Wound Care Week 5, Camps, New Job, Dobby, Girl’s Weekend, Temple, Band, FSY

Here’s what we have been up to in the last two weeks. Sarah has completed her CNA coursework. She still has to do her clinical and then the state testing before she can be officially certified as a CNA. She has been practicing how to do vital signs with me and Aaron. She is counting my respirations in this picture:

Sophie got groomed today. I told the groomer to leave her ears and tail long. When I picked her up the kids told me she looks like Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter. I told Sarah not to give her a sock then--haha!

Last week Josh was away as an Area Coordinator for FSY. Aaron left for AP camp Wednesday morning. That left just me, Noah and Sarah. We decided to go out and get some lunch.  We went to Old Grist Mill and had soup and sandwiches. Yum!

However, after lunch they both went to hang out with friends and I was home alone. That was weird!

Sarah had a young women NERF gun activity. Here’s a group shot they got of everyone that played:

Last week as I said above Josh was gone, Aaron left for AP Wednesday morning, Noah left for young men camp Thursday morning which left only me and Sarah at home from Thursday to Saturday. Girl’s weekend. Too bad we both worked for most of it! We did watch a movie together, though. It was fun!

Thursday night I got a chance to tour the Layton Family History Center. They have a lot of family history helps and ways to record your family history. I would love to go down there and scan in all of the family blog books and now I know how to do that. I think it’s an amazing resource!

Sarah had her last shift at Little Caesar’s. We picked up some pizza to see her there one last time:

The kids have loved having the Syracuse temple so close by. They go multiple times a week with friends. Here’s a few pictures of them:

Aaron had the dreaded AP (Aaronic Priesthood) camp last week. This is a camp just for all the young men aged 16-18 in the stake and their leaders as well as the Stake Young Men’s Presidency and the Stake Presidency. They only do this camp every other year. Two years ago Aaron was asked to be in co-charge of all the food. It was a HUGE undertaking, but Daniel was up there with him as a camp participant so it made not as stressful for Aaron. This year they reached out to different people asking for help. Aaron waited a few weeks before he responded saying he would HELP,  but didn’t want to be in charge. Well, they then reached out personally and asked him to spearhead the entire food situation. He said yes, but felt pretty overwhelmed. He had to plan meals for 130 people over four days.  He did have a committee of 5 other people to help, but it was overwhelming still. He precooked most of the food and froze it just to make things easier. All in all to prepare for this he smoked 20 pork shoulders and 10 briskets. While up at camp they also cooked 72 pounds of bacon, 540 eggs, 200 hamburgers.  It was a big undertaking, but he had a good group of guys that helped cook the meals. Aaron also had to gather up enough coolers to help store all the food since they were in a primitive camping area without electricity, refrigeration, or any modern nicety. One person in the stake lent his cooler to him for the camp and it was the biggest cooler I have ever seen. The picture doesn’t do it justice. It was massive and I assume made to hold a deer carcass. I tried to get a picture of Noah next to it for scale, but you can’t quite tell how big it really was!!

Here’s a few pictures from the camp:

Aaron survived it, but came home pretty exhausted. He had his wound care appointment the day before camp and was wondering if he would get cleared to go. The doctor wasn’t super happy he was going up to camp, but said it was okay. He did have to ask someone to change the dressing for him while he was up there since it is every other day dressing changes. One of the other cooking committee guys is a dentist and said he is used to packing gums so he didn’t mind to pack Aaron’s wound. I sent all the supplies with him and it looked good when he got home so I guess it was a success. I think it will take Aaron a few more days to recover, though. Noah missed the cut off by a year so he wasn’t able to attend this camp with Aaron. In two years Noah will be able to attend, but I don’t know if Aaron wants to do another food committee assignment then....

Noah and I are participating in a community marching band for the July 4th city parade. We have done this parade a few years in a row together. Noah gets to play the snare drum on the drum line. I am playing the flute. Here’s a picture from Monday’s practice of Noah carrying the snare drum. He is in the black shirt:

Unfortunately, the band practices are on Monday night which is when Daniel calls home for P-Day. I have missed a few practices so I can talk with him. Here’s a few pictures of the last two P-day calls. Josh even joined us from Las Vegas one week and Ephraim another week:

Our area missionaries stopped by for a visit last night. It was fun to chat with them. It made us miss Daniel, though.

