I am so lousy at this blogging thing!~ This is going to be a book! Let’s see… I guess I’ll start with Family Camp. It was a long ride up there. Oh wait! I need to start with the weekend before so it all comes together right!! Okay, About the middle of June, Robin and Travis finally got the word to set the date to go to the temple. So they were scrambling to try and find a good date. We told them to just pick a date and we would be there and whoever could come from other parts would come. So they chose the last weekend in June.
Travis and Robin chose the last weekend in June because they wanted to go to Salt Lake and the temple was going to be closed for maintenance in August, and they didn’t want to wait any longer, so they called and the temple had two openings! We had to bail out on the big Boy Scout fundraiser spaghetti dinner we had planned for Friday night, but everyone understood so it was good. They handled it just fine.
So, Blaine, Amber and I headed to Salt Lake on Thursday and stopped in Kanab I think. Could have been further down the road, I don’t remember. Anyway, we got there Friday morning. Tama and Karlo got there Thursday night as did Robin and Travis. So they were all just waiting on us to arrive. The grandkids all had great fun playing with each other!
Friday night we went with them to the temple and the kids all stayed with Evie and Shiela at the motel. After the session, we went to dinner and hung out. Then on Saturday, we got up and got everyone ready and left the Stucki girls with Maggie and Mandie while we all went to the temple. Oh my gosh, it was so cool!! When we all went into the sealing room, Evie and Shiela and Robyn were already crying! Didn't take long for the rest of us to catch up to them though!
One of Travis’s friends from college came with his wife. Matt used to work for Travis at the barn and it was a nice surprise for them to have him show up. He’s a nice kid. Anyway, first they sealed Travis to us. Which was way cool! We have waited a long time to complete our family!
Then they sealed Travis and Robin. Robin was crying so hard I didn’t know if she would get the words out! And then…. They brought the kids in!! We all lost it then! You should have seen these three sweet babies come in all dressed in white! Kolby ran up to me and said, “Look grandma, I got a white tie like my dad’s!” He was so cute! Then Baylee asked Blaine why everyone was crying. So cute. The sealer talked to the kids for a minute and then they all kneeled at the altar. It was so perfect!
Kolby was so cute in his white tie, and the girls were gorgeous in their dresses! Taylor looked like an angel in her little dress! What a perfect day and we were so glad that some of the family could come! Robin was so thankful that they came. She just kept saying, I can’t believe anyone came this close to camp and all. I just told her for something this important, they will come!
It was a fast weekend, on Sunday morning we got up and headed back for home! We took Kolby, Baylee and Abbie home with us. (I know…. Temporary insanity!) But it was just for three days so it was good. They were really good in the truck and just laughed and played and kept each other entertained.
We got home early early Monday morning. Amber and Blaine went to work, I worked from home on the computer and did laundry and the kids hung out in the pool and played. While they were here, we took them to the splash park, Chuck E Cheese, shopping and spent a lot of time in the pool! Wednesday we loaded up for the trip to Wyoming. The kids were way good on the trips and just played and watched movies. We took several breaks for them and played around quite a bit on both trips.
We got to Boysen on Thursday evening. The kids were glad to see their parents but still had fun with us! We had a good time at camp. My family crashed camp. My mom wanted to see all the kids and since we were so close, I said, well we’ll be in the canyon so come out and see us. So they showed up with their camper and stayed the weekend! I invited my brother Marty to come and he showed up with his camper so that was cool. They shared our spot and we had a good time visiting. My mother invited Stormy and Lauri so they showed up too. It was nice to get to see all the family that was there.
My mom always complains that none of us call her enough. I told her the phone works both ways and so now I am having a contest of sorts to see just how long it takes her to call me. I ALWAYS am the one to call her and so far….I haven’t heard from her since before camp. We shall see….
After camp, we went to Travis and Robin’s and then the next morning Blaine, Karlo, Travis, Dan and Kolby went up the mountain for their pack trip. Karlo and Tama were to meet their ward for their handcart trek so they just had a base camp set up and then we went up there on Tuesday night and left Tama so she and Karlo could leave on Wednesday and go to their trek. I had their girls with me and it was fun for them to get to play with Baylee and Taylor. We had a princess party and did fun stuff with them.
