I hope . . . I wish

I'm on the recovery side of stomach flu. That has to be my most hated common illness. Mom's assisted living place has had stomach flu pass through there so I'm sure that is where I picked it up. I wish I'd feel better soon.

L just left for a swim meet--the first day of a two-day end-of-season meet. I hope I feel better by tomorrow so I can go. I wish it was not so difficult to be a part of the school's swim team during the school year. The larger of the Tri-cities doesn't have an indoor pool, so L would have to get up about 4 or 5 a.m. and I would need to drive with her to Washington for practice.

J is still at scout camp. They may be home today or tomorrow. With all the overcast skies, sprinkly rain, and lightning and thunder, I hope he's still had a good time. I hope he comes home with a BAG full of merit badges and rank advancements because that is important to him.

T has gone to my sister's house to play their XBOX 360. That is about as good as it gets in his world. The past few days, he's been swimming with the cousins and then going over to play but today the pool is closed for the meet.

B is at work, still doing SEAT training. We are happy for the work and I think he likes it well enough. I hope he can have steady work for the rest of the summer.

I have one ton of tomatoes sitting here waiting for me to do something with them. B had gone to his parents' house and picked tomatoes. Just as he finished, they came out and said, "Oh, we already picked tomatoes for you!" So B came home with twice (or three times) what we would have wanted. We canned 21 pints of chili sauce and 14 bottles of chopped tomatoes and we have a little over 1/2 the tomatoes still left. I want to make at least one batch of salsa, maybe two, but I have to get my strength back. Hopefully the tomatoes will keep.

Just checking in

In May, we had a "photo shoot" for the Laurels to create photo gifts for Mother's Day. This was my photo, above. I had chosen Silver Reef for our shoot. The girls really liked the place and I was so relieved I'd "called it right." I sometimes focus too much on everything I do wrong and on everything that goes wrong. So there's my nod to doing something right.

Today is Pioneer Day here in Utah. We watched the parade here in one of the Tri-Cities and then watched some of the Days of 47 Parade on TV. We're waiting for B to get dressed and we're going to go on a drive to Cedar Mountain to see the wild flowers.

Mom seemed to be about the same when I saw her last. She was still in pain and still could not walk.

B has worked pretty steadily for the past three weeks. He is completing a training for SEATS (Single Engine Air Tankers) which is task-based and not hours-based. He will be finished when he's trained with all the required tasks. He took today off.

T still needs to practice driving for his driving permit. On the one hand, I'm not in any hurry for T to get his license. On the other hand, I believe he needs to know how to drive and needs a driver's license but we can practice for the next two years for all I care. Additionally, we need to keep practicing so he doesn't forget what he's learned. He isn't very enthusiastic about practicing so that is an ongoing effort.

L had a swim meet last weekend. It was the shortest swim meet ever. There were so many kids to swim at the meet that they had the races in age-based sessions throughout the day. That made it short for the observers like me but that put all three of L's events virtually back to back. That about wore her out. :-)

J will go to scout camp next week. He has some misgivings about going but I think he'll love it. He is enjoying the new computer that he bought this month. He's had some friends to hang out with this week. He was happy about that.

L and J were each in skit for our YM/YW talent show this past Tuesday. One of my Laurels was in charge of the talent show. I think the kids who participated enjoyed being a part of the show.

We've had some "milestones" at Tom's house (the rental next to Mom's house). The kitchen cabinets are all installed (although some finishing touches are needed for the cabinets but not many). The front porch has been remodeled and the cement around the house is nearly finished. Then, the next big outside project is the stucco. That will be the "cherry on top" of the whole series of outdoor projects when the whole outside of the house comes together. Then, to my knowledge, after a couple of small projects (gravel for the drive and railings for the porch) only the landscaping will remain to be done outside. The next big project inside is the installation of the A/C and furnace, which is "on deck." Really, until the A/C is in, it is just too hot to work inside that house. Is it just me, or is it too hot when it is 113 degrees outside and like a bake oven inside?!

Some photos of the past few weeks

This is my brother J (left) talking with some relatives at our G family potluck the week after Father's Day. I think J enjoyed seeing the relatives since he is not always able to come to reunions and never has time to visit all the local relatives one-by-one. The turn out wasn't very big but summer is a busy time.

Strangely, this is my sole picture from Stake Youth Conference held at the Girls' Camp area on Kolob. This was a morning fireside. I think I took this so I could give a copy to the speakers. The woman (who is speaking into the microphone) and I served in the Stake Young Women Presidency about ten years ago. T, L and I attended this Youth Conference. There were just five young women attending with me from our ward. Most of "my" girls felt riding the zip line was the highlight of the weekend.

