School Fundraiser!

Tyler's school is having their fundraiser and this year it is for the Happenings Book. If you're planning to buy one please buy one from him. They are $20 for the Utah edition but you can buy them for practically any state (prices vary). Checks can be made to XXXXXX XXXX Elementary and need to be to me by Thursday September 4th.

Thanks!!

Campin' in the Rain

For the past 50 or so years the huge Thacker family has met the first weekend in August out at the family-owned, lovingly called Party Pasture for the family reunion. This past weekend when we went camping it was an end of an era and a very bittersweet time for me. I have some memories of being there with my Dad and lots of great memories from recent years spent there with my husband & sons, and my sisters and their families & my Mom & brothers. The property owner, who does in fact use the land as a cow pasture, has had a recurrence of cancer and has decided to sell the property because he can no longer care for it. None of his children can afford to buy the land so it will be sold and this wonderful tradition is coming to an end. When I told my dear friend Stacy that I was going camping she said "Like tent camping?" and when I told her that yes, we use tents she said "because you just don't seem like the camping type". Well you're right Stac, I'm not, but once a year I am. For the sake of family reunion and making my boys happy. Tyler got a kick out of hunting for frogs and snakes at the nearby lake and stream on the property. He also wanted to go out on the canoe again this year but it rained and rained and rained and with all the lightning I was not comfortable having him out on the lake in a metal canoe! The constant raining was a drag because it affected our dutch-oven cooking plans and my brother-in-law Brett's plans to build a fire without using newspaper (he wanted to do it the Boy Scout way- with all-natural gathered items). This year was more complicated because of Brad's broken foot and him being unable to help with the loading, set-up or pretty much anything else but he still had a nice time. I had to drive there and back and anyone who knows me knows I hate to drive roads that I am not familiar with. Talk about anxiety! But we made it in one piece and had fun and hope that somehow we will be able to continue on this tradition of camping- even if it is just our immediate family.

Sorry no pictures- I was just too overwhelmed with Brad's injury and the awful weather to even think about getting my camera out. If I can I will get some from my sisters and post them here. If it weren't for my sisters, brothers-in-law, Mom and brother Steven I wouldn't have been able to do this camping trip. They were such an incredible help and I thank each of them from the bottom of my heart!

Eccles Dinosaur Park

Before the excitement and action of Brad's broken foot, we had planned some time off work to use as vacation together as a family. We planned a trip to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden, Cherry Hill in Kaysville and camping in Duchesne County at the family property. We only got the Dino park in before Brad's fall. It was a lot of fun except that it was a blazin' hot day with lots of humidity and I do not handle heat well. We had an awesome picnic in the shade and then walked around to see the dinosaurs. Trevor was a little nervous about them at first. We also played on the playground a little and they had a neat slide inside a tree but it was so hot and all the playground toys were really hot! At the end of the day we let the boys pick out a souvenier: Tyler chose a wooden Brachiosaurus figurine that he and Brad put together that night and Trevor chose a ball that looks like a dinosaur egg and it lights up and changes color. It was a fun day and I am so glad we spent it together.

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Actually just snap & pop. Last Wednesday around 11 p.m. (when I was fast asleep in bed) Brad fell and broke his foot. The culprit:

The dreaded and always-dangerous: Sit-n-Spin toy

The end result:

He has what is called a Psuedo-Jones Fracture (a.k.a. Avulsion Fracture) which is a break on the proximal end of the 5th metatarsal. For those of you who get queasy easily stop reading here! Basically he rolled is foot forward into a ball so that his toes were nearly touching the arch of his foot and it pulled the tendon on top of his foot so tight that the tendon pulled the bone up and broke the bone. He heard and felt it "pop" and had a great deal of pain that night. When I saw it the next morning and it was huge and purple I knew we needed it looked at by a doctor even though he was convinced it was just a sprain. One look at the x-ray and there was no doubt that it was broken. He has to be completely non-weight bearing until we see the orthopedic surgeon again next week. Because he is a diabetic and diabetes affects blood circulation, there is a chance he will need to have surgery to place a pin to hold the bone together to help it heal. Regardless, we have a long road ahead of us. Oh, did I mention this is his right foot so he can't drive?

T-Ball Time!

T-Ball season has come and gone and Tyler really loved it. His cousin Kaylee was on his team and they had fun together. Their team was the S.F. Giants and his number was 10. It was a lot of fun to watch the 5 & 6-year-olds playing! We'll be doing T-ball again this Fall.