Lewis and Diana News

Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a wild and woolly few weeks since school let out. We blessed Adelaide the last Sunday before school let out and Ed and Pam and Ray and Caroline were able to be there. Soon after school was over for the year, we headed up to visit Dan and Lisa while I went to my USU classes at the Richfield extension site rather than the one in Monument Valley. After a couple of days of that…I’m sure Lisa had had quite enough, we headed over to Kanosh.
It was great to see Ed, Pam, Bob, Emmy, Jake, Deana, Owen, and Jenell, along with all their descendents. Emmy and Bob’s basement was dug and footings were dug as well. I helped for an hour or two getting the garage footings ready. There wasn’t a rock to be bought. Usually you hit a few when you dig around Kanosh, but no luck.
After a few days of pestering Pam and Ed, we headed to Salt Lake so I could go to my USU classes at that extension. My professors joked about seeing me on the screen and wondering why al l the Salt Lake students had come to visit e in Monument Valley. We hung out with Anny and Stoyan for a couple of days and did some shopping.
On Wednesday we went up to stay with Dave and Ging at their Snowbird timeshare. It was a fun place with heated outdoor pools. I was amazed at how close it was to Salt Lake, and yet there was snow each morning, even though it was June. We spent a couple of days there and on Friday came back to MV (Monument Valley).
We went from pine trees and snow to red sand and 95 degrees. My classes have been going well. Diana is glad I’m around to help with the baby. I’m very glad she’s around to help the baby. I feel like such a caveman when a baby starts to cry and I can’t help.
Mahrin has been reading quite a few words. She correctly read the word “plaque” on a box in the store which surprised me. She has been drinking her formula through a straw which has very exciting implications for her g-tube future. Speaking of her g-tube, the other day, Diana was giving her a feeding standing up. Mahrin fell over. Diana let go of the syringe and all in hopes that no damage would be done. Unfortunately, it yanked the tube out, balloon and all. (There is a balloon about the size of a penny on the inside of the tube to keep it in her tummy. Needless to say, she was not a happy girl. The whole family, except Adelaide, was in the bathroom trying to get Mahrin’s tube back in. Dad pinned her arms and legs down as she writhed, Diana worked at the tube position, Mahrin was busy writhing and screaming, Sadie tried handing her random objects like toothbrushes in hopes of distracting her, and Lara made suggestions from near the door, very much like a backseat driver. Those times are no fun. We finally got the tube in, and we were very relieved. Once, the tube wouldn’t go back in, and the result was a trip to Primary Children’s Hospital. Beside the fact that it is 8 hours away, we have already spent over a week there for that tube and don’t care to return.
Lara has been very sweet today for Father’s Day. She pretended to be a doctor and bandaged up my arm and my leg. When I was lying on the floor getting my leg bandaged (I was not injured) Sadie jumped on the small of my back, and while jumping up and down was yelling “Horsey! Horsey!” Lara quickly let her know that it was not the time for playing horsey, that Dad was “trying to a-lax.” Lara earns money at her little jobs just like the other girls, and yesterday she cashed in at the store with a make-up purse. Last night at 11:30 I found their bedroom light on, and Lara was just finishing up painting Mahrin’s fingernails.
Sadie is getting better in her speech. Just as Jenell discovered long ago, Sadie’s troubles seem to slip away as soon as she gets outside. Sadie loves the outdoors. I have been setting up a timed sprinkler system in the backyard. As soon as they go on, those girls want outside in the water. We have had many red sand baths around here of late.
Adelaide is getting better at sleeping at night. Some nights are better than others. She can hold her head up and look around pretty well.
Love you guys,
Lewis and Diana and girls
pictures:
Adelaide in front of Hen Rock
Looking down 1000 feet to San Juan River at Goosenecks State Park
Family picture
Adelaide and Saylor Dandy, our newest neighbor
Movie:
Mahrin and Dad deal with sadness