Updates

Ready for church and time for a little jam session. This would be the Sunday Nate is flying solo and I am not involved. I wish he would share his magic touch!

Ryan

As of our garage sale last Saturday, Shawn's ancient day-bed and Ryan's bunk bed are no longer with us. They each have more comfortable mattresses and, much to Ryan's joy, ones that can support the weight of an adult cuddling buddy!

Several times a week Nate or I would snuggle with Cara for a few minutes at bedtime. More often than not, Ryan would sneak in and try to lay his head on Cara's bed to get in on the action. His bed just didn't accommodate us and since he has slept in it this last year, he has gotten out of the habit of needing mom's hair to fall asleep.

Last night, as I lay down with Ryan for a moment this was the scene:

Ryan-"Mom, first grade is too easy for me. My work is like ch ch ch done, ch ch ch done..."

Mom-"Do you wish it was harder?

Ryan- "Yeah, I'm good at hard things. That's why I'm gonna do the Diamondback!"

See the correlation? Surely first grade work makes one ready for the newest Kings Island roller coaster. We are ready!

Cara

The phone rang as we were dishing ice cream last night. To our surprise it was Matthew calling for Cara! This is her pen pal (email buddy) from Connecticut. She was in such shock, she didn't even want to get on the phone. I coaxed her into being polite and she said "Hi?" The response sent her in a tizzy and she dropped to the floor saying "He sounds so different." She got back on the phone and with a little conversation help from mom, started asking him questions. I took a picture of her talking to him, but am phone illiterate and can't get it to my computer.

They talked for about 5 minutes and ended with a quick "Bye." Shawn was in heaven. This provided him with such teasing ammo, he could not resist. Cara insists he is NOT her boyfriend. {phew} but no matter, to a 3rd and 6th grader a phone call is BIG NEWS!

We love Matthew at our house and have enjoyed letting him be the subject of Cara's affection. He is a sweet boy and is 3 states away. She can compare any boy she likes in the future to our memories of Matthew, a gentleman and a friend.

Shawn

Shawn came home from his second 2 night camp out last week. This was a Camp Joy field trip for school. It was complete with an underground railroad reenactment with the students being auctioned as slaves and then led through the underground railroad where they encountered bounty hunters, indentured servants, railroad engineers, marshals, etc. They had to actually crawl under a house and escape out the other side as the Marshal was looking for them! They also did a ropes coarse, a zip line and had GREAT FOOD, according to Shawn. He did shower and change clothes, but couldn't find his chap stick until the last day. So, he came home with terrible lips and surrounding face.

Actually, he was impressed that they had a moment of silence before each meal. So, he said his own little prayers. On the last day he prayed he would find his chap stick and he did!

Shawn has also learned the art of "brownie points" and has been complementing mom as often as possible. Isn't it great when our kids realize how wonderful we are?

I miss you!

Shawn attended Camp Peterloon this weekend. It was 2 nights!!! That's an extra day to lose stuff and forget everything I told him as he went on his way. I was nervouse not that he'd get hurt, not that he'd misbehave, but that he wouldn't brush his teeth , change his clothes, go to the bathroom, etc.
I know I just have to let go. He did exactly what I knew he would. He had a blast! I had a realization this morning that a weekend outdoors with no shower, no toothbrushing, and no changing clothes is equivelent to a weekend with no schedule and lots of chocolate for me.
I got a text from one of the leaders Saturday night that read "When I asked the boys if they missed their moms, Shawn was the quickest and most certain with a no answer."
Was that supposed to make me feel good? I don't want to hear he cried for me all weekend. But a little hesitation that he misses me might be good, right?
I'm selfish and want his complete adoration. However, I'll take a well adjusted, pleasant kid in nearly any situation.
I missed him.

Grandma to the rescue!

My mom not only saved me from these two vampires, she saved them from me!

September was a bad month for us! I'd like to forget it actually. Mr MS came for a nasty visit. Yes, my Multiple Sclerosis is male in my head, for some reason.

He showed up one evening in the form of a major arm ache, then spread to muscle twitching, cramping and ulitmately complete weakness in my left arm and leg. I couldn't walk very well. My right side was feeling pins and needles, the sensation of bruising and later burning. I couldn't put toothpaste on my toothbrush, and definitely could not care for my children!

They truly are the heroes of this episode! They had to make lunches, fold laundry, carry things, even help mom down the stairs. All things that I want them to know how to do and practice out of the goodness of their hearts. But being the reason they are required to do it is HARD!

Nate and my hearts were broken by this flare up. We were convinced we had this part of our lives under control. MS has this hazy future of the unkown. But since my symptoms up to this point were annoying, but not debilitating, we were hopefull and confident.

We were feeling pretty low. Mom came and helped us get over the hump. She cooked and froze big batches of food. She drove me around to Drs appointments, tests. She took kids to soccer, piano, etc. She kept me company and made sure I was able to get around, open ziploc bags, drive, heat up some dinner and take it easy before she left.

