Eighth Grade Football Games, Parent Teacher Conferences, Root Canals and other fun stuff

 I don't mean to give the impression that I classify watching eighth grade football with root canals, 'cause I don't.  It has just been that kind of a week.  Add into that trying to keep up with homework--Suddenly I am the Algebra expert?  How did that happen?--getting the oldest eligible for Cross Country and drama activities, talking with teachers all day Tuesday trying to find out what I need to do to help the kids succeed in school, attending extra-curricular activities, getting kids ready a couple of times while Britt was out in the morning hunting with Cole (Cole drew an elusive bull elk tag), and working on a couple major projects for Britt at work, by the end of the week I was something beyond exhausted.

These pictures comprise two football games Cole played in.  The first was Thursday, September 15 against Moab.  It was a tough game.  The boys are still kind of figuring out how to work together as a team.

 Time out on the field

Stop him!

last minute instructions 

 Almost the final score (since they turned off the scoreboard last time before the game was over, I wasn't taking any chances)

 caught

but we couldn't quite make anything happen.

The team's game this past Thursday the 22nd (Happy Birthday to my brother Drew and my Aunt Nancy) went a little better:

 Cole's on defense

 Oops!  He just missed this tackle

 still on defense

 Go, Mustangs!

 Cole was frustrated that he spent so much of the game on the sidelines.

 But you know he had missed part of some practices during the week because he was elk hunting.

 We held them to no score until the final play when the clock ran out and our defense just let their man run into the end zone.  It was craziness.

But we still won.  Yay!

And I was in pain the whole time.  That morning a back molar that has bothered me slightly for several years (like since I was a teenager) really started hurting.  Thursday night I went to bed in moderate pain.  Early Friday morning, like 3:00 in the morning, I realized there was no way I was going to get any sleep with the sharp shooting pain penetrating my jaw.  I asked Britt if he had anything stronger than Tylenol and he gave me some old pain medication.  Then I asked him for a blessing.  That Friday, he and Cole went out early to hunt again.  I called Garrett on his cell phone and had him get the kids up and fed.  They came into my room for prayer.  Then Garrett drove to school (yes, he has his learner's permit) and I made it home safely on my own.  I spent the entire day "sleeping" and taking pain medication.  Tried to eat, threw up a couple times.  By late afternoon that day, I decided I would rather eat than take pain medication.  And I was actually okay without it! (for a few hours, anyway)

My dentist was able to get me into an emergency appointment later than night for a root canal.  By then, I had decided that I wasn't hurting that bad anymore, so I didn't really want to do the painful procedure. But I wanted to be able to sleep that night, so I figured I better just do it.  He said my nerve was actually dying and that was why it wasn't hurting as bad at that point.  But, he said eventually it would have abscessed and got infected and then I would have felt worse.  I have to say, that was the most pleasant root canal ever!  No joke!  It was such a relief!  And oh yeah, I slept like a baby that night (even without my husband who was camping out in hopes of finding some elk early in the morning--no such luck).

Saturday was a busy day between a cub scout baptism, the Stake Relief Society Humanitarian Project, and the General Relief Society Broadcast, which was so worth attending!  Sunday, I spent the whole time after church trying to create a DVD of our motorcycle trip for my father-in-law Joe.  I have never done that before, so it turned into quite the project.  Just got it done today.  I am also still working on some projects for Britt.

The fact is, I am tired.

But life doesn't slow down even for a root canal.  We just have to keep going.  And that's okay.  We'll get there eventually.