It's Pool Time!

We went over to my friend, Cami's house this afternoon to take a break from the heat and swim in her pool. It was the perfect thing to cool everyone off and we had a blast!!

The Working Man

I have to brag today. Christopher started his first real, official JOB! There is a family in our ward that owns a horse farm. We heard through the grapevine a few weeks ago that they hire teenagers to come and work in their barn cleaning out stables and such. So we gave them a call to see if Christopher could come and help out. They didn't need any help at the time. But they called us last week to see if Christopher was still interested in working for them. He was, so they had him start this morning. He has to be there before 7am each morning to clean out the horse stables, feed and water the horses. He came home today a little worn out, smelling like manure but with a huge smile on his face. "They want me to come back tomorrow, and the day after that!" he said. Whoohoo!! I'm just as excited as he is! He cleaned out 5 stalls today and watered all of the horses (around 30). He said that it was a lot of work but that he actually had a fun time doing it. Imagine that!

More Videos

Shannon learns to ride a clutch


Ellie riding "Pink Glory"

Trip to Delta

We took the kids 4-wheeling out by Cherry Creek this weekend. This is a really neat place just past Little Sahara (sand dunes) where we usually go. We camped where there were tons of trails to follow and lots of jumps and tracks for the kids to play around on. The kids got some good practicing in. We went on a long family ride and saw a lot of pretty country!
On Saturday we went to Matt's family reunion in Oak City. Matt and Christopher got to go on a tour of the IPP Plant that morning. Afterwards, we drove out to Topaz Mountain but didn't have enough time to really find anything. We made it back to Oak City just in time for the family luncheon and program. Matt got to see a lot of his cousins and distant relatives - most of whom he has never met. We never knew there were so many Lovells!!
After the reunion we packed up and headed home. We stopped in Payson for about an hour to visit with my parents and had a nice visit with them.





This is a video of Christopher showing off what he can do on his 4-wheeler.

Temple Fork Hike

Last night the YM/YW went on a hike up to Temple Fork in Logan Canyon. This is the area where the church got the lumber to build the Logan Temple. It was a beautiful hike which followed the creek the entire way! When we finally reached the site of the old saw mill we built a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and listened to stories about when the saw mill was in use and about the construction of the Logan Temple. On the way back the kids all wanted to run (energized by the sugar rush thanks to the marshmallows I think...). I'm just glad that it was all pretty much down hill otherwise I don't think I could have kept up with them. Whew! With girls camp a month away I'm beginning to think I need to do some serious preparation in order to keep up with these little hyper balls of energy!

Surprise!

Today the kids and I drove down to Salt Lake to meet Brenda and Jana and their kids. We decided to surprise my mom and dad with a visit!! We all met in the underground parking garage of the place that they are staying and took the elevator up to the third floor where there is a really nice patio area just below their window. We got ourselves all lined up holding a special poster that the kids had made...



When we were ready, Brenda called my mom and asked her if she could see the beautiful rainbow outside. My mom said, "Huh, what rainbow? Has it been raining?" Brenda told her to just look out her window! She pulled the curtains back and there were we all were!



She called to my dad to come and see and they were both sooooo surprised to see us!!





My mom came down to the courtyard to visit while my dad sat at the window with the speaker phone on and we all took turns visiting with him. (He couldn't come down because he has been so sick and we don't want him to end up in the hospital AGAIN!)




Lauren, Shannon and Savannah talking to Grandpa


Jana and Isabella talking to Grandpa

We had a nice little picnic lunch (thanks Brenda!) and before we knew it 2 hours had passed!





It was so wonderful to be able to see my parents and sisters - even for a short while! I think it really boosted all of our spirits!

Go Wild Hogs!!

Last Saturday evening Matt and I got together with our friends for a fun motorcycle ride over to Brigham City to eat dinner at Maddox. We all met up at Janna and Todd's and those who had them, wore their "leathers". Janna, Cami, Tara and Kerri were seriously "Biker Babes" with all their get-up on! Leslie and Justin, Amy and Andy rode over in the van, so Shelby was able to hitch a ride with them. Matt and I haven't had a chance to ride together for such a long time - so that was really fun for us! We rode in a pack over to Brigham City, turning heads all along the way. It was cold, but the sun was still shining and the roads were dry. We had a great dinner and everyone had a fun visit! On the way home the ride was a little bit nippy - I felt like I was in the scene from "Dumb and Dumber" when Harry and Lloyd arrived in Aspen on their little scooter! But I'm glad we got the chance to go!

The fight begins

My dad is just finishing his first week of treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Center in SLC. On Monday, he had surgery to put in the Port-a-Cath (double lumen) in his chest. He will have these for the next few years. It will make it easier for the dr. and nurses to administer the chemo and meds (less pokes!). My parents also received some great news from Doctor Tricot (my dad's amazing doctor). His tests results show that he has the treatable chromosome #11 - not #13 (which is very resistant to treatment). We are so grateful for these small little miracles!!

On Tuesday my dad was fitted with his chemo packs - two of them - DePace. He basically is wearing a back pack full of chemicals. The nurses told them that if they were to spill, HASMAT would have to come clean it up! (Yeah, this is the stuff they are pumping into my dads body!). He has received a continuous dose of chemo for the last 4 days. Today they will remove the pumps and tomorrow he will get the injection that will stimulate his stem cells to reproduce.

All in all it has been a pretty good week. My dad has had some bad days fighting the nausea and pain and not being able to sleep due to the steroids injections. But his spirits are good. My mom is an excellent nurse and is taking care of every detail. She was nervous about the shots that she has to give him in his belly everyday. But she said she was amazed at how easy it was!


Port-a-Cath with double lumen


Ironman!!


My mom showing off her new kitchen! She was very happy that everything fit!


My parents in their new home for next few weeks. It's such a nice place and very close to Huntsman.

World Sportbike Fun!!

The weekend was so fun - I wished I would have taken more pictures but didn't have time.

Here is a Ford GT40 I believe

Here is a Shelby!

Troy Corsers bike that went down just before our turn (only about 100 yards away.)

The damage!

Winners Circle!

Our corner! It is "Pit In" if you know what that is - it is right before the long straight.

You couldn't get me to stop smiling!

Troy Baliss' bike - the other side is completely smashed with dirt and rocks embedded and the frame and foot pegs busted up really bad! This is the bike that I ran for and when I got there it was on its side idling and the rear tire was spinning - it was pretty close to the track so we hurried so that we wouldn't get ran over.