A few things happening this week...

I guess we knew this was coming, but thought it might be a little bit later.  A few days ago, we were awakened about 6 with a cock a doodle dooooo!

We just looked at each other like "was that what we think it is?  well now what are we going to do?"  He confirmed our question with about 5 more crows that morning.  I think he was as surprised as we were that he could make that big noise so he just kept doing it.

We were pretty lucky to have ended up with just one rooster out of the  6 chickens Tina had given us.  We could tell pretty early on that he was a boy because he was bigger than the girls  and he started growing the cutest little comb on his head.  

It was funny to see his personality come out too. He would steal food from the older hens and strut around the coop like he was king of the world.  We had a rooster all the time at home when I was growing up and I loved to hear him crow every morning.  It just sounds like home to me 

The crowing doesn't bother me, but some of our neighbors might not be too happy with it and also, we are not zoned to have a rooster. 

 Candice threw out to her internet friends that we had a rooster that needed a new home...crickets.

She checked with Wheeler Farm...we may or may not have dropped off a few animals there...it just seems like a happy place to live! ok?!  Anyway, they said no.  They suggested the Humane Society.  Ha!  I didn't know they even took chickens.  Well for now, I think we will just hold on to him and hope we don't get any complaints from the neighbors.  He really is a cutie and I'd like to continue loving him as a living rooster...not as chicken enchiladas.

Kelley and Katie have been working on some new projects.  Camille wanted some bar stools for her new house so they made the seats for those.  Lynn is going to help them with the legs.  

We are going to redo the family room (Hooray!)  Since we got the lap top, the other computer has not been touched, so we are going to take the big desk out of the room.  That should open up a lot more space down there.  I'm going to get some new carpet, paint and a new couch!  I'm so excited!  So anyway, Kelley and Katie have been working on a big cabinet to put under the TV. It's going to be really beautiful

Katie is getting to be really good with the saw!  She works right along side of Kelley measuring, cutting nailing and sanding.  Today she just busted out this beautiful piece of wood art.   She is so talented and creative and I know it makes her happy when she is creating something.  I feel the same way...I like to always have a project to work on or something to make. When I watch her and Kelley working together, I just feel so grateful they are able to go on this adventure together.

We took the girls to the temple for young women  last week.  I think most everyone in Salt Lake had the same idea.  There were herds of young women and men filing in ahead of us.  We went  what we thought was early too.    When we went in, they asked Stacey and I if we wanted to help the girls with their towels so we said sure. So we got dressed in white too.  

We waited patiently till they took the girls back to be confirmed.  The lady in charge was pretty flustered cause there was so many people in there.  Every row was filled and she was trying to keep all the different groups seated together and in the right order.  At one point she asked if we would do her job!  No thank you!  It is mind boggleing the way they do it!  Well the lady in charge said  they were changing shifts soon, so we should watch for our girls to go in and we should go with them.  By this time (6:30...we had been there since 4:30) the girls had rotated up to the front row and should have been the next group to go in to be baptized.  The lady who was in charge before had left and there was a new lady there.  She brought a big group out of the confirmation room and took them right back to the baptismal font.  We were all like "hey...I think it was our turn!" Our girls were all giving us leaders the look like "do something!"   I couldn't do anything about the group she had already taken back, but I wanted to make sure she knew the girls should have been the next ones to go.  So I went and sat down by her and told her I knew she had just come on this shift and maybe didn't know that our girls were supposed to be the next ones to go. She was so nice and said that the group that she had taken back had had a reservation and they get to go right through without waiting.  She said she felt bad cause she knew we had been waiting so long.  I felt like a real dummy then, and apologized for saying anything.  She was very sweet  and said she understood why I had.  Anyway, we finally got our turn to go back and be baptized.   It was neat being back there with them and getting to watch them be baptized, then putting their towel around them as they come out of the water.  In the past three years I have sure come to love these girls.  We have been through a lot together and have had some pretty special experiences.  

We didn't finish getting everyone dressed till about 7:15 and the cafeteria closed at 7:30 so we really had to hustle to make it there for dinner.  It was nice visiting with Stacey, Tina, Carolee and Charity and that cute bunch of girls.  I dropped McKenzi off at the church so she could talk with the Bishop about going on her mission.  It's weird to think of her going so soon, but she will be 19 in November.  I'm glad she has wanted to keep coming to young women this summer.  She is a great example to the younger girls. I'm just really proud of this girl.  She has gone through a lot of hard things and never wavered.  She will be an amazing missionary.

