent pictures of the snow in Idaho, not nearly as much as we had,

 but a few hours later they had a little more

That night there were finally basketball games, after a week of being postponed. Both boys and girls played, and they both won.  I took the girls to the boys game. Aaron tried to watch it on the YouTube channel, but it wasn't working. It turned out he let the team playing in between the boys and girls use his equipment, and forgot to change back to his station and didn't notice until halfway through. So I gave Aaron updates through text. I think the boys stayed up late to watch a movie.

Saturday I got this cute video of Allison reading her book.


was more games, and we won again. This time the broadcast worked and Aaron got to watch the game. He could spot me in the crowd! The girls won - it was an intense game. It was a loser-out game, so they get to move on to districts. The boys won also. That made them league champions. A few videos from that night:

David and Timothy went over to Luca's to watch a movie after the game, and they were out way too late again. It snowed a bit overnight.

Sunday I had to teach my Sunday School lesson without Aaron coming to take Allison. It didn't work out that well, but it helps that Timothy was able to take her for a bit. 

Aaron sent me this picture of Ginger climbing on Mom trying to take a nap.

They also took some selfies

More snow for us that afternoon

That evening was a planning meeting for YM and YW, so Timothy went to that (it was supposed to be the week before, but got canceled). It was also Mission Prep at the Stake Center. So David drove Timothy over with the nacho cheese sauce I warmed up for their refreshments and hung out there until they had to leave for Mission Prep. Unfortunately, David and Luca were not easily found by Br. N* when it was time to leave. Eventually, we got them in the vehicle, and I picked up Timothy. David drove himself home after getting dropped off at the W*'s.

Aaron texted from the airport. He got there pretty early, but the flight was delayed a bit because they had to de-ice the plane. I was so glad to have him home that night.

Monday was President's Day and another day at home. 

Allison was so cute reading this book.

She likes playing with the ball run


Aaron had been worried about a package that was supposed to be delivered on Thursday. It looked like it had been stuck on the other side of the pass. When it finally arrived on Monday I realized why he was worried. It was flowers that were supposed to be for Valentine's Day. Some of the flowers didn't do so well waiting that long.

That night we decided to go out to dinner at OCB, and we saw this "motor home" in the parking lot. Haha!!!!

Snow Days 2 and 3 and Saying Goodbye to a Dear Friend

Monday this was the scene as Aaron left for work. More snow overnight, so he was out there early shoveling. It was a snow day at home for the rest of us.

It was pretty quiet on our street.

Icicles!

I remember David wanted to have a movie day with some friends, but I really didn't want to go out in the snow. And I didn't want him driving in the snow in his little car. It was supposed to get bad again that afternoon. However, David had an orthodontist appointment that afternoon and they were frantically trying to reschedule everyone. They asked if he could come in right then. So I took Allison with me and we took David in for his appointment. The roads were bad. I slid a couple of times even with 4WD. It started snowing before we left, but we were able to make it home. David was in a rotten mood after that - I ventured out in the snow for an appointment, but not to take him to a friend's house, and then, of course, he's in pain because of the appointment. He pretty much sulked in his room after that.

We kept busy with movies, and games, and playing in the snow. Aaron was on call that night and we watched something together for FHE activity. Allison was so cute sitting with David.

The girls in coordinating PJs again.

More snow overnight made for the second snow day in a row! The kids had fun playing in it though.

I measured the snow in different areas.

Melanie and Michelle really wanted me to take pictures of them doing everything!

9 inches!!!

The snow on top of the pool

Making snow angels

the tunnel

On the bench

About this time I got a text from Jen N*. Sandi wasn't doing well, and she wanted to let me know. Sandi's husband, Bob was using Sandi's phone to communicate with her friends. I reached out to him, to see if I could come by. She had gotten bad news around the end of January that the tumor wasn't shrinking, and there wasn't much more they could do. They figured she had 3-6 months left. She had been in the hospital since Friday or Saturday due to a fall. So here she was less than 2 weeks after her last CT scan, and they didn't expect her to make it to the weekend. I got a hold of Bob and asked if I could come by to see Sandi. I was wary of driving on the roads and worried about bringing a sick baby in to see her. Aaron graciously offered to drive me and Allison up when he had a break that afternoon.

Meanwhile, David was picked up by Kyle (who drives a truck) to watch a movie at Luke's - not too far from our house. I found our later, even with the truck they still slid off the road. Luckily they were OK and were able to get out of the ditch.

The girls played dress up.

Two Elsa's? No wonder there was so much wind and snow!!!

That afternoon I nervously drove over to the clinic and picked up Aaron. He drove us up to the hospital. We took the back highway, and it wasn't too bad. It was hard getting around the surface streets though. The parking spaces were hard to find. Aaron took Allison and I went up to see Bob and Sandi. Bob talked my ear off, but I guess he needed that. He got out some frustrations, and some fears; he told me of great memories, and future plans. The last time I visited (the Sunday before her last CT scan) I learned that his mother had passed away at the beginning of January. Now just over a month later he was losing his wife. When Sandi was in the middle of her fight with cancer, he told me this was his greatest fear, that he would lose both of them at the same time. He felt he would lose his purpose in life. He had no one to care for anymore. Their daughter and her family were 3 hours away, and they rarely came to visit. He said he hoped they would move out here, that he wasn't planning to be a fulltime caretaker, but that he would gladly pick up his granddaughters from school or daycare to help out. He lamented that their daughter would not make it there before Sandi passed. I few times as I sat with the two of them, it seemed Sandi's breathing had stopped, but then she took a breath, and I relaxed. They had hoped to move her to hospice, the next day. Although she was cared for the same way at the hospital, hospice seems less like a hospital and more like a home setting. I was there for almost an hour. I finally said goodbye to Sandi, and Bob, knowing I wouldn't see her again, at least not in this life. I went out to the parking lot and nursed Allison before Aaron drove us home. I called a couple people to let them know what was going on with Sandi. We hadn't even gotten to the freeway when I got a text from Bob, that Sandi had passed, just a few minutes after I left. I had to call my friends back to tell them what had happened. With no plans for a funeral or memorial service, it was hard, knowing others would not be able to say goodbye. I feel blessed that I was able to make it up that day. I miss you, Sandi!!!