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Sunday, July 24, 2016

Timp, swimming & Teeth


This week the girls finally, finally, finally found swimsuits that fit.  I love running errands with my girls but I was done looking at swimsuits!  We tried to get all errands done Monday because Tuesday was Taylor's day.


Taylor checked into the hospital for the day to have a root canal on his front tooth that he killed last year done, five cavities fixed, teeth deep cleaned and 3 wisdom teeth removed.  One tooth did not want to come out which meant some bone had to come out too.  He was not happy and is slowly eating and drinking again and its a very slow process.  Worst part is that for the first day you couldn't pack his mouth with gauze like Spencer did so blood just poured out of his mouth.  And he couldn't be on all the anti-swelling pills like Spencer because it reduces clotting.  So chipmunk cheeks!  I tried squeezing his cheeks the second day to get him to open up for pain pills and his mouth just started bleeding again so I decided that wasn't a good idea.

He stayed home cozy in his beanbag for the week with me trying to get him to drink every few hours.  Kids watched him for a few hours Wednesday and Thursday morning while I did my last days of work.  And then Friday Jeremy and Allison took special care of Taylor while I got to hike Mount Timpanogous with my friend Monica.  20 miles in 9 hours, 20 minutes.  It was a gorgeous, awesome hike.  And no altitude sickness this time thanks to lots of water and Tylenol.  Although Monica came prepared with some anti-nausea pills as did I in case I started loosing it all over her shoes again.  We even saw lots of mountain goats that walked the trail with us.  Come home tired and happy to girls ready to get snow cones and a family anxious for dinner and grocery shopping.  Thankfully Jeremy did the weekly grocery trip with me so I could take it easy!

3 hours in I found the only "toilet" on the trail.  Has the best view for a latrine I have ever seen.  For some reason it just made me laugh.


Wildflowers were everywhere and super gorgeous.


But the last mile is above the timberline and is up pretty high.  That highest peak in the distance is the end where they have erected a little shack so you know you are on top.



Robyn had her last swim meet on Saturday.  Jeremy was gone for the day shooting but Spencer brought Allison over to watch the last event.  Allison cheered Robyn on (Spencer had to leave for work) and Robyn swam the hardest I have ever seen her.  Think it hit Allison what an influence she has as it was very obvious Robyn was trying to impress her.  I was a timer for the meet so Robyn sat with Taylor by the bullpen to make sure she could hear when her events were up.  This super nice family watched out for Taylor and moved him to the shade as the sun came up.  I was grateful for people who are kind.

Saturday night Jeremy and I got to do a bike ride and dinner with friends.  There is something about flying down Provo canyon in the evening that just puts a smile on my face.  Plus an enormous snow cone after that I had to eat all by myself while Jeremy watched.  He has much more will power than I do!

This week I took the math placement exam again and didn't pass.  I was quite mad at myself and at the test!  I can take it once more in August so I am still studying hard on it.  Jeremy continues to get thinner and has had a bunch of photo shoots this week.  He is really good about taking Allison as an assistant whenever he can.  Spencer has been working a bunch which I am grateful for.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Denver & Family


Allison is having adventures this summer.  She packed up to go spend a week with her cousins in Denver.  There was lots of negotiating as she tried to figure out the longest she could stay there and she just loved every minute of it.  Thanks to Mimi sending me photos we got to share in a bit of her fun.


There is something magical for Allison about little cousins who just love her and want to play with her and don't push buttons like little sisters do!  Coming home was a tough transition for Allison!

With Allison gone, Robyn enjoyed having a cousin weekend here with Kayla.  We had a chicken get pecked to death by the other chickens and of course it was Robyn's chicken.  Jeremy took the girls to go buy some 2 month old chickens that they put in a bin to get a little bigger before we introduce them to the coop.


Robyn named the white one Rosie and that was hers...Now fast forward to a week later when Robyn has the chicks out playing in the pen (which the white chick can squeeze through) and she forgot and let Jasper out.  White chicken was shaken to death.  Lots of tears for Allison who was babysitting her.  We are not the best chicken owners.

Robyn also had her first swim meet.  She thought warm ups were at 6:30 and she didn't wake up till 6:20.  Lots of tears (we are in the tearful emotional stage of life often with Robyn right now).  Ends up we were the first ones there at 6:40 as the warm ups didn't start till 7!  Kayla was just astonished that Robyn thought being late was such a big deal.  (We are trying to teach our kids that being late is not the end of the world.  Evidently they have taken our habit of being on time and then its been amplified in our kids!)  She did awesome at her swim meet and loved competing against her friends.


