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!
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. 
