Having fun can be exhausting!

Playing all summer can be exhausting. 
I am exhausted--but actually, I had quite a lot of free time for sewing this week.  I was able to get a patriotic quilt top together.  I think I might be too late to get it out for the 4th and 24th this year, though.  I sewed all Wednesday while Roy and Caitlyn took the boat to Pine View to entertain the young men of our ward on their high adventure.  I think the highlight of their high adventure was to have Caitlyn along for an entire day! 
Roy also participated in the Bountiful Handcart days parade.  He takes his HAM radio and his bike and he helps the other HAMS keep the parade moving.  He gets lots of exercise in 100 degree heat every year doing this. I was a wimp and stayed home until the parade was over.  Adrienne and AJ took their kids and said that it was a fun surprise for the kids when grandpa Roy rode up to them on his bike and said hello.  Caitlyn and I met Roy at the Rec Center following the parade and watched a concert featuring Carmen Rasmussen. 
Saturday we got up early and took the boat out again.  It was just Cait and her friend Annika and me and Roy.  Annika got up on a wakeboard for the first time, and Caitlyn was determined to get up on one ski and she did it!  Jennie was babysitting all day, so she couldn't make it.  We only stayed on the lake a couple of hours, then it started getting crowded.  When we left there was a line-up of about 100 cars waiting to get into the park.  They were only letting cars in when someone went out.  In that line-up there were only 2 boats.  We were glad we went early!

Annika Anderson with Caitlyn

Caitlyn!

Jennie cut and styled the hair of these three beauties this week.

Probably only Effie has to have a Ukulele, a monkey and a beaver to sleep with.

Sunday evening Adrienne and AJ hosted a mini fireworks show at our home (it's illegal above Davis Blvd. so he can't do it at the Green home).  We have the fire pit, so it is somewhat safer at our home anyway.  There was one time when all the Green boys and Doyeon had to run as fast as they could behind the shed because the firework was misfiring.  All was fine, but Adrienne about had a heart attack. 
We got a kick out of Dojin and Effie.  Roy was dumping small amounts of ice water on their heads and they loved it.  They kept coming back for more.  Then Roy threw a little on Yuna and the tears flowed.
We are excited to welcome Nick and Sara's baby tomorrow!  She goes in at about 10:30.  We should have a new grand baby by 1:00 or so.

This and that

Roy and I had the opportunity to visit Grandpa Rasband this week.  We took him an adjustable bed that he had purchased from Matt's company.  It probably saved him about $4000 to buy it from Matt.  We also took down a mattress and sheets.  The bed weighed about 200 lbs.  Roy got a dolly and we maneuvered the box out of the truck onto the dolly which promptly fell over.  The only way we could work it out was for me to sit on the end and keep the box on the dolly while Roy pulled us inch by inch to Grandpa's room.  I helped by pushing with my feet.  It took us an hour or so to set up the bed, then we visited grandpa for another hour before returning home.  It's great to visit grandpa, but not great to have to drive to Santaquin.

I mentioned a few weeks back that we had gone to see "Crazy for You" at the Centerpoint Legacy Theater and that we liked it so much we wanted to see the other cast.  Phil replied that if we did that he'd like to go with us, so I set up tickets for the 12th.  They met us for dinner at Twigs.  We have had various experiences at this restaurant, but this time everything tasted really good, at least for me.  I had an ahi tuna sandwich. It was messy, but I enjoyed it.  They are great with the gluten free and have a separate menu for it so it's a good choice for Charlotte. It was fun spending time with them.

Caitlyn had another doctor's appoint with the Rheumatoid arthritis specialist.  He was a little concerned that she'd lost so much weight since her last visit.  He said that the medicine she's on should not cause weight loss, so he tested her thyroid and also tested her for celiac.  I'm praying it's not either, but just a change in her eating habits (we got the results back--Monday--everything is fine, so why does she have stomach issues and dizziness?).

Jennie went off for the weekend to Flaming Gorge with friends.  It's a little quieter without her, but I don't see a lot of her when she's here, so it's not that different.  Roy visited Logan with Nick and together with Crista and Matt they rode in the Gran Fondo which is a 50 mile bike race (or you can choose the longer 100+ miles.  James Shriever also went up with them and he and Matt did the longer race.  Unfortunately, Nick got really sick and wasn't able to finish.

Matt's aufnt, Roy and Crista

Today it was my turn to teach Relief Society.  My lesson was from Elder Cook's talk, "Prepare to Meet God."  It was an excellent talk and provided a lot of material for a lesson, but I really struggled with which parts of the talk I should focus on.  With a lot of prayer this week, I was finally able to focus my thoughts and I think it went well.

Elise sent me a cute picture of Beverly this week.  She is 8 months old and has already started climbing.  She is anxious to walk and wants to stand up to things all the time.  It makes for a busy mom since Bevy doesn't have the balance to stand up for long.

