Haley's surgery

Haley is not a fan of camping so she was less then thrilled when our church organized a huge Stake Youth Encampment. I was involved in creating the logo and posters so I had seen first hand how much work was going into this activity and I really wanted my girls to get to enjoy it.  The day before the activity Haley told me she didn't feel well, but she was acting fine so I was not worried. The day of the camp she begged me to let her stay home and I told her she was going no matter what so so save her breath. I was positive that she just didn't want to go camping and if she was really sick, Eric was going to be at the camp as a leader and the camp doctor. I knew she would be fine.

When the camp was over I drove two hours out in the middle of nowhere to pick up my girls and a few of their friends. When I first got there Haley was acting fine, but the drive home she was being totally dramatic acting like she was going to die. Because I had seen her walking around, smiling just a few minutes earlier I knew she was faking and trying to "get me back" for forcing her to go to the camp. I was not giving her any sympathy. When we got home she went upstairs and threw up.  

I FINALLY realized she was sick, but I thought she was dehydrated from the heat and hiking. She drank a ton of Gatorade and the next morning was feeling better so she went to her drivers training class. For  a couple of days she went to her class, but then came home and slept the rest of the day and night. Eric and one his friends Joe P. (also a doctor) examined Haley to see if it was her appendix, they both said they did not think it was. The next day I took her to our doctor to get blood work done. He did a full physical, and checked to see if it was her appendix. She was non responsive to all the tests so he said he did not think it was her appendix but wanted to get an ultrasound to be sure and see if it was ovarian cyst. They did the ultrasound and we walked across the hall to have her blood drawn. Right after her blood was drawn, my cell phone rang and it was Joe P. He had just read her ultrasound and said he was wrong (the day before) it was positive and she needed to have an appendectomy. So within a very short period of time she was checked into the hospital, scrubbed down and ready for surgery.

Lala FaceTimed Haley at the hospital so she could tell her good night. 

The Nearons sent this super cute flower arrangement of a puppy with a band aid. Haley had Tons of visitors come to the house to visit her bring her gifts and see how she was doing. The Bishop brought by some fudge(her favorite thing in the world) for Haley. I thought she was going to cry. It was probably a combination of how thoughtful he was and how happy she was to receive fudge.

A few days of crazy (nothing new)

My niece Larkin flew in Tuesday night to stay with us for 11 days. My girls kept asking me "Why does she want to come here? They are the ones with Lamas". So once she arrived I asked her what she wanted to do here and she said just hang out and learn something new. She added that her mom was hoping I would teach her how to quilt and teach her how we take care of all our farm animals. She has been here for 6 days now and unfortunately all we have done is swim, shop, and she got a makeovers at the mall with Ruby and my sister. We only have 5 days left so I need to step it up fast. 

Speaking of my Sister, Tiffany drove up on Thursday with her daughter Ali so she could play with Lucy. While she was was here the girls played while we looked at potential houses for my Mom to move here. We found some good options, but we had reservations about everything we looked at.  Then we went on a tour of this house. 

It was absolutely perfect for my mom. It had perfect spots for all her furniture and paintings. As we walked through it just kept getting better and better. Everything that she was looking for this house had and more. When we walked out of the house I said to Tiffany "So what do you think?". She said it was perfect and we needed to buy it for mom. I totally agreed that it was perfect and mom needed to live there but financially we had just paid off a chunk of our student loans and committed to an expensive buy in for Eric's work. My mind and heart were racing as I was trying to figure out how we could make this work. Tiffany called her husband and after a lot of discussion, they decided that they would buy the house as an investment and rent it to our mom.  

Its obvious to me that although she was not planning on driving up and buying a house, that's what exactly why she needed to come up here. We are so excited for our mom to move into this amazing house and become an oregonian!

Haley is legal!

She passed the test on the first try!!!!

Congratulations Haley!

I am so excited about having another driver in the house.

Annual Utah trip

We spent the 4th of July with my mom at the homestead. 

I was super excited to swim in the crater and realized as we were rushing to leave for our scheduled swim time... I had only packed the top half to my tankini. Eric assured me no one would notice, but I passed on swimming.

The water was like a hot tub. Everyone was happy except Eric who thought it was totally lame you could not jump in or free dive under the water. 

I think the highlight of this trip for Ruby was- she got an iPhone. She received a basic phone when she turned 12, but she wanted an iPhone. While we were walking around City Creek she saw that they were having a sale and she had enough money to buy her own iPhone.

 She was so excited she was shaking. 

 Our kids always ask tons of questions about when we were dating and they wanted to see where we got engaged. So while we were down in Provo we showed our kids where Eric proposed to me and reenacted how. They loved it, until we started kissing then they were totally grossed out. 

We got to visit with two of Eric's brothers (Alan and Greg) and their families. It's always fun to see Eric around his brothers. They are each very different but at the same time so similar it can be scary. Brick Oven and their apple beer is always a must for Eric, so of course we had to meet up there.

This was Ruby's 1st year at Retreat for girls and Haley's 4th year. Both girls we so excited to attend this camp. Haley has had great experiences in the past, so Ruby had high expectations. Ruby was worried about meeting her roommate but after she realized she was a nice girl, it was all good!

(Can you tell how much these girl love their photo happy mom?)

While the two older girls were at camp we played! Lucy, Keaton, Grandma Bonnie and Eric and I went all over Salt Lake. I know Lucy and Keaton's favorite place was the aquarium. They wanted to go back a second time, but we never made it back there.

My favorite part of our trip this year was touring Welfare Square. All of the church members in Medford give at least 12 hours of service during the pear harvest. All of the pears the church uses for humanitarian service come from here. When I looked at these cans I knew who picked them. I could see the 80 year old ladies with a basket around their neck reaching for pears in the trees. I could see all the youth climbing ladders to pick them and I had such great feelings about all the time I have spent in the pear farm. It really has a special spirit at the pear farm and I felt it as I looked at these cold metal cans. I hope the people that receive these cans can feel the love!

Talking about feeling the love... Ruby and Haley had a hard time being away from Keaton for the camp. This little guy is the most kissed, hugged and adored little dude I have ever seen.

On our drive home we stopped in Elko NV to spend the night. Eric and Lucy headed to the hotel pool to go swimming. Lucy decided to show her dad her back flip (which she does all the time at gymnastics and our local pool). Unfortunately, she did a beautiful backflip but did not jump out far enough and hit her two front teeth on the pool edge. They were loose and sore, but with some dental restoration they look great.

It has become tradition to stop at the sand dunes on the way home. This was a really hot sunny day so the sand was WAY hotter then normal. The girls really wanted to do it so they went as fast as they could. Luckily no serious injuries here.

Ruby's 6th grade Graduation

Ruby is officially a Middle School girl!

She loved her time at Hoover and she loved her teachers, but it is time to move on.

Rachel, Mr. Fox (her Favorite teacher) and Ruby