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.