A Glimpse of Insanity

Wow! Where to start? Going into life after Thanksgiving we knew what was ahead of us, packing, traveling, wrapping, cleaning, phone calling, but what we didn't know, is all that would be encompassed by illness. I knew that we might eventually pick up some germs, we might come down with something...it's that time of year you know. And that with as much stress as we were undertaking, but I couldn't imagine to what degree. Let me try to share the story of the last six weeks.


Dec. 15th:
Danny got home from Grand Junction a day early due to an upcoming storm passing through the mountains. We were both ready to take on the packing, yet to my surprise I woke up in the middle of the night racing for the toilet. So much for the garage! Danny and I spent Saturday on the coach, me feeling miserable, and both of us sick with frustration about our inability to get started on this moving thing. Finally, we managed packing a few pictures for an hour and called the day what it was...a wash. We would have to try the garage another day.

Dec. 16/17

Oslin at 1 month old spends most of his days sleeping, so we can work and pack...unfortunately it means he is up at night. 

Well we made it to church on Sunday, our last day in the Parkview Ward, but due to our crazy lives, didn't realize it was our last day until after we went to church. So, we didn't really say any goodbyes. Isaac and Marina would say their goodbyes on Tues. evening at Isaac's going away/young men's night, and Marina at her activity days pj party. Danny and I would start the last of the packing working away in between taking kids to school and picking them up. Danny also had some work to do in town...so he was working that in to our crazy schedule also.

Dec. 18th: Danny's Birthday
When you get to be 37 birthday's come and go without too much fuss. However, Danny's birthday delivered him the best gift ever....the stomach flu. We had already planned to pack the garage again this day...knowing this would be our last chance to do it in good weather. The forecast showed snow this evening. Marisa and Marcus and Brother Wells from the ward had all offered to come and help. So, despite Danny feeling lousy and taking several "time outs" the garage clean out went on as scheduled. By the end of the day we had the entire garage packed, and all the boxes from the crawl space in the garage. And even though Danny was pretty happy about getting new Bronco car seat covers...he would not have the time or energy to put them on his car. Happy Birthday Danny.


Dec. 20
See post below for saying goodbye to Arrowhead


Dec. 21
This day brought the buying of our new home in Grand Junction. G-ma Layne came and stayed with the lil' boys, while Danny and I signed the papers. It was pretty uneventful since, it was a random lady that did the closing, our realtor and the seller did there side of it in Grand Junction. I guess we were happy to know that it was official...we had a home waiting for us on the other side of the mountains.


The next 2 weeks become a blur, but I will try to sort it out.


Dec. 22: Lafai's baptism

 All the cousin's

Left to right back row: Jayden, Esaias, Leilani, Lilliana, Tayven, Emma, Kai Noa, Ryan, Isaac, Jose

Middle row: Marina, Naia, Bentley

Front row: Erica, Oslin, Lafai

 Happy Birthday Lilli!

 Mason and Esaias meet again after 2 years. Only 5 weeks apart in age. Marisa moved into the same ward as my good friend Melissa Howell..."Small World, Big Church."

 Happy Birthday Leilani!

 Hello Baby Ryan (Auntie Mara) and Baby Emma (below)

 Erica & Oslin

Danny & I worked packing till the moment that we had to get ready and leave to make it up to Longmont for Lafai's baptism. Our goal was to be done with all the packing by today. Yes, that means having the kitchen packed up, emptying our fridge and pantry...no food. That's why we were so glad to be having places to go each day. We would only need to eat a few meals on plastic/paperware.

We were happy to be a part of Lafai's special day, and see all our family. I couldn't believe how much all the kids have grown, and how many more cousins have joined the family too. We got to meet Mara & Ryan's twins for the first time. They of course are adorable and both Danny and I took our turns holding them and meeting them. We also got to give our December birthday neices and nephew their birthday presents. I love being an auntie. It's still one of my most favorite things. The day was wrapped up with yummy terriaki chicken dinner, and a round or two of dancing video games. We didn't make it back home until quite late. Just enough time to take care of dogs, go to sleep, and wake up the next day to start again. (Somewhere, unbeknownst to us...the sickness begins here)



Dec. 23: Leilain's Birthday
This Sunday we got up and got ready and went to church at Denver 2nd Ward (Mounatin View Ward). We wanted to spend more time with family, especially Mara, Ryan & the twins before we moved. We hung out with family all day, and then had our traditional dinner at Grandpa and Grandma Mortensen's. It was a smaller dinner, but it was nice to visit with Quinn and her family. And it's always great to see Dylan. Unfortunately the sickness starts here. Lilli started wheezing while we were opening gifts. When we couldn't find an inhaler, which is unusual because we would normally have several. When she became critical in  a matter of minutes, Marisa had to rush out the door to get her home or to the ER immediately. Poor Leilani had to eat her birthday cake in the car. Thank goodness they got her home to a nebulizer treatment and steroids, and she was doing better by bedtime. (Although we don't see them, we hear Mara & Ryan, and Uncle Ben have all gotten sick, and are at home throwing up and having diarrhea.)

