June, July, August...

 At the end of June the dojo hosted their annual Summer Karate Camp at the Kemp cabin.  This year the theme was The Hunger Games. (Only a much less violent version than the books and movie).  There were about 40 people in attendance and they had a blast!  There are some really awesome kids and wonderful parents who made it fun for everyone.

 Brennan loves the giant swing whenever we go so I had to include this one for memories sake. :)

 Kris brought a Gracie and Talan for the weekend while Barbi and the other girls were out of town.  This is Gracie's famous cheesy grin.  She is a funny little teaser, that one.

 All the kids made their own weapons in camo colors.  At the camp each child/teen was given a camo karate belt with their rank color striped in the center.  It will be a great memory for them all.

 Talan and Kaeleb- the "brother cousins"

 They had several weapon training stations for the kids to practice and compete in.  It was a really successful weekend.

 At the very end of June our sweet sis-in-law Barbi went in for a minor surgery and had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia which caused her to have grand mal seizures whenever she was awake for over a month.  At first they happened every minute and she had to stay sedated but over several days the seizures were spaced further and further apart as the anesthesia left her system.  She was in the hospital for 4 days and when she came home she had one every 15 minutes.  Every day there would be a few more minutes between them and finally after 5 weeks  they were 2 hours apart and then stopped.  It was very painful and exhausting for her every day and hard for the whole family to go through.   The doctors didn't know how long it would last or if they would ever stop so there was frustration and uncertainty.  Consequently, this became the Summer of the Cousins.  We were there almost every day helping with the kids and household or just trying to distract them and keep it light.  Sometimes they came to our house to have a change in scenery.

The whole experience was a learning time for all of us.  First of all, to see the way family and friends came together was a miracle.  Her ward family and neighbors were there every day.  Her mom stayed many nights when Kris was working and Kwint's parents left their vacation to come stay 2 days with the kids while she was in the hospital.  It was beautiful.  They had so many dinners brought that they had us over every night for a week trying to eat the leftovers and they are still eating the ones they froze when they received two meals in a day. 

Barbi was amazingly resilient, determined and cheerful.  She never complained and constantly tried to do more than she could, refusing to be beaten.  She never stopped hoping and decided she could be more stubborn than the medicine that wanted control of her body.  She is the most loving mother and did all she could every day for those 5 children.  She doesn't know it but she helped me understand the lessons I have been learning over the past year as I have struggled with a severe bout of anxiety and panic.  I have never wanted to blog about it, it was too ugly, but now that I am feeling better and can see the Lord's hand working in my life, making miracles beyond my comprehension, I understand why life is so hard. 

One day as I was on my way to the hospital to see Barbi I was thinking about how awful it must have been to be in so much pain with no explanation for her seizures and no end in sight.  I remembered my darkest hours and how the Atonement saved me and thought about how Jesus would save her too.  Her pain was physical where mine was emotional, and I realized that there are as many kinds of pain in the world as there are people and no one is exempt.  Sooner or later we all find ourselves broken and it is not until we fall at the feet of our Savior with no way to put ourselves back together that we truly begin to understand Him and why we need Him so much.  Somehow His love is enough to pick us up and put us back together, no matter how badly we were broken.  And then, His love is enough to restore hope when all was lost and joy that we thought we might never feel again.

I am so very thankful to Him for rescuing me and healing my sister, and for all the pain He has swallowed up with joy for every single one of us.  His plan really is a Plan of Happiness and when we go through intense pain we see the happiness at the end more clearly.

So, on a lighter note.... We had a fun Fourth of July.  We went swimming at the Kamas pool during the day.  It was Barbi's first public display of shaking.  She didn't like it very well and decided to stay home after that but everyone had fun, especially the kids.

 Kaeleb and Brennan were super brave going down the big water slide, which made us proud.

At dusk we drove to Memorial Hill in Midway, which was one of few places fireworks were permitted during this ever so dry summer.  For such a little town they put on an impressive show and we were sitting right across the street.  Our camera is new and we hadn't figured out the night mode, so they are fuzzy but it looks kinda cool to me... ethereal, if you will.

 Ok, now for a picture you can see... It's the crew playing on the slip n slide shark.

 And, for a few random snaps... There was a full double rainbow one night after karate during a T-storm.  I love rainbows.

 They are finally building two houses across the street so soon we won't have to gaze out across the rockpiles and weeds you can see in the background.

 This I loved.  Brennan came running in yelling about something he had to show me right away.  If you look close you will see his large family portrait in chalk.  I just love the excitement in his soul.

 I know this is creepy.  But the boys found this snake in the driveway and I couldn't help but take a picture.  It looked very alive but after several minutes I thought how strange it was that it hadn't slithered away yet.  So, I threw a rock at it and it was very dead.  I was too scared to move it, so my little redheaded hero went and got the snow shovel and very nonchalantly chucked it in the gutter.

 Later that day Bren's best friend Ashton Starks caught a praying mantis in our yard and they played with it for a good hour.

 And finally, for the best day in the whole month of August:  Kaeleb's 8th birthday was yesterday!!  We have a morning tradition of pancakes and presents, so this is what he woke up to.

 Still with bedhead and a missing front tooth, he quietly waited for mom and dad to come downstairs.  He is dressed in his ghee, ready for his birthday party at the dojo where his friends got to learn to use nun-chucks some good karate moves.

 He recently earned his blue belt... not sure where the pictures are from that event-- must be on Kwint's phone.  It is quite an accomplishment and he worked really hard for it.

 Kwint led the class and then they played capture the flag.  They all seemed to love it, so we were happy.

 Lot's o' Legos!  The boys in our neighborhood spend a lot of time together building with them

 And when they aren't doing that, they run the length of 4 backyards with Nerf guns.  What a perfect load of presents!

We are so proud of the boy Kaeleb is becoming.  He is smart, funny, obedient and responsible.  We really appreciate him in our family and him to the core!