Camping with Grandpa

Back in May....like the beginning of May...Cara and I went backpacking with Grandpa! 

This picture was of us before we headed out. Cara was extremely tearful before she left. She kept thinking about how much she would miss Mom and Dad. She cheered up before we even got down the road.

We, of course, had to have a fire.

The next morning we did a little hiking around before we headed back to the car.

I was feeling good on the hike out and got a head of Grandpa and Cara when I heard a rattle on the trail. There was a SNAKE right on the trail and it was huge. I RAN back to Grandpa as fast as I could. In fact, he said that he had never seen someone with a pack run that fast. It was a HUGE rattlesnake.

We were safe, but there were also cows on our trail. We didn't get pictures of those though! It was a great trip though.

Summer time begins! (Lots of beginnings in summer!)

Splash pads, swimming pools. Bring it.

Sam loves our dogs. And every now and then, they love him too. Caught this moment between him and Gabby.

We, of course, got our season pass to the City Pool. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on the last day of school because of Mom's school, but we made it there really quickly and two or three days that first week.

Another beginning: Mom signed Cara and me up for Swim Team! We were pretty nervous and there was a little snafu when Cara accidentally got made to swim with the level above her on the first day. She was NOT very happy. The second day went much better when she was with kids her own skill level!

And remember how Mom mentioned that she was scribing in the ER? Here is her badge to prove it!

The End of School and a Beginning of School!

We are going to ignore the fact that we are blogging about the end of school after the next year of school has started. It was a very busy summer!


 Cara and I earned our Panorama Achiever Medals...this was Cara's second in a row and my fourth!

Sam was super happy to be there at the assembly!

Cara was given the Great Leader award from her teacher

Cara's teacher was sad to see all her kids go. Just like she is every year, but this was one was really hard because she was going to be moving schools!

Cara was pretty devastated to be leaving Mrs. Seegmiller's class. She was so wonderful. 

My teacher had a baby like three weeks before school ended and I was so happy to get a picture with her on the last day when she came back to say good bye!

The irony came in that the week our school ended, my mom's started! My mom signed up to take Microbiology at Dixie State University during summer semester! She wants to go to PA school and this was the only prerequisite she was missing to be able to apply! So Dad bought her lunch boxes and she went off to school! It was hard on us because Mom had to ask me to babysit quite a bit, but I think it was all worth it!

The Beginning of the End...

Guest post by Mom:

I am so behind on life. I work lots more than I ever have. I currently teach and train at Summit Athletic Club, teach at Red Mountain Resort on Saturdays, and just recently began scribing in the Emergency Department to hopefully help me get in to PA school (which I don't think I have come CLOSE to even mentioning...I'll get there.) It's no excuse, but Instagram and Facebook at least see what's going on each day. This blog gets neglected but recently my children have begun to read the print versions I have of the blog and they LOVE it. So I'm renewing my efforts! Even if it is sunny and hot outside and I would rather be swimming.

Okay....the beginning of the end.

Back in May, we got a text from Pete's Dad that Oma (his mother) was not doing well. In fact, they were giving estimates of maybe only a week left to live. Oma has had Alzheimer's, but in April? Maybe? Shortly after her birthday, I think, she took a fall and hit her head and it sent her on the downhill slide. I've probably mentioned it. Anyway, I took the opportunity on the third week in May to take the kids up north and see her again. Pete couldn't come with me, but we felt that we needed another chance to maybe say good bye. Just in case.

It was May in SLC which meant it was chillier than I probably thought it was going to be. I'm guessing from the pictures anyway! We of course stopped at the zoo.

And we made sure to meet the new leopard cubs. There were three!

It warmed up a bit and Sam didn't last all the way through the bird show.

We also had to go see the new baby zebra, Poppy!

This crazy crew stayed with me much longer at the zoo than the others!

Later, Chase was willing to get Om Nom his bearded dragon out for Sam and Iva to hold and touch. More like just touch.

I was feeling bizarrely ambitious later and took the kids to City Creek...and even fed them dinner there. That was a bit overwhelming.

Probably my favorite shot from Saturday is this one of Iva playing at the park.

Sunday before we headed home and to visit Oma, I snuck back up to the zoo with my kids. It was raining. We probably should have gone to church, but we had fun.

I might have forgotten to make sure Sam had shoes. 

I am just realizing that I don't have a single picture from our visit with Oma. However, it felt very much like a good bye. We went with the Preslars. Oma was in a wheelchair when we arrived and was a little uncomfortable. We decided to sing songs with her and for her. She somewhat surprised us by joining in on a song from Oklahoma. She called the singing beautiful and seemed to really look at her granddaughters. From my view, she seemed really sad. Almost trapped. I could feel that she needed to be done with her earthly journey. She was starting to look really frail. I think I made the mistake of asking to sing "Oo,oo, I want to linger a little longer" with her. Rachel and I were unable to sing most of it. There were some tears shed. As it would turn out, that was the last time I would ever hear her speak or see her awake.