This is Camille's new house!

She sent me a few pictures and it really turned out beautiful!  

They were supposed to be moving in this week,  but that did not happen.  while we were in California, they got a call from the loan officer saying there was a problem with their loan...with the usda loan, they had a problem with Kellen's student loans.  It showed that they were paying a lot more each month than they really are and it made them look like their debt to income ratio was too big.  They were pretty surprised since they had already been pre approved for the loan before they even started the home.  So they have been battling this for two weeks.  The bigger problem was that they had told their land lord they would be out of the house by August first so he had someone else moving in that day.  So they had to get out of their house and couldn't move into their new home.  They were very lucky though because there are snow birder friends that live next door who are somewhere cooler right now so their houses are sitting empty.  Two of them told Camille they could move their stuff in their house and stay till they could get in their house.  That was a real life saver!

We were planning on going there to help them move, but Camille said it would be better if we came when they are actually moving into their home.

So today they moved all their stuff into the people across the streets garage and  cleaned the house, and are officially out of there.  I was dying to be there to help her...  I know she was just physically and emotionally exhausted...she has been worrying so much about the loan, then having to move their whole house in just a couple days...it's been a lot.  She sent this picture  of her and Emily...trying to clean with Em attached to her is not easy.

I heard from her tonight and they found a different kind of loan that I think they only do in Arizona that looks like it will work out for them.  I'm so relieved for them.  I remember going through these same feelings when we were moving into this house.  We had a big mess when the guy that was supposed to be doing our loan (we found out soon after that he is a  real scoundrel) wasn't doing our loan at all so we had to move in with Kelley's folks till we could get it all worked out.  I thought we were sunk.  We didn't have enough money saved to cover the closing costs so we had to borrow some from Kelley's folks and mine too. They let us put our stuff in the garage of the new house though so at least we didn't have to move our things twice.   I was 8 months pregnant and pretty miserable... after moving boxes all day, I remember just curling up on the floor and crying.  It's funny how things can seem so horrible at the time, but with good family, friends and Gods help, they always have a way of working out.  I wish someone would have told me that when we were going through it...It probably wouldn't have done any good though...somethings you just don't get it till you've gone through it yourself.

A

We had a fun activity Wednesday evening.  The girls had wanted to go hiking so we decided to take them to Donut Falls.  

We had a pretty cool experience  Monday evening.  I was outside talking to Stacey and she said Steph wanted to go for a walk. So we met up with her and walked around the Taylorsville park several times.  Then as we were heading home,  we saw Darilyn with some people there on 5400 talking.  We walked up to them and she said 'This is so strange, I was just telling them that I used to be a young women leader, but the other leaders are really great...then you guys walked up!'  She was talking to this girl we have been trying to get to come out to young womens for  several months.  The ward missionaries have been over to their house lots of times and they keep telling me about this cute girl named Madison that we need to get involved.  We have reached out to her many times, have done a "heart attack" on her front porch, and always invite her to everything, but she hasn't come out.  I think Darilyn is her mom's visiting teacher so she was taking her a pie (she's so great like that)  Anyway, we introduced ourselves to her and her family that were all standing out there and told Madison about the hiking activity we were having this week.  She seemed really excited about it, but we didn't really think she would come because of the past experience we had had with her.  Well the next day, I get a text from her asking questions about the activity.  (she had thought it was at 6 am?)  We text back and forth about some different things and she said she would for sure be there.  We found out later, that Calle had gone the extra mile to make her feel welcome and had picked her up for the activity.  She is an amazing young woman. I think it meant more to Madison to have her peers reach out to her.  She seemed to get along great with all the girls and fit right in.  I was so happy to have her there.  I hope she had a good experience and will want to come out again.  We were thinking afterward how it almost seemed like the whole situation with us all meeting up like we did just at the right moment had all been set up...I do believe maybe it was, but not by any of us!  Heavenly Father is truly mindful of each of us!

Steph text us and said she wouldn't be able to go cause Jeff wasn't getting home till later and she wouldn't have anyone to watch Connor.  I was mentioning it to Kelley and Katie said "I'll watch him" She is such a sweetheart!  Steph was sure grateful and happy about that and brought him over about 5:30.  She is kind of a nervous new mom and hadn't left Connor with anyone except Jeffs mom, so she was giving Katie all kinds of instructions on how to take care of him.  Kate was sweet with her though and just went along with everything she said, reassuring her he would be fine.

