Jeep Ride

Last weekend we made a trip out to Arbon with several of our friends for a Jeep ride up the canyon. It was a blast! This picture is missing almost half of the group, but I think we’re a good lookin’ bunch nonetheless.

(Going across the top first) Levi, Logan, Me, Chelsea & Jett.
Cami & Hadli, Dustin, Chloe, Jenna, Cody, Skylar.

Up the canyon, we made a campfire and roasted hot dogs and smores. It’s so nice to just get away from the city for a while!

That night we went back to Dustin’s dad’s house and had a sleepover. The boys slept out on the tramp and the girls (plus Skylar) slept in the bunk house.

After church Sunday, Dustin made some awesome homemade fried chicken in the dutch oven. (Turns out, LARD is the secret ingredient. Who knew!) Once everyone had stuffed themselves, it was evidently nap time. I came out of the house and cracked up when I saw this:

Not a very lively bunch. :]

Jett wasn’t at all interested in a nap, so Chelsea and I played in the back yard with her while everyone else snoozed away.

We’re so grateful to have such good friends to do things with!! Whether we’re riding the jeep, chasing bunnies, or just sitting on the grass, playing with the babies, we always know how to have a good time.

It's Independence Day!

Between the Patriotism, fireworks, sunshine, barbeques, swimming, parades, and potato salad, 4^th of July is easily my 2^nd favorite holiday, right behind Christmas.

With work and our callings and everything, I ALMOST forgot to paint my toes to match the holiday! Could have been a disaster.

Thank heavens for a long lunch break on the 3rd!

I’d never been to a fireworks show before, like IN the actual venue, so we got tickets to go to Logan’s show on July 3^rd and boy was it worth it!

All the Boy Scouts and Color Guard with their flags

 



We got to sit with Jenna and Skylar (aka Snowman)!

Before the fireworks, there was a concert by Kansas. Had I heard of them before? No. (They were a little before my time. Like by at least a decade.) BUT I did recognize a few of the songs. And for old guys, they sure could sing.

And then once it was finally completely dark...

FIREWORKS!



And for the first time I actually managed to get the Grand Finale on video. WOOT!

It was fantastic! I’ve never been able to smell the smoke or been covered in firework ash before. We couldn’t even get a good after picture because the smoke was so thick in the stadium.

And then Wednesday morning we all got up super early to go watch the parade out in Lewiston, UT. Levi was so cute in his Schwabs uniform :D

Then we had a barbeque with friends and went swimming until the fireworks in Lewiston that night. Definitely NOT as great of a show. But still fun to pack a bunch of friends into the back of our truck and watch them J

Jett had lots of fun playing with Baby Hadli. We have so much fun being with the M7 nieces :)



Is she not adorable beyond belief? We call her Boo, like the little girl on Monsters Inc. :)



Happy Independence Day!!

Home at Last!

Why is it so hard for me to blog during the summer months? I feel like it’s the only time of the year that I actually remember to take my camera on adventures, but there’s so much to talk about that I think I’m just overwhelmed! So, starting where we last left off…

 Mom and the kids stayed through June 9^th. Then Mom, the kids, AND Dad came back on June 15^th! Seriously, this is the most I’ve seen my family since I lived with them 2 years ago. :]

 Dad’s cousin Riki passed away on June 12^th after battling cancer for 3 years. She was such a fun, beautiful, inspiring lady and we loved her dearly! Some people are taken far too soon. It breaks my heart that her three beautiful girls will have to grow up without their momma, but they are strong and I see so much of Riki in each of them. Her memorial services were beautiful, and we all felt her spirit there with us. She will be so missed.

Even though it was definitely not a happy reason that we went home to Oregon that week, it was a long overdue trip and we were glad we could be there with our family.

 

I cried when I crossed the border into Oregon for the first time in 3 years.

And I cried when I saw my Blue Mountains again.

Aaaannnd then I REALLY cried when I came into the valley and saw Mount Emily, and it was like I was 5 years old again, coming home to play with cousins for the summer.

It was SO nice to be Home for a few days and see all the family. Morgan and I got to have some good quality sister time too, singing Beyoncé and driving across the valley. I believe she’s in the middle of loudly singing “Imma single lady, Imma single lady!” in this picture. (And I’m amazed that I actually got a good pic, when she was sitting upright, between dance moves :D )

It’s little moments like this that I live for. :]

 And it’s not a true trip home unless you get a haircut from Grandma. :) So, we decided to go for something a little different from the normal trim…

I believe my exact words to Cami that night were “I’ve done something drastic…” haha! Talk about a change! I love it though, and am still in the process of learning how to do my hair “like a 14 year old white girl”. :D

 Two days before we left LaGrande, Morgan started crying about going home because she was going to miss it so much. Trust me Mo, I agree. It’s never easy to say goodbye to this...

or this...

