Stupid February

So yeah. Last week was long. I got sick. And I stayed sick. I just felt gross and barely got out of bed to get anything done. Tess loved it because I let her stay in bed with me and watch My Little Ponies on my laptop while I dozed or read on my Kindle.

Wednesday there was a big snow storm. Instead of delaying the start of school to see what this storm did, the dang school district sent the kids to school and then sent them home early. Josh was on the bus for 90 minutes because the roads were so bad. If I hadn't felt so gross I would've called the school district to tell them just what I thought about that.

And then the school district cancelled school on Thursday, which was ridiculous because even though we had 6" of snow, the roads were perfectly fine. So all the kids were home and I felt gross. Blergh.

And then Spencer got sick Thursday night. I don't remember much of it because it was late. I was in bed trying to sleep and something woke me up, so I deliriously went downstairs to discover Lance taking care of everything. (Thank goodness!) I honestly don't remember much, but Lance graciously filled me in. We had sent Spencer to bed with a bucket because he complained his tummy hurt. Turns out he threw up pretty much everywhere but IN the bucket. Lance said there was vomit literally ALL AROUND the bucket, but nothing in it. Erlack. And apparently Spencer walked through the vomit to go find help and got it all over the place... all over my freshly cleaned carpets! Gah! My oldest child, everyone.

So on Friday I felt a little better and spent quite a bit of time and precious energy on cleaning that dang carpet in his room. That child owes me.

You know how Facebook has that memories feature that shows you what you've posted in years past on the same date? Yeah, all last week, at least every day of the week, I had posted something about being me being sick or the kids being sick or, more often than not, both of us being sick. Over the span of several years! The last week in February LITERALLY MAKES MY FAMILY SICK!!!!

Part of my thinks I should just plan some awesome vacation for next February in an attempt to run away from it. But I'm pretty sure we'd just get sick on vacation. Stupid February.

So perhaps next year I'll just enforce crazy hand washing routines and rules around this time of year: two minute hand washings, hot water, lots of soap, followed up by lots of Purell.

It probably wouldn't help any. My kids have been known to lick each other, for Pete's sake. I'm fighting a losing battle.

Thank goodness there are only 8 more hours left in this blasted month! Let's hope March treats us a bit better.

Mothering Instruction Manual

Yesterday was one of those days where I could have really used some sort of mother instruction manual.

It started with a trip to the pediatrician for Cole.

In December Josh started complaining about Cole snoring. But Josh complains about a lot of stuff and Cole had a cold, so whatever Josh, buck it up. But then in January I walked by the boys' closed bedroom door and could hear Cole sawing logs. Loud enough to make his Grandpa Roper proud. So I checked on him about every other night for a few weeks, and he was snoring the majority of the time. This is not normal behavior for a 6 year old.

So we went to the pediatrician, only this wasn't our regular pediatrician because she was out recovering from back surgery. And I was a little put out by this (How dare our DOCTOR need medical care?!), but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. This pediatrician knew exactly what to look for because she had been dealing with the exact same thing with her 14 year old daughter!

First she checked Cole's tonsils. The right one is so swollen and angry that it's actually pushing against the other tonsil! She was pretty impressed.

Side note: My family has a history of impressing doctors with weirdish medical maladies. For example, in college I had a double ear infection and then an allergic reaction to the medicine I had been prescribed. I walked into the the BYU medical center, where an ANCIENT doctor (seriously, he had to have been at least 75) exclaimed my ear infections were the worst he had ever seen in his whole career. Awesome. Then, my mom was diagnosed with 3 C Mucinous Adenocarcinoma, low malignant potential mucinous tumor (pseudomíxoma peritonei). Basically, a super rare form of cancer. The doctors were all very impressed and anxious to study her. And when Cole was a toddler he contracted some super-rare bacteria in his ears that had his ENT drilling me about whether or not we had been out of the country recently. (The answer: No. Are you SURE? was his reply. Because this is REALLY rare.)

Anyways. Cole has weirdo tonsils. Then she looked up his nose and was impressed with how little room there was in there. He wasn't congested, his airways are just almost non-existent.

And then she asked "Have you ever noticed how he breathes?" Um, no.

Turns out Cole exclusively breathes through his mouth. Because he pretty much can't through his nose. HOW HAVE I NEVER NOTICED THIS?!?!

The doctor was really nice about it and tried to make me feel better by explaining that moms don't generally notice stuff like that because that's just how their kids are. Moms are used to it. In fact, she didn't notice it in her daughter and she's a doctor, for Pete's sake. That made me feel a little better.