We had a little bit of a hard time finding the road to turn off to Donut Falls.  I had never been there before and I was driving with Stephanie and she didn't really know where it was either.  I told my phone to help us find it and it took us to a place on the road up to Brighton where there was a little place to pull off.  "you have reached the destination!"  Ha!  We just kept on driving by thinking it must have a road to turn off or a sign or something.  I tried to get a hold of Tina or Stacey, but didn't have service.  Then we drove past a road where you could turn off and Stephanie said " I think that's it!"  So just then one of the girls got service and called Stacey and she said she had gone too far and was coming back to the road Stephanie had thought was the right one.  

So we all went down this road and came to some signs that said Donut falls and other hikes were up ahead.  There were a ton of people there...so many there was no place to park, so we had to park up the road a ways and walk to the start of the trail.  It had been kind of rainy all afternoon and started to sprinkle a little as we started out.  

Charity and Cami both brought their kids and weren't worried about taking them on this hike at all, so I figured it wasn't going to be very hard.

It's not a very long hike at all and I think within about 30 minutes, we were there....along with about 50 other people!  The trail was seriously packed with people!  It was kind of trecherous walking across the river on rocks and logs cause everything was pretty slippery from the rain.  Some of the girls started climbing up the really steep rocky part before the falls and we had to holler at them to come back!  It was really dangerous and we didn't want to be responsible for any of the girls falling.  They complained  a bit, but we were just like absolutely not...not on our watch.

 A cute girl offered to take a picture of all of us.

 As we were walking along, we ran into  Tori with a cute guy.  He had just got home from his mission last week.  Tori said she had written to him on his mission but hadn't met him till he got home.  She is such a cute girl.  While we were talking to them, it started to thunder and lightning.  It felt like the storm had moved right over us.  A minute later, it was pouring buckets on us.  We hurried down the rest of the mountain and made sure everyone was down safe, then made a run for the cars.  It was really pouring now and we were all drenched.

 Pretty drive down the canyon and a beautiful sunset.

We took the girls to dunkin donuts  to finish off the night.  These last few activities are pulling at my heart...I'm going to miss these girls and the association I have with these amazing women.

