Dinner Campaign 2015

Once again, it is time for our sometimes annual family dinner campaign.  We need your help to select the final two candidates (otherwise, everyone will just vote for their own pick).  Please take time to review the posters, and vote for the meal that you would want it you were coming to dinner at our house next week.  You can vote in the sidebar until Sunday night at 8:00, and then the polls will be closed.  Our family will vote between the top two selections in each category.  May the best meal win.

The nominees are as follows:

Main Dish: Fish Tacos, Mexican Spaghetti Squash, Green Enchiladas, Orange Chicken, Hawaiian Burgers, and Turkey

Side Dish: Grapes, Cornbread, Toast, Breadsticks, Baked Beans, and Peas.

Drink: Water with Lemon, Water with Lemon, Sprite, Rootbeer, Fruit Punch, and Chocolate Milk

Dessert: Pumpkin Roll, Breakfast Cake (coffee cake), Lemon cake, Chocolate Cobbler, Doughnuts, and Cinnamon Tortillas

 

Justin made his posters, and then lost them in the sea of paper that he goes through each day. He opted for one poster, that shows turkey, peas, cranberry sauce, and a green and brown blueberry muffin...even though he's campaigning for chocolate milk and cinnamon tortillas.

Madelyn nominated Breastmilk in every category.

Posters were not allowed.

Brayden made a game to go along with one of his foods. Use the arrow keys to move the bat from left to right and catch lemons in your bowl. See how many you can catch in 100 seconds.

Madelyn Joy

Madelyn Joy was born on Friday, May 22 at 7:14 AM.  She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 19" long. Her middle name, Joy, came from President Eyring's talk during the General Women's meeting of Conference when he said, "Joy always comes after sorrow."  It was just so fitting after our two miscarriages last year.  Also, Joy means happiness, and so does Felicia, and I love that our names have the same meaning.

I have learned by experience how to be happy.   It is by finding out Heavenly Father's will, and striving to do what He wants...not necessarily what I want.  I hope I can teach that to all my kids, but especially to Madelyn. Men are that they might have joy, and according to 2nd Nephi 2:25,  joy is "the potential to become like Heavenly Father".  It is only by making our will in line with His that we can truly find happiness.

Overall my pregnancy has gone well, aside from the usual morning sickness and aches and pains.  I didn't have low blood platelets or thyroid problems like I did when I was pregnant with Justin, and things went relatively smoothly until about a week before she was born. After a long night and day of contractions, I ended up having diarrhea and horrible stomach pains that lasted for over 24 hours and left me dehydrated.  I ended up having to go to labor and delivery for an IV, which immediately stopped the stomach pains.

The following Sunday, I woke up at 5:00 AM having regular contractions.  They were every 3 minutes or so for 6 hours, but they didn't hurt enough to go into Labor and Delivery.  I really thought I was in early labor, but by afternoon they stopped.  A few days later, I gained 8 lbs overnight and had pitted edema and my blood pressure was quite a bit higher than normal for me.  It stayed in the normal range, thankfully, but I had to have it monitored pretty closely for a few days. On Monday morning, after all those contractions the day before, I stopped in at the clinic to have my blood pressure checked.  I had Justin with me, and I left milk and groceries in the car, thinking it would be a quick stop.  After two hours, a non-stress test, and an exam by the on-call doctor, we suspected she was breech.  The next day, I saw my doctor and he did an ultrasound that confirmed she was indeed breech.

My doctor was recently called as a mission president.  One of the things that I have appreciated, is that he is a good man who is sensitive to the spirit.  Before my appointment on Tuesday, I prayed that he would be inspired to know what was best for my situation, and that I would feel peace in that answer.  I cried when we scheduled the c-section, but as we left the room, he turned to me and said, "I really feel that this is best for you and the baby."  His turning and saying that was the answer to my own prayer that I needed, and I made peace with the idea of a c-section, even though it's not what I wanted or ever expected.

Things fell into place and my parents were able to come and be here for a day before my surgery.  Todd and my Dad gave me a blessing, and I knew things were going to be okay.

