Camping

One block from our house is a road called "Canyon Road". Turn east on this road and it takes you to what everyone here calls "the mountains". In a matter of miles the temperature drops 20 degrees and you're in forests of aspens, pines and fields of wildflowers. It smells great. It sounds great (chickadees, flickers, white crowned sparrows..) It is peaceful and beautiful. The amazing thing is that this is 1000s of acres is public land....its free. Just find a suitable place to camp, park, whatever, and its your own private place for that day or week.

Dennis grew up here, so he spent his entire life camping, hunting, fishing and hiking there. Dennis and I have shared so many great times hiking and mountain biking there too. Since Griffin was born we have not been able to enjoy hikes or bikes together because of his disabilities. We don't get up in the mountains as often as we want.

This summer Dennis became obsessed. He was determined to find a camping trailer that we could take up in the mountains so we could enjoy being up there together. Unfortunately, buying a camper wasn't in our budget. But, Dennis was determined. We looked at a lot of duds before we happened upon our 1966 jem. We bought it from an older couple who had owned it since it was new...Donna and Stan. The inside is immaculate. Donna gave us all her sheets, towels, pillows, silverware too. It was like inheriting a cabin from your aunt!

Well, the trailer looked great, but needed work. Dennis spend half his vacation trying to get it in shape to travel. We were all ready to give up on camping. But, finally last Thursday, we turned onto the Canyon Road and one hour later had our own private campsite - spring included. Griffin got to poke the fire, snuggle with Dad in the Tigger sleeping bag and throw rocks in the creek. Mom and Dad got to enjoy the smells, sights and sounds of the mountains. We returned home dirty and tired, but refreshed by the beauty of the forest and tundra above us.

I am still overwhelmed by the beauty of it all! What a blessing! Thanks Dennis....

Summer in Mayfield

The world is so ALIVE in June at our house.    Our baby hummingbirds hatched a couple weeks ago and are now outgrowing their nests.   We haven't used the kitchen door or opened the blinds on it's window in over a month for fear of disturbing them.     The baby swallows on the carport are getting big too.  The swallows always seem to build their nests where we park the cars and then get mad at us for parking there.   Now there is a new threat.  The neighbor's cat- Blackie comes over daily to harass the poor parents.    I've spent the last few days trying to distract him from eating my baby swallows.   I invited him in the house to keep him away from them the other day.  Now he thinks he belongs in OUR house!  But, of course our dog Molly who is old and proud is mortified that I'm being nice to a cat!   Wish we could all live in harmony.

On another note.  Griffin's casts are off as of Thursday.  But, now he can't walk or stand.  They told us he would need to learn to walk, but I didn't expect it to be this extreme!   Poor little fellow.   

Griffin in casts

Griffin had surgery on May 27 to lengthen his tendons in his ankles.   He did really well with the surgery at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.   Everyone involved from the doctors down really does put the child first!    

Its been two weeks and finally Griff can walk somewhat in the casts, so he is feeling better about life.  It was pretty frustrating at first and he didn't understand why the "shoes" wouldn't come off.

Griffin Skis

Today Griffin took a ski lesson from Wasatch Adaptive Sports at Snowbird.   We were not optimistic that he would like skiing.  He doesn't like to sled or bike.  But the lesson was offered for free, compliments of Shriner's Hospital, so we thought we would try.   Nonetheless, we were apprehensive about him falling, riding the lift (or rather falling off it) hating it on the first run, etc, etc, etc.    

Well, it turned out 100x better than we expected.   He smiled the whole day.  His instructor, Jeff, was awesome.   Peter and Laura from Wasatch Adaptive Sports were wonderful.   They brought out a cool contraption that he can hold onto to ski down the hill.   He loved the downhill and the snow.  It was a beautiful day at Snowbird and we couldn't be happier that our little boy skied.    

We are so grateful to everyone who made it possible.  

Merry Christmas

It's December 20 and I am finally caught up at work.   Finals are graded and piles of a semester are put away.  Now I can think about Christmas.   I just wish I had a little more time.     I am really  hoping I can actually send Christmas cards out this year.    But this  blog will serve as our letter.  (that way its optional).  You can see pictures from our year at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/faatzfamily/2008Highlights02?authkey=juKW3EHamgM# 

So what have we been up to?   Well, you can look back in the blog for our summer vacation.   Lets see what else?    

Dennis' old friends Lucy and Tony from Pennsylvania came to visit this summer. I was so happy to finally meet them.    Dennis and his Mom have told me stories about them for years.   Dennis' mom told me I would love Lucy and I DID!   Having Tony and Lucy visit was like having long lost family come.    Lucy taught me how to make good italian sauce.  YUM.  I tried it once after she left and the sauce was good.    (I still need help with the meatballs).  Tony and Dennis had a great time riding their bikes (motorcycles) in the mountains.

So, the trip to NY and our visit from Tony and Lucy were the highlights of our summer.    Dennis otherwise kept too busy at work in the office during the week and on field trips on the weekends.    Renee stayed home with Griffin except for a short course on the geology of Zion National Park.

