DARWIN is on his 12th year of teaching, currently at Springville High School teaching astronomy, geology, environmental science, and physics. He also teaches physics at UVU for a 7 week STEM summer school program for junior high students. He also teaches teenagers in our church ward. He's super busy, but still makes time to be an awesome dad and husband.
A couple of posts back I mentioned that we were headed to a basketball game eight hours from home for the weekend. We were privileged to attend a University of Montana Lady Griz basketball game honoring Darwin's cousin, Julie Deming, who passed away in a car accident last May. Julie was just six months younger than Darwin. She was a star basketball player for the University of Montana during her years there and they put together a lot of effort to hold a key game in her honor. We felt very privileged to be a part of it.
To preface our trip though--there's another story.
It's a little long, but it might be worth the read--mostly it's just for us though :)
It's a little long, but it might be worth the read--mostly it's just for us though :)
The day before we left (Thursday, Feb 13th) Darwin had Parent Teacher Conferences for work and had to stay late that night. Around 4:30 that afternoon, Aurora told me there was a big mess in her room so I went to check it out. She had torn apart a mesh sack that came out of her favorite stuffed puppy and the clear packing beads were everywhere. I told her to start cleaning them up and I'd be in to help her in a few minutes because I needed to wrap things up for work. About a minute later she came in complaining that her ear hurt. Sure enough, I looked in her ear and could see a clear bead in there. I felt really bad because I knew it was hurting her and I knew we needed to get it out, especially before we left town. She wouldn't hold still for me to try to get it out, so I called Darwin to let him know I might need to take her to urgent care. He didn't answer because he was talking to parents of his students. I tried to call the school to have them ask him to call me, but the office was closed. I texted him and called him some more so he would know that he needed to call me when he had a minute. He called me a little while later and I told him what had happened. He wanted me to wait until he got home so we could try together to get it out. I made her stay awake and she was so tired by the time he got home, but we tried anyway. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts with a couple different methods, we knew we wouldn't be able to get the bead out, and obviously we didn't want to hurt her or push the bead in further.
We had planned to leave home at 7:00am the next morning, originally, but the Urgent care at our doctor's office didn't open until 8:00am. We got there about 8:30am and got in to see a nurse practitioner that works with our doctor. She was able to get the bead out really quickly and I felt really relieved that it was as easy as it was. Then we had her check Rori's ear again--just in case. I was so bummed when she said she could see another one. She tried to get it out a couple different ways but it wouldn't come out. She had our regular doctor come in and look at it to see if she could help out, and Dr. Harrison said she could see two more beads in Aurora's ear, making 3 total, 1 having been removed already. Their next solution was to try and flush the beads out of her ear. Our favorite nurse then came in with the water. Poor Aurora hated the water method. Ally tried a couple different ways to flush the beads out with no success. Darwin, who was holding Aurora in his lap, was almost as wet as Aurora was by the time they were done. She also kept telling us, "I'm done! I'm DONE!" Dr. Harrison came back in to check Rori's ear and said it looked like the beads were expanding in Aurora's ear. At that point she called an ENT for us. She said he could get them out pretty easily and that she just didn't have the right tools.
So, we were sent off for some numbing ear drops and then to the ENT. Aurora wasn't thrilled about seeing another doctor to get the beads out of her ear and would have been happy for us to just leave them in there at this point, but that wasn't an option. We got to the clinic, and the ENT doctor was hilarious to me when he came in the room. He had the biggest grin on his face and seemed so excited to see what Aurora had put in her ear. He couldn't wait to get them out for her :) We told him the nurse had tried to flush it out at our regular doctor, and he said flushing with water is like mid evil torture. She fought with us a little bit again, but we were able to hold her down and he got the 2nd bead out really quickly. When he was looking at the 3rd one he said he felt really bad for Aurora because the bead was pressed right up against her ear drum and she was probably pretty uncomfortable because of how sensitive the ear drum is. It took a second longer, but the 3rd bead was out before we knew it. The right tools definitely helped! We were all glad the bead fiasco was over. Aurora picked a little plastic snake from the ENT's treasure box. We met up with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Ryan downstairs, loaded up in the cars and we were on our way--only 3.5 hours behind schedule :)
Our girls really did awesome in the car, both ways. It helped that we had a portable DVD player for Aurora--Thanks again, Mom and Dad for letting us borrow it! It was a life savor!--but Savannah would get pretty bored at times because she's still in a rear-facing car seat. At one point we could hear both girls giggling in the back seat. I looked back and saw our little cuties holding hands :)
She's such a great big sister!
