Beggining Middle and End of Summer 2007

Summer is now almost over and I have some time to finally write. What a summer! We have had tons of fun with lots and lots of family. We started the summer with a Bradshaw family reunion in Colorado. It was beautiful there and so much fun to see people I haven't seen since I was little. We had the reunion at a YMCA camp in the Rocky Mountains. We were all placed in the same area and had our own meeting room to have nightly get togethers and games in. There was an indoor pool, goofy golf, canoeing, zipline, etc, etc. I think the kids had the most fun just playing in the area behind our rooms. We all had doors that led to a big area in the back that we could sit around and visit. Just a few steps down from that was a forest area that had a homemade tee pee and a little stream. The kids spent hours in that area playing with cousins. Kristen and I planned some family Olympic games and Jen helped us out a ton with it when we were there. We had a soda chug as one of the games and all the kids ended up getting sick. We felt so bad! Not bad enough to not laugh (a lot) when the kids weren't looking though. Another one that wasn't thought through good enough was the choco put. The teams had one player with whipped cream all over their face and the other player who would throw cocoa puffs at his team mate's face to see who could get the most to stick. What a mess!!! Very funny to watch.


All in all it was a very nice trip. We are so grateful to Aunt Nancy and her family for putting so many hours of time into getting us all together again. It had been way too many years that we hadn't seen each other. It made me really miss dad but also feel a lot closer to him by being with his family. I was especially glad that my kids were able to be around all of my dad's family so they could understand more of who he was.

Kristen's family came to Arizona a week after we got back from Colorado. It's great to see how close all the cousins are even though they don't all get to be with each other year round. They just all picked up right where they left off and are very close friends. I really love the friendship Brooke and Jake have. Jake is very quiet and doesn't open up to very many people but when he's with Brooke he can be himself. They spent hours and hours just talking and hanging out. I'm so thankful to Kristen and Jeff for making it a priority to come and spend time in Arizona as often as they do. I know Jake and Brooke wouldn't be as close as they are if they didn't make the time to come. No pictures available for this time other than a few Kristen sent me via email because my camera stopped working while they were here and I can't get any pictures I took with that camera until I remember to get the attachments from the store.

A few days after Kris and family got into town we had a get together with Ted's family at Scott's house. Scott's girls were anxious to get us all together again and we were all for that. That morning Sarah started complaining that her eye was hurting her and that she had a headache but it didn't look pink or swollen so I didn't worry about it. We were even at the doctor that morning for her routine physical but I didn't think it was worth mentioning. While we were at Scott's house that night, Sarah's eye was very pink and hurt her so bad that she asked to be taken home early. She went straight to bed but was unable to sleep during the night because it was so painful. She woke us up at 2am and asked her dad to give her a priesthood blessing because she was in so much pain. The next morning I took her right in to the doctor and he told us that he thought it might be pink eye but because she had other symptoms such as light sensitivity and dizziness he sent us to the pediatric eye specialist. They luckily were able to squeeze us in (he had 63 patients that day because he had just come home from vacation). He told us that she had a very thick corneal ulcer and that she needed to see a corneal specialist right away. In the meantime Sarah was hurting so bad that she felt like she was going to pass out and started getting clammy and sick to her stomach. The last thing she wanted to hear was the she needed to see another doctor. We got right in to the corneal specialist and he gave her two shots in her eye and sent us home with three different drops to put in her eye every hour around the clock. The next day we went in again and the eye was actually worse instead of better and the doctor was no help because he told Sarah that she could get a hole in her eye from this or maybe lose her eyesight. He told us that she would probably need a corneal transplant after it was all healed because it will leave a scar that would affect her eyesight. He gave her another shot in her eye with a different kind of antibiotic and some different drops to take every hour around the clock again. Poor Sarah came home that day so stressed that she was going to get a hole in her eye that she ended up with a fever that night. We asked family members to fast for her that next Sunday and she got another blessing from her dad and Uncle Matt. Fast forward to yesterday....We went to the doctor and he is absolutely amazed at how fast she has healed from this. He told her that normally right now we would be discussing surgery for a corneal transplant especially with how bad hers was. Sarah went from 20/400 with her glasses on to 20/25 now and he tells us that if she wears hard contacts her eyesight will get even better. I am certain that Heavenly Father played a huge part in her recovery. We are so thankful for all the family members who fasted and prayed with us for her. Here are her pictures. The first one is the second day she had the problem and the second picture is how it looks now with the scar.