We have gone to the pool most Saturdays.  Jeremy has been busy teaching our kids how to do dives off the diving board.  Jeremy is still in the middle of his diet and is doing great at it.  We all feel like we have to eat healthy too with him around which is good for all of us.




Spencer has been working most afternoon/evenings but one night he had off so we all went (minus Allison) to see our annual outdoor musical at SCERA.  And of course snow cones are mandatory.  Its one of my favorite summer traditions.


For the Fourth this year after going to the pool we went to the city fireworks.  Spencer was almost in tears when he realized that we weren't shooting off a bunch of fireworks at our house.  Laying in the park watching fireworks for an hour was fun and I learned how to play Phase 10.  But we are going to celebrate the 24th this year so Spencer can use a propane torch to set off some fireworks.


Robyn and Jeremy were able to go to a Bees Baseball game one night and Robyn enjoyed some solo Dad time.  This weekend the girls were able to go with Jeremy to a Daddy/Daughter campout.  They had a great time hanging out together.  With Spencer gone to work, Taylor and I spent the evening making brownies and doing homework in a quiet house - it was awesome - plus a bunch of girlie TV shows.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Camps, and more Doctors


We took Taylor to respite, Robyn to cousins and then Allison and I left for Girl's Camp at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.  Its around 3 hours from our house and we had a great, super relaxed time.  Couple of hiccups such as the water spouts at the campsite were decorative (seriously who sticks in decorative water spouts!), there was one porta potty for 60 girls (we had 3 more delivered the next day), the service project the camp host picked was to pick up trash on an 80 mph freeway (we ate the ice cream sandwiches she provided and said no thanks we aren't taking little girls onto the side of the freeway), and a train track right above our camp where long, long trains went on all night long using their horn.  But those will make great bonding memories! 


This camp was a very laid back week of playing games and hanging out.  One night they went to the hot pots (I had to drive down to Logan for class for the night so I missed it) and one day we went to the pool.  There were funny skits and group games and an awesome Mirror Activity where the girls went though a trail of mirrors and posters where they read quotes aloud while looking at themselves or had leaders talk to them about how much God loves them.  It was an awesome experience and fun to see Allison playing with her friends.


The other leaders thought I could use some more bling in my life and got me an awesome camp hat.  If the sun hit right I could blind you at 100 feet.


We came home Saturday afternoon, tired, dirty and hungry (Jeremy picked us up and I had him just drive straight to Costa Vida) and everyone else arrived as we dove back into cleaning up and recovering.   Robyn started throwing up the day we left from Girl's Camp and was under the weather for a few days and was glad to come home.  I have an amazing sister in law who let her lay on the couch and recover during the week.

While we were at Girl's Camp, Spencer was off for his High Adventure of canoeing the Gunnison River.  No sunburns or injuries but he was super sore for a few days after:



Now to the doctor's part.  Jeremy took Spencer in the day we left for Girl's Camp for his physical as he needed it for his trip the next day.  He has had a big bump on his clavicle that looks very funky.  So when we got back from camp we headed in for an x-ray.  It didn't look broken which is what they thought but somehow he has developed a huge callus there.  We are thinking its from weightlifting and hitting himself there too much.  So he need to change his technique!  But we just have to watch it to make sure its not something else.


Girls had physicals this week (Robyn was so sad that she is only supposed to get to 5'6" or 5'7" as she really wanted to be as tall as her aunt Mimi!).  I visited the dentist.  And then Taylor...


He still was not doing great so Tuesday after work I was back in the emergency room with him.  They kept him there throughout the afternoon and night.  He actually was less blocked up than the previous week but he needed some more aggressive treatment.  Things got moving again and he came home to spend the week lying around with me and learning to eat again.


For example one afternoon we took Robyn and her friend to the pool and Taylor and I spent the afternoon laying in the grass.  What a great excuse to curl up with him and nap too!  I like playing in the water with Taylor and kids but sometimes I really enjoy the enforced breaks!


Spencer and Allison had their eye appointments this week and once again have gotten closer to being legally blind...which means more expensive contacts.

And the fun stuff.  Jeremy got a set up to show movies in our backyard.  So of course we have had to try it out this week:


Allison signed up to volunteer at a horse therapy place for girls.  She started this week and is very excited about it.


Saturday night we left Taylor for the night and went to BYU's stadium of fire.  Tim McGraw performed and was amazing.  We enjoyed our seats up in the "cheap seats" although we wished we could hear a bit better.  We have told our kids over the year that we would do this one day so this was the year.


By the end we had entered cranky Robyn mode so today was definitely a nap day!