Safety Patrol at Wahooz

Early in the morning and after school everyday, in all kinds of weather, and taking abuse from fellow students, the school safety patrol deserves some pay.  They come to my room for 2 pieces of candy at the end of each week, but the real reason they don the fluorescent vests is our field trip on the last week of school.  The PTO and principal finance us. Everyone gets 3 hours of unlimited fun at Wahooz.  We give them a wrist band for bumper boats, mini golf, and lazer tag, plus a $5 card for the arcade, and then turn them loose. They go non-stop and have a blast!  I just hang around and play a little golf with them once in a while.  It's a great end of the year activity.

Memorial Day Weekend!

I needed a 3-day weekend!  Here are the highlights:

• I was finished with my report cards!
• The scouts delivered a big flag and posted it in our yard at sun-up.  It reminded me to get our other flag out too.  I think the yard looks so much better with a flag, but I always forget.
• The weather was pretty.
• Lots of rest.

I wanted to go with Terry and take his mom to the cemetery and put flowers on his dad's grave. We didn't make it.  We'll have to take a drive up there on Father's Day maybe.

Dinner w/ the Sis. Miss. and Marty

I had signed-up to feed the sister missionaries on Saturday.  Basically, it took all day.  I needed to clean house since I hadn't been home for almost 2 weeks, go to the market, and cook.  Terry helped out with everything, but that's about all I accomplished all weekend.  We invited a single friend of ours whom Terry home teaches.  He was able to count this for the month's visit and it was the missionaries that gave the lesson.  We had chicken tacos, rice, beans, fresh veggies, fruit, and blondies for dessert.  I think everyone had a good time, and they were gone by 6:00.  I'm still recovering from my travels.  I sat down for couple hours before going to bed early.

EFT 2015

That stands for Environmental Field Trip.  Every year we take the sixth graders to a camp in Cascade for three nights and four days.  It's a rite of passage before moving on to junior high.  They look forward to it all year.  We also take about 33 parents to help.  They teach classes like fishing, archery, and Dutch oven cooking, take pictures, lead evening activities and provide nursing skills.  The planning takes all year, but once we're there, it's beautiful, fun, and even relaxing.

This year we got home from Eugene late Sunday afternoon.  I had to do a couple loads of wash and pack for EFT.  I was rested and ready to go in my tie-dye the next day.

Our 6th grade teachers on the last day of camp - Yipee!

I blogged and blogged and blogged about our daily adventures so that parents back in Boise could stay informed.  If you want to read all about it and see thousands of pictures, go here:

Trail Wind EFT 2015

Ty, Less One Rib

He is fiercely independent and our family is loving and close in a distant and reserved sort of way.  So there has been a texting battle going on with Ty saying, "Don't come", in about twenty different ways, and me saying, "I'm your mother!"  As it ended up, I let him go into surgery with his dad, Brent, in the waiting room.  We planned to get there the next day in time to check him out of the hospital.  

He was first on the surgery schedule so I expected an update by 11:30.  I called, and that's when I first found out that it was suppose to be a 3 1/2 hour surgery!  I called again after 4 hours and he still wasn't out.  By 5 hours I was having a hard time holding myself together and Brent's voice was so shaky he wasn't helping.  I was a mess by the time I finally got a call letting me know that he was out and okay.  It took 5 1/2 hours because they found a lot of scar tissue outside of the vein and inside.  They took the rib and cleaned things up the best they could, but the vein didn't open up like they had hoped.  Never let your child go into major surgery without being right there!  Even if they're 70!  (I'll be 104 when Ty's 70.  Maybe I'll let him go in without me then.)

The next day we drove to Eugene.  He had already checked out by the time we arrived.  We picked him up from his apartment and took him to dinner.  He was suppose to use his arm, but not lift or carry much weight.  He was taking minimal pain meds and using basic ibuprofen.  He still had iodine all over his arm, neck, face, and chest that wouldn't wash off, and couldn't shower for a couple more days.  The worst part was an external drain coming out of his incision.  He had to keep emptying and measuring the fluid.  He would have that removed six days later.

He caught this problem when he went to the U of O clinic because his arms were different colors.  They still are post-surgery.

The day after surgery with his gross drain of blood fluids.  (He's wearing his Eddie George jersey which made me happy.)

Just a side note.  We're getting ready to eat at The Pizza Research Institute, a funky, vegan place that played hits from the 60s.  I think every college town should have a pizza place with that name.

We met Ty's roommates who we liked, and saw his place which was pretty neat and clean, then took him and his laptop to our hotel for three days. We kept him hydrated, fed, and full of ibuprofen.  He was able to sleep pretty well and rested up.  It was fun watching animated movies (Wreck It Ralph and Big Hero 6) and a Seinfeld marathon.  It was great just being with him, talking, and eating turkey jerky.

