Summer Fun!

The TOP 10 things I did this summer instead of blogging:
*not counting Girl's Camp, Youth Conference, 4th of July, family reunions, volunteering as pioneers, etc.--some of the things I didn't take pictures of!

1. Ran the Ray Barrus 4th of July 5k. It was the first time that our whole family ran. Lainey and Halle ran the 1 mile and Halle took 3rd Place and Lainey 4th place in their age groups. The rest of us ran the 5k--it was one of my slower times, but I took 1st place in my age group.
2. Celebrated Lainey's 10th birthday with a horseback riding lesson with her friends and her favorite dinner--pasta! The horse's name was Candy--a very fitting name for her birthday ride because my friend Candie was the delivery nurse when Lainey was born.

3. Helped Lainey and Riley with their 4H and FFA project--raising turkeys at the Peterson's farm. This project will continue until November when it will be time to kiss the turkeys goodbye and have Thanksgiving dinner. They are getting uglier and meaner as they get older so it shouldn't be too hard to see them go.

4. Spent 2 weeks at swimming lessons with Lainey and Halle: Lainey learned to dive and Halle learned to swim...and loved every minute!

5. Missed the Turner family camping trip because we hit a deer about 4 miles from the campsite at Smith and Moorehouse. The deer didn't make it...and neither did the hood, front bumper, or the radiator. We made it back to Jeremy Ranch and then the car overheated. We had the car towed and we got a rental to make it home. About 2 weeks later we had our car back, minus the year-old chips on the hood--because the hood was new!
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6. Celebrated Halle's 8th birthday with a fun family dinner and strawberry cheesecake--Yum! The next week we celebrated her baptism with lots of family and friends. The Daybell's sent a beautiful fruit bouquet from Georgia for us to enjoy at a luncheon after the baptism.

Halle was so excited to get baptized! Joe baptized and confirmed her, her grandpa's spoke at the baptism and were the witnesses, grandma's gave the prayers, and the rest of us did the music--Courtnee played a beautiful violin solo.

7. Said good-bye to Lori's amazing Aunt Sharon Yancey who is serving in the Billings, Montana mission. She invited us to a fabulous dinner at her house along with my parents and my cousin, Jeff. We will miss her so much, but it has been so neat to see her prepare and dedicate this time to serving the Lord.

8. Grew a garden and some flowers. We discovered that praying mantis bugs pinch--HARD, tomato worms are big and squishy, and even a week of neglect means overgrown plants and lots of weeds. We have had a bumper crop of cucumbers and squash bugs, but we defeated the bugs and the zucchini and pumpkins survived!

We have about 7 varieties of tomatoes growing--the yellow pear tomatoes are the best!

9. Painted some outdoor furniture that Joe's dad built at the Lakehouse. We love the swing--Halle's favorite summer night activity was to sit on the swing with mom and eat a fudgesicle.

The table in the courtyard is our favorite dinner spot right now--it is also great for breakfast!

10. Painted and decorated Halle's bedroom. She wanted a pink garden room and that's what she got, complete with a picket fence, glowing flower lamps, and a magic tree with sparkles and bows.



















WE LOVE WEDDINGS!

We celebrated another wedding! This time it was Joe's niece Micki who was married on September 6 in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. It was a fun day with an Asian theme--lunch at P.F. Chang's and a beautiful outdoor reception with edamame, won tons, fried rice, and paper lanterns.



Joe's parents came from St. George, and Riley played with Orion, Joe's great-nephew, during the temple ceremony.



8-8-08 A LUCKY DAY IN CHINA, AN UNLUCKY DAY IN GRANTSVILLE!

As the world began celebrating the Olympics, I earned a gold medal for "stupid household accidents." While spackling holes in Halle's room, I fell off a 2 ft. high stool and hit my head. At least that's theoretically what I did--I don't remember any of it, but my head hurt and I had huge bruises behind my knees. I do remember that I had just come home from swimming lessons and sent Lainey and Halle to shower while I did some quick spackling. The next thing I remember is sitting in the hallway in my bathing suit and telling Joe that I felt funny. Things got worse when I became confused about why I was in the hallway, why I was painting Halle's room, etc. I began "looping"--asking Joe the same questions over and over with the same responses every time. As I became more agitated, he became more concerned and called 911. My neighbor, Scott Rowley is an EMT and he arrived first. I remembered him, but I didn't know my address, the date, year, etc. I did, however, remember that I was in my bathing suit and I hadn't shaved my legs that day and I apologized repeatedly for that. I also remembered that Scott's daughter, Brianna, was at my house hanging out with Riley, and I apologized profusely for that. I cried a lot, and I apologized profusely for that.

They strapped me to a gurney and took me to the hospital in the ambulance. By the time we got there, I was more coherent and my head didn't hurt much. I was dizzy and nauseated and had a really good concussion so they gave me a CAT scan, some Meclazine and Valium, and sent me home.

It took me a few weeks to feel totally normal, especially emotionally! Every time I saw Scott or talked about him being there, I started to cry. A few days after the event, I was raving about the miracle of life and healing and the apathy of human beings. I believe my exact words were, "Why aren't people falling on their knees in awe about the miracle of life and living?" After a few days of that, I resorted to just crying about every 30 minutes. It is all quite hilarious now, but I also realize how blessed I was. I could have been hurt much worse, even permanently--when the code went out over the radio I was classified one number higher than death. It was also a great blessing to have Scott there because he was able to answer my questions and I think that helped me start processing things earlier than I might have.

The funny moral to the story: don't spackle in your bathing suit with hairy legs--you never know when your neighbor is going to strap you to a gurney!

The serious moral to the story: things happen so quickly--your life can change in an instant so don't waste a minute, even if you have to spackle in your bathing suit with hairy legs!