Todd and I barely slept the night before the surgery.  We had to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM, but I think Todd got up and showered at 2:00 AM because he couldn't sleep.  I had to sleep in the recliner because my reflux had been so bad that I was aspirating it and then coughing for days.  I certainly didn't want to be coughing after a c-section!

We arrived at the hospital and immediately started the "hurry up and wait" process of being prepped for surgery.  It took two tries to get my IV in, and the anesthesiologist came to talk to me about my spinal, and different drug options.  I told him I didn't want any narcotics, because they make me sick. He told me he would use one drop of morphine in the spinal, but that it wouldn't be digested like percocet or lortab, so I agreed to it.  He also mentioned another drug that he said he'd only used a couple times, and if he had to use it I wouldn't remember who I was or what I was doing.  I didn't worry too much, because it sounded rare.

I was wheeled into the operating room, and was surprised because it didn't look anything like the operating rooms I remember from my appendectomy and gall bladder surgery.  It reminded me of a storage room. There were buckets along the wall, and "stuff" sitting around on shelves and tables. They required that Todd stay outside while I got the spinal, so I held on to a nurse who wore too much make-up and perfume during that part of the procedure, and then they brought Todd in as they set up the curtain and inserted a catheter.  They checked to make sure I was numb, and got started.  It all happened really quickly.

I was told that I would feel lots of pressure, but it didn't prepare me for the amount of pressure.  Good gravy...there was A LOT of pressure.  They tried to turn Madelyn from her breech position, but it wasn't happening, so they took her feet first.  I remember hearing her first cry and breaking down in tears. I'm so glad I have that memory.  The anesthesiologist congratulated us, and I'm pretty sure by the sound of his voice that he was crying too.  It must be a cool thing to witness such a sacred event as a baby being born as often as they do.  I remember them telling me her hair was dark, and then they started the process of putting me back together.  At that point I started noticing pain.

The best way I can describe it, is that I felt like an open toy box and they were rummaging through to find the right lego piece...and it wasn't gentle. The pain was more at the top of my belly, near my ribs, but combined with the intense pressure it was quickly becoming too much.  I was gritting my teeth and breathing like I was in labor to try to manage the pain.  The anesthesiologist asked if I wanted Valium, and I was in too much pain to ask what the side effects were so I agreed to it.  The only thing I remember after that is yellow light and people talking, but nothing made any sense.  I found out later that after I had the Valium, I started trying to "help" the doctors stitch me up.  I kept trying to reach around the curtain, and the doctor told me afterward that I grabbed his butt.  At that point, they had to sedate me using that rare drug I had been warned about.

The next thing I remember was trying to wake up in the recovery room.  Madelyn was crying, and the nurse was telling me in a stern voice that the baby was hungry and I needed to wake up to feed her.  Todd was helping me hold her as I attempted to breastfeed, but I faded in and out. I wanted so much to hold and love on my baby, but I just couldn't wake up enough.  My dad stopped by to see the baby (he was on his way back home to Cache Valley), and I vaguely remember him walking into the room, and I realized that I had a wet towel on my head.  Apparently they were having trouble regulating my temperature.  I remember telling the nurse I was nauseated (right before throwing up), and the next thing I knew I was in my room, but I don't remember being moved there.

I remember Todd asking me several times if I was okay, and mentioning that I'd barely looked at the baby.  It wasn't that I didn't want to...I just wasn't "all there" yet.  I spent the day extremely dizzy and throwing up.  I could tell the nurses were a little concerned and that it wasn't a common reaction.  Finally one of the nurses told me that she thought it was from the morphine, and that it would wear off by about 7:00 that night.  Sure enough, between 7:00-8:00 that night the dizziness started to go away, and I was feeling more like myself.  Todd's mom came to visit, followed by my visiting teacher (who is a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital), and then Todd picked up my mom and the boys so they could meet their baby sister.  We had kept her hair color a secret.  Todd sent them a picture of her wearing a hat, so when they came into the room, I took her hat off for the big "reveal".  As you might guess, we had two boys hoping for red hair, and two hoping for dark hair :o). Thankfully, they were so smitten with her "cuteness" that her hair color was the least of their concerns.

