August.5- July Updates

It's been such a crazy busy summer! Let me back track to some of the main events.

June.16th-30th was Usborne Books & More convention. It was an amazing experience. I loved seeing some of my old friends, making new ones and learning and growing. It was pretty cool to learn from great leaders and teachers. The absolute highlight for me was Christy Wright.  She is an business guru and I have been listening to her podcasts for months. She is so inspiring and real and fun. She is also a Dave Ramsey personality so I felt especially connected to her. I loved hearing her inspiring words and learning from her. I got my picture with her and was able to chat with her for a couple minutes. It was dumb though, i felt so star struck I'm pretty sure I mumbled over my words and forgot half the things I was going to say. Dang it ha! I came home exhausted but refreshed at the same time. I'm grateful I am a book lady and the avenues it has brought me.

July.4th- We went floating the river that afternoon. We had such a good time and it was fun. However, Thomas had a scary thing happen on the kayak. He thought that me and the kids were going to hit a tree so he came to help us and got in the way and got sucked in to the tree. He got pretty banged up, up against it. Eventually it pulled him under, but thankfully he popped right up. It was pretty scary to watch especially considering that that is how a girl in my home ward in Canada died. She got caught in a tree branch and pulled under :( Thomas had lots of scrapes and bruises but thankfully was okay. Thank heavens for watching angels. After the river we went to Trisha's and spend the rest of the day out there hanging out, eating, and doing fireworks.  It was a good day and we got home late, but thankfully i didn't book any classes the next morning.

July.11- Kasen got his tonsils out. It was basically a horrible experience the first few days. Poor little guy does NOT like anesthesia. Poor kiddo started throwing up an hour after surgery. He was in a lot of pain and kept throwing up over and over and over again. Once he had thrown up 7 times I began to worry. He couldn't hold down his pain meds, his anti nausea, or ANYTHING to suck on or drink. He continuted to throw up until finally after 1 am when he had thrown up 13 times I took him to the hospital. He couldn't keep down anything including his pain meds, so he was in so much pain that he couldn't swallow. I am so glad that I did take him in. They hooked him up to an IV, gave him fluids, anti nausea straight to the veins and pain medication, which is exactly what I thought and was hoping they would do. Luckily he stopped throwing up after that and although he continued to have an uneasy stomach at least he was able to start healing.  We had so many people thinking of and praying for us. Marie McLean brought us dinner that night and Cortney Jones brought dinner the next night and Amber Harris brought things for us to cook the next night. Amber Harris also helped with picking up prescription and Lindsey Stephenson did once too. Somer Hodges watched Leah for a few hours so I could sleep that day and Emily Wrathall watched Layton. We didn't get home till 5:30 am after the hospital.

July.23-We drove to La Grande, OR to see and stay with the Hutchins! We left around 9:30 am and got in at 4:45 pm. It takes us a long time with all the stops (mostly for me to pee hahaa) i have to got stop drinking so much water on trips. But we also obviously get to stop in Baker City and visit Kyrum each time. We always spend a good amount of time there because we don't go often. I can't believe he would have been 6 years old now. It's always such nice weather when we go and I love feeling the peace and remembering him. I miss him so much.  We got to Teija's and visited for a bit. Janae and her kiddos were there too. We visited then went to Beckett's soccer game, but a random summer thunder storm rolled in and it POURED so the game was cancelled. We ran to our cars, ran home and hung out the rest of the night. Too bad we couldn't see Beckett play.

July.24-The next day we drove about an hour up the mountains toward Baker City to go for a hike. It was really fun and adventurous. There were a lot of bugs but we had a lot of fun. The kids loved it and all did really well. We had lunch at a water fall and it was so beautiful. After lunch we ventured further and climbed a pretty steep mountain that was us just climbing big boulders all the way up. It was awesome. We almost went of trail back, but after handing the kids down toward one another over a short cliff and Brady checking out the route ahead we decided to turn back the way we came. I wanted the adventure of the unknown, but it's probably best we came back the way we went in. The hike down was fun and we didn't have any injuries which is great. We got home around 3 and everyone just kind of hung out. I took a short little nap. With going to bed way late, and the time difference etc, i was a little wore out, plus why not rest for a bit?

July.25- In the morning we went berry picking. It's always fun to just chat while berry picking. The kids took turns riding the horse (Rocky). The boys didn't really care, but Leah LOVED riding. It was her favorite thing ever and she wanted to stay on all day. It made my heart happy. We went to the lake today. It was a lot of fun. We borrowed kayaks, visited, swam, played on the dock and all around just had an awesome time. It's so fun to spend relaxed fun time with family. Luckily, my heart was full of love for everyone.

July.26- Janae, Teija and I all went horse back riding at 7 am. It was so fun and awesome. I miss riding so much. I wish I had a horse to go on. I'm glad Teija was able to make it work and that we were able to go. I don't get to go riding often so when I do, and especially when it's with my sisters it's pretty much the best. When we got back I packed up our stuff and loaded up the kids and we headed to Mom's. At mom's I got some laundry going, cleaned out the van, visited, etc. Once everyone else got to Mom's we had lunch and then went swimming at mom's friend's house (Gaylene). She is so sweet and the water is amazing and her pool is SO fun! We had a BLAST playing for like 3 hours. It was too soon when we had to leave. I'm so grateful for generous people who let us use their pool! We came home and had a BBQ. The kids all played games all night and we had a great time. We also went to the church and helped mom and dad clean the chapel, then we played in the gym for a while.

July.27- Thomas' birthday!!! We were sad we weren't home for his birthday, but he invited his old friend Kacy Bowen who lives in Logan, UT up for the weekend so i'm glad they got to hang out. This morning we went to the temple at 8 am. Me, Teija, Janae, Mom and Dad all got to go. It was good, but hard to stay awake.  When we got back, Teija and I went to Costco, Janae went to visit her inlaws, and Mom and Dad had to go to baptism. We all reunited for lunch and then we went boating! It was a lot of fun. Layton loved tubing. Kasen and Leah preferred the boat. I got to go on the tube and boat both and it's so fun to be on the water. I love water sports so much. I just wish we had more time to go. When we were done boating, Mom, Janae, Teija and I and the little kids (8 and under) went to another pool and went swimming. This was SO fun too! I swam the whole time with the kids (Leah was pretty grumpy and whiny), eventually I just decided to leave her be and she got over it. I got some goggles and it was so fun to see everything under the water and practice flips and diving etc. Such good times. THen we went home, got showered, and went out to dinner (the adults anyway). We went to a Mexican place and it was super yummy!!!

July.28th- Played ticket to ride in the morning with the boys, then got ready for church, went to church and then went home. Packed up and headed to Teija's. Had dinner there, played "Code Names" and visited. Such a good trip.

July.29th-We headed home today and got home around 4. We stopped in Baker City again in the early morning to visit Kyrum. It's so hard to go and visit, but also healing in a sense. We had a few potty stops, had snacks, the van ran well. It was good. Trisha invited us to dinner that night so Thomas and I went. It was SOOO good! YUMMMY!  I'd totally eat there again!! (The Hickory). We came home, got the kids to bed, did some laundry and packed for girls camp.

July.30th- Left for girls camp.