A Week in Review...

Slow summer days...things making me smile...

• A trip to the pool...cast and all!
• Sun kissed shoulders.
• Lunch by the pool.
• A trip to Barnes and Noble for some fun summer reading - for Gabe.
• Racing Gabe in the hall on his crutches :) He's getting really good!
• A new DVD player.
  
• Yardwork.
• Finding Emma (several times) working at Jesse's desk while he wasn't home.
• A new structure in my backyard (pictures to come later).
• Emmas new words: "Dang-it" "Oh, man!" "De-licious" "Guess what"
  
• A summer Enrichment Picnic with NO kids. Thanks, Jesse. I needed it.
• Another night at Hale Center Theater - "The Curious Savage". What a great message.
• Babysitting group. Both of them. LOVE them.
• Good friends.
• And last but NOT least - an air conditioner!! Mine broke for a day, and then was miraculously fixed. How did I grow up without AC???
  

Flashback Friday...

Redfish Lake, Summer of 1995


Every summer my family took a trip to Redfish Lake in Idaho. It is so beautiful! Now that I am a mother, I admire my Mom and her meticulous preparation for our family vacation. There were 7 of us total. She would pack all of our clothes and food...enough for 7 days of camping. Now, this was REAL camping that we did. We would park the truck on one side of the lake and then take the boat with all of us and our supplies to the other side of the lake for 7 days. Tent, outhouse, firepit...you get the picture. Did I mention it was usually for SEVEN days? Oh, we had so much fun on these trips...a hike to the Lily Pond, playing in the lake, waterskiing, a long hike one day. We were in heaven. The picture above is of me and my 3 older sisters on one of those long hikes to some gorgeous lake hidden in the mountains. Sorry to say, that I hate camping now. Maybe it is because it is me, and not my mom, who is doing all of the prep work. And, oh ya, I hate getting dirty and smelling like smoke. Sorry, mom. But I do have wonderful memories of those summers spent at Redfish Lake.

A Week in Review...

I have learned this week that I take some simple things in life for granted:

• Kids who can dress themselves.
• Kids who can walk in the grocery store without crutches.
  
• An 8 year old who is a big helper - when he is not on crutches.
• Sleeping in the same bed as my husband. (Somehow Gabe and Jess have switched beds...)
• Water proof casts and Orthopedic Surgeons.
  
• Good friends who show up when least expected but when needed the most.
• Good friends who shower Gabe with attention.
• A husband who is such a "handy man".
  
• Green in my garden.
• A car, even though gas is so expensive.
• Water for my lawn.
• A properly working DVD player - mine broke. VHS what?? Yes, we still own one and still use it...
  

Flashback Friday...

In honor of our little dare devil, Flashback Friday shows cast #1. This was August of 2004. He was climbing UP the slide when someone came down the correct way and knocked him off. Dad and Grandpa Madsen actually cut this cast off. So naughty.

I just have to point out that I LOVE Gabe's big brown eyes, his cute little button nose, his sweet smile...isn't he so darn cute??

Gabe Update...

Gabe has been doing so well, considering what happened to him. He has mastered the crutches already. He figured out to go up and down the stairs outside on his crutches, and scoots on his bum going up and down stairs in the house. We got his cast on today and he picked...



Looks good, huh? Check out the purple bruise on his bicep...

We truly have the greatest friends and neighbors. So many calls to offer to take Emma or come sit with Gabe. He has had a Rootbeer Float (his favorite!), ice cream, shakes, water guns, movies, coloring books....so spoiled! His friends have been super cute. Brady and Nathan from across the street came over Monday with ace bandages wrapped around their arms and legs. Today, Nathan showed up like this...

He said he was awfully sweaty...

Ouch!

Sunday afternoon, our family took a nice walk to a park above our house. Emma rode in the stroller and Gabe strapped on his helmet and rode his bike. It is quite a little hill to climb from our house to the park. We enjoyed talking with neighbors, watching the kids play on the playground, and reading the newspaper. When it was time to head down the hill, Gabe took off on his bike and we followed him with Emma in the stroller. Not too far down the hill a car pulled up asking if we had a little boy riding a bike. Oh, dear...yep, we do. He was at the bottom of the hill and hurt badly. The guy took Jesse to the bottom in his car, and I ran with Emma in the stroller. When we got to the bottom, we found a sobbing Gabe, a wrecked bike, and a rod iron fence that looked like this...

A guy from our ward saw it all happen and called 911....he said Gabe was literally flying down the hill. We don't know if he froze up and couldn't pull the brakes....who knows. But he hit the curb and then the fence. Thank goodness for helmets...his is cracked. Kids - wear your helmets. The ambulance came, and then we took him to the ER to have his leg x-rayed. And...it's broke. This is just a splint. We get the cast on Wednesday for 6-7 weeks. (Any ideas for summer fun with a cast?)

His face is pretty bruised up...

And his arms...
But he gets to do this all day...eat Skittles and watch movies...

Flashback Friday...

Dresden, Germany in front of the Elbe River.

Fourteen years ago, I graduated from High School and then spent a month in Germany with the German Club from school. What a great experience it was for a small town teenager getting ready to venture out on her own. I stayed with a family whose daughter had stayed with my family the year before. What sweet memories...I ate my weight in pastries...good thing we rode bikes everywhere.

Can you find me in the picture? I am in the black shirt on the right. With the pants cinched up above my bellybutton, shirt tucked in, and rolled up shorts. You can't see my feet, but I can guarantee I am wearing black socks (what else - you must match your socks with your shirt) and probably those brown leather lace up boots. You know the ones. You all had a pair.

One regret I have - not being a little older while I was there. I'm sure I would have appreciated the entire experience a little more.

One thing I did right - I gathered lots of postcards, took pictures of people and little details I wanted to remember, then came right home and made a scrapbook while it was all fresh in my mind.