It has taken me awhile to write this post because honestly, I've been a little bit traumatized by how it all went down.  It wasn't the birth I had envisioned for so many months.  I was looking forward to two things: rolling over on my tummy after delivery, and the skin-to-skin contact following birth.  I didn't get that with my first three because the hospital I delivered in just didn't do that, so when Justin was born and they immediately put him on my chest I was surprised, but it was my favorite part of his birth.  He was so warm, and I have commented many times as I've told the boys about childbirth how warm he was and how much I loved holding him right away.  When I found out I was having a c-section, they told me I wouldn't be able to do skin-to-skin for about a half an hour.  I knew that by then she wouldn't be as warm and it wouldn't be the same.  I asked if it would be possible for Todd to do skin-to-skin, and they said yes.  I made peace with the idea of a c-section because I was excited that Todd would get to do skin-to-skin and he'd never have had that opportunity otherwise.  I looked forward to watching him hold our baby for the first time...but because I had to be sedated, I missed it.

I am well aware that the most important thing is that my baby arrived safely, and she was healthy, but it's been difficult to process the whole birth experience.  It wasn't beautiful like I imagined.  It was scary, and traumatic. I'm so grateful for my visiting teacher who stopped in to see me in the hospital.  She has experienced a c-section herself, and she understood what I was going through.  She didn't try to point out the fact that I had a healthy baby and should be grateful. She empathized with me, and made me feel okay about mourning the fact that I didn't get the "perfect" birth I'd imagined.  I don't have any pictures of me in labor. I didn't get to listen to the playlist I'd so carefully picked out, or labor in the tub like I wanted.  I didn't get to see Todd hold her for the first time, I spent her first day dizzy and vomiting, and I had to spend the first week of her life in pain every time I rolled over or tried to get out of bed.

I know lots of women who have had c-sections, but I honestly had never given it a second thought until I actually experienced it myself.  It has taken me three weeks to process it all and finally type this out, but I have gotten to the point where I am just grateful that she is here, and healthy.  I keep thinking of this video clip that Todd uses in therapy to describe empathy.  My visiting teacher connected with me on the night of Madelyn's birth, and I'm so grateful for her understanding of what I had been through.  C-sections happen all the time, but they don't happen to me all the time, and because of it, I don't have the fond memories of Madelyn's birth that I had with each of my boys.

I told Todd that I needed to make a book of my pregnancy and the birth, so that I could have a tangible reminder of all my feelings.  I thought it would help me to look back on the whole experience fondly, but as I've worked on the book this week, I've realized that adding colorful backgrounds to my pictures isn't changing the fact that this birth--and the entire pregnancy--was hard.

I think the beautiful part of the story will come as she grows, and as I relish every second of snuggling and enjoying my last baby.  It makes her middle name all that much more fitting.  "Joy always comes after sorrow."

...and the joy has most certainly come.

Oh, how I love this sweet little girl. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me one more chance to snuggle a newborn, and that I get to have a daughter.

I'm pregnant!

I decided to log in to my blog and record Madelyn's birth story while it's fresh on my mind.  Turns out I never even blogged that I was pregnant.  So...I'll do my best to catch up and record all the stuff I want to remember in one post. Thank heavens for Instagram.  That's all the journaling I've done for the past nine months.

I found out in mid September that I was pregnant again.  Because of my miscarriage history, positive pregnancy tests have become a bittersweet thing.  It's just so scary.  I knew I had a couple weeks before morning sickness would set in (if I didn't miscarry), and I wanted to get my house in order and sort of make preparations before I was sick, but I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to just rest.  It was like nothing else mattered, and every breath I took, every activity I took upon myself, and every thought I had was all for this baby.  I cut out any and all extra stress.  I can't even really describe what I was feeling, but I remember it well.

