Thoughts From a Frazzled Mind

My dad started riding his bike with some friends about 4 years ago.  They ride 6 days a week and travel anywhere from 8 to 15 miles a day!  Not bad for an 83 year old man!  Their group varies in number depending on schedules, but the regulars are Bill, Renny, Alan, and Jess.  Curt usually rides with them on Saturdays.  All except Curt are retired, and a friend named them the Gray Beard Gang,  Dad thought that was great, so he immediately started growing a beard!   The other members of the gang have not elected to grow beards at this time, but dad is pretty proud of his!  He has asked me this summer to join the gang for a ride now and then, but I have hesitated to do so because I am afraid that they will ride circles around me!  However, I finally got up the nerve to ride with them - and it was GREAT!  The first day dad let me ride his bike and I did a lot better than I expected!  We rode over 11 miles - and I kept up the entir...

Our fun neighbors, Steve and Tammy, invited all of the neighbors to a July 4th breakfast!  We had tons of yummy food and got to visit with our fun neighbors that for some reason we don't spend much time with.  What a great idea!  I hope we make this an annual tradition! After the fun breakfast, we packed up all our gear, picked up dad, and headed to Rox's house for a family day.  The kids had a great time playing in the water, sliding on the Slippin' slide, and wading in the pool.  Perfect activities for the 98 degree weather!  Aimee and JoCee are the perfect babysitters - we hardly even saw the kids all day long! All of the old folks  adults sat on the deck in the shade.  We talked and laughed while we decorated our t-shirts, getting them ready to tie-dye. Shelley and Tom Walker joined us for the fun, their two girls had a great time hanging around with Aimee, decorating their shirts, and decorating flip-flops.    Here we are...

YEA!  I got a job - not just a job - the job that I have wanted since I started nursing school! I am going to be working at the Labor and Deliver Department of the Brigham City Hospital!  I am going to start out as a PRN nurse - meaning that I will be working at least one graveyard shift (12 hours) per week, and will be on call several shifts per week. I am so excited that I will be working in such a great facility.  It is large enough that we see a little bit of everything in the delivery process, but small enough that we get to be pretty much one-on-one with our patients.  The best part is that we get to do all phases - labor, delivery, and postpartum, as well as taking care of the cute little babies.  Larger hospitals usually have the nurses work only in one phase. By the way - did I say that I am excited!!!!!

For many years when our kids were young, Kim & I had the wonderful opportunity to take  mini vacations each spring and summer courtesy of our friends, Harper and Janis.  In the spring we would  travel  south to St. George and stay at Harper's parent's house.  In the late summer we would  head up to Bear Lake and stay in Janis' parent's cabin.  We looked forward to these trips, and scheduled the rest of our lives around them.  Mike and Tammy joined us for each trip.  Sometimes other couples would join us, but the "core" group was the six of us.  We often remarked that we looked forward to the time when our children were older and we wouldn't need to find sitters.  We talked about how much more settled we will be at that time and that we would have loads more time to vacation together. HaHaHa!  The joke was on us!  As our children grew, our free time seemed to shrink proportionately, and we never could seem to fit...