Summer 2012

 I wanted to recap the Summer of 2012 before Christmas arrives :).  It was a monumental summer with lots of activities, family, serving and fun. It deserves to be documented!

New Additions

The summer started with a wise, thoughtful super dad moving heaven and earth (literally) to bring a couple additions to our backyard.  He has talked about utilizing the upward slope of our backyard putting a zipline in the backyard.  He spent HOURS digging holes, pouring cement, ordering zipline parts and working his magic to install a zipline across the backyard.  It was a hit and has made our backyard a haven for the neighborhood kids.  So far the biggest injury is a tooth getting knocked out that was due to come out anyway.  We have yet to receive a letter from the HOA, but I watch for one every time I check the mail.  So far, so good.

We have also talked about getting a play-set for years and have been watching Craigslist.  Steve finally found one that looked sturdy and fun, at an incredible price.  We enlisted the help of good friends and home teachers and anyone who offered (or accepted our plea for help) to disassemble this bad boy, transport it and reassemble it.  Whew, what a project! We spent days sanding it as a family before we reassembled it. For the month of July we asked our visiting teachers and home teachers if their visits could include assistance in staining it - thank goodness for their help.  It has been wonderful this summer.  The kids have not tired of it - they love the picnic table, the clubhouse on top and the monkey bars.

 Pinewood Derby

Trenton participated in his first Pinewood Derby.  Steve was great about researching tips and methods of building the car and Trenton was right by his side, sanding, painting, nailing and spinning.  It was a team effort that paid off with a second place finish - first missed only by .002 seconds.  So close!  But Trenton has his trophy proudly displayed and we had a great time.

  

Luke & Mary's Visit and the Hailstorm of the Century

Luke had some business in CO and much to our delight Mary and Max came along for the trip.  How we love this family!!!  Siblings are the best.  The night they drove in happened to be the night our first ever Legend Ward RS Activity that I was in charge of. About 30 minutes before the activity was to start, a storm started that quickly turned from heavy rain to marble, then golf ball sized hail.  It stopped right as the activity was starting as it usually does, but then started again with a vengeance, accompanied by a Tornado Warning.  At this point we had a good 25 sisters and were being instructed to go home d/t the Tornado warning.  We walked out to look outside and it became very apparent that no one was going anywhere.  The little creek with a walking path had a 30 foot high river flooding through it.  The river almost was overflowing into the parking lot - it is a sight I will never forget.  Most of the older ladies just laughed, firmly planted their feet down and said I'm not going anywhere!  So there we sat - quilting, eating crepes and trying to stay in touch with our families as they were losing power and being pummeled by the storm.  Luckily Luke and Mary drove safely into the garage right as the storm started so they sat it out with our children which allowed Steve to go to his Home Teaching family's house (5 kids all alone) while their Mom was stuck at our activity.  

What a night.  

To make a long story short we (along with a majority of Parker) suffered major damage on our car that was at the church ($5,000 worth), our rental home ($13,000 worth), our home ($18,000 worth).  This has led to hours figuring out insurance, claims, repairs, new roofs, decks, paint jobs, etc.  Thank goodness for good insurance coverage.  Between the damage and the high gas prices it also led us to sell the Denali on Craigslist (once again Steve's magic, we got a very good price for it) and purchase our first minivan - a Honda Odessy.  I miss the space in the Denali, especially the trunk, but it is so much nicer on our pocketbooks.  And compared to the Denali, driving the Oddessy feels like driving a sports car.  It just zips around.  It really was the best choice.

So started a very fun week with Luke and Mary.  We loved up on the Max & celebrated his b-day just a bit early, BBQ'd, went to our favorite summer discovery - a free outdoor waterpark/playground, and went to the Parker Days Fair.  We really keep trying to convince them to move to CO.  

Did I mention we adore them?

 

 Youth Conference

The timing worked out so that Mary & Max were able to stay another couple of days and watch the kiddos so that Steve and I could drive up to Lake Wellington and speak at Youth Conference.  The Billats asked us to speak back in Feb and we were happy to.  We love teaching the youth - they are stellar kids.  Our topic was Be True to Yourself & Be True to Others.  We were able to speak with this stunning lake as our backdrop.  As we were preparing, Mary helped us find some great object lessons.  When any of the youth thanked us afterwards for our talks, the thing that was brought up the most were the object lessons.  I'm not sure they remembered a thing we said, but those object lessons were a HIT.

 

 Girls Camp

Last December I got a phone call from a High-Councilman asking to meet with me.  I started to panic thinking it was a call to teach Early Morning Seminary and when he came over and asked if I would be the nurse for Girls Camp I was so relieved I about jumped out of my seat with a resounding yes!  What better thing to do - I love the outdoors, love being a nurse and love the youth.  Perfect combination.  As we closed the door behind him I turned to Steve, realizing I had missed something in my relief, and said "Oh wait.  I might still be nursing Cameron.  Probably will be nursing Cameron."  I called the Camp Director and in her wisdom suggest we call someone to split the week.  Rebecca Sherman was called and we prepared together for the week.  We were a brand new stake, so we had to build our supply list from the ground up.  We were both nervous that something would happen beyond our scope of practice, but we were comforted knowing the Camp Director had been a camp nurse for years.  The Stake Priesthood Leadership almost didn't let me go since I was still nursing and at one camp meeting President Ure turned to me and said "How will you do this?"  I didn't think he wanted all the details, so I tried to discreetly explain I had a great pump, my baby takes a bottle and there was a freezer at camp :).  They let me go.