Well I don't have any pictures for my post today which is a good thing because what I'm going to talk about is not pretty.  It's really pretty gross.
Earlier this spring I found this weird bump on my leg.  It looked like something that should come to a head and get squeezed. But when I tried to squeeze it, nothing would come out.  I thought it must be an ingrown hair and figured it would go away.  Well it didn't.  In fact in started getting bigger. So I made an appointment with Dr, Bradley...but I couldn't get in to see Dr Bradley till August sometime...Ha!  So I was fine to see the other doctor in his office, Matt. 
So I went in and he took one look at it and said ummm yeah, that's not an ingrown hair.  He said it looked like skin cancer.  I have never had anything that looked like that before so I was pretty surprised.  He said he wasn't sure, but he would biopsy it and let me know.  So he cut it off and also froze off a bunch of my barnicles on my back and leg.  
He called me a few days later and said it was a form of skin cancer.  He said he needed to take more tissue off around that area.  This was two days before we were headed to California to work on Stacey's Airstream.  He said not to worry, that he could take it off when I got home.  He said this isn't a kind of cancer that spreads.  
Well I knew that we weren't going to be back for a couple weeks because we were headed to Mexico straight from California.  I also knew it would make me crazy on vacation, knowing that I had this thing that needed to be taken off on my leg.  So I called him back and asked if there was any way he could take it off before we left.  He said he understood and told me to come in the next day.  He took a bigger piece off and seemed quite confident that he had gotten it all and said I probably didn't need to see him again for it.
So we go on vacation and all the while, I was healing up from where he had frozen off the moles.  They all got scabby and healed up pretty quick.  But the place where he took the skin cancer off didn't heal up so good.  I kept it covered most the time and put neosporin on it but it still didn't look right.  Kelley had gone with me when I had it cut off and he said that Matt had cut quite deep so that was probably why it was taking so long to heal.  
When I touched it, it felt like there was a lump underneath the sore.  I knew this wasn't right so I called Matt's office to see if I could have him look at it.  There is a lady that works in Dr. Bradley's office that I have never cared for too much...she is always very cold and rude.  I told her what was going on and she said Matt didn't have any openings till the first week of August.  I was like...really? I can't wait that long!  By this time it had started hurting...like really bad.  Anytime it was touched, or even brushed up against, it would send me through the roof with pain.  I told her that I really needed someone to look at it and she said "well there is nothing I can do."  
I knew that Camille had made an appointment with Matt to have him look at a few of her moles too and that appointment was the following week, so I decided I would just go in with her.  
The thing with Matt is he is really efficient and quick.  When I have seen Dr. Bradley I would without fail wait in the waiting room for at least 45 minutes, then when they take me back to a room, I would sit in there and wait for at least another 45 minutes.  One time I was waiting in the room for over an hour before he came in.  He apoligizes and is just the nicest man, but even when he is working on me, he takes FOREVER! He likes to sit and chat so I can see why he gets so far behind.
Anyway, they took Camille right in and I tagged along with her.  He asked me how I was doing and I told him not very good.  I told him how I had tried to get in to see him, but the receptionist said I couldn't get in till August.  He seemed kind of mad that she would have done that.  He came and took one look at my leg and was like "oh dear, that's not good"  He said he must not have gotten it all and it had grown back.  He said not to worry about it though, that it wouldn't spread.  He didn't have any openings for two weeks which worked out fine cause we were headed to California in a couple of days. 
He took some big moles off of Camille's head that have been bothering her for a long time.  Then she showed him one that was on the bottom of her foot and he said he for sure wanted to take it off.  Camille said it had changed  shape over the past year.  I felt so bad for her when she had to get a shot in the bottom of her foot.  I was holding her hand and I know it hurt like crazy.  Then he immediately cut it off.  Camille thought he was giving her another shot cause she was like ahhhhhh that hurts!!! She looked down and he was all finished.  I think he could have waited a minute for the deadening to work!
So I had a few more weeks to get to think about this ugly thing on my leg.  I was really hanging on to his  word that it wasn't going to spread and he could easily take care of it when I got home.  The worst part of it was just the pain.  Any bump or touch would make me cry out in pain. Even sleeping on that side was impossible. I kept it covered all the time now cause it was pretty hideous.  It had gotten bigger and was a raised bump with a scabby top. ewww.
I was sure glad when today finally got here so I could get it taken care of!  Kelley is such a sweetie and went with me for moral support.  He was making me laugh all the way there to get my mind off of it.
It was sad when we went back to the room, we could hear this kid in the next room screaming at the top of his lungs.  The nurse came in and said he was having warts frozen off.  When Matt finished up with him and came in the room, he looked like he had been wrestling an alligator.  He said "I'm sorry you had to hear that!"  I just felt bad for the little kid...I know how it feels and it stings!
  I was pretty nervous about having him touch my big sore...let alone give me a shot in it to deaden it.  And it was even worse than what I had imagined.  I don't like to sound like a boob and I do have a pretty high pain tolerance, but when he stuck the needle in there it was so painful, I cried...big sobby crying. I know he felt bad...he kept saying "I'm so sorry" but then he did it again only deeper.  I thought I was going to pass out.  He didn't wait a minute, but just started cutting at it.  I did't feel anything but pressure now.  He had it done in just a few minutes.  He said he wanted me to use this cream that would get rid of any cancer cells if there were some left.  So I put it on twice a day for 6 weeks.  It hasn't hurt since he did it until tonight, and it's not bad.  I'm just feeling so grateful that they could take it off and stop that pain. I hope with the surgery and using that cream, I will be done with it for good.
(maybe I'll get a picture when it's a little less gruesome looking)

We had just the nicest time on our trip to Newport Beach last week.  One of my favorite vacations ever.

We came home from church and got our stuff together then took off.  Chris said we could stay at his house cause his family  was all out of town so we stopped in Vegas.  Chris is just the best.  He had pizza, salad and fruit all ready for us.  Spencer and Emily (his wife) were there too so we had a nice time visiting with them.  Chris helped me upload all of his pictures from mexico onto my computer and he had some really good ones.

We got up early and got on our way...oh this was the pretty sunset Sunday night.

We decided to stay at the travel lodge by the airport.  We had stayed there when we came with Camille's last year and liked it.

KC and Candice doing a pre-beach workout

 So last year we had a little competition between Katie and I and KC and Candice  at paddle ball.  Katie and I did pretty well if I do say so myself.  But this year KC and Candice totally dominated us.  They were getting up over 400 hits!  We tried all the moves we knew, but couldn't get close.  

We went to Katie's old ward on Sunday and stayed for Sunday school.  It was a good lesson.  After we decided to go check out this place Katie had found on the internet called Victoria beach.  It was supposed to have an old pirate castle on it and a great history behind it.  It was down by the Montage.  After driving and walking and then walking some more, we finally found it.  It was a beautiful beach and the castle was pretty neat too!