For Sunday dinner we had most of the family.  Roy also invited his new "ministering" family (for want of a better way to put it) and we also had the missionaries.  Adrienne  made the comment that we are always inviting random people.  I thought my kids were used to that by now :)

I was able to finish my Princess House this week as well. I put many many hours into it.  I hope  the kids will enjoy playing with it.

Happy 4th of July everyone

I'm grateful to live in a country where we can still enjoy our freedom; I'm grateful to live in Centerville, too.  It's a nice, clean area with a lot of wonderful people.  We have so many blessings--especially those of Church and Family.
Happy 4th everyone!

What a week!
We started out our 4th of July celebration a little early (Monday) in Logan with a lot of the family.  Crista threw quite a party!  We had pork sandwiches, melons, cookies, and salads.  After dinner several of us followed Caitlyn and her date to get Aggie ice cream.  Roy picked up the tab so that Caitlyn's date wouldn't feel too weird that we all came along.  Matt gave us a fabulous fireworks show starting at 9:30.
Matt's boss buys a lot of fireworks and sells them to his employees at cost. 
Tuesday, I was able to enjoy a fun afternoon with Christine.  Caitlyn and Amelia went out to lunch with us, then they went home and Christine and I made a visit to a fabric store.  They had a sale going on.  We had fun catching up and being together.
That evening, after Roy and I enjoyed the movie about Han Solo (Roy's choice), we came out to phone messages that Adrienne was on her way to the hospital once again, this time with AJ.  They had been playing baseball in the yard.  Adrienne had just headed into the house with Gunnar, Finn and Ila to get them ready for bed.  AJ had stayed outside with Ollie to throw him just a few more balls.  After a minute or two, he said, "Okay, it's time to pick up."  As he bent over to pick up the balls, Ollie called out, "Dad, look at this."  AJ didn't even have time to look up before he was hit by a wooden bat, right above his eye.  Inside, Adrienne was notified there was a problem when she saw Mark jump up and rush outside.  AJ looked pretty scary with blood all over his face.
Ollie felt horrible.  I guess it was all Mark and Lisa could do to get him settled down after Adrienne and Alec took AJ to the emergency room.  Gunnar kindly told him "It was just an accident, you didn't mean to do it."
Later, when asked what happened, Ollie said, "My brain told me to let go of the bat."

He was hit above his right eye,
but as he was on his side,
the blood traveled over the rest of his face.

4th of July
Happy Birthday Grandpa Verl!
We had all planned to go down to Payson to celebrate grandpa's 89th birthday.  Roy had made a huge pasta salad, Dan had prepared pretzel jello, and Adrienne had prepared birthday cakes (even with the trauma of the previous day).
Roy and I went over to an art and quilt display at Centerville Elementary.  When we got back to the car, I noticed a message on my phone from Nan T.  "Call, we can't have party, call."  When I called her she explained that her family were all trying to save Tara and Luke's herd of cows.  There were fires in the area where they had recently taken them.  They are not out of the woods yet, as yesterday we were notified that the fires were headed to White River where the cows had been moved for safety.  Nan sent us some amazing pictures that show how widespread the fires are.  Luke and Tara have over a hundred cows and are depending on them for some of their income.

n lieu of Grandpa's birthday party, we had our family come over to celebrate the fourth--after all, we had a lot of food prepared.  Sorry grandpa, we know it was disappointing not to have all your family around.
Nick and Sara had other plans, but everyone else came for an impromptu barbeque.  Matt brought a few fireworks, which the kids loved!  Gunnar and Hyeji got out the snowcone machine and had a ball making snowcones for everyone.  We got lots of pictures!

Doyeon

Hyeji

Gunnar and Hyeji

Finn

Ruby and Dojin

Still loves baseball

Gunnar

Finn

AJ and Ila (AJ wasn't feeling quite up to par
after being hit in the head with a wooden bat and having
6 stitches.

Ila.

Beverly--Elise and her kids had their own 4th of July celebration
with the extended Jackson family in Myrtle Beach.
Andy was studying and couldn't go.

Max and Mav and Bev--grandchildren #'s 3, 4, and 5 on the
Jackson side.

Saturday we took the boat to Willard Bay.  It was a little on the crowded side for parking.  There were lots of boats (the lake is large enough to handle them) and it was slightly windy, so the water wasn't perfect, but we still had a great time.  It was a hot day.  That makes it nice because everyone wants to get in the water.  Last week at the Gorge it was such a cool day and the water was so cold that only Caitlyn would venture in.  Matt never had much experience with boating and water until he married into our family.  He had such a ball yesterday doing flips off the boat, riding the tube, and being a sea monster while playing with the kids.  Crista had a ball watching Matt have a ball in the water.  Nick and Ori and Effie came with us, too.  Effie LOVED it! Nick was glad he brought her, even if she makes more work for him.

