springdellgirl: August 2024

This happened!!

The wedding will be its own post. Here's what happened in August before the special day. The heat wave continued...the Olympics continued...and the wedding prep continued.

One day Bryn treated me to a fun mother/daughter day of getting drinks and donuts and then going to our favorite bookstore. Bryn is my one child who loves to go to bookstores as much as me. She so busy and I love getting some one-on-one time with her whenever I can! We were close to Tyler's work so we stopped in and brought him a treat too.

Kameron and Erin got their Bridals taken. This is a new thing. When I was getting married the bride might go and get her picture taken by herself in her wedding gown but not the couple and not a full photo shoot in full wedding regalia. Now weeks before the wedding, couples are getting "bridals" taken in all of their wedding finery. Kameron and Erin got their pictures taken in Southern Idaho with the gorgeous Teton Mountains in the background. When Tyler and I got married we got our engagement pictures taken at a photography studio in SLC and then had a photographer for our wedding and reception. I don't know how kids have the energy to do so many photo shoots these days but I am here for it! I love having all of these beautiful pictures of a beautiful couple!

This cute boy also graduated from BYU-Idaho with his Associates degree! He didn't want to walk but we are so very proud of his achievement!! His diploma was mailed to us. Exciting! Now he is but weeks away from getting married and starting flight school in Utah.

So awesome!

Kameron drove home again this month. This time by himself. He had to see his cardiologist for yet another hoop to jump through for the FAA and in the smallest amount of time. The FAA wanted this extra testing done in 6 weeks. By the time the letter arrived he was down to four weeks. He had already passed all of his cardiology tests and was approved by the FAA but then this month he got a letter in the mail from the FAA demanding more testing. It is nearly impossible to get in to see a cardiologist in that amount of time if it is a non-emergency. Miraculously after much prayer and fasting his cardiologist got him in. Then the day of his appointment it got mysteriously cancelled. You've got to be kidding me! After a very long time and tense time on the phone...they got him in. Thank goodness! He went in late that afternoon and got an EKG done. The next day he got his bloodwork done. The day after that he was able to go in for his stress test and got his Holter monitor.

We tried to make the most/best of some very stressful days for Kam...and for us.

Karson makes everything better!

Karson let us put his hair in a mohawk! LOL. Kameron headed back to Southern Idaho right after his last test. Then we worried and waited for his results to come in.

The day that Kameron left, my estranged aunt decided to come out of the woodwork and demand some of my mom's personal belongings five years after my mom's death. Just when you think life can't get any weirder...it does. My aunt sent me multiple angry profanity laced texts calling me all kinds of horrible names. I was actually shocked. Isn't the perk of being estranged from toxic family members the fact that you are actually... ESTRANGED?! And then out of the blue...and at such a time as this? I'm like..."We've got our hands full right now! Take your insanity elsewhere!"

I headed to the water as fast as I could to ground myself and to remind myself what really matters in life and what (and who) does not! It worked. Despite the fact that I never responded to one of her texts my aunt kept texting and harassing me...day after day. It was a delight. Ugh...

On a happier note...

Right around this same time my presidency put on our big summer stake primary activity. Our theme was Heroes of the Book of Mormon. It turned out great! We had awesome Book of Mormon heroes show up and do all kinds of activities with the kids including a big service project for refugee families and a rain gutter regatta. The kids loved it!

Tyler and Bryn helped with the rain gutter regatta aka making ships to sail to the Promised Land. They were such a huge help and I appreciated it so much! You can never have too many helpers with all those kids!

The Stake Primary Activity was on a Tuesday and then our Stake BBQ and Pool Party was that Saturday and Tyler was in charge of that. Good grief. Tyler and Bryn picked up literally a thousand cookies and then Ailey, Bryn, and Tyler scooped thousands of scoops of ice cream. The BBQ and pool party was also a success! Why are we in charge of things like this when we have a wedding at the end of the month?!

While all of this was happening we were also pulling out every bin, photo album, and digital photo file to look for pictures of Kameron for the wedding video that Erin's aunt was making for their reception. Pictures of Kameron from birth...all through growing up to the present day...and then pictures of Kameron and Erin together. It was a herculean task to sort through all of those pictures but definitely a sweet one. So many precious memories. After several days we emailed our pictures to Erin's aunt. It felt good to have that done and it allowed me to organize our photos a bit because I'm sure Ailey will want the same thing for her upcoming wedding reception too.

This month Ailey and I went to the temple two different times to do temple work for my step-mother.

That was a special experience.

We got all of the back-to-school shopping done too. Bryn will miss the first two days of school for Kam's wedding. Amazingly we got it all done before we left for CA.

We also crammed in as much boating as we could. It wasn't easy and these days are precious!

Bryn's getting to be a good little boat driver!

We babysat Karson a few times. This kid loves playing in the sprinkler!!

This beauty turned 22!

Happy Birthday to our soon-to-be daughter Erin!

And...just to make the month even more *eventful* I got my first colonoscopy a week before the wedding. What a horrible process!! The procedure not bad but the prep was traumatic. I will be doing things MUCH differently the next time. That was a miserable 24 hours. But the good news is that my colon is healthy and polyp and cancer free! See you in 10 years suckers.

Ailey and Tyler both had their endocrinology appointments. Both went well. Ailey's situation remains unchanged. She's still a pre-Type 1 diabetic. Her pancreas still seems to be on its last leg but as long as it continues even partially producing insulin the better!

My friend Sara turned 50 and we went to her big birthday bash! We had a great time! Hilariously though the main topic of conversation was...colonoscopies and their accompanying horror stories. Me and my friends are officially old. It used to be pregnancy and childbirth horror stories. LOL.

About a week before his wedding Kameron got the results of his cardiology tests back. Good news and bad news. He passed all the FAA requirements BUT due to his WPW syndrome he will have to repeat all of these tests every year and if there are any changes he will no longer be allowed to fly. One of these changes is tachycardia. Hello...his WPW is tachycardia. So basically depending on the hour/day/week if any future tests show any tachycardia amongst anything else he will need to figure out a new career. Kameron and Erin have some big decisions to make. It's A LOT of money to invest in a career that could be snatched away at any time. My heart really goes out to him. Thank goodness he has a wedding to distract him and to remind him of what is really important.