How short can I sum up June?

Not too fast...our family life is still full even when school's not in.

On the 1st, I celebrated my 35th birthday. A couple things unique about my birthday. I share my b-day with my dad, Ed Wolf. Not hard to remember and we love the phone calls telling each other "Happy Birthday!" The day also landed on a Sunday and the first Sunday (Fast and Testimony Sunday). We also had a family from church come over for dinner and cake. The Dodges are a family we have come pretty close to. Normally, we just have our family for birthdays, but Nathan invited the Dodges over too. We enjoyed the time together.

Two days later, Young Women's Camp. We figured out a way for me to attend again this year. Last year the Dodges had watched the younger girls when Leah and I went. But then, Laura became the Young Women's president, so we had to figure some other child care arrangements out. A neighbor girl, Emily Donaldson, watched the girls. Her mom and I are friends, so I was comfortable leaving them. Plus, Nathan was just a phone call away. Rachel attended camp this year. She had a lot of fun as a 1st year. Leah was given the honor of having me as one of her cabin moms. It was great being a cabin mom to 2nd years...girls were more comfortable and knew what to expect. The highlight for me was the cabin skits. We had a great idea based on Joseph Smith's experience combined with the armor of God and superheroes. Our cabin had only 5 girls and 2 adults, so it was very manageable. Sara, Aletta, Anna and Nathan did well at home with the exception of bathing. It's just not his thing. The last evening Nathan came up to visit camp. He talked with the girls in the branch to see how they were doing, and also gave a message. Nathan also had dinner with our branch girls and stayed for part of testimony meeting.

Rachel has kept Mom running to and fro. Right after camp, she went right back to daily basketball practice and summer league games. Thankfully, she is not part of a travelling team. The 16th and 17th, Rachel tried out for the Blackman Middle School soccer team. She made the team, but was a little worried as they were asked how much experience. Rachel's background is 2 seasons of recreational and 1 season of school. The coach is new and will actually be working at the school as a teacher in the 7th grade. On top of that, Rachel attended soccer camp the 16th-20th, 8:30 am to 2pm. Basically, Rachel is in great shape.

The rest of the girls were hanging out a lot. I drove them to the library once a week and the YMCA for swimming twice a week. Sara was reading a lot. I believe she had read the Harry Potter series about 5 times. Leah has a big "like" for a boy in the branch. She talks with him a lot and e-mails him too. Anna and Aletta have played with it seems like all of the toys in the house. The girls are not fond of the humidity, so we are inside most of the time. Grandpa and Grandma Wolf can attest to how oppressive the humidity is.

Health wise, we have done okay this June. I came home from Camp and discovered that Aletta had head lice. She must have picked it up from neighbor kids...Only since we moved to TN has it afflicted our family. Thankfully, none of the others have it. It's real fun ( please note sarcasm), especially with Aletta's curly hair. I chopped her hair to about chin length from past shoulder length to make it easier.

On the 13th, I took my first trip to the ER. After a bunch of tests, to make sure I didn't have ectopic preg., or digestive problems, I was diagnosed with ovarian cysts. Wow, had a lot of abdominal pain and the morphine didn't do anything but mess up my head and make me throw up. This was on Friday evening, but by my followup visit with my obgyn on Tuesday, I had no pain, just tenderness like I strained something. I have another visit with obgyn following an ultrasound on July 8th. So, a report will follow sometime after that.

Good news, Nathan's elbow brace is off. He had visits twice a week for therapy. He almost has full range of motion. Not sure when he can get back to his favorite sport of swimming though.

And for the final day of June, I took Rachel into the clinic. We suspected poison ivy...right diagnosis. She is taking some steroid pills to heal quicker. It annoys her...brings back memories of her severe case of chicken pox Christmas 1999. Poor girl it is on her face too. She had picked some "leaves" from past the back boundary line of our property. She wanted them for making leaf rubbings. It's sad to see her this way.

Sorry, so many words, next time we will post some pictures.