 

 There were crabs and creeping things all over the rocks

 I can't get enough of the ocean.  it's power amazes me but it's also so calming and peaceful at the same time.  I never tire of watching the waves crash on the rocks or roll in quietly on the sand.  It was a beautiful place to see...well worth the walk to get to it.

Camille's family got there about 11.  They had ran into some bad traffic on the way.  We got them all situated and into bed.

 The next morning started off with a dance party...then off to the beach.

 How darling are they with their little beach chairs!  I could just eat them!

 The water was fairly warm this year.  Emily had fun jumping in the waves with papa.  Sam was much braver this year too and would jump right in the waves.  He has grown up a lot in the last year.  He is so smart!  He knows all his numbers and knows what they mean too.  He was doing little subtraction problems while he was carrying buckets of water and dumping them in hole.  "I'm getting ten buckets of water....after I dump one, then I will need to get nine more"...and he did this counting down to one.  I was pretty amazed!  He is so full of life and fun and can be so loving and sweet.   

 Sam had fun playing with Heather's boys. It was nice to be there with their family.  Dan and Brenda had their whole family there with a few extras.  Ashley came down from Alaska with her kids and with Heather and her bunch, they had a house full.

We also ran into Neeley's one night down by Charlies Chile.  They had rode their bike down from their place at 65th street.  It was great to see their family.  Reynolds were there this week too, so we ran into them a few times.  I don't know if I'd choose to go this week again though...it was super crowded everywhere.

This girl can't get enough of the water.  She is in the ocean jumping in the waves, body surfing or boogie boarding the whole day long.  Then she is always the last one to want to go in, so her and Kelley will stay and shut down the beach.

 They found some neat shells this year...a few whole sand dollars

Charlies Chile is always good breakfast.  Camille and I ran down to Balboa a few times during the week and it actually felt pretty good!  She could have gone twice as fast without me, but she waits for me and tells me things that make me feel like I'm really doing something.  She keeps me going when I feel like quitting and makes it fun.  I am going to try to keep running at home, but it won't be nearly as fun without her.  She just makes me (and everyone else she is around) happy. I'm sure going to miss her.  Anyway, we deserved french toast after that run.

It sure makes me happy to see Candice loving her stitching!  I remember doing the same thing when I was her age...always had a project with me to work on while we were driving or relaxing.  It's really therapeutic to me.

 She 

Candice has taken it to a whole different level though.  She is so creative!  She does all her handwriting free hand and it looks great!

She is the featured artist at a darling vintage shop downtown this month and her work is all over the walls of the store.  She had to leave Friday morning to get home for the gallery stroll Friday night where people can come by and look at her art work and meet her.  I just couldn't be any more proud of her.

This just kind of melts my heart

 And this...

 Olivia was always so cold and shivering by the time she would come in at night, we decided to get her a wet suit.  She wore it pretty much non stop after that.

Olivia knows just how to catch a good wave and will ride it clear into the shore.  I can see her smiling all the way!

 A lot of checkers games went down that week

We got to celebrate Katie's birthday at the beach this year...this was a couple day's before at Spaghetti factory.  I don't know how they even knew it, but when we walked in to be seated, they said "and you are celebrating Katie's birthday!"  We all thought someone else in the family had told them, but no one did.  Ha!  It was extra nice to have Emily help blow out the candle.

Cute twinners

M

 My favorite guys right there

My other favorite guys

 I couldn't resist this...she has the cutest little bum. adorable!

 Lotta love going on 

 More cockles? (popcicles)

 This was on Kate's actual birthday. She is such an amazing person.  As I watch her working out her life path, I am filled with so much love and admiration for her.  She has had some hard things, but has the faith, courage and strength to get through them. I can see these trials molding her and preparing her for the future and to be the person she was meant to be. She is one of the most compassionate thoughtful people I know...and would do anything for you.  She loves her family and it shows. She is always there to support each of her siblings and Kelley and I too.  I love to watch her with her siblings...there are some special relationships there. Anyway, I just feel really blessed to get to have her with us right now and to be her mom.

We went to Panini for dinner and it was pretty fabulous.  Then over to Cheesecake factory after.  (I think I have gained 10 pounds on this trip...ate way too much but I don't even care... it was all so good!) 

Oh man I hated to see this week come to an end.  Camille and I stayed up late playing racko just so we wouldn't have to face the inevitable.  I have been able to be with their family for the past couple months, and it has been just wonderful, so I knew it was going to leave a hole in my heart when I said goodbye.  It sure did.