June - and what it was.

I've already mentioned Daniel's birthday and ordination.  Those events happened in June.  We also celebrated Chad's birthday in June.  It passed relatively quietly.  I made him a lemon meringue pie, at his request.  We had to have it a day late, for some reason that I can't even recall!  Thirty-nine is not so momentous an occasion as forty, I guess.  So we'll have to really whoop it up next year!  

June was the big start to the summer for us.  We filled it with letter boxing; a little here and there.  The next 4 pictures are from our adventures looking for boxes.

In June, Nathan saw an orthopedic specialist for his leg/hip problems.  That's when he was diagnosed with "spastic hamstrings" which we have since abandoned and moved on to more reasonable explanations.  I am including this picture because I caught Nathan on camera (hard to do) with a severe case of the giggles.  :)

Mid June had us at the Shrine Circus, watching routines that we have started to memorize.

Even so, it still manages to mesmerize!

 OK...so this one looks less like "awe" and more like "yawn", but the circus is not action 100% of the time.

Hey, Daniel.

We anticipated a rush of people leaving all at once and decided to skip the two-elephant finale at the end to get out of the parking lot ahead of the chaos.  It worked and it was worth it!

Chad's maternal grandmother turned 90 in June and the family got together one Saturday to celebrate her.  We visited with cousins a lot.  I gave the camera to Chad to record what was most important to him.  He turned the camera over to the kids.  So we have a lot of pictures that aren't really that important at all.  Here are some of the better ones.

And what about a picture of the honored matron?  We got one.  I doctored it for you so you would be able to pick her out.  Wow.  We did good.

We recently discovered that Chad's something-great grandfather homesteaded in this area (Presto, not Preston).  I used to know how far back but I've forgotten and if you want to hear any of the story, you won't mind that I don't feel obligated to find out before I post.  The delay has been long enough!  Anyway, we tried to do some investigating one Sunday afternoon.  We found a very old stone house built in 1909 - by the people that bought the land from the Colletts. So here is a shot of the land that they used to live on.  Good ol' Idaho; it's easy to picture them out there since the city hasn't found this beautiful piece of earth yet.

And that is (was) June in pictures.

Chad started his new job in June and it has been challenging to be separated so much.  I am having a hard time running a family, a house and a farm while taking care of church responsibilities and trying to keep from giving up all of my "me" time.  I think the hardest part is not having family around; no one to call on and impose upon without feeling like a bother or intruder.  I end up leaving my kids home by themselves a lot and I feel guilty about that.

I have some great neighbors and a few friends that have lightened the burden, but it really isn't the same as family.  Even being able to call home to discuss the challenges and get a pep talk isn't an option.

So I hope our current situation improves soon and that we can just "keep on keeping on" until it does.

Summer Cancer

I am looking forward to school starting next week.  We are suffering from a cancer that is eating our family from the inside.  When the kids start school, they will be able to reconnect with friends that they have been missing all summer and use up their energy in more structured activities.

Things have been so crazy around here that we've had very little structure.  Sometimes we had swimming lessons, sometimes we were catching a movie from the summer kid series, there was a week of basketball camp for Daniel and Leah, we've made several trips out of town, there were two different scout camps, and we've been missing our Daddy. 

It's been hot this summer and our house doesn't have air conditioning.  That hasn't helped the temper flare-ups much.

Daniel composed a poem for Leah tonight. 

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your shoes smell like poo,
And you look like some, too.

She wrote it down and showed it to me while I was working on dishes and they were supposed to be going to bed.  So I composed one of my own and wrote it down for Daniel.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
When you are unkind to others,
They will start to avoid you.
-And you will be sad, mad and lonely.

Daniel is the main source of contention in the house.  I am ready to confine him to areas that we are not in during the day tomorrow.  He won't have to stay in his room the whole day, but he will have to leave whatever area we are in.  He may find himself with a lot of thinking time in the garden, too.  I am to the point of desperation.  (Out of respect for him, I won't go into all the dirty details.  I still believe that he is better than he's showing us.)

