Catching Up

My kiddos are home this week. Both have really had a great summer so far at their perspective camps/conferences.

Caitlin loved Oakcrest. She had a great counselor named Cooper and loved the activities. They had some wonderful spiritual experiences and tons of fun. I let Caitlin take my camera and she came home with a whole memory card full of funny self portraits. I think next year we’ll offer some photo taking advice before she goes. The other funny thing is we obviously sent her with too much money to buy treats. Her bags were stuffed with empty candy wrappers and a plastic fork. After throwing away all the garbage, she informed me that the plastic fork was from an object lesson. Sigh.

Caleb spent last week at USU and had such a fun time. He’s got a great group of friends in student government and from what I understand, they know how to have fun and stay up really late. I love these photos of him on the obstacle course.

Last week was my birthday and we went to dinner at PF Chang. My lovely family gave me a one year spa membership. I am so excited to have something just for me to look forward to each month.

Friday was Caitlin’s yearly MRI that was overdue by about six months. She was prescribed Ativan to help her through it and it did help take the fight out of her, but not the fear. She was upset at the hospital, but having a great tech made all the difference. She allowed me to go in the scanning room and hold Caitlin’s hand the whole time. Before we entered the room, Caitlin told the tech that she liked to be talked to during the scan and it kind of broke my heart. I don’t know that she will ever get over the time a dumb tech didn’t say a word to her and she thought she had been forgotten. No MRI has gone smoothly since then.

Today we went to clinic for a full check-up and the MRI results. It didn’t really go as planned and we left without a clear answer regarding the scans. The Neuro Team will be taking a look at her scans going back five years to compare and re-measure to get the final word. We hope to know more tomorrow. Her doctors are also concerned that she has completely fallen off the growth chart for height and weight. Average weight for a girl her age is 107 pounds. Her target weight is 97.3 and she is currently at 78.48. I’m not really sure how to feel about it right now. I’m not in a panic, or fearful, or upset. More than anything I’m just disappointed that this disease causes so many late effects and trouble. Caitlin has come through so much better than many kids we have known over the years, but she’s still affected in ways we are discovering 10 1/2 years after diagnosis. 

On a much better note, today Caleb shared the nicest string of emails from a young man in England who he met at the World Jamboree last year. The meat of it is that the boy mentioned he still had the Book of Mormon Caleb gave him, and Caleb encouraged him to attend church services at the local LDS church. While he didn’t go to church, he dropped in on the Young Men’s weekly activity and said it was fun and they “served great biscuits.”

There’s plenty of other crazy stuff going on in our lives that we lovingly refer to as our balls of fire, but until we get answers, I’m not mentioning them here. Don’t want to jinx anything. Fingers crossed…

Part-Time Parenting

So both kids went to youth conference last Friday. They had such a good time. Caitlin wasn’t sure she wanted to go at first, but she changed her mind within a few hours and was so glad she did. It was a good opportunity for the youth and Bishopric to get to know each other better after our semi-recent ward split/mergers, and enjoy a few days of fun activities. Both of my kids came home sunburned and with an outrageous amount of laundry, but they really enjoyed themselves.

Stories and comments were going around church yesterday about youth conference and this is what I heard about Caleb- that he is a shameless flirt. From Beehives to the college girls helping with the rope course, they were all subjected to Caleb’s…err… charm. LOL.

While the kids were gone, Clint and I went to dinner and a movie with friends on Friday night. On Saturday we both worked but grabbed a late lunch before the kids got home. It was rather nice to have a little free time. I have to admit I haven’t quite accepted the lack of routine that comes with summer vacation. I’m kind of sick of kids laying around and having to be told to do EVERYTHING. Sigh.

After throwing a world class fit this morning due to letting her anxiety get the best of her, I dropped Caitlin off across the valley and she and her friends left for Oakcrest for the week. She’s been looking forward to this camp for a year and I’m so happy it’s finally here. I hope she’s warm enough, gets along well with her cabin mates, and brushes her hair and teeth now and again.

Next Monday, we will be sending Caleb off to leadership camp at USU. He can’t wait and is excited to get to know his fellow class officers better and also see friends he knows from other schools who are in student government. He has become close friends with the other senior officers through the activities they’ve participated in so far- graduation, Senior Sunrise, and Special Olympics. Speaking of, Caleb loved the Special Olympics. They made the mistake of giving him a radio to use and he called in a few air strikes, but really he liked the whole spirit of these games.

It’s too bad Clint and I are so busy with work that we can’t enjoy this time of no kids/one kid, but it’s nice to have them busy and having fun. We really are blessed to have so many opportunities.

A Quick Little Post

Life feels weird right now. I feel really out of sorts. Between worrying about family members and friends with hard, hard trials, to wondering if Clint and I have our priorities in order…. pretty sure there’s a mid-life crisis coming on. Watch out people.

Over Memorial Day my parents and sister came to visit. It was nice to have them here for a few days and it was really nice to see many extended family members when we went to my aunt and uncles missionary farewell. They are currently finishing up their time in the MTC and will then be on their way to Turkey. We will miss them.

Last week was high school graduation for many of our neighbor friends, cancer friends, and some of Caleb’s good school friends. I was so emotional with the posts their parents were making on FB and hearing about graduation from Caleb. He and the other senior class officers were in charge of the flag ceremony. I can’t believe we only have another year left. Sigh! I really think it will be a great year though.

This week Caleb is helping out with the Special Olympics, and then both kids will be going to youth conference at Snow College over the weekend. After that we will pretty much be switching off kids as one goes to camp and comes home and then the next one goes. Right now my room is exploding with clothing, care packages, and plenty of other odds and ends in an attempt to get them ready. Pure craziness.

This summer we haven’t planned a vacation because we are in a huge rush to accomplish a big goal. Let’s just say it involves Clint and I both working around the clock. We’re tired. Hopefully we’ll find some opportunities to do fun things close to home as a trade off this year.