Oilfield Wife

‎Misty Bown, sorry for what i've turned you into. Life takes us on some unexpected tangents but i'm glad i've got you along for the ride. I'm only going to do 3 sappy posts this year (tripling lasts years total) and i'm counting this as the first. Love you

My girls

Sam made Brooke a cardboard box car not too long ago.  Brooke loved it!  Sam put her in the car with blankets and dolls and was pushing her around the house.  Brooke thought she was pretty hot stuff.  Sam decorated the box for Brooke too.  One side had her name, one side says "I love being perfect."  And one side side "Drama queen."  What a pair!

Last night Sam did another half time show at USU.  This time was a women's basketball game.  I was astounded at the difference between a men's and women's basketball game.  The men's games you have to pay $5 for parking and $17 for a ticket.  It's also so crowded it's insane.  The women's games you don't pay to park, tickets are $5 and there was hardly anyone there.  We could sit wherever we wanted to.  Not just because there was hardly anyone there but because they don't print an assigned seat for you on your ticket!  The women played  a great game.  They beat Denver by 20 points.

Waiting to come out of the tunnel to perform at half time.

They performed their jazz dance again.  Sam is second from left.

 Big Blue is so nice.  We asked a guy standing in the tunnel to ask Big Blue if he'd come take a picture with Sam.  He was more than willing to do so.

Acts of kindness #7-11

#7 - I volunteered to make 25 thank you cards and write in them for the people participating in Dancing with the Relay Stars.  They turned out super cute.  I used my stamps!  I put a cute set of flip flops on the front and what part of what I wrote on each one said, "Thanks for helping us accomplish this incredible "feet."  We couldn't have done it without you and yours."  I'm so clever :)

#8 - I volunteered to pick up the flowers for said above event so that our chair person (who is also dancing) doesn't have to do it on the day of the event.

#9 - I volunteered to count money raised for said above event on the night of the event.

#10 - I found my niece at school yesterday & drove both her and my nephew home after school so they didn't have to walk in the cold and have Jack's asthma act up after "exercising" in this junkie air.

I think I should be able to include acts of kindness done for me so here's #11:

#11 - My girlfriend agreed to keep all four kids while I go help at said above event (this will be no short amount of time and it's on a school night).

familysearch.org

Tonight I went to a Relief Society activity.  I was excited to go because I knew we were learning about familysearch.org, setting up an account, and getting any questions we had answered.  Caleb insisted on tagging along.  Lucky for me there was a nursery provided!  There were only 3 boys in there but hey, the kid had a blast and that's what counts.

I am super excited to say I not only got an account for familysearch.org, but I was able to link myself to Travis, each of Travis's lines and found out where the holes are!  Most of mine (well, most of the nine generations that show in the fan chart) has been completed.  A big thank you to both my grandmas who did so much work on this when PAF first came out years ago.  Travis's dad's side of the family and his mom's paternal side has been filled in quite a bit.  The excitement (for me, yes, I'm a nerd) is that there are many holes on Grandma Ingrid's side to fill in.  This is exciting to me because Grandma Ingrid is from Germany.  I love learning about different cultures, etc. and this is going to be a great opportunity for me to talk to Grandma Ingrid and learn so much about our ancestors.  Several years ago a book called In Harm's Way by Roger P Minert came out.  He was a BYU professor that was interested in knowing the numbers of LDS members in each of the German branches before and after WW2.  He contacted Grandma Ingrid and when the book was finished Grandma bought a copy.  It was at Christmas a few years ago (two maybe) that I overheard Grandma talking about the book.  I'm a weird history junkie and was thrilled to learn there was a book written that had information about some of Travis's ancestors (and pictures of his great grandma & his grandma as an infant).  I, of course, bought a copy as soon as we got home.  I haven't been able to read it yet but have referred to it on at least one other occasion (thank you Sam's 2nd grade reading group for discussing ships that had sunk & Grandma Ingrid for telling me about one such event in said book).

