Family Pictures at Temple Square

Our last day in Utah we visited Temple Square and had such a wonderful time. I love these pictures, we are all dressed in white...wasn't planned by the way...but very appropriate!

This has been a wonderful summer. We have spent a LOT of time together and the last two weeks have been wonderful. If we can just survive this heat, then we are ready for the school year to start and new adventures ahead...Maddy starts 6th grade and also club volleyball this year. She can't wait!!!

20th High School Reunion Trip

So, we went to my High school reunion - 20 years!! It felt kind of like a milestone in my life, sort of surreal. And what an ironic memory of being that much older - the memory loss...I forgot my camera the night of the actual reunion. Needless to say I was so upset. I just have to rely on friends posting their pictures...come on guys, don't let me down!

I am so happy as I reflect on where my life is right now. I have such a wonderful little family and I was so happy to go and show off my sweet husband to all of my friends. I really am such a lucky girl!!!

Camping at Big Lake with the Fam!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT BRITNEY...EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A SOGGY DAY - WE HOPE IT WAS A GOOD ONE FOR YOU. I MEAN, YOU WERE WITH US, HOW COULD IT BE ANY BETTER, RIGHT???

We went camping with the Malone side of the family up at Big Lake. We had such a wonderful time, I do believe the weather had a TON to do with it. Some dear friends of ours let us borrow thier pop-up trailer and that made it awesome! It rained everyday and my favorite part was laying with Mike in our little trailer watching the rain fall outside, feeling the breeze and reading our books, playing games, watching the kids on the other side of the trailer play their games and enjoying each other's company. It was just a wonderful time to relax and BE OUT OF THE HEAT!!!

Jackie is so good to bring fun things for the kids to do, she has such a generous heart with those kids and we love her. You can tell all the kids really love her. I am secretly jealous a tiny but because I think "she" really is the favorite aunt...way to go Aunt Jackie!!!

Summer Fun

Well a lot has happened it seems in the last few months. I will give a brief update as many have been asking. Mike is doing Awesome!!! His health is getting better and better all of the time. I am just so proud of his discipline and determination.

There have been a LOT of changes and events this summer with Maddy. She was in her first play this year - Alice In Wonderland. She played Tweedle Dee and did such a great job. She had a blast doing it too and can't wait until they start up in the Fall.

After a series of events, Maddy is now with us full time except for one weekend a month. She is really excited to spend lots of extra time with her friends and family and we are of course so excited to have her here with us more! She has decided to pursue volleyball and will be trying out for Club in the Fall so if all goes well, this is the beginning of a whole new chapter in Mom's Taxi service but I am happy to do it and love that she has found a sport that she really enjoys.

This summer, I was blessed to be able to go to girls camp again. It was early June this year and the weather was absolutely amazing. Maddy of course went up to the Bishop at Stake Conference and asked him to please not release her mom in the next year so that I will still be able to go to camp when she does. I can't believe she is going next year - wow! That is coming so fast...I can't believe how fast she is growing. She has been through a lot this year and we are so proud of the young lady she is becomming. She says the funniest things and has us dying laughing all of the time.

We are still looking forward to our little trip in July, more camping and lots of fun times to come this summer.

Maddy LOVES her sleepovers with her cousins!!! She misses the Tanners so much when they are away and eveytime they come into town...she must get her sleepover with them. It's been really fun for her to have Lani live so close. Maddy has loved getting to be closer to her and spend more time with her. There is nothing like good family bonds!!

20 POUNDS AND COUNTING!!!!!!

So I am so proud of Mike that I have to brag. This change in diet and lifestyle has been hard on him and he is taking it like such a trooper. He has lost 20 pounds so far and is exercising almost everyday and HE EVEN ATE FISH last night for dinner. Any of you who really know my sweet husband, know how much of an accomplishment these steps are.

I am so happy that he is taking his health so seriously. We all want him around for a long time and at the risk of sounding so mushy, I am not sure I could handle a life without him so these changes mean everything to me. I am doing my part to be good and do the diet right along side him and we have only had a couple of arguements over food and hunger in the process. We actually fought over 6 almonds - yes, that was not a typo - 6 almonds. The can said that a serving size was 20 almonds and the diet says 6 almonds is a single serving and of course a hungry man would rather eat 20 almonds than 6 so it got a little heated and he said he refused to eat just 6 almonds just out of principle. Well, he took them today in his lunch so he has gotten over it but now it gives us something to laugh about.

I am really proud of you hon! I love you!

What To Do About Mike?

Well, my last post said I would be having surgery on the 14th, which was yesterday. Nope. I'm sitting at my desk at work instead. So what happened? It's a long story, but I'll try to make it short and sweet.

Before surgery you need a series of tests done to make sure your body can handle the surgery. The nurse jokingly said if there was something wrong we'll let you know. Well, later that day, the nurse called and said I should go to the ER. I didn't, but fortunately, I went to my regular doctor instead. Turns out my blood sugar levels were off the charts. Normal blood sugar is 70-150 and mine was 414. Due to those levels, the surgeon said my body is not stable enough to have surgery and canceled it.

I had more blood work done the next day to find out what else was wrong...Needless to say, I had 4 tests come back with levels that put me in the "alert" zone. Turns out I have Type 2 Diabetes. So, until I can get some weight off and get my levels more towards the normal range, surgery will have to wait.

When will these medical problems leave us alone? Who knows. This was supposed to be a medical free year, but oh well. We have faith and we know the Lord doesn't give us obstacles that we cannot handle. I just look at this neck injury as a blessing in disguise because who knows when I would have gone in to get a physical. I had been thinking of going in in the Summer to do it, but maybe I couldn't have waited that long. So we count our blessings that this was caught when it was and that we can fix it and live with it.