Scattered Thoughts

 1. Guard was so excited for Deacon's camp. His first year at YM camp! They camped at Green River State Park and took in all the fun in the area. They rafted down the river, scrambled at Goblin Valley, golfed in Green River, hiked in Arches (Guard missed this because of an upset stomach - too much sugar!), and had a blast hanging around the campground.

Guard's favorite activity was the rafting, but he truly loved all of it. He is blessed to have such amazing leaders who really do care about the boys. (I'm so sad I didn't get any pictures of his leaving or coming; I guess he really is the youngest child!)

2. While Guard was at camp, Kate and I attended the Utah Valley Parade of Homes. It was so much fun! We had an amazing time touring the houses, critiquing the decor, absorbing all the good ideas, and laughing at the crazy things we saw. I loved spending three days with just her. We came home tired each night, but it was so worth it!

3. The day after Guard got home from camp, he went to Space Camp for five hours. I was worried he would be too exhausted, but he had so much fun.

Father's Day

 Father's Day this year was so fun! We invited Grandpa and Grandma Randall and the Kellys over for BBQ pizza and visiting. Dinner was great; Greg did a wonderful job with the pizza. I made one of Greg's (and Dad's) favorite treats - Bavarian Dessert. And then the kids played and the adults visited. It was very relaxing and so good to be with family. We are trying to be with my dad as much as possible since his recent diagnosis of dementia. We don't know what the future holds; we are taking advantage of all the time we have. I love my dad so much! I'm trying not to panic about the time we have left, but be thankful and mindful of what we do have.

(Guard and Grandpa at the piano that both of them played as boys.)

We are so beyond thankful for Greg! He is the foundation of this family. His children know he is their #1 supporter. He loves completely. He lives to serve and spend time with his family. We are so blessed!

Yellowpine 2024

I'm not one of those people that like visiting the same place twice. There are so many incredible places to see in the world, that why would you keep going back to the same place? There are only a few destinations that keep our attention and we are willing to revisit...Lake Powell, winter Yellowstone, Moab/Green River, and my favorite, Yellowpine Campground in The Basin of Utah. 

Yellowpine is truly my spot. As soon as I see the turnoff to the campground, my shoulders lose their tension and drop an inch or two, my constant headache lessens, and my smile eases out of its hiding place from behing a life of stress. It is beautiful, quiet, safe, and happy. I love it!

This year felt a bit different. After reflection, I think we are all getting older. My parents are slowing down, especially Dad. Enoch and Kate are maturing and don't have the same enthusiam for our traditional Yellowpine activities like water balloons and water rockets. I've been considering how to faciliate a transition so my family still enjoys our time here. I've been pondering and pray that I will have some ideas for next year.

Even so, we still have an incredible time! It is amazing to me that despite your age, we all love throwing rocks in a body of water. Everyone - boys and girls, old and young. We always make a trip to the Upper Stillwater Dam and simply throw rocks.

Later that night, we drove back up to the dam around 10pm. There was a slight possibility of Northern Lights and we wanted to check it out. Sadly, we didn't see any Aurora Borealis, but we did see an amazing sunset. It is incredible what you can see without the interferring lights of the city.

The next day was filled with games and off-roading. Since we camped so early in the season, we ran into a few snowfields and an abundance of flowing water. The Jeep sported its summer splatter after many rides through the forest. 

Later that day, we prepped for our Glow Parade. Every year, we walk around the campground and give glow sticks to all the children. Afterwards, our kids ride their bikes, with both their bikes and themselves glowing, around the campground a few times. It is one of our favorite traditions!

It was an amazing weekend! We had so much fun with family in the woods. We can't wait to go back next year!

Family Search Center

One of Enoch's opportunities as a Service Missionary in the Orem, Utah mission is to serve at the Family Search Center in Lehi. When picking his assignments, he vacilated about Family Search. He decided to give it a try and has really enjoyed it. He serves in Tech and helps people with the scanning machines - photos, books, slides, home movies, etc.

Today, carrying a big, heavy photo album, we visited Enoch. He taught us how to scan in old pictures, enhance them, and save them to Family Search. Guard did a few pictures and then we went exploring throughout the center.

Kate did most of the pictures and scanned in almost 450. These were pictures of my parents in the early days of their marriage from the year 1975-1978. It covered a lot of life events, including their marriage, their days at BYU, my birth, and the death of my mom.

It felt so good to get those pictures out of a sticky-back album and onto the computer. They looked so good as well, with the computer automatically correcting the color and bluriness. After scanning, we had lunch with Enoch at the Cafe. He loves eating there because missionaries get a 70% discount. He can have a huge lunch for only a few dollars. Guard loved it too. He got one of his favorites - cocount shrimp along with fries, a drink, and frozen yogurt.