It was a blast.  I got to know some of the girls so well who hung around my tent with me.  I offered Steve's Oralabs Samples each time they brought me an empty water bottle to try to keep the girls hydrated and I must say I thought it worked very well.  We hardly had any issues with dehydration.  We had a bear sighting in camp, strep throat, a couple of asthma issues (that one was a bit scary) and lots of headaches, bumps and bruises, but the excitement ended there.  I loved getting to know the leaders on the Stake Level and was very grateful to have the experience.

Science Camp

The week of Girls Camp I enrolled Trenton in a camp called Science Rocks with his friend Hayden Sherman.  It was 3 hours a day for 5 days for only $100.  They did some pretty great experiments, brought home a lot of new vocabulary & understanding and seemed to have a blast.  It was good to break up the summer a bit for big-brother-patient-with-his-younger-siblings Trenton, too.

We'll be doing it every summer. 

The Hughes

I was so touched that my college roommate Jeanette and her husband Zack and their precious baby Zander (just a few months younger than Cameron) drove down from Ft Collins to see us while visiting Zack's family.  We had a great time catching up.  I am in awe of how much I love the children of these college roommates of mine who I loved and learned from (and still do) for the years we lived together in college.  Each child is a miracle, but my heart does a special jump for those children of my wonderful roommates.  I love seeing a piece of them in their children and watching them as mothers.  I just adore this girl.

 

 4th of July in Lander

There is nothing like a small town 4th of July.  When you combine it with a family reunion it becomes awesome.  We drove out to Lander the afternoon of the Hughes visit, and arrived at a very excited Aunt Deb's home.  I should add here neither one of my aunts were able to have children (Aunt Deb adopted my cousin Courtney) so I have been blessed to feel love, support and encouragement from those two as second mothers.  I love talking with them, they remember EVERY birthday, holiday and anniversary in our lives and they are just wonderful.  

We had a great week eating, playing games, going to the park, fishing, hiking, watching the wonderful 4th of July Parade, getting sprayed by the fire trucks, swimming and did I mention eating?  We also celebrated every summer birthday, including mine and Mary's on the 7th (more on my favorite gift EVER later).  It was so good to be with  Great-Grandpa Poljanec.  How blessed we all feel to have him and his wisdom with us.  Cameron was just happy to have his walker to waddle around with all week :).

 

 As a little follow up, poor Aunt Deb caught a cold the last couple days we were there (possibly from all the late nights and early mornings!), it spread to her eye, she rubbed of a layer, lost her vision, had to have surgery, missed a bunch of work, and is just gaining her sight back.  

Oh lands - the lot of us did her in!

 Laramie Stop

 On the way home from Lander we asked Grandma if we could stop in and spend a day with her.  We celebrated her birthday a few days early.  We picked up dinner and a chocolate birthday pie and spent a delightful day in her wonderful home as always.

 Across the street from Grandma's house is Laramie High School.  It was set up as a central command center for the firefighters fighting the wildfires in WY.  We were all impressed and enthralled with the comings and goings of the men and women fighting the fires.  The pulled up in busses covered in soot and ashes, use the restroom, shower in the high school, then sleep in shifts in these tents.  No easy life I say.  I've always felt gratitude for the firefighters, but seeing it live certainly made it more real.

 Family Fun & Cousins

As we mapped out the summer I realized things wouldn't calm down until about mid July, which left us 3 weeks before school started to relax and enjoy the summer :).  We decided to go to Water World here in Denver for the first time in years and had a delightful time.  We were able to juggle rides and baby Cameron pretty well, and took him on all the ones we could.  He clung to me during the Pharaoh ride while going through the cave - it was the first time I've seen him really scared of something.  He enjoyed the other rides, and especially the splash park and slides made for kiddos just his size.  My little 12 month old would crawl as fast as he could up the stairs to the top of the slide, climb on mama's lap and clench his little fist in sheer delight as we went down.  It was so precious.  We had a BLAST and will definitely make it a summer tradition. 

 

We had our cousins, Christi and Lyndi, out the last week before school started and knocked off a few things on our summer list.  It was fun, busy and exhausting all at once.  I was amazed what adding two extra children does to the dynamics in the home. We went to the zoo, went to the pool, did Casa Bonita, played at the water park and spent lots of time on the zipline.  It was all worth it when I asked Kali what her favorite part of the summer was and she said "when my cousins stayed at our house."  Poor little Christi got sick with 2 days left and spiked a fever the next day.  We spent lots of time talking to Aunt Tina, hydrating, giving Tylenol and debating what it could be.  Tina took her in when she got home and it was a UTI and strep.  Poor little thing - to be so sick away from home! We gave her lots of TLC, but it's just not the same as home.  She was a trooper and wanted to come to everything - we brought pillows & blankets and the poor little thing spent a day and 1/2 in the double stroller with Cameron (as pictured below at Casa Bonita).

 

I bid farewell to summer, digging my heels in.  The end of summer is always bittersweet - we're ready for routine and structure, but not ready for alarms and homework :).  Which is why amidst the work, arguments, "I'm bored"'s, and lack of down time, I tried to just enjoy every moment.