Rock and I got away for a few days up at the Tamarack Ski Resort a few weeks ago.  We stayed at the beautiful lodge in an AirBnB with an awesome view of Lake Cascade and the mountains and trees.  We relaxed by this gorgeous view for 4 days catching up on all the things we haven’t been able to do since summer started.

You would think that one call to 911 from someone at our house would be enough for a lifetime, let alone a year, but you would be wrong.

Last week Levi and Cade were in the process of setting up a lemonade stand. I thought they were both down at the end of the cul de sac when I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize.  I usually don’t answer those, but I felt like I should answer this one.  It was a police officer telling me that my son Cade had just been in a bike accident.  I was so confused!  I couldn’t figure out how that could have happened at the end of the street without my knowing about it.  She then informed me that he was near target and that he’d called 911.  She was there with an ambulance AND a fire truck.  I guess I’m a terrible parent because my first thought was “Why on earth didn’t he call ME!!! We can’t afford another 911 call!”

She then went on to explain that he’d been riding to Target (to get cups for his lemonade stand) when his bike tire came off and he flew off his bike onto his chin. 

He tried getting up and walking to his piano teacher’s house who lives nearby, but he was bleeding so badly and had had the wind knocked out of him and so he stayed put and used the only resource he had-his old iphone 4 that has no data or ability to call anyone EXCEPT 911.  So he couldn’t call me and didn’t know if he should get up and move or not, so he called 911.  Not a terrible choice, considering the circumstances.

Rock went to pick him up and take him to the urgent care after the paramedics determined that his thumb might be broken and his chin would need stitches.  And it was a doosy of a gash.  Levi had 17 stitches in his forehead after running into a corner in the kitchen, but this was a much uglier wound. They only gave him 7 stitches, however, and decided after X-rays that his thumb was just sprained.

All in all, he was pretty lucky.  No broken bones and he will now have a scar on his chin just like everyone else in the world.  Based on what I’m seeing it will be a pretty gnarly scar, which boys find cool and mothers do not.  But I’m grateful he’s ok.  He’s up at scout camp this week and Rock and I had to interrupt our getaway at Tamarack to take him to the doctor in McCall to have his stitches removed.  Kind of annoying, but, actually rather convenient that we were up there so close to him already.  And I got to take a picture of both my boys up at scout camp together.

Getting two kids ready for a Mormon Pioneer Trek reenactment is also not cheap, but I wanted them to have this amazing experience and so I choked up the cash.  It was indeed an amazing experience for Reagan and Cade.  They grew spiritually, socially, emotionally and physically. I’m so grateful to all those who put it together and made it happen.  It is no easy feat.  We went up to meet them at the end of their trek and I can’t put into words how neat it was to have so many people come up to me and say good things about my sons.  What beautiful testimonies they bore, how hard they worked on Rocky Ridge.  The greatest thing you can tell a mother is that her sons are praiseworthy.

As usual, my plans for, well for anything, never work out.  I planned on lazy, relaxing summer days with the kids, lots of time swimming at Derek and Penny’s pool, lots of time reading to the kids.  I planned to do a fun day trip somewhere in Idaho with the kids every week.  None of that has happened.  We’ve managed to fit in one day trip and a few swimming hours.  Our summer started crazy and has not slowed down!

The first week of summer I ignored the littles so that I could get Reagan ready for working up at Scout Camp as a counselor all summer.  The boy needed so much gear and scout uniform paraphernalia that we actually spent almost as much as he will MAKE this entire summer just buying gear.  And do not get me started on scout uniforms, their exorbitant costs, or the uppity ladies at the scout shop who tell you that it HAS to be worn a certain way with all these certain patches and badges and belts and no, you can’t wear that belt with that uniform and yes you HAVE to have those pants with that shirt and it can’t be worn with any other shirt, blah blah blah.  We won’t discuss how many times I have had to go back to said scout shop and deal with said ladies either.  We are practically on a first name basis.  I know where everything is now and could work there myself if it weren’t for the fact that my rebellious streak has reared its ugly head there and those ladies wouldn’t hire me.  They duck and cover when they see me coming now.  I am quite ready to be done with the whole scouting program at this point!  Love the values, hate the cost and arbitrary rules and regs. But, I have a little boy who actually cried when I told him the LDS church would no longer be doing scouts soon.  He has been counting the days until he could go on camp outs and earn merit badges.  Sigh.  So, we probably aren’t done, even if the church is.

Reagan spent only a week and a half at camp before we had to go pick him up mid week to bring him home for our stake youth conference and then Trek.  Alli came up with us and we made a fun day of it in McCall.

The Payette River

Can you see our Mountain Goat?

Paddle Boarding with Alli and Grandpa

Levi Flying/Paddling Solo

Playing at the pool with the cousins

Liberty and I walked out of Target one day and looked up in the sky to see this!

Ya don’t see that every day.

We got a hammock!

The Littles had a great time at their 3rd year of Farm Camp where they get to play with bunnies and goats and chickens and kittens and do science projects and climb trees.

We rented a bunny for two weeks and though I was initially nervous about it, it has gone fairly well.

Liberty has been in heaven.  She named this bunny while at Farm camp.  

Meet Cocoa

Stay tuned for more summer adventures!

At the end of my last post I said this blog would continue as normal after our winter plagues had finally ended.  But that was not to be.  Our bad health year has continued!  On April 18th, I was supposed to have a small routine laparoscopy to remove a benign cyst.  At age 26, the same surgery only took me a day or two to recover from and that was with a toddler and newborn! But this one was NOT the same.  They found two very large cysts instead of just one and the recovery was almost as bad as having a hysterectomy!  The end of April and much of May was a total blur for me and no blogging took place.  End of May craziness hit and summer has been non stop until now so here is yet another catch up blog post. (several, actually.  🙂