It was a fabulous morning! We can't wait to go back and do more scanning.

 

Oak's Injury

It's a good think we love these bunnies so much, because they can sometimes be trouble!

Guard came running upstairs last Friday morning in a panic. Oak was injured, badly. He didn't know what happened, but Oak was bleeding and Cedar and Honor were in different rooms in the Bunny Condo. (We assumed Cedar jumped into Oak's room through the 2 1/2 inch opening at the top, attacked Oak, and then Oak jumped into Honor's room. Unneutered male rabbits can be very vicious towards other males when they reach puberty.)

We immediately started calling vets in the area (our vet did not have any openings that day and Oak couldn't not wait through the weekend, plus Monday since it was Memorial Day). Rabbits are considered exotic animals in Utah, so it is difficult to find a clinic that will treat them. We finally found a vet in Lindon that treated rabbits and had an opening in the early afternoon.

We kept Oak as comfortable as possible until his appointment. He was quite a mess. Cedar had attacked his testicles and they were hanging out of his body. The vet, Dr. Hanson, was very concerned, rescheduled his later appointments, and took Oak in for emergency surgery. 

A couple of hours later, I picked him up. His surgery went well. His body temperature wasn't coming up as quickly as they would like, so they suggested I snuggle him until he was warm again. Guard and Greg were camping with Cahoons, so Kate and I were on bunny duty until the next morning. I held Oak all night and finally his temperature returned to normal. He recovered quickly, the worst part was his hatred of the cone (which only lasted two days), getting his medicine and food through a syringe, and having to live inside for two weeks. He's a fighter and we are so happy he is his happy self again!

 

Early Morning Awake Up Call

 My heart still beats a bit erractically even thinking about it. The shock of coming out of a deep sleep to a blaring alarm screeching Fire! Fire! Fire! is never how you want to wake up. Especially at 1:30 am. My first thought was I couldn't smell smoke, but I was also still half asleep, my brain groggy. Greg jumped out of bed, quicker on the uptake than me. He rushed out of our room to find Kate standing right there. That girl is quick! She made it upstairs in seconds!

A few moments later, Enoch was standing in the kitchen asking what was going on. Greg was rushing around the house looking for a fire, Enoch and Kate were trying to find the detector that was going off (turns out it was all of them since they are connected), and I was running down to Guard's room because we hadn't seem him yet. He was curled up in bed, the blankets pulled over his head, and his hands covering his ears. Yeah, afterward we had the talk about what to do when the fire alarm goes off!

Soon we all gathered in the kitchen, realizing that there wasn't a fire, but a faulty battery. It did take us quite awile to figure out how to turn on the alarm. We finally realized it was the detector just outside the master bedroom and we had to rip it off the ceiling and forcably remove the battery. It wasn't easy. The next day, Greg replaced all the batteries in the dectactors with fresh ones. Hopefully, we have another seven years before we go through that again!

Ice Skating In Lehi

 Lehi is really coming up in the world - we now have an ice skating rink! It's small, it's temporary, it's full of divets, but it's ours and we couldn't wait to try it out. Thankfully we had a friend who organize a skate party with a bunch of homeschool friends. I didn't know that this party was on the last day the rink was open, so we were doubly blessed to snag a spot and go.

Kate loves ice skating and has been a decent amount. It showed. She glided over the ice and built up some speed (not a lot, it really was small and crowded). But, she always had a smile on her face.

Guard had never been ice skating before and it showed. In the beginning, he hugged the edges with his hand always on the fence. It didn't take long before he ventured out into the rink and had a great time. Before we left, he was pretty comfortable on the skates and was quite steady.

It was such a fun afternoon! We are hoping that Lehi has an ice skating rink next year!

New Shocks for the Jeep

 We love our Jeep! Greg loves his Jeep! Our family loves our Jeep!

But man, they are money pits!

That's okay; it has given us so many fun times together as a family. Plus, Greg never asks for much, so I'm coming to terms with the money being spent on this car.

For Christmas, Greg got new shocks for the Jeep. He and Gavin decided they could tackle this project on their own. I'm not sure in the beginning they realized what it would involve, but they did it! It took about seven hours longer than they thought, a few new tools midway through, and having to make adjustments to the instructions for it to work on our specific Jeep, but they did it!

Saturday morning, they started and completed the back and some of the front by midnight. They were hardy, working in the cold garage and dealing with frustrating setbacks.

Monday afternoon, Gavin came back down and they finished the front. Greg and Gavin both enjoy cars, but they haven't really taken on big projects with repairs and improvements. This was a pretty big project. Greg watched a lot of YouTube videos and they tweaked and adjusted when bars needed to be shaved off and things didn't fit quite right. They were happy to be done and I hope they are proud of their work. I'm proud of them! 

We can't wait for some awesome off-roading this spring!