Our summer was bookended this year with our amazing Alaska trip at the beginning and our perfect Washington trip at the end. It was a glorious week of PNW beauty, family, friends and the best waterskiing water.
The magic is definately back for CSC. This year we had everyone except Cooper, Wilson and Evan, the 3 oldest kids. Rreviously surly teenagers turned into really fun young adult participants! Max was one of the most fun! After over a year living with Cooper, he packed up his stuff into his car and is ready to take the next step in life. He plans on moving to Orem to work. Eliza and Kate came up with Tyler and Chelsea, and Corbin flew in.
Max picked Tony, Sam and I up at the airport and everyone arrived at camp by dinner. CSC is so familiar and comfortable now that everyone jus settles in and enjoys time together. We were sad not to have Jake and Callie this year. They couldn't join us because a month ago, Jake had a virus that attacked his heart and spent 4 days in the hospital. The doctors ordered him to spend the summer NOT raising his heart rate, including camping, swimming and waterskiing. Dustin and Kimberly were in charge this year. They did stickers for our swag AND a family picture puzzle that we all worked on. We have a new way to do "birth canal" this year-instead of one by one, we time ourselves to see how fast we can get in order. As always, the food was kind of the highlight. From company casserole to birria to crepes, to sliders, it was a weekend long feast. Kate and Jill swam the river with me and despite being slow, I made it. Tony swam back and ended up in a current. He got quite the workout that day. The highlight of CSC was Despickleball, a cross between spikeball and pickleball. It was an intense experience for all participants, and very entertaining to watch. Another highlight was when Jason took the kids surfing because he was down the river camping with his ward. He also took Sam a day early, so that he could spend some time at Diamond Lake with Jack. On Saturday Eliza and Max drove back to Utah together so Max was going to spend the week finding a job.
Addy took Tony and I to Diamond Lake and we spent the afternoon surfing and swimming in our happy place. That night, Cooper joined us. It was a beautiful night where Cooper shared some tender experiences he'd had with Jackie and Fahd, shared some of his childhood experiences with adoption, and gave lots of car advice. It was super fun for Tony to drive Cooper's fancy Camero. Coop is very proud of his car and everyone loved it!
On Sunday we went to church in Newport and by the time we got back Kim and Brad had joined us. We spent a peaceful afternoon discussing the gospel, life and connecting with Cooper. We said goodbye and were grateful that he took Sam to the airport.
The next three days were the most relaxed I've been in a long time. One day we left the house to ski and didn't step foot into the cabin again until it was dark. Brad served us bread on homemade sandwiches and we just lounged around. I took naps, talked and read. Tony was struggling this trip with not feeling like he fit in. He was withdrawn both at CSC and at Diamond Lake. He is also feeling the disappointment of a hurt knee, as well as not a single game of pickleball all week. We had planned to stay until Thursday, but it worked out better for us to leave Wednesday because Jason and Andreas were flying to Nashville to help Eli buy a house! On Wednesday I helped Andrea get the cabin ready for her to rent. Tony took Barrows and Christensens to the airport and spent the morning visiting friends from St John including Louis White and Dale and JoAnne Riggon. JoAnn was in the hospital recovering from open heart surgery, so it was perfect timing for Tony to be there to support his friend. The other fun part of the trip was dreaming of buying the house next door with Brad and Kim. The house had just sold, but just incase it fell through, Brad gave the owner his name and number. It was fun to dream up remodels and upgrades, even if it never happens.
We got home late, late Wednesday night and were grateful to have Thursday to go to work training (me) and to rest (tony). I love Washington summers and will continue to dream of spending all summer there, out of the horrible heat of St George. But until then, I'll cherish every minute with family and friends in the place I adore.
