Lava Hot Springs

What an awesome and fun-filled day spent at Lava Hot Springs with the Singleton Family. We tubed down the river several times (okay not me due to wrist injury), sustained bloody injuries (Mike and James), braved the HOT hot springs (the heat felt good on my wrist-the only part of me that went in), played for several hours at the Olympic water park,(they all loved the huge water slides, Mark included), Kaylie showed no fear as usual, braving the dive platform -1st of three levels), then we ended our day with one more trip to the hot springs and an ice cream, then headed home. What a great celebration of my birthday, spending it with family and friends!

Afternoon at Silver Lake

Ever since moving to Utah 9 years ago, I have LOVED being so close to the mountains, and lakes and rivers. One of my favorite lakes is Silver Lake. It's close and it is such a pretty little lake. I never get tired of walking around the lake. Stasi and I took the kids up there Thursday for a picnic lunch and we walked the lake several times. We had a good time and a nice few hours spent up in the mountains.

Allen Family Updates

School has been out just under 2 weeks now and I'm sure my kids are thinking that being in school is much more fun! I have kept them very busy with digging up weeds, moving rocks, cleaning out the basement, washing my vehicle.....you get the picture. It so helps that I'm limited in what I can do and they have had to really step up and help out more. I do have to say they have all done a great job of helping and not complaining about it. In between all these heavy chores I'm coming up with and exchange for working so hard, I do run them around to their friends or go pick up their friends to come over here.
Mark and Kaylie are in the middle of swim lessons and Mark has even been out in the backyard shooting his bow.
James starts up soccer again Thursday. I think he's looking forward to that after a rough high school experience. I tried to eplain to him after watching a scrimmage game at tryouts how different and do I dare say "beautiful", it was to watch a group of boys play soccer the right way - executing passes, trusting each other out on the field..working as a team. The high school experience wasn't that way, and I know I'm looking forward to watching James and his teammates this fall. One of the hardest things about all our boys growing up and playing high school soccer in the spring, is all us soccer moms (and a few dads) miss out on seeing each other. We have all developed such close friendships with each other over the last 4 to 6 years, that I think we are all looking forward to hanging out on the soccer field sidelines again. Stephanie - we will set up an honorary chair just for you!)
Mike is staying extra busy with work - going back and forth between two jobs and finishing up on a third. He's also playing on a church softball league on Friday nights which we all go to cheer him and the team on. It's been rather fun watching him play. (Softball isn't quite as boring as I thought it was :)
As for me, I try and use my left hand as much as possible without the brace on and TRY not to be discouraged that I still have a lot of pain, hardly any grip, and can't hold a pen correctly to write very well (but at least I can type!). It's been 7 weeks now and even though the doc says it will take about 4 months for my wrist to heal and for me to regain full use of my hand, I'm certainly ready for that NOW! :) Healing is just so much slower for an adult than when you're a kid. Word of advice - don't wear slippery flip flops to school!!!

Who Knew Holding a Fork Could Be So Exciting!

So I finally got my cast off Friday and a removable brace on with instructions to start my own physical therapy on my wrist. These exercises are moving my hand straight up and down, side to side, in circles and touching fingers to thumb. If the doc feels that I've done a good job on my own when I go back in 3 weeks, I won't have to see a physical therapist. If not......

So I'm determined to do my own therapy. With the brace off, I started my exerises. It was so incredibly painful, I had tears rolling down my face, and I only managed 5 whole minutes! A few hours later, I did the exercises again, and a few hours after that, I did them again. I'm bound and determined to have full use of my fingers/hand/wrist by the time school starts up again. Last night I held a fork in my left hand for the first time in 6 weeks! I was pretty excited about that even though I couldn't grip it very well. It gave me hope :) So this morning, the kids found squishy balls for me to use to help strengthen my grip and I even took one to church and used it during church service. I also practiced writing with my left hand and didn't do too bad. After more than half an hour of trying to hold a pen and write and using the squishy soccer ball, I realized I over did it and have been in major wrist pain since!!! Okay, note to self: working on gaining strength and mobility is good, but don't over do it!