JOY
We had a fun trip to Aspen Grove with Budd's family the first week of June. Two weeks later we found out that Budd's Mom, who has had lung cancer, now has brain cancer. We of course rushed down to Arizona the next day to be with the family. We had a great week with everyone. We were able to have a lot of neat experiences and spend a ton of time with family. The neatest thing was when all of Budd's siblings and their spouses and Mom and Dad went to the Temple and did sealings. We had such an amazing spiritual experience all being there together. We were also able to spend a whole day together with the entire family swimming and playing and getting family photos. The rest of the week we spent mostly at Budd's parents just hanging out and being with them. The kids really enjoyed being with their cousins and swimming a lot. Brinlee even started to learn to swim without floaties and she was so excited. She even put her head under water for the first time and learned it was fun. That was a big deal for her. We really had a great time and created precious memories!
I was called as Girls Camp director this year, before I knew I was pregnant, and ended up going 61/2 month pregnant. But I really had a great time. Even though I was stressed to leave a sick husband and kids behind, it ended up being a great break for me. We went to Star Valley Wyoming for 4 days and it was so beautiful. We were able to go river rafting one day and it was a blast except that is started raining while we were going down the river. It got really cold and I ended up with a horrible cough. But it was worth it for a great adventure. I had so much fun getting to know the girls and to just spend time with the girls being fun and crazy. We had some really neat spiritual moments also as we went on a sunrise hike and posted our flag of virtue, did a blind folded ropes course, and had many devotionals. What a neat experience it turned out to be and I think it was more for me than the girls. It was something I really needed. I was glad it all turned out well and all the planning paid off.
Here is an update of our summer. It sure flew by. In July we had a Japanese women (Chiho) and her 5 daughter (Rina) stay with us for a month. We did a lot of fun things with the kids on the weekend, like going to children's museums, swimming, and much more. Brinlee loved having a friend all the time and she and Rina became the best of friends. Chiho was very nice and helpful. Since I am pregnant she would hardly let me do anything and she helped make dinner and clean the house every night. What a treat for me. We had a great experience with them and really do hope to be able to go visit them in Japan in a few years.
We had a fun trip to Aspen Grove with Budd's family the first week of June. Two weeks later we found out that Budd's Mom, who has had lung cancer, now has brain cancer. We of course rushed down to Arizona the next day to be with the family. We had a great week with everyone. We were able to have a lot of neat experiences and spend a ton of time with family. The neatest thing was when all of Budd's siblings and their spouses and Mom and Dad went to the Temple and did sealings. We had such an amazing spiritual experience all being there together. We were also able to spend a whole day together with the entire family swimming and playing and getting family photos. The rest of the week we spent mostly at Budd's parents just hanging out and being with them. The kids really enjoyed being with their cousins and swimming a lot. Brinlee even started to learn to swim without floaties and she was so excited. She even put her head under water for the first time and learned it was fun. That was a big deal for her. We really had a great time and created precious memories!
