The First Half of August 2018

August was a crazy and busy month. Action packed.

First thing August 1 we ran to Santa Clara to see Kallie and Megan for a few minutes. We are pretty much strangers to her and that makes it hard but we were hoping to break the ice enough that when we saw her a few weeks later it would go easier.

A couple of days later we headed up to Provo for Cymoni's wedding. We stayed in Park City at our time share which is always fun. Christina stayed with us and she was recovering from oral susrgery poor girl. But she still got up before 5 am and went down to Provo to do Cymoni's hair and makeup for her. The wedding was nice and it was great to be there.

 The Provo City Center Temple is just gorgeous.

 Photo bombing credit goes to Bryce and Stacey!

As we were driving into Provo Dad called me and said Mom was in the hospital.

They were thinking maybe she had a stroke but they weren't sure. Luckily Carolyn and Nadine went up there right away so they could relay info to the Beth and I and let us know what was going on. Turns out we hate the Canadian healthcare system more than ever. She was a complete mess. She was raving and out of it. It took weeks to find out she had tumor on her parathyroid that elevated her calcium levels and basically caused stroke and dementia like symptoms. She didn't get surgery for about 4 weeks. More on that later.

 While we were in SLC Mendis and I enjoyed a dinner at the Roof. We've always wanted to go.

It was a quick trip for sure.
Hayden and Megan were heading to Disneyland with Megan's family in August so they spent the night with us on their way down.

Kallie playing in the "drawer".

We had Christina and Ashley's fam over for dinner so they could see everyone while they were here. It was a quick overnight stop and on the California for them.

Just two weeks later we headed to Cedar City for Ryan's wedding.

The Cedar City Temple hadn't been open long. We had attended the open house and were excited to go back for the wedding.

Love love love this picture of the Cooper Boys!

Charlotte NC

Mendis had a seminar to attend in Charlotte so I went with him of course.

 Mendis went to meetings and I went shopping and explored Charlotte a bit on my own.

 This is the insane line for Chick Fila at lunch time! All the shops are connected with covered walkways between buildings. Really fun.

 Mendis had a banquet at the Nascar Hall of Fame! Like right in there.We got to tour the place privately and had a light dinner amongst the exhibits. We tried our hands at everything but the simulator races in the real cars. Because we know our limits and didn't want to make fools of ourselves. Even teh sidewalks out front were Nascar themed. Loved it.

 Hayden and Megan and Kallie joined us in Charlotte after a couple of days. We had fun shopping and eating. We took Kallie to a playground and just walked around the city enjoying the sights.

After the seminar was over we took vacation time and headed to Winston Salem and then next day Jeff and Rachel joined us too.

Hayden and Megan took us to a great bbq place before Jeff and Rachel got there.

Scrap Camp

The tradition lives on! I'm not sure how many years we have been doing this now but the last weekend of July Jolynn and I went up Cedar Mountain to scrap with Patty.

We enjoy just getting together for a few days and pounding out some serious pages. We do a scrap challenge that's fun. We each bring some stuff to do pages on what ever theme we pick. It's stressful but fun. Very challenging sometimes.

It's a very intense weekend full of Milt's, snacks, pjs, scrapbooking and more food. Sometimes we even take time to shower!

Welcome Ruby

It was finally time to replace Mendis's truck. It was a long time coming for sure.

 So here we are driving up to Cedar City in the old pick up. Notice the less than stellar broken side mirror even. The old green truck was a wreck. Mendis had to unroll his window and open his door from the outside. The ac was iffy at best. The brakes were sketchy. the four wheel drive wasn't working. There were too many things wrong with it to list frankly.

 Was it sad seeing the old green truck sitting there at the Ford dealer. Traded in and forsaken. Not that much actually.

 Not when we drove this beauty home. Welcome to the family Ruby. We hope we will have you around for years and years.

She just barely fits!

