24th of July Celebration

Jennie had her wisdom teeth out this week.  I have to say, she was pretty nice to me on drugs.  She even called me during her skating lesson to tell me she loved me.  She was the most swollen 3 or 4 days following the surgery,  but was a lot better on Saturday.  She did get dry socket, which caused her a little bit of additional pain. Jordan came over to take care of her Monday night so that Me, Roy and Caitlyn could go up to Logan for Matt's annual fireworks show.  He is able to buy fireworks at a really good discount from his boss, and is great to share the fun with everyone around. 

Crista's good friends invited them to a barbecue that same evening, and were kind enough to extend the invitation to us.  The family had a Traeger grill, so Roy had a lot to talk to them about.  They made delicious pork sandwiches (the pork wasn't fatty at all), baked beans, salads, and fruit.  I thought their beans rivaled Roy's, but they said all they did was drain the beans thoroughly, and add 1 C of their favorite BBQ sauce (to large can of baked beans), and add some of the pork. 

Ruby took this picture of me!

Ruby at the Barbecue

Greta

 Between the barbecue and the fireworks, we walked over to a park near their home and joined a lot of other people that Matt had invited to the fireworks.  Matt served snow cones and someone brought homemade ice cream.  There were a lot of other desserts, but these were the most tempting because it was a hot day. Dan brought his kids up from Centerville.  It's a lot of works to bring the kids all that way, but I think it was worth it.  They had a blast!

Matt, Crista, and Bridget with the snow cone fixings.

Greta.  I think she was getting tired.  She'd had a LONG nap
so Crista woke her up.  Looks like she could have slept
longer.

Hyeji and Dojin

Yuna was doing her exercises on these bars.  She
was quite a way from the ground and she was doing tricks
like hanging from the bar with one leg... She's  so flexible.

Ruby.  I'm not sure, but I think she's getting ready to talk.
  She loves to talk!!!

Dan, Caitlyn, Crista and Greta

Dojin and Doyeon

Bridget

Roy

Fireworks were the reason we went to Logan and they  did not disappoint.  As you can see from some of the pictures, the kids had more fun with each other and the light sticks than they did with the fireworks.  

Dojin

Ruby

Greta kissing Bridget

Selfie--Doyeon and Hyeji

Greta

Roy and Catharine

Yuna, Greta, Crista and Hyeji

Hyeji with her puppy, Yuna

Doyeon

Getting ready for fireworks
I really tried hard to put this picture before some of the others, but
the computer has a mind of its own sometimes.

We took a couple of pictures of Caitlyn on Sunday to show her progress.  She's looking a lot better but still doesn't have her full smiling capabilities.  She hasn't started chewing yet--we're hoping they'll let her progress to soft chew after her appointment on Monday.  She also has to wear the braces for a few more months.

Adrienne invited us to dinner Sunday night.  The boys are full of it and it can be a bit chaotic at their house, but as you can see in the two pictures below, they have lots of love for each other.

To end the week, we visited Effie and Nick for their birthdays, one day early.  Below is Effie showing off her birthday gifts.

Time at the Lake--Finally!

Our garden is making me happy with lots of fresh produce.  I have really enjoyed our raspberries, though they have slowed down with the increasing temperatures.  Right before we left to the gorge I brought in crookneck squash, zucchini, and our first cucumbers.  These cucumbers tasted fabulous on the boat with some smoked salmon.

I took Jennie and Caitlyn to Bridal Image in Bountiful and found Jennie's dress.  She fell in love with a dress in the first dress shop we visited (Yay!)  Wedding preparations are coming along (by the way, for anyone who is not aware, the wedding will be October 3.  The ceremony will be at the Bountiful Temple at 11:00).  We took pictures, but we'll save showing off the dress for the wedding day.

Our thoughts and prayers have been with James this week as he's recovering from being thrown out of a jeep.  Cait and I went to see him on Wednesday.  He's looking pretty good, but is not allowed to do much--he can't even watch TV.  Christine showed me the road rash on his head.  His skull was fractured, and he had a small brain bleed, but on the outside there are few signs of injury.

With everything that has been going on this summer, we have had to defer our camping excursions to Flaming Gorge.  We finally made it up there this past weekend.  All the family was invited, but only Dan's family could come.  AJ was involved with his scout camp (he's scout master of his ward), also at the Gorge, but across the lake at Lucerne.  He was able to take the boys and give Adrienne a much needed break.  Nick and Sara, on their way to Oregon for their own family vacation, also fit in some lake time, as well as Andy and Elise, who have discovered a large lake nearby where they can get in some recreation.

