Dec. 22nd- Wednesday: Dan went to the grocery store. I walked and ate with the kids. I had my voice lesson, and Jenni said I have “a voice worth listening to.” :) I'm building my confidence as a singer! I picked up Anna’s friend Zoe to come play. We had lunch all together. Zoe left, then Grace Eckman came for McKenna. We worked on packing for Mantua. McKenna went to ice cream with Nicole and Amy and Ayla for memorizing the YW theme. We packed up and loaded up, leaving by 4. We all got Covid tested and were all negative. We had Cafe Rio for dinner once we got up to Mantua. The kids did Christmas Activity books. Then Ben started feeling sick and threw up 6+ times in two hours. He slept in the bathroom. Dan and I played the Golf card game with the grown ups. In the middle of the night, I helped Alice go potty so she wouldn't disturb Ben. Turns out, I lost my balance and fell and landed on Ben, spilling water on him, cutting my thumb, and hitting my neck/collar bone on the half wall. It was a rough night! I had not the best sleep after that.
Dec. 23rd- Thursday: We got up around 8. I fed the girls. Later when Ben ate, he said he felt fine! I cleaned out the Vacuum. Then Bethany started feeling sick and threw up twice. At that point, we didn't want to spread it any more, so we packed up and left by 10:45. Everyone was pretty bummed we'd be spending Christmas Adam by ourselves. :( We watched 3 episodes of Relative Race. Napped a little. Alice watched Octonauts. We had chicken noodle soup for dinner plus some bread from the Browns. Bethany threw up one more time. We did crafts that Grandma Sibber gave us before we left. We had a Zoom Webster talent show. Brynn's family and Swa's family decided to stay home and not risk catching the bug. Everyone else was up at Mantua. Once everyone was ready for bed, we watched “Elf” and the kids had a sleepover upstairs by the tree.
Dec. 24th- Friday: After breakfast (with poppers we also got from Mantua, we opened gifts from Dan’s parents. My stomach started to not feel great. We watched “Home Alone” and “Encanto” in the theater room. After lunch, we delivered the 12th day of Christmas to the new family, the Botts. We had our traditional pizza for dinner and opened new jammies. We acted out the Nativity and watched “The Christ Child.” The kids left out treats for Santa. Everyone slept in McKenna and Anna’s room. Dan and I finished up wrapping. *My tummy felt a little better and Anna slept walked!
Dec. 25th- Saturday: Christmas Morning! Dan woke up with a runny nose and sneezing from 4:30 on. I was up some in the 5am hour, but got back to sleep for a bit. Everyone was up a 7:30 for presents! We had our German pancakes then we watched the latest Home Alone in the theater room. I played games and read with Alice, then napped with Dan on the couch. Anna played with her new sand. The girls played with Barbies and the new clothes and accessories they got. Ben went to Grandma and Grandpa’s to help them with their Lego temple. Dan did baths. At 4pm my parents and siblings came over. We talked and showed them all our stuff. My mom even tried the stair slide which was from them! We prepped food (ham, potatoes, veggies and dip) and ate a lovely Christmas dinner. We had pie and then gave my mom and dad their present (tickets to "Cinderella"). After kids went to bed, we cleaned up and tried Dan’s new massage gun he got from Jonathan!
Dec. 26th- Sunday: We woke up and Alice threw up and had diarrhea from 5:30am-9:30am. Dan and Alice stayed home from church. The primary sang in Sacrament meeting "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem". After lunch, we napped on the couch, had leftovers for dinner, then watched Relative Race. We put some Christmas presents away, and I felt nauseous.