The drive was pretty wet both ways. I took this as we were driving through one part of Idaho.
Watching a movie and being keeper of the walkie-talkie
Sweet Savannah having a snooze
Another shot of the trees/mountain driving through Montana--the trees looked SO blue from the road, but you can't tell so much in the picture, of course.
We pulled into the parking lot of our hotel around 8:15pm. We quickly checked in and as soon as we got into our room the girls were suddenly wired, and super excited to not be in the car anymore. We hadn't eaten dinner yet but it was past bedtime already. I stayed at the hotel with the girls while the other 4 went to get dinner. Savannah went right to sleep but Aurora stayed up and played with her new sticker book for a while.
Stickers are especially fun when you can make faces. She said this one was Daddy :)
The next morning we went to breakfast with all of Darwin's family members who were able to get into town the night before and some of Julie's former teammates. Some of Darwin's cousins were detoured due to weather, landslides, and jack-knifed semi's. We were glad our drive was pretty uneventful--especially after having an adventurous morning before we left!
After a yummy breakfast and fun conversations with some of Dar's cousins, we went back to the hotel for Savannah to nap before the big game and so Daddy and Aurora could check out the swimming pool. Of course Savannah wouldn't nap, and Aurora had an accident when they got down to the pool so that was short lived too.
Savannah fell asleep on our way to the university and once we got there we got our little group together to practice singing the National Anthem before we had to perform it. I was honestly getting emotional already when we were just practicing. As we walked in to the game everyone was given a Nike headband to wear in honor of Julie--it was her signature piece at every game, and it was really cool to see so many fans wearing the headbands, along with the basketball players, the cheerleaders, the dancers, and the band members. So neat! It was great to have so many of Darwin's family members there to honor Julie, and knowing that so many fans were coming for the same reason.
Before the game started, they had us go out on the court to watch a video montage that had been put together about Julie. It was so unfair that they had us watch that before singing the National Anthem. I'm just an emotional person in general, but I was able to hold it together for the most part. I almost lost it when we were walking off the court and got a standing ovation from the audience. You could feel the love the community had for Julie. The whole experience was just cool, and so worth it to be there.
Uncle Jim (Julie's dad) leading the family in singing the National Anthem
After we sang we got another standing ovation [probably because everyone was already standing ;)] and went to our seats to watch the game.
Savannah hates headbands so I was surprised she kept this one on for so long. I think she's such a cutie!
The rest of the game she wore it like a gag. That thing was soaked with saliva by the end of the game. Haha!
Rori and Daddy with their Julie bands on :)
Our little family :)
Rori insisted on taking pictures of the game. We didn't have the best seats in the house, but hey! They were free!
Grandma and Grandpa shared their popcorn with Aurora. She LOVES popcorn! As soon as Grandpa brought it up she sat with them until it was gone :)
The end of the game was really great! Lady Griz had been behind but caught up in the second half. They beat the University of North Dakota by just 3 points at the very end of the game. It was a great ending to a great game! After the game our family got to attend a reception with Julie's former teammates, the current players, and the coach. It was great to just sit and catch up with Darwin's cousins who we don't get to see very often. Aurora loved playing with all her new cousins too :) There were several stuffed bears in the sky room where the reception was held. Aurora thought the bears were pretty scarey--and cool.
After the reception we went back to the hotel to hang out and relax for a bit before meeting back up with the family for dinner before everyone went their separate ways the next morning. Savannah was napping again, and the rest of us were just getting cozy when the fire alarm went off at the hotel. That has never happened to me before. It was pretty cold and snowing outside so I was glad I thought ahead to grab a couple things before we evacuated. We waited in the car for a little bit and then headed to the restaurant to wait until it was time to eat. I was glad we weren't at the pool when the alarm went off, but some of Dar's cousins kids were. Brr!! Aurora was pretty thrilled to see the big firetruck and the firefighters. She even got to talk to one for a second!
This whole trip was full of fun adventures and we were so grateful to be a part of this great tribute to Julie. How grateful we are for the knowledge that families can be together forever. That important piece of knowledge brings so much peace and comfort to us, especially at difficult times like this. We will forever remember this trip and we're so glad we made the effort to go! Traveling with kids is not easy, but everyone was so great in helping us with our "babies". We had the youngest kids there, but they did awesome. Thanks Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Ryan for all your help and for making this trip even more awesome for being there too!