 Quinn, Marisa, Oslin

 Uncle Clayton...is that a knife?

 Little Jeffey decided Isaac was his present buddy for the evening

 Thanks G & G just what I wanted!

Two beautiful cousins!

Dec. 24: Christmas Eve
Some last minute packing-does it ever end??? And then we were off the spend time with Marisa and Marcus at his mom's house. Because Marisa and Marcus have been living with Eric and Shannon while Marcus finished his probationary year as a new firefighter for Aurora, and so they can build a new home, and with Danny & I moving, we needed a place to spend Christmas Eve. Grandpa & Grandma Mortensen were going to come, but they were still struggling with illnesses that they had since before Lafai's baptism. So they stayed home on Christmas Eve. When we arrived to Ariane's we found out that Auntie Yannick and Uncle Mark were sick. But they kept to themselves, and we had a quiet Christmas evening, playing video games, watching movies, eating yummy mexican food, and visiting. We exchanged a few gifts just between Marisa & our families. It was a pleasant evening. We got home, and Danny & I finished wrapping a few gifts before Santa came to visit.

 Good job, Lilli pickin' out the perfect gift for Isaac. "C" is for Cookie Monster!

 Pay close attention to the details...Both girls are sporting their new tiaras, one gives the prom wave, the other the hang loose sign...tell, tell signs of personalities. Gotta love it!

 Another good score for Marisa & Marcus: Super Bowl 32 John Elway jersey...Danny was very excited, had to wear it right away.

 Marina sure loves her Auntie Risa

 and Uncle Marcus

 Nice matching! Isaac is loving his new striped hat, argyle sweatshirt, and Angry Birds jammy pants.

 Grandma Layne had fun picking through her travel basket of treasures.

 Esaias & Mina Christmas jammies

Thanks Auntie for my Christmas outfit...Oslin was the perfect elf.

Dec. 25: Christmas Day

View from the top of the stairs on Christmas morning, our last day in this home.

We enjoyed our short lived morning of waking up, eating butter braids, and opening presents, before having to box everything right back up for the move. This is where I start to loose it. We had maintained some sort of sanity up to this point...taking it step by step, one day at a time. But all of sudden when we had to forego Christmas for moving...life became very overwhelming. When we called to wish Marisa and kids a Merry Christmas, we discovered that several more people had gotten sick last night; Marisa & Uncle Michael.  We had to go to Grandma Chris & Papa Joe's , but it took us until after 4pm to be ready to leave. We had to have everyone ready for the car trip/move. The kids would not be coming back to this house again. Uncle Ben was still sick, and we were hoping that by quaratining him, we would all be safe.


