Finally having both me and Lucy better, schedules being just right, and Sam being home to help, I was finally able to go see Natalie cheer at a Home game. She did so awesome! It is hard to believe Natalie has NEVER cheered until this season. She looks like a pro! I am so very proud of her and love to see her fabulous smile! She still has quite a bit of her tumbling down too.Even though their team lost, they gave a great effort!

Natalie and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Beaumont this weekend and help with the clean up efforts there after Hurricane Harvey. I was still quite a bit under the weather, and was nervous about going, but I knew this might be my only chance to do something like this. It was one of the hardest weekends I have ever had, but I am so grateful I was able to be there. The amount of devastation was far more than I expected. Dealing with life continuing, while living has practically stopped, was so hard to see. The people we were helping had completely lost everything in their homes but the external walls. As we drove up to our first home, the owner was leaving to go to the funeral home because his wife had just passed away moments before we got there. It was a very somber morning, but we knew we had a job to do and would be helping this family in so many ways.There was so much to be done, but we had a fantastic team that just kept going to the end. It was amazing how much water was still saturated in everything!These mushrooms were enormous, and a kind I had never seen before.Natalie discovered this crawfish in a soaked bag of cat litter she was removing from the garage. It scared the living daylights out of her because she thought it was a giant spider. Needless to say, it ended her work in the garage.One of the hardest parts of the weekend, was realizing that we were going to be leaving without completing the entire job. There is SO much work to be done to get life back to how is used to be there. I have done so many service projects and always loved the feel of completing the job. That was not the case this time.This was part of the walk we had to take to bring all the debris to the trash pile. By wheelbarrow mainly! The pile was large, the truck arrive at around 1pm, and still had not even removed half of it by 4pm when we moved to our next location. Piles like that lined both sides of the freeway for miles. Very hard to know peoples memories were all in those piles. Made me really ponder on “things” though, and what is truly important in life. We spent the night in the Ford Center. It was so cool to see so many volunteers all together in one place. Youth members from local wards were handing out root beer floats to everyone as they came in. It was so nice. I didn’t hear any complaining. People were tired and very dirty, but were glad to be helping in the work. We had a great night reflecting on the day past, and Brother Welge treated our entire crew to Chick FilA. It was so very kind of him! After a good night’s sleep, we opened the new day with a 3000+ person sacrament meeting. It was an amazing sight to see! There was so much love and gratitude in that Ford Center. Once we were spiritually renewed, we quickly headed to our next destination. Brother Adams offered a wonderful prayer with the homeowner, Ms. Cara, before we started, whichbwas just what everyone needed. 

Today was our Art Class field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art and Klyde Warren Park. Boy is it crazy trying to get 25 people on the train and keep track of them all through downtown. It was a lot of fun though too. 😁 Emilee did a great job planning and organizing everything, so it all flowed smoothly.Lucy had school today, and it was picture day. So, I had to pick her up a couple hours early, and bring her dressed from school. (No time to change in the process.) I love Lilly peeking at us from behind. The boys really enjoyed the works of art! They were even able to make their own sheet music for a music box. Lucy….well she fell asleep on the way to the museum from the train station, and slept the ENTIRE time we were there! Even when we stopped for snacks, Lucy was still out! It was such a beautiful day!!We finally woke Lucy up so she wouldn’t miss EVERYTHING, and promised her a cookie if she would let me get one good picture of her.I think she did great! The kids had a great time playing at the park. We will definitely have to come back.This is what I call “Boy Power!”We didn’t want to stay too late, because the train traffic is pretty heavy at 5:00. We even had a difficult time finding a train that had room for all of us at 4, but it was well worth it. A WONDERFUL DAY! 😊

Our Moms Club got together and painted rocks today for hiding around the city. The kids had a blast. The rocks are a way to brighten someone’s day.Lucy even managed not to get any paint on her clothes.William and Alex got in on the fun too.Lucy did however decide to paint herself with Ty. Silly girls! 😂 Luckily it washes off their skin very easily.While the rocks were drying, the kids all snacked on popcorn and watched Muana. (One of Lucy’s new favorites. She loves singing the songs!)Now to go find hiding place for all these gems, and hope people will find them. #WylieRocks

Lucy missed three weeks of dance class due to the holiday and being sick. We definitely didn’t want to share with anyone! She was so excited to get back and see Miss Kristen.Lucy is quite the little dancer. 😊❤️Getting to class on Monday nights had been such a challenge though. Natalie has cheer until 5, and most times does not get out until 5:15 or later. And then we have to be to West Plano by 5:45. And the traffic is TERRIBLE at that time! It gives me the worst anxiety every week. I LOVE TippiToes, but there isn’t another Toddler and Me Class that works with our schedule. I decided to take Lucy to trial class at another dance studio, to see if it would work better for us.We were the first ones at class. Even before the teacher. Yet WE were on time. The teacher was late, and the other students didn’t arrive until almost 15 minutes after the start of class. SO NOT COOL to me! If I am paying for a service, I expect to get what I have paid for. In this case, a full 45 minutes of quality dance instruction for my little ballerina.That was NOT the case at this facility. It was awful! There is no other way to put it! Lucy knew FAR more dance than the other kids, and they were all 3! The parents kept commmenting on how well she knew her positions and steps. Miss Kristen has done such a wonderful job with her. The teacher at this studio had no schedule at all and no organization. She didn’t even know the music she had or which songs she used for whatever she was doing. It was painful for me to participate, so I can only imagine what Lu was feeling. We were very kind, and Lucy behaved SO very well, even when one of the little girls in class deliberately came up to Lucy during one of the activities and shoved her to the floor. Lucy immediately said, “I want to go home.” And walked out the door. I felt terrible for her. The mom of this little girl NEVER even knew it happened because she was too busy talking to another parent. The dance instructor was mortified and just kept apologizing over and over again. It didn’t help out to have a large roach come running across the floor during the middle of class. Nope! We will not ever go back! That did it! Needless to say, as hard as our rushed schedule is on Monday nights, I have realized what a wonderful gift we have dancing with Tippi Toes and am happy to fight traffic and anxiety to get there. Lucy has learned so much and loves going. We won’t be changing!

