June Haircuts

We now have 13 grandsons (and four granddaughters), all unique and special. For some reason, Cher and Megan keep Noah and Elijah's hair longer than, say, Will and Oliver's, (their respective brothers). Personally, I like Noah and Elijah's longer hair and when they both got short, summer cuts, it was quite the change in their "look". We love you guys.

Seeing Red

For weeks, KR had been bothered by a small, red bump on her lower eyelid as the base of her lashes. When it became a little tender and swollen, she decided to seek treatment and stopped at the Cashmere Clinic on her way home from a run. The doctor diagnosed it as a  sty and prescribed antibiotic ointment and hot compresses. When she called me on her phone after the appointment and told me she had a sty in her eye, my first thought was how difficult it was going to be to keep her eye clean with all that pig manure. Two days later, the sty flamed red, had grown in size, and painful stings shot through the area under her eye at random intervals. She drove herself to the local walk-in clinic for another opinion. The doctor came in, took one look, and proceeded to prepare for an excision. Slicing a small opening into the sty relieved the pressure immediately. He sent her home with oral antibiotics and instructions to apply hot packs for 20 minutes four times a day. It took a VERY long time for the wound\bump to completely go away. As bad as it looked, it could have been worse.

Wow - New Street Signs!

We got a nice surprise in the area - the county installed new street signs that are much bigger and, therefore, easier to read. Now if they would just pave American Fruit Road.

Vertigo

I woke up one morning in late June and my head was spinning as I got out of bed. It was very annoying for several days, as each time I would bend over or move my head, I would fall over. My doctor said it was probably a result of the little pebbles (otoconia) in my ears moving out of their correct position, and it would hopefully pass (it is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV). Check it out on the internet and practice the "Epley maneuver", in the event it happens to you. KR commented that she always thought I had rocks in my head.

Butterfly Expo

On a beautiful, sunny, Saturday morning, KR took Henry and Jones to the Butterfly Expo sponsored by Wenatchee’s Master Gardeners. The carefully-planned event featured many fun activities for the children. The boys each made a cement stepping-stone for their garden, which had been decorated with hand-selected buttons, plastic trinkets, shiny stones, marbles, old keys, etc. Other stations at the event included coloring butterflies pictures, doing butterfly puzzles, making cut-and-glue butterflies on a string, dressing up as butterflies and butterfly hunters, looking at real butterfly collections, etc. A wonderful snack and drink were also provided and the kids had a great time.

Girl's Camp

KR made her annual trek to Young Women's Camp from June 17-20, this year as the Camp Nurse. This will be one to remember. In her own words: "YW camp ended early this year and it wasn’t because of a bear like in a previous year. No, it’s wasn’t ended for something nearly as exciting. We ended early because a severe gastroenteritis struck the camp. One YW on Monday’s YCL overnight hike apparently brought it from a family reunion. It spread to a few YCL’s then thru the rest of camp at lightning speed. Campers dropped like flies with symptoms so severe they parked themselves in lawn chairs outside the "flushies" and remained for hours until they felt well enough to climb into a car heading for home. When the count increased to a dozen or more and the “hazardous waste” dripped thru the boards from the upper floors of one longhouse onto the backpacks stored beneath, we called it quits. What a year to be the camp nurse! During camp, Lisa Sauer and I had an exciting, midnight adventure with a garbage dumpster. A lovely, blue-ruffled gown, which has become a camp skit staple each year, inadvertently got tossed in the garbage holding area and from there, into the camp’s giant dumpster located in a field outside of camp. Since Lisa had “borrowed” the dress from the YCL’s for nefarious reasons, and I had accidently thrown it out, thinking it was trash, the two of us felt compelled to go dumpster diving. Discovering the error shortly before midnight, we threw coats over our PJ's, grabbed our flashlights, and drove to the dumpster in the dark and moonless night. The heavy lid had been cranked down to keep the bears away so cranking it up about 12” (it was hard to do!), Lisa directed her flashlight inside while I squeezed thru the opening grabbing at any bag that looked “puffy” and felt light. We feared the lid might come crashing down on our heads or that bears might smell the garbage and corner us up on the stairs, so after three or four strike-outs, we decided to wait until morning and hope the dumpster wouldn’t be emptied early. Happily, when morning came, we told the Priesthood brethren our plight. They took pity on us and rescued the dress from the stinking dumpster."

Retrieving the Pilot - Utah #1

When we flew to Bogota, we went via Las Vegas, leaving my Honda Pilot at the Gecko House in St. George. When we returned from Bogota, we flew straight to Wenatchee, leaving my car stranded in southern Utah. I was SO missing my car and made a quick trip via Las Vegas in early June to retrieve my Pilot and drive it back to Washington - the first of MANY 2014 jaunts to the Beehive State. I took advantage of the trip to check on my mother and see how she was doing. Pretty spry for her age.

Rotary Park Pictures

June 7. Mark and Laurel's gang is growing up too fast. We spent some time with them at Wenatchee's Rotary Park on a beautiful June day. The colors of the clothes, the park, and the play toys were vibrant and just shouted - TAKE SOME PICTURES!