ATV Accident

Since my father is now retired and it was the last week of summer before my mom returned to school, my parents decided to go on a short trip with my aunt and uncle, Dennis and Gretchen.  Going on four-wheeling adventures is nothing new for any of these guys, but my mom seems to have the worst luck in the world.

While they were on a route, the realized they had taken a wrong turn and had to turn around.  My mom was the third one in the row and she turned her handlebars and backed up, but when she turned her handlebars again to change direction, the four-wheeler rolled backwards down a hill, landing on her.  Fortunately the seat landed on her chest and not the handlebars on her head or she would have been killed.

They got her up.  She was in a lot of pain, but my mom the trooper rode the ATV out of the canyon back to the motor-home   She went to the emergency room and said she had a broken rib but there was nothing they could do about it.  A broken rib would have been pretty lucky.

They came home early and by the next morning, her pain had gotten so bad that she drove herself to the emergency room here, since my dad wasn't home.  They took x-rays and found 10 broken ribs, some broken in multiple places.  She had internal bleeding and basically crushed her chest.  While there is nothing they can do for a broken rib, having bits of bone floating in her chest is not safe.  A couple of days later, they decided to go in for surgery.  They placed 4 plates in her chest to hold together the ribs in the worst shape.  She said that the surgery made a big difference.

She is now recovering at home, but missed going back to school on time.  I'm so grateful she's alive and safe.  When I think about what could have happened, she's one lucky lady.

Beauty and the Beast Jr.

Because I've been so inspired by live theater lately, I wanted to try and give my children that same love from an early age.  Kris and I looked into many theaters, but most won't allow children as young as ours, and the performances are too long for children anyways.  However, there was a production of Beauty and the Beast done by a theater called Empress Theater in Magna.  I found out about it from a friend of mine who had seen the production and posted something about it on Facebook.  I decided to look into it.

The performance was a junior cast, meaning all performers were under the age of 18.  The Empress Theater also had a special running for opening weekend of 1/2 price tickets.  We were able to buy tickets for 6 of us for $27.  You can't beat that for live theater.

Carol and Errol attended the performance with us, and the kids sat in awe as they watched Bell and the Beast sing, dance, and fall in love.  Kodi only had a couple of minutes where she was obnoxious during the entire performance, which I have to say is really good for a 2 year old.  Taking the kids to this performance showed me that I need to look for more opportunities like this for them.  They truly loved it.  After the show, the actors came outside to greet the patrons.  Kodi was excited to meet Bell, but was too shy to pose for a picture.  Kyson wanted to meet Gaston which I thought was cute.

After this experience, we'll be looking into season tickets somewhere.  We just need to find more productions geared for kids.

Goodbye Shakespeare Festival

I recently informed my students at La Europa Academy that I would not be returning next year.  That was a hard thing to say.  I've loved working there for nearly 8 years and I love my students so much.  Because I was leaving, this year's trip has been so special to me.  For 7 years now, I've planned, organized and carried out a week-long trip with my students to attend teh Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah.  This year's plays included: Titus Andronicus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mary Stuart, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scapin, and Les Miserables.  In our week visit we attended all 6 and they were all done exceptionally well.

One of the highlights for my girls, however, was the Green Show.  Every year, there are Green Shows, but this year, the actors came out and would mingle with the audience in character.  The girls absolutely loved it and we took some great pictures.  During one show, one of the actors took my camera and started taking pictures of himself.

We met an actress who took us backstage.  She was one of the leads in To Kill a Mockingbird and Scapin. We met other actors around the festival and took pictures, and overall enjoyed one another's company for my last week with La Europa.  I'm so sad that these trips will end for me, but I'm so grateful that I've been able to participate for 7 years and become aware of the theatrical treasure that we have in our backyard.  I think I'll be using it more for personal use from now on.

 

Kodi, Future Beautician

Kodi, for quite some time has been one of the girliest girls I've ever seen.  She loves dresses, purses and princesses.  Recently she started also becoming invested in hair.  Every time I sit on the couch, she comes over and wants to brush my hair.  I think it's really cute, but she sometimes doesn't comb it the direction that it's meant to go and I fear she is giving me split ends.  I guess that is a mother's sacrifice for her daughter's happiness, right?  While Kodi was brushing my hair, our family photographer, Kyson, grabbed the camera and started shooting pictures.  Kris took a couple too, but I bet you can't tell which were done by Kyson and which were done by Kris.

