Get a Little Closer

I had to include this picture in our book... I love how 'close' Lennard and my dad are.  Ha! Ha!  My mom took the picture and sent it to me.  Thanks, Dad for always being the extra hand!  Notice Lennard's casted hand is well out of the way... he still is able to help build on the plane!

Glasses

We found out today that Emma needs to have glasses.  We knew it was probably coming... and she is thrilled!  She and Ben have almost the exact prescription... although Ben's prescription improved this time, so his one eye is one step better than Emma's.  

We'll be heading to Costco to get glasses for both of them, but Emma was excited to try frames on today!

So Blessed To Have Help

With Lennard trying (once again) to let his wrist heal, we have been so blessed to have my parents able and willing to help him out on the airplane!  Not only does he get to see progress being made on the plane, but it helps him focus on something other than having a cast on his wrist!  Thanks, Mom and Dad for always being there for us and helping Lennard keep a positive outlook on life!

Since it is our 19th wedding anniversary today, we were doubly blessed to have the chance to go out to dinner at the Keg with Mindy & Dan.  It was such a nice night out, and company and food was great!

Another Cast

Another trip to Calgary... and another cast. Lennard was really happy to see that it looks like it's actually healing this time.  He got his stitches taken out and then a cast put on.  He'd really been hoping that they'd say he could just have a splint instead of a cast, but they wanted to make sure it had time to heal.

The funny thing about the cast is that we'd jokingly said he had to have a green cast... since we'd just been in the Green Cast in the pageant.  When the time came to pick a color he was flustered about having to have a cast again that he just said blue (the color he's had the majority of the time).  It wasn't until we got into the van that we looked at each other and said - darn!  It should have been green!  ha! ha!  So... when we got home... I photoshopped it green so we could post it on our Green Cast page!  We have to find something good in him having yet another cast!

Helping Out

Rachel called and asked if there was any way we could help her out today.  She's got the Young Women from Cranbrook on a YW camp right now, but everything has been going wrong.  They were supposed to go through caves in BC, but then the fires cut off the road access, so they couldn't do that.  Then they decided to come out here to Wolff's cabin and do stuff.  They'd hoped to do a hike in Waterton, but then fires prevented them from doing that!  She was pretty frustrated and wasn't sure what to do.  She wondered if Lennard could show them around the airport and his current building project.  Of course, we said yes!  

It was fun to see how excited some of the girls got to 'help' with the airplane.  He didn't let them actually build on it, but he pulled out some scrap pieces and let them drill, dimple and rivet it together.  Even the adults got right in to it.  We were glad that we were able to help out. 

 Ben loved showing off the mezzanine.  Emma was at a play date with Bonnie.

Levi's Baptism

We were blessed to get to attend my nephew, Levi's, baptism today in Lethbridge!  Dave & Nysha came down from Calgary so more of both sides of the family could attend. It was a beautiful day and it made me realize how close Ben's baptism is!  Levi is such a good boy and we were happy to get to witness his choice in becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Congratulations, Levi!

Dave, Levi and my parents

Haircuts!

Ever since we got back from Nauvoo, the kids have been asking to get their hair cut.  I usually cut Ben's hair, but this time I took both of them down to the salon to have it done. I thought we'd leave Ben's a bit longer, but he wanted it short!  (Guess I could have done it!)

Before

Before

 Emma was determined to cut off a significant amount of hair.  Lennard was all for it too.  But this mom had a hard time letting her cut her hair!

Before

Before

 Here's the 'after' pictures!  Wow!  They are all ready for school to start now!

Look how 'short' Emma's hair is now!  Yikes!  It's still long, I know, but compared with before it's way different! It needed done, it's so much healthier now, but I'm still missing her crazy long hair!

Surgery... Again...

Lennard had to go in for more surgery on his wrist this morning.  We drove up to Calgary last night (my parents watched the kids for us).  We were able to go out to a movie together and enjoy the evening.