My morning sickness started on October 1st.  I had signed up to go with Dillon's class to Staheli Family Farm for a field trip.  The manure smell was horrible, but I managed to get through the activity, and then spent the rest of the day on the couch.  With every pregnancy (not including my miscarriages) my morning sickness got a little worse, and lasted a little bit longer.  This one followed suit.  The first few weeks were the worst.  My doctor had put me on a baby aspirin and had stacks of documentation showing that it can help women who have recurring miscarriage.  All my energy went into keeping that baby aspirin down!  I laid flat in my bed for most of the day, barely moving to keep from throwing up.  My boys had to fend for themselves and started their 9 mos long journey of fixing their own meals, and taking care of the dishes.  Todd was ridiculously busy with his private practice, teaching two classes at Dixie State, and running Lifestar groups in the evenings...not to mention his calling with the 11 yr old scouts.  He did what he could to help during the week, and then spent every weekend playing catch up on whatever house chores/projects needed to be done.

We had one scare, the day before Thanksgiving, when I had some spotting.  A quick trip to labor and delivery revealed that baby was doing well, and we just continued on in faith.  It's all such a blur...the waiting, praying, hoping, and feeling sick.  It was hard on our family, but now that it's over, it was so worth all the sacrifices.

We found out two days before Christmas that were having a girl!  It was fun to tell the boys and announce the gender to our friends and family on Christmas morning.  I had high hopes that I would be feeling better in January, but it took until the end of February for my morning sickness to go away.  I think it was around 26 weeks.   I had also hoped for a few good months to clean my house and prepare for baby before the aches and pains of late pregnancy set in, but by the time I was feeling better, I was already waddling!  I had so many wonderful friends who helped us through the winter.  We had several meals brought in, and lots of offers to help clean and take care of the housework.  I will be forever grateful for the help we received.

I had three impressions through my pregnancy.  One, was that I needed to watch my sugar intake.  Another was that she would come early, and the third was that her delivery would go quickly.  All proved to be true promptings, though they didn't happen exactly as I thought.  I was worried from 20 weeks on that I would have gestational diabetes.  When it came time for the test, I passed it...barely.  Because I passed, I didn't worry too much, but I wished I would've listened to my gut when at 34 weeks she was measuring almost 6 lbs on ultrasound!  At that point I went on a diabetic diet as a precaution.

I spent plenty of time stewing over my other two thoughts.  I was afraid of my water breaking and either having her at home, or so quickly that there wouldn't be time for my beloved epidural.  I had all kinds of scenarios played out in my head, and what I would do or who I would call if they happened.  I never dreamed that last week I would learn she was breech and that I would have to have a c-section.  Still, she was born a couple weeks early, and the delivery was quick, like I thought it would be.

I'm sure I'm forgetting so many details, and I don't have my pictures available right now, but hopefully I can come back and add in details I want to remember, or maybe put a book together of my pregnancy and Maddie's birth.

Preparing for rain

At the beginning of September, our High Councilman got up in church, and passed along a message from our Stake President.  He told us that we needed to prepare for rain.

After church that day, Todd and many other men from our ward spent nearly four hours filling and delivering sandbags to people in our ward.  It was a great sight to see how everyone came together. I got a hold of some empty bags, and the boys and I filled six bags out of our sandbox to divert the water off of our back deck area.

 As it turned out, we barely got any rain in our ward boundaries.  It came down hard for a few minutes, but the destruction was all around us.  The freeway between here and Las Vegas was destroyed.  I saw news reports and pictures on my facebook feed of other parts of town that didn't fare as well as we did.  Perhaps we were just lucky, or perhaps we were blessed for our preparations. I lean towards the latter.  

I didn't know it at the time, but in my own life I needed to prepare for a different kind of rain. September has turned out to be a difficult month. I'm afraid I haven't always weathered the storm with as much grace as I would have liked, but I am learning.

On Labor Day, Todd and I left the kids at 8:00 PM to run to Staples and buy a printer.  It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision. We'd been without a printer all summer, but the kids needed it for school, and I needed it for my quilting business.  I felt compelled to go that night, even though it was bedtime and it didn't make sense for us to leave.

We got to Staples and realized they were closed.  We knew that Best Buy was open until 9:00, so we turned around in the Staples parking lot, and waited at the light to turn left to go to Best Buy.  While at the light, the man in the left turn lane perpendicular to us, turned into the Staples parking lot (at dusk) and didn't see a kid on his bike, who was crossing in front of us.  We watched this 18 yr old college student, who had no helmet, get hit and thrown in front of our van.

I'll never forget the sound of the brakes and the thump.

