The first few days of March we were finishing up our trip to Ecuador. After traveling all night on Tuesday, March 3, we arrived home about midday on Wednesday, March 4. We cleaned up and tried to recuperate for school the next day. I was feeling pretty good and wanting to get back to my regular workout routine at Orange Theory Fitness. So I got up early on Thursday and went to the gym before school. It was a B day so I only needed to be at school for Homeroom which was at about noon. At the gym on the treadmills, they were doing the 1/4 mile challenge to see how fast we could run the 1/4 mile and then they record it on our account and we would try to beat it next time. Well, I was jogging along and my heart rate was pretty high, but I felt okay and I didn't have far to go so I kept pushing hard. Just before my 1/4 mile was done, it felt like a bomb exploded in my head. Something was terribly wrong. I stopped the treadmill and went out into the foyer. I lay down on the bench with no success in alleviating the excruciating pain. I probably should have called Mark at that point but I drove myself home. Luckily it was super early in the morning so I made it home safely.
At home, I fell onto the coach in hopes that I could get my head better. It was so painful that I started crying but that hurt even worse. The kids were up and getting ready to leave. I had them get Mark for me before they headed to school and I had Mark take me to the ER. The pain would not stop and we were worried it was a hemorrhage or something else dangerous. Mark got me into the ER and they immediately did a CT scan. They could not give me medication until they got the results of the CT scan. I cannot even remember much of what they were doing because I was in so much pain. Finally we got word that they could not see anything like a hemorrhage and I was going to be okay. The pain was not easing up though, so they gave me some morphine. I have never had morphine and hopefully I won't need it ever again, but it sure was a relief as I immediately felt better.
We finally came home and I was able to sleep. The headache lingered though for at least a month after that and it would come on pretty strong with any physical exertion, singing or crying. I visited a neurologist and he told me that it was a thunderclap headache caused by overexertion and probably had something to do with my POTS. He told me to be careful while working out and not to push my heartrate up quickly and don't go into the red zone. The experience was so painful I had a lot of anxiety going back to the gym. It really put a damper on my preparations for our upcoming summer trip to Havasupai.
It was kind of a hard time for me after that. I had to teach the next day at school and then teach Relief Society on Sunday and we were in the middle of the SBO Elections, the end of the quarter, and there were so many things on the calendar. Things were hard personally at home and I was just struggling overall. Looking back now, I see that the hard was only the beginning of more hard to come.
At the end of the quarter Timmy got to bring home his cutting board he made in woods class. He did a really great job with it!
Mark still makes the best sourdough bread ever.
March is peak tennis season. Both Brian and Timmy played this year. Timmy was the team's first singles player again. Mark was the coach again as well.
Brian had the end of season banquet for the swim team.
The seniors were honored.
It was kind of sad seeing Brian and Jaxon at their last swimming event.
Brian did receive Academic Allstate for swimming and Tennis this year.
The sunset out by the tennis courts was beautiful that night.
Timmy had a friend invite him to St. George for a weekend with their buddies. He had such a great time.
He did miss out on some pretty good food at home. Sunny's family was in town from Korea, so we had some incredible food with them! Mark helped cook the Galbi.
We also went to Olive Garden, although it was not even close to the Korean food.
I needed to try to prepare for a long hike, so I started trying to just get steps in by walking with Pip at Wheeler Farm.
I also spent a whole lot of time at school in March. This is my home away from home.
The SBOs decided to do a teacher vs student basketball game after they announced the SBO winners. It took some organization and it ended up being super fun.
Then that night I took the old SBOs and the new SBOs to Chili's for dinner.
I had a lovely visit to the temple in March. It always makes things feel lighter.
Especially when they have early Spring flowers to admire!
I think it started feeling real that Brian would not be with us for long, so I started taking picture of him when he would let me.
Palm Sunday was at the end of March and Easter was to be during General Conference, so our ward had the Easter choir program on Palm Sunday. I was still getting headaches when singing so I did not sing, but Brian did and it was fun to watch this year. I do love celebrating Easter.
Daily tennis practices and several matches each week kept Mark and the boys very busy.
Brian played a match with a fellow SBO friend, Ken Chen, from Hunter High. They were so well matched that it lasted for 3 and a half hours! Brian finally won in the end!
They were pretty exhausted after that!
Sunny and Luke took me to Copper Onion for the first time. It was so delicious.
Sunny also gave me some tulips for my kitchen. Flowers always make me smile!
Timmy asked his long time friend, Lexie, to Prom. He jumped at the chance when she came back to visit the school after moving away and told a teacher that she wanted to go to Cottonwood Prom and she wanted Timmy to ask her.
I decided to try doing a little bit of light hiking since I still couldn't get myself to the gym. Hiking is always good for my soul.
The end of the month brought Brian's birthday! He decided to try P.F. Chang's for one of his birthday dinners because it gets so much hype but we have never tried it. It was a fun experience, but he quickly realized why we had never tried it. The food just isn't that good.
We also started making Pizookies again and Brian loves those. He ate three so fast!
For his second Birthday dinner we went to Happy Lamb! This made up for the subpar food at P.F. Chang's.
Luke and Sunny got him a cake. I really appreciate their thoughtfulness because in all we had going on, I kind of forgot to get a cake!
Happy 18 Brian! I cannot believe he is an adult now. How has it been 18 years since he was born? I love him more than can be expressed.
His BYU acceptance/scholarship swag arrived so we had to snap a picture. He also deferred his scholarship at the U to leave his options open after his mission. We'll see where he ends up!
No Pictured in March 2026-Endowed for Life youth meetings at our house on Sundays
-Daylight savings
-Several doctor visits
-Visa photos and mission prep for Brian
-Brian and I running the talent show auditions at school
-New SBO trainings and lunch meetings
-New SBO sweater fittings
-School and work
-Visit from my mom on her way to take my dad to get an MRI. He could not get out of the car on this visit and this was when I started realizing he was not okay.
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