What a month. It sure has been crazy.
Soon after my last post I went to Burbank and picked up my sister for her yearly summer visit. We decided that she has been visiting me now for 8 years. Cool. It has become kind of a tradition.
As a family we took a drive up to Yosemite. We decided to check out Glacier Point, as we had never been up that way. The farthest we had ever gone that way was to Badger Pass, and that was in the winter, when the roads are covered in snow. We stopped at the turn and discovered that there is a little restroom there. I have pictures of the boys playing on this huge mound of snow while we were waiting for Curt to put on the snow chains. Apparently, they were on top of this little building when it was burried. Funny. The drive was really nice getting there and we were super surprised when we got to Glacier Point. What a view!! I can't believe that we had never explored there before! Normally we just blow through the park on our way to Utah, or we take visitors to the valley, so we had been missing out. At our first stop we saw a squirrel who was very forward. He was able to con the boys out of a few almonds. We think he ate the first 2 then stuffed the rest into his cheeks!

We were there right at the end of the fires, so there was still quite a bit of smoke hanging in the air, but we were still mesmerized by the waterfalls and the eye-level view of Half Dome. We stood there for a few minutes tracing the trail as far as we could follow it up from the valley floor over two waterfalls to the back side of Half Dome. Camille and I and Curt tossed around the idea of hiking it in October when it cools down a little. Hmm...
I had a mini photo shoot at the old rock "house" on the way to the look out. It just looked like such a happy, safe place. From the top we could see the valley far below. I was drawn to the tiny little tubes floating down the river, and wished that we had brought our suits so we could float too. As we were heading to the gift shop I saw a trail marker that looked interesting. Turns out it was a trail that after 4.6 miles straight down would dump you on the valley floor! Well... sounded like fun to me. Curt and Brock opted to drive the truck down to pick us up (good thing too, because I didn't want to walk back up!) and Camille, Tadhg, Caden and I went on our hike. We got a few funny looks from people who were coming in the opposite direction and even had a lady tell us that we should probably turn back at the vista point after she saw our footwear. True... we were completely unprepared for hiking. Camille and I both were wearing flip flops. I was carrying what amounted to a large purse, but we had waters for each of us and some snacks, so... The hike was really not hard. I was surprised to find that at one point the trail had been paved. Every once and a while you would be walking on big patches of asphalt. Tadhg was the official photographer for the hike, and he had us stop a few times so he could take some pictures.

When we we were sure we had passed the half way mark we thought we saw the "teal monster" parked way down below by the road. Curt & Brock had found the end of the trail and decided to start up and meet us. Brock was a little trooper, he probably hiked over a mile! (with no complaints!) I don't know about anyone else, but by the time we got to the bottom my legs were like jello. It was almost 5 miles down! Camille and I took pictures of our feet, which were covered in dirt, as proof of our adventure.
It was really nice to cool off and wash off our feet in the river. Tadhg & Brock took it one step further and got completely wet, which was fun until they had to ride home in wet jeans!


We spent the remainder of Camille's visit hanging at home, playing card games and swimming. I spent way more time than I wanted fighting with my computer, which had lost it's wireless capabilities...somehow? (probably my fault, poking buttons I shouldn't!)I made Camille pose for me so I could do my photography lesson on manual settings.


Friday, the 19, Camille and I headed to Palmdale to visit with Spencer and Tricia and Riley before she went home. We all met up at Auntie P's house and Camille & I stayed there that night. Riley is a cutie and everything that a 1 year old baby should be. I sat there watching him constantly on the go, and poor Tricia chasing after him averting danger left, right and center and realized that I had FORGOTTEN how much work that keeping up with a baby was. I remembered being so tired. I remembered thinking that it was too much work to leave the house, especially to visit someone else who's house was not completely baby proof. I remember always having to be shadowing those boys, lest they get into trouble or break something or hurt themselves. People would ask me how I was so skinny after having my kids and I'd tell them that I had to keep up with my boys. They'd look at me and think I was joking, but after watching Tricia (and doing it myself, 3 times!) I know it's true. Maybe our boys are more active? Who knows, but Tricia... I feel your pain.
I took Camille to the airport again on Saturday and was hoping that this wasn't going to be the last of the "Sisters summer visits". One say she'll have a husband who probably WON'T want to come hang at my house for 10 days. Bummer.
Home again, and I had not realized that the summer was flying by. Monday, the 21st, Caden & Brock went in for their pre-op appointment and Tuesday they both had their tonsils out. I realize that there is never going to be a convenient time for any surgery, but summer seemed good to me. You don't have to go anywhere, could sleep in(Ha!) The boys did great. I was super impressed with their doctor and the surgery center & nurses. It is obvious they have done this many times and know what is going on. They anticipated every question and had some great advice for a happy, speedy recovery. Now... 10 days past surgery, neither boy has felt any pain. At all! I was told a trick, by the nurse, to give a half dose of pain medicine every 2 hours instead of a whole dose every 4. For me, getting up every 2 hours 24/7 for 10 days, that kind of stunk, but for them....no pain. Perfect. They have had 10 days of pampering, popsicles, pudding, ice cream, sleep and video games. Nice. Oh, and their freakishly large tonsils....Gone.




After, eating a popscicle.

So obviously, I don't really think stuff out very well, because I decided to take on several things during this time that probably could have waited, but no....I can't say NO, so...
I helped Chris with a scrapbook for her parent's 60th wedding anniversary. 27 digital scrapbook pages later, she is in Wisconsin and I hope the album is what she wanted. 60 years is quite something, and she does so much for our little family.
I also took on another digi scrap class that started this last Monday. Ugh! I really want to do it. Really. But I'm having a hard time getting motivated (and staying awake!) I still haven't even finished my last digi scrap class and the photography class still has 2 more weeks to go. Good thing I'm not getting graded!

My first Digi-in-Deep lesson assignment.
This new class is really intense, with an in depth assignment every day, so I'm fairly behind and the first week isn't even over yet, but what I have done is really cool. Must be ready for the October class, which I will get to take with my MOM! Yeah!
Back to work... my indoor lighting photography assignment, no flash just using available lighting and adjusting ISO, aperture, and white balancing.