Thankfully, he jumped up immediately, and was able to walk, but his head was covered in blood, and one eye was bulging out.  Todd took him to the side of the road and kept him talking, while I called 911.  It's amazing how slow time goes in a situation like that, and how you forget words or how to use your phone.  We were only about 1/2 a mile from the hospital, but the four minutes while waiting for the ambulance seemed like an eternity.  The 911 dispatcher told me I needed to find something to stop the bleeding. All I could find was my gym towel that had been used to wipe Justin's nose, in addition to my sweat.  It was disgusting. Finally,  I found a roll of paper towels and handed them to the victim.  As he took the towels, he turned to Todd and asked, "Am I bleeding?"  I couldn't believe that while his face was covered in blood, and it was pouring out of his mouth, he didn't even know he was bleeding.  I thought for sure he was going to pass out at any moment.

The whole experience was a whirlwind.  Somewhere in there I moved our van for the firetruck, the sun went down, Todd filled out a witness statement with the police, and within 30 minutes it was over. The blood was cleaned up, the ambulance was gone, we took off for Best Buy, and we were able to get a printer before they closed at 9:00.

It was the next day that haunted me.  I kept playing the "What if" game in my mind.  What if he hadn't been breathing? What would I have done?  What if we had taken our kids and they had witnessed this?  What will this kid's mother think when she finds out what happened? Why don't I have medical gloves or a blanket in my van?  What if he had been killed?  Why did I have to see this? Will I run into a situation like this again?

I've gotten over the trauma, but I was a mess for a couple days.  I am so grateful for the paramedics, fire-fighters, dispatchers, and police officers who deal with this every day.

I had a quilt deadline that week, and when I took it out of the box, I discovered that the girl who pieced it for my friend, Vanessa, had forgotten to piece the back.  I cut the selvages off, and got it ready to piece myself, when I remembered that my sewing machine pedal had died the week before, and I had no way to sew it.

It was kind of the "last straw" and I cried.  I tried to think of someone in my ward who had a sewing machine, but everyone I thought of was at work.  I just needed to get this quilt pinned on and started, but instead I had to run my sewing machine into Bernina to have the pedal fixed.  Thankfully, they listened to my "plight" and got it in that very day and fixed it while I waited.  I woke up the next day with a strong prompting that my plan for quilting this quilt was not going to work, and I needed to change the design.  I have never had such a strong impression over a quilt, but I went with it and I'm so grateful I did! It took from 6:30 AM, til 8:00 PM, but I got it done.  I was also reminded that Heavenly Father cares about the details of our lives.

In the midst of all of this, we've had ongoing financial problems.  We've read that it takes 2-5 years to build up a private practice, and we are only a year in.  We have been blessed in so many ways, but we "aren't there yet".  Some weeks Todd has plenty of clients, and some weeks not enough. But either way, we only get paid when they pay.   He had a wonderful secretary who was excellent at collections, but she got cancer and recently quit.  I can't blame her. She has way too much on her plate right now.  Both her dad and brother are currently dying from cancer.  Somewhere in her last couple weeks, she made a mistake with the numbers, and it left us owing a large sum of money to one of Todd's co-workers.  

At the same time, I was also in the middle of setting up payments for our large pile of medical debt from my two miscarriages earlier this year.   I had one really hard day when I realized that this was the week my first baby would have been due, but instead I was setting up payments with our family doctor, OB, the lab, and the radiology dept at the hospital because I just couldn't pay the balances.  I opened up a financial assistance form from my family doctor, and found this sweet note from the lady in the billing office:

I cried, and cried that day. What a sweet, tender mercy.

Later on in the month, we did get some more rain, and were able to put our sandbags to good use. We live on a hill, so as long as we can divert the water from collecting on our back deck, I don't worry too much about our basement flooding, but you just never know.  I'm still in awe when I see pictures of the freeway that was completely washed out.  Todd keeps saying, "We are SO small. We thought we were doing good by filling sandbags, but if we'd gotten the brunt of the storm like Las Vegas or Phoenix did, our sandbags wouldn't have done a thing."  It is a humbling thing to experience, and we are grateful we were spared. 

