Lazy Days of Summer... NOT!

Ah remember the lazy days of summer? Being a kid and watching as much TV as you want... playing outside, riding your bike... I remember doing all those things as a kid. We had cable, but that meant 12 channels and 2 of them were French. You could hardly find me anywhere near my house! How things have changed...

We have over 200 cable channels - and nothing worth watching is on. We have video games, which appears to be a great source of contention and name calling. Note on this one - girls are not nearly as interested in participating in this one as the boys are - at least at our house. The bikes are sitting outside, ready for use and no one wants to use them. Sigh...

How many more weeks until camp #2 takes place??!!

Yesterday we spent a grand total of 3 hours in Urgent Care! 3 hours people!! For a toe!! V bumped it (he doesn't know on what) and cut it open. It looked worse than I could bandage up so we took him in. This system has got to change!

First you have to STAND IN LINE for triage. Hello! If you are sick or injured, how can you stand and wait your turn??!! And since we had blood dripping all over the place, shouldn't we have taken precedence over the headache person??!!

Once someone has assessed you, you get to sit in a waiting room until you are called to be "admitted". Then you get to sit and wait until a bed is available. By this point we've been in there for a half hour already.

We get called into a room and wait who knows how long before a nurse shows up!!! Good luck on the stitches if you need them - we've already started the healing process by now!

We wait another 20 minutes for a doctor to show up. She spends a grand total of 1 minute looking at his toe, decides no stitches (no kidding!) but wants him bandaged up before we leave. Wait another 20 minutes for the nurse to come back.

They bring a big bowl of water and want him to soak his filthy foot in it. By this time, I'm losing it! Too bad - we can't leave until it gets bandaged up and that's not going to happen until he soaks his foot. THEN we have to wait for the ortho specialist to come wrap him up!

Here is what we got out of the morning in ER. Little bit fuzzy at V took it himself. Poor little guy was in so much pain and is still hopping around on one foot this morning. Super strong! I've never seen someone hop up and down stairs on one leg like he does. As expected though, the bandage didn't make it through the night.


Countdown has begun for our Atlanta trip. Kids and sitters are all lined up. Packing has begun and the tickets are waiting at the airport. I've always wanted to see the deep south US and this may be my one and only chance! Woo hoo! We're taking the camera so hope to have oodles of pics to show when we get back.


That's also when we start phase two of the painting projects in the basement... back to work...

Best part of my day - Sleeping in until 9:00 a.m.! I never get to do this! :)

Worst part of my day - Picking up my mother at the airport at 1:00 a.m. (Why I got to sleep until 9:00 a.m.)

Three things I'm grateful for -

1. Mom is home safe and sound.
2. Carpet is down and we're loving the new digs downstairs!
3. DD's crap is out of my living room and moved to the new digs downstairs.
   
   

The Quiet is Over!

Well so much for the quiet week... Friday morning, bright and early (like 6:30 a.m. early!) I was helping my DD move back home. How much stuff that kid has accumulated over the years - yikes! After some serious discussion, it looks like she will be getting the new room, once the carpet gets installed. That is supposed to happen this morning, but for now, my living room looks like this -

AAAAHHHH!!!! It was also double duty weekend with the kids, so by the time I'd picked up T and V from camp, the part-timers had arrived. Can anyone be expected to function in this?? I won't even show you what 5 boys can do to one bathroom in a weekend... sheesh! Especially after they've been at camp for a week. I will give you a peek at what they brought home though. Yuck!

I did get a couple brief moments of peace eventually - sort of. Saturday morning, DD woke up late and I had to drive her to work. Once again - 6:30 a.m.!! Here is what we saw on the way...

Got back home from that drive and just had time to get ready for our RS Breakfast for the July birthday girls. (Being in the Presidency has it's perks!) I went over a little early to help - but also to just be with some grownups in a clean house! Doesn't this look good? Sorry to put that in the same post as the dirty feet - but you can see why I needed the break!

Saturday was also the RS Scrapbook Day at the chapel. I was sure I was going to be the only one for awhile, but eventually some showed up. We had a total of seven sisters who just worked and chatted. It was nice to just sit in the cool, air conditioned chapel and play with my Cricut. Ahhh... peace at last!

Best Part of My Weekend - Relaxing with grownups in clean places.

