Cole Reunion

We had an awesome Cole family reunion at Butters' pool on Monday… so many were able to attend. Because we weren’t together at Bear Lake this year, this was our time together.  I was finally able to meet Nelson and Andrea’s darling 4-month-old baby Lily.  Brad and Karen are so great to share their pool.  Nelson was the grandkids favorite person because he would do cannon balls and splash everyone.  

 

First day of School!

 

Grandkid game night for August was awesome.We had our 6 youngest ( Sophia at her mom’s and Andrew with UofU band camp). Who knows if I’ll ever get these two teenagers back to game night?  The littles really adore them.  We walked to the park and played.  On the way there, they got 50 cars to honk at them by pumping their arms.  They are thrilled and cheer with every beep.  Wayne picked us up and we got ice creams or slushies from Arctic Circle or Maverick.  Then, games at our house.  We play a garbage dice game..and George just loves it.  He feels so big cuz he can play!  No cards in little hands to deal with.  George won a round, I did and Tayla did.  It was fun.  I told them a Dark Dark night scary story….and they LOVED it. 

And now they are ready for school:

Alfie 6th grader

Andrew first day at University of Utah

Sophia Jr at Viewmont High School

Poppy 2nd grade

Lady 2nd grade

Tayla 4th grade

Elsie Kindergarten

George - Preschool

Desert Island - apology

I need to have compassion for my 7th grade self and apologize to 7th grade Michelle B. for being part of a group that embarrassed and humiliated her. 

I don't know why this memory is coming up for me..but I need to write it down and wrestle with it for a bit, so I can move on.

I remember the summer before 7th grade at Millcreek Jr. High-- it was a big change and I was trying to find my way, at the same time, there was a group of boys and girls in my home ward who mostly got along, but didn't really fit together. (We prided ourselves on our ability to get rid of Sunday School teachers-- being so noisy and rude and one even cried.  We loved it when the teacher quit and we got a new one to work our terrorizing on....so nuts!)

I remember going to Carolyn C's basement to play some games and hang out with boys and girls together.  It was one afternoon and we were in Carolyn's basement, which looked like the Brady Bunch home. We played spin the bottle- and dared each other stupid stuff, and some psychology game..then Carolyn said, " Let's play Desert Island."  She picked Michelle out of the group to be the first one to play.  I didn't know what Desert Island was.  She told Michelle she was stranded on a desert island and told her to lay on the floor, and she put a blanket over her.  We all looked with anticipation about what would happen next.  There were a lot of giggles in the room as we all circled the blanket.  Carolyn said, "Ok, you are on a desert island and it's soooo hot.  What are you going to take off?"  We giggled more and made awkward eye contact.  Michelle took off her socks and poked them out of the blanket.  Carolyn said, "No, Michelle, that's not right...what do you take off first?  It's sooo hot."  Michelle said she didn't want to play anymore, and Carolyn told her to be a good sport.  "Okay, Michelle, what are you going to take off? It's really hot!"  Carolyn then silently mouthed to all of us..."She's supposed to take off the blanket...she's so dumb." Now we were all in on it.  

Michelle moaned a bit, sounding like a scared animal, then her shirt came out of the blanket.  I remember feeling sick inside, and some of the boys "woo-hooing."  It was awkward, and nasty and I didn't know how to stop it.  I wanted to fit in.  Michelle said she was done. Carolyn insisted we go on. Finally, Sharon T. bundled Michelle in the blanket and took her out of the room to help her.  The game was over.  Michelle was crying nervously.  We all said, "Michelle, you're so dumb.  Just take off the blanket not your clothes!"  We laughed and tried to make it all okay, but my stomach hurt and I went home and straight to my room, I felt so ashamed. 

I remember my mom asking me how was Carolyn's house?   And I told her it was fine.  I vowed to be kinder and more compassionate from then on.  I wish I had done what Sharon did..and helped her.

It's amazing to me, even with an awesome mom all of the things I didn't share with her. And I wonder at all of the things my kids didn't share with me.  Learning to be a good human can be hard.

Monson ankle miracle?

 Monson hurt his left ankle the end of June.  He was playing church basketball and went out to save a ball and twisted his ankle and instant pain.  His ankle swole up immediately.  He was wearing ankle braces since 8th grade when he first had ankle issues.  He went to the doctors and they took an X-ray and told him his Achilles was partially torn along with other 1/2 torn tendons and he needed to stay off of it for 4 weeks..then they would x ray again and see if surgery was needed.  This was so sad for him.  He got a scooter and tried to be a good sport about it, plus it really hurt.   