While Kris was here we had a mini Willis family reunion. Mary and her family, Karen, Kelsey, and Shaun and his family all came for Crystal's and Amy's weddings. We were able to have a lot of get togethers while everyone was here and had our annual fourth of July party for one of them. Brent and I got to cater Amy's wedding which turned out to look beautiful. A lot of the women got together the night before the wedding and cut up the fruit and veggies for the reception. They all made fun of me because I was so particular about how everything needed to be cut the same length.

Rebecca got her braces a few days before Kris and Jeff went home. She was happy that they got to see them on her before they left. She looks very cute and very expensive.

My birthday was on the day that everyone went home. Kristen and Jeff were nice enough to stay until after we had a little celebration. Mary and her family, Grandma and all of my extended family came to my mom's and had lunch together and Brent made my favorite lemon raspberry cheesecake. Kristen, Jen and Brent surprised me with a trip to Tennessee in October to see Kris and her family. Jen had a ticket she needed to use up by October so she generously gave it to me. I can't wait to see Kristen's new home and spend time with them in their surroundings.

A few days after all my family left, Kelly and her family came into town so we were able to have a mini Krummenacher family reunion while they were here. The cousins spent lots of time together either at our house or at Andy and Joni's. We spent one day swimming at Kim's, another day swimming at Lisa's. One day we all went to Barro's for lunch and decided none of us wanted to deal with the heat and kids at our homes so we went straight from Barro's to McDonald's for ice cream. That night all the girl cousins spent the night at Andy and Joni's while any of the boys that wanted to spent the night at our house. I felt bad because I didn't have anything planned and we have no video games at our house. Think about it, what are a bunch of boys going to do in a home with no video games??? We thought about going to a drive-in movie but that didn't pan out, thought about a dollar movie but no one could decide on one. So we ended up getting some take out and going to the park to eat. We got home and the boys had fun trying to figure out some kind of skit they wanted to do in front everyone when we were to have our family get together on Friday night. While they were doing the skit they had loud music on so didn't hear all the girls outside tee peeing our house. The girls rang the door and drove by honking the horn and screaming. The boys decided they couldn't let the girls have the last laugh so they spent about an hour making signs that said "boys rule" and crumbling them up to spread all over Andy and Joni's yard.
We got to their house and as soon as we got out of the car, the girls came running out. We were caught! So much for getting them back! They had fun though and that's what counts. I think if there was a contest for the coolest aunt that night, Joni definitely won. (I'm thinking long and hard about how I can win that title next year Joni!)

Sarah had her birthday on the 22nd of July. Kelly and her family were still here so a lot of us met at the movies to see Hairspray the morning before her birthday. Great great great movie! Sarah got a cell phone for her birthday. You now never see her without that thing. I think we did good. Two nights before her birthday, her friend Lia threw her a surprise party so she had a very nice birthday. On her birthday we went to Sacrament meeting at church and then went to Payson for a little picnic with our friends the McGraths. It had just rained right before we got there so it smelled great and everything was green and beautiful. It was nice to get out of the heat and have just a nice relaxing time with some of our favorite people.

This weekend we got to go up to Pinedale and stay with our friends, Tom and Tammy Taylor at their family's cabin. It rained all day on Sunday after we got back from church up there. It was exactly the weather you want when you're staying at a cabin. We had a nice and very relaxing time there.The only problem I had with it was that only the kids would play games with me!

Now we are finally settled down, and have a few days before school starts. I am very ready to be back on a normal schedule. I think the kids are ready for it too although they say they aren't. The kids met their teachers yesterday. Jake's class has 17 girls and 7 boys in it. He is going to have a great year!!! Hopefully they all will.

I think that about covers everything for the summer. Hopefully now I can stay better on top of my blog now that I'll have some quiet time at home while the kids are at school.