Missy goes to AFY

After mom's surgery, I had to be back in time to get Missy off to AFY (Adventures for Youth).  It is like EFY - they still have the devotionals, dances, motivational speakers and all that, they just spend a big chunk of their day doing high adventures!  Can I say how JEALOUS I am that 1.that they didn't have this when I was a kid and 2.that they don't have it now for adults!!!!

Anyway, here she is before we drive up to Rexburg, ID to drop her, my 14 year old, off for a week on the college campus of BYU Idaho!!!

Luckily she went with a friend which made it so much easier for me to let her go.  This is one of her best friends McKenzie.  Love this girl!

We took them up and dropped them at their apartment - yes apartment!  I was a little nervous she wasn't staying in the dorms! Then the other kids and I took off to see the sights of Rexburg in the couple of minutes I had since I still had a 4 hour drive ahead of me again.

The temple and the bookstore were the only places we stopped to look other than the gas station where I made a monumental mistake.  I told all the kids they could pick something in the store.  They all picked drinks, hence the monumental mistake!  We stopped to go to the bathroom, no joke, 5 times on the way home!!!!  I won't make that mistake again!

Anyway, Missy had a great time!  She learned much about herself and I just hope and pray she takes those things to heart.  Missy was a different kid there - more like she is at home or in very comfortable circumstances.  She was confident, strong and fun to be around.  Sometimes she gets intimidated by others and there she wasn't.  She was just happy being her.   That is something I hope she can take back to school with her this year.  I am so glad she had the opportunity to go.  Her testimony was strengthened (although major bummer for her was that she had brought a temple recommend that was expired and she couldn't go in), her confidence was boosted (especially in her ability to be friends with boys), and she was happy.  All things I want for her!  Love that kid, but didn't love having her gone so long and so far away.

AZ Trip for Grammy's Surgery

Corry's job has some great perks, like being able to have miles to fly places!  So, thanks to him, my sister, my brother and I were all able to fly to AZ to be with my mom for her surgery.

The first night there it was sitting around the table eating chips and salsa and shooting the breeze.

But, true to Peterson eating traditions, you better get your food to your mouth FAST before someone steals your food off your fork, chip or chop stick!

The next day was full of the girls shopping for comfy, easy to get on and off, type clothing for Grammy and an appointment with the breast cancer prosthetic specialist.  Meanwhile, Chris and dad had some painting and yard work to do.  When we all got back together it was off to Golden Gate (our favorite Chinese restaurant by my parents) for dinner.  We have been going there since it opened and the owner still knows my parents by name.  She wished mom well with her health problems and gave us some free yummy pork dish!

After that it was home for some sibling togetherness which Jon LOVED!

Chris did a little research on the origins of Breast Cancer - can I just say how I am GRATEFUL we don't live in the 1500's!!!!  This night was a bit like in Steel Magnolia's the night before Julia Roberts surgery and all the family were laughing and making jokes.  Fun night with the family and such a different experience to be there all together without our spouses and children. 

One thing I just have to mention is how much my parent love each other and support each other.  My dad watches out for my mom in such a tender loving way.  This is incredibly hard on him.  Dad, Jon and Chris gave her a beautiful blessing that night.

The next morning we got up and got ready to go to the hospital.  Chris had this great idea to have all of us get shirts that said "save the ta-tas" and wear them the day of the surgery.  We all laughed, but my mom probably wouldn't have laughed, not her kind of humor, and Nichole pointed out that at that point there was no saving them anyway.  So instead I found shirts for the whole family and we had the breast cancer symbol and Team Linda put on them.  My parents were so touched.  The family wore them all over the country that day in support of my mom.  

And off to the hospital we went to sit and wait... (and play a little Angry Birds)

Everything went well during surgery and the biggest relief came when we found that the lymph-nodes were clean - cancer free.  Little did we know at that time what was in store.  She came out of surgery well and it was fitting for Chris and Jon to feed her ice chips.

Mom recovered quickly - much quicker than expected.  Then she got a blood clot.  That put her back in surgery, home and then more complications and back in for another more invasive surgery.  She ended up with a wound the size round and deep of a mason jar lid.  My dad packed her wound with gauze everyday, the wound was supposed to heal from the inside out.  This was July 19th. (He just stopped packing on August 26th).  July 25th we find out that the cancer was different than expected.  It was a high protein based cancer which meant chemo - our biggest fear and the greatest peace that we had through everything was that she wouldn't have to go through that.  We were all devastated by the news, but it would only get worse.  The next day my Grandma Seeley (mom's mom) fell at her dementia care center in Salt Lake and broke her hip.  It was a very difficult day for my mom.  But, she is amazing and a very strong woman.  She chose to see the blessings, as small as they may be, in her life.  Other blessings were HUGE!  The best news from the pathology report was that all the cancer was really removed and that the lymph-nodes really were clean.  The chemo is purely precautionary to make sure this very fast growing cancer didn't spread.  Doing the chemo drops her down to a 15% chance of having a recurrence. 

Grammy Loves yellow, so before we picked her up, we stopped by and bought her yellow roses.

Julie sent her this beautiful pink bouquet

Playing games after she got home.  (That would have been my choice of activities too!)

It is amazing the closeness we have felt as a family over the past few months.  I love my parents dearly and it has been hard to see them suffer, but I know the Lord's hand is in all this and we have something to learn.  Pray we learn it quickly! :)

Fun With Friends

So one of Fuzzy's best friends, Kennadie, is ADORED by Alli!  So one night Fuzzy had Kennadie over and before I sent Alli to bed, they gave her a makeover...

Alli was in heaven that they paid attention to her.  I love friends who treat all my kids with kindness.  The girls still got to have their fun alone after she went to bed, but this one little girl will always remember that her sister and her sister's friend took the time to play with her.  I LOVE that!

BTW - Alli is a little sassy, don't you think?

Scotty Plays Baseball

Against my no summer activities rule, I signed Scotty up for coach pitch baseball.  He loved it and improved so much for not having played for 2 years.  I love that he works hard at whatever sport he is playing, even if he is not the best, he works hard.  Love that boy of mine!  He even had some great plays in the field and became a better hitter!

July 4th

It was back to Johnson's on the 4th for more swimming fun!

Fuzzy was amazing and took care of Jack the whole time - like 4 hours in the pool with him.  Way to go Fuzzy!

Sadly it was our last day with Paco and Sta before they headed back to Kentucky.  We had a blast with them doing this the whole two weeks they were out, but we must have had too much fun to stop and take any pictures.  We went to the pool, we did crafts, we went to lunch, we just hung out... all the things we miss being so far apart.

Even cute little Emily got to come around for our party!

Of course there was rootbeer and homemade ice cream... yummy!!!  This year they tried making cream soda too and that was delicious!

Mike, Matt and Adam got this spinning around so fast!! The kids had a blast on it!

Although it looks like Fuzzy was getting a little sick!

Scotty and one Kierstin (I think) wrestling.  They were doing this for a long time before I got the camera out.  They were having a blast together!

And then this happened...

and there was one unhappy boy, so then this happened...

and then this tried to happen, but didn't!

Thanks Papa Kurt and Grandma Barb!  Always a great time at your house! We love you Johnson's!