The most traumatic thing was giving Kallie her shots. She has to have a growth hormone shot every night before bed. I had to make myself give it to her one night just to prove to myself I could do it if I had to. So I did it, and I cried for about 15 minutes which made Kallie cry for longer. She usually only cries while you hold her still then she is fine once it’s over. Anyway, Amber was there and she gives shots to her clients and stuff so she knows what she’s doing so she did the shots and I did the holding and comforting afterward! Much better!
For Tama’s birthday all of us girls went into Cheyenne and went to the paint your own pottery place and the little girls each painted a little worm for me and something to take home, Tama did a vase, Amber did a little fairy, Robin did a bowl and I did an elephant piggy bank. It was way fun and Tama loved it. She loves pottery! Then that night we took her up to meet Karlo.
They had a good time on their trek and we met them at Martin’s Cove with Abbie and Kallie. Blaine and Travis got home on Friday and then we left on Saturday morning with Coco in tow and the horse trailer. It was so cute at the Cove. I dressed the girls in their pioneer dresses, and when we saw Tama and Karlo coming off the trail, they ran to Tama and she ran to them and it was so cool. It made me cry to imagine how it must have been for the pioneers whose families were waiting for them in the Salt Lake valley and finally meeting them when they arrived. What a wonderful sight! Karlo was pulling the handcart so he couldn’t just run up there, but had to stay with their group and go to the check in. Once they got all checked in, we got the girls loaded in with their parents and we all traveled to Rawlins together. Then we had lunch and went our separate ways.
We came home on some “shortcut” Blaine and Amber found on the map. Not a good idea!! It was over this very high mountain pass with a ton of switch backs and stuff! It was very pretty, but not a good road to take with a horse and horse trailer! And not when trying to make time and get home! But oh well… we got home and all was well. It just took a LOT longer than it should have! I told them the next time they look for a 'short cut' avoid anything marked SKI AREA!
Coco is now settled in and we are trying to fatten her back up. She lost quite a bit of weight in Wyoming. She doesn’t do well on pasture I guess. We’re pretty sure she’s pregnant. Blaine said he isn’t going to take her to Wyoming anymore for the pack trip. He said she just can’t handle the trip. She gets sick for days afterward each way and she won’t eat or drink while she travels at all so he said it’s just not worth it. He said he wants to sell her once she has the colt weaned. I’ll believe it when I see it! I know we can’t afford to stall two horses, but I don’t think he will really sell her. Time will tell.
My oldest brother Don just turned 50 this week! I just got a picture of him and Val and he is like totally gray now! His hair hardy has any dark in it at all! I guess it happens to all of us at some point, but it just seems strange to have a 50 year old brother and see him look so old.
My brother Marty is certainly looking his age too! Between all his recent surgeries and his little heart “episode” …. He is not looking very well. It was good to got to spend time with him and visit and catch up. It has been too long since we’ve gotten to just sit and chat. Marty was always the closest of my brothers and the one I got along with the best. It's good to reconnect.
I have no idea how my younger brother Jim is. I haven’t seen him for over 2 years and have only talked to him on the phone a couple of times in that span. He is either always working or never returns calls. What a punk! But I guess no news is good news in that case.
Things are starting to get a little scary around here. Blaine’s boss is talking about laying some people off come September and there is always the possibility of layoffs all over. I don’t think either one of us are in danger of losing our jobs just yet, but it’s scary to think about the possibilities. I feel for the families that are dealing with the hard times right now, and have been trying to be better organized and prepared. Our prophets have told us for years to be prepared, it's time we all start to listen!
Kolby starts first grade next Monday. He is so excited! He has lost three teeth just in the past month or so! What a big boy he is! The funniest thing happened the other day. Seems Kolby called Baylee a peckerhead! Robin said, Where did you learn that?! He said he heard it on Over the Hedge. So she told him he couldn’t say that and to never say it again. So he thought about it awhile and then asked her Why can I say wood pecker but can’t call Baylee a pecker head? Haha! She told him she didn’t want to explain everything to him, just that he can’t say it. So he said, well, I want to be smart like papa and granddad so I’ll have to ask them I guess! Oh my! He must have asked Robin’s dad because he didn’t call Blaine and ask him!
