Soccer Surprise

 Jason was at Erik's soccer game with him Saturday morning, so I took Austin to his. The path to this particular field comes right to where one of the goals is, which is not a good spot. Austin and I stopped there for a moment to see which side his team was on for us to park our chairs (the players bring their own during covid times). Suddenly, I am hit in the head with a ball. I don't remember where on my head, but I did have a hat on so that probably helped. Here are the thoughts that came to my mind as I fell to the ground:

-I'm falling

-I'm much older than the last time I got hit in the head

-what about Austin? 

-will I lose consciousness? 

A small group of people had gathered around me as I struggled to sit up. I don't think I did lose consciousness, but a lady asked if I was okay and what had happened. She must have missed the flying ball too because she thought I just fell to the ground, or maybe she got there right after the incident. I had to tell her that a ball hit my head. She asked if I needed help and I told her that I didn't think so, but I just needed a moment. I could hardly talk to her because I had my face mask on and it was hard to catch my breath to talk and process everything at the same time. I was seeing lacy lights, but they dissipated after a bit and I was able to sit up and then stand up after another moment. I don't know how long that process took, maybe a minute or two, but the boy who kicked the ball was still there when I stood up and sincerely apologized to me. He was very sweet. He's actually one of the nicest kids on Austin's team. The lady carried the chairs over and set up Austin's chair for him so he could get warmed up. She checked in with me a couple of times during the game. It was nice to just be able to sit and watch the game for an hour. It allowed me to rest.

Going home, I felt pretty good, but a little shook up. I owed Victoria a Chipotle lunch for a violin challenge that she completed. I decided that I could benefit from lunch there as well. Afterwards, I was craving chocolate and grabbed a piece from my secret stash. It really did help me feel better and reminded me of Harry Potter when he is given chocolate after passing out from the Dementors. I decided to take it easy the rest of the day and was able to do so. I still didn't think I had a concussion, though I had a headache, felt jumpy, and had a hard time remembering a few words (which isn't too unusual for me, but more than normal). I was never nauseous, though something that did happen and made me think I might have injured myself more than I thought, was that I got my period 1 whole week early which never happens. 

I didn't think much of that at first, but on Sunday evening, when the lights were bothering me and giving me a headache, Jason mentioned that I might have sustained a slight concussion. I looked up concussions and menstrual cycles and they do relate. They can either bring it on faster or postpone it. Kind of weird, but I guess it makes sense. 

I decided Sunday night that I should take a break from exercising until I start to feel more normal. I did go to work yesterday and today because I can function, I'm just really tired and a little slower. It takes me a moment to process things and I often have a slight headache, feel a little dazed, or am extra tired, though I don't always have all of those symptoms at the same time. In fact, writing this all down is helping me. At this very moment, I don't have a headache and my words are coming well to me, so that's good! 

Count Your Blessings

The high from our vacation has worn off. I've been feeling frustrated and annoyed with this pandemic. Instead of getting better where we live with the vaccines, it's a whole lot worse. I know it will just take a little more time, but I was really enjoying the idea of this last quarter of school being a little more "normal". I guess it's better now than over the summer to have this high a number of cases, but it's getting really annoying!!

Karissa has to quarantine until April 30 because she came in contact with someone who tested positive last Thursday. Her principal called me Sunday morning, as I was getting ready for church. That put a slight damper on the day. So far, she's not sick, which is a blessing, but regardless of whether or not she's sick or even if she tests negative for Covid, she cannot return to school until April 30. She's going to miss her last two weeks of tumbling, which she can make up, but we were going to be done with that class after April and her friend won't be with her at her last two classes now. Just about every single day I receive an email from Austin's middle school and Karissa's middle school that there was another positive case confirmed. Once in a while, I hear the same from Erik's and Victoria's schools. What's with the middle schools?? And why is Michigan exploding with positive cases now?? 

Somehow, though, so far, our family has been protected from actually getting sick from Covid. Jason finally got his first vaccination, so hopefully, he can make it to the next one before something changes with our luck in that. 

I took Austin to the doctor last week to see if all of his constant coughing was asthma. The doctor said most likely not and that he probably has allergies and to keep giving him the allergy medication we've been giving him, or try a different kind. The day I took him, he was starting to cough less, as is always the case when you see the doctor, the symptoms seem to disappear, and he is still coughing a little less since then. Yay! I did a deep spring cleaning of the house over the weekend, including a very thorough vacuuming job and carpet cleaning. Plus washing stuffed animals, throw blankets, and dusting. Jason and the kids helped which made such a big task a whole lot easier. I've been enjoying my very clean home these past few days!

Here are some random pictures I took that just made me smile when I didn't know what pics to post for this blog and they are evidence of the many blessings I have.

We have a new roof! The first update in our big home improvement project!

Austin enjoys practicing his cello at home and is getting really good for online orchestra, most of the year!

What Victoria was doing while her afternoon math class was on- dying her hair! (She had already completed the work and understood it, so I let her do it...)

Horsing around together!

Leia decided to curl up in the clean towels....