Effie and Ori at Hyde River

Add caption

Beverly at Lake Thermon

Our first day on the boat we drove it all the way down to the Lucerne area where AJ had his scouts and his boys.  We were somewhat surprised that we actually found them. 

AJ on left, Ollie on right

These mountain goats were grazing in the same area that AJ had his scouts.

We had a blast with Dan's family.  The girls loved the tube and always wanted Roy to go crazy.  He will take them over the wake, but always likes to be a little cautious.

Caitlyn: driving made her feel so much better.  Hyeji, Doyeon, Yuna
and Dan in back, and Catharine

Dan with Dojin and Hyeji

Dojin

We had gorgeous weather!  Usually the wind picks up in the afternoon at the
Gorge, but we had very little wind and the perfect amount of cloud cover.

Dan and Dojin

Caitlyn

Roy and Catharine

Hyeji and grandpa

The daytime weather was perfect, and the clouds cleared up enough at night that we had perfect conditions for viewing the stars.  Dan, and Caitlyn stayed up a lot later than the rest of us.  Roy tried to see the space station, but came out 10 minutes too late.  Dan and Caitlyn had already seen it.

Surprise Sacrament Meeting Talk

I got quite the surprise this morning when I opened my emails to finish reading Nan's letter.  I clicked on the bulletin for today's Sacrament meeting and saw that I was speaking!  The bishop had called me earlier this week and asked if I could "pinch hit" and speak on the 21st.  I guess I should have asked him to clarify the date when he said "pinch hit." since 1 1/2 to 2 weeks is plenty of time to prepare a talk.  Luckily, I had at least gathered information during the week and had thought a little bit (emphasis on the word little) on what I might say.  It was 11:15 when I saw the email.  I was ready for church but not dressed for church (meaning my hair and makeup was done).  I sat down and wrote out my talk.  During the sacrament I thought of a couple of things to add.  I think my talk was spot on 12 minutes which was how long I was supposed to talk.  Pretty good for not going through it even once!  I have to admit I was pretty nervous.  Caitlyn always tries to calm me down.  She reminded me  on the way to church that I have been attending the temple for many years and I know what the blessings of temple attendance are (my topic).  She said, "Mom, you've got this."

Other than this fun experience, and a quick trip to Logan with Caitlyn to see Crista, Ruby, Greta and Bridget, it was a little bit of an uneventful week.  We decided to have Closet Factory redo our closet so we could be a little more organized, so Monday and Tuesday we emptied the closet.  Thursday the guy came to do tear out, and Friday and Saturday were spent scraping, mudding and painting the closet.  After we cleaned up we hurried up to the temple to get in a session.  Unfortunately, with everything we were involved with during the day, I completely forgot a wedding reception I really wanted to go to.  It was my cousin, Randy Smith's, daughter.  They had their reception at the same place Sara and Nick had theirs.  Oh well.

In Nan Oblad's letter this week she shared an experience that I think is awesome, so I'm quoting it here.
"I had an experience this week that I’m still scratching my head over. An Elder from France came into my office.  We talked for only a minute or two and when he walked out I said, “You speak English very well.”  He replied, “I didn’t speak English.”  I asked Elder Oblad if he speaks English and Elder Oblad said, “Not very much.”  Could I see the replay, please?  Did he speak English or did I get a glimpse of the gift of tongues?"
Nan, I think you can totally trust that you just had an amazing spiritual experience!

Family pictures for the week:

Avie--she's having a "smash cake preview"
I'm not sure exactly what Sara means by
that.  Her 1st birthday is on the 23rd of this month.

Maverick--Spiderman Zombie

Beverly

Caitlyn with baby Bridget

Ruby and grandma--coloring together

Max and Bevy

Doyeon.  I asked her what she was doing in this picture
and she said she was cleaning the basement.  She said, "It
was a lot faster that way."

Yuna with the blanket I made for her when she
was a baby.  She never sleeps without it.  Jieun says she
has to ask permission to wash it.

Bevy

Jieun made cream puffs.  She was very
willing to share.

I'll attach my talk to the email announcing this newsletter, for anyone who is interested.