Baylee is almost turning 4. She is going to go to preschool this year and Robin wants to put her in dance too. She is really a good girl and likes to play princess stuff and ponies.
Taylor is as wild as ever. She is so cute though! She actually got over her fear of the water while we were there. I bought them a little blow up pool to play in and the first day she just played around the outside of it while the other kids played in it. Then the next day she put her arms in and played with some toys and then the next thing we knew she got in and was playing with toys in the water!
Abbie starts preschool next week as well. It sucks that she doesn’t get to go to kindergarten just because her birthday is 4 days past the cut-off. But I’m sure that once she does start next year…they will jump her ahead a grade. She can already read level 2 books and count well past 100!
Kallie is doing well. They want to schedule her ovary removal as soon as possible so we're waiting to hear from the surgeon on that. She graduated from speech therapy and is now staring on OT along with her physical therapy. A lot of Turner girls have spatial relations problems and Kallie seems to have a lot of trouble with that. She falls down a lot and walks into walls and stuff. They had her eyes checked and they were fine. They just said that when she is in a more open area, she loses her balance more and falls more often.
Tama and I and Kallie went to North Carolina the first weekend in August to the National Turner Syndrome Conference and it was amazing! We learned so much about Kallie and about Abbie too! They had a really nice program and lots of doctors who gave presentations. They were all willing to answer any questions and they gave a ton of good information. Tama made some good friends with some of the other moms and I even made a friend with another grandma that was there. There was a whole discussion group just for grandparents! That was cool. They had a play group for the little kids where they observed them and watched how they interacted. They had a little carnival which Kallie loved and it was really cool to see some of the older girls (teens) that have been going for years, renew their friendships with each other.
Next year the conference is going to be in Portland and we are already planning on going. We want Blaine and Karlo to go with us too since it’s fairly close. It would be good for them to go and see and learn more of what to expect and how it all works and the challenges ahead.
We didn’t get any time to really go exploring though. The first day, we went and registered, then we went and saw the Raleigh NC temple, very small and very pretty. Then we went downtown to the capital building and walked around there and got some tourist stuff for the kids and then we went back to the hotel for the conference the rest of the weekend. It worked out really well. We were able to stay at the same hotel as the conference so we didn’t have to drive too much.
The flights were good too. Tama flew from Boise to Phoenix and had about an hour layover there. So I met her at the gate and we were on the same flight to Raleigh. Then the same thing on the way back, we were on the same flight, she had a layover in Phoenix then flew on to Boise. So the only time she had to fly alone with Kallie was between Boise and Phoenix and the only time she had to go through security alone with all the shot stuff and Kallie was in Boise so it was easy for her. We rented a little car and they gave us a Chevy Cobalt. Which is a little two door car. Nothing fancy, but for some reason Kallie was convinced it was Aunt Weezie’s car. The whole weekend she said we were going in Aunt Weezie’s car. The only reasoning we could come up with is that Amber’s car is a little two door too. But the funny thing is that Kallie never rode in Amber’s car. Last time they were here, Kolby and Abbie rode in her car because they could get in their car seats by themselves. Kallie and Taylor rode in the truck with Baylee. What an observant little girl though.
I think that catches us up to now. I haven’t been anywhere or done anything since we got back from North Carolina. We had a scout camp that Blaine had to go to when we got back from family camp. So he was home for two days then off for three and camping with the scouts. Out of the 8 scouts that went to camp they earned 52 merit badges! That was pretty good. So we just had a court of honor and it was fun to award them so many badges and advancements. We now have three that are working on Eagle and one that is close to ready. Our whole house is taken over by scouting stuff. I have all the records and Blaine has all the camping stuff and what not. Oh well…. What else would we do with all our spare time….
Blaine went to the dermatologist last week to check his skin cancer spots and they re-burned two spots and said they would check him again in six months. She said that since they burned over 25 spots last time, he has to come in every six months and can’t wear short sleeves any more and has to wear a hat with a brim all the time. Scary stuff.