Dec. 26/27
Danny & I went home with Baby Oslin to sleep and be ready for the movers to arrive. And the other 3 kids stayed at Grandma Chris'...to get sick. Isaac was the first to not feel well. He had a fever, and spent the day watching movies and playing video games. Danny and I spent the day waiting around for the movers to pack the truck. We were grateful we didn't have to do the physical labor, but it was exhausting sitting around watching and waiting. We had hoped to leave to Grand Junction today, but the movers did not finish until after 5pm. They were slow! Danny packed the cars while I took care of Oslin, and we both worked to finish the cleaning, when the movers finally cleared areas of the house. We had a small issue when the electric company decided that instead of just transferring our names for service, they were going to turn off the electricity. You must know that since last Tuesday, when it snowed, it has also been freezing cold. So, this was fabulous with a little baby and moving, where all the doors get left open. Ugh! We did solve the problem with the help of Julie (the Landlord). Thank goodness she answered her phone. The not so nice guy for the electric company had to come back and turn the service back on. By the time we drove both cars back to Chris' and said our final goodbyes to that house, we were feeling overwhelmed and defeated. Part of us wanted to still leave to Grand Junction tonight, but the other part, figured we'd better stay the night at Chris and Joe's. The snow in the mountains wasn't helping our plight to leave. When we got to Chris' we found out that many more people were sick. Lilli, Leilani, Jade, Grayson, Gordon, and both Chris and Joe were feeling symptoms. But at the request of Joe, we did not leave. We stayed the night. With a horrible night's sleep, and waking up to 2 sick kids of our own, Marina & Esaias...we knew we had to make it to Grand Junction today. The moving truck driver texted us to let us know he left at 6:30am. We had to be there for them to unload.
We were grateful Uncle Ryan was there so that we had two priesthood holders to help give all 4 children blessings before we left. I didn't know how we were going to make this drive happen, and I kept thinking that I should feel like crying, but I could feel nothing. So, when Alice (the dog) threw up at my feet, while I was holding Oslin and Esaias, I said out loud, "I don't know if I should laugh or cry." Both Chris and I looked at each other in complete disbelief, and laughed a little, while she cleaned up the mess since my hands were full.
We soon took on this journey with hopes that no one would throw up in the car. That didn't last long, I was soon exiting off at the Golden exit ramp to clean out a throw up bowl, and helping Marina rinse out and wipe her mouth. So with a plastic trash bag, a pink throw up bowl, a large stack of napkins, and bottled water, we continued our journey. Stopping at least 4 more times to repeat the steps for both sick children. The complete miracle is that we did all of this with icy and snowy roads without having an accident. It would have been quite the site to see me driving down the west side of the Eisenhower Tunnel, Marina throwing up, then holding the bowl for Esaias, and me trying to hand them napkins and watch them in the rear view mirror with a look of complete empathy while Danny and Isaac followed behind in the CRV. By some power greater than mine, we pulled in to our new driveway about 2pm. The journey was still not over, we still had to wait for the moving truck and crew to come and unload. We thought that they might wait to unload or at least finish on Friday, due to the late start, but NO, they were determined to unload everything that evening. It was nice to look forward to having a bed to sleep in, but the frigid cold outside, that invaded our new home until well after dark, made it difficult to find respite. Marina fell asleep on her new floor, waiting for a bed and blankets. Small tender mercies from the Lord came in the form of her bed being found first, and her room being the warmest room of the house. Esaias seemed to feel better once we arrived at the house, at least for a little while. Finally, about 8pm, which felt like midnight, we rolled into barely made beds to rest our exhausted bodies and minds.


Dec. 28/29/30
This day brought the hopes of unpacking boxes to rediscover the life we had been missing for so many weeks. Well, it would take us 3 days and missing church to help us unpack enough to be able eat in our own kitchen, although we couldn't until we went grocery shopping. We were able to survive on eating out, and a small amount of items Danny picked up for breakfasts. We knew Mara & Ryan were going to come stay with us for New Years Eve, so we had to be functional by then. It was amazing that by the end of the day Sunday, we were actually able to live in the house. Too bad, Marina and Esaias were still struggling with remnants of the illness. Marina developed a cough, Esaias had diarrhea, and Friday evening brought Danny down with the crud. Danny was out for all of Friday night and Saturday. So, Sunday was a welcome recovery day.


Dec. 31/ Jan. 1: New Year's Eve/New Year's Day

With Mara & Ryan visiting we ventured out to buy somethings we needed. We were happy to see them and the twins and begin to feel like normal people again. We must have made it through all of it. We spent the time relaxing, watching Goonies, and waking up to our annual New Years breakfast feast. Well, the best we could duplicate the one at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We said goodbye to Mara & Ryan, and then tried out "Face Time" and connected with those at the Mortensen's for breakfast.



Jan. 2 Danny returns to work...well sort of.

Just when we thought we were on the mend...I end up getting my turn at the "evil illness" as Danny referred to it. The worst part was that Oslin finally got it too. He was throwing up all his formula. Danny stayed home and helped me take the 2 little boys to the doctors. Thank goodness our insurance kicked in yesterday. Both boys checked out as well as you can for being sick, but I wanted to make sure we kept a close eye on the baby...he was pretty miserable for a couple days, and we had to feed him in little bits more frequently. Danny did make it in to work for a little while. I did nothing. All unpacking and organizing went on hold. I shed a few tears that morning, but managed to suck it up again, and trust that someday things would feel normal again.


There were no pictures taken after Christmas morning. That in itself should tell you my mental state after that. Here I am today, into the New Year...with the hopes of feeling normal again. We are all on the mend. Remnants of the illness still manifest itself in coughs and sniffles, but we've managed to organize the boxes in the garage and can pull the car in. I think that's all quite an accomplishment. I think we are all feeling better, physically, mentally, emotionally. It has been a fast, but long journey over the last couple of months. We are extremely grateful and hopeful for the opportunity. But we will miss many things as well. So, here's to truly wishing everyone a Happy Holidays, and many new and wonderful things to come in the New Year.