Provo River Trail

 

On Saturday we went to my brother Brad's stepson Brad's reception in Provo. We met Brooke and Whit there and then changed our clothes and walked the Provo River Trail. There were a lot of long boarding whizzing past on a regular basis. We walked up to Bridal Veil Falls and then headed back to the parking lot at Canyon Glen. It was a really nice evening and we enjoyed the warm weather!

Blowing in the Wind

 

Happy 56th Birthday to Kim!

Birthday Breakfast in June 2009

 

June 20, 2009 Kim's birthday and Stake Conference on the agenda. Every year for Father's Day, it is our Stake Conference and that occupies Kim's mind and energy so what to do to celebrate a birthday? We had a breakfast early in the morning with some friends and of course a quiz to see what his friends really knew about him. Brent got seven answers correct and won a bag of cinnamon bears. According to Brent, that knew I would have a "quiz" or questionaire, he said we got off easy with only 10 questions. Here is what others had to say about Kim when asked: What do you like most about Kim? His friendship, true friend; He is dedicated to his family and the Gospel; testimony; friendly; spirituality; he just wants to have fun! He is always trying new things; his smile and strong voice; doesn't let his right hand know what his left hand is doing (Kim wrote that). Happy Birthday to Kim and Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and father!!!!!

Dallin Playing for Talent Night in Asahikawa June 2009

Hidden Garden Tour June 2009

Saturday Kim and I hosted two gardens for the Hidden Garden Tour that benefits the Infant Care unit at Utah Valley. The weather was very iffy but we were happy that while we were hosting that the weather was sunny and nice. We really like the two houses we were at in Alpine. They had used the natural springs to form their landscape and made a big pond where the 5 springs flow into it and built a beautiful bridge to traverse it. The family cleans it out and swims in it during the summer. While we were touring the other gardens in Highland, Lindon, American Fork and Orem, we got hungry and stopped at the WalMart in Alpine. That is an oxymoron. There were very few shoppers for a busy Saturday afternoon. As we sat in the Subway eating, we could hear thunder and when we finished our lunch, it was pouring rain. We drove to the next place in Highland and it was just a light rain. We enjoyed being out and definitely had overload of ideas for our yard. Then we went to Deven Downey's reception that was supposed to be outside but quickly moved over to the Stake Center. It was fun to see a photo booth where you could go in and get your picture taken. The sign in table was chest high so you didn't have to stoop over to sign it. We went for a walk in the dark that night and then were very happy to go to sleep!

Kira is Coming to Town

June 4th, 2009 I went to pick up Kira at the airport. We went to Jones Bees to pick up things for Kim and then headed home. During the weekend we took Kira to the restaurant of her choice ( Saigon House) where we ate Chinese and went bowling at BYU. We even got to enjoy Cosmic bowling at the end. Kim was the high scorer for the night...which isn't saying a whole lot. We had fun and after wards, Kim and Kira tried on their dancing feet to Dance, Dance. On Sunday evening, Kira and Wynette packed up and went to AF for grandma and met Brooke at Aunt Jo's for a Girl's get away to Park City.

Happenings at Home

We had a fun Girls Get Away in Park City at the beginning of the week. It was raining weather most of the time so that eliminated much hiking. We had fun playing games, talking, eating, going window shopping, and swimming. We took a few walks mostly up and down main street where our Marriott suites were located. It was a lot of fun and a nice time to get caught up on the news of each others family.

Touch-A-Truck

Today was Bloomington's annual touch-a-truck, where for a buck you can get in with your kids to sit in or on various motor vehicles (buses, concrete mixers, ambulance, Harley's, etc). We look forward to this each year. I thought it would be fun to show a picture of Eli from two years ago when he was about Sharon's age next to the picture of Sharon from this year.

Growing Up

School. A couple of weeks ago Eli had a little graduation celebration for his pre-school. Natalie did a little preschool this last year with a few of the neighborhood moms and it was a huge success. The kids loved being able to get together every week and I loved hearing about the “letter of the day.” I hope that something like this will happen next year. Eli is right at the cut off date for school so we’ll likely hold him back a year so he’s old for his age instead of young for his age. That means next year many of his friends will start real school without him so we’re investigating programs like Head-start and/or another neighborhood preschool.

Eli’s “situation.” The results from Eli’s last doctors visit were, as always, inconclusive… but they have enough to go on that they will be doing a follow up procedure in a few weeks. We are hopeful that one day we will figure this out and Eli will be able to stop going to the hospital every few months and that he’ll digest food just like everyone else. We’ll continue with the tests, only because we want him to live a happy life and to not die prematurely from kidney failure.

Eli did really well at the last visit (he only had to be restrained for a few minutes and didn’t cry/yell hysterically for any great length of time), but we’re glad that for the next one they will put him to sleep for the procedure. I’m purposely leaving this description vague because it isn’t a very pleasant subject to talk about. If you want more details you can give us a call.

After the procedure we rewarded him with his regular post doctor visit trip to the children’s museum in Indy. I love this picture of Sharon—it shows how the children feel when we tell them it’s time to leave.

In other news… Natalie went on her first YW campout this past weekend and had a great time. Tyler spent the weekend sleep deprived and training for my first triathlon next week. Sharon is now really into dolls and Eli is continuing to stay busy with his “projects” (this mostly consists of taping things together). We’re enjoying our summer.