Busy Summer

It is 47 degrees and raining outside today, fall is officially here (although today almost feels a little like winter). Puts me in the mood to curl up under a blanket and eat soup, rolls, and pumpkin cookies. Paul is out of town in DC at his brother's house, so it has been a quiet weekend. So I am sitting down to play some catch-up. All the writing here is for my own journaling purpose. Probably a little boring to anyone looking at this. So feel free to just browse the pictures and move on if you want! :)
We had a crazy summer filled with fun times with family, lots of days at the pool with friends, many tears and emotional moments, several weeks away from home, and about 5,000 miles logged in the car over 6 weeks. Thank goodness for portable DVD players, without that we would NOT have made it. Dylan was a ChAmP in the car all those hours. As long as he had his movie, a snack, and a potty break every once in a while he hardly made a peep!
We left the middle of June with a 2 week trip ahead of us. The first week to be spent in Page with Paul's family, and the 2nd week in Utah with mine. Paul's mom was very sick with cancer, so much of the time in Page was spent trying to help his dad out with whatever he needed. He had spent the past few months hardly leaving the house because she needed 24 hour care, and he was doing it mostly on his own. So I did a lot of dishes and housework, and spent a lot of time taking care of my mother-in-law. It was nice to spend some time there, and hope that I was in some way a little bit of relief for Paul's dad if nothing else. We did get out to the pool to swim a few times, and hit Lake Powell with some jet-skiis one day with some friends. It just isn't a real trip to Page without getting out on the lake a little!
After our week there was over, we said our good-byes and drove to Utah. We met my family there at my sister & brother-in-law's cabin outside of Park City for a little relaxation time. While there we rode 4-wheelers & motorcycles, spent a lot of hours swimming, sat around the fire laughing late into the night, and of course ate a lot of good food. My mom always does an incredible job with food when we are around - all the yumminess you could ever want!

Dylan LOVED riding the 4-wheelers. My sister brought their small ones too, so there was one his size that he could ride by himself. Not sure where the pictures are. . .on Paul's laptop in DC I think. But it was super cute, and he had a blast!

Dylan and his cousin Roman both fell asleep multiple times while out on a ride. I guess there was something soothing about it! And they were playing hard every day, rarely getting to bed before 11pm, so they were always tired!

While we were at the cabin, Paul got a phone call from his Dad saying that he needed to come back to Page. His mom was not doing well at all. So he drove back to Page the same day that we all drove back to Orem to my parent's house. We missed him for the rest of the week, but know that he needed to be where he was. He got to spend a few days with just his dad and siblings, saying good-bye to his mom.

We spent the 4th of July at my parents, and got up early to go see the hot air balloons launch. I am not a morning person, so it is always so hard for me to get up for that. But once we are there, it is totally worth it to see how magical it is for the kids. We were there in time to watch all the balloons get blown up, and then see a few launch. Unfortunately it was too windy for too many of them to go in the air.

(I had a huge cold sore on my lip - hence the retarded smiling!)

We hit Cafe Rio, and then a little bowling before we went to see fireworks. It was some serious competition, we had prizes and everything. Such a blast! :)

Dylan had soooo much fun climbing all over and wrestling with grandpa! Such a little boys dream to have a human jungle gym that wiggles and bucks you off, and even tickles on command! Thanks dad for letting him beat on you a little.
We came home to Colorado after a busy and fun 2 weeks, and then Paul's mom passed away 1 day later. So it was back in the car again to go to the funeral. It was a very sad and hard time, but everything went well. Then we finally made it back home again exactly 1 month after we first left. Not exactly what we had planned, but life never is right? We miss Kathy, such a wonderful and loving mother and grandmother. We are all better for having known and loved her.