Dec. 27th- Monday: We were woken up at 3:30 by Alice throwing up and having diarrhea again! Dan gave her a blessing and held her in the chair the rest of the night. :( I was super windy and I had a hard time falling back to sleep. Once I woke up, I called the doctor and the nurse said there was a virus going around that could last up to 2 weeks. Oh joy! We were going on day 10! I texted with Sarah, Amy, and Nicole about cancelling our pizza dinner gathering. I was taking too long to doing something for Alice, she grew impatient and said, “Follow my lead!” Dan ran to the store and I worked on laundry cleaning barf out of sheets. I also cleaned the girls' bathroom and washed Alice’s hair. Dan cleaned out his car, so it could be detailed at our house! McKenna went ice skating with Moultons and sadly got some bad blisters. She and I went to practice some songs at the Parker’s. We had a snow storm that evening. McKenna babysat for the Johnsons. We played kids against maturity as a family. Alice slept in our room that night. My nausea was a little better. I felt like this was my version of the stomach bug.
Dec. 28th- Tuesday: At 2:30am. Alice threw up 2x. I also had a pretty runny/stuffy nose. In the morning, I took McKenna and Alice to get groceries and return her Nike shoes for a bigger size. Dan took the other three to the bank and Costco. Then I took Ben to the Kump’s to look at some Harry Potter stuff for his upcoming BD party. Nate came to play with Ben. They even played Pretty Pretty Princess. :) McKenna and I practiced our songs. McKenna babysat while Dan and I went with the Days to Provo for the Johnson Files show and dinner! It was such a great double date. We love hanging out with them and the show as so funny!! Alice slept in our room again.
Dec. 29th- Wednesday: We finally woke up to no throw ups! Hooray! Dan and I talked about me staying home from the Rose Bowl and Ben using my ticket instead. After getting ready for the day, we went to see the Grand America Christmas windows. We had lunch at Hires, then stopped by the U bookstore for the Rose Bowl merch. Lyla came to hang out. I tidied up the house and get house ready for the music night. Lyla hurt her toe on McKenna's foot and it turns out it was broken. After dinner, we had a music night with 26 people! Alli Parker organized it with many of her friends and family. Brenn played the flute. We also had violin, piano, and singing numbers. I sang a song but was pretty congested, so I didn't feel too good about it. Mariana West sang some opera pieces too. Tanner West played his cello. The three little girls mostly stayed downstairs. Afterwards, the teenagers played on the stair slide. We had treats and mingled. Dan’s parents also came. Alice slept in our room again just to be sure. Dan packed.
Dec. 30th- Thursday: Another night with no throw ups! I helped Dan with his haircut. After breakfast, Dan and Ben left for CA in Mindy and Cole Smith's motor home. They rode with Grandma and Grandpa, Jake and Eli, Sam, Jake and Whitney, and Adam and Mia once they hit Las Vegas. (They walked around and slept there the first night.) I took the four girls sledding with the Moultons and Pugsleys. Alice was still pretty weak from her stomach virus and wanted me to hold her a lot. We still managed to have fun! We had lunch and hot chocolate. The girls played Barbies. Then we went to Layton to hang out at my parents more. The girls played the Switch. We had dinner up there and then tried to go to the Christmas in Color drive through light display. It had started snowing too much though and I was nervous, so we ended up driving home to Bountiful instead. The visibility was just too low for my comfort. We chilled at my house for a bit, then McKenna went to a movie night at the Moulton's. I put the girls to bed and watched The Office. I had super sore arms from sledding.
Dec. 31st- Friday: Alice woke up hungry and wanting food! She was starting to get her appetite back. Girls ate before me. I ate and Marco Poloed. The girls watched shows while I got ready for the day. McKenna slept in till 10! We left at 1 to go to my parents’ again. We played games, chilled, my Mom made cookies with girls, I napped, and we watched “The Star.” McKenna practiced “Into the Woods.” We had nuggets and fries dinner. Finished the movie. We did an early countdown to New Years! I took McKenna to Hannah’s the put the rest of the girls to bed. I watched TV, made a grocery order, and did a picture collages. I briefly talked to Dan and Ben in CA and then went to bed! Happy New Year!