He had to be at the hospital super early... and then we waited.  They actually got him in fairly quickly, but then I had to wait while he got through surgery and recovery. It took a while for the doctor to finally come in and tell us that everything had gone really well.  They were able to leave the outside of the bone where it had already healed alone and pack the inside with new bone.  He's very hopeful that it will heal now.

We were able to head home and got back around dinner time.  Lennard is extremely tired, but we're hopeful that this will be a move in the right direction now.

Home

The kids really didn't want to get up this morning! We got on the road by 8:10 with the promise that we'd buy them breakfast if they'd get dressed. Ben wasn't feeling very well when we stopped.  I got him some Advil and after a bit he picked right up. Super long day. We decided to just keep driving and get home. After a stop in Helena to load up on groceries we kept going and got home at 11:00 pm.  Home Sweet Home! 6595 kilometers driven!

Book Ends and Rides

This day went much better than yesterday!  Lennard woke up feeling much better and got us all going so we could go to Temple Square! I was ready to call it off and tell him we'd do it another time, but I'm so grateful we didn't. 

Our first stop was at the Visitor's Center. The kids really wanted to go touch the temple first, but as they walked up the ramp and caught their first glimpse of the Christus, my heart melted to see the wonder in their eyes. Ben started crying and sat with me on a bench.  He kept saying, "Mom, I feel the Holy Spirit!" It was such a tender moment.  Emma walked right up to the statue and reverently reached out and touched the nail prints in his feet. It made it all worth it. I pray that they will always remember the feelings of love and awe that they showed today. We were able to get a family picture taken together and then we went downstairs and explored some of the displays there.

 We did have a funny moment when Emma turned to Lennard and asked, "Is that Jesus frozen in carbonite?"

There was a movie playing downstairs and I really couldn't tell you what it was about now, but the music playing was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, "Come, Come Ye Saints". Both Lennard and I got teary eyed as Nauvoo memories came flooding in.

 After the Visitors Center we walked over to the temple and the kids got to touch the temple walls. They climbed the stairs and we took few pictures. It's a marvel to look at the craftsmanship of temples - especially the ones built by the early pioneers. Their sacrifice is on our minds after being in Nauvoo and portraying the building of the temple there.

We then got to do a tour of the Church Office Building and then the Conference Center. The kids weren't overly excited to go to the Conference Center, but once we got inside, they loved it!  We got to walk all the way to the front. Ben got a little nervous when we made it to the very top and looked out on 21000 seats! We toured the roof top gardens and got a family picture there too.

George A Smith - the apostle Lennard got to play in the pageants

 By then, the kids were itching to get back to go to Lagoon. We stopped at a Walmart on the way back and got some lunch at the deli. After we ate, we headed over to the park.  The kids had an absolute blast! Some rides they went on 3 or 4 times in a row!

The only ride we had a long wait for was the Log Flume. We tried to keep the weight at the back so we wouldn't get as wet.  Ben wanted to hide at the very back so just before we started climbing, Lennard popped back and the three of us squished into the back seat and left Emma in the front. Funny enough, Lennard got wetter than any of us! We played until about 5:30 and then headed back to the trailer to get swimsuits on.  I've been fighting a cold and was completely worn out, so Lennard took the kids to the waterpark while I rested. They were gone until just after 8:00.  No one had had anything to eat but they wanted to keep going! They changed again and we headed back into the park to go on a few more rides. They told me how much fun they had swimming.  Lennard said if we ever go again we all need water shoes though.  The bottom of the pool was quite rough.

We finished the night off on the giant ferris wheel.  Ben got quite nervous on it being up so high. He was happy to get off! They were sad that the rides closed and would have kept going if they could. It was almost 10:30 by the time we got back to the trailer! It has been such a great day!

Rough Day

What a day... it started out okay.  I was up at 6:00 and went over and had a shower.  We all ate and were on the road by 8:00.  We stopped at a Flying J just down the road to get fuel and Lennard had me finish fueling up so that he could go to the bathroom.  As we were pulling out he mentioned that he was feeling 'off' and sort of achy. We were only five minutes down the road when he had to suddenly pull off so he could throw up. Poor guy was freezing and shaking. I got a blanket and a bowl (just in case) and gave him some Gravol and then I got in to drive. I drove all day. We stopped for fuel and something to eat and Lennard was doing a bit better. 

