The Recovery

Life is full of extremes.  We went from being wildly busy with the family masses to empty quiet.  I enjoy both with their several gifts.  Quiet was especially nice this past week or so as I needed some recovery time from the Layne-bug mentioned earlier.  I managed to be over it in about three days, thankfully.  We spent much of our recovery time cleaning up and getting things back to normal.  As in younger years, I felt a little nostalgic as I put things away.  Of course there was a pile of things the kids forgot.  Slowly I have managed to get most of it returned.

Grandkids' sleeping accommodations during Cousin Camp.

Breakfast with some of the Cousin Camp gang.

We had a couple of sweet surprises this past week.  Long time friends Byron and Marcia Dansie visited for a few hours.  Sadly, I forgot to get a photo of them.  We had babies together and have become close friends over the years.  They are some of the pure in heart that I love having in my life.

Saturday of last week our stake celebrated Pioneer Day at the Pleasanton Fair Grounds.  We found ourselves there because Layne was asked to MC the event.  So we arrived early and left late; not our usual activity level at these things.  Layne did a masterful job.  In between his MC gab we sat at a picnic table eating our dinner.  Our second surprise came in the form of a young lady we didn't know who approached and sat with us.  She was very outgoing and full of chatter.  We discovered that she was in the Army reserve and assigned to our area for two weeks of active duty.  She lives in Arizona and her  name is Amanda.  After telling us much about her life, she said that she was "shopping for dinner appointments" for Sunday and Monday!  We were a little taken aback by her approach, but we invited her to dinner on Monday.  She came, and brought our friend Anne Kelly with her.  We had a fun evening together and I came to like her very much.  Her outreach was not my style of getting acquainted but I admired her for it.  It reminds me that I need to be a bit more outgoing and aggressive in getting to know more people.  I feel that my soul and Amanda's touched.  I found it joyful.

Anne Kelly and Amanda Goff, our Monday dinner guests.

Son Ben had nose surgery this past week.  His nose has been pretty much inop since his birth.  Doctors attempted to fix it when he was a little boy, but were unsuccessful.  This time he had his deviated septum fixed and tonsils out.  He asked me to pick him up after the surgery.  He's got two weeks off for recovery.  I'm excited to see how he feels when he takes a full breath through his nose.  It's coming.

Benjamin, recovering from surgery, with littlest son Jonathan.

During this recovery time, he told me that he wanted to buy me a new Apple laptop, as a thank you for the work we have done for him on his rental condo.  I was surprised and sooo excited!  You know how one change leads to others.  I now need an updated printer and scanner as well! So I picked those out, Ben and I picked out the computer, and by next week, I should have a whole new system.  How exciting is that!

Cousin Camp

Cousin Camp finally arrived, beginning July 4 and grew to over thirty people by the weekend.  Imagine that many people staying at our house and eating three meals a day here!  It was massive.  We began our event with well-scheduled activities each day, which worked great until the arrival of Gerald, Frances, their kids and 10 Taiwanese students on Friday.  There is something about 10 additional non-family kids that changes the dynamics.  Gone were the family stories and devotionals.  It was just too hard to pull off with so many extra kids.

But we enjoyed them just the same.  One thing I'm trying to teach myself is that things never turn out the way they play out in my mind and that can be OK.  Sometimes they are better, sometimes not.  But thoughts and reality are rarely a match.  So we went for the flow that displayed itself before us.  Some of what we placed in the yard were hits with the kids and some were not used at all.  Watching everyone interact was part of the treat.  At least most of the time.

Our biggest hits (at least from my observation):  the play structure, the wading pool, the outdoor movie, the basketball hoop, and foosball.  As I predicted, I spent most of my time making meals.  My children were off and on present.  Layne, I'm sad to say, got a bug from Reed that gave him a "sit and stare" condition that put him out of commission most of the time!  How I missed his helping hand.

