2007 in Review - April

Many of you remember several years ago when I was working full time, working on my Master’s degree, and serving as the Relief Society President in my ward, that I contracted bacterial spinal meningitis. Much to the concern of my family and friends, I’m apparently falling into my favorite pattern of burning the candle at both ends and not taking care of myself very well. I had a cold (?) for about a month (I know, perhaps my first clue), and after strong suggestions (and actually a couple of threats), finally went to the doctor. I ended up with pneumonia! I had great timing, though. It was General Conference weekend and Ryan’s Spring Break. I didn’t miss any church, and only took one sick day from work (only my 2nd one in my 2 1/2 years at WGU). When I logged in to work after my one sick day, I had 93 e-mails to answer! I should have just worked! I’ll know better next time! :)

When I was feeling better, Rara, Papa and I took Ryan to the Layton Hills Mall for an Easter egg scavenger hunt and a little bit of shopping. April was also the grand opening of the new South Davis Recreation Center. Mom is on the Bountiful Historical Commission (which doesn't have anything to do with the rec center), so she and Dad know a lot of the “muckety-mucks” (as Marc calls them) here in Bountiful. They always support things like that, and we mingle with said muckety-mucks. It was really kind of fun.

Rara and Aunt Dott got the grand-kiddos (Ryan, Abby, and Josh) together and planted real grass seeds in Easter baskets, then painted ceramic eggs to put in them. They turned out really cute, especially when the grass started growing, and the eggs were "hidden" in the grass.

Easter also fell on Rara’s birthday. We had our annual Easter dinner plus celebrating her birthday. She’s so funny - Ryan is the only grandkid, but she still loves to hide eggs for all of us. She makes Marc and Frances and I go out and look for the eggs, too. At least she puts "the good chocolate" and money in our eggs!

Ryan’s soccer season has started. Take note – on March 19, he scored his first goal of the season! Where is the picture, you ask? Are you kidding? I was jumping up and down and screaming so loud – the camera was the furthest thing from my mind! Here are a couple of other good pictures of great moments.

Ryan turned 7 on April 25. He has wanted a Nintendo Wii since they came out. I kept telling him that they were WAY out of our price range. Frances' family has one, and one of Ryan's friends has one. At Sunday family dinner about two months before Ryan’s birthday, we were talking about what to get for his birthday. Rara & Papa and Marc & Frances offered to contribute money toward a Wii. But, of course, I wasn’t about to just go out and buy my kid a Wii. So we made a deal. Ryan is an EXTREMELY picky eater and hates trying new things. About a month and a half before his birthday (after the fam started talking about the Wii) I made a chart for him. If he tried something new every day from then until his birthday, he got the Wii. It was a great motivator! Surprisingly, he even tried my halibut one night!

We were thinking that we'd just go out to dinner together the day before his birthday (a Monday), and then go and buy a Wii. But when I told one of my friends that on Sunday, he told me how difficult Wiis were to find. He said, "You know, you really can't just walk into a store and buy one." AAAAHHHH!!! Target, Shopko, ToysRUs, Best Buy, and Circuit City all had them in their ads on Sunday. I guess that's why it didn't even occur to me that they would be so hard to find. So, as soon as Ryan got home from school on Monday, Rara, Papa, Ry and I drove to Target in Centerville. Of course, they were totally out. They called the two closest stores - also out. We went across the parking lot to a Game Stop (where they had 3 Wii boxes in the window), and they were out. They called their 2 closest stores - also out. Then we sat in their parking lot and called ToysRUs, Best Buy, Circuit City, RCWilley, KMart, Shopko, and everyone else we could think of on my cell phone. It was crazy!

All of the stores also said they never know when they'll get new shipments. Most of them pretty much told me to call every day. Ryan was REALLY mad that all of the stores had them in their Sunday ads, yet there we were on Monday afternoon unable to find one. That was pretty frustrating. About half of Ryan's prayer on Monday night was about finding a Wii. I tried to make it a teaching moment and explained that finding a Wii for us was probably not very high on Heavenly Father's list of things to do.

Apparently I was wrong! We all started calling around Tuesday, and Marc found one at the Gateway! I had student calls all day, and Marc had to be at work, so dad went in and got it. We wrapped it and hid it behind the couch. As soon as Ryan got home from school, he asked if we had found one. I had to be very creative with my answers so I wouldn’t actually be lying. Rara, Papa, Marc and Frances came for dinner and cake & ice cream, and we started playing the hot/cold game with Ryan to find his present. When he found it and opened it, he absolutely squealed! We all had fun playing it, and still do when we all get together at our house. He got some other fun gifts – a “Tooth Tunes” toothbrush, new shoes, etc. But you’d never know! He got the Wii, and life was good!