In Which Greta Comes Home

This big, beautiful smile is what I missed most when Greta was so sick and then recovering in the hospital.  This was taken just a few minutes before she was discharged.  The doctors estimated she would be there for about a week, but her recovery went so well, she came home after five days.

Greta's favorite thing to do in the hospital was to ride, or rather, be pushed, up and down the hallway.  They let her ride it all way into the elevator and through the lobby to the front doors of the hospital where I pulled the car around to pick her up.

She liked to ride it to the ends of the hall where there were Minion "fart guns" she could play with.  Hey, whatever it takes to motivate kids to get moving after surgery.

In a small waiting area on the surgical unit, she found this little pink piano.  She loved it so we brought it to our room for her to play on.  I'm not going to lie-- it made me very happy that she took to the piano with such enthusiasm:)

It was so nice of so many to bring her little gifts and toys to play with.  It's like Christmas in February!  It might create a little monster in March, but she sure enjoyed her presents.

She loved the couple of times she got to go play in the incredible playroom.  Here she is making slime with Bethany who came up for a visit on her last day.

She didn't totally love it when we had visitors and she would say, "You guys, please stop talking!"  At least she said please:)
By the last day and half she was getting pretty ornery with all the medical personnel.  She would say, "Just leave me alone!" and did not want them to touch her.  When the surgeon came in to give the okay to go home she squeezed her eyes shut tight and wouldn't look at him.  But really, who can blame her?  She got poked and prodded a lot and she had had enough!

It is stating the obvious to say I am so relieved she is doing so well.  As if she wasn't the favorite child already!  Way to secure your spot, Gret!

She was so relaxed and happy to be home.  She wore a permanent smile almost all of Thursday evening.  She has been eating, and sleeping, and pooping (that's important!) great and now she just goes back in a couple of weeks for a follow up visit, but it's looks like she'll be good as new in just a few short weeks-- just a little skinnier for a little while.  That happens if you don't eat for a week. 

Sweethearts 2019

One of the highlights of February was Bethany and Elinor getting to go in the same group to the Riverton High School sweethearts dance.  This is something they have talked about and hoped to do for a long time and they were very happy and excited that it worked out.  With the exception of Elinor's date, these kids are all in our ward

Bethany went with fellow senior, long-time friend, Cameron Hansen.  Elinor went Ben Freeman, who doesn't go to Riverton, but whom she met through a mutual friend.  This was Elinor's first date, even though she was a couple weeks shy of turning 16.

It is reasonable to say these two are just a little bit fond of each other.  Okay, they are completely adorable.

Awww...

It was really cold where we went to take pictures.

It's a wonderful thing to watch punk kids grow up into genuinely good people.  Not that Cameron was a punk kid, but... well..., yeah he kind of was.

"... I must have done something good."

They are wonderful sisters-- very different in a lot of ways, but I love that they have learned to appreciate each other's qualities more and more as they've gotten older.

This was both Elinor and Savannah's first dates.  Fun for great friends to get to do this together.

This was the gang earlier on in the day heading out on their day date.

They went to DI (local thrift store) and purchased these charming outfits for each other.  I came home from Faith's swim meet and seriously busted a gut laughing at them.  They were absolutely awful and hysterical and each one was funnier than the next.  

As it turns out, you can buy a lot of really ugly clothes-- and accessories-- for not very much money at DI:)  

I think the girls got the better end of the stick.  I suppose it takes a certain level of fashion taste to recognize the truly heinous.

These are awesome girls and I love them!

Ben and Els.

Cameron and Bethany

Wyatt and Sierra

Jason and Savannah

Next up was fort building and laser guns.

They did teams in all different ways-- girls vs. boys, two couple vs two couples, individuals

After they did pictures, they met back at our house for dinner.   We planned and Italian restaurant, complete with menus and servers...

The help was pretty good-- and they worked for cheap:)  You don't get a chance to spy on your older siblings' dates this close up very often!

I hope they enjoyed it, because we had a fun time planning it and Cannon and and Faith and Bridger (Sierra's younger brother) had a blast being the servers.

I was grateful the girls let me join in their fun of planning their Sweethearts date.  I may have mentioned before, being the mom of such lovely, fun, sweet teenage daughters is one of the very best things that ever happened to me.  