As I have concluded at previous cousin camps, this experience is not about us bonding with the kids, it is about them bonding with each other.  And they did.  And I didn't, mostly.  One sweet exception to that was Ben and Jessica's three year old Abigail.  It was her first time at cousin camp and she stuck pretty close to me.  We had a sweet time together.

Everyone except my Gendreau kids were gone by July 11th.  Miles, Gemma and Peyton stayed on through the following weekend.  I can bond with three.  And I believe I did.  Each night I shared a story with them and told them I loved them.  We did various things during the day.  My goal for these three is to have them feel my love for them on a deep level and to plant in their hearts a strong faith in a loving God, who knows and loves them.  I think progress was made.

Their dad, Chris, picked them up on Sunday and, suddenly, everyone was gone and the family adventure was over.  By Monday Layne was fully over his bug and he had lovingly passed it on to me. At least it waited until I had time for it.  How thoughtful.

Ben and Jessica's patriotic kids, who arrived on July 4.  They are:
baby Jonathan, Alexis, Jacqueline, Zachary and William.  We celebrated
America and its greatness, sadly without fireworks.

Ben and Jessica's Abigail, my Cousin Camp buddy.

The grandchildren with shirts displaying the Galbraith Crest.

Mealtime with the family hoard.

Grandchildren, after a day of family bonding.

The guys table, when everyone was here.

Reed and Dorothy's Timmy, playing near the full swimming
pool.  He didn't want to get wet, but hung out close by.

Three of my guys:  Miles (Chris and Jes), Vincent (Reed and Dorothy),
and Seth (Gerald and Frances).  

Our war with electronic toys is perfectly displayed here
with Gema and Miles (Chris and Jes).  Next time they will be
forbidden (the toys, not the kids)!

Peyton's legs demonstrate why we ran out of bandaids!

Anticipation

It has been said that anticipation is a big part of the enjoyment of an upcoming event.  This coming week will be our cousin camp/family reunion.  My days and nights have been filled with preparations and...anticipation.  With things like this my mind goes crazy with ideas.  I see the whole event play out in my mind.  Past experience has validated over and over again to me that things NEVER turn out as planned.  My fantasies are just that, I'm afraid.  But sometimes the real experience turns out to offer happy surprises.  I'm sure this upcoming week will be filled with work, little sleep and...happy surprises.

Ben and Jes' old play structure carefully reconstructed
here by Layne for the kids and painted by myself.

President Hinckley once said that life is filled with work, struggles and great effort, interspersed with moments of ecstasy.  My restatement here is not word for word, but his meaning is here expressed.  Isn't it interesting that the moments of ecstasy seem to justify the vast majority of time devoted to harder things?  We've put hours of thought and work into this upcoming small amount of time with family.  I'm eager to see what "moments of ecstasy"might come of it.

Waist high wading pool and tether ball in the background;
some of the activities for the kids.  Hope they like them!

Our upcoming family event is planned around lots of choices for kid activities so that the kids can choose how to spend their time with us.  Choice.  It's an important principle.  It seems to me that the wider the selection of opportunities the wider the chances for enjoyment, progress and every other good thing.  I worry, therefore, over the shrinking choices offered in our "free" society.  I feel the encroachment of government at almost every turn.  We cannot celebrate the 4th of July with even simple fireworks anymore.  "Big Brother" feels it is not safe and so takes care of it for us.  As Obamacare approaches, I fear that the shrinking of choice and the increase of expense in the form of tax will further erode the freedom and opportunity that this country has offered to us, and exemplified to the world.

I apologize for bringing this issue up here, but it explodes within my thoughts.  I must express it.  Having done so, I'm hoping for the best...for our family and for our nation.  I pray for both, every day. 

Our flag.  I wish we could surround it with sparklers
on July 4th.  Oops, too dangerous!

Our fenced in freshly planted vegetable garden.
The war is on to keep out the deer (the fence),
the gophers, rabbits and ground squirrels
(the planter boxes and plant coverings).
The battle rages!