Royalty and Romance

Thanks to some generosity from my dad and Beth, we got tickets to go to a class called "Royalty and Romance" and thanks to Kurt and Shelly we were able to leave our kids for a weekend and attend it.  We learned a ton at the class about love and life and relationships but we had an even better time spending a weekend in Salt Lake!  We found a taco stand that was AMAZING!  We ate there every day and loved it so much!  We went for a few walks and saw the sights and we even spent an afternoon at Seven Peaks.  It was a much needed break from the stress of responsibility and we came back recharged and ready to go.

High Adventure

Zac is the Young Men's president in our ward and so he got to plan high adventure for the boys this year.  He took them up to Teton Valley and they camped at his family's property and did high adventuring there.  They took a hike up to packsaddle lake one day to go off the rope swing.  Some of the boys were feeling nervous about it so Zac had to show them how it was done.  He went on the rope and dove off into the water.  The boys made fun of him and said that the dive wasn't that good and that he didn't go straight in, so Zac of course had to prove them wrong.  He went off a second time and went straight down and his face "got in a fight with the bottom of the lake" as he would say.  He came out and Bishop Bush made sure to get a picture.  

Bishop drove Zac to the Teton Valley clinic and Zac insisted on super glue instead of stitches to save money.  He will now have a scar on his forehead for the rest of his life, but it will all be fine because he saved $100 or so.  haha  Men are so funny.  It's okay though, it makes him look really tough.

When he got home he looked a little gruesome.  He had put some sort of ointment on the rash part to help it heal and it was yellow and looked like his face was oozing.  Me and Teagan pretended like it was no big deal, but Eloise couldn't handle it.  She looked away and said, "I'm sorry dad, I can't look at your face, it makes me want to throw up."  Zac didn't think that was funny, but I know it will be funny later so I'm writing it down!

After the fact (that night, lying awake in bed) I started thinking about how lucky he is to be alive and to not be paralyzed.  I started thinking about what ifs...what if he had gone unconscious and drowned because they didn't realize he was there, what if he had broken his back, what if he had hit lower on his face and gone blind, what if he had knocked his teeth out (I'm so vain).  There have been many people who have become paralyzed by diving into shallow water (the water wasn't even that shallow, he was just really high in the air).  We feel like he was watched over and blessed to hit at an angle instead of straight on.  He had his hands extended which slowed him down and he turned his head last minute which created a terrible road rash, but it made the impact less powerful.  He was blessed, and for that we are so grateful!  Heavenly Father watches over us.

Tautphus Park

We spent a fun day at Tautphus park with cousins and grandparents.  The kids love it so much!

After the zoo we headed over to the play land and each kid got to go on a couple of rides.  It was super fun.  Adeline was not interested in trying any of the rides, but Teagan and Eloise were all over it.  It was a very special treat for them!

Then we saw the equal access playground and decided to let the kids play a little bit more on the playgrounds.  It was a beautiful day, but as we sat there watching the kids play, storm clouds rolled in and the wind started blowing really hard, a crazy storm was on the way so we ran all the way back to our cars.  Eloise was throwing the biggest fit, she could just not understand why she couldn't go on the slide a few more times and keep playing.  She survived and lived to tell the story though.  Overall it was a great day, we had so much fun playing and enjoying a day with cousins!