And in a completely random way learning what I did tonight ties in with a conversation I had with Sam a few days ago.  I can't remember what we were talking about but I said something about doing baptisms for the dead.  Sam asked me what I was talking about so I explained to her what baptisms for the dead were.  On Monday night the missionaries were here to give the first missionary lesson to Nash (yes we are working toward being baptized when he turns eight in May).  The elders had a super cool puzzle that showed the parts or pieces to the plan of salvation.  The elders would talk to Nash about one of the steps and tell him what it was called.  Nash would then find the piece (with Sam & Caleb's help of course) and put it into the puzzle.  At one point the elders were telling Nash about after you die your spirit goes to heaven to wait in one of two places - one place is for those who have learned about the gospel and accepted it and the other place is for those who haven't learned about or accepted the gospel yet.  It was at this point that I said, "Sam!  That's exactly what I was talking to you about when we were talking about baptisms for the dead!  If you do baptisms for the dead then the people who are waiting to learn about the gospel will have their church work done if/when they accept the gospel on that side!  Remember when you were little and would ask what Grandma Lea was doing in heaven and I told you I thought she was teaching people about the gospel?  Well, that's where she is!"  It was a moment of understanding for her and a light came on.  I know because she looked at me and went, "Oooh!  I get it now!"  Awesome.  I love it when it clicks.  And now, I can get Sam excited about genealogy too because there's something she can actively do to help!  Sweet.

Retainer update

This has been quite the unanticipated journey to say the least.

Here is the before picture:

Wed. Jan 2 - Nash got his retainer.  The original retainer they made didn't fit (surprised?  Yea, me either.)  The original retainer was your typical retainer - pink roof and metal wire around the teeth.  It didn't fit because 1-he's missing four teeth on top and 2-the majority of the teeth he does have on top are still baby teeth.  So, we sat in the dentist's office while they made a new mold of his teeth (the front teeth that we are trying to fix got broken off the first mold they made when the original retainer was made).  The second retainer they created is one that looks like a piece of plastic - seriously.  It fits along the top of his mouth and covers all of his top teeth.  He can take it out to eat and brush his teeth (and when his mother isn't looking).  Dr. Lambert told me that he thought it would only take 3-4 days to move that stubborn tooth to where we wanted it because we had made so much progress with the resin.

Thurs Jan 3 - Nash is complaining about his retainer hurting him.  I sympathized with him some.  I never had braces or a retainer so I can't say I know how he feels.  I kept telling him to buck up and that it was probably just his teeth moving that he could feel.

Friday Jan 4 - Nash is still complaining about his retainer hurting.  I finally (mostly in exasperation and to get him to stop whining) tell him to take his retainer out and show me where it's hurting.  He had previously told me it was hurting where he's missing teeth so I figured it was pushing teeth forward more than anything.  Turns out, the retainer had cut his gums where that piece of skin is that connects his cheek to his gums.  Oops.  Upon further inspection I notice that it's starting to cut his gums in the same spot on the right side as well.  After multiple texts to my sister (and mom) I decided I would try and find some wax they give kids for braces.

Saturday Jan 5 - Fortunately for me, I have many, many family members who have had braces!  One such fabulous person is my 14 (or is he 15?)  yr old cousin!  I called my aunt on Saturday morning and she was able to find some wax that Austin was no longer using since he has recently had his braces taken off.  She was kind enough to let us have the wax!

Monday Jan 7 - Today I was able to get Nash an appointment with the dentist.  Dr. Lambert was able to file down the retainer on both sides so that it is no longer rubbing on either side of his gums.  Dr. Lambert also put a bit more of the resin into the mold to help push Nash's front tooth a little further forward.  We have another appointment scheduled for Thursday afternoon and we are crossing our fingers that his tooth has completely moved by then & we will be retainer and resin free!

Thursday Jan 10 - Found out Nash threw his retainer away at school today!  I told him he owes the custodian a thank you card for helping him dumpster dive!  He didn't realize he'd thrown it away until the end of lunch so they were dumpster diving outside in the big dumpster.  Gross!  It wasn't even Nash that told me he threw it away!  It was a friend of mine who is the secretary at the school.  Nash was mortified when I mentioned it!  He went back to the dentist today to see if his tooth had moved all the way.  Turns out.....it has!  He only has to wear his retainer at bedtime now and he only has to do that until the end of January.  I did ask the dentist if he was sure the tooth had moved all the way because on the inside side it looks like it hasn't moved all the way over the top of the bottom tooth.  Turns out, he's worn his front permanent tooth down.  So, the bottom of his tooth is crooked now and will have to be fixed at a later date.  But, apparently that's an easy fix.  I sure hope so!

Here is the after picture:

No more top tooth behind bottom tooth!  He still looks a little goofy because he's missing two teeth on both sides so he only has two teeth and then two very big gaps!  You can also see how the bottom of his top tooth has been worn away (top tooth on the left - it's more obvious when you see it in person than it is in this picture).