Boys & their toys!

Mark and the boys, along with help from Kailan, were able to accomplish a lot of yard work today!

Chase and Taige had fun cutting a few branches with the chain saw for their first time!

Meanwhile, Jordynn, Brooklyn and myself organized some of the kitchen cupboards and cleaned the house! Later in the afternoon, Jordynn, Chase and I went and volunteered at the Soup kitchen here in Flagstaff.  It was an interesting experience for all of us. Jordynn and I served food and Chase served all of the drinks.  Kailan went with Mark to be his 'second shooter' at Emily Fisher's wedding reception.  She's a budding photographer!

A date!

Unfortunately these seem to be far and few between! It was definitely a nice get-a-way for the both of us.  We played tennis with Mark and Jeanna Hansen and then afterward went and sat in the jacuzzi at Bear Paw.  It was a lot of fun!

Quite the Seamstress!

For one of Jordynn's Personal Progress projects, Jordynn made a dress! One of her friend's mother's was a great help to her!

Looking on the Bright Side.....

Abi has received lots of goodies from family and friends! Her school teacher even came by the house to visit her.  We appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness.  It has really brightened her days and weeks!

She received a whole box of goodies and crafts in the mail from her Aunt Lisa & Uncle Shawn.  And they even came in a green (her favorite color) tote! She's already created a ton of spiral designs!

Especially For Youth

Kailan went with her friend Amanda Fisher along with Zach Harmon and Rick McGuire to EFY in Orem, Utah for a week.  I asked Kailan how it was - 1, being not too good and 10 being the best; without hesitation she rated her week a 10!

This is Kailan's "Company".  They called themselves "The Conquerers".

Matt, Ashley, Kristen, Kailan & Amanda

For a service project they made blankets for children in Africa.

This is Brother Brad Wilcox and his wife with Kailan.

Brother & Sister Wilcox were Kailan's session directors.

Grandma's Here!

Grandma Jackie has come to live with us for awhile! She has diabetes and is struggling with her health and can't live on her own anymore.  Chase is getting really good at poking her finger and checking her blood sugar levels!

Grandma & Kailan

New Wheels

On July 18th, the evening before we were planning on going to Phoenix for Dr.'s appointments and then onto our family reunion on the 20th, Mark was driving part way to Kingman to meet the Hagler's to bring Kailan back home when he ran over a rock in a rainstorm and put a hole in our oil pan.  The oil quickly drained and the engine froze.  Our insurance company fortunately covered a portion of our van after declaring it totaled.  I was worried about our transportation to our reunion and Abi's surgery along with the financial stress it could bring, but everything worked out really well.  Our insurance company covered the cost of a small car, so we were able to drive two vehicles everywhere we needed to go.  One evening while I was in the hospital, I remembered that the Gardner family in our ward still hadn't sold their Suburban when they moved from Flagstaff the beginning of this summer.  I emailed her and she said they hadn't listed it since they moved, but were getting ready to put it on Craig's list.  We were able to purchase it for almost the same amount of money that we're receiving from our Insurance company.  Mark had to drive to Mesa yesterday and was able to turn in our rental (which was the last day our Insurance company was covering it) and pick up the Suburban.  Can't get much better timing than that! We're thankful for the minimum stress this inconvenience ended up causing.

1999 with 85,000 miles on it.