The drive was pretty wet both ways. I took this as we were driving through one part of Idaho.
Watching a movie and being keeper of the walkie-talkie
Sweet Savannah having a snooze
Another shot of the trees/mountain driving through Montana--the trees looked SO blue from the road, but you can't tell so much in the picture, of course.
We pulled into the parking lot of our hotel around 8:15pm. We quickly checked in and as soon as we got into our room the girls were suddenly wired, and super excited to not be in the car anymore. We hadn't eaten dinner yet but it was past bedtime already. I stayed at the hotel with the girls while the other 4 went to get dinner. Savannah went right to sleep but Aurora stayed up and played with her new sticker book for a while.
Stickers are especially fun when you can make faces. She said this one was Daddy :)
The next morning we went to breakfast with all of Darwin's family members who were able to get into town the night before and some of Julie's former teammates. Some of Darwin's cousins were detoured due to weather, landslides, and jack-knifed semi's. We were glad our drive was pretty uneventful--especially after having an adventurous morning before we left!
After a yummy breakfast and fun conversations with some of Dar's cousins, we went back to the hotel for Savannah to nap before the big game and so Daddy and Aurora could check out the swimming pool. Of course Savannah wouldn't nap, and Aurora had an accident when they got down to the pool so that was short lived too.
Savannah fell asleep on our way to the university and once we got there we got our little group together to practice singing the National Anthem before we had to perform it. I was honestly getting emotional already when we were just practicing. As we walked in to the game everyone was given a Nike headband to wear in honor of Julie--it was her signature piece at every game, and it was really cool to see so many fans wearing the headbands, along with the basketball players, the cheerleaders, the dancers, and the band members. So neat! It was great to have so many of Darwin's family members there to honor Julie, and knowing that so many fans were coming for the same reason.
Before the game started, they had us go out on the court to watch a video montage that had been put together about Julie. It was so unfair that they had us watch that before singing the National Anthem. I'm just an emotional person in general, but I was able to hold it together for the most part. I almost lost it when we were walking off the court and got a standing ovation from the audience. You could feel the love the community had for Julie. The whole experience was just cool, and so worth it to be there.
Uncle Jim (Julie's dad) leading the family in singing the National Anthem
After we sang we got another standing ovation [probably because everyone was already standing ;)] and went to our seats to watch the game.
Savannah hates headbands so I was surprised she kept this one on for so long. I think she's such a cutie!
The rest of the game she wore it like a gag. That thing was soaked with saliva by the end of the game. Haha!
Rori and Daddy with their Julie bands on :)
Our little family :)
Rori insisted on taking pictures of the game. We didn't have the best seats in the house, but hey! They were free!
Grandma and Grandpa shared their popcorn with Aurora. She LOVES popcorn! As soon as Grandpa brought it up she sat with them until it was gone :)
The end of the game was really great! Lady Griz had been behind but caught up in the second half. They beat the University of North Dakota by just 3 points at the very end of the game. It was a great ending to a great game! After the game our family got to attend a reception with Julie's former teammates, the current players, and the coach. It was great to just sit and catch up with Darwin's cousins who we don't get to see very often. Aurora loved playing with all her new cousins too :) There were several stuffed bears in the sky room where the reception was held. Aurora thought the bears were pretty scarey--and cool.
After the reception we went back to the hotel to hang out and relax for a bit before meeting back up with the family for dinner before everyone went their separate ways the next morning. Savannah was napping again, and the rest of us were just getting cozy when the fire alarm went off at the hotel. That has never happened to me before. It was pretty cold and snowing outside so I was glad I thought ahead to grab a couple things before we evacuated. We waited in the car for a little bit and then headed to the restaurant to wait until it was time to eat. I was glad we weren't at the pool when the alarm went off, but some of Dar's cousins kids were. Brr!! Aurora was pretty thrilled to see the big firetruck and the firefighters. She even got to talk to one for a second!
This whole trip was full of fun adventures and we were so grateful to be a part of this great tribute to Julie. How grateful we are for the knowledge that families can be together forever. That important piece of knowledge brings so much peace and comfort to us, especially at difficult times like this. We will forever remember this trip and we're so glad we made the effort to go! Traveling with kids is not easy, but everyone was so great in helping us with our "babies". We had the youngest kids there, but they did awesome. Thanks Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Ryan for all your help and for making this trip even more awesome for being there too!