Then she did a strep swab on the poor kid because his lymph nodes were swollen, and it turns out that he has strep, although probably inactive since he doesn't have any other symptoms. But she still put him on some antibiotics just to be safe and cover all bases, although she really thinks his issues are chronic, not symptomatic.

So we're gonna go see an ENT; I suspect a tonsillectomy is in Cole's future.

As if this weren't enough, I could have also used a mother manual last night. Cole had been sick last weekend but was all better and had even been to school. So I let him come along with us to piano lessons. (He likes to play with the toys and see his buddies Dallin and Connor.) ((He's still not sure about baby Bennett.))

So yeah. Turns out he WASN'T better, and threw up all over their toilet.

I was MORTIFIED. Seriously, you're making me look like a terrible mother, kid.

So I cleaned up the bathroom for them, because it was the least I could do. And I swore up and down that I thought he was better, really and truly. And then I made him hold a plastic bag on the way home because throw up in the car? No thank you.

And then on the way home I started feeling sick. We got home and I started feeling sicker and sicker. It was a long night. I still don't feel well, but I'm doing okay enough to get Spencer and Josh off to school. (Cole obviously has to stay home and Tess has thankfully agreed to skip pre-k today because I just don't wanna take her and if there's a germ cesspool it's pre-k and we could use a break from the germs, thanks.)

I'm not quite sure how to end this post other than maybe I don't need a mothering instruction manual so much as a mothering vacation! (I don't see any of those in the near future, though.)

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Halloween

I can't remember where the idea to be Greek gods and goddesses came from, but we ran with it. We were so cool... right?

Stacey's was the best because she had the Parthenon on her head.

I vaguely remember going to the professor's house, but I have to wonder why. Why in the world did we go?! He was not our fav.

Inactive By Default

Cole was sick all day yesterday; couldn't keep a single thing down, poor kid.

So we're hanging out at home while the rest of the family is at church. I've been to church once out of the last four weeks. This is getting kind of old.



The only kid to have not gotten sick in the past month is Spencer. Fingers crossed his immune system stays strong!

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Homecoming

Yet another formal dance. With Chris. I know I sound snotty. I honestly did not realize how many formal dances I went to in college! (Although the number reduced greatly the older I got. Homecoming for a Freshman? Exciting!!! For an upperclassman? Not as much.)

We had gone to the homecoming game that afternoon and I had facepainted a Y on my cheek - but forgot the sunscreen. So I had a lovely, faint Y on my cheek. Glamorous! Also, that toilet plunger he gave me? Pretty sure I kept it through the first years of marriage. Hey, it came in handy!

We doubled with Chris's roommate and his date. Steven was a ballet dancer and was... interesting. Nice guy, but a little weird. When his date showed up in a non-BYU standard dress I remember Chris and I just gave each other these looks like "What in the world is she thinkin'?!" and made inside jokes about it all night. Because we were cool like that.

I'm pretty sure we drove up to Ensign Peak that night to take in the view of the city and all the lights. (It's well known as a kissin' spot, but we just looked at the city, promise!)

Spencer's Biography

An actual conversation I had with Spencer this afternoon:

Spencer (nonchalantly): Oh, I almost forgot. You need to write a biography about me.

Me: Say what now?

Spencer: For my health class. I need to have someone write a biography about me. Oh, and I need a picture of me.

Me: What?

Spencer (getting frustrated): I. Need. You. To write a Biography. About. Me. Don't worry, it's not due until Friday.

Me (seriously baffled): What?!?

I finally made him get out the assignment so I could understand what the heck was going on. Turns out it was pretty easy, but still. I don't think I was out of line being nervous and confused when told I needed to write a biography. I mean, yeah, he's only 12, but still. That's a tall order!

Here's the assignment:

Not so intimidating. But there was more bad news.

Spencer: Oh, and it has to be hand written.

Me: I'm sorry, did you say Hand Written?

Spencer (like I'm crazy): Yes.

Me: Why in the world would it need to be hand written? I'm just gonna type it.

Spencer: No! My teacher said it HAD to be hand written.

Me: That's ridiculous! Why in the world would I write it out by hand? That's why we have computers! I didn't even write out your dad's Valentine this year!

Spencer (getting irritated): It has to be hand written.

Me (teasing him... but also kind of meaning it): This is the WORST! I don't think I can do this assignment now. Why do I have to do all this crummy stuff!? I've already passed 6th grade! I shouldn't have to WRITE THINGS!!!

This rant went on for a while because it was fun to bug Spencer.

So I sat down and wrote out his biography. Here it is, for your enjoyment. (Hope you can read it. Hand Written. Sheesh.)