I don't have any pictures, but around this time we also experienced a lockout at our schools.  I got an email from Brayden's school telling me that the students were in lockout, under direction of the city police department, and that parents were not to come near the school.

There aren't words to describe what happens to your heart when you get a message like that.

Minutes later, Caleb arrived home.  His school had let out just before the lockout took effect, and I was so grateful because he was able to explain to me the difference between a lockout, and a lockdown.  In a lockdown, something happened INSIDE the school.  In a lockout, something happened outside the school.  I was more at peace knowing that everything inside the school was fine.

After a few minutes of searching online, I learned that the lockout was due to a local bank robbery, where there were kidnapped hostages, and the "excitement" was in an area where some of the kids from our school district live.  The story tragically ended with the police shooting and killing the armed suspect, not long after our kids were finally allowed to leave school.  This all happened about 3 miles from our house (as the crow flies).   It was too close to home, and yet, I don't think it's the last time something like this will happen.  It is a different world than when I was in school.  I pray that I can prepare my children for the "rain" that they will no doubt experience in their lifetime, and that they will know where to turn for peace.

All the rain and flash floods we've been having has brought an influx of  "the most venomous scorpions in the US" to our area.  I still have yet to see one, but my neighbor around the corner found one in her yard, and my friend who lives across town has found two inside her house.  Since scorpions eat bugs, we decided it was high time we get our yard sprayed to reduce the food supply. Spraying always brings the critters out of hiding, and we've seen more than our fair share of black widows, and cockroaches this week!

We bought a UV flashlight, since the scorpions come out at night and they glow under a black light.  Our new "date night" hobby is to go scorpion hunting after the kids go to bed.  We haven't found any yet, which we are grateful for, but I hope if they are in our yard we will find them.  (You can't spray for scorpions, you just have to "take care of them" with your shoe) Since Justin refuses to wear shoes outside, and our kids have roller blades that would be a great place for a scorpion to hide, I am on a mission to keep our yard scorpion free.

Last week, Todd's truck started leaking fluid.  He told me about it, just as I was getting up from a prayer...a prayer for strength to go forward in the day and not let anxiety overwhelm me.  There's no way we can afford to fix his truck right now, so I immediately began to figure out how we were going to get everyone where they needed to be with one car.  It was going to be a juggling act, for sure, but I was ready to do it.  I drove Todd to work, and picked him up later that evening.  He had done all kinds of research on google, but couldn't find any major car problem that would cause clear fluid to leak, so we're assuming it's an air conditioning problem and he's been driving his truck anyway.

This week, I broke my toe.  My fourth toe, to be exact.  Who breaks their fourth toe?  It's really turned out to be a blessing, as I now have a painful reminder with every step I take, how much I was taking for granted last week when I could clean my house or go to the gym without pain. It has caused me to reflect, and be more grateful for the blessings I have taken for granted.

As I took my oldest two boys to Early Morning Orchestra today,  I was pondering this post, and found it ironic that I grew up praying for rain.  Living on a farm, our livelihood depended on the crops having water. Watching the weather report every night, and fasting for rain were commonplace. We needed the water so our crops would grow.

I haven't reached a point in my life where I'm ready to pray for the kind of "rain" I'm talking about, though I am more clearly able to see that through the storms of life, I have been able to grow in a way that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

I was talking to my friend, Vanessa, last week, and she reminded me that in the scriptures, whenever we read about a trial or conflict, the people often experienced a period of waiting before their problems were solved.  The very next day, I read the following in Alma 58:7-13:

7  And it came to pass that we did wait in these difficult circumstances for the space of many months, even until we were about to perish for the want of food.
9  ...therefore we were grieved and also filled with fear...
10  Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us...yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our...lands, and possessions, for the support of our people.
11  Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us faith, and did cause us that we should have hope for our deliverance in Him.
12  And we did take courage...and were fixed with a determination...to maintain our lands, and our possessions...and the cause of our liberty.
13  And thus we did go forth with all our might...

We fasted this month for help with our business and finances, and prayed for inspiration.  We know we have been led here, and many opportunities have fallen right into our lap.  We are currently in that "waiting" stage, but I can testify to verse 11. Since our fast, the Lord has blessed us with assurance that it's going to be okay, and we have hope in Him.  I have been able to go forward with peace in my heart, and a greater determination to "go forth with all my might".

