Happy Birthday to Me!

This week was a pretty fun one. It was not a usual week, we had an action packed week with a low key weekend due to Keira getting the flu.

On Monday, we celebrated my birthday by going to Pei Wei as a family and meeting up with Kris and Linda for dinner. We had a great dinner and topped it off with an ice cream pie from the neighboring Oberwies Dairy next door.


Tuesday was my actual birthday. It was really an uneventful day. We did make it to Kindermusik, but I have no pictures. Lisa, Dominic, Emily, and Brooklyn were there, so it was a good time. The weather was less than fabulous, so we really didn't do much else. Ryan had scouts in the evening, so it was pretty much just me with Keira and Soren all day.


Wednesday was more fun. We started the day off at the library because Storytimes had resumed.

After that, we were able to mix work and pleasure. I needed to take the car in for some minor maintenence and chose to drop it off and walk home so I could fix lunch while they worked on the car. I also figured that Keira could ride her bike outside before getting the car, but it was done so quickly, that I decided to let Keira ride her bike to get the car (there is sidewalk the entire way except for one empty lot that just has a mowed grass path in place of sidewalk, so it was totally safe). It took us about an hour to walk/ride the half mile to the dealership to pick up the car and return home, but Keira was loving it, and it was better than just walking around our neighborhood and not actually accomplishing anything. She had a great time, and it was just far enough away that she was fine with stopping when we got to the busy intersection to sit in the stroller but not so far that she was unhappy and overtired. She was also happy to have cookies while we were there.


On Thursday, it was Take Your Child to Work Day at Ford. Keira was too young to just go to work with Ryan, but I brought her and Soren into Dearborn to have lunch with Ryan at Buddy's. After lunch, we went back to his office and were able to observe some of the activities they had for the children. We spent some time in the Ergo lab where they were using motion capture software to project the children's movements into a digital assembly environment. This technology is similar to what is used in film and video games for realistic special effects. It is useful in the assembly environment to ensure that the vehicles can be assembled by people of different sizes and that tools and bodies can fit where they need to fit. Keira was too small to participate, but she enjoyed watching. When I first hired into Ford, my mentor was in the Ergo group, and they were just getting the software set up and a lab built. It has come so far in the past 9 years, I couldn't believe it. We also made the rounds trying to see as many people that we could find to show off Keira and Soren. Ryan's manager, Mark White, from when we launched together in Oakville, enjoyed holding Soren. It was Soren's first trip to Ford.




On Friday, we had a presidency meeting at our house in the morning, so Keira enjoyed having her friends come over to play. Once that was done, I realized that I had failed to notice that I needed to have the oil changed in my car when we were at the dealership earlier in the week, so I had to go back and have that done. We waited for it to be done instead of coming home and back.

Once Ryan got home, we went to Maybury where I ran with the stroller and Ryan biked. Keira and Soren both got to play on the playground too.



Saturday was a day that things didn't really go as planned. I was planning on attending the Stake Women's Conference qith Soren while a friend watched Keira. However, Keira woke up quite sick, so I took her to the dr's office instead. She has the stomach flu, and is still sick as I do this post, but has improved a lot. Ryan was still able to go on his bike ride with the Wolverines and his friends, Kent and David. The had a great ride out to Ann Arbor and back. When Ryan returned, it was my turn for a bike ride, however, as soon as I got to 8mile and Beck, I got caught in a terrible downpour, and had to retreat home. I had been eyeing the skies, but was hoping that it would blow through or I would have time to ride before it struck. It was a fast moving storm, so after returning home, I was able to go on a run instead since I can run on wet ground, not bike. It was a great run, and I ran into two friends while on their run, and joined them for an extra couple miles.



On Sunday, Keira slept almost all day, and I took Soren to church. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting. With our home off of the market, I have taken a renewed approach to being happy and content with our housing situation. We have really been blessed so many wonderful things, that I am really trying to express how grateful I am for them, and not take them for granted. We have a wonderful family, friends, employment, and a home we can afford. We cannot ask for anything more. We are allowed to be happy even in this time of economic uncertainty.


Up for next week, we are unsure of what we will do. We are hoping that Keira feels better soon so that we can get on with more fun and enjoy the outside some more.