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Chris' Baptism

So here's the thing you may or may not know at this point - Chris was not a member of the church! Everyone thought he was, he totally acted like he was. All through high school he attended mutual activities and seminary. He went to BYU for Pete's sake. But nope. His parents were (are?) not big fans of the church; I still have no idea why. And here's the weird thing: Chris was born in UT. (In fact, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure he was born in LDS Hospital, where Spencer was born! Small, small world...) His parents lived in Salt Lake for a while because his dad was big into ski jumping up in Park City. I know. I KNOW. So obviously something happened while they were in Salt Lake that made them not very big fans of the church. And then they moved to CA, probably thinking they were all done with those crazy Mormons, and then what crowd should their only son fall into? Hah.

Anyways.....

So Chris was technically old enough to get baptized without his parent's permission the year before, but I'm not sure why he didn't. No really, I asked. A lot. Still don't know. I think he was secretly hoping his parents would come around. I also think he still had some questions. Who knows?

AND, get this... who should baptize my high school/college boy friend? None other than MY FUTURE HUSBAND, (then) Elder Lance Madsen. I know. I KNOW. It's a strange, weird life. (Chris and Lance were good friends in high school.)

I only remember a little of the actual baptism. I know a lot of people were there - not many baptisms happen at BYU!

I do remember sitting in Chris' car after the baptism. We just sat there, kind of stunned that something we had talked about for so long had just happened. We were both kind of giddy and happy, but also awkward. I remember thinking something along the lines of "Okay, life just got really REAL all of a sudden."

Chris was active in the church through college, but I heard he went inactive a few years after graduation. I'm pretty sure he's not active now. This makes me really sad and makes me question the reason why he got baptized in the first place. I hope he did because he had a testimony and knew it was the right thing to do. I really don't want it to be because of me or because all his friends kept bugging him about it. (I know, that sounds so very conceited, but I can't help it. It's something that nagged at me for a long time.)

So even though this was a really happy day, I think of it kind of sadly.

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Missionary Farewells

I honestly do not remember actually going to the MTC to see Ben and Lance off on their missions. I think we went? We must have because I mention missing a class for it. (And it was not hard to miss that class - Professor Hoskison taught New Testament. He looked vaguely like Mr. Bean. And he was - ironically enough for a religion teacher - mean and kind of a jerk.)

Anywho. Ben. Ben was our good buddy and it was sad and exciting to see him go! He served in Washington state.

That picture above with Chris and the pizza? Yeah, I VIVIDLY remember that night because for a week or so before I had been thinking and praying about going on a mission. But that night, walking down the street back to our apartment with the pizza, I received my answer: no. I wasn't supposed to go on a mission. Isn't it weird that it came then? You can just never tell when you're gonna get an answer to things you've been praying about. I remember feeling both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

And yep, there's my future husband again. I remember going to his mission farewell in his ward; he pulled us all up on stage to sing "I Am A Child of God". And contrary to popular belief, I did not "send" Lance off on his mission. I was not waiting for him. For one, I was still dating Chris. For another, Lance had some other girl who sent him off - Shannon Something-or-Other. I honestly cannot remember her name. (And why should I?) I vaguely remember her as being pretty, with long, dark hair, and being very nice. And... that's about it. Lance and I wrote to each other every so often, until he got Dear Johned about a year later.

Current Goings On: Sickos and Valentine's Day (What A Combination!)

What with all the scrapbook posts I've really been lacking on keeping up-to-date on what's been going on right now in our family. So, what's been going on with the current-day Madsens?

Short answer: Not much.

Long answer: Josh was sick last week.

High fever, upset stomach, and SUPER GROUCHY. To the point of ridiculousness. To the point that I was about to strap him into the car, drive to the school, and then push him out as I sped away. Grouchy. And annoying, because he does this thing where you ask him a question and he won't answer you. He'll stare right at you and you know he heard and understood you, but he won't answer. And then he'll get MAD when he doesn't get what he wants. It drives me INSANE.

For example:

Me: Josh, would you like me to get you some water?

Josh: *blank stare*

Me: JOSH. Would. You. Like. Some. Water?

Josh: *vacantly stares into your soul*

Me (under my breath): Mother of... #$%&$%!!

Five minutes later:

Josh: WHERE'S MY WATER????!!!?!

Me: You never answered me.

Josh: I WANTED SOME WATER!!!! ASAGGHGHHHGHHG!!

Me (under my breath): Must. Control. Fists. Of. Death... Don't. Kill. The. Boy.