I was drafted to help sell wristbands at the City's 4th of July celebration and so I turned around and drafted "local talent"--my kids. They did a great job. You can see the seeds of discontent brewing with J and he eventually left, but T & L stayed the whole time. Like I always say about stuff the kids don't always want to do, "It's character building."

This is a photo from girls' camp showing all of our Young Women who attended (note L in the "human chain," third from the left) as well as the camp director (behind the "chain"). There was a visitor (right end of "chain") whose grandmother is in our ward. This shows our tie-dyed camp shirts that the girls enjoyed creating.

Here is L participating in the evening presentation on the second night of camp. (I don't think her ankle was threatened with fire the way it looks in the photo--the camp fire was down below view and I think it is just peeking through the rocks behind L.) Our theme was "Let your light so shine" and at the end of this presentation by L and all but the 1st year girls and our visitor, our camp director handed out glow-in-the-dark stones on leather necklaces.

As part of camp, we took a tour of the Pine Valley Chapel and the girls are posed here for a photo op. We did so many things that I can't begin to list them without making it a grocery list: games, crafts, skits, a hike, etc.

This is a photo of Mom and the hospice nurse during the initial "intake" visit on Thursday. In this photo, the nurse is having Mom take a look at the photograph he'd taken of her for hospice's records. Mom qualified for hospice--"end stage dementia." We're into a new chapter--well, I think the falls have created a new chapter and hospice is just part of that. Friday, the hospice nurse ordered a wheel chair because, despite the "cement" procedure, Mom still has pain and can hardly walk. It may be up to two weeks before we know whether the procedure will take the pain from her back fracture (L4). The MRI also showed a mass just above the fracture (behind L1 and L2). There were several possible explanations for what that mass might be. The nurse thinks some of Mom's pain complaints indicate a herniated disk (besides the pain from that fracture) instead of cancer.

Another picture-less post

After childbirth with each of my children, I would experience a feeling of elation and would think, "Wow! Let's do that again!" Of course, sanity would kick in almost immediately thereafter but for that moment, I was ready to turn right around that minute and go through childbirth again. I had the same feeling when I survived Girls' Camp! :-) Once everyone had been delivered to their homes and L & I had brought our stuff in and put it away, I thought, "Wow! Let's do that again!"

Things went well at camp and I'm making notes to myself so I can remember my thoughts on the subject when we go to camp next time. I'm very grateful for our camp leader. The girls got along well. The leaders were all very helpful.

Sunday, we took Mom to the ER because she had had another two falls, one on Wednesday and one early Sunday morning (meaning two falls since her last ER visit when she fell and hit her eye). The ER doctor admitted her to the hospital and ran a bunch of tests. She is still in the hospital waiting for a _____plasty on her back tomorrow because she has an "acute" fracture. She also has a fracture in her arm near her elbow. We're not sure what will happen with that arm. We have also set things in motion for Mom to be on hospice, starting when she returns to her assisted living facility.

I have lost track of my life lately with all these other pressing matters.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to camp I go . . .

I will be leaving for girls' camp tomorrow morning. I still need to finish packing and I'm sure I'll think of 100 more things to do but camp is basically being handled by our camp specialist. I'm just acting like I'm busy!

I'm looking forward to camp and I'm looking forward to going with my daughter L. It is a new experience for me, at least going as a leader. I haven't been since I was probably 16 years old--so long ago that although I've tried and tried, I can't remember much about it--latrines, sleeping in tents, snipe hunting, passing off requirements, and the great outdoors.

We are going to our bishop's cabin (my idea) so it won't really be roughing it, so you don't need to send your condolences.

I have also been driving with T so he can get hours toward getting his driver's license. I've been having him driving in the old red car but today we went out in the van. I told him it was probably the last vehicle I'd ever have so it needed to last the rest of my life and please drive slowly. He did well. We just need to go out regularly. I have been rushing about lately and that hasn't been on the top of my list but I'm going to try to do better once camp is over.

J passed level 5 swimming (many hallelujahs, please) and got his swimming merit badge last week. He also earned his pet care merit badge. He's completed the work for his communications merit badge, but he needs to get it signed off. He is also enjoying his new computer.

L has a swim meet this Saturday. She has been moved up a lane (into a faster practice lane) so that is nice.

B did some SEAT training (Single Engine Air Tanker) today and it almost felt like old times to have him off to work.

Well, that's it for now. I'm heading for the hills!