This last week, Camille got to go to bike camp.  This was a camp sponsored by iCan Shine  organization that helps children with disabilities to feel like they are capable through movement and play. We went every day, Monday-Friday, for a week from 8:30-9:45am.  We drove up to Summit Academy High School in Draper, Utah, which was about 30 minutes drive. On the first day, the 8 bikers in the session were each paired with two volunteers who helped them bike on adapted bikes around a big double gym.  Camille was so excited and happy to do this.  The bikes all had the back wheel replaced with a cylinder that tapered on each end.  This gave them the stability they needed while still allowing them to practice balancing.  Camille did 32 laps that day. On the second day, they did more of the same, except each biker got a turn going on the tandem bike with the bike tech guy named Sam.  The child went in front on a lower seat and Sam went on the ...

Every summer the young men in our church go on some type of high adventure outing.  Last summer it was up in Idaho for a day of rafting on the Salmon River, some mountain biking, and gold mine exploring.  This summer my husband decided to do a hike that he did about 8 years ago with a different group of boys and men in Robbers Roost, not far from Hanksville, Utah.  It's called Robbers Roost because this is where Butch Cassidy and his gang hid from law enforcement.  It's a very isolated place and difficult to access with absolutely no cell phone coverage. Ever since a bad accident happened about 3 years ago on another high adventure outing, I have worried more about these trips.  And Scott wanted to be more prepared for a possible emergency.  So he rented a satellite phone to take with them.  Fortunately he didn't need it.  The only injury was Scott smashing his toenail.  We can handle that. The hike 8 years ago was a little wo...

Yesterday we lost a friend, a tree that has been in our yard since before we moved into our house in 2003. We don't know exactly when it was planted but a good guess is probably 25 years ago.  It was a cottonwood which are considered "trash trees", but it provided us with a lot of good shade.  The children also enjoyed using it for their hammocks and a little climbing. This picture was taken almost exactly 10 years ago, shortly after we got home from Germany.  You can see the cottonwood to the left of the house, the tallest tree in the picture.  I was told it was probably about 15 years old at that point.  Cottonwood trees grow fast. I should have taken a picture of the same view before they cut down the tree but I didn't.  Here's a picture of our house today, without the tree: The house looks quite different because of that huge walnut tree which we planted ten years ago this fall.  The locust tree on the right is also much bigger.  ...

Susanna got off her braces!  She's excited to be done with that chapter in her life and I think her teeth look really good. Everett graduated from seminary and from high school!  He enjoyed high school but is glad to be done with getting to class and sitting through boring lectures. His good friend gave him the flower lei.  I had trouble finding him because I didn't know about the lei. Garrett broke his jaw.  Not so fun.  The real complication was...   ...that graduation and the broken jaw happened at the same time.  Garrett called me as I was getting ready to go to seminary graduation.  He had been a little overzealous in an intramurals Ultimate Frisbee game and had hit his jaw on someone's head.  He had trouble closing his jaw so he had a friend take him to a nearby Urgent Care. I went to the Urgent Care and sent him to the emergency room with his brother while I went to seminary graduation. They did a CT scan and di...