So yeah, it's been a lot of fun. I've pretty much stopped asking him questions, or just ignoring him and his crazy outbursts when he ignores my initial questions.

Unfortunately for Josh, he was sick the night of the Pinewood Derby. I'll be honest upfront: I was not so sad. I'm not a huge fan of the derby. Plus, Lance was out of town that night and the thought of taking the kids without him? Not so appealing.

But back to Josh. Poor Josh. He had worked hard on his car. Fortunately, I was able to send his car with some friends who raced it for him. In true Madsen form he finished in the middle: not the best, but not the worst. We're cool with that.

Josh came up with the idea for the shape and theme of his car. He painted it, he and Lance added the weight, and I used my Cricut to make the vinyl decals.

It's very much a Josh car.

If only this car had eyes that could give you vacant stares in response to your questions...

Tess got whatever Josh had and was sick on Saturday and Sunday. She was a much better patient and never made me want to abandon her to the elements. Well, maybe just a little when I was forced to hold her while watching My Little Pony for 3 hours while the boys were at church. (Oh wait - except Josh. Because he's a punk and decided he was "sick" again that morning.)

Valentine's Day was pretty low-key. I had bought some pizzas at Papa Murphy's the day before so we were able to have our traditional heart shaped pizza for dinner.

Each of the kids got a book, a box of candy, and either beef jerky (Spencer & Josh), or gum (Tess & Cole).

Cole was pretty pleased with his lot in life. Hot Wheels Shark Attack book?! Sold!

Despite what you may think, that is actually the look of a boy happy with his gift. Yeah, I know it doesn't look that way, but trust me. I'm becoming an expert on the body language of pre-teen boys. He's ecstatic.

Tess got a new Mercy Watson book. This time Mercy is a princess, which Tess really likes. (The Mercy Watson books are so cute!)

Yeah, that's the best I could get of Josh. He was still a pill. Growl.

There isn't any school today and we got a couple of inches of snow last night. It's cold and I still feel like we're germ infested, so we haven't gone out and done anything. The natives are getting restless.

And now you're pretty much caught up!

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - S'mores

I probably gained my love of s'mores from Stacey. (It wasn't that hard. S'mores are delicious.) ((And way better than Jell-o. Sorry, Stacey.))

So who's that blond guy on Heather? That's Jason, a.k.a. "Bird Boy". I don't remember why we called him that, but I'm sure it was for good reason. Wait - I think once he impersonated an eagle, and Bird Boy sound better than Eagle Boy. So there you go. Jason and Heather were Y Group counselors together. Or wait, maybe not together, but they were in the same group at the training? I don't remember. All I remember is that he was a fun guy and we liked hanging around him. He and Heather kind of had a thing but not really, and then he broke it off via email and we were all like "Um, no. LAME." So that was that.

And yes, Chris was still around. And this is kinda when things got a little weird because all the guys his age were on missions. He was very much the minority being a sophomore guy who was not an RM. (More to come on that later.) And he still lived in DT, which was also kinda weird. But we still liked hanging out with him, too.

Oh, and those two boys had no idea how to build fires. They had to have the ladies do it for them!

Mmmm... s'mores. Why in the world didn't we do this more often?

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Vernal Temple Open House

Okay, so school started. I now lived off campus in Canyon Terrace apartments with 3 of my roommates from the year before: Stacey, Heather, and Rachel. I remember feeling so grown up living off campus! It was a great place to live.

The Vernal Temple had been completed and we decided to go to the open house - drive there and back all in one evening. That's close to 6 hours round trip! But we were young and apparently had plenty of time on our hands.

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Y Groups

So BYU has this freshman orientation the week before school starts that includes being put into "Y" groups of around 12 freshmen and 2 upperclassmen leaders. I had a fun doing it when I was a freshman, so I decided to take BYU up on it when they asked me to be a Y group leader.

I honestly don't remember hardly anything about this, other than I was a bit disappointed that I was paired up with another girl instead of a boy. (Most groups had a boy/girl pairing.) I liked my partner, but we were pretty different and never gonna be besties. (Read: she got on my nerves.)

That top ten list about not sleeping was probably pretty exciting to my 19 year old self. To 38 year old self? Nope.

I hardly remember the freshmen in our group, either. They were fun, but they were freshmen. I remember I ran into one of the boys somewhere on campus a few weeks later and was quite relieved/slightly flattered when he asked what I was doing that weekend and I told him I had a date and he looked a little bummed. (Because by then I was a grown up sophomore. No little freshmen for me! Hah!)