We dropped him off at school for a class and some time at his job in the lab taking care of ants, but that wasn't a good idea.  He was there for an hour and a half, but couldn't learn anything, or think, and his teacher wasn't nice.  He was wiped-out.  (He should have listened to me.)  

He needs to be recovered enough to fly to Milwaukee one week after surgery.  His Ultimate Frisbee team, Ego, is going to Nationals.  He needs to be there to support the team - not playing.  I don't think anything will stop him.

Speaking of Joy

I spoke in church yesterday.  I actually had to speak twice, first at a teacher training meeting and then in sacrament meeting.  I spent a lot of time in the past two weeks preparing.  I ended up writing every word of my talk to go over a few times.  I didn't want to get the scriptures and stories from the two different talks mixed-up.  Then, since I was the last speaker, there was only 10 minutes left.  I gave an abbreviated version and we ended the meeting on time.  

If you're interested in Finding Joy by Living the Gospel, you can read my talk (in its entirety) here:

Joy 

Mothers Day Lunch

It might not be right, but my favorite part of Mothers Day has nothing to do with Ty, or Terry or Bry, Brent, and Stacey, for that matter.  My favorite part is having lunch the Saturday before with my mom.  Nan and I always take Mom out to lunch at a nice quiet place.
Traditionally that has been the Cottonwood Grill, but this year we couldn't get a reservation. Instead we went to Bella Aquila in Eagle.  It was quiet, and beautiful, and the food was delicious.  The company was even better than the food and we had a perfect afternoon.  I wish we had a picture of the three of us, because we all wore white pants with bright colored tops.  Dad thought we were a good looking trio.  Instead, I'll share this picture:
  

This was the view out the window.  There were two ducks playing in the fountain.

Tie-dye Day

Every May our 100 sixth graders and 40 adults (35 parents, 4 teachers, & 1 instructional aide/former hippie) spend a morning tie-dying T-shirts.  It's a hassle getting ready (getting to the art supply store across town to buy soda ash, and soaking all the shirts in it, and finding volunteer parent helpers), expensive (buying the shirts and about 10 bottles of powdered dye at $25-$35 a piece, plus gloves and zip-lock bags), and a ton of work (mixing dye, getting the area prepped, folding and rubber-banding shirts, and a lot of clean-up), but it is so worth it.  Everyone gets to be creative, but you don't have to be.  You can just go for it - free style - and that works too. There are no mistakes in tie-dye.  It's always an exciting surprise when you unwrap the creation, something like fireworks.  When we all show up in tie-day for our first day of EFT, everything is so bright and happy, you just have to laugh!

6th graders dying dyeing

My creation and a matching student

   

Clematis!

It only lasts a couple weeks, but it's worth it.  My clematis was beautiful this year.  This is what greets everyone coming to my house:

And this is what greets me when I leave each day:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cinco de Mayo

It couldn't have worked out better.  We study Mexico, and Cinco de Mayo landed on a Tuesday.  We taste tested salsas!  Fresh, bottled (Pace), green, pineapple, mango, and hot - they were all winners, but the bottled Pace was the most popular.  What a fun afternoon!

Spiritual Saturday

My nephew and his darling wife were sealed in the temple today.  They also had their beautiful baby girl sealed to them.  It was a special day for the whole family, but I knew I would lose it when they brought Tess in.  Terry and I were sealed which was amazing, but when they brought Ty (he was 6) in to be sealed to us, the whole room changes.  I tear up thinking about it  all these years later.  You just can't explain it.  I'll let Kierra try.  Go here to read her blog:

http://beautifuleffort.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-forever-family.html

You can tell from the pictures that it was a beautiful spring day outside.  We skipped the family dinner at the Outback, but went to Deseret Book to wander around and find a gift. 
We left there for more spiritual upliftment in Meridian.  

Hudson turned eight last month and today his dad baptized him a member of the church, and afterward he was confirmed to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and given a special blessing.  He had a lot of family there supporting him, even his grandparents from Arizona.  

Stacey and Mike have had a busy month - two birthdays, plus a real birth day when Brynklee was born, selling a house, moving to a two bedroom apartment, and finalizing the building of their new house.  Because of this, the family met afterward in a park with Dominoes Pizza and a big cake to celebrate.

It was a beautiful day in every way!

Baptism boy is in the center.

I-Guy

Grandparents from Arizona (Joyce and Dayna) with baby Brynklee.

The boys 

Hads, Mike, and Krystle with her nephew.

Mayce

Some gymnastics

How cute is she!

Just before the cartwheel competition.