Colorado Springs

Mendis and Randall had meeting in Colorado Springs so Lori and I went too to get out of the heat. That's always a great idea. We had a little time before and after meetings. For some reason we thought driving to the top of Pike's Peak was a great idea. I mean it sounded great but who knew how terrifying it was really going to be!

We just kept going up and up and up. And NO guardrails by the way. None!

 And then there was the rain making it slippery, not my favorite.

Like everything in life pictures do not do it justice. It was terrifying. The air was so thin up there at the top and it was raining so we didn't stay long. Just got some smashed pennies for the grandkids and got out of there.

While the guys had meetings I introduced Lori to the spa. 

Leslie our fearless leader had organized a train trip for the group. It was fantastic.

I'm so glad we could do it.

The scenery was so beautiful and it's a train so how bad could it be!

 After the meetings were over we took one more day and went to Denver. We couldn't resist going to a Rockies game while we were there. We always love a baseball game especially when the seats are this fantastic. I'm always happy to pay my way to Mendis' meetings out of town. Who wouldn't.

Kallie Cooper

Time for a cute Kallie update. This little girl is awesome. So in this video she wanted what she wanted. Believe it or not she loves bananas but that's not what she wanted right then. Sooo funny. Hayden and Megan are in so much trouble.

 Love this little face.

 No fear!

Hayden & Megan went to Chicago and so this picture is a must. It's a tough one for Hayden who is afraid of heights but Kallie couldn't care less and just crawled all over the place.

July 4th

July 4th was here! I'm always excited for a day off work and a day with family.

 We had dinner at our house. There's nothing like family dinner on July 4th. We never go hungry that's for sure. How cute is everyone in their patriotic outfits?

 After dinner we went up to Ashley's house for fireworks. We all set up chairs and prepare for the show. Ashley's neighbor used to really put on a show to rival the fair grounds so we were sad to see the end of that but Ashley puts on a refreshment bar to rival anything I've ever seen. This year it was pop galore with syrups of all kinds. She got glow in the dark ice cubes and everything. It was amazing. She put flavor combo ideas on the window with marker so we could try out different things too. Soooo cute. She even named them.

 The kids always enjoy sparklers and all the fireworks Benjy gets for them. I hold my breath until they are done.

What a fun night.

Redcliff in June

Mendis and I had such a busy June and we had huge plans. I had my fab sisters retreat. Mendis & I went to the Winn buffet for my birthday. We went to Tuacahn. I ran down to California to see Dr Nixrad and get some treatments. I got Mike to do my hair. We had Dr Jensen & Carolyn's mission farewell bla bla bla. The big event at the end of the month was a quick trip to Redcliff to see mom & Dad for 4 days. We had tickets to go June 27 and return July 1. Well poor Mendis got really sick and there was no way he was going to be able to fly to Canada. Of course this was the time we didn't have trip insurance. So really the only thing to do was for me to just go by myself. It's a good thing Mendis didn't tough it out thinking he would be better soon because he was basically sick the whole time.

It was good to spend time with Mom & Dad but what an epic fail really because I did not take even ONE picture of them. I guess I was rattled.

The day I flew in a took some pictures of stores I went to because they are only in Canada:

That feels super lame now. So I shopped a bit and drove to their house. I racked up a ton of data charges using GPS. OOPS!! When I first saw Mom I was shocked at how much she had aged since last time I saw her. She had just aged so much and couldn't even stand up straight. She had lost some weight and seemed more feeble. Well they both did. She felt angry to me too at times. I'm not sure why because her life was about the same as it had always been. We did some gardening one day and poured salt all over the weeds in the back by the fence she wanted done. Mom and I spent some time going through genealogy but it didn't really help me much. I did take pictures of all her group sheets and some family pictures just in case I didn't have them. It was a pretty quick trip because Sunday I was back on the way home. It was only when I was about half way to Calgary that I realized I had no pictures of them. At all. I had stopped to take some scenery pictures and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Mendis and I decided we have just got to make it home more. I'm not sure how we are going to pull it off but they are the only parents I have and time won't stand still.