Dear Friends and Family,

This week saw Spencer going to his second scout camp for the summer with our current ward this time.  Jeremy went up with him on Monday and then came home late Tuesday night while Spencer stayed until Friday.  It was a primitive campsite meaning no running water, toilets, showers etc but they all had a good time.  Monday they persevered despite a huge thunderstorm with mud and water everywhere and lightening striking all around them.  Spencer fished a bunch and caught 4 fish, 2 completely on his own which is his first ever.  He hiked, slept out by himself, rode a horse, orienteering, worked on auto maintenance etc and came home grinning, sunburned, tired and extremely dirty.  He loved the geo-caching merit badge and has been taking anyone willing to find nearby caches.  I have been surprised at how many there are near by.

The girls enjoyed a girls only week at home as Taylor was in school four days this week.  We went to the pool, to a movie, out to lunch plus all their little classes.  Our neighbor's kids were visiting so they invited our girls over to use their pool which they loved.  Monday night they were channeling Jeremy as all they wanted to do was watch a movie, eat nachos and cuddle - an easily filled request.  We went through closets trying on uniforms to see what was needed.  Robyn cannot wait now for kindergarten to start and asks every day if its time yet.

Stopped taking ibuprofen this week so my foot must be healing.  Crutches are a real pain and I am grateful for a neighbor who ran over to get Taylor off the bus for me.  I will admit there have been a few pity party moments until that little cynical voice in my head points out how ridiculous it is to be upset that I need to sit around and do nothing more.  Saturday with some help I worked in the yard and was amazed at what can happen in two weeks.  Hello weeds!  Kids have been shelling peas all afternoon from what they were able to pick.

This week Jeremy took his picture of the temple for me. He has been trying for a LONG time to get the exact shot he wanted for me to hang on our wall.  So this week, on the way home from Scout Camp he saw conditions looked good and put off dinner and shower and green goo for his bright red sunburn and stopped at the temple and got the shot he wanted.  So this week we hung up our pictures:

 

Taylor has been enjoying school and going to physical therapy.  He walked 84 feet this week at school so he is doing much better.  Although walking is still not done voluntarily or without a lot of prodding.  But he is happy and chirping away most days now.  And eating a ton which is always a good sign.

Macho, the cat we inherited from Laurie, got the boot his week.  He is now officially an outside cat.  And despite the amount of mice and snakes we catch him eating he still thinks he should live inside.  But Monday Allison came down to ask me who spilled yellow juice all over her journal, her bed, her floor etc.  Macho just decided to mark everything.  He did it once before when we first got him to Spencer's room and because we didn't catch it right away, the smell lingered.  Spencer's room still doesn't smell the most pleasant despite all our best efforts.  So out the door he went and we broke out the green machine.

Jeremy had a full week of scout camp, bishopric visits one night, emergency preparedness visits one night, a photography event and then a date with me.  On a sad note our respite worker decided her life was getting too busy to continue working for us so she quit.  So our kids babysat themselves while we went to the movies.  Its probably best that I don't know exactly what happens while we are gone although we get periodic texts that make us wonder, "Robyn didn't want to go to bed, so I had to carry her and make her"(spencer)

We had a cousin night Friday which our kids loved.  Spencer, Garion and I played Risk for 2 hours and still didn't finish the game.  Now that we know what we are doing, the game is a lot more fun and moves faster.  The first time we played it was painfully slow.

This week on Wednesday I get to start walking without crutches as long as it doesn't hurt.  I am very excited to get rid of the things.  I have easily gotten into the habit of sleeping in now that I can't get up and go run.  Lazy feels so good in the summer!  Love to you all, Heather