Well two weeks have gone by and I promised myself I would blog every week! Sometimes life has a way of getting in the way. Last week, I had to have a tooth pulled. It took oral surgery and I was down and out for a couple of days. I have been trying to be patient and hoping that the pain will subside. It has gotten better though. Now, it only hurts at night. By Sunday morning I wanted to do something so I made my nephews this:

This week, I anxiously looked forward to watching General Conference. Talk about news! President Monson announced that the age of missionaries was changing. Boys can now go when they turned 18 (as long as they graduated high school or the equivalent) and girls can now go at age 19! Well about three hours later, I received what would become one of many texts from Casey letting me know he wanted to go in January. He met with his bishop and will be putting his papers in when he gets home in December. He is going to be filing for a deferment from BYU and coming home to wait for his calling. Wow! My life just turned upside down. I am so excited, nervous, excited, nervous, and overwhelmed! On a different note, Kelly and I ran up to Chelan between conference sessions on Saturday to put up the ‘whomping willow’. Do you think this OSHA approved? Yes that is books you see under the ladder. My husband has no fear. He wasn’t worried— I was holding the ladder.

Smoke Smoke GO AWAY!!!

This week has been pretty uneventful. I went to the dentist on Monday and found out that instead of getting a crown I will be having oral surgery next Friday. On the upside, Shannon and I put on our masks and walked in spite of all the awful lung clogging smoke. Casey continues to do well at BYU and I had the opportunity to see Andy and Yulia.

Summer!

This summer flew by! We started the summer off with Casey and I flying to Utah to get him settled into his dorm room at Heritage Halls. We flew in on Wednesday June 13th , went shopping ALL day Thursday and moved in entirely by Friday. He was one happy boy!

I spent Saturday and Sunday on my own and even went to temple square where I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. On Sunday night, Casey and I flew back to Seattle where Kelly picked us up. Monday morning we all drove from Seattle to Yakima to drop Casey off for the East/West football camp and game.

On Tuesday the 19th, I drove back over to Seattle to be with Cindi while she had her surgery and then stayed until Friday and drove back to Wenatchee so that Kelly and I could attend Casey’s game in Yakima on Saturday. Are you exhausted yet? Well it didn’t end there. We then drove from Casey’s game to Seattle in order to fly back to Utah on Sunday. We resettled Casey in his dorm, sent him to school, and spent the next six days exploring Salt Lake and the surrounding area. It was great to spend such quality one-on-one time with Kelly. When we arrived back in town, I went right back to Cindi sitting. She had a rough time with the medication and recovery so I spent much of July with her and the boys. This was probably a good thing because I didn’t have time to miss Casey too much. (and the missionaries moved in to boot!) During this time, I got the bright idea that I should paint some murals for my companion classroom. As you can see I was VERY busy! Between the castle walls and Hogwarts Express I spent many hours painting.

I did however take some time to do two projects for my house. Andy bought these old windows at a yard sale and this is what I did with them.

I bought this ‘screen’ at a yard sale for $2, painted, and added some chicken wire and wa la a new head board! I still need to order some black and white picks to hang on the wire but that will have to be a later post.

Casey flew home on the 11th of August and spent ten days resting and recuperating from a rough summer quarter of studying and having fun. We finished off our summer by driving down to Utah with Shannon and Bronte Toolson. This was one of the best road trips I have EVER been on. We laughed the entire way down. Shannon and I enjoyed spending time with these two wonderful kids and we were extremely sad to leave them behind.

Shannon and I were lucky enough to be able to spend our evenings at her sister-in-law’s house. Their daughter was sweet and gave up her bedroom for us. Although we didn’t end up with as much ‘just us’ time as we had expected (How do you say no to two teenagers who want to spend time with you?), Shannon and I went to the Jordan River Temple while we were there and left feeling very spiritually uplifted. A great way to wrap up my summer!

Part 2 of 2

When I got to Seattle (Algona to be exact) I realized that I forgot my luggage so I have no toothbrush, toothpaste, clothes, shampoo or conditioner. Good thing I’m not here to impress anyone! Eric wanted to ensure we got to the hospital in time, so we woke up at 3:30 and took showers, drove to the hospital and arrived 45 minutes early. They took Cindi back at 6:15 and then on into surgery at 8:45. She spent five hours in the operating room and came through with flying colors. Don’t read any further if you don’t want the gory details. The doctor came out and explained that he had removed between 3 to 4 feet of large intestine and wondered how that much could possibly fit into a tiny girl like Cindi. The best news he delivered was that she did NOT need to wear a bag! When the doctor was explaining things to Eric and the boys, Trey looked up, wrapped his arms around me and exclaimed, “She made it!” The boys were really worried about her. Overall a long tiring, but wonderful day. Cindi is sleeping well and will be going for her first walk at around 9 tonight. Thank you for all of the positive thoughts and prayers. Cindi hiding from the light while they draw blood. One of the nurses poked himself with a needle after it had been used on Cin so they asked if they could test her to reassure him that all was well.

