Escaaaaaaaaaaaaaape

Without question, the best perk of Justin's job is the intimate connection he has with a certain swanky hotel in Park City that allows us to live like the rich and famous for a few hedonistic weekends every year.  (We defile the gourmet kitchen with cold cereal and quesadillas to keep us humble.)

 Playing "Noggins" games.

Plenty of time at the pool.

Playing hide-and-seek

The first time Crew has been to Park City walking around on his own two feet!

The End!

Youth Conference

This year for one of our Youth Conference activities, we hiked to Silver Lake.  And the other Silver Lake.  As no surprise to anyone, I brought up the rear all the way up the mountain and all the way back down.  But I'll have you know that I was the only participant that wasn't sore and walking like Frankenstein the next day.  I felt awesome!  Slow and steady wins the race!

I was the keynote speaker for Friday night between hiking and shish-kabobs.  I spoke to the youth about missionary work and magnifying church callings.  I'm super opinionated passionate about both of these things.

Love our youth.

It was a beautiful evening, with fantastic scenery and a great group of young ladies and young men.

This is the Silver Lake at a reasonable elevation.  Not to be confused with our final destination: Silver Lake, Tundra Edition.

That's exactly what you think it is.  Snow.  In Utah.  In June.  Does that tell you how far up we hiked?  Now are you impressed that they didn't have to cart me out on a stretcher?

Of course, I had the very least amount of time to relax at the lake (exactly 3 minutes), but at least I made it.  And here is the proof.

Sigh.... the scenery was just as pretty as they promised.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

We made a recent trip to the Oquirrh Mountain temple with our Young Women, including 5 new Beehives that had never attended before. It's always a special privilege to attend the temple with our young ladies!

Music and the Spoken Word

We took our Young Women (and Kinley) bright and early on a Sunday morning to participate in a live taping of Music and the Spoken Word. They loved it!  They also loved my banana muffins  :)

Sporks

Just a few months ago, I couldn't take Crew to the grocery store without him completely melting down because he was overstimulated. I can now take this kid ANYWHERE. For our August visit to the Neonatology Follow-Up Clinic, my little guy made himself at home in an overflowing waiting room; then he behaved, performed, and charmed his way through SIX HOURS of doctors appointments. His smile never faltered, even when he got really hungry there at the end. I feel like my life just entered a completely new phase where I can actually be in public again! He's not just a good boy, he is a GREAT BOY!!! He was so good that we went out for our very first Mommy-Son lunch date. I took him to meet The Colonel and introduced him to sporks.

Follow up clinic went great! Our little miracle has come a very long way, though he still has a very long way to go. He passed his hearing screening with flying colors; he compensates for his left-sided body weakness incredibly well--his neurologist doesn't even think he needs to continue private physical therapy now that he's walking like a gangly scarecrow; his psychologist was enchanted by him; he has made progress in speech, whipping out a few comprehension tricks that I didn't know he had. Alas, he is speaking and understanding at a 24-26 month level. That was expected, but it's never fun to see the cognitive and speech delays quantified on paper. All in all, a very very successful day. Hip hip!

Easterners

We got to see Matt and Kim when they were coming to AND leaving from their summer internship in Idaho!
Karlee and Colton Cuteness.

 The gang chillin'.

Or maybe being a little insane.

And.... the Forced Family Foto, snicker snicker....  No one could ever say that Kinley is anything but unfailingly helpful!

A Boy and His Goldfish Crackers

For Love of Wyatt Part #2

Last year at Girls Camp, we introduced our Young Women to Teeny Tears diapers.  They traced and cut for angel babies with joy and reverent enthusiasm.

Shortly before Girls Camp this year, my friend Carrie dropped off some diaper cut outs on my doorstep.  She serves with me in the Young Women's program.  It made perfect sense that I should first-sew and trim the diapers to take them up to Camp for flipping/turning!

After a long morning of hiking and canoeing....

The girls had some time before our next activity.  We gave them the option to relax in their tents, play any of the board or card games we brought along, finish the crafts they had been itching to complete, or....

Our amazing Young Women generously and enthusiastically turned/flipped 60 diapers in their downtime, preparing them for final top-stitching.  Being a fly on the wall to hear that conversation around the fire pit? Priceless.

Along with the diapers in our previous post, this collection has been donated in memory of Wyatt Jaxson McIntyre to the angel families of B.C. Women's of Vancouver, British Columbia.

THANK YOU, Desert Sage Young Women, for your kind hearts and willing hands!

Girls Camp 2012

An enormous chunk of my time and attention this summer was taken up with Girls Camp! I. Love. Our. Girls.  I am the luckiest gal in the world.

Feel free to enjoy this video that I made of our adventures.  It looks a lot better NOT on Blogger (though not as blurry as this still shot below would like you to believe).  But still, I'm rather proud of it  :)

Swim Swam Swum

Had a great time swimming with friends!

Mommy and Daughter Date to Les Mis

I took Kinley to a surprisingly sensational student production of Les Miserables!

Mommy and daughter night out!   So. much. fun!

We went to show our love for our friend, Gabby!  Unbeknownst to us, Kinley was a streppy ticking time bomb.  During the last 30 minutes of the musical, Kinley came down with strep throat, true story.  This picture  below is just before she burst into tears.

I love having a big girl to do these things with!!

Whatcha Doin'?