I am learning, slowly, to dance in the rain.

July looked like this...

- In July we logged over 60 hours in the car.  We traveled to Cache Valley on the 4th and did fireworks with cousins, watched our neice be baptized, and then spent a week with Grandma and Grandpa while Todd attended conferences/trainings in Salt Lake.  

- The first picture shows my kids with their cousins, playing Lego's at grandma-greats house after Sunday dinner. As a child I always had Sunday dinner at Grandma's house, and I loved that my kids had the chance to experience one of my fondest childhood memories. 

-Justin ended up getting sick while at Grandma's, and spent three days with a fever and the throw-ups. I took him to the doctor when I learned that strep was going around, but it was just a virus (of course). 

-The boys spent time hanging out with cousins in Grandma's "pool".

-On our last night, we built a fire and had roasted peeps and s'mores. Grandma claims it was her first time ever making s'mores.

- We were home for five days (long enough to unpack and re-pack), and then left for our family reunion in Oregon.  This was Justin's first time doing a 20+ hour car ride and he did fabulous, as did the other boys.  

-On the way to Oregon, we got a speeding ticket, and later we were in a small fender bender.  Thankfully everyone was okay, and our car was still driveable so we continued on. This picture shows our $2000 worth of damage.  Good grief.

-We attended church in Klamath Falls, Oregon.  The small church had the articles of faith carved into the side of the building. I've never seen that before. 

-We spent a day at Crater Lake, which was absolutely breathtaking.  The rangers told us that many people actually gasp when they see it for the first time.  I have never seen water so blue.  Because it is in the crater of a volcano, there are no streams going in or out.

-We finally arrived (last, thanks to our accident) at our beach house on Rockaway Beach.  There were eight units, and our extended family occupied five of them.  We all had our own kitchens, and a big backyard with picnic tables, fire pit, grills, volleyball net, and playground...not to mention the ocean.

-While at Rockaway Beach, we barbecued,  toured the Tillamook Cheese factory, rode a Carousel in Seaside, and played on the beach. 

-We got up at 5:45 AM to visit some tide pools while the tide was out.  The kids loved seeing lots of crabs, including many hermit crabs, eels, starfish, and various ocean plant life.  

-There was a charming little train that went past our hotel twice a day.  I loved hearing the whistle, and putting coins on the track :o)  I can finally cross that off my bucket list...

Here we are at Crater Lake:

Oh, how I love the ocean!  The high was 68 degrees, so the water was cold, but it didn't stop the kids for a second. 

They played in that water as if we were in California.

The Ocean Rogue Inn.  We stayed on the bottom floor of the house on the left, under the porch.  

I loved opening the blinds on those windows every morning and letting the sun shine in.

Anything octopus related is an inside joke at our house, so when I found out there was an "Octopus Tree" nearby, I had to get a picture :o).  It was pouring rain while we were there, but we still had a great time.

 

Justin made Crater Lake in the sand (by himself!).  

Todd was beaming that our little detour on the way made such an impact on him.  

He even made "wizard island" and the "ghost ship".

 Todd and his Mom and siblings.  It was so fun to have everyone together for a few days.  

Thanks, Linda, for giving us this opportunity.  We created memories we'll never forget.

June looked like this...

- June started out with more quilting.  I can't show the top, but you can see the quilting from the back. This turned out to be one of my all-time favorite quilts.

- Justin attended the father/son campout for his first time, leaving me  free  , I mean alone, for a good 16 hours or so.  My college roommate and I got together and did some fathers day shopping for our hubbies.

- What is it with boys and electronic gadgets?  Nothing draws a family of boys closer than silly youtube videos.

- Justin regularly picks flowers for me, and it melts my heart every time.  He also has a fascination with bringing me pinecones whenever he finds them.