My boss is going to Australia on Thursday for a week. She has to go to have a face to face meeting with a customer. I tried to convince her that she needed to take me along, but for some reason I don’t think they would pay another $12,000 to buy me a ticket.
The other assistant here, Sharon… her dad has liver cancer and is going down hill now. They don’t expect him to make it to the end of the month. Anyway, he is in California so Sharon went there on Saturday and will stay until the end of the month so now I’m covering for her. Which is fine. I can do it and I don’t mind at all. But Jerry…the other lawyer, who she works for, makes me crazy. He ALWAYS micro manages everything and will explain how to do something twelve different ways. Today he had me come in his office and told me what he needed me to do and then I turn around and am walking out and he’s all “Shoopman, I’m not done talking to you” so I told him, “well, I’m done listening” …. “My brain is full now.” I don’t think he thought I was very funny, but I thought it was! We’ll see who is still standing by the time Sharon gets back….
We are going to have to make the hard decision about our old (16 years) dog Red soon. We’ve been debating it for awhile now, but she is just going down hill. We put in a doggy door for them to make it easier because she couldn’t make it through the night and was peeing on the floor and stuff. Then with the door she got a little better. But now, she is starting to walk into things and if she waits too long, she will poop on the floor when she tries to get up or when she’s headed out the door. Poor dog. It’s just so hard to do what you know is best for them. She has been around a long time and is a good dog, but she is not well now. She has no life. She sleeps all day, she can’t hear anything at all, and it looks so painful when she tries to get up or lay down because of her hips. It’s just a decision we don’t want to make. It was so hard to do with Sadie and I cried for months afterward. I don’t want to go through that again with Red. Also, I don’t know how Gypsy will handle it. She lays with Red all the time, and Red licks Gypsy and they are so good together. Gypsy will be so lost without her. I just want her to stay here forever! I think I’m going to have to be the one to call the vet and be there and stuff though. I don’t think Blaine can do it at all. He likes to think he’s tough, but he’s not. I don’t know…. We’ll see what happens….
Abbie just called me on the phone and told me they are going to the fair! She was so excited! She said, “I’ve never been to a fair” I told her she’s been to lots of fairs, but she said, “Well, I was just little then cause I don’t remember them” What a nut!
Oh one more story....
So on Sunday they had a 6:30 a.m. general priesthood meeting for our stake and Blaine got up to go to it. Well, we woke up earlier than that. About 3:00 a.m. there were a bunch of sirens and Gypsy was barking and carrying on. So we got her in the house and locked the doggy door and went back to sleep. Then when Blaine got up a little after 5, there was a sheriff command unit outside our back fence and they had the road all closed off. So he had to go out the other way to the church. When he got home he told me that one of the guys in our ward said there was a fight across from his house between a bunch of kids and one of them got shot and killed! Right down the street from our house! About three blocks away! Apparently, there has been an ongoing feud at the high school between a bunch of black kids and a bunch of Mexican kids. The cops say it’s not gang related… uh…okay…. Anyway, from what I heard, the black kids were cruising the neighborhood shooting at kids with bb guns. One of the Mexican kids got in their face and punched one of them out, so they pulled out a .22 and shot him in the face! All this happened at 2:30 in the morning! Where are their parents? Why do they have a gun? Why are KIDS doing this?? It doesn’t make sense to me at all! What a waste. There are a lot of scum bags moving into our area now because of all the foreclosures and low rent and I don’t like it at all. I told Blaine I want to move, but it can happen anywhere around here so we'll stay put. Besides, who on earth would buy our house right now?
Then on Monday, the cops were at the neighbor's house next door. They are renters and the owner was getting desperate so she rented to them. Before they moved in we never had cops in our neighborhood, now they have been there three times! The people have a family of 8 kids! They are little thugs and I know I have smelled pot over the back fence on one occasion! I just loudly said, “C’mon Gypsy, let’s go call the cops!” and they all disappeared. There are a lot of teens that come and go there. They are always running around way late at night! We shall see… It’s times like this that I miss the small towns of Wyoming. Not enough to live there again, but I do miss the lack of excitement!
Work is demanding my attention again, so until next time.... (which I hope is not as long a gap between posts!)