Of course she wanted to do this for her daughter, but I am forever grateful for her giving nature and to be the recipient of it this time!

I have always tried to keep my MS somewhat private. I have for some reason been telling people more over the last few months. Everytime I have mentioned it I have thought, "Why did I just say that?" But as I have gone through this month I am relieved that those who knew were not all out of state! As much support as was given, I still felt lonely and defeated.

So, my prognosis is still great. I haven't had a relapse in 4 years! If it lasts that long again, I'll be happy and that is still likely. I'm still recovering and taking it easy. However, I have started Yoga and light walking and that feels good.

Thanks to all who have supported me through the years. I have been stobborn and defensive of my independence. But my family and friends have always been there for me and I am so thankful! I hope I don't hurt any of your feelings by telling you this way. To be honest, I didn't want to talk about it and holding the phone was tiring.

I have a husband who takes good care of me and we'll be fine with all your love and support!

THANK YOU

Fully Dressed!

Ryan loves to get dressed for church. Yeah, its hard to believe he and Shawn are brothers in this regard! He got this new blazer and wanted to wear it, even though it was General Conference, or "Jammie Church" as others would call it!

Happy Birthday!

Kindle love!

Dad of the Year

Nate is always a great dad. This year he has really been magnifying that title, though.

As Young Women President I've been busier and he has spent more time as the solo parent at home. He is still Webelo Leader, so we are both at the church on Activity night. He takes care of Cara and Ryan while he is at scouts most weeks. Our great neighbor, Brynn takes Ryan on the nights Cara has Activity Days also.

Fast Sunday Dad Interviews, Father/Son campouts, Daddy/Cara dates, night time scripture time, Dad's night time stories(they don't like mine!), are all still the highlight of the kids' lives.

I have just been blessed to have a great parenting partner. We all love him and I couldn't do it without him!

Bridge Crossing Ceremony

Running slow motion across the bridge to his BoyScouts!

Face Painting the Warrior! Doesn't he look the part?

Jam Session #2

Our neighborhood has been so great for Shawn. He has wonderful friends and this is an example of why. The empty chair is for Larry who took his Saxaphone home for dinner.

Jacob, across the street is a trumpet player and wasn't home that day.

Spencer, on the Cello makes the 3rd of Shawn's friends in 6th grade. That's right all 4 of those boys are the same age. Harrison, on the basoon is in 8th grade and clearly the leader of this band!

The accomplishment of this day was figuring out the first few bars of the Star Wars theme.

Now that our vacation is blogged, I can move onto more current events.
Like the first day of school- (2 months ago!)
This has been a great school year. We really like all our teachers!

Cara 3rd Grade
Ryan 1st Grade

Shawn 6th Grade! Wow- we're all getting old!

Our Cabin

Grandpa's finger looks YUMMY!

Gimmie a Bear Hug, Gimmie a Bear Hug.....

Yep, he's really that cute!

Brothers!

We loved spending time with Kevin and Shannon. We really missed Chris and Alison, but we never really spend 24 hour time with these crazy kids and we loved it! Can't wait to get together again soon!

Prince Handsome!

Frogo

We thought there was a snake's head poking out of a hole in the ground at our cabin. Nope, it was our new friend, Frogo.

Buffalo pics and chips!

Hot Spring. It is pretty amazing when you think about where they lead to. But after seeing what seemed like 500 of them, the kids were unimpressed.

Shawn, Kevin and Ricky

Shawn, Zoey, Cara and Ryan

Old Faithful is very fascinating. I was just as impressed, though, with all the pools and geysers of the whole area.

Yellowstone

This is NOT zoomed in. This guy was just walking down the road and walked off to the grass about 1 minute before we were to him. The buffalo were the easiest to see. They're kinda pokey. Although, I'm sure they had ability to Move it! Move it! We didn't challenge them to a race or anything else!

Jenny Lake

On our way from Logan to Yellowstone we bought Raspberry shakes in Bear Lake!

Then we drove to the Grand Tetons. What a sight!

Jenny Lake was a must. So inour rush to get to the cabin in West Yellowstone, we took the fairy accross the Lake, took a hike to the waterfall and zoomed back. What a breath taking spot on God's Great Earth!

We drove through states of flatness to get to this part of the country and we couldn't even

see a fraction of what is there!

Fishing

(David, Matt, Uncle Jon, Benjamin and Shawn in front of the Bott cabin in all their glory!)

Shawn got a fishing liscense and new pole this summer.We went fishing almost everyday one week while Ryan and Cara were at Vacaton Bible School.No luck. He went fishing every chance he could.

The first fish he caught was here on this day with his BARE HANDS!

Yes, the fish was kinda slow because USU had shocked them as they made their way up river, counting the fish. But he had triumphed! An hour later as the boys returned from a tubing expedition, Shawn and Benjamin triumphantly caught their dinner. They could have caught a lot more, but decided it wasn't fair to take advantage of the situation.