Josh, Sarah and Noah all went to the movie last night to see the new How to Train Your Dragon. They said  it was good. Interestingly enough they went to see the original way back when the day Noah was born. Aunt Jill took them while I was having Noah by C-Section. That is crazy!!

Noah has been busy. Two weeks ago our stake had youth conference at a campground up by Logan. He said it was awesome. He came home for a few days and then left for Young men camp for a few days up by Echo. By the time he came home Saturday he was pretty exhausted from back to back weeks of camping.  He gets to recover a few weeks and then head out to do a Cross country camp in Idaho. He is looking forward to that.

This past Monday’s P-day call Sarah was training at her new CNA job. The interesting thing is her trainer was Katie, Daniel’s girlfriend. They got to join in the P-day call for a few minutes in-between patient care:

Sarah got a job at the same facility Katie works at and it has been fun. Sarah said Katie was an amazing trainer. It was Sarah’s second training shift there so she is still learning the ropes. Katie was a good teacher for her which I was glad for. Daniel was happy to have a chance to chat with her, too, during the call for a minute.

In our ward they ask different people to play prelude music before Sacrament Meeting starts. They ask people with any and all piano abilities. Sarah, Noah and I do take a turn. It was my turn this past Sunday. I get so nervous, but did okay. Luckily, it is background noise and most people don’t notice if you make a mistake. I didn’t do too bad, but it wasn’t perfect. I am hoping at some point I can actually play without having my hands shake out of nervousness and hit a wrong key every so often. It wasn’t too bad, though.

Matthew’s birthday is in August, but he is already sending us his birthday list. Wow I need to be a millionaire to afford what he wants--haha!  We will review it together this upcoming Sunday and pare it down a bit to make things more manageable. I just don’t have money for a 15 passenger van with sirens and lights for his group home--haha!

Matthew had a routine visit with the Psychiatrist this past Monday. It was just a medication management visit. Matthew is doing well. She has been his psychiatrist for 22 years. We love her and will be sad if she ever decides to retire.

Josh had a fun time being an Assistant Area Coordinator so far this year. Here’s a few pictures he shared with us of the last two weeks:

All the girl counselors gave their male counterparts roses. Josh is the one wearing a ball cap:

Night duty is no joke. Josh had some kids that kept trying to escape during the night to go to In-N-Out burger next door, but it was off campus and off limits for the FSY participants. He said he needed a Red Bull the next day to help keep himself awake:

The shuttle coming back to Provo from Ephraim full of FSY counselors:

While at Snow College someone tried to microwave Mac and cheese without adding water. Needless to say it triggered the fire alarm and everyone had to evacuate. Here’s the offending cup of Mac and cheese. Thankfully, Josh was NOT the one that did that, but he sent us the charred remains though:

Noah is doing summer cross country running. Josh when he is around they go running together. They did a temple run this morning:

This past Saturday everyone came back home from all the places they had been. Josh got home from FSY at Ephraim. Aaron got back from AP Camp down by Manti, Noah got back from young mens camp by Echo. Sarah got home from work and I got back from my work. It was great to finally all be back together again for a few weeks before Josh leaves for FSY again.  

Daniel has been transferred to Sioux Falls in South Dakota. The Omaha, NE mission is really big and covers parts of five different states. So for now Daniel is serving in a corner of South Dakota. Here’s some of the Instagram pictures his Mission leaders have shared in these past two weeks:

He is staying very busy and loving his area and companion. Things are going well for him right now.

***WOUND PICTURE WARNING*** for those that are sensitive. 

Aaron had his weekly appointment with wound care the day before he left for AP Camp. His wound is finally starting to look better. The doctor wasn’t super happy with Aaron going to camp, but he understood.

You can finally see the bottom of it:

He got to go to his weekly wound appointment yesterday. Again his wound is finally starting to fill in and is looking better.

They filled it with a lidocaine cream before they messed with it because it is painful. That is what the white stuff inside the wound is:

He also gets to wear a support stocking to keep the swelling down. We still have at least two more months of wound care weekly visits, but I think the end is in sight...