Erik helped with 3-year-old Jacob when we watched him for a couple of days on the weekend. His mom is recovering from her 3-week stay at the hospital on a ventilator for a very bad case of Covid. She had a 3% chance of getting off it and coming home. Not quite a week later, her husband went into the hospital for emergency intestinal surgery. He was still in the hospital when this picture was taken. He's home now recovering with his wife and 60 stitches in his stomach. Let's count our blessings!

Virtual Music

A couple of months ago, Victoria turned in her violin part for the virtual concert orchestra performance for the parents to enjoy. They're finally able to meet in person to play together. Turns out we will have a small concert outside next month. I will get to see all three of my string players perform then! 

Here's Victoria's performance with the concert orchestra:

A month before that, Karissa and Austin finalized their piano performances for Federation, virtually. They had to prerecord in February so they would be ready to be turned in at the beginning of March for the judges to view. We couldn't decide if it was more nerve-wracking to actually perform in front of the judges in person and get only one shot at it, or to record it over and over until it was just the way we wanted to have the judges view it. We had to record a shot of the first piece of music before being played, and then the second piece, without any pauses. That made it really hard! For instance, Austin pulled off the first piece beautifully, but then mess up the second piece and we would have to record both of them all over again! It was totally worth it though. We just got their scores back and they both got superiors, the highest rating. This is Austin's 4th consecutive. He got a trophy after the first 3. Karissa gets her second trophy, this being her 6th consecutive superior! I'm so proud of both of them! They have stuck through it, even though virtual lessons are hard.  They also take the extra orchestra class, which was just an extra virtual class for most of the year, and now they have to wake up super early to do it, yet they still do. One would think having something like music to take your mind off things would be easy, but sometimes it seems like just more work. I'm really glad they were rewarded for their efforts so they can see what talent they have if they stick to it!!

A special treat from the orchestra are these sweatshirts that Mrs. DePentu, the lead teacher, gifted to the high schoolers. She had a student design it, but it was inspired by the Mercado family's very own Hammy! 

Back story: last year, when Karissa started with Mrs. DePentu (Mrs. Kaz is the 6th-grade teacher, but Mrs. D teaches the 7th and 8th graders and high schoolers), she was telling the students to hold the neck of their violin/viola like there was a hamster in their hand and they don't want to squish it. Karissa told her that she has a stuffed hamster (about the same size as a real one) and that she could bring it in as a visual. Well, now Hammy is super famous among the orchestra kids and became their class pet/mascot. One student made him his own cello with cardboard, using a 3D template (it looks really cool!) and a bed. Karissa had Hammy at home for most of this time during this school year when we were online. When she finally brought him back to school a month or so ago, everyone was so excited and they used him as the inspiration for their sweatshirts! Since only the high schoolers actually get the sweatshirts (provided by Mrs. D, though the rest get music t-shirts), Karissa will be the only middle schooler to get one, since it's her Hammy. I'm not sure why other middle schoolers aren't given the option to purchase one for themselves, but I'm so happy for her generosity that they all got something from her. 

Victoria just got hers. Karissa should be getting hers soon. 

Don't know why it won't turn for me in my last-minute close-up shot. It says, "We survived a pandemic and all we got was a shirt!" Hammy has his face mask and a little tear in his eye- so sweet!

Spring Break!

 Nothing like a 2 long day road trip to reset everyone. We needed to get in the car and drive to "the land of freedom" as my friend called Utah recently. Our Covid numbers here started going up the last 2 weeks before spring break. Erik got tested the Monday before we left because he had a cough. Karissa got tested the Friday evening that we left because she had an exposure to someone on Tuesday, outside with masks on, who had tested positive. We probably wouldn't have gone if we had known earlier in the week, but after we had everything ready and I even did the major push to get Karissa to Austin's school so she could catch her bus on time to her school, when I got her text after she had been at school for only 15 minutes that she had to go home, I decided that we would still start the drive out after her Covid test. If the results came back positive, we would figure it out from there. She only went to the bathroom at stops and never had contact with anyone. Plus, after having been exposed to Covid from 3 of my students, with masks on, I have decided that masks do the trick. They really make a difference. 

Her test came back negative on Saturday, as I thought, but with my brother traveling to Hawaii with his family on Wednesday and we were going to see them Tuesday, she took a rapid results test on Monday in Utah, just to make sure enough days had passed.

 On the way, we really did just enjoy sitting and driving and listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is a nice and long one. We didn't stop much on the way there and even less on the way back. 

Our favorite stop where the prairie dogs are super friendly!

We got there Sunday evening in time for turkey dinner at Grandma Pat's and Grandpa Jim's. We thought it would be later when Erik was car sick that morning in flat Nebraska, but his Dramamine kicked in and we plowed through.

After dinner, Victoria went off with Mariah and Natalie (19 and just about 17). They chat every day and were so happy to be in person together! Austin was off with Peter, just a bit younger than him, and Erik and Karissa enjoyed being around everyone else. Erik palled around with Nikolas who's about his age and with the other boys, but he also enjoyed his time playing with toys at Grandma's.