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Monterey Trip

Chris surprised me with a trip to Monterey one Saturday. It was so cool because I LURVE Monterey. Actually, now that I'm a parent I'm kinda surprised my parents let me go. I mean, it was a 3 hour drive there and back. With a boy. A boy I lurved. Then again, I was a 19 year old "adult" (I use that word loosely) with a very strong will. Plus, I was pretty trustworthy. Anywho, we went.

I love the northern California coast. It's so pretty and calm, and there's so much to see. Lance and I need to go on a trip there some time. (Although the coast is further down on the list than Europe. And Japan. And China. Sorry, CA. I've already seen you. It'd be like watching a rerun. A really great rerun, but still...)

I remember us talking about anything and everything during the 3 hour drive down and back. I know, me talk? Bizarre. (*sarcasm*) And listening to lots of music. I especially remember listening to the Spin Doctors CD. (Isn't that weird? Out of everything we did, I remember that CD? It was several years old by then, too!)

Again, I love the coast of northern California; it's just so pretty! (I do love Indiana, but I wish it were closer to an ocean. I used to take walks along the bay during the summers I worked at my dad's company in Richmond. I'd contemplate life, the universe, and everything. And what I could do to get out of having to go back into that dang huge and dang cold walk-in freezer. Yep, I spent half a summer doing inventory in a freezer bigger than my house. What a glamorous life I led!)

Back on track. China Cove. I had always wanted to go there and was so excited to see it in real life! It was so pretty.

We hiked and played a little in the water. I think I must have been kind of boring because I remember just sitting on the beach and looking and looking and looking. I remember feeling very mature and grown up. I also remember getting the itch to travel and just wanting to wander the world and bemoaning the fact that I did not have the funds to make that wish come true. (I still bemoan this...)

Chris and I were a lot alike in many ways, and one way was planning stuff. He was so pleased with himself for planning this trip and printing out the maps and everything. (This was early-internet days, so printing out a map was kind of a big deal.) ((Ancient.)) He also printed out info about the area, history and stories and things like that. Something I would totally do. (And I do.)

Scrapbooks - College - Sophomore Year - Summer Trips

The summer before my Sophomore year I found a job at Camping World. I learned more than I ever wanted or needed to know about RVs! But the pay was decent, the hours pretty good, and the manager was LDS and didn't make me work Sundays. Hardly anyone I worked with had gone to or completed college, which made me all the more determined to get my degree! (I think good summer jobs should make all students feel that way. Hah!)

That summer we went to the Heaton family reunion, which was my mom's mom's side of the family. My family drove out, but I got to fly because I had to work.

I don't think I've been to Kanab since that trip. All I know is that we stopped at a gas station and the cashier asked if we were in town for a reunion. Which one? Heaton? Then she started naming off all the people we were related to. Since my mom's side of the family also includes Hamblins (who helped settle the area), I figure I'm related to at least 75% of that town in some way!

I assuming we went to an As game because the Giants were out of town. (We were/are a Giants family.)

I remember sitting next to Sean and discussing the differences between BYU and UC Berkeley (where he was going): light years of difference! (And yet the one thing I remember most was freaking out when he told me milk was $5 a gallon at his grocery store. What the what?!) Jen was going to UC Davis.

My roommate Elary came out for a quick trip that summer. She had an uncle who lived in our stake and who I really loved because he was so much fun! (He was involved with the youth at church.) His name was - I kid you not - Tom Sawyer.

Elary was so much fun! We puttered around SF and went trap shooting with her uncle. It was fun to show her where I grew up and the places I had told her about.

And yes, Chris was still around. Things were good that summer between us, but got weird once we got back to school. It was a combination of things, I'm sure I'll get into them later.

My mom randomly took us three kids to the zoo one day. I think she probably had a doctor's appointment in SF and decided drag us along. I can understand that - one of my favorite things to do with my kiddos is go on little day trips like that.

4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. It's just fun. One of my fondest memories was going out to the airbase one year with my family and lounging on the tarmac, watching the fireworks and eating Oreos. One of my worst memories was working on the 4th of July the summer before my senior year in high school. I was working at Blockbuster Video, the store was dead, and I was outside washing windows, listening to the fireworks go off. Woe was me.

1997 was a good year for the 4th. How can you go wrong with a baseball game and fireworks in the fog? Notice how we're all bundled up? It would get SO COLD during those night games in the summer! (And by cold I mean like 40 degrees. It's gonna get to like 5 degrees here tonight in Indiana, so it's all relative.)

And yes, Chris was there. I wonder what my parents thought about him. And me. And all that. (My mom probably thought about it more than my dad. Dad just thought about baseball.)