Summer Fun!

Whew! It's been a whirlwind few weeks. The week of the 24th of July we went to the cabin for the whole week. I was still quite sick for a lot of the week, despite trying a new medicine (Phoenergen?). All that really did was make me tired, without easing the nausea any. But at least I wasn't thinking about it as much because I had more distractions. We went to Bryce Canyon that Thursday and I think that was the roughest time I had during the week - partially because of the driving and partially from the minor hike we went on (Moss Ledge, I think?). It was gorgeous though! Ric and I and the boys got back Sunday evening and I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die for the week, but as we drove into our parking lot I discovered that the roofers had brought all of their equipment and were starting bright and early the next morning to re-roof our condo for the week. The next day the banging started at 7:30 am and my air conditioning and electricity were out for half of the day. That clinched it: I told Ric I would come on the YM high adventure trip as an extra shuttle driver after all! I just hadn't committed because I didn't know what I'd do with my kids and I didn't know if I could handle all the driving, plus camping for four days. But Ric hadn't been able to get any of the other wives to do it besides the one who went and did it by herself last year. And she had begged me to come. Plus I knew my husband wanted me to come. So the next day (Tuesday the 28th) I did laundry and packed bags for me and the boys again. I also had my first doctor's appointment (with a new doctor, Dr. Rappleye - kind of a quirky man, but nice) and everything is fine. He gave me a prescription for another medication for the nausea (Zofran). This one is supposed to be the best you can get for it. I credit that stuff for my survival on the trip! It doesn't make the nausea go away entirely for me, but for the most part it makes it so that I can be up and around and doing again. I still throw up a couple times a week, but compared to 2-3 times a day, I'm thrilled with that! Wednesday Ric left with the main group at 6 am. I left with the Borrowmans and Michael McBride closer to 1 pm. (My Mom came and got the boys from me and they had them for most of the time, but Peggy also helped, along with Karina and Devin... we got it worked out after all - thank goodness for family!) The high adventure activity was whitewater rafting on the Snake River just outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Thursday and Friday the guys rafted all day. Rachael and I were the shuttle drivers from the bottom of the run back up to the top. Then we'd go back down to the bottom and have a two hour wait where we had great intentions of getting all kinds of reading done, but mostly just ended up chatting. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! The last run on Friday I went down with them. There were two of the boys who hadn't wanted to do it that day, so it worked out that I could do it. Ric assured me that it wasn't very rough and threatened the boys not to involve me in the water fights (which mostly consisted of throwing each other into the water, rather than throwing water at each other) or else! And they were quite protective of me. It was fun and absolutely gorgeous but really cold! If we do it again, I want a wetsuit! I actually joined in on the cliff jumping too... which was terrifying for me. It wasn't that big of a cliff - Ric said maybe 12-15 feet - but it was into rapids and that's what made it scary for me. I'm not really a water person - by that I mean I used to be really terrified of anything more than a swimming pool, but I have gained a bit more control now and can force myself to not think about it enough to function normally around people in a water setting - so I was really proud of myself for going through with it. Plus I had a life jacket on, and I know Ric's a strong swimmer so I had him jump in after I did so he could save me if I didn't come back up! I have to say, though, I thought I was prepared for how gross boys are. I wasn't. They're disgusting! It was all gas, innuendo, or violence (not my husband though, thankfully). I felt like my mind was dragged through the gutter for four days. Ric said the boys actually toned it down a bit for me and Rachael's sake, but I never would have known it. But I'll admit, it was much less drama than girls camp, that's for sure! I really enjoy those boys, though. Good kids. Saturday we drove home and I threw up for the first time since that Wednesday. And I even made it to the bathroom in the gas station before it happened, so I didn't have to do it in front of the boys! The next day, Sunday, Matt and Candace got to town. We went over to Mom and Dad Rogers' for dinner and pretty much have been there constantly since then until this Sunday. We were able to cram in a lot of fun! A trip to the dinosaur museum, a visit to Sean's house and garden, rock band, xbox, hand and foot, movies, water games in the back yard, and even building "hobbit houses" out of large boxes under the fruit trees. And Stratton slept over at Grandma's for most of the week, so he got a lot of cousin time in. We sure love it when the cousins are here! It's hard to have them leave, but I know we're all in need of some serious recuperation time!