Ahh I can almost smell the greenness from here...

Levi couldn’t come with me since he just missed so much work for that dang appendix, so he’s still never experienced the Blue Mountains, the smell of the real green trees all around, Grandma’s house, Blue-Eyed Cowboys (a cream mixed drink, just for clarification) from Nells, getting huckleberries from the mountains, or swimming with all the cousins at the apartments. We will be back to visit very soon.

(Yep. I cried again when I saw Mt. Emily in my mirror. Trips are never long enough!)

And the craziness doesn't stop there!

You might think that after everything that's happened in the last couple weeks, like Zane's broken arm, Baby Alyssa being born, acute appendicitis, 17 hours total in the car, and Baby Hadli being born, that we would be done with excitement for a while? Wrong! Summer is just beginning! Two days after we got home from Nebraska/Wyoming, my mom and the kids came to Logan to stay with us til the 9th. WOOT!

On Sunday we went to Tony's Grove (thankfully only having to stop once for our carsick-prone Zane). It was so pretty!

A look straight out

and a look straight down. Yes, I got snow stuck inside my water shoes.

My kiddos :]

Levi, trying to step on a fish

Trying to catch a fish

On the way back, we stopped at Ricks Spring



I told Levi to give me his best King of the Mountain pose.
...not sure what happened hahaha.



My sweet Morgan, with all her angel kisses.

Monday night we walked over to USU's Innovation Campus to check out the fish and lilly pads.

Sneaking pictures? not my strong point.

And then Tuesday, we finally made it to the zoo! Just as we walked thru the gate, a thunder storm started blowing in, so our stay was brief and our pictures were few.

Emus. Their babies were adorable fluffballs.

The tortoise just kept making laps around his pen, like he was looking for a way out.
Reminded us of our favorite movie, Madagascar :D



Crane, from another favorite movie, Kung Fu Panda



And then before we knew it, it was Saturday and time to drop the family off with their ride back to Nebraska. I told Mom to take a goodbye picture for me as we left Les Schwab. (Levi had to say goodbye too.)

Zane made us all cry as we parted. Morgan is usually our cryer, but Zane's emotional meltdown was very touching. :'S

We'll see each other soon!!!

Appendicitis, Round 2

As we were getting ready to leave Mom and Dad's Tuesday morning, Levi started feeling sick. Mom knew something was seriously wrong with him when he barely ate a couple bites of breakfast, and then lay face down on the carpet while I finished getting my things together. Not at all like his usual perpetually hungry, chipper self.

We made it 10 miles down the freeway before we had to pull over and vomit the first time. Not a good sign. We started booking it to Cheyenne because the pain in Levi's stomach was getting worse, and he recognized what it was. As we ran into the Cheyenne ER and Levi started swearing at the nurses to cut the dang thing out this time, I'm sure they were concerned that he was dilusional.

(A side story here. Levi was already doped up pretty good on morphine by the time the admissions lady came in to get our detailed info. She asked who his doctor was and Levi yelled out "HOULIHAN!" She looked confused at the nurse and said, "Who's his doctor?" Levi again answered her and said, "Well, maybe that's not her name. I dunno. Some WOMAN doctor though. That's the name of that woman doctor on M.A.S.H...." She was highly offended, I was mortified, and Levi barely remembers it at all.)

In contrast to our last adventure with this organ where we were in the ER for 5 bloody hours, they did a CT scan within 25 minutes, and we were on our way up to surgery in another 20 minutes. I'm SO thankful we were still close enough to Sidney that my parents were able to come. They calmed my nerves considerably, and had the Elders come so that they could give Levi a blessing when he got out of surgery.

My invalid.

Dad gave him a blessing, and my parents stayed with us the rest of the afternoon. Levi was a lot quieter this time and didn't make as many joke with the nurses (although he did call his night nurse Houlihan too. *sigh*) It was a rough night full of vicodin, percoset, and machines beeping nonstop, but the next day they told Levi they would let him go home.

After being delayed a full three hours past when they said we would be discharged, we made it into the truck and set off on our 7 hour journey. Thankfully Levi still had the heavy hospital drugs in him, so he slept most of the way to Rock Springs, where Colton and Brandie had hot soup ready for us. We are so thankful for them!!

I was sorely tempted to stay in R.S. and travel the rest of the way the next day, but Levi was dying to sleep in his own bed and so we trudged on. We made it home late Wednesday night, and woke up early to a text announcing the arrival of a new M7 niece - Cami and Dustin finally got to meet their baby girl, Hadli Mae.

I was so worried that Cami was going to have the baby while we were gone and we would miss her first day of life! Thanks for waiting for us, Cami :D

After a week that seemed like bad news on top of more bad news, Hadli was the ray of sunshine we needed. Ü