Oh, He Plays JV Now

A couple of weeks ago, a very giddy Nolan told me that he now is playing on the JV lacrosse team.  This is in addition to playing on the Freshman/Sophomore team, and means he now plays up to 4 games a week.  His first game with the JV team was up in Sandy, and since it was his first game, Miles and I went up to see him play.  It was a nasty cold day.  The game was delayed due to thunder and lightening.  During the game we experienced every type of winter weather--- rain, hail, sleet, and snow.  Sitting on metal bleachers in wet and cold weather is the best.  Lucky for Miles, his chair is small enough that it fit in the space between the benches.  He sat there with his winter coat on under a blanket with an umbrella propped up over him happily playing his iPod.  I wasn't quite so warm and comfortable.  Since it was Nolan's first JV game, I had no idea if he'd get to play.  I was so surprised when midway through the first quarter, Nolan was put in the game.  Not only was his put in the game, but he took SEVEN faceoffs.  He played about a third of the game, which is pretty typical for the midi position.  He since has played in another JV game, and in addition to taking faceoffs, Nolan's had an assist, and scored a goal!

 (Nolan's the guy in the blue shirt and black tights)

True, the mountains looked beautiful, but it was miserable outside!

Pain in the Neck

Yep, that's what I woke up with today.  I woke up at 1:30 this morning to see the lunar eclipse. The eclipse was pretty cool... meet the "Blood Moon".

Anyway, at 1:30 a.m., my neck was fine.  I went back to bed, and sometime in the middle of the night, a little friend came and joined me in bed.  I don't remember that, but I woke up and he was there.  My alarm went off at 5:40 this morning.  I reached over to shut it off and wanted to scream.  I jumped out of bed and grabbed my neck.  Because I've had three children, I know something about pain, and what I felt was comparable to labor, except it didn't stop.  I stood there holding my neck in a make-shift C-Collar trying to figure out what was going on.  What did I do to myself in my sleep?  I could not move my neck at all without experiencing intense pain.  Eventually I was able to get dressed, but I didn't have the range of motion to put on my socks, so it became a flip-flops day.  I went out to the kitchen and told Nolan that he was on his own for breakfast this morning, and went and sat at the table, holding my  neck, and tried to figure out how I was going to manage today.  I had to drive Nolan to school.  That was going to be an adventure.  He got to be my car spotter as I couldn't look to the left or right without crying out.  I couldn't look up or down either.  I got home and went back to bed with the heating pad on my neck.  An hour later I had to get Miles up for school.  In that hour, I'd gained one inch of mobility to the left and looking down, but that was it.  I got Miles off to school (I've never been so grateful for the bus), and went back to bed for 3 hours.  I lay there watching TV with the heating pad on my neck.  I got up and showered (which proved to be an adventure as I couldn't tilt my head back at all to rinse the shampoo out of my hair), then got dressed and had 800 mg of Ibuprophen (which just takes the edge off the pain).  Miles got home, I "played" mom, then went and picked Nolan up from school.  At that point, I'd gained almost full range of motion to the left and half-range down. Nolan got home, and I went back to bed.  I can't believe how bad my neck hurts!  So here I sit because sitting feels better than moving, because when I move, I have to move as a single unit, as if I am a robot.  Ugh.  Hopefully this will pass quickly.

Skiing Baby

Look, my "baby" is learning to ski!  He makes a killer "wedge" and thinks the chairlifts are great.  Randomly, he likes to tell me to "keep tips up," as the signs near the top of the chairlift recommends.

The HC

The "HC", also known as the "Heritage Center" is the dorm cafeteria on the U of U campus.  It also was the where the athletes ate during the 2002 Olympics, but that's irrelevant.  Jonathan has a meal package at the HC which was bought as a "meal supplementation plan" since he was to be doing his own cooking.  Well, more than half way through his second semester at the U, Jonathan still had a obscene number of meals left on his plan.  We decided to help him out with those meals.  Jonathan, Nolan, Miles, and Dan ate at the HC one Saturday prior to an afternoon of skiing.  That same day, I took the train to SLC and up to the U and met the boys for dinner at the HC.  We used 9 of Jonathan's meals in a matter of hours.  All year I've been hearing about odd offerings at the HC- like "macaroni and cheese pizza" so I was skeptical.  Also, I hate cafeteria food, and buffets are difficult for me to eat from (hepatitis paranoia).  Well, guess what?  The HC has good food!  They have a grill guy who custom grills burgers or chicken for you, and next to Smashburger, it was the best chicken sandwich I've ever had.  They have a lovely salad bar.  A deli that will custom make sandwiches.  They have both hard-pack and soft serve ice cream.  I did find one nasty thing- they had red potatoes that tasted like sweet potatoes.  Yuck.  Miles thought the best thing about the HC was a dirty dishes rack.  It's a moving, rotating thing with many levels and slots to put your dirty dishes in/on.  Miles thought cleaning up was great.  After eating the HC food, I had to wonder why Jonathan had so many meals left on his plan...

Here's the HC!

Obsessed with Death

Miles obsession with death continues.  He regularly talks about how when you are dead you can't wiggle anymore, so they put you in a box in the ground, then put a rock on your head.  The other night I'd read Miles 3 of his 4 bedtime stories.  After the third book, I told Miles to chose one more book.  He said, "A Jesus story.  I need the scriptures."  So I dug out an illustrated version of the book of Luke and started to flip through it to find a "good" Jesus story.  Miles wanted to "Jesus is dead" story.  We started through the crucifixion story, talked about Jesus getting so hurt, then carrying his cross, then being crucified, then dying, then being put in a "cave", and then about being resurrected.  We talked about Jesus being alive again and living with Heavenly Father.  I told Miles that someday he would die and get to live with Jesus again.  Miles thought about that for a few seconds and then said, "I have breakfast with Jesus.  We will have man-cookies and milk.  And blue turkey."