-We worked and worked in the basement and have everything but the bathroom finished.  We got rid of the dropped false ceilings.  Todd framed them, wired new lights, hung sheetrock, mudded, textured, and installed baseboards.  My job was to paint.  Because it was ceilings, and required priming before painting, I was speckled all week--I had paint in my eyelashes, hair, ears, and everywhere else. Caleb and Brayden are finally back in their rooms and we are trying to find the motivation time to finish the bathroom.

-Todd, Brayden, and Caleb went to Scout Camp for a week and had many adventures.  They came home sunburned, dirty, and brought lots of laundry.  Something I learned is that scout camp actually exists...shh....for the mom.  I went days without needing to do laundry or running the dishwasher and got caught up on so many things.  The house was so quiet.  I dearly love my tweens, but I am already looking forward to scout camp next year :o)

-Justin fell off of our table (There really is a reason for the "no bums on the table rule") and got a nasty owie on his ear.  It didn't bleed...until the next day when he helped himself to a bandaid and put the sticky part right on the scrape. When he pulled it off we had a mess...you can't really put a bandaid on an ear, nor can you convince a bleeding three-year old to sit still.

-As expected, it got really hot in July.  Thankfully not near as hot as last summer, but we did take advantage of the 109 degree weather by baking cookies in our car.  Yes, IN OUR CAR.  It took about three hours, and they looked a little anemic, but they tasted good.

-While the big boys were at scout camp, Dillon and I got some bakeable clay and got crafty.  I made three robots (Todd, Felicia, and Brayden robots), and look forward to finishing my other three once school is back in session.  I had forgotten how much I love creating.  It is so therapeutic for me.  I need to make time to do things like this more often.

May also looked like this...(part 2)

Left to Right; Top to bottom:

-Todd flew to Denver for a training. He was able to fly out from our local airport, so Justin and I got to watch him walk onto the plane, and then we watched it take off. Thankfully he came home the day before several tornadoes touched down in Denver!

-While Todd was gone, I got to take the kids to Stake Conference by myself.  I took this picture as we were walking home.

-Tired boys!  

- I have been quilting full-time this month. I had ten quilts to finish in just over three weeks.  I leave the "tweens" in charge of Justin, and one time when I came in the house I found him wearing underwear, and a box.  The next day, I found him wearing his shirt inside out and backwards.  The look on his face is a good reminder that little kids need their mama!  After this week I can relax...

- Todd's secretary gave us a gift card to a local specialty doughnut shop, and we finally used it to celebrate the last day of school.  We had S'mores, Creamsicle, Blueberry, French Toast, and Lemonade doughnuts, among others.

- Caleb attended Computer Camp the week after school got out.  It was a special class for 7th graders only.  While there, he made a "scratch art" game for Justin, and then came home and made a few more computer games that Justin can play.  

-The last picture is to prove to my Mom that I really do cut their hair every quarter or so, whether it needs it or not.  

Here's a sneak peak of some of the quilting I've been doing.  The quilts will be published, so I can't show much.  Justin loves the fact that Spiderman keeps sending me quilts.

We are slowly getting our basement finished.  We had a flood around Thanksgiving time.  We decided to do the work ourselves so we could save some money and finally replace our false ceilings.  Had we known that after the holidays we'd have two miscarriages back to back, and then company for 5 weekends in a row, we probably would have just paid someone to do it.  It's taking forever!  Todd finished the texturing in Caleb's room yesterday, and we'll paint tomorrow (after I quilt).  Then we'll move on to the hallway, bathroom, and Dillon's room. 

Oh, and speaking of Todd, he is going to be an adjunct professor this fall, teaching two Family Relations classes.  It will give him a bit of a break from doing therapy all day every day, but still allow him to work in his private practice.

Other things that happened, that I don't have pictures for:

-I was released from being a Webelos leader.  I still teach RS once a month, and I'm still on the funeral committee.

-We sold our travel trailer.  It tugged at our heartstrings, but after sitting in Cache Valley last winter (without being winterized) it needed a new floor (linoleum cracked), and possibly had some plumbing problems.  We knew we wouldn't have time or money to use it this year, so when a man showed up at our door offering to pay cash and take it "as is", we made the quick decision to sell. 

-Caleb won an award at school for being a "hero" and holding the door open for his orchestra class every day.  He got a certificate and a t-shirt, but I failed to get a picture.

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