July 2011

Our Utah vacation was the last week of July & the first week of August, so that is why it got it's own post.  But there were some other fun things that happened in July that I wanted to document (or show pictures of). After this post, then we'll get to all the exciting medical stuff that has been going on with me, along with the other family happenings that have been going on at the same time.

July 4th weekend we got to meet our little niece Annie Kate Shores.  Heather & Ben decided to have her baby blessing up in Idaho instead of at home in Utah, so that more family could attend the blessing.  It was a fun & busy weekend full of family fun.  The cutest picture of all weekend was this one:  

Snuggling up with Uncle Curtis!!!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!

Another fun even that we went to that has no real significance, but was a blast, was the annual Overland Ward Water Bottle Rocket activity.  We had a BBQ in the park & everyone was invited to make a rocket.  Since Curtis is an engineer, he was SUPER excited about this activity.  I think he spent most of a day designing & building this rocket.  He named it the "Cahoon Duct Tape Express".  It didn't do too bad for it's first & only launch.  The best part of the whole activity was watching the kids & how excited they were.  Right after we were married, this was the 1st family ward activity that we attended, so we look forward to it every year.  And every year it gets better & better. :)

   

 The rocket

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Another day that I wanted to document was getting to spend a few hours with my friend Brandis & her family.  Brandis & I know each other from our days growing up in Kuna & going to school together.  I ran (well, sort of ran...) cross country with her my senior year.  That is the one & only time I did.  I only completed 1 race that season & did half of another one.  I was slow & I admit, I was mostly there to have more time to spend with my friends. One of my good friends from that time was Tracy, Brandis' younger sister. Tracy was a great example to me & a great friend at a time when I was learning that I could push myself.  Her & I were often the last to finish running at practice & we had many good talks while we were suppose to be running out in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately Tracy was in an auto accident & her sweet spirit was called back home.  I have often thought about her since then & have loved the times when I've seen the Edwards family out in the community. Well, after high school & several yrs of not really keeping in touch with anyone....along comes Facebook.....& along comes me connecting up with the Edwards again.  Now Brandis lives in Arizona, so it's nice to have FB, or email, or texting to keep up with her.  (for the record, I did find out this year that Brandis & I are actually the same age....I just happen to have a March b-day & she has one in December, so unfortunately she was a year behind me in school)

At the time that we became "friends" in FB, I had started reading Brandis' blog.  I saw her small family growing & saw pictures & read stories about all of them.  About the time Raya was born, I was trying to make the decision about getting a feeding tube. A few months after Raya was born, she needed a feeding tube.  She started with an NG tube.  Then I got my G tube placed about the time that they were thinking of switching Raya to a G tube.  It was at this time that Brandis & I really connected.  Even though I'm 20+ yrs older than Raya, we were still going through the same thing.  I had the patient perspective & Brandis had the caregiver perspective.  We shared a lot together about things that worked or didn't work etc.  Then as Raya's health problems grew, I started blog-stocking her blog about Raya & her tube.  You can find her story here. Through all of my G tube problems & medical supplies & other stuff relating to tube feeding, I know that at least one person truly understood what I was going through.  I didn't have to try to make anyone understand me bcuz I knew that she got it.   Brandis has a strong testimony & is a wonderful friend & mother.  She is a great example to me & I want to be like her when I grow up. :)  When Brandis came up to visit her family last summer, we set up a time in her busy schedule to meet up. It was fun seeing all of Brandis' family again & also meeting her kids.  They are adorable.  So even though we don't have a lot of pictures of our time together, we did get this one & I love it!

Thank You Brandis & Raya for all that you do for me!!!