Worst Part of My Weekend - Cleaning up the mess after the part timers left Sunday night. :( :( :(

Three Things I'm Grateful For

1. Air conditioning!!
2. Peaceful moments to myself.
3. Everyone is home and safe.
4. Extra one!! The carpet installer just arrived!! yay!!

Very Quiet Week

It has been so quiet here. Boys are away at camp and I'm home alone for most of the day - everyday this week. I love it!! I've tried sleeping in - but I'm afraid I just don't know how... I've cleaned up some of the bigger jobs left over from the rooms being built. I've even played in my new craft room!! But it's still quiet.
We dropped the boys off at camp on Sunday afternoon. This particular one is quite a way from home, but it is smaller and Christian based, so the perks outweigh the drive. They were so excited to be going back this year! It's nice when the counsellors are the same as last year and you get to reconnect with some old friends. We always manage to have some kind of adventure on each trip to camp. This year we drove through one of the darkest storm clouds I have ever seen. Kind of eerie and we all kept watching to see if there were any funnel clouds forming - but we were all good!

We stopped in a little town on the way for a drink and potty break and found this blast from the past! Neither DH or I had seen these since we were kids! Pretty cool and still just as tasty. I made him check the date on the bottle, because I wanted to know that it wasn't an original bottle from when we were kids. Ha!

After a bit of exploring and settling in at each cabin, we left our little monkeys and started our quiet week.

Scenes of DH playing with the boys on the camp swing set. DH managed to splash T with mud as he was hopping off the swing. Seriously! 10 minutes in camp and muddy already!

This is the craft hall - one of V's favorite places when he's here.
This is the big mess hall, showers, first aid - basically the heart of the camp. Really beautiful place!
I couldn't get either one of the boys to give me a great shot of their face! This is the best I could get from T.
And V is an expert at smiling then turning from the camera when it flashes and taunting with an, "In your face!" Sigh...

It was especially nice to have a birthday dinner out with DH and not have to scramble for a sitter or take the kids along. Sadly, DH wouldn't let me take any pictures of him either! :( So you'll just have to take my word for it that he's officially one year older.

Best Part of My Day: Getting to sit in my quiet craft room and work without interruption.
Worst Part of My Day: Wiping down even more of the dust left over from the room building!
Three Things I'm Grateful For:
1. My health - not perfect but not sick or sore either.
2. My home - love it even more now that we've increased the room count.
3. My friends - I don't always see all of them everyday, but I know they are around and there for me when I need a shoulder.

See You Later, Elder Boothe!

We were privileged to be invited to Elder Boothe's farewell on Wednesday night. He was one of about 10 missionaries returning home after serving a very successful two year mission. The house was packed! And that is always a great thing to see. Means that they are loved.

Elder Boothe was one of the many Elders that have become special to our family. He served in our ward for eight months, which is rare - but we came to love and appreciate him and his service.

He said he wasn't ready to go home yet - but we knew that once he saw his family again, he'd know it was okay to be there. Elder Boothe left some of his personal belongings here at our house too - so we know we'll be seeing him again very soon and we're excited about that.

I do need to mention that I love hearing the testimonies of these young men when they are leaving. They have spent two years serving. No girlfriends, no hanging out with friends... just serving. These testimonies, when expressed, are so pure. I know many of these missionaries are anxious to go home, but leery too of the change in status once they get there. Must be hard to go from working for the Lord to working for yourself again. I know that they will do fine though. The lessons one learns on a mission are life lessons that can only benefit you in the rest of your life. Service, selflessness, priesthood blessings, praying always... all good things. As with other Elder's who have gone before him, we are anxious to hear about life after the mission. We love getting wedding invitations and news of new babies. And like many other Elder's who have gone before, we are anxious to have them come visit us! Even if it takes oh, I don't know... five years or more!

And they bring their beautiful wives with them!

I've also decided to try something new here. It's a little game I play with the boys at night, but it helps me reflect on my own blessings for the day. So here goes...

Best part of my day today - It's early, but I like waking up to a quiet and clean house.

Worst part of my day - Still early, but I know I'm going to have to finish painting those basement rooms today... and I'm not looking forward to that when it will be so nice outside!

Three things I'm grateful for...

1. My family. We're not perfect. We say some pretty mean things sometimes - but I can't imagine life without them in it. I love them!
2. My testimony. I'm not sure where I'd be in life without this one! This guides me and strengthens me when trials are abundant.
3. A free country. As I've watched many things on the news and see how others live in other parts of the world, I'm ever so grateful that I haven't had to deal with those trials that they do. I don't have to live in daily fear of my life - or the lives of my children... and that is truly a blessing!
   

