So our letter starts out with the pic I emailed you while we were driving to Connor's scans. My handsome little kid going in to get cleared...
Waiting patiently... in the waiting room as a patient.
He was such a good patient. This champ waited an extra HOUR AND 20 MIN after this ultrasound while they located the orders for his chest X-ray. I was so proud of him.
And he chose McDonald's for lunch. =)
We started going through all our stuff - the whole house - for things Carlie could sell at her last yard sale this Saturday, and behind my back, Derek bravely took pictures of his pinewood derby cars so he could throw them away to clear things out. I wanted to turn back the clock when I found out, because pinewood derby cars are to keep. Ugh... I wish I had known! But the trashman came and went, so here is what remains. =)
Miranda taught a lesson on patience for FHE that night... it was so great! Of course. Sterling was especially excited, and kept reaching out to touch her head. I love that cat.
That night, this appeared:
Tuesday was a normal running around day like always, but there were some extra tired baldies at our house. A gorgeous and a gorgeous.
And this post happened:
And again, Every School Picture Tells a Story. So this one goes: Once upon a time, a photographer remembered to turn on his umbrella light, but gave a hideous drape to a girl to wear because she was a senior at Lone Peak. There was a tradition at Lone Peak to wear either said hideous drape, or a faux tux, and unfortunately, the girl got the drape. When the photographer told her to stick her neck out, she unfortunately obeyed him. Now the girl thinks she looks like a TURTLE. The girl is super cute, but yes, she is going to show up for retakes in the near future. The End.
Then the girl drew this in art class:
Wednesday, Connor had a pack meeting - all the Wolves are doing one of those really cool cheers... this one is the watermelon cheer. You take your giant piece of watermelon, eat it, and spit the seeds out in this loud machine gun pattern.
Meanwhile, the twins had their friend Sienna over hot tubbing and dinnering.
Then the kids headed off to Mutual. Derek went climbing at Momentum:
Morgan did another career night at Lucid Charts learning their ways... the boys LOVED it. There's my curly-headed kid right there.
And I cleared out some of our pantry for a quick food drive in our neighborhood. One of the ladies volunteers at an alternative HS for kids that are single parents, etc., and they keep a pantry for them when they don't have enough food. They were completely out of some items, and their food drives from other schools weren't for a few more weeks. So she FB'd the neighborhood and we loaded them up. She posted this picture and said she kept getting tears with every bag of food. This is stuff I live for. We have SO MUCH. And I don't mean the Madsens, or our neighborhood. I mean all of us who have enough to eat have SO MUCH compared to those who don't know where their next meal might come from. I do believe that this is one of the reasons we're asked to keep a year's supply of food. To share with others.
Thursday was another Dr. Rich visit, but only labs. Miranda will probably skip the rest of her Vincristine for the remainder of chemo, so she basically has 3 treatments left, 3 weeks apart, and she's done. YAHHOOOOO!!!! Here's Tara the nurse... no, not Tera, but Tahrah. I like her because she's a little grumpy.
And then we had to have fish. We went to Rubio's fresh mex and had some... it was super delicious and we may have to go there again.
This came with our meal, and Miranda said, "Only in Utah."
That night, Morgan had a rescheduled game, and killed it. Of course, he sprained his foot and had to stay home from school the next day, hobbling around the next day, too, but Wow, it's fun to watch him!!
Friday, Jeff & I went to Hale Center and saw "Wait Until Dark." Not one we would have bought separate tickets for, but when you have season tix, you just go. It's a creepy show about a young blind woman who tries to outwit some conmen who try to get her find a heroin-filled doll given to her husband by mistake. She ends up being able to use the dark to stay alive because, you know, she's blind.
Then we went out with our friends Kristen & Cory Edwards to that Mexican (Guadalajaran) restaurant in Payson with the pineapple fajitas. We will definitely take you there when you're here again. While we were waiting, Jeff used our chips & salsa bowls to explain a heart condition their daughter might have, and I thought it was picture worthy.
And then once our fajitas came, we needed a pic with them... they are epically good, jicydk (jic you didn't k).
Then, since we were in Payson right by the fires, we tried to see them, but the streets are blocked off for some odd reason. So I thought I would share some of the news pictures from the past week. It really seems like they're winding down, but earlier, not so much. The Payson temple:
I love how dramatic this looks. This was the biggest fire in Utah so far.
So the fire is now at 120,000 acres, quite a bit larger than Utah Lake, and it seems to be winding down. In fact, today we had the first RAIN since it started, so hopefully it will be over soon.
Then, Saturday, we got up at FIVE am, and helped Carlie set up her yard sale at the HS. She had so many donations from ward members and it was so awesome. I was going to crop out this cold woman in the pic, but she's standing in front of some of our stuff, so she stays. This is Carlie's whole spot; from one end of the pic to the other, ending in that huge box of giant stuffed animals. Between the 2 yard sales, she made $597!! Pretty good for selling stuff to strangers that you got for free!
The kids' soccer games were all cancelled due to poor air quality again, but we needed every minute to drop off the unsold stuff at DI (it was a 20 min wait in line just to start getting unloaded - Saturday is busy!!), and then get the girls ready to get down to the stadium early for pregame and kickoff stuff.
H&K got to come this time, and Taylor Barton & Eric Jamison (both wardies & roommates down there) saved them seats... they're some of the BEST kids on the planet. Not just because of the seats!! And roomie Gizelle went, too. =)
H&K popped back & forth between Grandpa/Keri/Higbee and Daddy/Car/Mir. Then wanted to go home early... they were only there for the fun & socializing. =)
And we won, really easily. It was McNeese State. Did you just say, "Who?!?!!" Exactly.
BUT. This is where the head flew off. So Cosmo was lining up during the half time show for a huge flip sequence off the trampoline. See him running up to it?
And with the momentum and force of his incredible flips, his head came FLYING off. He ducked down really fast into the foam, madly covering his head from view, and his co-cheerleaders ran his head to him quickly. He bounced back up and went running around the field jumping; back to his peppy self. But WOW. Cosmo's head had flown off. Here's the human head illuminated, and the cosmo head flying off to the top right. Haha!!!
Today, Morgan broke the bread and blessed the sacrament!! I, of course, had some tears, but I totally used all my self control and DID NOT take a picture... I know I'm so not allowed to, but he looked so handsome, nervous, and yet glowing with goodness. I was so proud.
Jeff also got asked to be the medical director for Trek next year. We really wanted to be a Ma & Pa again; that was such a great experience. But this is going to be so cool. Jeff needs to choose some stake doctors to go along with, and be in charge of training the leaders & kids in basic wilderness safety, etc. so we can all be safe. I'm so excited.
Tonight, while everyone was getting their icecream & toppings, there were just so many people packed together in the kitchen that I wanted a picture. Love it.
Ok, we're going to start out our memes with ones the kids found this week:
And some from the files:
And seriously:
Love, Us!!!