The next day (Sunday) there was much tiredness throughout the house.  There was a little gathering so that Elinor, Savannah, and Enoch (in blue) could plan their upcoming triple 16th birthday party.  More on that the come.

Elinor's 16th Birthday-One to Remember

This post is mostly about how awesome Elinor is.  It is her 16th birthday, after all.  But before I talk about her-- I want to do a shoutout to her amazing dad, and my husband, Abe.  With everything happening with Greta being in the hospital this week, he didn't even flinch at the idea of getting Elinor to 5 AM water polo practice on Monday and Tuesday.  And I know he hadn't had nearly enough sleep for the previous three nights.  If it's important to the kids, it's important to him.  That's the kind of dad he is and I am grateful.
But back to Elinor.  She started her day with water polo practice and she is pretty excited because she gets to be the goalie for her JV team.  You might ask "Why?"  Why would anyone want to be the goalie and have really big, hard, yellow balls repeatedly pelted at them over and over again?  It is a fair question-- one I, myself, have asked.  But actually, it's really awesome that she got this position and I am crazy excited to watch her play.

A couple weeks back Elinor did her roads driving test-- it just so happened that my Uncle Tony was the teacher she was driving with.  He's awesome and we don't think he gave her any preferential treatment, but...she did pass with flying colors:)-- even on snowy, icy roads.  Welcome to driving in Utah.

It was our plan for me to pick Elinor up after her 1st period class at the high school, and take her straight to the DMV to get her license-- it's fun to get your license ON your birthday!
When everything happened with Greta, it looked like our grand plan might not work out.
But then, as I looked at the logistics of making this week work--without me at home to drive kiddos around--I realized we absolutely had to get Elinor driving this week, so she could drive herself to all her practices.

Thankfully, my dad came to the hospital Tuesday morning and stayed with Greta for a few hours so I could get away and help Els get that license after all.  Hooray!

But the day of birthday goodness wasn't over yet.  Not even close.
My big-hearted step-sister and her amazing daughter Lizzie (one of Greta's favorite people) came to the hospital in the evening and stayed with Greta so I could head home with Abe for more birthday surprises.

THIS FAMILY.  They are really something.  To start with they have an oldest boy-- who has a striking look and personality resemblance to Clark as a little kid.  Then they have a slew of darling little girls.  Sound familiar?  And now another baby boy.  I enjoy watching their family because it reminds me of my own about a decade or so ago.  But I digress.  They brought dinner to our family and a birthday cake and balloons. It was basically a perfect birthday celebration delivered right to our door as we got home from the hospital.  Are you kidding me?!?!  I will treasure this image of this family at our door for the rest of my life.

I mean, seriously!!!  The cake was so beautiful and there were rave reviews of its tastiness.  You may recall our family's tradition of hideously decorated birthday cakes and occasional downright disastrous incidents.  This cake was way out of our league.... and we liked it:)

My brother Peter (Chip) and Laura and their family and my brother Matt came over for the birthday celebration -- which was nice of them to come.  But Peter and Laura had a pretty big birthday surprise in store for Els.
Elinor has been very anxious to get a job, but her water polo and swim schedules were going to be challenging to work around.  Peter and Laura are both working full time now and they were in need of some help with housework. The two sides were a match made in teenage-housecleaner-heaven!
For the last month or so, she goes over to their house for a few hours a couple times a week, and cleans while they are at work and kids are in school.
Peter and Laura decided they wanted to get Elinor a little something for her 16th birthday....

Doesn't this only happen in movies and Christmas-time car commercials?!

In her shock and joy she fell into me saying, "Hold me, Mom!"

Elinor saying, "YOU GOT ME A CAR?!?!"

They had a new clutch put into the car (it's a manual transmission) and Abe may drive it for a few weeks to break in the clutch.  Then we'll teach Els to drive it and she'll be good to go.  Pretty freaking awesome, if you ask me.

Talk about a pretty cool Aunt and Uncle.

Cute little heads out the sunroof.

Singing happy birthday to this gem of a gal.

The day ended with a phone call from her favorite missionary brother from Dallas, Texas.  His advice to his gorgeous 16 year-old, driving, dating machine?
Shave your head, rub dirt all over your face, and eat doughnuts for a week.

Happy, happy birthday, Elinor!  You bring us so much joy and we love you.