Sunday February 15, 2015

Dear Cassidy -

Hello! I'm sorry your last week was so hard! I hope this week was better for you. I see you on a picture on the mission blog in Leipzig for a zone meeting? I hope that means you got our package as well! I'll be anxious to hear about your week as usual. Even though your week was so hard that was such a great letter to us. Especially that first paragraph - about having such a genuine pure happiness! That is such a blessing to have been given that feeling of joy and love for what you're doing! I feel like it's a blessing for me as well - knowing that you're happy makes having you gone a little easier. Also - having a really tough week can also make any little successes you have feel pretty sweet!

So a few other parts of your letter that I wanted to comment on...the African guy that stuck you guys in a room to eat???! What the heck? Did you just come out when you were done? And my favorite line of your letter last week was about the country music, "I miss that about as much as I miss spicy food!" Ha! That was great! Anyway - great letter!

As for here...it has been a bit of an interesting week. Monday River was still recovering from throwing up all day Sunday so she stayed home from school. Days like that always feel a bit weird to me because I'm not usually home that much during the school hours. It was nice to be here and I finished putting together my shutterfly 2007 book. I'm looking forward to getting that in the mail this week.

Tuesday I took Hadlie in to the doctor because she was heading into 2 weeks of her bad cold. Dr. Bennett put her on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. I also took a look at Colten's grades this day. I hadn't looked at them in over a month. It was mid-term this week and this opened a whole door of issues. The grades didn't look so good.

Wednesday was busy. I worked, took Hadlie to piano then went to Colten's parent/teacher visits. A few more things came to light while I was there and let's just say...Colten didn't have the best of evenings that night. He's doing really well in his medical classes, but has slacked a little in the rest of his classes. He had several missing assignments, quizzes, and tests he needed to retake. Most of that was fine, but he hadn't been completely truthful with us and so now I guess he has to deal with us looking at his grades and bugging him about it. He handled it good when we talked with him and then spent about 6 hours that night making things up and studying for upcoming things. He knew he'd better make some quick changes because he was supposed to be headed for St. George this weekend for a soccer tournament. Dad and I also had the assignment to take refreshments to Institute Wed. night. We got a bunch of Valentine cookies and strawberries from Maceys, took them and did our job:)

Thursday we did normal stuff like orthodontist appointments and gymnastics. Then we had our Valentines dinner that night. I think it's been like 3 years since we've actually had our dinner/breakfast on actual Valentines Day. Anyway - it was a good night and Colten spent many more hours that day on homework. I felt very sick after eating our waffles & whip cream for dinner and actually got up in the night and threw up. (I'm sure you wanted to know that!)

Friday Colten headed to St. George around noon with Logan and his mom. They are staying at Leslie's parents house. Pretty much everyone we know are in St. George. Tyler & his kids are there - Maycee's playing in another tournament too. Lots and lots of people from Utah county are down there. Dad and I went to lunch together to celebrate an early Valentines Day. That night I took River to the BYU gymnastics meet. After we came home I told Dad I felt like I should formally apologize to you for not putting you in gymnastics for longer than a couple of months. Those girls all look just like you!

Saturday - yesterday, we canned a bunch of flour & sugar here at the house. It feels good to have a stash of that again. It's been a while. Then we did a little cleaning and I went to the gym. Sounds like a fun Valentines Day, right? Last night late Colten texted me from St. George to tell me he loves me and Happy Valentines Day. I texted him back and asked if it was really him. Maybe it was good for him to go on his trip and have a little time away from us (me). He's got one more game on Mon. morning. That'll be his very last game with his current coach. Kinda sad. So far they've won one, lost one & tied one game.

Today has been a weird Sunday. I took the girls to Rachel Kalua'u's farewell. She leaves this week. Then we rushed over to our ward so I could help dad teach Sunday school. And nobody showed up to our class. Then we decided that Hadlie needed to go to urgent care because she's been coughing so bad. Last night she coughed for 30 minutes straight, gagging, etc. She was exhausted and all sweaty when she finally stopped. She didn't sound much better today so I took her to the instacare in Springville. She's got bronchitis. So now she's on an antibiotic, a steroid and the good cough medicine. Hopefully that'll be it!

So there you have it. A weekly report. I was thinking will all of us having different sicknesses - I was wondering if you've been sick at all since leaving? And also how your face/acne is? All your pictures look great so I'm assuming it's not been bad? And also if there's stuff you need? Pro Activ? Stomach pills? Bare Minerals? I did ask Brooke about your itchy scalp and she said it'll probably get better as it gets warmer, but to look for something with tea tree oil in it. A deep conditioner or something. I'd also look for some sort of thick cream like that Eucerin or even the Cetephil lotion we'd get from Walmart to put on any skin that's itchy along your hairline.

Well - we love you so much! I hope you have a great week!

Love - Mom