Part 1 of 2 Summer 2012

This will be a long post so please be patient. So much has been happening this past week and a half that I am just a wee bit overwhelmed. I finished school on June 13th, went to the doctor, and flew to Utah to take Casey down to BYU. We got him checked into his dorm on Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day shopping for all of the things he will need for the next six weeks, and Casey spent his first night on campus as an official college student. On Friday, I attended the parent orientation while Case attended the New Student Orientation. They had a lot of great advice to offer and encouraged us to foster independence in our children, learn to let go, and speak to our children adult to adult. Well, I guess that’s a nice way of saying back off helicopter mommies! Seriously though, I loved it! They also told us that 90% of freshman change their major at least once before they graduate. Right after this, Casey came up to me and told me he was changing his major. (He wasn’t in that meeting) He is now majoring in Manufacturing Engineering. He wants to be able to actually create things not just plan them. Casey has the neatest group of boys in his dorm. He is rooming with five others and they get along well. This is Casey and one of his roommates Kenai. Much to my dismay as I was dropping Casey off for the evening, there were a couple of RA’s throwing away a ‘perfectly good’ TV and Casey snagged it. (Darn!) On Saturday, I went to the Provo Temple and enjoyed a quiet morning. By the afternoon, I was bored stiff! We took Colin Rivera out to Café Rio and enjoyed some awesome BBQ pork. Colin then took us to the DI (Utah’s equivalent of Goodwill) and Casey found the ‘perfect’ TV stand. On Sunday, Casey stayed to attend church at school, and I drove up to Farmington to go to church with one of our favorite families, the Petersons! I got lost, was late, and then got pulled over! The officer was kind and let me off with directions to the church. Phew! I was sweating. After church, I drove to temple square in Salt Lake City and finished reading the Book of Mormon for the VERY first time! I loved it and have definitely gained a stronger testimony. Finishing it while sitting next to the temple was incredible!!! I then went back to the hotel and sat outside by the pool. Wasn’t long before a bee came along and stung me. It hurt! Monday, Casey went to his first BYU classes and loved it. He is pretty excited about attending BYU. I went to the Bean Museum with the Morgan family and waited for Casey. We flew to Seattle that evening and Kelly picked us up and took us to spend the night in a hotel. Tuesday, we drove to Yakima to drop Casey off for his football practice and game this upcoming Saturday. Kelly and I then drove home, did some laundry and I drove back to Seattle to be with my sis for her surgery and hospital stay.

Graduation Time!

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. Casey finished his last day of classes on the 30th of May and officially checked out of high school. He then spent the next two days with his Senior class in Seattle. He had a ton of fun and came home absolutely exhausted. Saturday, June 2nd we went and watched Casey graduate. It’s hard to believe my baby is all grown up! Sunday the 3rd we went to his seminary graduation. He has spent this past week staying up way to late and sleeping in. He has started packing and we leave for BYU on Wednesday the 13th. Where did the time go? Today was a momentous moment for this mom. Kelly had the opportunity to ordain Casey and Elder in the Melchizedek priesthood. I am one proud mama! We were lucky that Andy came home for Casey’s graduation and we had the opportunity to visit with him and Yulia. He is going over to Seattle with us so that Kelly can help him move a futon into his new apartment. My last day of school is this Wednesday! Yay me!!! June will be packed with travel to Provo, Seattle, Yakima, and back to Provo. I may come up for air in July. (I hope)

State Track and More!

This week has been full of action! After work on Monday and Tuesday, I came home and did some much needed cleaning. Knowing that next Saturday we will have lots of company, I needed to spend time getting things cleaned up. Wednesday was spent getting Casey ready for State Track. Casey spent the week turning in work and taking finals. Friday found Kelly and I in Cheney waiting for Casey to throw and run. He was scheduled to throw shot put at 12:30 and run in the 4 X 100 at 1:30. Needless to say the coaches were a little worried that he wouldn't be able to do both. After a lot of running back and forth and throwing his final three throws without his throwing shoes, Casey threw a 44' 6" to place 6th in State! He was one happy boy. They didn't place in the 4 X 100 but they were just happy to be competing at that level. His friends Marcus Vanderholm and Alex Vanderholm also placed in their events.

Notice Casey's shoes!

Marcus and Casey showing off their medals (and an orange?!)

This week promises to be even busier with Senior Awards, Graduation, and Seminary gradution too!