Las Vegas

Well, I'm all alone this week as everyone (Mark, mom, dad, Craig and Eve) all went to Las Vegas for furniture market. I thought about taking the girls and going down there too but since Vegas' motto has been "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" over the last few years, it's become less and less family friendly. Plus it's just way too hot right now and packing three kids around in 115 degree heat all day is not at all appealing to me. So, we are hanging back in Price this week. Darren and his family left to go home on Tues. We had a crazy dinner at Grogg's on Monday night with everyone who was in town. The place was packed-I guess dinner at Grogg's is a pretty popular Family Home Evening activity-and there was one waitress. It took over an hour to get our food and the kids, all of them, were going absolutely nutso.

Emily is in basketball camp this week and next and is really enjoying it. She has such a hard time taking instruction from Mark and I that we have to have other people teach her things that we could very well teach her for free! We went swimming at the Helper pool yesterday and everyone had a blast. Even Josie loves to be in the water. Lindsey is just an amazing little swimmer. She has no fear and will go off the diving board often showing up many kids twice her age. I think she actually thinks she's a dolphin sometimes.

Lake Powell - July

With my brother & his families annual migration back to Utah, we had to go to Lake Powell to celebrate.  We enjoyed some great weather (except Saturday nights wind storm), good water and typical Lake Powell fun.  

We camped at Stanton Creek, went on boat rides upriver, explored canyon fingers, went on a hike to the sand hill, swam, swam and swam.  Emily entered a new stage - knee boarding and cliff jumping.  She did awesome!  Lindsey caught a catfish at camp and Josie floated in her tube.  Can anyone ask for more?

Hospital Visit

I just got back from the hospital visiting with mother. They moved her out of ICU to the regular ward so the girls were able to go with me. Mother seemed to love having them there even though they were bouncing off the walls. She looks good, has color in her cheeks, etc., but when she talks it's like she's aged 15 years. I'm hoping it's just because she's groggy from the pain meds and the tube they had down her throat a few days ago.

She's still experiencing pain and there's still bile drainage which means the bile duct hasn't closed up yet. I had to tell the nurse to speak up when she talks to her because of her hearing. Even though mother nods as if she understands the directions she was just given, she actually didn't hear anything the nurse said.

In other news, Emily has been going to a summer camp at her school with her best friends and is having a blast. They have a theme every week and this weeks is Fairytales and Imagination. Yesterday, they made sock and sack puppets and today each group put on a puppet show.

Lindsey went to a summer camp at her preschool and had a great time too. She has this week off and asks everyday when she's going back to school. She loves it. We've been doing a preschool workbook at home and she cruised through it. She's so ready for preschool.

Josie is almost 7 months old now and is getting to be so cute and fun. She's proving to have just as much energy as her sisters. The girl won't hold still! She's got the biggest smile and she's not afraid to use it!

Father's Day

We had a really nice Father's Day at my house on Sunday with Craig, Eve and girls, Davey and kids, and daddy. Mother was at home recovering from her gall bladder surgery and septic shock that started to show itself a couple of days after the surgery. Eve and I joined forces to make a really good dinner, although Eve's cooking force is much stronger than mine, and we all had to be rolled out the door at the end of the evening. I think all the father's liked the gifts they got, especially daddy who loved the flower pot we gave him with all the grandkids handprints.

The day ended kind of badly when daddy had to take mother back to the hospital because of the extreme pain she was experiencing. The ER was packed so they sent her home and she ended up going back at 4am. They admitted her to the ICU so they can keep a really close eye on the pain and she is still there today.

She did have a really good night and morning because she didn't need any pain medication but this afternoon was feeling quite uncomfortable so they gave her more Demorral (sp). I really hope this passes soon. It is just heartbreaking to see her in so much pain especially after a surgery that is so routine most doctors do it with their eyes closed. Maybe that's the problem. She did have a bath today and the nurse changed her bed sheets. She felt so good, like a new person. And then the pain hit right after she had a popsicle for lunch. She is so frustrated. I'm gong back this evening and I hope she is feeling better.

Do you know this man?

Who knew that Marion cleaned up so nicely?


Or that he had such a pretty granddaughter?

Sisters, sisters...

For the last few months, everyone has been asking for updated pics of the girls. Here are some of my favorites. For Mother's Day, Mark and the girls gave me a hammock stand so I can use the hammock we have been storing for the last 5 years. Unfortunately, everytime I touch it, the girls hop on with me.


Here is Lindsey on her 4th birthday with Hannah next to her. Yes, I made that beautiful, lopsided cake! Lindsey loved it. She had her first friend party with 7 girls from her dance class, church and Hannah and Jaxton. Jaxy stayed outside most of the time. Too many girl cooties floating around.

This is Emily on the last day of school with her awesome teacher, Miss Tawna. She's really going to miss her. Emily had a great year in kindergarten...she is doing upper 1st grade math and reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level. Pretty good for a girl who could only read 3 words going into Kindergarten. Kids are required to pass off 100 sight words (most commonly used words) before going to 1st grade and Emily passed off 1000! She was competing with a boy from her class and one from the class next door. Everytime they passed off another set, Emily would jump up and tell her teacher that she wanted to pass off some more even though she hadn't practiced them and most of the time she did it! I wonder where she got her competitiveness? Grandma and Grandpa?

We are so proud of her and Lindsey might turn out to be just as smart. Emily is teaching her things she learned in Kindergarten so she'll probably start Preschool out way ahead of kids who have been in it for an extra year. We'll see.

Rookie

Okay, so the blog is up and running and I'm feeling quite inadequate. So, this is like a journal but online so everyone can see? Who's brilliant idea was that? I don't keep a journal for just such a reason...I don't want anyone to read it! I'm putting myself out there with this so please bear with me. This is mostly to keep my long lost friends and family updated on my family.