Another 2 week letter

This past couple of weeks I've had a lot of time with grandchildren.  Particularly Ori, Effie and Avie.  Sara is so sick with her pregnancy, she has "Hyperemesis gravidarum" This is a severe form of morning sickness--nausea and vomiting day and night, dizziness, and dehydration. Basically she can't keep anything down and has to have an IV for nutrition and fluids, so Nick is being Dad, Mom, Cook, Provider, etc.  I am trying to help lighten his load by taking the girls a couple of times a week.  They absolutely love to come and we have a good time together.  Jieun is also expecting and sick, and Dan has to do a lot extra as well.  Last week, Caitlyn was recovering from surgery.  Ori loves Caitlyn, and she also loves personal attention, so she did Caitlyn's make-up and then proceeded to have her dress in all of her high school formals.  Ori and Effie were in the fashion show for the first changing, then they just wanted to work on Caitlyn.  Later Ori asked me if I could start an activity for Effie and Avie so that she could have Caitlyn all to herself.  I think Caitlyn over-did that day, but she loves them so much she dealt with her extra exhaustion.

She even tried on my wedding dress

The girls love the new swing.  Don't tell Roy, but they
like to swing high enough to rip the leaves off the tree.

Avie:  Even she loves to come to grandma's.  One of
her favorite activities is throwing rocks into our creek.
To keep her from throwing gravel from our path, I
hop down in the creek and provide her with rocks.
When she finished throwing them all in, she'd look at
me and say, "Rock!" meaning she wanted more.

Chocolate pudding.  She has to feed herself, of course.

On the weekend Roy and I headed up to Flaming Gorge again--this time with our oldest two grandchildren, Hyeji and Gunnar.  We are going to try and pair off the cousins and do some activities with them this summer. 

Finn and Ila,  dropping Gunnar off to our house

Hyeji was so excited to go to the Gorge with us that she began packing several days in advance.  She called and asked if she needed to bring a dress.  I said, "Well, we're going to have church, but I'm not sure if we need to dress up or not." Her response, "I guess I should at least bring my scriptures."

As we were leaving, Hyeji told Caitlyn that she was going to help her grandma and grandpa with all the chores.  She assured her that she was going to do everything for us.  Gunnar said, "Hyeji--you don't have to do that--we're going on vacation!"

We got in the truck and hadn't been gone for two minutes when Caitlyn called and said Hyeji had left her flip flops at our house.  Hyeji told us she had other shoes so we thought we could just continue on, but at the gas station we realized that those other shoes she had were packed in her suitcase.  She had no shoes in the truck.  We turned around and picked her shoes  up.  

Dutch John was on the cool side--but we heard it was just as cold in Centerville over the weekend.  The cold didn't stop us from having a good time.  We played Ticket to Ride and Careers, went on lots of nature walks and had some fun fires.  Unfortunately, I discovered that s'mores with Ghiradelli dark chocolate are amazing.  Usually I can turn s'mores down, but maybe never again--as long as I have good dark chocolate with me.

We didn't use masks in the campground--but Gunnar found it
useful when dealing with the smoke.  He loved building log cabin fires
and stirring the coals around

I am ducking down in this picture--I am not that short.

This was a campsite in one of the wilderness campgrounds nearby.
Serious hammocking going on.

For one of our camping meals we had cheeseburgers.  They were pre-formed hamburgers from Don's meat.  Gunnar told us that usually he wanted to buy burgers because when his mom made them they were really small and skinny, but these were delicious because they were pre-formed.  I think they probably had a little higher fat content than the ones Adrienne makes, and they were delicious.

Gunnar and Hyeji eating cheeseburgers

A few more pictures from our camping trip:

S'mores

Hyeji really wanted to stay one more day (partly because it was supposed to be quite a bit warmer), but Gunnar was ready to go because he knew his family was leaving for St. George the next day.  Hyeji was also smart enough to figure out that the next time we go to the Gorge, with someone other than her, we will be taking the boat.

While we were busy playing at the Gorge, others were home and made an effort to visit Thomas' grave.  We went over Monday evening after we returned.  

Cait and Nate at the gravesite

Hyeji, Dojin, Yuna, and Doyeon

We didn't get down to visit my parent's graves or Roy's mom's (in Midway), but we saw that Dave and Phil both got there to take flowers.  My mother was always very conscientious to spend Memorial Day remembering all her loved ones that had passed on.  We do think about them, but often spend the holiday playing.  

I tended for Nick again Tuesday.  Late in the day (I didn't realize it was already 5:00, I noticed how tired Avie was and mentioned a nap.  She smiled and said, "Happy!" 

Thursday I was able (with Sara's permission) to help Dan and Jieun out, too, and have their kids as well.  We played outside for hours.  They had a ball and loved every minute of finally having cousin time.

Avie and Dojin

Avie, Ori, Hyeji and Doyeon

Avie, Effie and Dojin

The Nick Rasband girls: Avie, Effie and Ori

Hyeji, Avie, Effie and Dojin (don't worry Nick, I reapplied
sunscreen when she took off her shirt).

Avie, Hyeji, Doyeon, Yuna, Effie and Ori

I'm pretty sure that Elise's kids were still at grandma camp (not this grandma!) for the holiday.  It looks like they went fishing.

Max

Maverick

Bevy

And still in Georgia, little Harvey on daddy's lap.

On Saturday Roy and I headed to Logan to check in on the Vance family.  They were doing great--still doing lots of remodeling.  Crista's bed is on the floor in the family room/kitchen area.  The girls are happy with their new downstairs bedroom.  We read a lot of books together.  Greta and Ruby were pretty happy to see us--it's been quite a while.

Greta and Ruby danced for us.  

Crista and Bridget

We had takeout from Herm's, visited for a few hours and then left to come home.  When we were leaving, Greta said, "Grandpa and grandma, you have to come back and visit us Real Soon."

On Saturday Dojin found a container of Xylitol gum (sugar free).  He "ate"  the whole package--30 gm.  He ended up looking very pale, both lips and face, and vomited up all the gum.  He also had diarrhea, and (as you can imagine), an upset stomach.  Dan said he looked it up on-line, and figured he'd be okay.  We saw him this morning when we took something by to drop of at their home.  He was drinking a soda water and said it was for his stomach.  Caitlyn said, "I guess you won't be chewing gum anymore."  He said, "I'll eat one gum--not 5 gums."  I think he learned his lesson.