Kodi, for quite some time has been one of the girliest girls I've ever seen.  She loves dresses, purses and princesses.  Recently she started also becoming invested in hair.  Every time I sit on the couch, she comes over and wants to brush my hair.  I think it's really cute, but she sometimes doesn't comb it the direction that it's meant to go and I fear she is giving me split ends.  I guess that is a mother's sacrifice for her daughter's happiness, right?  While Kodi was brushing my hair, our family photographer, Kyson, grabbed the camera and started shooting pictures.  Kris took a couple too, but I bet you can't tell which were done by Kyson and which were done by Kris.

The Resident Photographer

Lately Kyson has been taking my camera and practicing his photography skills.  I don't see him taking pictures 95% of the time, but when I go back through my camera, I know where it's been.  It is fun to see things from his perspective though - looking up to see what is in the cupboard, or seeing the dishwasher at eye level.  He really loves taking pictures.  I think one day we'll have to invest in nice camera.  He has a child digital camera, but he loves the nicer cameras better.  I thought I'd share a few of his pictures.

Bear Lake Vacation

We're not taking a vacation to some foreign exotic place, so we decided to take our yearly family vacation at Bear Lake.  We stayed 8 days and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  This trip included my parents, the Allreds and Josh and his friend.  Unfortunately Carrol and Errol didn't make it.  They had problem after problem until it just wasn't feasible for them to make it.  We were sad, but understood.

The week started with the boys taking a dip in the pond.  I grabbed the camera just to take a picture of the boys, but once I started snapping pictures, I noticed that the sunset that evening was simply gorgeous.  I loved the way the boys showed up just as a silhouette in the light.  It was so beautiful.

We definitely didn't waste time getting into the fun.  We played fuse ball, air hockey, played in the sand, admired the new tractor, and caught frogs.  Kyson loves frogs.  We he loves animals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects of all kind, but we happened to arrive in time for the hatching of the babies.  There were dozens of frogs hopping all over the beach and Kyson didn't pass up an opportunity to catch them.  At one point, between Kyson and Josh, they caught over 20 frogs.

These poor frogs were tortured and held as POWs for a time.  They were held captive in the island that has a little pool in the center.  They would hop all over and try to jump out.  Every once in a while when Kyson wasn't watching one would "hop out."  They may have had a little assistance to escape, but Kyson didn't know that.  Eventually we let all the frogs go and turned our attention to other things - like Grandpa's yacht.

This was Kodi's first memorable adventure on the yacht.  The two kids really seemed to enjoy it and wanted to go out more.  It was so fun to see the kids smile while riding in a dinky motor boat.  It's nice that it doesn't take much to please children.  Grandpa's fun didn't end with the yacht though.

While we were all on the island, Kyson started a water fight with my dad, and my dad willing obliged.  It was so funny to see Kyson's mischievous look as he would pour water on my dad who wasn't ready for it.  I loved hearing Kyson's little giggles as my dad gasped from the cold water.

Because we've been trying to get to Bear Lake for Raspberry Days for four years, we didn't want to miss the parade.  I can't remember the last time I went to the parade, but boy it was fun.  They throw out so much candy, it was like Halloween when we got home.  There was a yak and llamas, and of course horses and police.  Kodi loved the beauty queens because she thought they were princesses.  it was so much fun.

One of my favorite things this entire week was watching the Olympics.  If I had been home, I never would have been able to watch the 2012 London Summer Olympics every night and see everything going on.  It was amazing to watch Michael Phelps break the record for the most medals ever and Missy Franklin, a high school student, swim her way to gold multiple times.  We all cried for Jordyn Wieber when she was eliminated from the all-around, but cheer and beam with pride as the women's team took the team gold.  It was the highlight for me.

I'm so grateful for a place to go to escape.  I hope that some day I can do something like this for our children because it's one thing that I always look forward to.