So while our family is struggling with getting along and making happy memories, I have the assignment to teach the RS Presidency message/lesson next month.  The topic?  Strengthening families/Making a home where others want to be.  HA HA HA!  I am twitching, laughing hysterically and pretty sure I'm the least qualified to teach this lesson.  I suppose that means I have the most to learn. It should be interesting...right up to the final AMEN.

Double Duty

I have had the hardest time getting time to blog!  Summer is definitely to blame.  I also have a hard time justifying long amounts at the computer.  Most of my visits lately have been short stops to sit for a minute, catching up on any recent updates in the world (or Facebook) and then up again to do something that seems more pressing.

That is all compounded by the fact that I am now pulling double duty.  Chad has accepted a new job and doesn't always come home at night.  He has to drive over 2 hours to get to the office, so it's not only cheaper for him to stay with his parents (they live another 30 minutes away from where is he is working), but he can't survive that many early mornings and long hours on the road.

He started his job less than three weeks ago and we are still making the adjustments.  I was really feeling a little overwhelmed one afternoon and confided some tears to a friend.  That night I was reading in Ether 6 with the kids.  It's about the Jaredites in their barges, traveling for 344 days with their animals and provisions, separated from other friends and family and even bearing children.  Ha!  At least I am not stuck in my house with poopy animals and being tossed upon the waves.  I have a new outlook! :)

It's all been a warm up for this week because Chad's church calling as scoutmaster has taken him away for the entire week to scout camp.  He took Daniel.  So it has been quieter, but it's a lot of responsibility.

Meanwhile, we had a cow go down.  His legs just seemed to lose strength.  Since a week ago Saturday, he's only been on his feet a handful of times.  We don't even know what happened.  But it's been hot and today was at least 95 degrees.  The cow was failing and I finally had to call some friends for help.  The cow was shot between the eyes, loaded into a dump truck and hauled away.  Then I read scriptures with the kids and put them to bed.  Just a normal day for the family! 

As far as family health goes, Chad was reminded that he has high blood pressure.  He was told that there wasn't really anything he could do about it now because he isn't overweight.  Huh.  Is that all it takes?  Daniel has still been struggling with his jaw.  (Come to think of it, I'm not sure he took any medicine with him to camp.)  He has seen a physical therapist multiple times.  It helps.  Nathan has been diagnosed with spastic hamstrings and is often crying about his sore legs.  He's just supposed to keep stretching the hamstrings and taking ibuprofen for the inflammation.  He's taking medicine daily for the pain.

Leah is sleep walking regularly and is the most likely to have a nightmare.  I had my first experience with vertigo two days before Chad was supposed to start his new job.  On the 2nd day I was able to find help that was helpful.  The first P.A. I saw (it's so hard to see a real doctor these days) gave me a medicine that made me very, very tired and still didn't stop the room from spinning.  I was supposed to add Valium to that if it wasn't working.  Yeah, right!  How the heck was I going to care for my family on my own if I couldn't even function!?  The 3rd P.A. I saw was able to preform an Epley Maneuver.  It worked wonders on my vertigo.  That was 4 weeks ago today.  I still feel dizzy if I tilt my head the wrong way or spin around too quickly.   But I don't need any medication, so I'm happy.

As for my relationship with my family?  I rarely hear much from them.  I am still OK with that.  They don't know very much about what is happening my life or the lives of my children, but they don't seem bothered by that.  So they shouldn't be surprised when they eventually hear about some major change...long afterward.    Right?  I am more bothered by my local friends who didn't make attempts to contact me when I stopped initiating contacts with them.  That hurts more because they were the family I chose and they still decided I wasn't very important to them.  I think of the therapist who told me I am hyper sensitive.  How sensitive am I allowed to be before it's too much?  I don't know.  I'm not a brick, after all!

So, there's a really long excuse as to why I have not been blogging.  I have been preparing some pictures to get myself caught up.  Hopefully, I can get them posted before I forget the stories that go with them!