Funerals, Soccer, and Travel

On Wednesday, I played prelude and postlude for a funeral. I was pretty worried about it, but it went really well. I was pleased that I didn’t seem to ruin the spirit of the event, and the family was appreciative. I found out something interesting about myself though.

I didn’t know the individual who had passed away, but as his family and friends talked about him, I found myself crying in sympathy. I didn’t know that I do that. It is interesting to know that other people’s emotions can affect me in that way.

It’s pretty tough to lose a family member. That is one of my worst fears. I dread the time that someone I love will have to leave me, even though I know it’s only for a short time and that death is not the end. I guess I still need to work on my faith.

Yesterday, I played two soccer games. I have been to practices most Tuesdays for the last few weeks, but we had two games in a row, and then we drove three hours to visit family. The games were intense, and I had a great time. We lost both games, though we were ahead for most of the first one. The second one, I think we played better, but we still lost by 5. I had a good time, but Grig was a little upset by the different rules. He didn’t like the fact that you couldn’t kick it high, or the fact that you couldn’t enter the box around the goal. That’s probably what cost us the first game.

My favorite moment was when I was playing goalie, and I blocked around 10 goals in a row. It was an intense couple minutes, and I ended up pulling the tissue around my scar from my c-section, but it was awesome. I felt like a champ!

After the games ended, we got in the car, picked up the dog and our luggage, and took off. It was about 10:30 p.m. when we left, and we didn’t reach our destination until about 1:30 a.m.  Kevin and Dakota slept the whole way, Grig read to me, and I drove. As I was driving, I could feel my muscles stiffening up. That wasn't so much fun. By the time we got to my parents' home, my legs ached and I was tired.

Kevin and Dakota can sleep almost anywhere.

I usually drive on long trips because Grig likes to read to me in the car, and I like it when he does so. We've been reading C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, and we finished the second book last night. It is quite good, if occasionally long-winded. 

Dakota (because it is finally warm enough) was asked to sleep outside last night. It rained, but she was just fine this morning. In fact, I caught her rolling in the grass when it warmed up a little more. I think she is enjoying being outside, despite the weather.

There may not be a video tomorrow, but I'll try to get one made for Monday. We're going to be relaxing over the weekend and enjoying our time with family.

Thank you for those of you who've responded to my post yesterday. I appreciate your thoughts. I'll give them careful consideration. 

Toodles!

Visiting Friends

Starting tomorrow and including next week, I'm going to go visit some friends that I haven't seen in a long time.

This weekend, I'm going to visit my friends that I met in Nauvoo, Illinois. This is probably the first group of friends I ever had. We're haven't seen each other in years, but in a friendship like this, it doesn't really matter. I'm super excited to go and see them and to catch up on their lives and what they've been up to.

Next weekend, I have a mission reunion on Friday, and then a mini companion reunion on Saturday. I'm excited for three of these events, and I'm grateful that everything is being held relatively close. I'm excited to see my mission president again, as well as friends that I made on the mission.

I just find it kind of ironic that after years of not seeing anyone, everyone decides to have get-togethers within the same couple of weeks. We should be okay money-wise, because there is another pay period starting next weekend.

I'm pretty grateful for these opportunities to see some friends of mine, and I'm grateful to a loving husband who is willing to travel with me to meet them. Grig is pretty awesome, and I really want those I love to get to know him too. I think they'll get along swimmingly.

General Conference for our church is also coming up. Next weekend is women's conference and the weekend after that the Brethren speak to us. I've been looking forward to this for months. It's one of my favorite weekends, because it is always a spiritual feast. I'm eager to know what the Brethren have to tell us.

Can't wait for them to meet this little guy!

It's more friends that I'm looking forward to seeing after what feels like a long time!

Fun with the Family and Riding Dinosaurs

We had a great time this weekend. Grig, Kevin, Dakota, and I were able to travel to visit with my parents. They hadn't seen Kevin in around two months, so they were pretty excited for us to come visit.

There was just one problem.

Kevin was pretty sick.

The night before we left, Kevin got a really high fever, which made things complicated because I was supposed to go with the missionaries to teach a lesson and I had an appointment with the DMV to get a new driver's license. My grandparents were going to watch Kevin, but my grandpa is susceptible to catching colds, so I asked the missionaries if they could find someone else. They said they could, and so I stayed home that morning with Kevin. I asked my parents if they still wanted us to come, and my mother assured me that they had already been exposed to sick babies.

I was able to go to the DMV while Kevin played with his grandma in the car. I finished in about 45 minutes, and then Kevin and I headed home. I cleaned the house so it would look nice when we got back. Grig returned from work a few minutes later, and we packed quickly and left as soon as we could. We reached my parents' home at about 10:15 p.m. and though I wanted to talk to them, they had school the next day, so we went to bed.

Kevin didn't sleep well that night, or the next, or the next. He kept coughing and waking himself up. He would gag when he would try to nurse and sometimes the coughing would be so intense that it would cause him to throw-up all over me. That aspect of the weekend wasn't much fun, but other than that we had a great time.

Friday we relaxed and Kevin played with some of his cousins. Everyone assured us that they had already been exposed to sickness so it was fine. Kevin wasn't his normal happy self, but he still did quite well. For a sick baby, he was quite cheerful.

Dakota mostly spent the days relaxing and having a wonderful snooze. At my mother's home she isn't allowed in the kitchen, but that doesn't stop her from being as close to us as she possibly can.

Saturday, we went and picked up my new computer from my grandpa's shop. It is amazing. That's actually what I'm typing on right now. We've been saving up to buy it for a long time, and finally we were able to afford it. I want to do a lot of video editing on it, and my grandpa custom-made it to my specifications. It has 16 gigabytes of ram and a terabyte of hard-drive.

New computer

It runs like a dream. Programs that used to take ten minutes to load on my laptop now are open instantly. I love it! We were also able to visit with Kevin's (paternal) Great-Grandparents.

After we returned from that exciting journey, we went to my father's school and played in the indoor playground they have there. They also had a ball-pit, and the kids had a great time playing in that. Kevin really liked it at first, and I thought he might enjoy being tossed into the balls. At any other time, he probably would have, but since he wasn't feeling well it scared him. So, I jumped in with him and he felt better after that. He and his cousins had a great time!

While they were playing, my siblings and I played basketball. I sank around four three-point shots. I was doing pretty well. I forget how much I like basketball. We didn't play soccer this time, but there's always next time.

After the school, we returned to my parents' home, and talked for a while. It was nice to spend time with my family. We have plans to visit Grig's parents this summer as well. We're just trying to figure out when (and saving up for a plane ride).

Kevin found a dinosaur while we were there and decided that he needed to ride it. It wasn't very big, but we found it hilarious. He would carefully place it on the floor, and then try to settle himself on its back. It didn't work too well.

Riding the dinosaur

Sunday, we went to church with the family and Kevin actually took a nap through part of it, so that was good. We ate dinner with them, and then we packed up to leave. As we were about to leave, Grig was holding Kevin and Kevin just fell asleep on his shoulder. I was worried that he would wake up when we put him in the car, but my fears were luckily unfounded. On our way out of town, we stopped by my cousin's house who had just had a baby and by my brother's to say farewell. Kevin slept through both stops and all the way through the three hour drive after that. He awoke briefly when we got home, but after we went to bed, he quickly fell back asleep. He was feeling much better yesterday.

We had an amazing trip. We really enjoyed seeing everyone!