I drove into the canyon and then Lennard took over for the last 45 minutes in the city traffic.  We got to Lagoon and Emma just about lost her mind when she saw all the roller coasters!  She wanted to go right then and had a meltdown when we told her she had to wait until tomorrow.  

We finally got the trailer set up and had hoped to take the kids to Temple Square, but Lennard started freezing and shaking again. The kids have found other kids to play with for the moment, but I'm tired and frustrated that I don't even want to be here. I'm frustrated that we've already bought expensive tickets for Lagoon and now Lennard might not even be well enough to enjoy it. I wanted to finish our 'book-ends' by seeing the Salt Lake temple and now it doesn't look like that will happen. It's not Lennard's fault.  I hate that he's not feeling well. I'm just grumpy at life and sad that things don't seem to be working out.  Not the way I wanted our trip to end.

The view from our campsite.

Travel Day

 I had a rough night sleep... there was SO much traffic all night long and my back hurt a lot, so I tossed and turned.  I was up by 7:00.  It took a bit to get the kids up and fed, but then they just wanted to go play instead of loading up. We all got a bit frustrated.  I finally turned on the British pageant soundtrack and we all calmed down.

 We stopped in North Platte, NE to fuel up and decided to eat at Denny's.  Big mistake! It took forever and Ben tried to order two different sides that they didn't have.  They brought his plate with 4 chicken nuggets on it and that's it!  They didn't have any sweet and sour sauce.  Then they didn't bring his grapes until I reminded her again.  Lennard ordered a Prime Rib Philly Cheesesteak and they brought him something with chicken.  The whole situation was ridiculous!  Never again!

When we left to go I decided to give Lennard a break and got in the driver's seat!  He was shocked and the kids made a big deal about me driving the truck and trailer. Thankfully it went fine... even with all the construction. 

We got to Cheyenne, Wyoming and the kids took off to try out the playground and the mini golf course.  They were desperate to go swimming so we took them over for a bit. There was a mom from Texas with her two girls that I visited with.  We then got out just in time as a thunder storm blew in.

We decided to go eat at Panda Express for dinner and then stopped at Walmart for a few groceries. I got a couple pairs of shoes for Emma (for school). We also got a new wiper for the truck so I'll be able to see now!  We got the kids in bed by 8:45.  We hope we can be on the road by 8:00 tomorrow morning.

Going Home

It was hard to wake up this morning!  Lennard went over and put our laundry into the dryers and we got everything cleaned up so we can hook the trailer up as soon as we get home from church. It took a while to get Ben up and going.  We went to Sacrament meeting for 9:30 and then left right after the sacrament was passed so we could get the trailer hooked up and get on the road.

We met my parents on the road as we were heading out and said good bye. The kids have done pretty good. Funny thing that happened when we were driving - a van came up beside us and started waving and it was the Gardner's! Then, when we stopped for fuel, there they were again!  What are the chances!  Andrea said that it made it easier to say goodbye when we did it gradually.  We stopped there and got something to eat.  It made a bit of a longer day, but we all needed the break.

We were all really happy to get to the campground near Gretna, NE.  The kids were thrilled to see a large playground, a jumping pillow and a swimming pool.  They could hardly stand to stay in the truck until we got to our site! I haven't seen them most of the night. Lennard took them swimming while I made dinner. While we were eating, Lennard and I looked at each other and saw how totally exhausted we both are. We had a thought that since the pageant is done now we don't have the added help of being set apart. We have definitely been strengthened during the past two weeks in order to keep going for hours with the heat and humidity. We are looking forward to an early night to bed!

I layed down after dinner and ended up falling asleep. The kids apparently played at the playground until 9:00 and then they were starving again.  Lennard gave them the leftovers from dinner and then finally went to bed at 10:00.  I guess they're too used to our late nights!