Blogging from My Phone

I'm trying something new this morning-- blogging from my phone.  I am currently sitting at the orthodontist's office watching my sweet Elinor get braces put on.

It was an early morning and she has been battling pink eye.  But she was all smiles and nervousness anyway.  One thing about Elinor is that she embraces life. She loves new experiences and is anxious to be involved in everything. I fear she may be singing a different tune in the morning when the soreness and challenges of eating set in.

But she has wanted braces and glasses for years.  At least one of her dreams is coming true today.

But oh, my! She is getting a lot of hardware in her mouth. Besides the braces, she gets a metal palate expander up top and an appliance in the back that is bascally an internal headgear.  I do feel for her.

Okay, this is the last graphic picture. In fact, I fully expect she'll ask me to remove this one. It's so mean what we do to teenagers.

Well, in other big exciting news. This is one of those weekends where everything on our lives converges into one crazy wild ride where we all try to support each other, and just try to remember to eat at regular intervals, and wear clean underwear.
Clark left this morning for the first of three days of the Utah regional for FIRST robotics. It's a very big deal and we could be more excited. Today (Thursday) is really a day of practice rounds and getting the lay of the land.  Tomorrow, and especially Saturday, are the big leagues with qualifying matches, alliance picks, and hopefully onto the finals.

Last night was our final dress rehearsal for Brigadoon.  We've had late rehearsals every night this week. In this picture the cast is recognizing Bethany on her 15th birthday.
The late evenings have been taking a toll. Earlier this week Cannon spent a night throwing up.  Peter had more tummy trouble and Elinor got pink eye. But the show must go on!

 The tweens and teens playing games backstage suring a rehrarsal.  Bethany is a ballet dancer in the show and she has LOVED it. Abe, Elinor, and I and the little kids are ensemble members, in the least important sense of the word, but Bethany is up front and very visible for much of the show.  So if you come see the show, look for her- not so much for us.

Peter has actually been a pretty good little trooper with the late nights.  We brought along a few of his animals, that have been pretty well ignored at our house since Clark loved them.

Bethany did celebrate her "golden" birthday-turning 15 on the 15th on Tuesday. We went to lunch at Pizzeria Limone and then did a little birthday shopping. She was so happy to come home to a room that had been decorated by her good friends,  Rachel and Kara. It was very sweet and I think it made her day.

Yet another fun activity this week was Bethany's orchestra playing as part of a youth music event at Abravanel Hall downtown. She done this a couple previous years, but it's aways impressive.

And lastly, in the thick of all these exciting life events, we had to get the brakes of the mega-van done. Not a huge problem, rather an inconvenience.  As soon as that was done, Abe's minivan started making a bad sound and the engine light went on. Hmm. That's probably not good. Thankfully my sad has let us borrow a car while we get Abe's situated. Exciting times!
But really, in a family of 9 (almost 10), when isn't life exciting? And thankfully, its mostly exciting in good ways.