The Stepan family: October 2022

Hiking the Y

Michael loves hiking/running the trail to the Y. His record for reaching the Y so far is 19 minutes and 16 seconds. The trail is about a mile and a half. I love the pictures he sends me from his hikes.

Fall yard cleanup

This man is up before the sun everyday. I love this picture of him working in the backyard with a beautiful sunrise behind him.

Last Saturday before the weather turned cold, we harvested what we could from the garden and cleaned it up for the winter.

I have some tomatoes that need to be bottled soon!

Luke is Todd's biggest helper in the yard especially now that Michael and Ben are gone.

Luke talked Todd into buying a new snow shovel. He's ready for winter!

Talents

I love it when these kids play!

Check out Luke's amazing horse drawings!

Matching purple

Todd leaves for church meetings at 6:30am on Sunday mornings while I'm still asleep.

It was so fun when he came to see me in Primary on Sunday and we were matching!

I love this man!

Fall break

We had a week long fall break that finished today. Originally we hoped to visit Goblin Valley later in the week after Mary recovered from her wisdom teeth removal. However, Todd was unable to get away from work. So we made the best of it and did some fun (and not so fun) things at and around home.

The picture of Goblin Valley at Dad's work. We hoped to see it in person but hopefully another time :)

We had a beautiful October. It was 70 degrees and sunny for most of the month. However, it turned cold this week and we woke up to a dusting of snow twice.

The girls sorting their bedroom. Luke found a book and read while we cleaned.

Luke endured allergy testing. We hadn't tested his allergies since 2011 when he was 3. The good news is that he outgrew his allergy to egg. The bad news is that he is allergic to many trees, grasses and weeds.

Blood drawn for an allergy test along with scratches from the state race. Poor kid!

Lunch at Great Harvest to celebrate Luke's half birthday!

Sara loved to make avocado toast for breakfast.

Lots of scattergories played during this break.

We found Mary's Bingham Ball dress at Bohme.

A visit to Dad's work

Witch scavenger hunt visit to Gardner's Village.

Jacob Dishman opened his mission call! Chicago Illinois mission. We are so happy for him! We also discovered that Jacob's grandma grew up with Kent Stepan! What a fun family connection!

Sara and Luke playing Rocket League together.

Mary's wisdom teeth removal

After rescheduling this appointment twice before, it was finally time to get Mary's wisdom teeth out so they could stop hurting her.

The pre-op was a bit of a mess. I warned the nurse that Mary has passed out and had a seizure due to needles before. However, the nurse gave Mary the IV without any laughing gas or numbing cream. Mary was fine for a minute or two but then the color drained out of her face, her eyes rolled back in her head and she had a slight seizure. They tipped her back in the chair to get the blood back to her head and I coached Mary through some deep breaths when she came to again. It was scary. I hate watching my daughter go through those seizures and I hope I never have to watch one again.

As the nurse walked me to the recovery room, I could Mary crying, "I want my mom!" "Where's my mom?" As soon as she saw me she said, "Hi mom! I want to go home!" Bless her heart! She was emotional, thirsty, hungry and in pain.

We stopped to feed her a smoothie so she could take her pain meds.

Sadly, she threw up the smoothie on 104th So. before we got home.

It wasn't a great start to recovery but thankfully she only threw up once.

Soft foods along with ice packs, warm salt water rinses, and ibuprofen were the routine for the next few days. Four days after surgery, Mary was able to attend her dance classes. She's a champion!

Mary's friend Annie came to visit and borrowed an ice pack for a fun picture.

We went back to the doctor today for Mary's one week check-up and everything looks great!

Wisdom teeth removed! Whew! Glad she never has to do that again!

State race in St. George

Todd and Luke drove to Cedar City to stay the night before Luke's state race in St. George on Friday morning October 21. We were sad we couldn't make it a family trip but Todd is in the middle of a big project at work and couldn't get away for longer than 1 day, and Mary had her wisdom teeth out that Friday as well.

We are so proud of Luke for qualifying for the State race. He had a great season!