Have You Ever Listened In On A Conversation?

Have you ever listened in on a conversation? I was priviledged to be witness to a conversation yesterday that left me giggling for hours afterwards...

Picture it. Sitting on the bed with DH and V. DH thinks he's going to be funny and asks, "Hey V - have you ever smelled moth balls?" After a brief moment of silence V responds, "You're disgusting!!"

V has just has a way of wrecking a great joke with a better one - it's part of why I love him.

Stampedin' with Mr. Fractured Ribs

We went! We saw! We had a blast! But D's injury was confirmed... 2 fractured ribs! He lasted longer than I thought he would at the Stampede Grounds. Here's some shots of what we did.
Super Dogs are always so much fun!
We went early, so the crowds weren't that bad.
Deep fried macaroni and cheese!! Really bad - but super good!
Deep Fried Oreos! Also really bad but amazingly delicious!!
There were several units of our Armed Forces at the grounds with their tanks, boats, choppers, dummy missiles, etc. The boys had a great time learning about these units and the various weapons. While I am ever grateful to the men and women that serve our country, I wasn't thrilled about the boys learning all the new ways to hold a weapon.



Now, I have to warn you - these next pictures are disturbing! I'm not sure who's great idea this was, but there are displays in the agricultural centres that allow you to "feel" what it would be like to give a gynecology examination to a pregnant cow!! T was right up for the job!V was not up to participating like his brother.
Please remember that these are displays only - so no real animals were molested in these pictures.
By the time we got to the live animal displays though, V was pretty overwhelmed with the smell and all the disgusting mess on the floor. He loudly announced that we had to leave because he was getting "FARM-sick"!! HA! (Can you tell we're not country folk?!)

D was super sore after our adventurous day, so Sunday he took TWO percasets! (sp?) Not good! I won't embarrass him here, but suffice it to say that I did have to take him home early from church. Highly entertaining...

School's Out - Stampede's In!

We've now had our first week of no school. We're doing good so far. Thanks to Sarah and Tyler (who did the ceilings) the rooms are officially painted and they look GREAT! We will be starting the lay the flooring down and putting doors up next week. It's not perfect but we did more than we thought we could - with a whole bunch of help from some very knowledgeable people, of course! Couldn't have done any of it without Zane, George, Sarah and Tyler!

We're going to take a break from house stuff tomorrow though, to go Stampedin'! This has been one of my favorite times of year since I can remember. As a kid, my dad and my grandmother would take us almost every single day. Rides, junk food, craft displays, sales booths, carny games, rodeos, chuckwagon races, grandstand show, concerts, animals... the fun just doesn't end! Plus, I'm a huge people watcher and the Stampede definitely brings the freaks out. D is not nearly as fond of crowds - or the Stampede - as I am, but he is making this sacrifice for me and I love him for it. I'll take pictures so I can share our day with you.

Not sure how much D will be able to take though. The other night he surprised us all with some Buster Bars and when he went to put them in the deep freeze he found a bunch of water on the floor and inside the freezer. Yup... my 18 year old freezer had died. I guess it didn't really owe us anything. I'd bought it before Tyler was born. It was in the clearance section of whatever store. I think I paid $200 or $300 for it. It moved with us from Calgary to Red Deer, back to Calgary, and four more moves after that. It held up way longer than anyone ever expected it to.

Anyway, we raced over to the Brick and bought a freezer. Poor sales guy didn't know what to think! I told him, "I need one today. What can I get from your warehouse or take off your floor today?" We actually got a a great deal being that it was their Canada Day sale and all. We took a floor model, loaded it into D's brother's truck and had it home and plugged in - all within an hour! I would much rather shop for furniture this way than dicker around with people. Here's what I want - do you have it or not? Throws those sales guys every time!

So back to the point about D... In moving the old freezer out of the basement, D thought he was strong enough to carry the little thing out by himself. Then the chest pain started. While I was out at a movie with my mom (Year One with Jack Black - DON'T waste your money on this one) D's chest pain was getting worse and worse. He finally loaded the boys up and headed over to the Urgent Care at about 9:00. I found the note when I got home and went to get the boys. Turns out D ripped some muscles when he lifted that little freezer. Glad it wasn't worse, but he's in a lot of pain. I'll take LOTS of pictures, because I don't know how long he's going to last there tomorrow...