Lucy’s Fever is finally completely gone and she is sleeping so much better! Now I’m just hoping we can catch up on our very behind schedule. 😬

Our family, along with several members of our Ward, had the opportunity to travel to areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. Sam and Nate went first, since Lucy and I were still recovering from our illness, and I had Divine Consign this weekend. The boys were very humbled by the experience. It was super hard work, very hot and humid, but very rewarding.It was amazing how much damage there was, and how much work needed to be done.Mold grOws perfectly in that type of environment. The homeowners were all so very grateful for the help.It made it so very worth it to know they were getting a fresh start at fixing their homes and lives.After spending the night at a Junior High, there was a massive sacrament service of over 1,000 members. Nate had the privilege to bless it before it was passed. It was a very wonderful way to start another hard working day of service.The amount of trash and debris was like none the boys had ever seen before. It just lined the streets everywhere. These things were people’s entires homes. Their lives. Their memories. Very hard to see and realize. But also a great reason to help remember why they were helping.The boys had a few scary moments along the way, like watching a truck burn outside Wendy’s on Sunday, and also being stuck in traffic for almost an hour, to realize there was a horrible accident that no one survived. Lots of prayers, and hard work, and the boys were able to return safe and sound. Stinky and exhausted, but with a greater appreciation of what is important in life. 

Since Dad was away in Beaumont, we decided to do dinner at Chick-Fil-A. The kids love to trade in their toys for icecream. Boy I sure hope Lucy handles her well though. We call icecream the treat of death for her. If we survive her sugar overload tantrums, we’ll be doing good.The big kids agreed she deserved it though. 😁So Lucy has picked up this new saying. Whenever we go anywhere now, when we pull in our driveway, she tells me, “ I want to get out so I don’t get out.” So now we find ourselves staying in the van super long amounts of time, so she can watch her show, that we don’t let her watch at home.Crazy Girl! She’s got it all figured out.

The boys have been so patient with me and Lucy being sick. I think my cough is going to linger forever. I decided fresh air would be good, though, and agreed to go fishing with the them. We brought Wesley along too. He is such a great kid. When we got to the pond, Olivia saw the boys fishing and joined us too. While the boys caught fish, Olivia caught a turtle. Brings back memories of fishing with Natalie when she was younger. She ALWAYS caught turtles.William and Alex did great. They caught lots of fish, just nothing very big.It always seems to get dark so fast at this time of year. But I guess that’s when the fish really like to bite. (So do the bugs!) Sticking it Out a little longer paid off.William got one last tug on his rod, to reel in this great catfish. It was a fabulous night. (And I’m so glad they know how to unhook their own fish now!)On the way home, Alex helped save this toad from a sure death in the road. I love that our neighborhood has so much wildlife. Next best thing to living in the country.😁

I should have known something was coming when Lucy randomly started sneezing frequently. She hardly ever sneezes! Well what started off small, hit like a bazooka gun. In no time Lucy, me, Alex, and William were knocked out with it! Fevers, aches and pains, super sore throats= Absolutely no fun! The worst part of it was that it lasted almost 2 weeks! I didn’t think it was ever going to go away! Cute as she was, her fever was 102 at the doctor’s office. Lucy also ended up needing a rescue breathing treatment in the office because her intake was so bad. Lucy and I ended up missing Natalie’s Future Raider Night game because Lu was so sick, and we were having to drive all over town trying to track down a pharmacy with a child’s nebulizer. I am so very grateful for the Robertson’s letting us borrow theirs late that night, when we could not find one. Such a HUGE blessing.By Sunday, Lucy’s fever was 104.3. She was so miserably hot! Luckily, when the Tylenol and Motrin were working, it was like nothing was wrong.She even gave Khaliyah a reading lesson between naps. Khaliyah was so worried about us both. After lots of germs being shared with me, my system gave out too. I had not felt this bad in a super long time.I ended up having to miss Natalie’s official first McMillan game as well, and was so very disappointed. I can’t wait to see her perform. She has been working so hard.After being sick for so long, Lucy’s hair had really gone crazy. I took this pircture to show Brie, and could hardly tell if it was a dog or a kid. 🤣Since we had had fevers, but were beginning to feel better, we decided to do some outdoor projects to get some fresh air. It was great fun. Lucy is quite the artist! She even found her body was a better canvas than the paper. Needless to say, she met the hose when we were finished.After many days of being ill, this is my hope that we are over the crud! We are ready to be playing and having fun again!