Did I mention that we love our jobs?    Dennis gets to meet people from all over the world.   He has become good friends with students from Russia, Botswana, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Japan and all parts of China this last year.     We have wonderful students from the U.S. too.   We get to take day and weekend trips to share awesome places like the Grand Canyon, Zion, Tetons.

We especially love our jobs after almost losing them this fall.  The college has been forced to cut back by 13% due to state budget shortfalls.   So many of our co-workers were notified that their jobs would be terminated as of June 2009.   It has been a stressful and sad time to work at Snow College.   We hear a rumor that more job cuts are in the works.    AGH!

Griffin continues to be our little angel.   He is almost 9 now. He is so funny and sweet.   Each morning when he wakes up he says something that makes us all laugh.   I am grateful everyday that I have such a sweet little boy.   He has so many reasons to be unhappy or frustrated about his life, yet he is happy and loving all the time.    Griffin is our gift from God!.  He is officially  in 2nd grade this year, although the grade really doesn't apply.  He spends more time in the special ed classroom as the regular ed curriculum is so vision and sit-still oriented.    He has wonderful aides who love and understand him and he likes to go to school.   The entire school from the principal to the secretaries to the cooks love and spoil him.   Ephraim Elementary is a great place.  

Griffin's challenges continue.   Seizures are an on and off again issue.   They continue to be while he is bed, which is a blessing.  But, he misses  a lot of school as a result.   We are also always dealing with his C.P. in his legs.    (see this summer's post).   Later this winter he will have surgery to do a tendon lengthening in his lower legs to try to help him walk better.  He will be in walking casts for about 5 weeks they say.  

Dennis works too much both at home and at school.   He has four life-times worth of  fix- it -up projects at home.  This past year he decided to work on an old shed in the backyard.   It began as a replacement beam to keep it from falling down.   It turned into a complete restoration project.   So, the bathroom inside remains half done and the money pit outside got all the attention.   Being married to a guy who can do it all and is at the same time a perfectionist has both positive and negative sides!   But, who can complain?    

I took some cool field trips this year with students.  In April we joined a  the paleontologist for the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument -  Alan Titus to dig dinosaurs.   It was an amazing experience for all of us.  We found Cretaceous turtles and raptor bones that Alan hadn't seen before.   We helped to uncover a hadrosaur who had ossified tendons and skin impressions.     In June I taught field studies in Zion National Park.    This fall my field studies course went to Arches and Canyonlands.   My students blogged their field report.  You can see the link at snowgeology on this page.   (Caution, it still needs to be edited!)

Dennis did trips to Yellowstone and Tetons, Grand Canyon, Bryce with his students. 

We still live with Dennis' mom who is a sharp 87 year old.  Her vision and age slow her down a little.  Griffin adores her and she him.   Every morning he can't wait to barge into her bedroom and climb up in her bed to talk to her before school.  We are so grateful for Grandma.  

We are also grateful for our friends and family who continue to love us even though we have no time left after our jobs and caring for Griffin.   Merry Christmas everyone.   Peace Joy Hope.

Renee, Dennis and Griffin

What we did for our summer vacation

Wow, its been 3 months since Renee found time to blog.  oops.   July 29 - August 12 Dennis, Renee and Griffin flew to NY for a visit with Omma Mauche, Muffett's family, Therese, Chris and Judith,  and eventually the whole family at Omma's 80th birthday.

We spent a nice week at Keuka Lake at Omma's house.   Griffin liked throwing rocks in the lake and swimming.   We visited Omma's family farm (now owned by a nice couple who welcomed our visit).   We enjoyed the Amish farms, fresh produce, farmer's market (The Windmill).   Therese found time to visit with us at Omma's.  Chris and Judith came by too.

After a quick visit with Chris and Judith we said good-bye to Keuka Lake and headed to Muffett and Tom's cabin on Lake Ontario.    Muffett was able to spend a day at the lake with Alex and Julia.   We had a peaceful few days by the great lake!   What a wonderful place.

Then, it was back to the big surprise party.   After lying to our mother for months we were all beginning to feel childhood guilt in a big way.   On August 9 Mom showed up  discover numerous quilts that she had made over the years (all works of art) hanging around the edges of a pavillion in a beautiful park by Canadaigua Lake.  All her family and good friends were waiting behind her quilts to surprise her.   The party was a wonderful time (both days).  Mom was touched deeply.   We enjoyed seeing everyone from far and wide (even Jean-Michel Sourd from Hong Kong).  

Thanks to everyone who made our trip to beautiful upstate NY such a nice time.  We enjoyed the good food, good company, peace and green.    

You can see a slideshow of our visit here:  

http://picasaweb.google.com/faatzfamily/NY0802?authkey=Bb7QMrOR7A#

Dinner with Griffin's girls

On July 14 (Happy Bastille Day)  we met Jackie and Amy for dinner.  Jackie and Amy both  worked with Griffin for two years at the Daycare at Snow College.   Griffin goes there after school for a couple of hours.    We used to feel guilty about leaving him there.  But, when he begged to go a couple of years ago we realized that was silly.   How many little boys have the undivided attention of sweet, beautiful and kind college girls like Jackie and Amy.   Jackie is off to work at an orphanage in Ecuador; Amy is working full time in Salt Lake City.   We miss you Jackie and Amy.  You make us all happy!