Monson had two big trips in July-- 1 week in Bear Lake and then 2 1/2 weeks in upstate Michigan...he would have to do all of this now with zero weight on his ankle...on a scooter..kind of helpless for many things including carrying suitcases, packing, going up and down stairs etc..   He's not able to get in the lakes  ( easily, cuz of sand) and was just so disappointed.  Wayne got him a peg leg to wear instead of the scooter halfway through the Bearlake vacation..and Monson adapted to that perfectly-- which helped him go up and down stairs easier and not have to wait for people to help him.  

This helped him a little, but still there was so much he couldn't do.

Monson got home and went back to the doctors the beginning of August.  The doc was surprised his ankle was still so swollen and ordered an MRI-- looking toward surgery for sure.  The MRI happened and all that was wrong was a small tear in one tendon and a bit of arthritis. No surgery. WHAT!?!  Did Monson even have to go through this "no walking trauma" all of JULY and be so miserable....or did a miracle healing take place?  

I say tell the Miracle healing story.  It's healthier and keeps you in a place of gratitude and wonder instead of anger and being ticked off at the doctor for not taking an MRI sooner. 

Monson is doing physical therapy now for 6 weeks.  

We are the stories we tell....so tell a good one.

Alaska Cruise

Our Alaska cruise was excellent!! We traveled on Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Sea.  It's gigantic and has rooms for 4,900 people.   Traveling with Tami, Rob, Mark and Jill is delightful…very easy– we all like to do the same things. We played pickleball, did karaoke, walked the track, chose stairs over elevators most of the time, spent time in the Solarium-in the pools and hot tubs. Ate a lot of soft-serve ice cream cones.

Enjoyed and shook our heads in confusion at all the shows and the live music. Participated in the different cruise games- trivia etc… and ate A LOT!  

We enjoyed eating at the dining room and getting to know our waiter and trying all of the different types of food…sometimes ordering as many as 4 appetizers and 3 main courses.  We were disappointed with the desserts on this boat.  They need to work on this, but otherwise the food was good…including the almost 24-hour pizza that’s available.    

 

We loved getting our picture taken by all of the photographers on the ship…not to have a serious one, but to pull faces, and shift our bodies in an effort to make the photographer laugh.  IT was a hoot…even if they didn’t laugh, we laughed a lot! 

Our group was NOT afraid of participating.  Wayne, Rob, Mark and Jill participated in the Pickleball tournament with Rob and Wayne making it to the semi-finals.  Mark and Wayne participated in the Ping Pong tournament – both got out in the first round. Wayne was beat by an over-80-year-old with a wicked spin.  Jill and I did Karaoke many times!  We sang at the piano bar and sang through the shows. We played a ton of games– mostly Kanasta, cards and marbles and  10-2-8-ohcrap!  

Rob was at a low stool at the piano bar..so he did this right next to the piano player and cracked the guy up.  It was so funny. 

 Our excursions were good as well.  We stopped in Juneau, Alaska, and did a whale watching boat tour along with going to  Mendenhall glacier and walking around.  We saw a lot of whale tails… no real whale breaches..but many tails– that was cool.   

Most photographed building in the USA.  10,000 snaps a day.  It was a gentleman's club built in 1898

 and you had to climb Mount  A and Mount B to qualify.

We stopped in Skagway for a railway ride to the top of the mountain… white trail/Yukon passage with incredible views- and then shopping around the town.  

 We got to go with the cruise ship up a Fjord to see the Dawes Glacier.  The day was sunny and glorious weather– The fjord up to the glacier was gorgeous…with blue skies and sunshine.  And so many little blue ice chunks floating in the water.

 We stopped in Victoria, B.C. for a city tour.  This city is gorgeous– so many flowers everywhere. 

I was here in 2011 with Monson's choir tour.  His choir sang in that Government building, it as really cool.

Wayne found a piano on the beach at Victoria so he played "the entertainer" in tune and outta tune, like he does.

One of the best parts for me was getting our room upgraded from an inside room with a virtual window- to a balcony room!  Totally worth it!  The guy whose room we took over ( we don’t know if he also got upgraded or if he cancelled last minute) –well,  we got his room and his Royal Caribbean perks– a blanket, and ice cooler filled with Diet cokes, and a drink thermo and cup set.  We got gorgeous sunset pics and full moon pics off our balcony.

I packed totally wrong for this cruise– too many long-sleeved, warm clothes– and not enough sunny weather / cool type clothes.  We thought it was going to rain every day– but we missed all of that.  Just a few misty sprinkles.  Tami, Jill and I got matching shirts and sweatshirts…and the boys got matching baseball caps. We can’t believe we forgot to make cruise shirts before we left– we saw many family groups on board wearing something like that.