My dad's Surgery

So on July 27th my father had kidney surgery in Salt Lake City.  Scott had to work on the 26th and so Rachel and I ventured down to SLC by ourselves.  I left work a little bit early and we stopped in Heyburn to eat dinner.  We eventually made it down to Farmington around 8:00 to stay with my friend Mary Gamble.  I don't get to see them very much but was grateful for her hospitality.  So on the 27th my dad's surgery was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning but we were supposed to be at the hospital by 7:00.  So I did my best to get there by 7:00 but as I was traveling to the hospital Dereck called and said he would have to be second on the surgery list.  I was like great.  So Derek, Paul, Kaylene, myself and my mom hung out with my dad. It was a boring wait and an even longer wait because the first surgery had complications so that wasn't good.   At 12:15 my father still wasn't in surgery yet but I had gone to pick up Scott from the airport.  Needless to say the day was long and exhausting.
Scott also got a call that day from ISU telling him that they had a full time position open up in the Nurse Practitioner program(he was 13th on the alternate list).  He asked if he could think about it for awhile.  He never thought he would get in and was going a different route.  After lots of talking during the weekend with me and his parents he decided he would take it.
Well my dad's surgery took 6 1/2 hours.  It was harder to get his dead kidney out then they had expected because it had so much scar tissue around and was inflamed.  The other kidney had a mass on it and they froze it off and were hoping that it wasn't cancerous.  On Friday they did confirm that it was cancer and he will have to go have a CT scan in 30 days and then once a year for the next five years to make sure it's gone.  I feel pretty good about it but we will see what happens when 30 days arrive.

Girls Camp 2011

So I was Girl's Camp Director again this year.  It was a very trying year.  I stuck it out for the girls and we had a great time.  I'm glad it's over because it was alot of work and I was struggling with getting everything done with working full time and having Rachel this year.  Our camp was from July 19th-22nd.  We went up to a camp by Cascade called EE-DA-HOW.  It was so much nicer than last years place that we went too.  We actually got to go on a hike and it was nice.  Here are some quick pics of things we did up there.

 Certification in Levels.

Oh a Hiking we will go a hiking we will go......

 All the girls we took to Girls Camp getting ready to head out on our hike.

 See Scott and I really did do the hike.  Cascade Lake behind us.  Had a view of the lake through the whole hike.  It was awesome.

 Two of my Youth Camp Leaders.  They are both awesome and did a great job as leaders.

 Working on writing something nice to each person who went to camp.  Everyone really got into doing this project and I'm sure the girls had a boost in self-esteem when they finished reading their own book.

This is one of the crafts.  It was a value necklace. 

 The Polar Bear Plunge.  They did this at 6:30 in the morning.  The water was cold and they had to run out into the lake.  Most ran out and then right into the showers. :-) Yes you can tell I didn't do it.  I thought about it but that was as far as it went.  They were just lucky I was up that early to get pictures.

We played this game so much. It's called Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky.  This was the first time the Bishop had ever played it and we totally got him hooked.

A great girl's camp but I'm glad it's over and I get to spend more time with Rachel.

Our Sealing as a Forever Family

So on July 9th in the Boise Idaho Temple, we were able to have Rachel sealed to us.  It happened to be the last day the Boise Temple would be open because they are closing it down for remodeling.  It was a very emotional day for me.  I was so excited about it but totally worried about how Rachel would react in the temple.  There ended up being nothing to worry about.  She was on her best behavior.  We got there at 10:30 and took Rachel to the daycare center.  At first she was scared but they asked her if she liked dolly's and away she went to find the toys.  Scott and I then met with the Temple workers and they sent us off to change. We then waited in the celestial room.  We had about a forty minute wait until we went into the sealing room.  So I was able to do alot of people watching.  I eventually had to stop watching a family that had done a session because as I could overhear their conversations and watched their emotions I was able to figure out that they had just lost their mother and were their to support their father on his first trip back to the temple without his wife.  I was crying right along with them which didn't help since I was already struggling to keep my joy and excitement under control.  When we got moved to the sealing room I was so happy to see everyone there to support us.  Our sealer talked to us and I just lost it because it was a realization that we were going to be a forever family and it had been a hard road but we finally were able to have children in our home that would be with us forever. (Yes I did the ugly cry as Oprah would say).  They brought Rachel in and as soon as she saw me she said, Look Mom pretty dress(referring to her white dress she had on).  It was just so cute.  She actually did really awesome sitting there and behaving.  The funniest part was when she saw Scott's sister Jamie she got really excited and said, "Hey there's Jamie."  Afterwards we were able to do some pictures outside.  We have figured out that if you let Rachel do it where ever she wants to we get better pictures because then she isn't screaming or crying in them.

 Coming out of the temple right after the sealing.  We didn't know we were going to be able to do pictures so I happened to wear my comfortable(or as I call it my fat dress).  I wish I had brought both my dresses so I could have changed and looked a little nicer.  Everyone says who cares so that's what I'm trying to tell myself. 

 Yes we are the Proud parents.

 Isn't she so cute.  She was so happy that day.

 Family Photo

 Rachel loved smelling the flowers as we were trying to get pictures.

 Walking to the water fountain.

 See what I mean.  More pretty flowers to smell.

 Almost everyone who came.  Kammi ran to our house to help get the luncheon prepared.  Our Bishop was also there at the temple with us but isn't in the picture.

I just love this picture of her.  She lookes so cute and so happy.

So after we got change we all headed to our house for Rachel's blessing and the luncheon.  Rachel though as we were driving out of the temple parking lot said to Scott and me, "Whew we made it."  Scott and I just laughed and said to her, "Yes we did." 

It was so awesome to have our family and friends there to support us on our special day.  We love them all for traveling and coming to see us.  Rachel is a very special daughter and everyone who meets her just falls in love with her.  I'm so happy that we get to call her our daughter for eternity.

Summer has been so Busy

So just a quick post to say when life finally calms down after this summer I will finally have some time to blog again.  We have been so busy.  It started with our trip to Scott's friend reunion, the finalization of Rachel's adoption, Father's Day, my gallbladder surgery, a trip up to where I was taking our Young Women to camp, our sealing to Rachel, Girls Camp, my father's surgery in SLC, Scott's brother Tyson's wedding, reception and open house; Scott's family reunion in American Falls, another friend weekend at our timeshares and a 90th birthday party for my grandmother.  So you can see we have been going 100 miles an hour but I will have lots to blog about when I finally get a chance to relax and breathe again.