Unfortunately, it wasn't their spring break the same week, so my kids spent as much time with their cousins on the days they missed to school as they could. 

Monday, they went to school, so we hiked the Y and went to the BYU Creamery. It had been a while since we had done those things. Tuesday, the younger boys took off school because we went to my brother's house in Draper. He took us on a hike to a waterfall near his house, in between his meetings, with his youngest son Izaak. By the time we got back, Kallie was home from school, and then Layla and Jake not far behind. Derek and Missy were so nice to let us all invade their house the day before they went to Hawaii. They even turned on their pool heater and hot tub (it was in the 20s that day), so those who were brave enough could swim. We sang karaoke, hunted for Easter eggs, danced, and had pizza for dinner. We took the younger kids home to Orem by 7 so they could get ready for their trip, but the teenagers hung out in the hot tub a little longer.

Grandpa Jim was up bright and early and ready to garden!

Crazy hair day! (It literally was for Peter and Nik, you'll see Nik's hair in a few photos)

First hike of many!

Post-hike and school

Nik's cornrows, done by Victoria. Erik's hair was crazy because it needed a cut!

Koki and Karissa

Ghost Falls hike in Draper.

Draper Temple, behind us.

The Fabulous Trio!

We made it!

I was freezing. We had nice weather in MI before we left and it was pretty cold in UT the first couple of days, plus windy. 

Victoria 16 and Jake 14. I think we decided that Jake was taller, but not in this picture!

Miniature golf in their very own backyard!

Karaoke queens!

The water must have felt good, but I never even felt it. I was warm inside!

Slide!

Easter egg hunt group, all the youngest grandkids.

Teens in the hot tub

Wednesday is a "virtual day" for school in Orem, but there it means no school for the jr. high and high school, is what I understand. So guess what we did? We went on another hike! Actually, Victoria hung out with Mariah and Natalie and did whatever they did, including shopping and Natalie's track meet, but the majority hiked up Rock Canyon. Karissa was in charge of Koki, which she loved and they were BFFs, but the boys loved exploring every rock and crevice on the way up with no bossy teens telling them to hurry. As we got higher, we left Grandpa and Grandma behind so they wouldn't slip on the ice and snow that we encountered. The higher we went, the more there was. Imagine that! This was the very same hike that Erik tried last summer as our first hike and didn't get far. Thanks to Covid, he's a seasoned hiker now and made it with flying colors! Since 4 hours of hiking wasn't enough, they put on a little show on the stage at the bottom of the trail. We went back home to make it to Nik's soccer game, before a yummy Cafe Rio dinner at Karina's. After which, the Primary boys went on another hike to Bridal Veil Falls!!

BFFs

Mountain goat kids, even Koki loved these side trips.

Austin's head is hiding amongst the rocks.

Erik was hot, so he stuck his head in the snow!

Austin's head again!

Show time!

I think they finally got tired!

The kids went back to school the next day, so my mom and I took my kids to the Orem Rec to climb the rock wall and swim. Jason had to work Wed and Thurs, so he missed those fun days. But we had a blast being active again. We went to Natalie's track meet afterward, which she took 3rd place in the 800 in State, I believe. We timed it perfectly to see her! We went to Calvin's soccer game after that. It was a tough one!

Murdock trail ride waiting for the kids to get home from school, because why not?

Victoria and Natalie

Oldest granddaughters!

The next day was our day to leave so we could make it back in two days for Easter. Since the four days we were there I worked out every morning super early (staying on Michigan time) and were active the rest of the day, then went to bed kinda late (on Utah time), I was pretty tired when we left. We had to wake up very early to make up for the lost hour the first day and the 13 1/2 drive. But it was worth it!

We enjoyed listening to Harry Potter the first day, which I have a new perspective of now. Now that I have three teens (including 1 preteen), who often put their homework off till the last second like Harry and Ron often do in this book, I almost felt the anxiety for them while listening. I'm so used to feeling that with my kids! Also, the Ministry of Magic's issues in believing that Voldemort was back, somehow reminded me of our government issues now. It's such a well-written book! They all are!

Even better was listening to General Conference the next day. I got so much out of it while in the car and took very good notes. I think we should often go on a road trip while listening to General Conference. Even the kids got a lot out of it. We decided that the first session encouraged kindness in so many ways. We have a new kindness project in our home now. 

We made it home in record time, early enough for me to pick up some Rice Krispies at Kroger so I could use our melted marshmallows for Rice Krispie treats to bring to my friend who just got out of the hospital after being there for 3 weeks on a ventilator for Covid. I may have gotten very stiff legs from so much driving, but we recouped nicely while celebrating Easter and watching more General Conference. We definitely got more out of it in the car, but we enjoyed coloring Easter eggs and eating jelly beans while watching. We had a nice spiritual FHE on Christ's atonement and resurrection that we all took part in participating in. 

We had bunny pancakes for breakfast.

Egg hunt outside. We even hide the baskets out there too because it was so warm!

Rice Krispie Nests

She painted this free hand.

I'm grateful we could end such an active and exciting vacation with General Conference and Easter!