Typical pose for Roy

Pretty typical pose for Catharine as well.

Ruby, Cait, Effie and Ori

Ori

When we pulled the boat off the lake, Ruby looked at me and said, "I want to go boatin'"  She wasn't happy the fun was ending.  Crista took these pictures of her girls on the way home.  They were exhausted.  When  Ruby woke up she was super disappointed that Roy and I weren't at her house.  

 My 40th high school reunion is coming up next month and I had to do a then/now picture.  I had one taken for the now.  I wish I didn't look so much like it's been 40 years--but they've been wonderful years spent with people I love.

This last is a quote from Phil's journal:
"Last week Christine forwarded a portion of the war journal of a man who was in Asia when my mother’s first husband Gene Bird died. He described the plane crash and that Gene survived the crash but was in terrible pain and died on the way to the hospital. He had a Book of Mormon in his pocket. I don’t know if my mother knew that he suffered, but I hope she didn’t. I hate the thought of that thought coming to her throughout her life. And thank heaven we live in the United States of America. That is a blessing that we should never take for granted."
I had to quote Phil as I haven't had a chance to look through the journal entries that Christine sent.

Enjoying the mountains

Early this past week I had to opportunity to spend a couple of days with 4 of my high school friends.  Bonnie Barker Howard, Lisa Badger (Wood), Karen Gardner-Dee, and Leann Bradshaw Hague.  Lisa has had access to her family's cabin for all of her life, but when her parents passed away 10 years ago, they decided to will the cabin to the oldest family member.  The other 3 siblings were allowed use of the cabin for 10 years.  This was done to prevent family quarrels.  Since this may be her last summer of using the cabin, Lisa invited us all up for a little  reunion.  I get together with these women every 3 to 4 months--except Bonnie who lives in California and only comes sometimes.
In the picture below you can see that even 58 year-old women can tube the river.  It was ice cold, but very shallow.  We had to be careful not to let our bottoms drop too far down into the tube (Bonnie and Leann did not tube--Bonnie said she is officially a "California Wimp."

 We had a lot of interesting conversations.  One of the things we talked about is "Where do we go from here?"  All four friends got married around 10 years later than I did.  Thus, they started their families later, and so their children are all between 16 and 22.  Each of them have 4 kids.  Lisa is extremely creative and is regretful that she hasn't kept a toe in the work force.  She says it's nearly impossible to find a job now that will use her talents and credentials.  Bonnie, on the other hand, says she feels the opposite, she has been resentful that she's had to work so that her husband could follow his dream of writing screenplays for Hollywood movies.  He wrote the script for Galaxy Quest, and then had to take legal action and fight to get credit as the producers weren't honest and tried to steal the screenplay by changing a few things and presenting it as theirs.  She said that there were times her marriage was rocky because she really wanted him to make enough money so that she could stay home and  play with her kids.  It made me realize how happy I am with my family and situation.  I'm glad that I'm content.  I realize that there are a lot of things I can do to use my time more wisely, but I love my life.

Thursday Roy, Caitlyn and myself, plus Gunnar, headed up to Flaming Gorge for a couple of days.  The temperature was in the 70's on Friday and we had a fun day on the lake--fishing and boating (and reading).  Caitlyn even wake boarded, but she said it was freezing.  The rest of us didn't even get in the water. Saturday the temperature was only in the 60's, so we were Utah wimps and didn't take the boat out.  We just hiked and fished around Moose Pond after getting the trailer cleaned up and put away, and then headed home.  We got home in time for Caitlyn to go on a date with Kevin, not with Riley, who she was hoping would somehow show up.

It was fun to be with Gunnar, and he was pretty well behaved, but we do have a couple of stories about Gunnar that we can hold over his head for the rest of his life!  However, out of deference to his feelings, I am not including these stories in the newsletter.  He is very bright and inquisitive and has a desire to try things out.  We found that once he gets an idea in his head, he can not let it go until he has seen it through.

Gunnar driving the boat

Gunnar took this picture.  On our favorite Flaming Gorge
hike there is one spot that has several barrel cactus growing.  

Gunnar caught a basket full of crawdads.  One
of them was huge.

Grandpa Roy and crawdad

Other pictures from the week:

Caitlyn and Riley on their first date.  Riley
was a missionary in Houston and Elise set them
up to write to each other.  They've been writing for
about a year.

Caitlyn babysat the Green boys for a couple of hours at our house.

Beverly with a unicorn horn.

Today I start going with my family to the Single's Ward.  I've stayed in the home ward with Caitlyn, but she switched over to the YSA's a couple of weeks ago, so I will too.  Roy has approximately until next April in his YSA calling.

Finn

Effie and Ori